Fear The Chorizo

Phillips should gear up on pitch #1 of the AB for a fastball and try to do some damage...

~38K, ~43K, and ~39K for Fri/Sat/Sun games based on paid attendance. For a non-opening day weekend series early in the year, that's impressive. Especially when considering the generally crummy weather this spring (doesn't impact the game with a domed stadium, but definitely impacts travel and tailgating plans) Their early April weekend series against the defending WS title Cubs drew ~28K, ~43K, and ~38K last year. in 2016, their early April weekend series against the Astros drew ~30K, ~28K, and ~28K...so adding the Cubs to the schedule is a significant attendance boost, even for the weekend games.

I think we need a little perspective related to one of the reasons the Brewers jumped at the chance to move from the AL to NL in the late 90's only a few years after the last labor strike - their proximity to Chicago and the Cubs meant they knew ticket revenues/attendance were going to increase by having them in their division and getting ~8-10 home games that stood a good chance of being much larger draws than normal. Cub fans show up in droves at every park across baseball - it's just more pronounced in Milwaukee because as others have correctly posted, alot of Chicago's suburbia actually has a much easier time getting to Miller Park than Wrigley. The Brewers also never had this sort of rivalry with the White Sox even if there were periods of bad blood between the teams, because the older AL division splits had the Brewers in the AL east and the Sox in the AL West. Those two teams only shared the AL Central division for a few years in the mid-90's, which occurred when both teams were really bad. Plus, the White Sox struggle to draw at their own stadium in Chicago because their fan base is much smaller even in their home town. If it weren't for the Brewers moving to the NL and getting approval for building Miller Park, both of which happened around the same time - it's very likely they would've been the AL team up for contraction or relocation with the Expos instead of the Twins. The Twins came very close to being contracted/relocated themselves. In short, Selig and Brewers' brass brought the Cub fan invasions on the organization themselves because they were counting on it to help provide increased revenues in order to sustain a franchise in what is one of MLB's 5 smallest markets no matter how you look at it. To me, it's more of a necessary evil to still have the team I rooted for all my life in the town I grew up watching them in. Plus, it's a great revenue stream for the State Highway Patrol! Heck, when I was in college in Chicago I remember Cub TV broadcasts having Selig and members of the Brewers' PR staff early on selling Cub fans on making the trip up to Miller Park soon after it opened.

I think barring a huge rash of SP injuries, Burnes won't be in Milwaukee until he clears the June Super 2 cutoff as well - there are going to be other rotation options the Brewers can mess around with and give opportunities (Guerra, Miley) while biding their time. With Burnes being a college draftee, I'm a bit less concerned about service time clocks since his arm already has the added mileage of 3 years of college pitching on it. With college pitchers who display solid command and above average stuff, I prefer the strategy of pushing them through the minors until they struggle, and if they don't struggle they should be pitching in the majors. However, their innings workload still needs to be gradually increased, as I feel like they've grown accustomed to logging 100-150 IP for several years between college and minors, but need a couple MLB seasons to jump up over 175IP. Too often a talented college pitcher hits the big leagues fast and immediately is going close to 200+ innings - particularly for teams in the hunt for a playoff spot - only to have a setback the following season due to an arm injury. Pitchers and injuries are so fickle, if you have a potential #2 or better starting pitcher logging innings at AAA, as soon as that Super 2 cutoff passes you get him in the MLB rotation - forecasting what a pitcher is 6 years from now is impossible. A mid June callup would essentially be 2 years of minor league development for Burnes, and frankly if he's healthy I wouldn't much care what his #'s in CO Springs are - he's probably ready to pitch in the majors. Depending on how the first two months of this season unfold, I think there's a solid chance the starting rotation could have a bunch of different names in it by August. Aside from Burnes and Nelson, it wouldn't surprise me for Peralta to get a shot - and if the wheels fall off the mlb season I strongly feel like the Brewers need to use the 2nd half of this year to get Hader stretched out and starting at the MLB level, too. Rotation options of Nelson, Hader, Burnes, Woodruff, and Peralta to go along with Anderson, Davies, and Chacin is enticing.

