Fear The Chorizo

Brewers' Ace on the mound going for getting the brooms out on a 4 game set....let's stay hot!

There is 0 chance the Brewers trade Burnes at this year's deadline if they're leading their division. If he does get back on a roll and the Brewers get Woodruff healthy and Peralta righted, that's playoff rotation no team will be eager to face. The division the Brewers play in makes them the a contending team that could use Burnes for two playoff runs if they can fit his annual arbitration contract into their budget - it would cost them more in prospects/dollars to acquire a similar pitcher to replace him, so why trade Burnes? To me, it'd be a different story if the Brewers were in the AL East or NL West. Much higher likelihood Burnes is either dealt in the coming offseason (either to a team interested in extending him or to a team wanting to "go for it" in 2024 knowing they've only got him for 1 year of control - and if they fall flat they can flip him at next year's deadline). Or the Brewers roll with Burnes into 2024 and either trade him at the deadline or get one last full season out of him before he walks in FA.

I think his wrist/hand injuries early in his MLB career significantly impacted his ceiling at the MLB level as a hitter. I always liked him as a player for the same reasons MrTPlush indicated.

600M in payroll between the Mets and Phils to be a collective 5 games under 0.500 just about 40% into the season...in terms of expectations, the NL East has far underperformed the NL Central.

For all the handwringing about the Brewers' recent scufflling, the Brewers currently have (checks notes) the 4th best record in the NL. I honestly don't see too many teams in the NL being dominant enough to go on a tear and win 100+ games. They're sitting just fine at the moment, particularly with all the injuries they've already been dealing with. NL teams like the Cardinals, Padres, Phillies, Giants, and Mets are in much more trouble than the Crew. This year's deadline could be a weird one, as teams like the Mets, Phillies, and Padres who have gone all in to try and win a title may be faced with a decision on whether to try and keep buying or sell - and some teams with marginally good rosters but limited payrolls (Brewers, Marlins, Pirates) likely won't be willing to pony up a king's ransom in prospects if they become buyers. If the Padres don't figure things out I don't see how Preller lasts the year as GM.

cue up the "Should the Brewers Extend Frelick?" article

I thing Taylor made one top 100 prospect list (#93?) back in 2015, 8 years ago...he was drafted 11! years ago. Taylor's path to the majors is that of perseverance while never really being considered a top prospect. If he needs TJ surgery, he'll be 31 yrs old the next time he's healthy enough to start an MLB season - I think it's more likely his MLB career is done completely and he winds up overseas or plays a few more years with some organization's AAA squad waiting for his next shot than getting his pick of MLB teams to head to Spring Training with assured of a big league roster spot. As an aside, is anyone else wondering if the Brewers' training/medical staff sucks? The volume of injuries on this roster sure points to something not being quite right in terms of offseason preparation/rehab/preventative treatment.

That's a very small and likely unprojectable sample size for a guy at the MLB level, particularly one whose role up to that point was that of a part time player/utility OF who didn't get exposed with regular at bats. It's actually hard for a position player to OPS below 0.450, so obviously Taylor is a better hitter than what he's shown so far this season - but I don't think ~3 months of steady playing time last season is enough to solidify the outlook that Taylor is an everyday outfielder at the MLB level. Defensively he can be, but I don't trust his bat enough to view him as a longterm option as a Brewer unless that role is 4th/5th OF.

I think when your ceiling as MLB regular is that of a 4th OF with some pop and positional versatility, a player of Taylor's caliber will go through stretches where he's terrible offensively - particularly when there isn't more depth and talent on the roster to limit his ABs when he's not hitting well. Agreed that a lack of spring training due to injury likely played a factor...but that being said he's got to be better than this.

Adding to this - the area of the dugout rail where Adames (and other players/coaches congregate) when watching the game is pretty much the same distance from home plate as the pitchers mound is, maybe 5 feet further back. Pitchers get smoked on comebackers and hitters get drilled by pitches they don't have time to react to when they're actually on the field during game action. Just not a smart idea to drape yourself over the railing there, let alone do so while a pitch is happening and not be paying attention to it. Not singling Adames out, as many players/coaches do the same thing.

