Fear The Chorizo

There were some "insiders" who have speculated that the Bears' GM is feeling the heat and was willing to make a crazy move like this and hopefully luck into a good season to preserve his own job. It honestly all depends if their QB is good or not - if he isn't, their GM is fired anyway. The writing might already be on the wall for him that if the Bears don't show drastic improvement this year he's gone. Basically, if it doesn't work, he'll be fired and someone else will have to deal with the salary cap mess he created. You'd think the Bears would've learned their lesson after the Cutler trade, but at least that move made some football sense as they were hoping to bring in a good QB to compliment a great defense. The Mack trade isn't something a rebuilding team does in the NFL - they're mortgaging their future before their present is good enough to borrow against.

This will be a very interesting offseason in terms of how the surplus arms capable of starting are managed by Stearns - because quite frankly there isn't enough room for all of them. Nelson - ? marks with the shoulder but he's a rotation lock if healthy Chacin - obviously a rotation spot for 2019 Anderson - Unless he's traded, he's got a rotation spot Davies - will be entering 1st arby year this offseason after an injury-riddled and bad 2018 to date...could dramatically boost his stock with a solid September, perhaps enough to be traded to make room for younger arms. Boras is still his agent and has been critical about their handling of him in the past to preserve service time, so he's not going to be an extension candidate. Even when healthy, he has extended stretches of being bad - but he also can be really good. I'm leery of him longterm due to both inconsistency and shoulder/back issues surfacing on a pitcher with so slight a build. Even if he performs well down the stretch, I'd like to see them try to trade him if they can get solid value in return. Peralta - Assuming good health, he's got to have a presumed rotation spot for 2019. Could still be sent down to AAA if performance warrants, but he's shown enough at the MLB level to be considered a solid back of the rotation starter on a good team as he continues to develop. Guerra - I'm unclear about his control status, but if he's out of minor league options the Brewers are going to struggle to keep him around. Was fantastic for them essentially through the AS break, and has really struggled since - similar to his 2016 season, and he's also had durability concerns. To me he's a great option for rotation filler/bullpen longman, but I doubt the Brewers have room for him in Milwaukee to start the 2019 season and another team could easily pick him up as an inexpensive veteran rotation arm to put into a #5 role or play on a rebuilding team. Brewers will probably be hardpressed to get much of a return for Guerra via trade, as interested teams probably see a decent chance Guerra could wind up released during Spring Training next year. If DS can get something via trade this offseason, I think he's got to pull the trigger. Miley - I believe he's a FA this offseason, and very likely has at least earned himself a 1-2 year contract at a price the Brewers probably won't be comfortable paying considering other internal options and payroll considerations. I really wonder what he could have done with a full healthy season, because he's been impressive with his opportunity. He still walks to many guys, but he's always done that - doubtful he's back, but he's been a fantastic addition to the 2018 squad to help eat innings that otherwise would have been logged by a healthy Jimmy Nelson or Davies. Burnes / Woodruff - I see one of these guys getting a shot in the rotation, with the other either being in the Milwaukee bullpen or AAA rotation to start next year. Longterm I'd like both of them to get a fair shot becoming a starter with the Brewers. Hader - if they don't move to give Hader a rotation shot for 2019, they view him as a reliever and elite one at that that automatically makes their bullpen a strength. It's difficult for me to totally accept that without at least giving him one more extended look as a starter, though. Depending what the Brewers do with Soria and with other trades, I think they could still put together a quality bullpen without Hader in it.

You want to talk about just about a superfecta for NL scoreboard watching today as a Brewers fan.... Brewers beat the Cubs Cards lose Phillies lose Braves lose Rockies win a wild game...meh Dbacks lose Dodgers down 4-1 in the 9th

Only way they really drive it is funding our season ticketholders' budgets to attend other games by paying through the nose for secondary market cub/brewer game tickets.

Congratulations, your new team has 20-25 thousand fans in a market more than 10x the size of milwaukee willing to help fund brewer season ticketholders' budgets by driving an hour north instead of south to watch a baseball game in a nicer park than your multi-billion dollar organization has.

Gotta love winning the series game where your starter hasn't been in the bigs for months while facing the 2nd half Cy young winner with a horseshoe up his rear end. The position player depth the brewers have after roster expansion was the difference today...hoping for a big offensive game tomorrow to get further into the cubs' pen. Lack of an off day might be starting to show a bit with them...

Game is far from over...sucks but just get back in the dugout and score some more runs

Would be great to get a good start from davies, then after maddon pulls hamels to start playing matchups the brewer lh pinch hitter barrage can get rolling.

To be a quality MLB starter, Woodruff needs a better secondary pitch to get lefties out - whether that's a changeup, cutter, or good overhand curve remains to be seen. I view Woodruff like what Jimmy Nelson was about 3 seasons ago before he developed that curve and the consistency to command his pitches and attack hitters instead or racking up huge pitch counts nibbling. Woodruff has the arm, hopefully he develops a bit more deception in his delivery and finds that 3rd MLB-quality pitch to be a rotation option next year. He may also be a trade candidate, but I think that would be selling relatively low on the potential he has. In 2018, he's been caught on the MLB/AAA shuttle and also between starting and relieving this year, but much of that is on him for not earning a regular turn in the MLB rotation early this season.

