Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Milwaukee Brewers | Profile & Projection | 625

Episode Date: March 11, 2023

Use code JOMBOYPRESEASON for 15% off your next purchase at SeatGeek* https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/JOMBOYPRESEASON*max discount $50, expires 3/31/2023The Brewers are seemingly always a fascinating team. They sneakily made one of the top additions of the offseason in William Contreras. Will Burnes, Woodruff, and that pitching staff continue to thrive? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Whoa. Babe. Ilauake Algonqu. Oh. Mm. Welcome to the Trevor Plouf segment of team profile and projections. Resented by Seat Geek. What's going on, guys?

Spring training is in full tilt. And with Seat Geek code John. Johnboy pre-season. You can get 15% off any order to anything you want. Wherever there's a seat, just make sure you're using seat geek. Johnboy pre-season. Go get it. The Milwaukee Brewers.

Now they're back-to-back with the Chicago White Sox Trevor Plouf was trying to back up the best prediction ever. And both of those teams put a little bit of egg on his face. So Milwaukee went back. and this is an organization we love and are friendly with, so we love them. We've seen Jimmy rip his hamstring out on their field. Trev laugh first, not me. Oh, man, that noise he made.

And they, I say they retooled Trevor Plouf, and that starts off with Wade Miley at the end of the rotation. Brian Anderson, just as a perfect Milwaukee, they'll tap into something for a couple years and get their worth out of him. The trade market. They were in that three-way trade. William Contreras is now a big part of their future,

playing catcher mashing in the middle of the lineup. Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro come over from the Mariners as they try to keep those NL Central stats going from Jesse Winker. Owen Miller for some depth, same with Bryce Wilson and some reliever. I see you Alex Claudio on that minor league deal. They lost. Jace Peterson. Omar Narvias.

Two guys that had been pretty solid for them. Taylor Rogers, as mentioned. Cutch? The Cunch is a brewer. He's out. Trevor got and Pardomar out of the bullpen. Hunter Renfro was traded away. Ooh, kind of forgot about that.

And Colton Wong. Topa, Souter, and a couple other bodies. you'd recognize are out. Trevor Rosenthal remains unsigned. I know he was throwing the other day. Trevor Plouf, this Milwaukee lineup, we end up talking about it a lot. I feel we want a little more normally.

Where are we at now? It's still got question marks. That's what I think. But we know that some of the people that are definitely going to be in there and that need to produce for them, namely my guy, Yelly. Christian Yellich, he'll be some combination of left field

and D.H. Working back and forth with our guy Jesse. as he makes his way over to the brew crew. Willie Adomis, one of the better short stops than all the baseball. He'll be manning the middle infield along with, well, we'll see. Bryce Terang is who Fangrass has listed there. Let's see what this guy wrote over here for second base. Luis Ureis will probably get the nod first,

and this Bryce will start in the minors and then eventually make some sort of splash on the team. So we'll go with Eurias, I believe, starting in second base. A little bit of Bryce sprinkled in there. Routy Telez will be at first base. They trade for William Contreras up their catcher spot. That's nice. Now we have the Eureas. This is a third base on Fragress,

but I think Brian Anderson of the Marlins is looking like he's probably going to be playing third base for them. So we're all over the place on Fangrass and the MLB prediction of their opening day roster. The outfield, the rest of the outfield is where it gets a little bit interesting. as well. Tyrone Taylor had a nice run there at the end. He was in center field. He got pushed over by Garrett Mitchell. So a combination of those two guys, plus they have some guys coming up in

Sal Frelick and Joey Weimer. These are two big outfield prospects for them. So a combination of all those guys will be used, some debt pieces. Don't forget about Kestin Hira. Victor Karatini will be the backup catcher and then Mike Persso. Who? Wasn't he the Araldus Chapman killer back in the day? One of them. one of them so look there's some players there there's some questions

they got some young guys coming up which might explain why they weren't so urgent in free agency this year maybe they believe in some of these guys it sounds like they always believe in their prospects BBD one of the better aspects on this team

is a starting rotation won't you give us that in the bullpen the starting rotation of course kicks off with former Cy Young winner Corbyn Burns friend of ours at this point He talked to him on the field. Brandon Woodruff, he cracked, I think, the all underrated team. Freddie Peralta, everyone was ready to drink the Kool-Aid on him last year.

