Brewers (Drohan) vs Rockies (Freeland): 6/7/26, 2:10pm

[liveforoctober]

3 hours ago, cragi said:

I think this is where we struggle with the current choice. Pratt / Williams are probably no worse than lateral on offense and likely an upgrade on defense. So why not grow on the job, especially if you’re needed in the postseason

I think the loss of expectation for the incumbent player might be a hang up with many fans.

Rengifo hasn't worked out for one reason or the other in his first < 200 at bats with us BUT he is a career .246 hitter. Two years ago in his age 27 season he hit .300 in a shortened season. Why he has lost it so completely thus far is anyone's guess but if I'm the Brewers and my options to get a .250 hitter in that spot at 3rd are 1) call up Jett/Pratt and hope they hit the ground running 2) find a trade partner at this point of the season for someone who is struggling/needs a change of scenery (the Vaughn of last year) or 3) trust Rengifo returns to his normal self and figures it out/we fix him.

I don't know which one is most likely to be the best avenue but #3 has just as much of an argument to be made as the right path as any other AND if #3 doesn't come to fruition in two more months then #1 and #2 can still happen.

If the Brewers called up Pratt or Jett tonight to replace Luis I wouldn't blink twice but I don't think he is going anywhere until that happens and it might not be nearly as soon as most are hoping for.

[tmwiese55]

1 hour ago, adambr2 said:

The other thing is — Jett just really hasn’t done enough to force their hand. He started slow, picked it up for a bit and now has been cooling off a bit again.

He's a nice, versatile prospect but a .700 OPS in AAA as a super sub doesn’t really scream as someone who is going to come up and be better than the status quo.

Pratt is a little closer and the contract and the fact that he’s already on the 40 work in his favor. But again, til they figure out what they’re going to do with Ortiz, the difference between the two is probably marginal.

Lara is the only one where you can look at his stats and wonder what else he could possibly do, and I think that’s a fair question. So it’s much more related to his own long-term development; I don’t think many people would argue that he couldn’t show up today and be more valuable than Perkins. 

Good post.    Just adding the key for Lara is do they think he can do more than at least one of Mitchell/Frelick to the point they'd actually play him every day.

In addition, with how Bauers and Vaughn keep hitting you're almost at the point where they both have to play nearly every day.  In that case, Lara would have to expected to play nearly every day over both Mitchell & Frelick to warrant coming up

[LouisEly]

3 hours ago, cragi said:

I think this is where we struggle with the current choice. Pratt / Williams are probably no worse than lateral on offense and likely an upgrade on defense. So why not grow on the job, especially if you’re needed in the postseason

Someone mentioned this about a month ago, but there may be something that Brewers brass is privy to that we are not.

If there is a lockout next year, then nobody on the 40-man roster can play.  Players not on the 40-man can still play in the minors. 

If that comes to fruition, then you lose a year of development for any young players who get put on the 40-man this year.  Then it's 2020 all over again, losing playing time and momentum and then trying to restart in 2028 (hopefully).

[LouisEly]

11 hours ago, gregmag said:

Re: Rengifo and Perkins, I think people sometimes forget this isn’t a fantasy league. Inconvenient timing is real.

Take Rengifo (please). He was supposed to be an adequate placeholder until one of our 15 3b/ss prospects was ready to go. That’s why we didn’t try to go out and sign Alex Bregman instead. (Well, that, and money, and the fact that we understand aging curves.) Alas, he’s been an awful stopgap, and none of them is ready to go. It would be great to go find some 90 OPS+ guy who plays adequate defense and whom we could cut loose in two or three or four months when Pratt or Williams figures it out.  But you see the problem, right?  If that guy exists, he’s on a real contract. So your options are:

Expend real trade and payroll resources for a decent upgrade who then blocks your prospects in the medium term;

Scoop up someone off the scrap heap and hope against hope that he works out better than Rengifo (whom, in this scenario, you’re still paying);

Rush a prospect up and risk messing up a long-term asset; or

Suck it up for a while.

So no, in the abstract, Rengifo shouldn’t be on a MLB roster. But in our actual circumstances, he’s the least bad choice, at the moment, for this particular roster.

One thing to add to this - this early in the season there would likely need to be an overpay in terms of prospects to get someone to give up a good player.  It took KC Hunt just to get Jake Woodford; imagine how much it would cost to get a player with a good track record at the major league level.

[cragi]

1 hour ago, liveforoctober said:

Rengifo hasn't worked out for one reason or the other in his first < 200 at bats with us BUT he is a career .246 hitter. Two years ago in his age 27 season he hit .300 in a shortened season. Why he has lost it so completely thus far is anyone's guess

It's misleading to compare the pre-injury Rengifro to the current Rengifro. There is no evidence of him being the same player. 

In half a season in 2024, Rengifro had 24 steals, on pace for about 48. His pace post-injury is about 10.

His pre-injury OPS (24-25) has dropped about 200 points (~770 to ~570). This year is even lower.

He was hitting 16-17 HRs. This year he has 0. 

In short, there's no compelling evidence of him turning it around meaningfully over Pratt/Williams, and he is a bat-first player who isnt hitting.

[liveforoctober]

7 minutes ago, cragi said:

It's misleading to compare the pre-injury Rengifro to the current Rengifro. There is no evidence of him being the same player. 

In half a season in 2024, Rengifro had 24 steals, on pace for about 48. His pace post-injury is about 10.

His pre-injury OPS (24-25) has dropped about 200 points (~770 to ~570). This year is even lower.

He was hitting 16-17 HRs. This year he has 0. 

In short, there's no compelling evidence of him turning it around meaningfully over Pratt/Williams, and he is a bat-first player who isnt hitting.

I don't think I said anything non-factual, I'm willing to be corrected.

I think my main point is I think most fans are currently in "we need to replace Rengifo" mode and I think the Brewers are more likely thinking "we need to replace the production Rengifo has given us" mode ... and one of those options to do so is still Rengifo.

We were a year early on Winker returning to form from injury. Maybe we are a year too early here. We took a shot at Rhys coming back from injury and it appears he may never get back to his old self. Also a possibility here.

Just saying we still might have 150 more at bats from Rengifo to work through before his fate is decided if the Brewers think he is the best option to give them production.