Just one week until Opening Day 2020! So close, I am getting so pumped to finally watch the boys of summer on my TV again. Now that we are just one week away, a final 30 man roster prediction.
Baseball is back baby! Players report in four days to Miller Park for Summer Camp/Midsummer Training, Spring Training 2.0. Whatever you want to call it. Here is my stab at the way the initial 30 man roster is
going to shake out.
Never thought it was going to happen. No way, Yeli isn't going to sign an extension to stay in Milwaukee because he is too good. The Brewers will have to trade him the year before he hits free agency or half way through that season. Then he will hit free agency to cash in a huge payday ala Harper, Machado, Cole and what Betts figures to get next offseason. But then the Ken Rosenthal tweet came at 3:14pm on Tuesday March 3rd. It will become a "where were you when the news broke of the Yelich extension?"
I had just gotten back to the office after a meeting with a customer, got myself my customary afternoon cup of coffee sat down at my desk, and boom there it was. I had to do a double take and make sure it had the blue check mark and that I wasn't getting duped by a fake Rosenthal account. It was pure excitement and joy. Christian Yelich is really going to sign a long term extension with the Brewers to stay in Milwaukee for essentially the rest of his career. A nine year contract through 2028 worth $215 mill with a mutual option for 2029 became official on Friday March 6th at a presser with Yelich, Stearns and Attanasio. Get ready to book a vacation in Cooperstown sometime in July roughly between the years 2034-2038 for the induction ceremony.
You know the resume by now, but let's just go through it because it's so awesome. 2018 NL MVP (should have been 2019 as well, was robbed), two NL Batting Titles, two NL All-Star games, three NL OF Silver Sluggers, NL Gold Glove, All-MLB First Team (19'). Career slash line of .301/.383/.492 w/ 139 HR, 124 SB, 137 OPS+, 33.6 WAR. When the Brewers traded for Yeli in January 2018 we all knew we were getting a really good player, with a ton of potential to be even better. And he has tapped into every bit of that potential his first two years in Milwaukee becoming the best player in the NL and pretty much the second best player in all of baseball only behind Mike Trout.
He loves Milwaukee, he has said that in countless interviews and wrote that tremendous piece in the Players Tribune before the 2018 playoff run. He wanted to be here and we now get to enjoy the ride as we watch a future Hall of Famer day in and day for many summers to come. He's a special player and a special person. I have all the faith in David Stearns, the entire front office and Craig Counsell that they will all do whatever they can to put a good team around him every season so that at some point during this contract they bring a World Series Championship to the state of Wisconsin. It is going to be a great nine plus years, so excited to go on this journey.
The five year contract extension and two team options that could keep Freddy Peralta a Brewer through the 2026 season seems like a win for both parties. Freddy has now set his family up for life with a guaranteed $15.5 mill and the opportunity to add another $14.5 mill if the two options years are picked up by the Brewers. The Brewers lock up a very talented, young (23 yo) pitcher who's role is not defined yet but has shown great flashes as both a starting pitcher and reliever. And for Freddy, if he strives over the next seven years in either role or a combination he will be a free agent again at age 30 and have a chance to cash in one more time for a payday.
For the Brewers this seemed like an absolute no brainer. To lock up a young player with the potential of Freddy Peralta at this kind of cost there is hardly any risk. If he is only mildly effective or worse he flames out you are only out $15.5 mill, that is not going to sink your ship by any means. If he strives as either a starter or a high leverage reliever they will have a steal of a deal. For Freddy there is no doubt he could end up leaving quite a bit of money on the table if he fully realizes the potential of the flashes he has shown in both roles. But now knowing he is going to make the club in some fashion could be just what he needs to relax and just go out there and shove and be the pitcher we all hope he can be. That security can he huge for some players.
For me, I still think I like Freddy best as a high leverage, relief ace type pitcher. A right handed Josh Hader perhaps if they can use Peralta in the same way they use Hader. His stuff overall has ticked up from 2018 to 2019, but it really seemed he was able to let it go when coming out of the pen in smaller bursts than trying to go deep into games as a starter. But I will gladly say I was wrong if this new slider Freddy is throwing is legit and he can be a reliable starter for the Brewers, we know he can flash that with his big league debut for the Rockies on Mother's Day in 2018 and his gem he tossed against the Reds in April of 2019. But to truly breakout and have consistent success in either role he will have to improve on his current career 4.2/BB9. He gets a lot of swings and misses in the zone, he just has to keep throwing it in the zone and master his command.
