I expect this team to finish with a better record than last year. Going position by position I think they are better off overall, obviously they still have a ways to go from contending again but once they show signs of competing again they have $40M+ in payroll they will be ready to fire at free agents to plug any gaping holes. They could be contending within 2 years again if everything goes right. Of course, it could take a lot longer too.

This is my first season in at minimum the last 10 years where I have no expectations entering the season. I'm just going to enjoy watching the young guys develop as much as possible.

Gonna be a long season.

Wily has an option left, should probably send him back down for the year, and if he can't regroup by next year cut him loose.

Why? Just let him pitch out of it in the bigs. No reason to send him down. They aren't playing for anything this year.

I've actually changed my opinion on him the last few days and now think he should be moved to the bullpen to see if his career can be salvaged as a reliever.

Just because they aren't playing for anything right now doesn't mean they should keep starting him if/when he is determined a bust (I know they are going to give him a long leash).
I don't believe Wily has upside anymore which is why I think he should be removed from the rotation and replaced with another prospect to see if we can find one that does have upside. I can understand if others want to give him more time.

I still think he has top of the rotation stuff. I would like to see them give him a few more starts before moving him to the bullpen.

I do hope you end up being right, and agree he should still be given a few more starts at this point. I've just given up on him, hopefully too early.

We would probably be at or above .500 right now with just an average rotation, which gives me hope we can be competitive again sooner rather than later. We can actually compete and win most games with pitchers like Guerra who give up <=4 runs, but we have no chance with pitchers like Wily.

Wily has to go.

Brewers have a better record now vs this point last year. And we're not even trying to be contenders now like last year's frauds. Lol.

It's been a decent ride so far, once we accept this season and next few for what it is. I went to a game last week cuz my gf gets 50% off any seat through work. Couldn't say no to that, so I lift my self ban outside of opening day games.

It was the near no hitter against the Cubs, too. Although we were surrounded by their fans, obviously.

Excluding Wily Peralta starts, this team is above .500 this year (and even more excluding Taylor Jungmann who has already been demoted). This team is not that bad and closer to competing again than many are giving them credit for.

Agreed about last year's frauds, glad we got rid of the biggest offenders, plus we have a lot of payroll ready to spend to plug a hole or two when we are truly ready to strike again.

When Garza comes back they better send Wily Peralta to the minors (he has an option left and is currently the worst starter in MLB of all qualified starters -- someone like that does not deserve a spot even on a rebuilding team like the Brewers). Everyone else is pitching pretty damn good right now, and the offense while still inconsistent is doing enough to win most games that the starter can keep them in it (which is anyone but Wily).

Yeah Wily Peralta shouldn't even be on a major league roster.

Optioned to triple A. About time.

Yep, that just had to happen, I would have been pretty upset if they sent anyone else down to make room for Garza. Hopefully he can figure something out in the minors.

Villar an all star? Been a complete and welcome surprise.

Definitely should be one of the top reserves under consideration.

Alright bros, lucroy seems like a lock to be traded. Braun, 50/50 imo. Maybe over the winter if he continues his solid season.

Thanks for the memories Luc.

I'm sad Lucroy is gone, but obviously understand that it's best for the team in the long run.

With the Miller and Chapman trades, I'm REALLY interested to see what the market might be for Jeffress/Smith/Thornburg.

Well, I would have thought we'd get more for our trades... but everyone seems to think we got a haul for smith and then lucroy/jeffress.

I was expecting a bit more from lucroy/jeffress, but they did return two top prospects and we will need to see how good the PTBNL ends up being. Overall I'm happy with the return, now hopefully some of these guys pan out.

Seems they went with quality over quantity for Lucroy and Jeffress, plus maybe the market for them wasn't as amazing as we thought it should have been. If the PTBNL is a good one, it really works out to be a nice trade.

That Will Smith trade was fantastic.

Brewers were the ones to claim Puig? Lol. Glad a trade never materialized.

I really like the Eric Thames signing, and I don't think the team is doing it save money as they have so much payroll flexibility already. I think they are doing it because they think Thames is the better player, saving money on top of that is just a bonus, and even when you have payroll flexibility you should still spend it wisely.

Carter is very likeable as person/fan but the numbers just didn't make sense, it really isn't worth paying someone around $10M in arbitration for 1 WAR which is about his ceiling as well. He has little chance of exceeding that.

Thames could suck, and if he does, the contract is not big enough to prevent us from doing anything else, however, I expect him to produce better overall than Carter did. Less power, better average, better base running and more stolen bases, and better defense, plus he can play LF/RF if needed as well. Just an all around better player, who also has the potential to have a much higher ceiling than Carter if everything works out, with what I think is a similar floor. If it doesn't work out, the team can afford it and Carter was never a big piece of the future anyways.

Plus, the team had been trying to trade Carter with no takers, well before this announcement, so I think it is safe to say we did not lose anything here. It will be interesting to see what Carter ends up signing for. I'm thinking it will be less than his projected arbitration numbers were. That is not meant to be negative, just analysis on the business side of baseball, I wish him the best and enjoyed watching him this past year.

Love the signing and letting Carter go. Worst case scenario, it's the status quo, at a cheaper price.

Also love the trade with the Red Sox. Maxed out Thornburg's value imo, and we really didn't need him, as we're not contenders.

However, I could see us actually competing for a wild card spot by 2018.

Still hoping we keep Braun, but I understand it's inevitable he'll be traded within the next year or so.

Now let's get rid of Garza asap and I'm 100% behind this team again.

Agreed on all the above. Shaw could provide as much value as Thornburg this year, plus the prospects, and hopefully we will be able to have a good bullpen when we need one again.

I'm not sure if we will get any takers on Garza during the off-season, but if he starts off good will definitely be trade-able, plus he has a team friendly option that could only help his value if someone wants him. Somehow, he actually had 1.4 WAR last year so is almost worth his contract price as it is but obviously would not return anything in prospects. The good thing is that his contract is not preventing us from being able to do anything else and will be off the books soon enough.