Milwaukee Brewers: FanSided Faux GM Simulation Results

The FanSided Faux GM Simulation concluded on Friday night and our mock offseason came to an end. These were the resulting moves we made during the three days for the Milwaukee Brewers.

We had a goal in mind for the Milwaukee Brewers during the FanSided Mock Offseason. That was to implement our perfect off-season plan for the Brewers to the best of our ability.

We were able to achieve some of the goals of our off-season plan, but fell short in other areas. Let’s take a look at the moves we were able to complete.

Simulated Trades

Jonathan Schoop to Washington Nationals

The Nationals GM came us last minute in the simulation, offering up prospect Nick Raquet for the struggling second baseman. We had discussions with the Nationals earlier in the simulation, but they wanted to look at their other options. Fortunately for us, those other plans fell through and they had to circle back to Schoop.

Nick Raquet is the Nationals’ #16 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. He’s a left handed pitcher that posted a 3.74 ERA in 2018 across two levels of the minors. He has the arsenal and the stuff to remain a starter in the future, but could reach the big leagues quickly in a bullpen role.

Originally, we were looking for a little bit more in return for Schoop, but given the late hour and higher level prospect than what we previously discussed, it was best to move Schoop and then focus on other ways to fill the second base gap. With how the rest of the simulation worked out, they’ll be rolling with Mauricio Dubon at second base to start 2019.

Simulated Free Agent Signings

Charlie Morton: 1 year/$10 million

This was the backup plan for the Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher acquisition. We wanted to acquire one that could be another veteran arm that could help lead the rotation. The bidding for free agents like Dallas Keuchel and Patrick Corbin got out of our range, and we quickly had to turn to a different path.

In the simulation, players like James Paxton, Carlos Carrasco, Sonny Gray, and Madison Bumgarner were already traded elsewhere. We were in on discussions for Paxton, but when the Mariners GM came to us to say we needed to include Corbin Burnes instead of Brandon Woodruff to get Paxton, that’s where we dropped out.

Morton has had a late-career turnaround with the Houston Astros. The 35 year old posted a 3.13 ERA last year and still throws hard. He’s said to only be looking to play for one or possibly two more years. In real life, he might prefer those final years remain in Houston, but in the simulation, the Astros did not get in on the bidding for Morton, which left him to us.

Tyler Clippard: 1 year/$2 million

Just as in our perfect off-season plan, we went to sign Tyler Clippard to supplement the bullpen. The Milwaukee Brewers don’t really need to get in on the bidding for any of the top arms like Craig Kimbrel because they already have three solid late inning arms.

Clippard posted a 3.67 ERA last year and has experience in the late innings. He’s more of a 6th or 7th inning arm at this point in his career, but he’s still been a serviceable pitcher. For $2 million, it’s not a bad deal.

Stephen Vogt: 1 year/$2 million

Vogt was recently given his release and is a free agent. The Brewers didn’t want to try to go through arbitration with him but could instead look to bring him back on a one year deal with a pay cut from the previous season.

Erik Kratz‘s future is still up in the air and with the few good catching options on the market getting big money, signing back Vogt doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

Other Players In The Bidding

We were also in the free agent bidding for other players as well, but were unable to get the highest bid.

We had the Brewers place a bid for Dallas Keuchel at four years, $72 million. But then the Yankees and Nationals came into the picture and upped the final contract to five years, $110 million. To me, that’s way too much for Keuchel and that’s way more than real GM David Stearns would actually pay.

After trading Jonathan Schoop, we got back in the bidding for Mike Moustakas to bring him back to Milwaukee. The original bid was by the Twins for one year, $8 million. We upped it to one year, $10 million, which is what we predicted in our perfect off-season plan.

Then the Twins went up to 1/12, and then we upped it one more time to 1/14. But the Twins really wanted him and went one year at $16 million. There was no way the Brewers would up that offer. To beat it, the Brewers would have to go two years on that contract, which they wouldn’t do with Travis Shaw still here and Keston Hiura a year away from taking over the second base job.

Those were the moves we made in our FanSided Faux GM Simulation. We felt we improved the team and filled the needs for next year’s Milwaukee Brewers.