Fear The Chorizo

A wolf, a dinosaur, a rattlesnake, a fish with a spear on it, and a mythical character that can cast spells - all pretty cool on their own merit. Statues on a man-made bridge serving as traffic cops, not so much in my book A dinosaur from a movie and a fish are not cool. I assume you don't like Dodgers? Those were just people trying not to get hit by trolley cars. How about White Sox, Red Sox? Those are articles of clothing. A movie was made about recreating dinosaurs because dinosaurs are indeed cool. Have you ever caught a marlin? well, I already know the answer to that if you don't think they are cool. And forgive me for not being upset about baseball teams' original names/mascots not being trendy or cool when they are 100+ years old - white sox and red sox were part of their uniforms, and at the time the Dodgers' team name was derived, automobiles weren't yet invented and trolley cars were pretty damn interesting compared to a horse and buggy in a city street. Agree to disagree - and BTW I definitely think Spiders would've been a much better option for Cleveland, too.

A wolf, a dinosaur, a rattlesnake, a fish with a spear on it, and a mythical character that can cast spells - all pretty cool on their own merit. Statues on a man-made bridge serving as traffic cops, not so much in my book

Unless the Guardians winds up with all the Marvel guardians as mascots, they should just have gone with 'baseball team' for their name.

Kimbrel makes a ton of sense for the Brewers, but will also cost alot to acquire considering he's got another year left on his deal. Plus, pretty much all playoff contenders will be at least interested in trying to trade for him. Late inning relievers having great years are very pricey to trade for at the deadline because they are always coveted.

Yep, and Cruz has never played 1B at the major league level far as I can tell - I'd imagine any NL team thinking of adding his bat to the lineup on an everyday basis would have a combination of quite a few road interleague games coming up he can just DH, and a gaping hole at a corner OF position they could stick him out there in. Brewers should be looking to upgrade 1B with a 1B - there are players available that could make that worthwhile if the Hiura/Vogelbach/Tellez experience continues resembling what the 1H2018 middle infield offensive disaster was until they brought in Moose/Schoop and shifted Shaw over to 2nd at the deadline.

I thought the Suns also made a nice adjustment in game 6 to try and cut off Giannis' passing lanes when he was trying to dish it out to the perimeter. It lead to a number of turnovers in the first half. But the problem was that the help defenders can't guard Giannis and the perimeter shooters at the same time, so the Suns' were left with the 'hack-a-Giannis' approach when he just took it himself to the rim. It might have worked if Giannis had a 50% FT shooting night, but the Suns were in danger of having all their big men foul out by the 4th quarter. Seeing how Giannis responded to that adjustment is one of the reasons why he probably isn't done winning rings... Yep - and the fact Giannis made his free throws sealed their fate, because he and the Bucks had no problem with him scoring from the foul line and going back to the well repeatedly.

Yes, picking up defense full court against Paul when he had the ball was a huge adjustment that shifted how well he (an ultimately the Suns in general) performed offensively. Credit has to go to both Jrue and coach Bud for implementing that gameplan. Not being able to go exactly where they wanted to when setting up pick and roll and other sets got them out of rhythm, and with the exception of Booker (call whiner but an exceptional contested shot maker), the rest of the Suns just weren't able to find ways to get good looks consistently without having to win 1 on 1 battles off the dribble. Some of that added effort probably led to Jrue getting even more inconsistent with his own shotmaking, but his defense was critical in turning the tide in this series. Making an aging Paul work had a clear effect on his game, and probably helped wear Booker down since his efficiency cratered in game 6 after having to carry them offensively during the middle games of the series.

The Brewers scored 2 runs in 2 games against the Dodgers last postseason...Williams was great in 2020 and a key part of how a putrid offensive team reached an expanded playoff format, but the Brewers weren't nearly good enough offensively last year to make a deep postseason run.

Nelson got injured in late 2017....the openers thing didn't really take off until that September hot streak and was largely a thing because their bullpen was stacked (had longman Hader, Knebel, Soria, Guerra, Jeffress + Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta as late season multi-inning relievers come playoff time). They rode their bullpen to the spot they reached in the NLCS, but not having a better rotation to give them more innings likely burned a few key guys out a bit (Jeffress in particular) that made them less effective at the end when they needed it most. The 2018 pitching staff was full of 5 inning starters because their young arms weren't quite ready to be in that role - now they are. Injuries are such a big part of pitching and seemingly so fickle that I doubt the current approach to try and conserve inning limits on some of the Brewer starters is a direct result of relatively recent starter injuries down the stretch headed into the postseason - it's just how pitching is evolving, but even moreso I'd imagine it's a result of last year's COVID-shortened season severely restricting innings workloads and how to best cope with ramping back up to a full 162 this year.

