Fear The Chorizo

One unearned run. Against a pitching staff second worst in the majors in ERA I'm still wondering how you add two all-stars to your offense and continue to just hit a bunch of solo home runs once and awhile. It's baseball - I get that it's frustrating but every team has about 25 games a year where it doesn't matter who they are playing, they are going to get beat. And the addition of those two players has helped, the problem is they can't take the plate appearances of the other 7 hitters in the lineup when they aren't going good.

Situational hitting...need better offense - it has stunk this whole series. Solo homers yesterday aside they've had numerous opportunities for big innings in every game, and they haven't come through once. Some of it is hitting into bad luck, but it sure as hell is frustrating. Giving up 4 runs in a game is normal for a mlb pitching staff - going through extended stretches where it feels like scoring 4 runs is impossible is not.

Yesterday marked morrow's 3rd straight appearance in three days, carl Edwards Jr is on the dl with a sore shoulder, and the cubs are likely going to tell Lester that he needs to give them at least 7 innings today no matter the pitch count because their pen is limited to who is available. Yes I'm talking grand scheme of things...games like last night wear on a pitching staff regardless of who throws - especially for a team that has at least five fewer off days than the team they are chasing.

He still wound up having to use morrow to close out a 6 run lead...they won, but their pen is getting overworked much moreso than the brewers.

Anyone watching cubs mets is getting a dose of what a game would look like if two April Brewer offenses faced off against each other...cubs with 17 stranded through 13 and just 1 run. Mets look like they'd need to get a run walked in to score ever again. Something called Farrell has pitched like 6 shutout innings for the cubs by having the equivalent of a batting practice pitching repertoire with no screen for protection. The mets are terrible offensively right now...

I here you

Unless this inning gets really crazy, hader should pitch the 8th, then pickareliever for the 9th.

Scooter won't require major assets to trade for, unless multiple teams focus on him. With pedroia's knee issue, I wonder if the Red Sox would be interested...

I sense a big offensive output for the crew today...

He got a rehab outing during his last DL stint and he looked sharp before promptly getting pounded in Milwaukee.

I get the feeling Davies is going to wind up the odd man out in the rotation longterm - depending on trade targets, I wouldn't be surprised to see him dealt before this time next season (likely offseason, possibly Spring training 2019 or least likely at this year's deadline considering he's scuffling with a shoulder). I think they have plenty of rotation options moving forward to forget about consistently hold a spot open for Davies, who struggles with consistency early in seasons and is going to start getting more expensive compared to other pre-arby options who will deserve their chance (Peralta, Burnes, Woodruff, others). If the Brewers bring in a veteran starter at this year's deadline, Davies' role for 2018 becomes even less clear.

If the Brewers don't shop for a 2B upgrade at the deadline, there actually aren't many others who would be that interested. Seattle, probably, with Cano's suspension/injury...Dbacks if they fancy themselves as contenders...and the Dodgers/Angels if they've tired of Utley/Forsythe and Kinsler there, respectively...but most of the other potential contending teams are pretty well set at 2B. Even with Scooter's fantastic offensive #'s as a 2B, and one more season of team control left before he reaches free agency, I doubt he nets much of a return if he does get traded. I just don't see a crazy bidding war for him, especially if a guy like Lowrie winds up available at the deadline.

So today he's untradeable and the arm is a non-issue. I believe less than a week ago, perhaps even yesterday, he was a solid trade piece and surgery was inevitable, so they should just get it out of the way now. Just trying to keep up. You're mixing opinions of different posters - and I really don't get where people are still assuming he needs TJ when he's been playing in the field for a full month, even getting work in on the side on days he's DH-ing because they need to get Newhaus time at 2nd as well. When Hiura opened the Mudcat season primarily as a DH because he was resting his arm after a heavy workload during MLB Spring Training, there was plenty of concern that he may have had a setback with the arm. As it turns out, it looks like it was more of a fatigue issue. I posted this back on April 4 in this thread soon after it was announced Hiura would primarily DH for about the first month this year: I posted something similar in the 2B transactions thread, but let's back off the ledge a bit - at least for a little while. This could be normal fatigue and discomfort while Hiura is building armstrength after taking 1+ years off from throwing a baseball and going through an entire MLB Spring training without needing to back off any fielding/throwing drills. If this is a precautionary thing where he's back on the field a few weeks from now, it's a minor blip. If by Memorial Day Hiura is still DHing 90% of the time and unable to play in the field everyday due to the arm issues, by all means get the procedure done ASAP and get him started on rehabbing before you wind up wasting a full year of development defensively As it turns out, by Memorial Day Hiura basically was playing in the field at least 50% of the time, sharing the position with another 2B prospect (Newhaus). I'm guessing he'll still DH at times in Biloxi, but it probably won't be as frequently since the other 2B currently at that level aren't near the prospects Newhaus is.

Except Hiura will likely be in Colorado Springs by early August. He's tracking for a MLB debut a year from now after the expected Super 2 cutoff. I doubt he spends much time at AAA at all on his way up - they already have a pile of middle infielders older than Hiura fighting over playing time, including the rotating utility guys in Milwaukee. I'd rather Hiura just play everyday in AA the rest of this season, then perhaps open next year at AAA until Super 2 passes - or if he proves he belongs he might be one of those guys who goes straight from AA to the Show.

