There is no excuse for not approaching/exceeding last year's payroll. Whether that comes in a few big contracts or lots of small ones will be interesting. I wish we would have been in on Grandal at the number he got but I don't regret losing Moustakas at that number.
The Brewers have non-tendered a host of prominent players, per a club announcement. Third baseman Travis Shaw, righties Junior Guerra and Jimmy Nelson, southpaw Alex Claudio, and infielder Tyler Saladino are all being dropped from the roster.
Where are you staying? Breweries: I really like Third Space beer There is a Pabst Brewery and Taproom that looks very cool but I haven't been to. The make "craft" beer there too not just standard Pabst Lakefront Brewery and Milwaukee Brewing Company are the more popular breweries and are fine I'll add more later
oh yes How long you staying, where you staying, will you have your own transportation? Just you or family/friends?
Lakefront Brewery I’m pretty sure is already on the itinerary. I’m staying with my fiancé’s family not exactly sure where they live. It’ll be the 26th-30th (this Florida boy is praying for snow, but I realize that complicates things), and it’ll be Uber’s/her brother/cousins driving.
Off the top of my head information and recommendations all below. Sorry for the formating. If driving isn't a problem and you're here for a couple days, then MKE is basically your mini Chicago. The next 4 are clickable links for information for main attractions when visiting Milwaukee Art Museum - Has events planned through those days. Unique looking museum right around downtown off the lake. Milwaukee Public Market - All kinds of fresh food prepared by individual vendors, located in the historic Third Ward which is a good place to walk and sight see, parking can be hard. Lakefront Brewery Tour - Beer, cheese and more beer. Curds are to die for. The Domes - Numerous (3 I believe, it's been a while) botanical domes with Christmas lights to show for). --------- Bars - every corner has a few bars to its name, whether it's your neighborhood bar or well known names. For example, Redbar in the suburbs of St. Francis has heaping plates of good food, a good selection of beer and a good crowd. Lots of those types of places you can find. If you would like recommendations, I'll be glad to help (my personal favorite is Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge on 9th and Lapham. Absolute gem. Newport is up there too.) Side thought - another hidden gem this time of year is Victor's. All decked out in Christmas lights, family friendly restaurant nightclub combo. https://onmilwaukee.com/seasonal/holidays/articles/holiday-hidden-gem-victors.html The website above is a great tool to find these types of places. They do showcases of lesser known of gems like Victor's. Search hidden gem for more. --------- Food listed in category and in order of rankings for locations (based on experience during my time here): Breakfast/Bruch - toss up between Blue's Egg (reservations) or Mad Rooster, Story Hill BKC, Sabrosa, Engine Company 3, Cafe at the Plaza, Honeypie Best Pizza - Transfer, Zaffiros, Classic Slice, Anodyne, Ian's or Ned's Pizza Best Greek Food if that's your thing, not mine but Google tells me - Oakland Gyros Best Mexican Food, not my thing either so Google tells me - Cafe Corazon, Guanajuato (have been here and didn't mind it), Casa de Alberto Best Burger - Oscar’s hands down (a Big O will change your life), Kopps, Crave Cafe, Solly's Grille Best Wings - Points East, TomKens, Club Garibaldi, Jonny Hammers Best Soul Food - Maxie's or Tandem Best Coffee Shop - Stone Creek or Anodyne Best Sushi - Hungry Sumo or Kyoto Best Indian Food - Cafe India in Bayview Best Chinese Food - Huan Xi hands down Best Japanese Food - Kanpai Best Italian Food - Centro Cafe or Tenutas Best Steakhouse - Carnevor ($$$), MKE Steakhouse Best Fish Fry - Lakefront or Klinger East Best BBQ - Iron Grate, Double B especially on Sundays Best Frozen Desert - Purple Door Ice Cream, Koops Best Brewery - Eagle Park by a good bit, Lakefront, Black Husky, Third Space, Good City, Mobcraft, Vennture Best Bloodys - I think Wicked Hop is probably the most popular in the third ward, but if you go more downtown, AK Bombers puts a burger patty on their Bloody. Or if you want bragging rights, Soblemans, like 2 miles west of the 3rd ward, serves it with an entire fried chicken on top. Hollander is literally dedicated to bloodys. Best Sports Bar - Stenys or Jackson's Blue Ribbon Pub Best Happy Hour - Nomad and that's all you need to know Best Old Fashioned - Finks or Bryant's Too bad you're not here during warm weather, so many beer gardens that are a blast Best View - probably driving over North I-794 towards downtown Only been to one dance club which was enjoyable - Mad Planet Best Fine Dining - not my thing but Bacchus Plenty of ice rinks for you two if that's your thing. Red Arrow Park would be the best choice. Pettit as well, bit more fancy.
If you would like an actual "what should I do each day", I can try to help with that. Also there may be spelling mistakes above, sorry in advance.
Gameday experience is really up to you guys. I'll gladly list some places that you won't be disappointed with though. All within reasonable driving or walking distance of the Fiserv for a game day experience Eagle Park (mentioned above, but it really is one of the best breweries in the state) Water Street Brewery which has cheap, decent beer. Good City and MKE Breweries are nearby as well. Doc's Smokehouse is just north. Ian's is close of you want pizza. Solly's too if you want to take a year off your life with their original butter burger. AJ Bombers is a few blocks away. Burgers, beer, lively crowd and peanuts. There's a cool writing on the walls with markers thing there too. Jackson's Blue Ribbon Pub, parking garage right across Jackson's. Think they provide a free shuttle that drops you off right in front of Johnson Controls entrance. All in all, walk around Old World 3rd Street and enjoy your time before the game. You can't go wrong with places like Who's on 3rd and others that are nearby for pregaming. Parking will be hard the closer you get. Traffic and traffic paths are confusing around this area so pay attention. You can find a good spot for 20 dollars if you don't mind getting a little exercise in. The arena is brand new and gorgeous, will by a packed house with good energy. Enjoy MKE while your here.
