Fear The Chorizo

Not to mention proof that solid state batteries are a viable option (both economically and performance) for much more widespread EV use - one thing that's always been a big issue with solid state batteries is they're not great in climates with large temperature fluctuations, namely cold... I personally think the automotive industry should push hard into hydrogen fuel cell options for personal vehicles and leave EV as a more niche segment. When considering ramifications of scaling various technologies to fit global demand, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are really the only current option to significantly replace ICE vehicles without creating a bunch of unintended environmental and power grid capacity problems. Once the technology is fully developed to utilize hydrogen as a fuel, I think the infrastructure changes (both nationally and globally) could happen much more easily than what it would take to support a 50%+ fleet of battery-powered EVs on the planet.

Ruiz wasn't the centerpiece - Gasser was....and the closer the Brewers got from San Diego actually outperformed Hader for most of the remaining 2022 season because Hader sucked most of August. Gasser will make that trade worth it on his own compared to 1.5 seasons of Hader at about $18M in total salary, the fact they were able to turn Ruiz into Contreras and Payamps is some special gravy. Ruiz is 24 yrs old and holding his own as a rookie - way too soon to label him an awful ballplayer when his batting average is over all other Brewers with a qualified amount of at bats besides Yelich and Contreras. Ruiz lacks power and is still learning to play outfield (he was a 2B/IF for most of his minor league career), but Oakland is the perfect place for him to figure out how to play outfield. When the trade was made the debate was about how the Brewers were able to make the deal with their 4th best high minors OF prospect - reality is that due to injuries and inconsistency, Wiemer is the only one of the three (Wiemer, Mitchell, Frelick) that has arguably outperformed Ruiz this season...and that's entirely due to his hitting power and more developed outfield defense. If Mitchell could stay healthy I think he's the best of all of them, but the one consistent thing with him is he can't seem to stay on the field. I think Frelick will be an everyday major leaguer but he's not as close to making a MLB impact as what many assumed at this point last season. I'm glad they've kept Wiemer up to let him sort through MLB growing pains at the plate - really like what he could become as a right fielder even though he's been really good defensively in center.

Yeah with a prospect like Quero, I don't think burning an option is a concern at all - they'll protect him from Rule V when they need to and delaying the start of his MLB service time a season or even two would make alot of sense so the years of team control keep him in MIlwaukee into his late 20's, which are the likely prime years for a catcher.

If I'm a high school pitcher with enough projectable talent that doesn't get drafted as high as I'd like for a big enough signing bonus, I'd think long and hard about going to a juco instead of a 4 year university so I'd be draft eligible the very next year instead of having to wait 3 more drafts to potentially get my name called again.

What's keeping the Brewers from promoting Quero to AAA already? Well, for starters having their current starting everyday catcher (Contreras) still being over a full season from entering salary arbitration is a good reason to let a 20 year old catching prospect continue developing in AA. I'd imagine the plan for Quero is to have him start in AAA next spring, and then if his production forces their hand they'd call him up during the season as a 21 year old catcher or possibly in 2025. Even if he was held back making his MLB debut until 2025, Quero would be the youngest everyday catcher in the majors by far. There's no rush.

So, of all these HS draftees picked in rounds 11-20 (not just for the Brewers, but for many teams), if they don't sign now they'll all next be draft eligible three, 4, or 5 years from now depending on how their collegiate careers go. Each of those draft years will also be filled up with a fresh group of high school talent along with other college players that may have developed into draftable players who weren't picked while they were in high school. There are no guarantees with injury, development, and timing for most of these guys planning to wait for the next time they're draft eligible. Particularly for high school pitchers that aren't considered top 200 talent in a draft year, it actually makes alot more sense to sign a professional contract now than roll the dice on improving their draft stock years down the road when the draft itself has been pared down to 20 rounds.

Not all of them - but it wouldn't surprise me to see more than half of them sign...there are more prep arms that go off to college and wind up going undrafted 3 years later than those who dramatically improve their draft stock. In these rounds all it takes is 1 unlikely signing turning into a quality prospect to make the risk worth the reward. Guessing the Brewers opted to load up on these guys in hopes they get some of them signed rather than using picks on guys they could wind up signing as UFAs anyway

Do MLB teams still incentivize high school draftees to pay for their college education after the fact if they do sign? Not that it would appear to matter to Mr. Letson, as I kind of doubt he has a plan to earn a degree in 3 years, lol.

gotcha - I guess one item I did do this past winter was keep the garden area largely cleared of snow, so the soil could be exposed as much as possible to the elements...hearing that their larvae can't withstand extended stretches of soil temps below 15 degrees got me motivated to shovel snow across a little extra area where they would've largely laid eggs in my yard last year. It also seems this year like we've got a much larger number of birds around that might be helping to keep their numbers down. I've tried traps before, but found they just seemed to attract more of them...but it is satisfying to empty out a bag of them every now and then.