That's why you raise the height of the screened rail by the foot or so it would need to be to prevent anything hit hard flying into the dugout (or you lower the front portion of the dugout enough for players and coach sitting at the rail are completely below it with a line of sight through the screen - some other ballpark dugouts are set up that way). If a player is sitting on the dugout bench, their head sits below the yellow Sargento ad line running across the wall. Any hard hit ball that would scream over the existing rail would hit the back wall probably 2-3 feet over a player's head in that scenario until the ball hit the wall, lost a ton of force, and started ricocheting around at a speed that could still hurt like heck but not be potentially life-altering if it does wind up hitting someone. The guy in blue is standing up in this photo - even he'd be well clear of any line drive going over the rail and into the dugout...although he could also really use a closed swing gate along the rail, too. And there were exactly zero players/coaches sitting or even walking in the dugout behind Adames or any of the Brewers hanging over the rail to potentially get smoked had that ball missed Adames' temple. I'd have more consideration for guys up there if the dugout below was cramped/full, but it was literally empty and close to half the uniformed roster spends most of the game in the bullpen, not the dugout. I get that players make their own decisions on how to avoid the risk of injuries, hopefully seeing how bad things could have wound up had that foul ball hit Adames an inch or so closer to his eyesocket will lead to them changing where they spend time watching the game when they aren't on the field.

It's a bench along the railing that was most likely put in at the players request - take it down and put a swing gate on that fence on the home plate side of each dugout and force them to actually use the bench that's protected inside the dugout. There's about a 1-foot vertical difference between the top of the existing fence and the roof of the dugout - it would also be very easy to extend that railing fence up a slight bit to match the height of the the dugout roof and make a hard-hit line drive virtually impossible to get into the dugout. All that being said and if they actually take these steps for player safety, players will probably find a way to bring step ladders in to stand on them and get their heads above the protective fencing anyways...I've seen plenty of guys literally sitting/sprawled out in the gaps between the fence where players enter/exit the dugouts during the game. It's just comical to me thinking it was only a couple summers ago when MLB played an abbreviated season with no fans and with players/coaches having to wear masks in dugouts/bullpens in the spirit of player health/safety, and these same dudes would have any sort of heartburn being better protected from 100+ mph projectiles flying at their heads when they're not expecting it.

Honest question - who on this current Brewers roster would you consider to be an impact talent worthy of a longterm contract extension anywhere close to the market setting rate at their position? Burnes has pitched like a #3 starter since last July, Woodruff is injured and already on the wrong side of 30 for a pitcher, Adames is injured and batting just over 0.200....and those are probably the top 3 candidates talked about most for a huge extension. IMO the only guy on the roster worth giving a top dollar extension offer to that would make him reconsider going to free agency would be Devin Williams, who they happen to control through the 2025 season via arbitration.

Dugouts are definitely pinned in closer to the playing surface in effort to cram as many premium field level seats into ballparks that all happen to be protected by netting - I think if the existing dugout safety design features were used/respected more by players/coaches this wouldn't be an issue, and it shouldn't take someone very long to add some minor safety features to virtually write off this risk altogether. Endless youth and amateur ballfields have dugouts much, much closer to the field of play than MLB ballparks - they're largely protected by floor to roof chainlink screens and the entrance/exit points are set up where it's virtually impossible for a hard-hit ball to get inside them. When the only times the bottom of the dugout is used by players is largely between innings or when a player comes back in the dugout for a team HR celebration, it's not really serving its intended purpose.

Counting his signing bonus from the draft in 2012, Winker has made roughly $20M playing baseball over the past 10 years and his neck condition was minor enough where he still plays baseball at the highest level. By almost every perspective that's a pretty damn good career even if he has to retire immediately. Sure, it's sucks for him if the neck issue is what prevents him from a longer MLB career, but it's also not like he's in a wheel chair or unable to play with his daughter. Winker himself would likely be among the first to say as much, too.

I'd call it more of a revenue-generating oversight to not schedule MLB games during holidays that would typically fill up a ballpark for a day game, particularly when that holiday is during most all school years. It did disappoint me when I pulled up the MLB scoreboard and didn't see the Brewers in action yesterday - would've enjoyed having the game on over the radio while getting some gardening and hanging out in the backyard done on a beautiful weather day.

The only thing that needs to happen is for the entry/exit point on the homeplate end of the current dugouts to add a swing gate, and for players to sit on the bench of the dugout and not on the front of it on chairs where their heads are above the screen/netting. The dugout is designed to protect players from these type of injuries by setting it up below ground, and players have removed that safety feature for themselves by opting to sit where most of them do during the game. In short, if players want to stop getting hit in the head with line drive foul balls they can't avoid given how close they are to the field, they should use their head a little more. Every single one of the Brewer players/coaches are in line of fire in this image, yet the spots on the dugout bench that are completely safe are unoccupied.