The team defense is going to be awful with Narvaez catching and a middle infield of Urias at short and Hiura at second.
It would be nice if Pina could play like 2018 and start a decent amount and play Navarez some at first.
Are we going to play Braun at first after overpaying Garcia today. Who is going to play third with Donaldson way out of our price range. Stearns always has a plan but I have no clue what it is.
They should sign Donaldson. (They won't) But they should be able to fit a big contact in the budget given their moves this far.
Narvaez is a good hitter for a catcher but not as a first baseman. I don’t know why we turned down the option on Thames.
We just can’t afford to give Donaldson four years at 25 million per season. He is a great player but he is 34 and extremely injury prone.
What’s the O/U on Brett Anderson’s innings. I would guess 50 or so and with our infield defense his numbers could be ugly.
I thought for sure that all the cost cutting was going to lead to a big signing but now I think ownership just wanted to cut payroll.
If they could get it done at 3 years I'd consider it but that's probably not happening. They need to worry about competing during Yelich's window. If they need a bad year afterwards on an elite player so be it. I'd rather go all out and eat shit for a year or two than go .500 during that window.
I think we have to trade Yelich after next season. Just can’t afford to lose a player like him for nothing in 3 years and we won’t get enough after the ‘21 season with only one year of control.
Here I gave a decent write up above about what MKE has to offer for food drinks and places to visit and now we're talking about doom and gloom Brewers stuff
If they ride it out and don’t win a championship they may well lose 100 games once Yelich leaves. I would give it one more run and trade him if we aren’t definite contenders in ‘21 and looking at the current roster and farm system I am not sure how good we will even be next season.
Fine, you are never getting equal value back for a talent like that to cut bait with two years left. If he leaves you take your QO pick and strip it down and rebuild. I'd rather that than the alternative
Emma I thought you would like this old scouting report on Yelich https://www.sbnation.com/2010/6/7/1506331/2010-mlb-draft-marlins-christian-yelich
I have no clue what Stearns is doing this offseason. The Urias trade was great but I pretty much hate everything else he has done.
Its a complete waste of money to a guy that I wouldn't even bring to spring training as a non roster invitee. The fact that we gave him 4.5 million means he is going to play and play a lot. This might be our new starting third baseman. There is just no defending this move. I can't think of a team having a worse offseason.
Either Attanasio decided to drastically cut the payroll or Stearns completely misread the market. I thought he was letting guys like Thames, Nelson, and Anderson go to make a big splash signing like Donaldson. Now I think its just about having a much reduced payroll. We didn't think Thames was worth 6.5 million but we give Sogard 4.5. We released the scrub two years ago because he was possibly the worst player in baseball and now we give him 4.5 million after a fluke season with a juiced baseball.
I am so disappointed in Stearns and really upset with what is looking like a terrible offseason. We aren't contending with this current roster and I just don't see what Stearns is going to do to change that. Fuck it if we are going cheap just trade Yelich and Hader and hope to be good three years from now.
So here is a recap of what we have done so far and my grades of each move: Urias and Lauer for Grisham and Davies: great trade for the Brewers. We sold high on Grisham who is a nice player but really a LF only who is very replaceable. I would prefer Davies over Lauer but both are 4th starters at best and Lauer is cheaper with a ton more years of control. Urias was a consensus top 20 prospect in baseball with a good hit tool and good OBP potential. The only drawback is whether or not he can play shortstop but this is a risk worth taking. Grade A Narvaez for Hill and a supplemental first pick. Ok move for the Brewers but nothing special. Narvaez is a good replacement for Grandal offensively but the defense is terrible and I hate having bad defense at that position. Not a fan of trading away draft picks as we have done two years in a row but better for Narvaez than Claudio like we did last offseason. Grade C Signed Lindblom to a 3 yr contract: cheap gamble definitely worth taking. Lindblom was dominant in Korea and hopefully it will transfer over here. For a 3 yr contract at 9 million guaranteed plus incentives there is little downside. Grade A Signed Brett Anderson to one year deal: not a fan of this move at all. Anderson is always hurt besides last year and he strikes no one out. With a questionable defense behind him instead of the great one behind him in Oakland this could get ugly. Its only one year for 5 million so not a big deal either way. Grade C Signed Garcia to a 2 yr contract for 20 million. Complete waste of money for a guy that will probably be league average and the Brewers should never spend 10 million per season on a guy with so little upside who is injured way too often. Grade D Signed Healy to a 1 yr deal: another sub .300 OBP guy who can't play third base at all. If he spends most of the year in AAA who cares. Grade C Signed Sogard to a 1 yr deal for 4.5 million. Yes I know he had a good year last year with the juiced baseball but Sogard is not a good player and is really no better than a scrub like Hernan Perez. If he was signed to play a lot which I guess is the case for that money and the fact that he will remind Counsell of himself only makes the deal worse. Grade F I am fine with the team not resigning Moustakas and Grandal. I was totally against not bringing Thames and Nelson back and would have also kept Chase Anderson. As of now we have no third base or first base options and probably a worse rotation than last year unless Burnes and Peralta rebound which I think will happen with both. Its still early and we do have money to spend if the owner allows it but I think we are a weaker team today than we were when last season ended. I guess we should trust Stearns but I have been completely underwhelmed by his moves so far. Good news is the offseason still has plenty of time left so this is an unfinished product and hopefully Stearns will make some good moves by the time the season starts.