Took a little dip, and he'll be back. Eric Lauer, he's put in some good innings. Wade Miley was their big free agent signing of the offseason. Adrian Houser, Aaron Ashby, when they're around, they figure to be sixth-sharter options or the lead some innings out of the pen. Jason Alexander, Ethan Smaller, some depth options in the bullpen. And Devin Williams, of course, headlines that part of the team. Matt Bush, Peter Straslecky, fun name.

They're back there too and some other guys. Havi Gera. Oh, yeah. They pitch. Trevor, you mentioned Christian Yelich. Friend of ours, friend of yours. Just a solid dude, man. I don't, we laugh.

I'd say whenever. we check in on it when we played blitzball in Milwaukee's field and Yeli just like watch for a little bit. We're like, dude, you're like, you're worth a lot of money. You don't have to be watching us play blitzball. He's just a guy and he's talking baseball, our trivia show. He appreciates what we're doing. An interesting year for him, Trev. The big contract like fully kicked in last year.

That was his first year making 26 Millie. and he's making that for the next one, two, three, four, five, six, six years. And I want to start this on a high note because he, he put together a nice season. We think Yelly has more, but he was pretty consistent. First half, second half were both solid. He got on base and he slapped it around a little bit. I was surprised the baseball savant has a lot more pretty red bubbles than I thought it might. The max exit velo is still there.

The average exit velo is still there. I wonder what I don't know currently for Yelly, because I know you looked at his swing a lot, and it looks like he's figuring something out, and I don't know if it's a retooling and launch angle is next, and that'll lead to some more OPS or maybe with less shifts. I don't think he was a big shift guy, but if he can stumble into a few more hits, the numbers would look a little more gouty.

But this is a big year for Yelly as he's 31, and I think this year is going to let us know kind of what the next six years of Christian Yellich are going to look like, which is very important to the future of this Brewers because he's their cornerstone guy. I think with Yelly, whenever we talk about him, it's confidence.

And he's a confident dude, but sometimes at the major league level, you just got to bring it every single day and trick yourself. Now, can you do that? Does he have people around him pumping him up like that? I think Jesse Winker's going to be really good for him. Ooh, I like that. Because that dude, that dude, he gasses people up.

He's a man of my own ilk. I love it. But what I will say about Yelly, and look, I love this kid. I think he's he's one of my favorites. He's got a slug. A slug in the threes is not okay. Like we need mid-fours to 500 slug out of Yelly

to get him to get the brewers back to where they need to be. Because when I look at that lineup, I still think, hey, man, we're like missing something. Like if everything goes right and Winker returns to form, because go look at his numbers, what he has done on the baseball field, returning to the NL Central where he did all those bad things to the baseball, if we can get that going.

If Rowdy hits 30 this year, if Yelly ups that slug, if Willie Adomis puts himself in the MVP talk, which I think he could. Like, then we're talking. But we need some slug, man. We need to drive the ball. And it starts with Yelly.

So whether there's mechanical adjustments that have to be made, whether it's a confidence thing, if he gets back on track and, I mean, dude, he had a year where he slug 671, 2019. He sluged 519. before. Last year, 383, the year before that 3703. That's a massive drop ball.

So we got to get that back. That first and foremost, I think that's probably the most important thing I see when I'm looking at this lineup. Yeah, I wonder, you know, there's 2019 is a juice ball season, which I, you know, I'm not going to knock Yelly for. Go get it, man. The year before was not. 2018 was, you know, the ball's right. He also led the league, though, that year. I mean, You can say the number 671 might be high, but relative to the league, he was first and slugging. And either way,

it shouldn't lead to what it is now, which I wonder if that 2020 season got in his head, which would be wild because it was that shortened season. But as you know, Trev, you know, batting average still matters, especially to players. And him hit in 205 that season. I wonder if he tried to get more of a contact approach.

Very interested to see, Yelly. Love the gas man approach from Winker as he tries to regass himself up, as I did famously in our one interview with him. Routy to Les, another one of our guys, incredible dude. Top 10 in homers last year. You remember I was a year early on his breakout? Again, tooting my own horn. And dude, William Contreras. Yes.

