Fear The Chorizo

Agreed, but either him or Shaw need to drop down in the order - keep them in the lineup but get some other guys between them, especially in an AL park with the DH. I also wonder why they don't platoon Jesus with Thames more regularly with righty starters...

Seems like there are more garbage items on the field than fans in the stands...c'mon CA, pick up after yourself!

is anyone else incredibly annoyed by that glove shaking thing Claudio does as he comes to his set?

Right now the 3-4-5 of this order are killing rallies - I think you gotta move Moose or perhaps Grandal up into that 4 spot for a while with how well they're swinging it.

OMG Grandal

What's the over-under on when this game ends? Thursday??

Moose killed that ball!

.272 with a really mediocre OPS and below average defense at AA. See how I just pulled into the lead? Your welcome for the advice. Happy to lend a hand where its needed. Whatever sort of race this is floating around in your head, I feel bad for you. That being said, Hiura was dominating AA through most of June 2018 prior to a thumb sprain that cost him time and likely took a long while to get back to feeling 100% swinging a bat. The 0.272 line you mentioned largely neglects the 0.322 line he put up through the end of June (which includes a full month of AA at bats) across two levels in 300 plate appearances - more than half his 2018 minor league season. It also completely neglects him raking in the AZFL. Hiura is still in the minors because he does need more time to develop certain aspects of his game, however I'd advise you to save alot of room for crow in your diet if you think ~5 AAA box scores (one full game coming against Kershaw as a starter) amounts to anything in the grand scheme of his ability as an impact MLB player.

Let's get some offense going! Aguilar really shouldn't have a long leash before he doesn't start against righties with thames on the roster.

3 more outs and chacin gets a quality start out of tonight...lol

This one has all the makings of a dumpster fire game...hopefully the tide turns quickly

He is going to have these kind of games sometimes, especially early in the year...last April most of this board thought he was a bad signing based on his first few starts.

I cannot see 2019 without the Cubs being somewhat good. I refuse to think of them as a bad team until they are mathematically eliminated. They have too much talent and payroll to be anything resembling bad this season. They are going to score a ton of runs - they are also going to give up a ton of runs...unless their pitching gets straightened out it's going to be tough for them to put together sustained streaks of winning, since the NL has hardly any doormat teams on paper. They are basically the Reds, with a much more expensive yet bad pitching staff. I think the Cards are much better positioned give the Brewers a run for the division, simply because they have much better pitching.

Do you think it's at all possible the Brewers would go with a 6 man rotation once Nelson comes back? I think this would be an easier argument if they had the pen they expected with Hader-Knebel, Jeffress and then Wahl emerging as another high leverage reliever and then Guerra, Anderson, Albers and Claudio to round it out. But wouldn't this be a better would this be a better way of stretching these pitchers out and trying to limit their innings. It feels like the extra day of rest has led to some suggesting pitchers coming over from Japan have tired early, but I don't know how much there is to back that up. I don't think that works with the staff as constructed, as it puts too much strain on too few quality bullpen options right now - plus it would screw with the more established starting pitcher schedules of Chacin, Davies, and in part Woodruff. What I think makes more sense when Nelson comes back is to play musical chairs with starts for 3-4 starting pitchers. The Brewers could easily go through a turn with Chacin, Nelson, Woodruff, Peralta, and Davies while having Burnes miss a start and remain in the pen as a relief option for a few appearances in that ~10 game stretch he doesn't make a start. Next time through the rotation he could switch roles with Woodruff, next time through it could be Peralta or even Nelson. On top of that, they could even give Anderson a few starts to have even more flexibility without having to burn options or start a AAA shuttle - that's all assuming injuries are largely avoided (fingers crossed). It won't be a true 6 man rotation - they will stick with the 5 spots, but a few of those spots will consist of multiple starting pitchers even without having to tap into AAA starting options.

I think recent comments from Brewers' brass about it being unlikely additional pitching help comes from outside the organization reflects well on Nelson's and Jeffress' progress toward rejoining the MLB team. They're going to roll with what they've got - at least for a few months - and then the 1st place on their roster that needs bolstering will likely be the bullpen. Keuchel isn't an option here, even on a 1 year deal. There was money out there for starting pitching in free agency, but he/Boras overplayed their hand and the huge market teams that typically gobble up veteran FA pitching chose other lefty starters (Colvin, Happ) early on.

To be fair, they lost their likely closer and a key late inning guy for the season in spring training, and one of their key guys last year is slowly working his way back. You can't sign everyone to put on the roster

If Hader can get out of this with the Brewers still in front, I think you give him the 8th, then the 9th is anybody's guess. Would be nice if the offense can score a few more on their bullpen trainwreck

lol, ump is squeezing him, too

Tyler Chatwood - making more than our starting rotation and can't pitch BA and Rock better stop making fun of the Cubs' pen, considering the Brewers' pen is screaming down the rankings towards them right now, too...

Cubs pitching employing the same strategy

This is officially a beer league softball game...sheesh

It's gonna stink to lose this one 12-10

Would be good to keep it a game as it moves towards the later innings, and take their chances against that Cub pen....but frankly Burnes shouldn't have started this inning

Fresh is relative, when those arms are still bad mlb options. the fact any arms they got coming up were behind those two in their pecking order tells you all there is to know about their lack of quality bullpen depth in the high minors. Edwards has been awful since returning too soon from arm issues mid-2018, and Montgomery is nothing better than a long man in a bullpen even when he is 100 percent healthy. They are grasping at straws already.

Considering the history, it's nice to batter Quintana for a change...any win against the cubs is still a great win. Hopefully this is the start of a year where they mash lefty starters!