Fear The Chorizo

you could tell he was triple guessing himself on that grounder...do I run and tag 3rd, fire to 2nd, or go to 1st to end the inning? He was in between with his feet on what he was doing and flat out forgot to field the ball take the gift

He's in their 2024 rotation if he is healthy next spring, no doubt.

I think one solution may be for the next CBA to do away with the franchise tag altogether and replace it with 5th year options available for all players drafted, but keep the value tied to the same structuring the current 1st round contracts have...meaning if a 2nd or 4th round pick becomes an instant stud, the team who drafted him has the option of adding a 5th year on that rookie deal at a premium salary amount for that position grouping...that 5th year option is also a common springboard to get that life-changing longterm extension, and it gives both organizations and players time to work out a longterm deal that sets the player up for life and that makes sense for the team's salary cap structuring. Not having the 5th year option means impact players on cheaper rookie deals are instantly in contract purgatory trying to force their way out of a franchise tag or get traded - for the case of RBs and many other position groups, a one-year guaranteed franchise tag salary isn't a great contract to play under due to injury/longevity risk and the fact the best players at those positions don't have stratospherically high annual salaries. I would think RBs in particular would much rather have a simple 5th year option tied into their rookie deals regardless of where they were drafted, then know they'd either be a UFA after year 4 or worst case after year 5 in the league.

At this point I'm pretty certain the only reason Wiemer hasn't been sent down to AAA is he's going to be the odd man out in the outfield glut assuming Mitchell gets healthy and Chourio is knocking on the MLB door at some point next season, and the Brewers plan to either trade Wiemer this offseason or are planning for him to start next year in AAA and preserve his MiLB options.

There was alot of back and forth in the NL Central Discussion thread about the possibility of a division winner finishing under 0.500. In looking at the remaining schedules for the Twins and Guardians, that is a very legit possibility in the AL Central.

I think one way to address this from becoming a recurring thing is to freeze team payroll values used for luxury tax consideration at the date of the Aug 1 trade deadline. If a team is a marginal contender but also mindful of where it sits from a payroll luxury tax perspective, make them decide whether to buy or sell at the end of July and have a competent plan. It's obvious the Angels are doing this primarily to crawl back under the luxury tax payroll threshold so they will get a better comp pick when Ohtani signs elsewhere and also to reset the luxury tax penalty structure for being over it consecutive years. I honestly could care less if a team with a trash fire front office occasionally opts to go this route under the current CBA to try and save a few bucks after they've been igniting $$ with nothing worthwhile to show for it - I don't see this being the new normal for teams that fall out of the race that happen to have a ton of expensive veterans set to become free agents who also aren't worth making QOs to. If nothing else, the fact the Angels have a ton of those guys, plus a few other veterans nobody would touch if they were DFA-d because of their bloated remaining contracts, proves the point of how poorly they are run as an organization.

Those losses were 1 run variety against a better offensive team that also couldn't score - both L's could have been w's with slightly better luck in situations where hard hit balls consistently turned into outs. Wrigley can be a tough park to score in when the wind is blowing in. Not thrilled they lost this series, but not getting swept was key - Cubs now have a road series against the Reds where Steele or Hendricks isn't pitching.

I think he makes alot of sense next season assuming one or both of Dillon/Jones leaves due to contract/cap casualty reasons. Packers should have a good amount of cap room for 2024, and some enticing draft capital to make that type of trade work. Also assuming Taylor is healthy and the same player he was a couple seasons ago...that ankle is somewhat troubling to me until he proves it's not a longterm injury issue.

Brock Purdy played really well for the last player drafted in the 2022 draft last season - but after suffering an elbow injury in his 12th NFL start I think giving up on Lance without him really getting an extended shot to be the man, and instead handing the keys to the franchise to Purdy is pretty rash. Almost seems like a move to get him out of San Fran in case Purdy struggles and they don't have to deal with calls for Lance to become the starter again. Jimmy G mentioned the weirdness related to the QB room in 49erland the past few seasons, and while some of that may be sour grapes from a former player he's also not wrong. Will be interested to see how much guaranteed $ they have to shell out to get Bosa extended...and if NFL karma follows its typical path with non-QBs signing market-setting contracts after extended preseason holdouts I'd fully expect Bosa to suffer a season-ending injury by the end of September. I can see the 49ers making another deep postseason run, or having a trainwreck of a season followed by a bunch of offseason question marks with a roster no longer as deep and inexpensive as it was a couple years ago.

I've mentioned I thought the Cubs would be the Brewers' main competition for the division since mid June when I just didn't have faith in either the Pirates or Reds sustaining the hot streaks that got the to the top of the standings at different points this season, and never really thought the Cards had enough pitching to play winning baseball over an extended stretch. That being said, the pitching issues the Cubs are dealing with make it feel like their recent hot streak isn't going carry deep into September, and the next couple weeks on their calendar isn't exactly a cakewalk. It almost feels like the Brewers treaded water at about a 0.505 winning percentage clip through July until some of their deadline bats hit a little, Woody got back in the rotation, and Adames figured out how not to be a black hole in the middle of the order and now it's their turn to be white hot for a few weeks and get us excited for what they might be capable of in October if all their key players stay healthy.

