In his newest column for CBS Sports, Jon Heyman examines how the Brewers are hopeful that new manager Craig Counsell can help turn the club around, yet GM Doug Melvin has also “already sent out feelers” to other teams if Milwaukee continues to struggle. Here are more Brew Crew-related notes from Heyman’s piece…
- Counsell received a strong vote of confidence from Melvin, which included an 18-point e-mail to owner Mark Attanasio arguing why Counsell was the ideal choice to replace Ron Roenicke. As Heyman notes, the club may have been better served to fire Roenicke after last year’s late-season fade rather than guaranteeing his 2016 option and letting him continue to manage.
- While Melvin is “planning to consider just about anything in terms of trades,” Jonathan Lucroy and Jean Segura (in that order) are the Brewers’ two most untouchable players. “I guess you have to be open to everything. But you’d have to be overwhelmed….[Catcher and shortstop] are positions that can take years to fill,” Melvin said.
- Carlos Gomez is likely the Brewers’ top trade chip, and would undoubtedly generate the most interest from other teams if he’s shopped. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes recently explored Gomez’s trade candidacy in the subscriber-only MLBTR Newsletter.
- The Dodgers, Astros and Cardinals all seem like fits for Kyle Lohse, rival GMs tell Heyman. Lohse formerly pitched for the Cardinals and also has ties to Houston, as GM Jeff Luhnow was in the St. Louis front office when Lohse pitched for the team. The surprising Astros have already been considering starting pitching upgrades, while the Dodgers (Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-jin Ryu) and Cardinals (Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia) are both looking to replace injured starters.
- Matt Garza is owed roughly $35MM through the 2017 season and has a $13MM club option for 2018 that can vest into a guaranteed year. With this in mind, “I’m not sure anyone would want him,” a rival executive said about Garza, who has a 4.58 ERA and unimpressive peripherals over six starts.
- Scooter Gennett received some interest from the Angels and others during the offseason and could be shopped again to clubs in need of second base help.
Lohse makes more sense for houston than Hamels
WHY? Houston would better off calling up someone from AAA who would replicate these numbers. People are prospect hungry for the Astro’s deep farm system.
CORREA for NOBODY in this league. I can’t stand when people even mention his name in a possible trade… not that you did.
Houston doesn’t have anyone in AAA that can replicate his numbers, a slow start to year doesn’t mean he is all of a sudden a bad pitcher
Enter Lance McCullers
I’d much rather stick with the young guys than have Friedman and co. give anything up for Lohse
Segura is untouchable with Arcia coming through the system hot? I’m not buying that.
Similar situation with JJ Hardy and Alcides Escobar a few years ago…and then Escobar was moved and we were forced to endure Yuniesky Betancourt. A strength can turn into a glaring weakness pretty quickly.
They won a division and a playoff round with Betancourt as the everyday SS. I think they survived that quite well.
They are much, much better stocked in system with Sardinas, Arcia, and Rivera than they were back then.
Yeah, we’d have to try pretty hard to end up back in that situation at SS again. Trade Segura, Sardinas is ready right now. Trade him in a year or two, Arcia is ready. Rivera probably a utility guy on the major league team at that point. There’s a lot of depth, which is why I think it’d be flat-out silly to not listen on offers for Segura. Thankfully, from those quotes, it sounds like Doug is willing to at least listen on everybody.
Since Betancourt was the difference between contending and not contending…what with a top lineup and above average pitching staff.
They are better stocked in bodies, sure, but Arcia is the only one that projects to be a starter.
I’m all for trading Segura if you can they can get a great deal, but he’s also the kind of talent a team should be building around.
by the time the Brewers rebuild to a decent team, Segura will be a free agent making $15,000,000 per season. why throw away his highest value years on a bad team? trade Lucroy and Segura.
That’s assuming a full rebuild – and lasts over 5 years; plus an inability of the Brewers to sign him to an extension that buys out at least one year of free agency.
Lucroy is 28 years old. Segura is 25 years old. One of these guys will still be in his prime when the team starts seeing a return on any rebuild.
You are underestimating Sardinas. He was in top 100 prospects on BA and BP in both 13 and 14, made it to the big leagues at age 21 (and held his own hitting .261) and still hasn’t turned 22. He may not project as an All Star, but he certainly projects as a starter in the big leagues.
Not Peralta. Not Gomez. Not Nelson. Segura.
Really?
No, you won’t see Brewers do an Astros type fire sale. They will try to reload while they still have Lucroy and Gomez.
Segura is available for the right deal though despite what Heyman reported.