May I ask where you live? Here in MN we've been hammered the past few years with Japanese Beetles chewing on our garden bean plants - this year I think I've picked 2 off the plants and didn't really do anything special...thinking the long winter we just had did a number on their larvae, although I probably just jinxed myself and a week from now I'll be picking them off by the bucketfull to feed our neighbor's chickens, lol

I think trading Adames may be something the Brewers look into this coming offseason, particularly if he has a decent 2nd half...he has been hitting a bit better lately. Can't see them trading their starting SS this season when they're in this division unless the wheels fall off after the AS break and they find themselves 5+ games back at the end of July.

I think there's some real talent in the arms they drafted the past couple days already that are going to fill in lower levels of the farm either late this year or next season, and some of the collegiate pitchers could move up quickly. They drafted 7 pitchers with their first 11 picks, 6 of them college. Woodruff was an 11th rounder. Burnes and Ashby were 4th rounders. Misiorowski a 2nd. The recent Brewers' front offices appear to have a knack for identifying college arms in the day 2 draft range who can become quality MLB pitchers.

Misiorowski is the type of arm talent that if he keeps honing a repeatable delivery and avoids injury, he's never going to be considered a top prospect because he'll be pitching in the major leagues before too long. Scouting services always have to throw a dozen or so players just drafted into these top 100 lists soon with zero professional experience, too - where you are ranked has less to do with longterm MLB ability compared to tools/talent, and timing.

3PO...is that something from star wars? I think you mean 3TO...and I'd loosely agree with your point had Hiura not been hitting over 0.300 and K-ing well below 30% in AAA so far this season. We don't have any 2023 MLB stats for Hiura after swing and approach changes made this offseason, and I think he's producing enough in Nashville to deserve one last extended chance in Milwaukee. That's my main point, and I don't get the hangup over giving him another shot because of a high K rate in limited opportunities at the MLB level last season when the worst he would do now is provide better offensive output than what the Brewers have gotten the first ~400 or so DH plate appearances this season. The other aspect of this is he's in the organization now, and won't require any sort of significant trade involving other prospects to get onto the big league roster - it would be as simple as DFA-ing one of the other veteran scrubs. And no, OPS isn't the only thing that comes into play when evaluating whether or not Hiura's bat would benefit the Brewers at the MLB level compared to what their roster looks like right now...it's more valuable than K% IMO, but it's not the only thing. I really could care less what Hiura can or can't do defensively, because it doesn't factor in wanting him getting everyday DH at bats for a team that already has more than enough marginal offensive players whose calling card is positional versatility. In the end, Hiura might just be snakebit as a Brewer - getting injured earlier this season probably kept him from flat-out forcing the Brewers to give him another MLB opportunity weeks ago with how he was hitting. I hope he gets one more shot with the team that drafted him, but if it doesn't happen I'll root for him wherever he winds up.

It's not really shifting the goalposts considering Hiura has to be an above average hitter to be a major league player... 2022 MLB average OPS - 0.706 2022 Hiura OPS (with that 42% K rate you love to mention) - 0.765 Joey Gallo had a 0.638 OPS over 410 plate appearances last season, btw.

so now you're shifting the goal posts to "above average hitter in this league" instead of "major league player"?? defense has nothing to do with a leg up at the DH position, btw...and Gallo has been allowed to slog through full seasons of ABs (when healthy) to put up his numbers - Hiura goes through a 10-game slump and he's gone for months back down to the minors. All the while, the current Brewers' 2023 DH production could probably have been outproduced by letting a healthy Brandon Woodruff take those ABs.

I didn't say K% is arbitrary, and I do value contact more than some other posters on this board...What is arbitrary is you setting a specific K% number on what Hiura needs to be at or below in order to be a major league player. So if Hiura over the course of a 600 plate appearance regular season hit 35+ HR and drove in close to 100, while OPSing around 0.800 also struck out 35.2% of the time (211 Ks), he's not a MLB player in your book? Would he be a MLB player if he found a way to strike out two fewer times over the course of 600 plate appearances to lower that K rate to 34.8%?

I stated between 30-35% in the post you initially quoted, and you stated 'at or near' 35%...if I replaced extra base hits with a dozen or more Ks from those 2019 numbers to lower his average, slugging, etc. and bring his 2019 K rate to ~35%, he would've still been around a 0.900 OPS player that season. saying "gotta" and "absolutely has to" around 1 single stat (K%) for a player to have an extended big league career is foolish. If Hiura would get his K rate below 30%, he'd have the potential to be an all star at the DH position...so striking out at higher rate than some arbitrary threshold rate doesn't automatically disqualify Hiura from being a major league player.