That brings a pop. Bald out last year. and like 97 games he had 20 homers 860 OPS as a 24 year old he was an all star I'm excited to see what a full see

I think Milwaukee snuck in that trade in a very Milwaukee way and got themselves an awesome young piece that if Jesse Winker bounces back and Willie and Rowdy kind of continue to do what they've been doing I like this line up for Milwaukee, I feel like more than I have in past years, which I don't know, every time I say

that, I do a little head tilt because there's been more hype for Milwaukee the past couple years, I think, than this current Milwaukee team. That's probably what you're seeing here is we have last year now in our minds where even last year we're like, dude, we just need a move. We just need a move to happen at the deadline. It reportedly they were in on some people. It did not happen. And they just kind of floundered out. man. It was not Craig. Craig Timber. Is that what they call it? It wasn't Craig Timber last year, bro. When you're looking at these team rankings from 2022, 10th and OPS. So the offense wasn't necessarily the problem. Starting pitching. 11th and whiff. I say whip. Whips. I think I just said whip. I had a

I had a lispy one last step. So we're good. Yeah, 11, 11th and whip. That is, that's tough. Oh, that's what got you. And then relievers, 12th and whip. So they were a top half team in some really important categories last year, but not elite enough in any of them, I guess. Right? If you want to be a top tier team, you better be a top tier team in some of these categories. So Contreras helps slug out.

Yelly getting back to form helps slug out. Winker coming in. Hopefully he does his thing. That'll help out. Now we're talking about an offense that could go a little bit more. I believe the rotation is going to be. We haven't even talked about the rotation yet. Yeah.

It's solid. You know that. I think Corbyn Burns is projected as like the best pitcher in baseball. Yes. They love him. And I do too. Relievers, I think we should probably go there now. Yeah.

Enough in the bullpen there. I mean, we got rid of Josh Hader. David Williams is going to step into the role full time. Yeah. I think he can handle it. But beyond that, what do you got? It's a little bit of Brewers. Like, that's one area that it's felt like they've had magic for a little while,

that they can tap into something, whether you're a 37-year-old Matt Bush, former 1-1. Or, honestly, like, this might just be a dumb line in a TPP that doesn't matter. Joel Pyeamps, he's a guy every time I saw him, you're like, wait, why aren't you good? He'd end up in every Royals blowout. He finally put it together a little bit, and now I think the Brewers might just bring that to a massive level.

Also, relievers are crazy volatile, so we might never hear his name again this season. So Brewers fans were a little mad when we were doing... Me and BPD did... Did we do top rotations? Yeah, we were trying to find the best rotation in baseball. And we kind of ruled the Brewers out pretty quickly. And I think it goes back to what you just said, Trev.

Like this team's identity, and I think when we were higher on them, it was that they might have the best rotation in baseball. Right now, it feels like, all right, Corbyn Burns is, you know, he could be your first guy you take. You know, maybe if you promise me a healthy de Grom, but Corbyn Burns special. Brandon Woodruff's been really, really good for a while now. Lauer has put together a couple seasons.

Brewers fans were mad. We didn't hype him enough. Some numbers don't love him as much as the results, but the results have been there. Peralta was a part of the law firm and still solid. That I don't know. I don't know if it's because some of these other National League teams have built, like, like trios,

like the impressive Mets or Phillies or whatever. whoever it may be. I think this team used to start with the rotation and maybe it still does, but it doesn't feel as impactful as it used to. Okay. I'm looking at the bullpen now. I've got a few suggestions. Okay.

Kind of a packed house there. They got a lot of guys. I got out of options they need to put in there. Aaron Ashby is going to start the year on VIL. He's flirted back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen and the numbers are pretty stark. I mean, as a start, 4-8-1 and 19 starts as a reliever of 279.

You could dive into the numbers. Jake, as a reliever, 82 played appearances against him. He had three extra base hits. Three doubles. No homers, no triples. Six walks to 23 strikeouts. And as a starter, the slug was just different. And I don't know if he has to add a pitch

when he goes and is a starter and he goes back to a two pitch mix when he is a reliever. I'm not sure what it is. But this is a guy whose name we've been hearing for a couple of years now. And they think very, very highly of this guy in the organization. And they thought he was going to be like either one of these, like a lockdown reliever or a guy that you can rely on in the starting rotation. It looks like it served him better as a reliever. I know he probably wants to start.