Carolina had Hiura and Newhaus basically splitting time at 2nd during May, once Hiura worked his way back on the field after resting his arm following a long stint where he played plenty of 2B in MLB spring training games and practices. Granted, Hiura is the premium prospect at that position, but Newhaus needed time there also. I've seen nothing over the past few weeks since Hiura has been playing in the field at least 50% of the Mudcat games that indicates they are DH-ing him because his arm is bothering him or because of him being terrible defensively at 2nd. With the recent callup of Dylan Moore to AAA from Biloxi, they don't really have anyone of note playing second (Rijo and Seferina are the only 2B currently on their roster). I'm looking for Hiura to actually get more playing time in the field at AA, which will be a great gauge of how close he might be to playing in Milwaukee. I am not specifically advocating to trade Hiura but I don't know why him raking would put any trade discussions about him to bed. I don't see why promoting him would make any sense if they had thoughts of trading Hiura - if that's the case, why mess with a prospect's hot streak by bumping him up a level and uprooting his routine? I guess sort of a similar comparison of dealing the previous year's top 10 draft pick could be when the Brewers traded LaPorta to headline the Sabathia deal - big difference is that LaPorta was completely blocked for multiple seasons at the MLB level by Prince at 1st and Braun in left. 2B is wide open for Hiura, no disrespect to the current Brewer players manning that position.

I think any trade discussions involving hiura can be put to bed...dude is 100 percent a member of the brewer core, could be as soon as 2019. That bat at 2nd is phenomenal

Biloxi will be even more fun to follow after hiura arrives...probably a month or two from now...shades of the 2008 huntsville squad in terms of prospect depth there right now. Or possibly tomorrow, apparently!

Williams' FB/slider combo sets himself up to be devastating on righties. If he can improve his command to stop walking guys and make the hits lefties do get off him cause less damage, I think he's still much more than a ROOGY. For now, his ideal role is as a setup arm for 1+ innings of work that would be brought in to start innings with more righties than lefties scheduled to hit.

I guess maybe I'm not seeing something in the box scores others have - hasn't Hiura been playing second base quite a bit over the past month? Sure, he is still DH-ing a few games a week, but it's not like his glove is in deep storage. Haven't heard anything lately about setbacks or lingering issues with his arm that would lead me to believe he's playing with his right arm tied behind his back. Looks like he's played 15 games at 2nd over the past month, playing full games there for most of them.

I think had Guerra not injured his calf on opening day 2017, he'd be right up there on the list of best moves - Stearns got him on a waiver claim with his first move as Brewers GM But betting on Villar instead of Gennett cost them the playoffs last year and is still costing them this year. Following the 2016 season, NOBODY would've bet on Gennett over Villar as the everyday 2B option for the Brewers unless they had some unreasonable disdain for Villar. Gennett was a 0.9WAR player at 2B for the Brewers in 2016, while Villar was at 3.9 as a SS. It speaks volumes to Gennett's value at the time of his release in late spring training 2017 that the Brewers couldn't even trade him for a bag of balls. Kudos to Gennett for making the most of his opportunity on a doormat Cincy club and blossoming into an offensive force at 2B, but I don't view the comparison between him and Villar as the problem. Stearns opted to keep Hernan Perez on the 2017 team instead of Gennett, because Perez offered a ton more positional flexibility as a bench option. Gennett is a 2B and 2B only. Who knows? If Villar cools off substantially maybe you'll get your wish and the Brewers will wind up with Scooter back at 2nd by August 1st...

True, and impressive for Ray to lead the league in that category, but remember that Jimenez missed a pile of games early on recovering from a minor injury he picked up while raking in MLB spring training. Jimenez has only ten fewer bases (92) than Ray in 70 less plate appearances. Not to mention Jimenez is more than 2 full years younger than Ray. This isn't to slight Ray at all - it's great to see him having a really good season thus far (actually a great May after a so-so April)...but damn Jimenez sure looks the part of a perennial all star.

With the resurgence of the Dodgers in an inconsistent NL West, Machado makes too much sense for them to acquire with Seager out. They are still under .500 but only a couple games out of the division lead and are getting healthier. Having them in the mix will drive the price up beyond what the Brewers would likely feel comfortable parting with for a 2 month + postseason rental.

yep, until tonight's game where it crawled up over 0.300 after hitting his Southern League-leading 10th HR. I stated in my previous post that he'd be approaching Top 100 status if he keeps producing and it'd be more likely at season's end than mid-2018...guess to be specific it would be for him to keep producing more like he has in May (0.300 BA, ~.350 OBP, ~.550 SLG, .900 OPS) than his dreadful April start (sub-.600 OPS) that is still an anchor on his season statlines. From an OPS standpoint, Gatewood has had the same May as Corey Ray, which has been the body of work that has gotten Ray back into the Top 100 conversation. He's also a year younger than Ray...

I actually think Gatewood could creep towards that #100 mark as well if he keeps producing in Biloxi...perhaps not midseason but end of 2018. Since he's a guy that I believe the Brewers would need to subject to the Rule 5 draft if he isn't added to the 40 man roster in the offseason, to me he's an interesting prospect to consider headlining a deadline trade.

I think if he continues to play quite a bit at 2nd over the next month-6 weeks and shows he can hang there defensively, he'll be in Biloxi for the 2nd half of the minor league season. They'll let him at A+ to finish the Carolina league's 1st half/1st season. If he stays healthy, that gives him every opportunity to open next year at either AA or AAA with a callup to MLB as early as this time in 2019.