The games are essentially meaningless exhibitions and the final score really doesn't matter and we all soon forget it after we hear it. But there sure is something special those first few times in February/March when you hear Mr. Baseball's voice back on the airwaves. Just is such a good feeling. Hearing the crack of the bat, snap of the glove and on TV yesterday seeing how the new uni's actually look on the players while they're playing the game. Damn it sure is awesome to have baseball back in our lives, isn't it?
Chad Spanberger the guy the Crew got back from Toronto for Chase Anderson hit a dinger yesterday. And I'll be honest, that was the first time I ever saw him. He is a pretty big dude, really put together. Hopefully he can make more contact and really tap into some of that raw power he possess.
I know Counsell said there was a competition for the final rotation spot between Lauer, Peralta and Burnes. But unless he really unravels I don't know how you don't give it to Lauer. He is probably the safest bet of the three. I still like Freddy as a potential elite reliever so I hope they just put him in the pen and let him be. And as much as I love Burnes as a bounce back candidate this year, I think it might be best for him to start down in San Antonio and he is the first call if any injury arises at the big league level. It was pretty cool to hear about his 94mph slider he got a whiff on. Corbin clearly has top notch special stuff, but can he put it in the locations where hitters are not going to crush it for HR after HR again like 2019?
I never followed Brett Anderson on Twitter until about a month ago or so. But from listening to the Starting 9 Podcast when Dallas and Jared would talk about Brett I knew it was pretty good stuff. Well, it really is. He doesn't tweet a lot, but when he does it is usually funny, smart and witty. You should follow up as well, @_BAnderson30_. You will enjoy it.
Just when I thought the Brewers had too many infielders David Stearns goes out and signs another infielder. A couple of my buddies and I are in a group chat and our running joke this offseason has been the Brewers seeming to acquire every 2B alive which makes no sense since we have Keston Hiura. Granted they were not acquiring guys who only play 2B, they all play multiple positions and Brock Holt the latest 2B the Brewers acquired is no different. But he is a little more special than the others as he has literally played every position on the diamond (more than 10 games) sans Pitcher and Catcher. I love players like this and this is just the type of player that David Stearns and Craig Counsell love. Holt should be a huge asset for Counsell this season especially with the 26 man roster and having that extra position player.
He seems to play all the positions at least average defensivly. With the bat, not much power, but he can hit for average and he does get on base at a pretty good clip. His OPS+ was over 100 each of the last two seasons. Also Holt is a salt of the earth human from every story I have read about him, lot of Red Sox fans have been quite sad to see him go as they were really hoping the Sox would re-sign him. He was very invovled in the Boston community, especially the Jimmy Fund. Brock was also the star of this clip that I think is just the best. Glad to have you in Milwaukee, Brock Star.
Excited to hear that Freddy Peralta added a slider to his pitch repertoire while pitching in winter ball. We all heard the stories all offseason how dominate he was in winter ball, which while it's not nothing to sneeze at, having a good winter ball and having a good MLB season are two totally different things. But don't get me wrong, I'm at least hopeful that he really did figure something out with this slider and adding it to his fastball that played up out of the pen in addition to a curve that somtimes looked absolutely filthy. Maybe we see a full season of the nasty Peralta we saw occasionally out of the bullpen in the 2018 playoffs and the 2019 regular season. Sure would be helpful to guys like Hader, Knebel and Suter to make our pen one of the best in the league again.
Josh Hader lost his arbitration case to the Brewers so he will *only* earn $4.1 mil in 2020. The $6.4 mil he and his representation filed for which would have been the record for a relief pitcher in his first year, sure seemed like a tall hill to climb. But I can't really blame them, Hader has been pretty much far and away the best RP in MLB for the past two seasons. And honestly he is more than worth the $6.4 mil, but looks like not having many saves in 2017 and 2018 hurt his cause. It certainly isn't "fair" but it's just the way of an old, somewhat broken arbitration system. Due to his Super 2 status he achieved he gets three more years of arb. I am sure the next few years he will earn much more if he continues to pitch like he has and for his sake and the Brewers sake I sure hope he does.