I might blow a gasket if that’s our strategy. It is high-time for an Astros type fire sale around here. We’re not gonna be able to keep Gomez or Lucroy in free agency, and those guys have incredible value. We do not need two more years of average baseball in Milwaukee. We need to start the rebuilding process right now. Sooner we start, sooner we can get back to contending.
correct. I want to see a team that can win 90+ games almost every year over a 5+ year time frame. the only way to do that is to get as much young talent as possible. 28 year old players do no good for us over the next 4 years. it makes no difference if we lose 110 games or 90 games.
Brewers rely much more heavily on gate receipts than teams like the Astros and Cubs do. They cannot afford multiple 100 loss seasons. They already have some talent that should be here by 2017 in Arcia, Coulter and Taylor being the key 3. No way should they deal either Peralta or Nelson and they have no catching behind Lucroy. They’ll likely deal Gomez at some point but probably this winter at the earliest, and Segura will be shopped as well.
If you want the Brewers to become Herb Kohl’s Bucks, then yeah, we “can’t afford” multiple large loss seasons while rebuilding. Or, if you want to do something that makes sense to help us win, you rebuild. By the time Arcia, Coulter, and Taylor roll around, Gomez will be on another team because we can’t afford him, and Lucroy will be 31 and might not even be catching anymore (who knows? Dude has a lot of innings on his body already, and if Joe Mauer has shown us anything it’s not to bet on longevity behind the plate). Though I do actually agree a bit about Peralta and Nelson. Honestly, they’d be the top of my “untouchable” list (though I’d listen on everybody).
if they follow your strategy daveing, the Brewers will not be a contender for the next 10 years. you cannot run this like the Bucks of the Herb Kohl years. trade Segura, Lucroy, and Gomez. They bring you nothing over the next 3 years but wasted opportunity to obtain great young talent.
Heyman’s comments about Segura tell me he’s not interpreting Melvin correctly. If there’s one thing the Brewers have it’s shortstops in waiting. Luis Sardinas was a top 100 prospect in the Ranger organization who they got for Gallardo. He was hitting a cool .305/.336/.400 at AAA going into tonight. Orlando Arcia is arguably the Brewers number one prospect and though known more for defense, he’s hitting .382/.430/.506 at AA. Last but not least is Yadiel Rivera, also at AA, another nifty glove man who’s hitting .341/.376/.489 at AA playing mostly 2B rather than his natural SS.
Melvin was undoubtedly just trying to generate top offers for Segura.
agreed. Segura should bring 1-2 really good prospects given his ability and contract status. Melvin knows this and is not about to sell too cheap.
Yeah, I agree with others here that Segura should be one of the first guys you look to trade.
Gomez is a FA after next year, and you have Taylor as a highly regarded prospect. They are unlikely to contend next year either, so you can tread water with Logan Schafer until Taylor is ready.
Coulter and Roache should be ready to roll in 2017 also.
Maybe you move Braun to 1b and go with;
C-Lucroy
1B-Braun
2B-Rivera
3B-? Need to acquire one in one of the deals they make this year.
LF-Roache
CF-Taylor
RF-Coulter
Probably need an Ace. Nelson and Peralta seem like steady 2-3 guys.
they are unlikely to contend for the next 4 years. so Lucroy must be traded as well. given his contract, maybe you can unload Braun in the same deal.
They will not do what Cubs did. They won’t survive with attendance dropping in half. Brewers will look to contend as soon as possible and make a few trades here and there and rely on their farm system producing. Besides even the Cubs have to supplement their kids with expensive FA. Brewers are just not in that same position.
then they will fail.
Lucroy is an exceptional value right now. If you don’t extend him, he’ll still have plenty of value in the market in 2 years. They need a veteran catcher if they are going to try and acquire some young pitching too.
I think when Coulter arrives, Braun moves back to LF or 1B. The jury is out on Roache ever being a regular. Michael Reed might be better in the long run. They should look to lock up Nelson and Peralta and with all the dollars coming off the books, extending Lucroy seems a priority. Nothing harder than finding top catching.
Ray, I hate to say it… but that looks like a 70 win team in 2017. Which is why I think Lucroy has to go now. The team could rebuild and plan to compete from 2019-2025.
Brewers can trade Lucroy and Segura as well. What good does it do to keep them the next 2 seasons? Perhaps you can even find a way to unload garbage like Braun in a Lucroy deal.
The idea of pairing up Braun and Lucroy in a trade intrigues me. I think it would overall lower the return we get a bit (a la the Melvin Upton/Craig Kimbrel deal), but not significantly since Lucroy has so much value. I just wonder who would be willing to make that deal?
Not sure. Maybe Houston decides they are going for it now given their hot start. They are weak at catcher and have at least 3 very good pitching prospects at a high level in the minors. They could use a decent arm in the majors right now as well. Maybe Lohse, Lucroy, Braun for 2 excellent pitching prospects, a mediocre catcher, and George Springer.