Lock this thread!!

the soft fix is in, no doubt about it

Both teams off to ugly starts here

I don't see Adames as an assumed annual all star caliber SS occasionally in the MVP discussion. That's what those three players are. Adames has had that type of stretch since coming to the Brewers in 50ish games, but his career numbers say he isn't going to be a SS that will set the arbitration marker as he progresses through it. Adames career numbers outside of Tropicana Park (at least from 2018-2020 seasons) gives him a 135 wRC+. His numbers since coming to the Brewers are a wRC+ of 162. It was hypothesized the he didn't see well in Tropicana and there was just an article on mlb.com to that effect to account for his performance with the Brewers looking more like his away numbers from Tampa. While the 162 may not be sustainable, a wRC+ of 135 puts him in the top 20 hitters in baseball (The only SS with a higher wRC+ this year has been Tatis at 167). If Willy keeps it up through the rest of the year, there's pretty good evidence that he WILL be expensive in arbitration. We can't have it both ways. If you want good players you will need to pay for them when they hit arbitration. If you want cheap players you'll likely get crappy players. If Adams is that hitter consistently for the next 3 years, I'd gladly pay him tons of well-earned money in arbitration....I don't think his crazy start with the Brewers (almost 0.600 slugging and 1.0 OPS) offensively is sustainable, and his first 3+ years with the Rays will play a role in all 3 of his arbitration years assuming no extension materializes.

I don't see Adames as an assumed annual all star caliber SS occasionally in the MVP discussion. That's what those three players are. Adames has had that type of stretch since coming to the Brewers in 50ish games, but his career numbers say he isn't going to be a SS that will set the arbitration marker as he progresses through it.

Sure, you don't want to pay market rates for a player years away from free agency, but by the same token when Adames is 6 months away from arbitration where his pay will grow exponentially he has no real reason to sign an extension with the Brewers. He, his agent and the Brewers F.O. know if he plays well he'll likely make 25-30 million dollars over the next three years. What are the Brewers going to do; offer him 3yrs/45 and ask for a club option for a 4th year? That type of deal doesn't make any sense for Milwaukee, and offering anything less doesn't really make any sense for Adames (unless he doesn't believe he can continue to perform at this level, or is afraid of a catastrophic injury ruining his career). There's no way he's going to make $30M over the next three arbitration years unless he wins MVP next season. Not with his good but not great production as a Ray, which is what the arbitration process will continue to factor in - particularly with this first go-round this offseason. And it's not like Adames is just a year from free agency once he hits his first arbitration year - he's not a free agent until the 2025 season, i believe when he's 31 yrs old. The arbitration process is going to weigh what Adames did as a Ray along with his run as a Brewer, meaning his first arbitration raise will be significant from his league minimum salary but he's not going to be paid like an AS-caliber SS in arby year 1. Depending how the structure of an extension would look, Adames and his team would probably love to sign a longterm deal that guarantees what his expected arbitration escalations will be plus tacks on 2-3 more seasons of a contract at market rate on the back end. Particularly if they would base his value on his 51 games as a Brewer compared to the 332 prior ones with Tampa Bay. I for one feel the Brewers shouldn't dole out an extension based on an initial hot streak by Adames, impressive as it may be. Hopefully we're talking about how great he is this time next year, and the 2022-2023 offseason would be the ideal time to try and get him extended - or potentially deal him elsewhere in effort for a high prospect return if there are other SS prospects in the Brewers system that are ready for the majors.

Pretty good if they pick up a key bat and reliever, stay healthy, and the rest of the NL Central teams find themselves in sell mode by the end of July.

It's too bad Nelson Cruz is limited to being a DH at this point in his career and the Brewers aren't in the AL...he would be an ideal fit in this lineup down the stretch.

He's arguing that the winner is "to be determined". Yes, it looked bad for the Brewers for awhile. But that lopsidedness has sense faded considerably as Urias heats up and Lauer continues to look useful. No one here is calling the deal a surefire win for the Brewers, at least not yet. But plenty of said that the Brewers were raked over the coals on the deal. That take doesn't appear to be correct, either. I would like to point out though that even if we do "win" the trade in the end, that doesn't mean that San Diego didn't "win" as well. Grisham is obviously great, and Davies had a fantastic season for them which had value, and they helped parlay that into Darvish as well which definitely has value. I suppose if both teams can come out of this with something that made them better in the end, that's really what you want in a trade. Piggybacking on this to emphasize that trades that wind up benefitting both organizations lead to more trades in the future - if your GM always gets fleeced, they get hesitant and ultimately fired...and if your GM always does the fleecing I think other clubs are much more hesitant to trade with them in the future. It stings a bit to lose Grisham after we as Brewers fans waited so long for him to develop in the minors, but it appears like we received a solid everyday infielder in return under team control. I think diehard Padres fans would have the same to say about Urias in terms of seeing him tear through the minors only to struggle at the MLB level off and on for a few seasons as a Padre until he was traded. It's fun for the team you root for to always be on the 'winning' side of a trade, but IMO it's just as good to have plenty of trade ties if it means the major league roster improves. IMO that's been the case regarding the Grisham/Davies for Lauer/Urias deal 1.5 seasons in.

Phew!

Oh god....why do I have a sick feeling about this

WOWOWOWOW

I just hope he doesn't accidentally leave one where it ties the game....staying down and off corners right now

Gustave in the 2018 Hader role here....hope they aren't getting too cute

Put up a 5 spot here

Ffs....make a flipping free throw and end this damn game already