Was fun to see our MVP Christian Yelich show up at NBA All-Star Saturday night in Chicago and lend an assist to Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton in the dunk contest. Yelich rocking a old school Kareem Bucks jersey and used as a prop for Pat doing the "White Men Can't Jump" dunk. Let's be honest, anytime our athletes of our teams crossover and show up to support the other teams in the state we are always going to mark out for it. At least I know I will. Just glad Yeli was left unscathed and will be in AZ in just a day or two to report to camp.
So happy for Brent Suter, a former 31st round pick out of Harvard signs a 2 year deal to avoid arbitration (which a hearing was going to be held tomorrow). $2.5 mil guaranteed for The Raptor. Pretty awesome for a guy picked that late, doesn't throw hard at all and had TJ surgery in 2018. He was obviously huge down the stretch last season for the Brewers when he returned and they will need more of that in 2020 to compete. He has become a huge fan favorite with his quirky personalty and how fast he works on the mound. For me, I look forward to watching him pitch as much as I do Hader. He should be huge as a multi inning RP in 2020 and possibly as a spot starter depending on the health of the top five SP going into camp.
Pitchers and catchers report in less than two days. First spring game is in ten days. Here is my first stab at the way the 26 man roster is going to shake out.
It was a game in late July, but last nights game vs the Cubs at Miller Park felt like a playoff game. As I watched the game with friends at my neighbors house everyone watched it with the intensity of a playoff game, hanging on every pitch. The atmosphere at Miller Park through the TV was electric and felt like a game with it all on the line in October. The Brewers came into the game after a BRUTAL 2-8 East Coast road trip that saw them lose their grip on 1st Place in the NL Central and actually fall 1.5 games behind the Cubs. You have to give it up for Brent Suter. He was outstanding. Easily the best start of his career. 7 shutout innings, 5 K, 1 BB, only game up 4 hits and had a Game Score of 73. Suter showed some serious #want and #rig on the mound in a game the Brewers desperately needed to win and needed a strong start and with the offense only scoring 2 runs, the margin for error was thin. Suter has now started 7 games this season and has been really good in 5 of them. And one of the two he wasn't so good in, was the game he had to start in an emergency vs the Cardinals when Brandon Woodruff hurt his hamstring in pre game warmups. What I'm getting at here is that Brent Suter has earned his right to stay in the Brewers rotation once guys like Garza and Anderson come off the DL. Once those two guys are back healthy it should be a rotation of Nelson/Anderson/Garza/Davies/Suter. Junior Guerra should go to the bullpen (where he could actually be pretty good) once everyone is back healthy.
Well, that was a tough loss to swallow. Maybe the toughest of the season. I know there have been at least a handful of other games that have been this hard to take, specifically another game that Jimmy Nelson started against the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw when he out pitched Clayton Kershaw. But we're not talking about that game. We are talking about tonight's game, when Jimmy Nelson dominated again, against a really good lineup and has nothing to show for it. I don't blame Counsell for pulling Nelson after the lead off walk in the bottom of the 8th. Barnes came in and looked okay, got a couple of ground balls but they got through. I do have an issue with pulling Hader after he got Harper to strike out on four pitches. Is Counsell planning to use Hader as a LOOGY now? I guess the right on right match up of Hughes vs Zimmerman makes sense, but it also could be seen as some over managing. Getting to cute. Of course hindsight is always 20/20 and if he leaves Hader in and he blows it we bitch that he should have gone to Hughes or another RHP. I guess to me, Hader has been so electric and looked so dominate in his time with the big league club that its hard to turn away from him in that spot. I'm a Craig Counsell guy, so while I will question the move, it certainly doesn't make me think he's a bad Manager or can't manage a bullpen. I think that's crazy talk personally.
