Sal or Lara

[baseball101]

The Crew will have a logjam in the outfield when Sal returns. Chourio, Mitchell, Bauers (assuming he’s not playing first base) will be penciled in most nights. Who is out of the rotation going forward? Lockridge doesn’t appear to be going anywhere and is a great base runner off the bench. Lara has shown flashes but in very limited time has shown zero power and has not gotten on base enough to offset the lack of power. Is Sal healthy? 2025 Sal is a big upgrade over 2026 Lara. 2026 Sal has been bad. Interesting decision coming up for the Crew.

[yfinn6]

Send Lockridge down to get him some ABs. 

[CheezWizHed]

Lara has slumped pretty hard in the last month.. I'd send him down to AAA to get regular ABs.  See if Sal can regain some of his 2025 magic for a few weeks.  Then reconsider the best roster for the playoffs. 

[baseball101]

16 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

Lara has slumped pretty hard in the last month.. I'd send him down to AAA to get regular ABs.  See if Sal can regain some of his 2025 magic for a few weeks.  Then reconsider the best roster for the playoffs. 

This is how I feel, my only hesitation is Lara’s contract. Will the Crew really send him down?

[adambr2]

Everyone down on Lara but no one pointing out that Mitchell has been slumping far worse than Lara. 

Would I like to see Lara do a little more with the bat? Yes, but he’s still getting on base at a decent enough clip and clearly getting better and more comfortable in the outfield. 

Lockridge should be the odd man out, not Lara as Lockridge doesn’t offer any skillset in platoon advantage, power, baserunning or defense that Lara can’t already do, even if his playing time gets cut a bit. 

When Frelick returns you can rotate Frelick/Mitchell/Lara and they all play about 2 out of 3 games, which is fine. 

[baseball101]

2 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Everyone down on Lara but no one pointing out that Mitchell has been slumping far worse than Lara. 

Would I like to see Lara do a little more with the bat? Yes, but he’s still getting on base at a decent enough clip and clearly getting better and more comfortable in the outfield. 

Lockridge should be the odd man out, not Lara as Lockridge doesn’t offer any skillset in platoon advantage, power, baserunning or defense that Lara can’t already do, even if his playing time gets cut a bit. 

When Frelick returns you can rotate Frelick/Mitchell/Lara and they all play about 2 out of 3 games, which is fine. 

Good points. I know Mitchell is slumping but right now he still does everything better than Lara. I like Lara long term, He would not have been called up without Sal and Lockridge being hurt. If it wasn’t for his contract, I think he would be sent down when Sal is back.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I've been thinking about this. Frelick played RF last night & made a terrific running catch in the gap; I assume he's throwing OK although I didn't see him have to really wind anything up. You certainly don't want Lara doing much sitting. They may decide he'll get enough ABs to keep him around, especially vs LHP. It would be a nice rotation having OFs share the DH spot except you-know-who is occupying much of the that role (in fairness, Yelich hit 4 or 5 balls hard this weekend).

It could come down to whether they believe Lockridge can give them something vs lefties. Right now it looks like he has a better chance of winning Powerball than making contact with anything that isn't a fastball. 

I would guess Frelick definitely returns so it's not a case of him vs Lara, but Lockridge vs Lara. And I would hope & assume Laras' contract has nothing to do with any of this.

 

[RobertCrawley]

I'm waiting to see Sal swing so hard he hits a 10 run home run.

[Brewcrew82]

If it were up to me, I would keep Lara on the roster even when Frelick returns to at minimum platoon with Frelick (and Mitchell) against LHP. 

Comes down to whether the Brewers are okay with that for Lara developmentally. You're not exactly worried about getting Lockridge ABs.

[wallus]

Send down Lockridge and play them all. None of the outfielders (other than Sal) have really played an entire MLB season. Rest will be good heading to the playoffs.

[Jopal78]

Who brings the most impact amongst Lara Lockridge and Frelick? I’d probably say Lara and Lockridge but wouldn’t be surprised to see Sal nudge one of them to AAA until September 

[Samurai Bucky]

Since Lara started, Mitchell's at .204 / .313 / .265 / .578 with wRC+ of 68.  Hard hit % is 48.6%

Lara is .224 / .316 / .318 / .634.  wRC+ of 80.  HHP is 41.8%

Neither has been that good.  Mitchell's K rate is 29.8%.  Yikes.  I was expecting Lara to be ripping the cover off the ball.  I'm not seeing it, yet.  Perhaps with time he will be, but not now.

I'm with agreement with many to send down Lockridge.  Lara needs ABs at the major league level, but I don't know if he has earned the everyday role, yet.

[tmwiese55]

The issue with Lockridge/Lara down is that they can right right handed vs lefty pitches.  Sal back over one of them increases the LHH issue even more with these positions.    I've been kicking this around lately and I wouldn't mind seeing Yelich get 10 day stint once Sal is back. Opens the DH spot for Bauers/Vaughn.  After that you'll be into Sept so a bit more roster flex.

If that's not on the table, I think I send Lockridge down. Lara is elite elite at D, can bat RH, faster, more long term future. Plus Lockridge could use some regular ABS since he's barely played the last few months

[Brewcrew82]

3 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

Since Lara started, Mitchell's at .204 / .313 / .265 / .578 with wRC+ of 68.  Hard hit % is 48.6%

Lara is .224 / .316 / .318 / .634.  wRC+ of 80.  HHP is 41.8%

Neither has been that good.  Mitchell's K rate is 29.8%.  Yikes.  I was expecting Lara to be ripping the cover off the ball.  I'm not seeing it, yet.  Perhaps with time he will be, but not now.

I'm with agreement with many to send down Lockridge.  Lara needs ABs at the major league level, but I don't know if he has earned the everyday role, yet.

FWIW, "Ripping the cover off the ball" isn't exactly Lara's game. At his best, he's a younger, switch-hitting, more toolsy version of Sal Frelick,. Which is why I like the idea of platooning them (plus Mitchell) if they're okay with only semi-regular ABs for Lara instead of regular ABs.

Knowing the Brewers, I expect Lara to get optioned instead of Lockridge. They don't care if Lockridge only gets the weak side of a platoon at most.