At the time of the Gomez/Fiers trade, Phillips and Houser were considered the two more highly regarded prospects the Brewers received, with Santana and Hader appearing more like talented lotto tickets. If Houser stays healthy he's a mlb caliber arm that probably can be a starter

So this Ohtani guy can hit a little bit...I know the hype really got tempered after sketchy results this spring training, but he's turning into a fantastic early season story.

I'll give Woodruff some credit for holding it together after a rough start and extremely terrible strike zone to pitch to - could've easily gone off the rails early tonight. Hopefully his next 100-ish pitch start gets him into the 6th inning though!

So far this team either gets pasted or wins in entertaining fashion late...would be nice for an 8-3 yawner victory tomorrow!

Schwarber sure did look slimmer and more athletic getting tonight's golden sombrero...

big out right there...c'mon now, let's get a run!

Up here in Minneapolis, thank God the twins have off after their home opener yesterday - it's like 15 degrees and blowing about 35 MPH from the north today...

i think the move of bringing Houser up is to add another long man that can go 3-4 innings if necessary moreso than replacing Knebel in late inning appearances - he'll essentially be replacing Woodruff's role now that 5 starters are needed. With the way starters have struggled to open the year, longman is a critical role to avoid the pen getting flamed now that offdays are going to get sparse.

If it's 6-8 weeks, that's fantastic news - even if that means an additional few weeks'-worth of rehab stints to get up to game speed. That's basically the time given to Feliz in the closer role last season to put a gas can on late inning bullpen fires.

Knebel's on the 10 day until MRI and other test results come back confirming the severity of the injury - would be surprised if he doesn't immediately go to the 60-day DL following word of results later today/tomorrow. Even if it's just a significant pull, it'll take at least a month to recover and another month's throwing program to get back into game shape.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to have Guerra, Miley, and Burnes all in the Milwaukee rotation by Memorial Day if things continue. Brewers really need Woodruff to step up and lock down one of the rotation spots in the short term, too. It would be refreshing to have a starter with mid 90's velocity attack a lineup instead of watching a pile of soft-tossers nibble and miss badly in the zone. Really hope Anderson's next start has him back up 92-94 consistently, too. None of the starters thus far have been good, but you've gotta imagine Anderson, Davies, and Chacin all get pretty long leashes - Suter may have one more shot at starting a game in Milwaukee before he either shifts to the pen or gets shipped back to CO Springs. His stuff just isn't good enough without perfect control - and while he turned in some surprisingly good starts last year, he also struggled to get through 5 IP alot and doesn't have the track record or pedigree to get the benefit of the doubt when there are other SP options with better stuff looking for a rotation spot in Milwaukee.

I don't want to stir the pot too much, but for those of you who were able to watch the game on TV, was there any mention of Knebel warming up in the pen prior to his entrance into the game? I'm sure he got some warm up tosses in the bullpen, but I wonder with the game situation what it was if Knebel assumed around the 5-6th inning that his day was going to be limited to spitting sunflower seeds and didn't get himself stretched/warmed up in preparation to come into tonight's game. 99% sure a torn hammy is a freak thing for a pitcher to suffer - but one would think an injury like this would happen more frequently to a guy that just spent 3 hours sitting on a chair that got a call from the dugout in the bottom of the 8th telling him to get loose because he's going to get some game work in the 9th. I frankly just don't like the adage and see no benefit of getting a key late inning reliever work in a game that's not a save or hold situation "to keep him sharp" - more often than not the pitcher's mentality and approach is different leading into that inning of work, and you have no way of knowing whether you'll need that reliever the next 3-4 straight games.

