Brewer Twitter/Facebook yesterday after news broke that Grandal signed with the White Sox:
A few things in no particular order:
– Are the Brewers better today than they were yesterday? No. No they are not. I acknowledge that. Yasmani was an All Star catcher, and put up career numbers in almost every offensive category. Watching him take pitches and draw walks could have been considered baseball art. I've never seen a player in a Brewer jersey with that much plate discipline. And he really wasn't bad defensively either. That said, IT'S NOVEMBER 22ND. The way people were reacting yesterday you would have thought the Brewers were tearing the whole thing down and starting a rebuild. They saved a bunch of money with the Chase Anderson trade, they saved by not picking up Thames' option, they obviously have more disposable income by not paying Grandal. They're going to use that money. Let's take a breath and see what Stearns' plan is before we act like it's 2002 all over again. It's not even Thanksgiving.
– For the, 'they paid him 18 million last year, why couldn't they pony that up this year?' crowd. Yes, his per year rate is no different than it was last season. But there's a BIG difference between a one year commitment and a four year commitment, especially as it relates to a catcher who is on the wrong side of 30. I'm not saying he's going to start regressing this upcoming season, or even the next. But the back half of that deal is risky if he ages like a normal catcher ages. Catchers are like NFL running backs. After 30/31/32, there is a STEEP drop off. Players like Frank Gore, or Yadier Molina, are freaks of nature. Big market clubs can keep paying a catcher 18 million even if it's clear his prime has passed. Small market teams can't. If it were a guarantee that he was going to hit 25-30 home runs, draw 100 walks, and put up a WAR of 3+ for every year of that four year deal? Then I'd say the Brewers were dumb dumbs. But history predicts that's not going to happen.
– For the, 'typical cheap Brewers!' crowd: I just, I don't know know what more you want. As loudly as I can: THE TEAM HAD THE HIGHEST PAYROLL IN TEAM HISTORY LAST SEASON. The team ranked 27th of 30 teams in terms of market size had the 13th highest payroll. Saying they're cheap makes so little sense that it's starting to make sense because I feel like I must be missing something. And it's not just about attendance. That's a fallback for the, 'cheap,' crowd. 'We're showing up to games, and they can't use that money to buy more free agents!' It is true, the Brewers have remarkable attendance for the market size. But that's not what makes you competitive with teams like New York or LA in terms of team salary. It's all about the TV contracts, and Milwaukee, the 36th biggest media market, will never compete with New York (1st), LA (2nd), or Chicago (3rd). Ad revenue is based on TOTAL eyeballs, and even though Brewer TV ratings are high, the total amount of people watching is lower, because there aren't as many people living in the market.
So, getting back to dash #1, let's just see what Stearns does over the next three months before we jump overboard. Let's not forget, Stearns turned the entire franchise around in a SINGLE season. The Cubs/Astros sat through 4 straight 100 loss seasons during their rebuilds. We had one kind-of-bad season in 2016, before nearly making the playoffs in 2017, getting to within a game of the World Series in 2018, and grabbing a Wild Card in 2019 before bowing out to the eventual World Series champion. I think he's earned that much, right?
PS: Related: This team won 96 games and almost made the World Series with Manny Pina as their primary catcher in 2018. Obviously he's a huge downgrade offensively from Grandal, but I think he's actually an upgrade defensively.
Double PS: 97% of the blogs I write are to calm myself down. I am the person I'm talking to in this entire post. I am the Kermit gif.
