Time will tell whether the Brewers can follow the Cubs’ path back to contention, but it would help if Brewers GM David Stearns ended up with Theo Epstein’s trade record, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. The Cubs acquired Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks and Addison Russell in a series of terrific trades. They’ve also added Jon Lester, Jason Heyward, John Lackey and Ben Zobrist via the free agent market, but the smaller-payroll Brewers won’t be able to depend on a similar infusion of talent. Here’s more from the NL Central.
- The Reds are still hoping for the returns of several key injured players, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes. Zack Cozart (knee soreness), Billy Hamilton (oblique strain), Homer Bailey (biceps tenderness) and Cody Reed (back tightness) are all currently unavailable, but of the four, only Reed has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Bailey threw a bullpen session Sunday, and Cozart and Hamilton are both rehabbing their injuries. Of course, there’s little time left for them to return, and manager Bryan Price characterizes the likelihood of a Hamilton return as “improbable,” but he wants to keep the door open. “The easy thing is to shut down — that’s the easiest thing in the world is to shut everyone down,” says Price. “However, that’s not a culture that we really want to build here. … And unless these guys are deemed incapable of playing, they should be working hard to get back on the field and I think they are.”
- The Pirates could still theoretically win a playoff berth, but if their remote postseason chances do evaporate, their distribution of playing time is unlikely to chance much, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. “Look at the at-bats that Adam Frazier and Josh Bell are getting, look at the innings that (Jameson) Taillon, (Steve) Brault and now (Tyler) Glasnow are getting, and (Felipe) Rivero is an anchor in our bullpen,” says GM Neal Huntington. “We don’t feel like we’ve got a veteran who’s taking innings or at-bats from a young player that necessarily we would change if we were to get eliminated.” Huntington does allow that Glasnow could get a turn in the Bucs’ rotation before the end of the season.
I think the Brewers should do one more year of a rebuild. Let hader, brinson and all their other top guys get a taste of the majors, but only in the latter half. They should try and get guys who they can flip at the deadline in free agency too, kind of like what Oakland did with hill. They might have the best farm in the league, and it would only get bigger and brighter that way.
The Brewers will need there prospects to be really good. They need to stay away from free agency they don’t have luck with that.Trade from strength to fill holes.Cubs have done good with getting good prospects and trading them to fill in holes. Plus they have the money to fill in holes that the Brewers don’t. Cubs have done a really good job pretty much everything has work for them.Brewers need a lot of luck with prospects.
Cubs really haven’t traded prospects except for chapman. Also not everything has worked out. Look at Schwarber getting hurt, soler hurt on and off, plus Heywards terrible signing. Their minor league pitching has no real prospects either. They also had to suck for 5 years. That being said, looking pretty good this year!!
Every team goes through injuries. Not sure Heyward was terrible signing, got him away from the Cardinals and he is a gold glove outfielder. Probably just having a down year compared to what he usual does. They can buy pitching they have money to spend (big market)
Their minor league pitching prospects are starting to appear: Clifton, Cease, Underwood, de la Cruz all have TOR ceiling and could very well take the next step.
Guys like Leal and Albertos are pretty intriguing and someone like McNeil has backend of the bullpen floor.
All of that said, I agree with most of your comment.
Lets not forget Theo was making trades to make trades when he got here D J laMerieo not spelled right lead the league in batting and Marshall wasn’t a great trade for Travis Wood but Wood ended ok
It’s not so much the Brewers’ luck with free agency as they just can’t compete financially. Guys like Garza are about the most they can afford.
The Brewers will get another nice haul of prospects once they trade Braun this winter.
I am not sure they will get a nice haul of prospects for a guy going on 33 next year with his history of PED and lies not to mention all the money owed to him still. So I would not count on a haul.
Should the Brewers trade him, which they probably will, they’ll take on a good chunk of that salary, they’ll probably get a few top end prospects
All the money they owe Braun? $72 mil over four years ($18 mil a season) is actually pretty reasonable for one of the top 15 hitters in the NL.
Brewers are well set up with a core of Arcia,Hader,Isan Diaz, Ray, and Brinson for the future