On a positive note it was great to see Lewis Brinson hit his 1st big league HR. Man that was a shot and a thing of beauty. Hopefully that is the first of many. And with Brett Phillips being sent down to AAA to make room for Anthony Swarzak on the active roster it seems that Brinson will be the everyday CF at least for the time being. Needless to say I'm pretty pumped about this as I think he can really help the club now. With this now being his second stint in the big leagues and getting that 1st HR out of the way hopefully he can relax, slow the game down and just play. As impressive as the HR was, I might have been more impressed with the walk he took in his second AB. He spit on two very tough pitches on ball 2 and 3 in that AB and worked a walk. It was really good patience, if he can show that on a regular basis and pitchers and forced to throw him strikes he could be huge down the stretch. See what they can do against Scherzer tomorrow and get ready for the Cubs this weekend and the battle for 1st place.
It looks like the Brewers have made their first of hopefully a few upgrades to their bullpen today. Jon Heyman tweeted that the Brewers and White Sox had an agreement in place for RP Anthony Swarzak. Later Dan Hayes tweeted that the Brewers would be sending the White Sox minor league OF Ryan Cordell to complete the trade. Swarzak figures to slide right into a late inning role setting up for closer Corey Knebel. Big question will be to make room for Swarzak who do the Brewers give the boot to? Torres? Drake? Peralta? Blazek? Hard to say, Blazek is the only one with an option which could determine what Stearns does. I think most fans would like to see Torres or Drake gone.
Hard to not like this trade for the Brewers. They fill a need for another quality RP on the big league club and deal from a organizational position of depth in the OF from the minor leagues. Swarzak is 31 yo and enjoying the best season of his career. 48.1 IP, 2.23 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 2.34 FIP, 52/13 K/BB, 1.8 WAR. That is a pretty impressive line. He will be a free agent after the season. Cordell who came to the Brewers as the PTBNL in the Lucroy trade with the Rangers is a nice OF prospect who was not in the Brewers top 10, but easily a top 20 guy. I liked Cordell and thought he could be a nice 4th OF for the Brewers at some point, but with all the other OF prospects they have it's not a huge loss. And for a quality arm like Swarzak to give this bullpen a boost it certainly seems worth it on paper. One more bullpen arm would be real nice; Neshek, Wilson, Reed or Ramos. We'll stay tuned.
Ken Rosenthal just tweeted that per sources the Brewers were fading in discussions for Oakland Athletics SP Sonny Gray. Needless to say I am not upset about this. Gray is a fine pitcher and would have been a nice little upgrade for this Brewers pitching staff. But in a sellers market for SP, the price was going to be pretty high and I am glad that GM David Stearns stuck to his guns and was not willing to pay what will probably be a high price for Gray similar to what the Cubs paid to the White Sox for Jose Quintana. In my opinion this is not the time to send away a bunch of highly touted prospects you just spent three years accumulating for a pitcher like Gray. Still in first place, stay the course with what you have and got you here. Chase Anderson should be back in a few weeks and you could turn to Brandon Woodruff at some point. I do hope the Brewers look to add a quality RP or two yet before the deadline. *Fingers crossed for Pat Neshek*
The finals are here! It's been chalk up to this point, but now we have the two best prep pitchers in the draft class going head-to-head.
Jason Groome: A hard throwing lefty with a group of plus pitches and control Groome is regularly ranked as the best prospect in the class and by all accounts, should be available when the Brewers pick on Thursday.
Riley Pint: The top prospect heading into the year, Pint has fallen off a bit due to concerns about his mechanics. He struggles to consistently throw strikes, but who cares when you're throwing 102 MPH and already have 3 average or better pitches before you've graduated high school?
Vote below and let's see if the prospect the Brewer make on Thursday is the pick the fans want!
The finals are here! View From Bernie’s Chalet Brewers’ Draft Twitter Poll Tourney.
After Brad wrote that piece a few weeks ago on how the Brewers should trade Braun now and Lucroy later, I felt inclined to share my thoughts on why I don't want the Brewers to ever trade Ryan Braun. Now I'm not saying I don't think it won't happen. It's a possibility. But as a die hard Brewers fan and die hard fan of Ryan Braun, deep down inside I don't ever want to see him wearing another teams uniform.
