Fear The Chorizo

Alright - top o' the order up, let's get something going here

The back end of their bullpen isn't all that bad and that's what we'll get here. Based on what Straily was doing to them the past few innings, I'll take my chances against other arms. edit: would be nice to not give away outs on the bases though...sheesh

I get it, but they're not gonna be contracted if they lose. A win sure would be nice, I agree.

still down just a pair and headed into the Marlins' pen...hopefully the O wakes up and they can find a way to steal one on the way out of town

Brewers are 5-1 thus far against the Marlins this year...I wish they'd struggle against every team at that rate. Stinks that they're down in what appears to be a clunker of a game, but let's be a little realistic

Tonight is apparently 'leave a pitcher in way past their curfew night' for CC...

Dh is Saturday Whelp...my bad.

Facepalm

This is not the start this pen needs before a travel night and DH tomorrow...

My guess is you have a condensation issue due to iffy insulation/air leaks around your ductwork and the condensate is getting discolored either by rust in the ducts or tannins in plywood/roofing underlayment. Particularly if you are on the top floor and the ac has been working overtime. Air moisture/humidity rises inside a building, so if you've got poor ventilation in the building attic/roof area you're likely to have condensed moisture trying to work it's way back down. Fyi, I'm not a roofer and I haven't stayed in a holiday inn...but I've had interior humidity issues in a few places - definitely worth getting someone in the attic to have a look-see.

Nice to see the cubs in extras again...would be nice for the giants to plate a run around inning 28 or so.

Sort of. 94 pitches to get through 4.1 innings. Not encouraging to see Ortiz only go 49 pitches. Ortiz is probably about due for another non-pitching injury that prevents him from pitching for another month or so. To be frank, he has been a disappointment during his time with the Brewers. Despite his obvious talent, he's treading water at a time when true MLB-caliber starters need to take a significant next step.

Britton's name has come up in some of the Machado sweepstakes discussion with "sources" indicating that Baltimore may try to package the two rentals to get a better prospect package in return from certain teams (Dodgers, Red Sox, and Yankees, namely). However, with his string of recent quality outings and increasing velocity as he rounds back into form following recovery from a ruptured right achilles tendon during a Dec 2017 workout, I think he may wind up deserving his own thread as the Orioles will probably get the most value by trading Machado and Britton separately. I wouldn't be surprised if Baltimore holds onto Britton right up until the deadline and there winds up being a bidding war for two months of a potentially dominating reliever. The injury history is a concern and likely means teams aren't going to need to offer the moon for him like they would have going into the 2017 season - but if a contender can get two healthy months plus playoffs at anything like his 2016 season, Britton would help the bullpen on any team with postseason hopes. I can see the Cubs being particularly interested with many of their current late inning options already dealing with minor issues, and they aren't very deep. Houston would be an interesting fit as well. I'd actually like to kick the tires on a Britton trade, but probably will quickly lose interest assuming there are going to be a good number of suitors that really inflate his trade value way over what a reliever rental price should be.

I admittedly know basically nothing about scouting but is there really something more than all of that that they can get in person? Teams send advance scouts to opponents' games all the time - mainly for game planning purposes to get a firsthand look at tendencies, who seems to be playing at less than 100% health, etc...The Orioles play the Red Sox in about two weeks, so I wouldn't be surprised if that had something to do with their scout at a Baltimore game - not to mention they're playing the Yankees, the team the Red Sox are going to be chasing down the stretch. That being said, I'm sure they spent plenty of time watching Machado, since he basically is the Orioles' team right now - the scout was probably chuckling at how much worse they'll be after Machado and Britton get dealt before the Red Sox play them again.

Getting rid of Ortiz because he dealt with some non-pitching-related injuries is ludicrous. And I'll state my opinion that including Ortiz in a trade for Machado is far from "getting rid" of him - to get talent you have to give up talent, and there's no question Ortiz has God-given ability to pitch. The big question mark with him is will he ever be able to realize his potential and put it all together to become a quality MLB starter. He's already seen three Brewer pitching prospects blow right by him in Biloxi (Woodruff, Burnes, and Peralta), and Brown's season to date basically makes it a 4th. Arms like Ortiz get every opportunity to succeed, it's just looking tougher for him to make it all happen with the Brewers based mostly on roster management and Ortiz's length of minor league service time.

He's had hamstring injuries, not arm injuries. Getting rid of Ortiz because he dealt with some non-pitching-related injuries is ludicrous. Thank god you all aren't the GM. Hamstring injuries cause pitchers to not pitch, especially ones that happen to big guys where there are conditioning concerns. How is he a potential TOR arm when he hasn't started more than 20 games in a year over the course of FIVE minor league seasons? You thinking a hamstring isn't a big deal to a pitcher makes me glad you're not a trainer. It's great it's not his arm, but changing mechanics to try and avoid recurring hamstring injuries will be what causes an arm injury.