Cubs are playing great, but they haven't wrapped up the NL Central yet - if after their next 10 games they still have a 5+ game lead on the rest of the division and the Brewers are out of H2H matchups with them, then I'll agree with you. A 5 game lead is substantial, but the Brewers having 6 H2H games and essentially a whole month to make up that ground against an otherwise soft schedule doesn't make it impossible. The Cubs get 6 Brewer games, plus Strasburg and Scherzer to round out 8 of their next 10, along with 6 games against the Dbacks and Cards - if they play this next stretch at a 6-4 pace or better, the Cubs cruise to the division title and best record in the NL. If they are 4-6 or worse in large part due to the Brewers winning both series against them, the division race will go down to the last weekend of the season.

So, that's pretty much the equivalent of their sunday forfeit lineup the day after blowing a game...awesome. hope the nats lay down for this one, but I doubt it. Struggling to fathom why guerra gets another start, too. Edit: guess I get the Lefty heavy start with Rodriguez's splits - hoping they have no issues subbing heavily once he's out of the game

He got two, then he slipped and got completely out of whack and stayed in to face at least two more hitters than he should have when he was obviously struggling. It sucks Soria didn't get the job done and get one more out, but it's poor managing to just let him out there to dump gasoline on an inning when there are multiple other options to get out of the inning before it ever got to Soto. It's not just soria - cc has done this at times with knebel, logan, jennings, albers, just about any reliever in the pen. Overall he has had a quick hook with starters and almost a predetermined effort to let a struggling reliever hang himself.

I know it's not exactly 1/2 way, but Hader appeared in 31 games pre AS break, and has only been in 14 post AS Break. The reduction in appearances actually started happening in mid-June. 48 IP 1st half, with only 19 thus far 2nd half. If the Brewers want to actually make the playoffs this year, at some point they need to act like it from a bullpen management standpoint and use their best reliever when game situations call for it. Jennings should be getting his opportunities significantly reduced based on trades/roster expansion - instead it seems like he's getting put in more and more high leverage situations. Last night's 8th inning game situation should have warranted multiple relievers getting stretched out and loose as soon as the first batter reached on Soria, particularly with Harper and Soto looming should that inning have started getting out of hand. Instead, CC waited until the jam was beyond control to get guys warming up, and compounded it by opting for Jennings and Lyles. Last night was the game to stretch Hader to get a key batter out - winning that game guarantees a series win and gives him another day of rest leading up to the series with the Cubs. Now if Hader pitches today, apparently he might be available for 1 of the next 3 Cub games.

Then why even have hader dress? With roster expansion the dugout/bullpen probably could use the extra space. It's like he's a franchise qb in the preseason or something...

So, Hader wasn't available after a day of rest following 2 days of work, but Jennings was available for the 3rd straight day and 4th in the last 5 days? You don’t believe that they’d limit a prized arm over a journeyman reliever? It is very plausible that Hader is being limited as an organizational plan. Ask the nats how that worked out with strasburg. Prized arms are valued because they get good hitters out in those spots. Tough to consider the brewers a legit contender if they are intent in giving journeyman relievers spots like tonight routinely down the stretch over their best available relievers.

CC had two occasions in the 8th where Hader could have come in to face one lh hitter to get out of the inning with the lead. If the guidelines are that restrictive on a key reliever who had a day of rest with games on the line in september, time to send him back to the rotation.

Just a crappy, crappy way to lose a game they had in the bag. Blown opportunity to squeak back in front of stl

Too mad to even be happy for that hr...at some point the mid season lull in hader's use has to be reversed, and cc needs to get him in those spots Inexcusable to put Jennings in that spot

This game should have never been restarted

I'm sorry, but why the hell hasn't this game been ended already? The radar most certainly does not look like rain is leaving the area...

With 14 of their remaining games against playoff contending teams, and 9 against the brewers and cards, the Cubs' division lead could easily whither away quickly if the brewers play them well. They aren't even halfway through their 23 game, 23 day stretch, and they are going to need the bottom part of their 40 man roster to log some important innings.

Solid W tonight, great to get this game with Strasburg and Scherzer looming for games 2&3. Looks like the Cards are rolling the Reds, and the Cubs are tied with the Phils headed to bottom 10th - Philly is close to DC, wonder what the rain situation looks like there...never mind - Asdrubal Cabrera just walked them off!

Not watching this live, but is it raining to the point where they shouldn't be playing right now? This will suck terribly if harper goes all Roy Hobbs on us here

I know...surprised the rays passed on that and shipped archer to the pirates at the deadline

Lara would have been eligible for the rule 5 draft this coming offseason...doubtful anyone would have picked him up because it's taken him roughly 4 years to become decent in low A ball, but that basically seals his fate with the brewers...had he ever figured it out he never would have been able to stay with the brewers' or long enough to play in milwaukee. It seems like a lot to give up only if you value has been prospects way too much.