I am fully aware that it might be best for the club to trade Braun. And if a trade is made and the Brewers get a really good prospect haul in return and don't have to pay any of Ryan's salary for the duration of his contract then I would be fine with it. But selfishly I want Ryan Braun to be a Brewer for his entire career. I think it would be awesome to see him follow suit with guys like Yount, Ripken, Gwynn, Brett and Jones and spend his whole career in one teams uniform. It certainly is a rare sight in today's game of baseball. And we probably won't see too many more going forward.
The biggest reasons I personally don't want to see him traded are simple. First, I'm obviously a huge fan of Braun and he has brought me so much joy over the past 10 years and so many memorable moments that I would like that to continue. The second reason I'd like the Brewers to keep Braun ties into the first. I think he can be a big contributor still on the next Brewers teams that compete and go to the postseason. I know, I know. Braun has had some injury issues/concerns over the past four seasons. The thumb, the back, the wrist, etc. While he misses games here and there, he has still only been on the DL once in his career (2013). If he stays healthy and they manage his games played as they have done so far in 2016, he has a chance to still be very productive.
He is 32 now and will be 37 when his contract expires (including the option year in 2021). Why can't he still be a very productive bat in the last three years of that deal (19'-21') when the Brewers figure to be a contender again? David Ortiz is still productive at 40 years old. Only way he isn't in my opinion is if it's a health issue. And that really can't be predicted one way or the other. I also bet they have him move to 1B sometime in 2018 or 2019 if not sooner to make room for another young talented OF and to put him in a better position to stay healthy. And "IF" he is healthy, why wouldn't he still play and more specifically hit at a high level?
In the meantime I am sure we will continue to read tweets and articles from reporters giving us the latest Braun trade rumors. And when reading those rumors, remember he only has a handful of clubs that he can be traded to without having to agree to said trade. And players usually put those clauses in contracts for a reason. They want to stay where they are at.
It’s the first ever View From Bernie’s Chalet Brewers’ Draft Twitter Poll Tourney! Ok, maybe the name needs a little work.
Below is a bracket and four Twitter polls. Vote in each contest to determine the prospect you want the Brewers to draft next Thursday. It’s for fun and to determine which prospect the fans want most. Hell, maybe we’ll get it right and the fans can brag about their success and then be disappointed in 5 years when the prospect is bussing tables at a bar!
Twitter poll tourney! Which prospect would you rather draft?
It's happened. Carlos Gomez has returned to Milwaukee (albeit in a different uniform), and it is bringing out all of my feels.
Gomez was a pile of trouble to start out his Milwaukee Brewers career, but when the coaches finally let the leash loose, he took off like we all had hoped when the Crew swapped JJ Hardy for the troubled centerfielder.
So to celebrate what he meant to us when he was a Brewer and his return to Milwaukee, here are MY top 5 Carlos Gomez moments.
5. The Walk-off Run
This moment is truly Nyjer Morgan's, but it's one of my favorite Brewers moments of all times and Carlos Gomez was a huge part of it. Gomez was the second batter of the inning, singled to get on base and stole second, as he does. Morgan did the rest and drove him in, and the stadium was literally shaking with joy. I'll never forget hugging my family members in the club section, then turning around to Bill Schroeder, who was in a suite, and screaming, "Pound it!"
It may be Nyjer Morgan's hit, but that 10th inning walk-off was a lot of Gomez.
4. The Tall's Hill Snag
2013 might be the best defensive season the Brewers will ever get out of a center fielder, and this list has two of Gomez's amazing plays. Jason Castro nailed this ball, and most center fielders don't get within a foot. Gomez, going up a hill, has to adjust to make the over the shoulder catch. Who does that!? Gomez.
3. The Gomez Fight
Fights in baseball are never great, but this one I was fully behind Gomez. Gomez said recently that he always has fun and doesn't mean to disrespect anyone. In this play, Gomez bat flips and watches the baseball soar out of the stadium. It's Gomez, it's what he does. Every Braves player got mad. ALL of them, the douchiest being the king of douches: Brian McCann.