Nope, gotta be upset at this 1st place team for all player moves - whether they are roster changes or sticking with guys....either way it's always wrong and there's always a better thing they should have done. Never mind the fact the other NL teams who won the offseason all have worse records than the Brewers at this stage despite the fact the Brewers' pitching can't stay healthy!!

His injury history is exactly why I wouldn't want to give him any sort of extension, so no thanks to extending a 30 yr old guy who can't stay healthy because he's a corner IF/OF option who's hitting about 0.250 and OPS-ing in the mid-700s - pretty much his career norms. The Brewers should be looking for ways to upgrade his roster spot moving forward, not solidify him into it.

Fancy/trendy districts tend to get their start from being development armpits, so there would be plenty of demand for mixed residential/commercial space there if it was done right - and the reason it's dead half the year right now is because it isn't developed at all. Put something there that is a good supplement to the main draw in Brewers games and offseason concerts/events that visitors and residents want to use/spend money at and the outlying hotel/new residential/commercial developments hunt for nearby lots in short order. The biggest limitation to building further out beyond the property the stadium and existing parking lots sit on is the large cemetery complex to the west - but there is plent of land that's already part of the stadium/lot area to develop something as a desireable standalone district no matter what's around it. The Lambeau/Titletown district area totals about 100-125 acres in size - by comparison, the Amfam stadium parking lots total closer to 200 acres. I do agree the Brewers won't (and frankly can't) invest hundreds of millions of dollars to develop land they don't own - but I think they would if the Brewers do own it...wondering what (if any) mechanisms there may be for the state/gov't to donate that land to the Brewers as part of an agreement for it to be added to the property tax base and for the Brewers to to develop it as they see fit privately (significant stadium repairs/build a new stadium/mixed use entertainment district/etc).

The only reason the Bucks have the deer district is because there was ample real estate readily available after they tore down an unused highway that occupied the space. I disagree that the location sucks - the current property use predominantly as paved parking could be repurposed in a way that maintains parking capacity and tailgaiting options....probably by preserving the eastern lots and lots north of I-94 for tailgaiting as-is, and then converting the lots immediately northwest of the stadium into more of a mixed commercial/parking area with a multi-level parking structure and restaurants/shops. 60+ acres of that area can fit much more interesting and revenue-generating stuff than ground surface parking lots. It would take the Brewers owning that land outright in order for that to happen, though.

At the time he was drafted there was some room for optimism on his stuff getting better the further he got beyond recover from a TJ surgery he had as a sophmore at Miss St....doesn't really appear that the stuff/velo improved and thus far he's proving to be a AAAA-caliber arm unless he can develop a better breaking ball to pair with his changeup to keep hitters more honest without just sitting on a very hittable fastball when it isn't located well in the zone.

Adding to this - there are thousands of fans/folks who show up on gameday for tailgating/hanging out around the stadium who have zero intention of going into the stadium/buying a ticket for the game, too. What Lambeau and the Titletown district have to accomodate a Packers' game day is more than enough to host a draft

Cardinals just cut DeAndre Hopkins....I think I'd prefer this type of veteran flyer this offseason compared to Sammy Watkins, just saying!

The problem is the inflation figure the Dept of Labor (along with most other gov't agencies) dramatically underestimates how much more things cost to build now compared to years ago just based on the rates/figures they use to calculate general cost estimates. Had the Brewers built the existing Amfam Field now compared to ~25 years ago, the price tag would be much closer if not well over $1B, The Braves' newer digs cost roughly $800M to build and it doesn't have a retractable roof. I believe the Rangers' new stadium that does have a roof (which looks awful aesthetically) cost 1.1B. While not exactly accurate, the average construction labor rate for TX/GA hovers around $15/hr, while WI's is roughly $20/hr - those rates tend to scale accordingly for skilled labor/operator charges as well. Basically add 20% to the bills on the Braves and Rangers ballpark to get the cost range for a brand new Brewers stadium right about now...and I doubt that even covers the cost of demo-ing the existing stadium. Given the limitations both the Brewers and the public entity who owns the Stadium and property it's on have at the moment, the only thing that makes sense is to sort out an agreement to renovate the existing structure. I think what ultimately needs to happen is the Brewers wind up purchasing the land the stadium sits on and then privately financing a new ballpark/entertainment district...as much as I like what Mark A. has brought to the Brewers as their owner, he and the current ownership group don't have deep enough pockets to make that happen in the near future.