But putting him in that bullpen and how. having like a Devin Williams, Aaron Ashby, one-two punch at the end, I think would go a long way. It would be interesting, right? If they could have a kind of a high power, lefty reliever that could go two innings if you needed it? Don't you dare. It just, it feels like that I left,

I left one of the ingredients out when I met, when I said the Brewers used to start with that rotation. They also had the two dudes in the back end. And I guess that's where, when I talk about the Brewers organization as a whole, and even just relievers these days. Like, I mentioned it in the intro, like, I see Alex Claudio's a non-raster invite for them.

Like, if he makes the team, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets in there, gets a bunch of lefties out, is Alex Claudio, you know? Jake Cousins is a guy who's probably going to be riding the bus for them up and down a little bit this year. You know, he's projected for 58 innings, more strikeouts than innings pitch in a 3-7-1.

That used to be a high end reliever, and that's a guy who might be doing the up and down for them. So their bullpen as a whole will figure itself out. Devin Williams, I love on the back end. Yeah, you wonder if they find the one-two punch, because that was a part of their recipe when it was working down there. And they're going to get more than enough from their rotation. It's how much are the other parts going to kick in And where does it put them in this NL Central

Where the Cardinals Cardinals have stars, man I feel like we kind of skip over it But like Aeronado Goldie Even the secondary like Your Tommy Edmonds and what they're doing Who else you want? You know who I want

What's you want? Star, Jack Flaherty, contract year We're not talking Cardinals, though. We're talking brew crew, and this line is going to make your head spin. The Cubs got a little better. Where are the Brewers out? 85 and a half, draft keys has in that.

86 games last year, so they're expecting the same, if you will. I've been going first. I want to hear your take on this. I have a lien. I believe in the Brewers as an organization, which, you know, I said that about the giant. I ended up going up.

over on the Giants too. They won 86 last year. It felt like they were never in a groove. They ended up getting nice performances from Adamas and Rowdy. I'll go over. I don't know what it means. I don't know. It could be 86 again, and that's kind of it.

They pitch enough, they hit enough. And, man, like, Jesse Winker can go. If I had to bet on something, like I think his Seattle year is going to look more like an outlier than the mean. So if I believe in that, that means I believe in Contreras, Rowdy, Willie, Yelly, and Winker, that's a lineup, man. And they pitch in Milwaukee. So, yeah, I'm into it. Yeah. This looks like a team that I could just walk into that clubhouse and they'd already have my locker set there.

I would fit right in on this team. Me and Willie would go out of the weekend. We'd have a good time together. I'd wake up and have brunch with the old guys like Yelly and Jesse Winker. We might play some spades while we're having a mimosa. I can play all over this field, coach. Put me in. I want to be on this team.

I want to believe in this team. And I don't think they broke my heart the way the White Sox broke my heart last year. I think there's still mutual love between Milwaukee and myself. We got a lot of buddies on this team. They were a move away last year. They were one good run away last year. So they didn't break me as much as watching the White Sox broke me. I'm taking the over here.

I do believe in this organization. This looks like a fun group. And sometimes you need some fun guys to make the over. I'm taking the over. That was a Last of Us reference if you didn't get it. DVD was horny about it. I'll get there. I just after the wedding.

My final note before we get Johnboys over under on it, and I think this is important. The brewers operate a little differently as a franchise. They know they'll never be big market, big market. I don't think they plan on having a San Diego-type run. They will always have fresh bodies, on the way, and their fresh bodies on the way this year, some of them have a real chance to click between Garrett Mitchell,

Frelick, Bruce Terang, like, one of those guys we're going to be talking about next year as a rookie that, like, they put together a full season. I don't know which one it is. I'm no longer a scout, but one of those guys is going to click. Bryce Terang. Done. John?

Under. Oh. Ady boy. All right. I need to hear the explanation on that. That would mean the cards are good, which they are. The Cubs are coming. Yeah, he's under on the Cubs.

No hater. Oh, he's out on the Centri. Oh, all Centrals are under. Yeah. Same reason Baltimore Boston got over. Let's go. I got a video Yelly on my phone, singing with School Boy Q, Jimmy Rawlins,

Ryan Braun. They're singing Sweet Caroline down at the waist. management open. So he's feeling it. Schoolboy Q rub off on him a little bit. Hands on the wheel.