His 2019 MLB production (mid-900's OPS with a K rate around 31%) says otherwise

Hypothetically, at what point would you consider his callup a success? Likewise, what would be considered a failure? IMO it will be a success if he's called up over the AS Break and proceeds to get everyday at bats as the DH, so the Brewers will have ~2.5 months of a regular season to assess whether it's worth plugging Hiura in as the Opening Day 2024 DH for this team or if they part ways with Hiura and wish him well elsewhere (whether that's in a Korean/Japanese league ala Thames or with a different MLB organization). Stats-specific, if Hiura can hit mid-200s and maintain a mid-upper 700s OPS I think he's worth bringing back next season and frankly that's plenty of production to improve their offense this season compared to what they've gotten from DH so far...and I think Hiura still has a higher ceiling than that. It will be a failure if Hiura is called up and not given an extended shot at everyday ABs and the Brewers are left without a clear decision to make with Keston moving forward - or if they shuttle him to random defensive positions to keep his bat in the lineup (1B/OF/2B)...if Hiura is going to have a lengthy MLB career it will be as a DH that has righthanded pop. He'll probably always have a higher than average MLB K%, but if he keeps it between 30-35% he'll hit enough to justify an everyday spot in the lineup.

Feels like they're too slow to drop prospects they've previously elevated, and because of that there's no room to elevate prospects who deserve to be much higher - especially when they tend to try and give every organization at least 1 or 2 prospects in that top 100. Misiorowski at 89 is about as bad as Quero at 75...and Black has done plenty offensively at the AA level to be rated in the top 75 even with defensive question marks.

Is this statement to describe Hiura or 90% of the current Brewer MLB roster? I think Keston would've been up a month ago if not for his injury - if and when he does get called up, it needs to be for an extended full time role as this team's DH. If Counsel plans on trying to utilize him again in some sort of platoon role where he faces more LHP than RHP, then he'd be better off staying down in AAA. I also think the reverse splits Hiura has are a bit overstated due to sample size, but I do think he hits righties at least a bit better than lefties because of his natural instinct to let the ball travel to him and use his hands. If he'd get nothing but sliders from RHP at the MLB level, he'd OPS north of 1.500. Obviously he'll need to prove that his swing adjustments have allowed him to handle high in the zone gas more effectively at the MLB level, because that's all he'll get until he proves he's not the auto out he used to be in that zone with velocity. There's only one way to find out, and it's not letting Hiura continue mashing down in Nashville.

I think most of us would be happy getting significantly better offensive production from the DH spot in the batting order than what we'd expect from pitchers hitting. Hiura is the logical in house option the Brewers can add to their roster, and all it takes is DFA-ing one of the underperforming vets to get him on the 40 man roster for the rest of this season.

Or, how about just everyone pay it back? Teachers are far from the only positions with high demand/low supply, so I don't think they should get preferential treatment for loans they may need to take out to get a 4-yr degree. I grew up in a rural part of WI where teacher salaries weren't great - but even then their benefits were what incentivized that position in a community they could still comfortably live in on those salaries if they stayed within their financial means. I've also lived around Chicago and Minneapolis, and the teachers I knew at various public school districts all made more than me plus had insanely good benefits and time off compared to my position in an engineering consulting firm as a licensed P.E. I know there are parts of the country and districts where it's damn hard to be a teacher - both mentally and financially. Hell, I know I'm not cut out for that type of job and I'd be a terrible teacher. But, the same can be said for jobs across all fields, public and private sector. I'd also argue a big part of the current student loan problem isn't a glut of elementary school teachers somewhere in the panhandle making $35K a year with $100K in student loan debt - it has alot more to do with students taking out years' worth of pricey loans to attain advanced degrees in universities beyond a bachelors program that accumulate to balances over what their financial means will be in the career path and the geographic location they've chosen to live and work in. Finally, from 2002-2022, the total consumer price index increased 65%, while average tuition increased between 134% (private) and 175% (public in-state) on average over that same time period. There needs to be reform at the university level to restructure costs to solve this problem, or frankly the higher education system we currently know will collapse - it's already pricing out a huge chunk of the country, and eventually there will be a tipping point. One may be structuring tuition amounts at universities based on earning potential of undergraduate degree fields. For example, if a liberal arts major or social worker with a 4 year degree isn't expected to make as much as a computer engineer right out of school, their tuition costs to obtain that degree shouldn't be as high upfront.

I think just about any broad student loan forgiveness policy change/update needs to utilize university endowments as sources of forgiveness funds, or push to tie further tuition growth directly to a baseline inflation figure - until the main sources of ballooning student loan debt are held accountable (skyrocketing tuition due in large part to university largesse and excessive administrative costs, and large loans provided to students seeking degrees whose typical jobs don't pay close to the amount of salary needed for them to readily repay them without it severely handcuffing them financially for decades), this problem will only keep getting worse. Public sector student loan forgiveness policy will drive people insane, and frankly that sort of thing should also be eliminated - a big reason it started out in the first place was to dampen the effect of rising tuition costs at universities by incentivizing students to take out larger loans upfront than they otherwise would, particularly for fields where you don't need to attend a 4-year university at $25K+ in tuition annually to get a degree and ultimately a job.