Ortiz has been with the Brewer organization for about two full years now, all of which has been spent in AA Biloxi. During his time there, many of his numbers have actually been regressing and he's been very slow to increase his innings workload, which is why he didn't shoot further up the system like Woodruff did in 2016/2017 or Burnes and Peralta have done in 2017/2018. Ortiz actually hasn't gotten over 100 IP in any of his minor league seasons yet, meaning he's probably still 2 years away from being a viable MLB starter capable of a 150-175 inning workload, and that's assuming he can stay healthy enough to log those innings. The Brewers are at a point with their 40 man roster that making sure Ortiz gets on it this fall and is given the time he still needs in the minors to develop will really hamper the flexibility DS likes. He's already parted ways with the centerpiece prospect the Brewers got from TX for the Luc/Jeffress deal, I won't be surprised at all if he's getting ready to give Ortiz another change of organization, too.

Throw Woodruff in there too...and add Brown or modeiros in 2020 - not even really kidding Having piles of pitching is fun!

Not that I have overly optimistic expectations for the guy, but let's see what Miley potentially can provide - I believe he's starting one of the upcoming Pirate doubleheader games, and if he can give the Brewers 5-10 starts between now and September, he could be a good bridge guy to either spell Peralta or replace Suter. One thing the Brewers currently have even despite injuries to Nelson and Davies are a pile of decent starting pitcher options. I'd love to see Albers make it back healthy and potentially acquiring another late inning pen arm to keep them as fresh as possible. Of course, if a quality starter can be had for a palatable price, go get 'em...but IMO it would need to be a no-doubt upgrade to justify making that move instead of continuing to work with available in-house options.

Especially considering Ortiz is one of the many arms that would need to be added to the Brewer 40 man to avoid him being available via Rule 5 draft this offseason. He's got talent, no question - but his injury and conditioning issues have limited the # of innings he's been able to log, and it's prevented him from developing fast enough to solidify a MLB roster spot after 4 minor league seasons. The way their roster is looking, the Brewers probably need to make a decision on whether to get Modeiros or Ortiz on the MLB 40 man, and whoever they'd leave off would surely be claimed by another organization.

I'm ok with including a MLB-ready prospect or young player with lots of team control in a trade for a rental the caliber of Machado - provided that prospect is essentially blocked by better options at his best position that were under team control for multiple seasons. That description fit LaPorta to a T when he headlined the Brewers' trade to bring in CC. Phillips won't ever start over Cain or Yelich, and his bat isn't good enough to take over everyday RF duties as long as the Brewers have other veteran corner OF options around. Plus as others have mentioned, there are a pile of younger OF prospects right behind Phillips in the organization. So I'd be fine with trading "the laugh" and wishing him well. I'd hesitate to move Arcia this year - I think he deserves the chance to earn his everyday SS job back next year (if not sooner), and he's a great option to provide stellar defense at a very low cost for a few seasons until some of the other SS prospects at lower levels work their way up. Unless he really turns a corner, I don't feel like Arcia would be an extension candidate - i.e. someone the Brewers value as a franchise cornerstone. The potential pitchers that would be included might be Woodruff, Ortiz, Modeiros, Brown, etc....if I'm Stearns I limit that potential pitchers list to those that are either already on the 40 man or who would need to be put on it to avoid losing them to the Rule 5 draft. Then you trust your internal scouting to tell which of those pitchers have the least upside over their remaining years of control, and pick that one to add to the package. When you look at what the Brewers have in the minor leagues in terms of pitching, the depth is actually quite impressive and frankly they aren't going to be able to keep all of them in the organization longterm.

I had posted something similar a few pages back in this thread - the recent injuries (right achilles rupture, Dec 2017 and left forearm/knee soreness throughout the 2017 season) are still of concern. But the achilles is on his landing leg and the arm/knee toubles from last season appear to be behind him. As Britton continues to build up strength (he's basically gone through his spring training over this past month of MLB appearances due to the achilles recovery), there will be a high demand for him. I think the Orioles are foolish to try and package Britton with Machado, because they'd probably get better value by trading Machado before the AS Break, and then continuing to showcase Britton right up to the trade deadline to prove he's healthy and slightly lower what remaining 2018 salary he'd have. If his velocity keeps creeping back into that 97-98 range, he'd be a stretch run difference maker at the back end of someone's bullpen.

If you take his 18 April games out, Lutz is OPS-ing north of 0.800 as a 19yr old in A ball - his last month has him close to a 1.000 OPS. He got off to a bad start that caused some early disappointment and for people to somewhat forget about him, but he's more than coming back around. If he finishes strong, I'd expect Lutz to have a good chance of opening 2019 in high A Carolina as a 20 yr old and be every bit a solid prospect that we viewed him as before this season started. For comparison, as a 19-yr old Prince OPS'd 0.935 in low A Beloit. However that was his 2nd yr there after playing about a month of games there as an 18-yr old and had some growing pains by his standards (0.700 OPS).

He's also still an Oriole, and I don't think it's a fair question to ask about hypothetical position switches on other teams at this point. All Baltimore media has to look forward to the rest of this year is the trade package returning for Machado - he's probably getting tired of the same questions surrounding a trade since early this season when it was apparent the Orioles were going nowhere in 2018.

I honestly think if you go back to the previous 15-20 game threads, you will find this exact same post every time the brewers lose, and find a post following a win stating the win is the kind of game we will look back on as a defining moment. Neither are true, because all 30 teams deal with very similar game outcomes 162 times each - the good teams win enough of them to make the playoffs.