He is also already 20 IP over his previous season-long career high - definitely think that's related to his recent struggles, although it's not like he's been a pumpkin either. For the Cubs to make a run they're going to need to lean on him hard and hope he doesn't break down, especially with Stroman injured (and prior to that struggling mightily himself).

I went to a few of those wrigley night Brewer-Cub games when I still lived in that area years ago...so fun for that sold out ballpark to be quieter than most funerals after a Brewers win...makes that organ really stand out in the summer night!

Yessir!

My suggestion would be: Kilted Flammenwerfer...look it up, lol! Assuming Megill is of scottish heritage based on his name...Highlander would be solid.

My mistake, i must have misread a column I was pulling #s from. I really don't have anything against Canha in particular, and his production has steadily improved since the first week or two in Milwaukee to make that trade a plus for their MLB roster. My larger point is I'm not convinced Hiura has gotten a fair shake to settle in at the MLB level, particularly in the last couple of seasons, and a big part of that is how the Brewers go about managing their roster (both offseason and in-season) - even with DH being a spot in their batting order since 2020. If the NL didn't have the DH, then all of the defensive liability issues that do come with Hiura would be a very good reason why he's in Nashville - particularly because he lost his 40 man roster spot this spring. And, referencing previous season's MLB stats for Hiura as justification to not give him another extended MLB shot isn't an argument I'm going to pay much attention to considering he's changed his swing (and was in the midst of that change this Spring Training and experimenting with different timing, acknowledging that his Spring Training production suffered from that work in progress). This article is from 4 days before he was DFA'd in late March: https://www.mlb.com/news/keston-hiura-working-to-make-brewers-opening-day-roster After being DFA'd, Hiura continued making tweaks and actually scrapped the toe tap altogether for most of this AAA season, with a much less pronounced leg kick and much smaller bit of forward movement in his hitting stride. Not referencing you in particular, but others tend to cite 2020-2022 or 2021-2022 #s without including anything from Hiura's 2019 season. I just don't think any of those numbers (2019-2022) should be used to justify either keeping him in the minors or calling him up. Hiura's 2023 AAA #s suggest he will find his way back to MLB, whether it's with the Brewers or someone else.

So what about Hiura's 2023 AAA numbers suggests he is deserving of those 0 MLB at bats so far this season?

Hiura's 2023 walk rate - 10% Canha's 2023 walk rate - 10.5%

This thread really started early last summer, when Hiura's last MiLB option was burned so the Brewers could call up Connor Sadzeck to give them an extra bullpen arm for a handful of games before the AS Break, and earlier that season by putting Hiura on the Opening Day roster despite also paying McCutcheon to be the primary DH and then not giving Hiura regular playing time against RHP when nobody else was hitting, either. That July demotion for Sadzeck really stuck out, because Hiura was OPS-ing over 1.000 in the 12 games leading up to it. The move made zero baseball sense and was done entirely because other position players that were in Milwaukee didn't have options remaining and the Brewers always want to carry a billion relievers - so instead of DFA-ing others who weren't hitting at the time they picked the guy who was more or less carrying them at the plate during that stretch to go back down. At this point, the Brewers have gotten average DH production in recent weeks, and the trade for Canha has helped that - but I don't get why the Brewers just didn't call up Hiura internally instead of making that trade. His production in August strongly suggests that's a very reasonable position to take. The Brewers wound up having to clear a 40 man roster spot anyway to bring Canha into the mix, so it's not just about Hiura not currently being on the 40 man. The only explanation is they prefer Canha's middling defense at corner OF and 1B positions as an added bit of roster flexibility to fill the primary DH role, despite having a gameday roster that currently has 4 other OFs and now 2 other 1B on it. The collection of roster moves with Hiura compared to other young players and even moreso to non-core veteran players who haven't hit at the MLB level is the reason why this thread has as much life to it as it does - Why hasn't Wiemer been sent down to AAA at any point this season to try and get going offensively and potentially add another season of MLB control? Turang was sent down for a bit, and as soon as he showed improvement at the plate was back up in Milwaukee. Why has Tyrone Taylor gotten extended leashes to find his multiweek hot streaks and stay on the roster when the Brewers are currently loaded up with young OFs who provide good defense? Why has Winker spent an entire season on the 40 man without being DFA'd despite zero MLB production when he also can't play defense or stay healthy? Couple that with seeing a 26-27 yr old former 1st round pick hitting 0.320 with 22 HRs in 77 AAA games, and Hiura turns into a flashpoint for larger frustration with how the organization manages its MLB roster with hitting being a much lower priority than pitching, defense, baserunning, and apparently defensive versatility.