Why I loved it? Gomez is defending his right to have fun. He really didn't do anything wrong. He wrecked a Paul Maholm pitch (in 2013 who didn't?) and watched that sucker fly. Gomez defended his right to do so and I loved that he didn't take any crap from a bunch of cocky old-schoolers who demand an invisible rule book to be followed to its invisible t.
2. "Kiwis have three times as much potassium as bananas."
This is clearly not something that happened on the baseball diamond, but when I think of Gomez this is the type of stuff I imagine. It came out of a Sports Illustrated interview. While doing a feature on Gomez, Ryan Braun revealed that after signing a big contract in Milwaukee the center fielder was Googling "Things rich people talk about."
It's hysterical, it's random and it's amazing. That is everything that is Carlos Gomez off the field.
1. THE Game Saving Catch
Carlos Gomez has enough game-saving catches that we probably have forgotten more than we remember, but this one was special. At Miller Park, the 9th inning and K-Rod was up for the save. Reds were down 3-4 with Joey Votto at the plate and a runner on first. As K-Rod does, he threw a pitch that was hammered deep and to center, and as GoGo does, he sprinted to the wall, timed the fly ball and caught that S.O.B. I remember jumping out of my seat with joy and amazement. I'll never forget Votto telling the umps to check the glove for the ball and Gomez batting the the glove to show what he just did. Gomez jumped with joy, he smiled as big as he possibly could and was cocky as hell. It was everything that makes Gomez a great baseball player and enjoyable to watch.
I miss Carlos Gomez. He's everything I want in a baseball player and I am so excited that he's back in Milwaukee -- even if it's just for 3 games.
Did I miss one of your top GoGo moments? Tell us in the comments!
When the Brewers hired David Stearns, it was a sign of hitting the reset button. Milwaukee was ready to turn the page as the last chapter or its glory faded and the ashes stopped smoking. Yet, when they hit reset on the franchise, they gave him power to make about 2 dozen roster moves but demanded he hold onto a piece of old: Craig Counsell.
It’s completely unfair to ask any GM to take the franchise in a truly new direction when forcing them to hold onto a manager installed by the old regime. But Mark Attanasio made it perfectly clear when starting his search for a new GM, do not mess with Craig Counsell.
It’s another chapter in Mark A’s book of mistakes, forcing the signing of Lohse, bringing back K-Rod over and over again, hiring Ken Macha, the camo-shirt that was up for vote during free t-shirt Friday voting. You can’t start over and tell the GM that he needs to hold onto this old manager.
Not only is this being forced on Stearns, but Counsell is the face of that crumbling regime. He was on the roster for most of Doug Melvin’s glory period as GM, then when he retired decided to become Melvin’s pet project. Don’t you think it’s likely that there will be some loyalty to Melvin and a resistance to Stearns new age thinking?
On top of that connection to the ways of old, Counsell also has no success as manager. He’s 61-76 after managing the Brewers team for most of the year last year. This was mostly the same team that was in first place for a majority of the 2014 season!
The other fear is the affect he could have on players. Counsell was never that successful as a player and had one of the worst batting stances in baseball history. What happens when he tries to get players to experiment with extending batting stances that but their swing in danger?
Counsell needs to go and the team needs to start anew. I think the best move the Brewers could make is to fire Counsell and try to work Tony LaRussa from the Diamondbacks.
I know that these 25 man roster prediction's during Spring Training can be as useful as a mock draft, but I enjoy doing them. So here goes the 2016 version.