Just saw video, and optimistically it's a severely pulled hammy for knebel and it's between 1-2months before we see him again in a mlb game. Pessimistically we won't see him throw another pitch until spring training 2019. Probably somewhere in between, which still is terrible news for this team.

I honestly think he could start 30 times and have a 4.00 ERA at the end of it. I honestly want to know what is in your Kool-Aid, because it has to be a lot stronger than what I've got in mine...

Looks like Perez is auditioning to get jettisoned instead of Aguilar when the inevitable roster move to add a pitcher gets made...but he can play everywhere! well, if he plays average to poorly everywhere defensively, what's the point?

Exactly my thoughts - I'd be shocked if he doesn't get yanked next 1/2 inning with at least two guys on and one out, after essentially giving away an out by letting him hit the inning earlier.

even the whole piggy back starter theory before a guy with marginal stuff gets into the lineup for a 3rd time only really works when he can give you more than 3 innings and give up less than half a dozen runs. I'm not sure why anyone expected anything more from Suter - he's a bullpen longman at best, but most likely his professional ceiling is as a starter in the Japanese leagues. His lack of fooling anyone sticks out even worse when the other more established starters on this roster are all struggling to open the year, too. After tonight I think you've gotta switch him out for Guerra in the rotation, shift Suter into the long man bullpen spot, see if you can squeeze Aguilar back to AAA without another team picking him up (unlikely), and hope like hell Woodruff can give you some decent starts in the #5 role. Otherwise, this is going to be a gas can rotation and the pen will get fried. Probably will be anyways unless guys sort out some problems very quickly. Not having a bona-fide #1 or at least acknowledged staff ace could lead to a disaster.

That's a possibility, and yes position player recovery from TJ normally is a bit quicker. I would think if that winds up being the solution to his arm troubles, Hiura should DH through the 1st half of the minor league season to at least get a decent # of ABs - perhaps get some games up in Biloxi at AA, then opt for surgery around the same time Torres did so he's hopefully full go for Spring Training 2019. That being said, they would've done essentially the same thing last year after he signed but the MRI indicated there wasn't structural damage that required the surgery. I'm still hopeful a little rest after a long spring training for Hiura compared to his limited throwing workload over the past 1.5 years is all that's necessary as he regains armstrength. Hiura at 1st would be a huge disappointment and reduce his potential value as a middle infielder with an impact bat. They should exhaust all chances of him sticking at 2nd, including surgery/lengthy rehab to get his arm right (if necessary), before moving him around the diamond at other positions.

With the need for a 5th starter on the verge of happening, Woodruff really needs to be decent in order to keep the wheels from falling off this roster as currently constructed. Otherwise, the Brewers will need to jettison Aguilar and replace him with another reliever to avoid burning out their pen as the rotation hopefully works through some growing pains. I still wish the Brewers would've considered giving Hader a shot at the opening day rotation this year, with the plan of keeping his innings workload reasonable by either shifting him back to the pen when Nelson returned or skipping a few starts midseason. Sure, he's a huge reason why the bullpen currently looks so dynamic - but part of me thinks they are hampering the value of what could be a top of the rotation talent without really giving Hader a shot as a MLB starter. Even Andrew Miller got a few years starting in the bigs before moving into the dominant late inning relief role. Also, is it weird that I'm looking forward to getting updates on Miley's progress in rehabbing his injury? That's how uneven the 1st 6 games have been on the starting pitcher front...

We also have to remember that it's early April, and people are comparing velo drops over 1-2 starts to an entire season average from last season. I agree that if after a few more trips through the rotation Anderson and Chacin's velo remains down, that trend is not friendly for them. While the velocity issue is concerning, I think the bigger issue for starters thus far has been command/location. Anderson's mistakes were over the heart of the plate and the Cards crushed those mistakes. Same with Chacin in both of his starts and Davies as well. None of these pitchers' stuff is good enough to miss often in hitters' happy zones and get away with it, even if their FB's are 1-2 mph faster.

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.