I'm not familiar enough with the ramifications of that reduced salary option if the Brewers add Hiura back to the 40 man before the Rule V draft in the offseason...outside of Quero there really aren't any other prospects that would be a huge priority to protect this offseason, so the Brewers would have ample room to put Hiura back on their 40 man and protect him through spring training next season, too. In the end we're talking the difference of a million bucks after they've been ok with paying Hiura a couple million to play all season in AAA (was a sunk cost anyway, just like lighting $8M on fire for Winker's "production" this season), so the value to the Brewers would be maintaining roster depth/flexibility (like it always is) and then heading into the 2024 Spring Training with Hiura and 18 other middling veteran options vying for part time MLB DH duty next season.

I don't think the Cubs have enough pitching to stay hot enough to pass the Brewers provided Milwaukee keeps getting even average production offensively now that the Brewers are running out Burnes, Woody, and Peralta more often than not on the mound..

Sigh - guessing Hiura would be among the league leaders in defensive range factor at the DH position...and if you'd look at a digital animation of his 2023 swing compared to what it looked like at various stages from 2020-2022 you wouldn't be able to tell it was the same player. But sure, let's keep bringing up old and at this point worthless stats during sporadic at best playing time as reason why Hiura won't be able to hit if he was up in MLB again right now, while also neglecting to include his 2019 MLB stats that contradict the theory. The reason why Hiura hasn't been called up this season is the Brewers value defensive versatility at the DH spot on their roster and they opted to pay ~$8M to Winker to OPS sub-600 at the MLB level and spend half the season in the minors himself rehabbing instead of DFA-ing him - both of which IMO is madness. On top of that, they torched through Hiura's MiLB options far too readily in 2021 and 2022 because the other MLB vets who also weren't hitting at any given time didn't have options, so he's not on the 40 man roster at present, and a callup would require someone else to get DFA'd. That makes even a September callup more difficult managing the roster than simply sending Hiura a plane ticket to Milwaukee on August 31. A September callup would totally be the Brewers' way of managing Hiura at the MLB level once again - that would mean limited playing time, sporadic ABs, and even if he does hit well he wouldn't be eligible for the postseason roster. IF there's anything to the weird extra year of roster control the Brewers have with Hiura due to him being on the MLB roster the full COVID season and it coming at a reduced salary being the reason why he hasn't been up in Milwaukee this season, his representation should look long and hard about filing a grievance with the players union.

Next offseason? absolutely

This is very common for star players on their rookie deals who weren't drafted in the 1st round, meaning they're on 4 year contracts with no option for a team to extend a lucrative 5th year option and use that extra guaranteed year as a starting point for a longterm extension. And it isn't really an issue limited to running backs in the NFL. Specific to Taylor, to get what he wants he has to be on the field. Aaron Jones got his 1st big payday after playing out his 4 year rookie deal and became a free agent - he still opted to stay in GB signing that deal. I hope his representation is giving him some good advice - this is probably the year to work out a longterm extension with the Colts if he actually wanted to stay there, but it's not the time to try and push your way out of town to a different team when there are so few with healthy cap situations to actually give him a large guaranteed deal. Sure, the Colts could franchise Taylor next offseason, but they would then shop him via trade leading up to the draft across the whole league, likely sending Taylor to a team that's a good fit for him and getting more value back. Then again, now actually would be the time to gripe and try to force his way out for a new contract if Taylor did have some lingering injury concerns with that ankle or any other issue.

Didn't Taylor also fail his pre-camp physical due to a combo of a bad ankle that's already undergone surgery once and a potential back injury that the Colts are claiming happened off the field? I don't see any team willing to part ways with a draft pick package equal to a 1st rounder in a trade to appease the Colts, let alone also want to hand him a longterm contract paying him $10M a season without knowing if he's damaged goods or not. Not getting on the field to show other teams he's fully healthy is no way to wind up securing a trade to a new team and a fat new contract, so I think there's something serious going on with Taylor's health right now. Some of the antics between him and Irsay could stem from Taylor's frustration with not being 100% healthy with a risk of him not ever being the same player that would be deserving of a big contract. Taylor's collegiate workload has to be taken in consideration when trying to determine how much good tread he has left on the tires, too. He didn't suffer a ton of injuries that would cause him to miss time, but he did push through a bunch of minor injuries any RB who touches the ball almost 1,000 times in 3 seasons would suffer. Bellcow running backs are indeed a dying breed in the NFL - and for the few elite ones that are still around, they need to pick the right offseason to hold out/force a team's hand on a new contract to get paid while they can. Unfortunately for Taylor, he seems to have waited one offseason too long since he's not healthy and really has no leverage until he is back on the field.

It's all circular to you I guess, because most of what you posted in this quote above either isn't entirely accurate or is your theory as to why different things happened. I know I'm not going to change your opinion, and I hope you know whatever point you're trying to make about Hiura isn't going to resonate with me at all, either.