Catchers (2): Jonathan Lucroy, Martin Maldonado
Infielders (6): Chris Carter, Scooter Gennett, Jonathan Villar, Aaron Hill, Colin Walsh, Yadiel Rivera
Outfielders (4): Ryan Braun, Domingo Santana, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Rymer Liriano
Utility (1): Ramon Flores (OF/1B)
Starting Pitchers (5): Jimmy Nelson, Wily Peralta, Matt Garza, Taylor Jungmann, Chase Anderson
Relief Pitchers (7): Jeremy Jeffress, Will Smith, Corey Knebel, Michael Blazek, Tyler Thornburg, Sean Nolin, Zack Jones
I really want Keon Broxton to make the club, but the fact that he has options and Nieuwenhuis doesn't hurts his chances. In the bullpen I went with waiver pickup Nolin and Rule 5 pick Jones for the final two bullpen spots. Could see either or both of Franklin Morales and Ariel Pena get those spots as well. My final infield spot came down to Middlebrooks, Cecchini and Rivera. Cecchini has options so it was easy to send him down. Middlebrooks has no options so it's hard to let him go, but they need someone to backup Villar at SS. Rivera is really the only guy. Don't think Walsh or Hill could do it. So Rivera gets last spot mostly due to his being able to man SS, but he can also play 2B and 3B and has had a nice spring. Ramon Flores will serve as a backup at all three OF spots and can play 1B on days they want to sit Chris Carter. Hard choices all the way around for the club as they have a tremendous amount of depth, versatility and players performing well this spring. But in the end, this is how I see the Opening Day 25 man, but feel it will be very different as the year progresses due to injuries, trades and performances.
Growing up, I like most kids loved Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. I mean, they are/were the greatest Brewers in franchise history. And while he played with both of those guys for a few seasons, perhaps my favorite Brewer post Yount/Molitor was Greg Vaughn. When early this offseason the Brewers announced they would be doing a Greg Vaughn bobblehead day I was stoked. To me, that was almost as cool as when they did Rob Deer last season and will probably go into my pantheon of Brewers bobbleheads (joining 15' Deer, 02' Aaron, 06' Miller, 08' Braun, 12' T-Plush, 13' Scott, 14' Gomez and 14' Yount). Then in January Vaughn was announced to attend Brewers On Deck. Suddenly all this talk of Vaughn got me really feeling nostalgic about his time as a Brewer and his career in MLB. Hell, I even recently purchased a lot of 12 Vaughn cards off eBay that had a few of his rookies that I didn't already have.
Vaughn was drafted by the Brewers in the 1st round (4th overall) in the 1986 Draft out of the U (where he was an All-American). He made his MLB debut in 1989 and was a rookie in 1990 when he hit 17 HR. He would go on to play eight seasons with the Brewers making the All-Star team twice, hitting 169 of his 355 career HR in a Brewers uniform. His two All-Star seasons (93' and 96') were his best in Milwaukee. In his age 27 season in 93' he hit 30 HR had an .850 OPS and drove in 97 (6.7 WAR). In 96' he slugged 31 HR had had an .948 OPS and drove in 95 (2.7 WAR) for the Crew before being traded at the July 31st deadline to the Padres for Bryce Florie, Marc Newfield and Ron Villone (YUCK! What a typical shit Selig/Bando move of the mid to late 90's).
(Couldn't find him hitting a HR as a Brewer, so here he is taking Randy Johnson deep in the 98' NLDS)
That trade hit me hard. I was 14 at the time and still didn't understand the economics of baseball and how my team could keep trading away our good players. Vaughn had a down year in 1997 due to injury but had outstanding season in 98' (Padres) and 99' (Reds) as an All-Star and MVP candidate even slugging 50 HR in 98' (friend of mine got Vaughn to sign a ball at On Deck and inscribe "50 HR" on the ball, thought that was awesome), one of only twenty seven players in MLB history to hit 50 or more in a season. He played four more season between Tampa Bay and Colorado before retiring after the 2003 season.
"Vaughn's Valley" out in LF is something that will live in Brewers lore for ever. It was a staple of County Stadium for six years, he played LF and hit the vast majority of his dingers to that part of the bleachers so it was very fitting. Vaughn was a bad ass, cool cat. He was strong, hit a lot of dingers, had a swag to him, usually had the top few buttons undone on his jersey and was usually seen with a big old dip in his lower lip. He was a ballplayer. I remember always trying to imitate that famous pigeon toed stance he had while playing home run derby with friends in the backyard. He wasn't the greatest player, but to me he always seemed a bit underrated and on some shitty Brewers teams he was something to really enjoy and look forward to. I look forward to getting his bobblehead this season and hope he will make it out to Miller Park that day so he can get an ovation he deserves from all the other fans who think Greg Vaughn was the man.
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