Fear The Chorizo

At some point front offices are going to realize pitchers are the nfl version of running backs the way the game is played, and free agent starting pitcher money will dry up. Just look at the list of Boras free agent starters and how generally awful those contracts have been to the teams who signed them.

Its been a long time since I've lived in that area - but honestly one decent option on a good weather day is to wander around the lakefront or surrounding neighborhoods just west and south of Wrigley. I think there's still a 9 hole golf course by Belmont Harbor area, and there are some pretty cool shops along Belmont and Southport. Obviously, tons of places to eat and grab a drink - I'd venture a little ways west or south from Wrigley to find a spot with a nice patio that smells better than stale Old Style from the last ballgame, though.

Yep...Hader didn't have command that fateful inning, either (kind of a common issue with Brewer postseason late game losses, actually)....and I still think that HBP against Taylor that really set that inning up for the Nats should have been ruled a foul ball (call on the field was HBP and replay simply didn't see enough convincing evidence it hit the bat first - had the umps ruled it a foul ball that call likely would have withstood a replay, too). Thought the Brewers were set up pretty well to make a run that postseason had they won that wild card game against the eventual WS champs. As it turns out, Grisham is yet another one of those players who at first everyone was nervous about leaving the Brewers' org, only to wind up being a very marginal everyday player in the major leagues.

Love the way this team grinds out ABs and makes pitchers throw strikes - more often than not, of course....really impressive considering how damn young they are, too

I'd live with it if the Brewers are up 13-1. That said, looking forward to another game watching this defense in this park! Keep stacking w's.

Whichever team shells out $150+ million to sign Burnes in free agency headed to his age 30 season is going to regret it. Burnes has been good overall this year, but he's scuffling lately and his most dominant period starting came when the Brewers were running out a 6 man rotation. Not surprising to me that he's not as dominant as innings are piling up in Baltimore since they've had so many other starters go down injured. Is 150 dominant IP as a starter over a season worth $30+M? I guess it would be for a handful of teams who have limitless payroll - but 80 percent of mlb teams won't even consider trying to sign Burnes, and frankly it's probably the smart choice if he does wind up signing a 4+ year deal.

If it were that simple, he wouldn't be destroying pitching on the cusp of the major leagues or former major league pitchers who can readily put the baseball where they want consistently. Regardless of what league it's in. Hiura has gotten roughly 1 week of mlb at bats in the last two seasons, I'm not going to make any grand statements based on that.

Hiura will continue to get MLB looks, and at some point he will have a stretch of consistent mlb playing time with an organization, if he stays patient stateside. Or, he goes the Thames route and dominates in Korea or Japan a few years before he's back in MLB. His numbers the past few seasons in AAA across different leagues suggest he's a MLB hitter amd much more than a AAAA player in the right situation. It's got to be a team that uses the DH just as a hitter, and doesn't require that position on the roster to carry any defensive value/role. The Rockies or White Sox make a ton of sense to pick him up over the offseason. The Angels should have just let him play out the season instead of giving him about a week.

Was thinking about stadium parking the other day....how many EV charging stations do the AmFam lots currently have?

Reds' pitching coach must not have been able to get enough out of Montas

Arnold could easily win exec. of the year this season. Burnes has been great, but Fedde and Flaherty have actually pitched better this season and were traded at this year's deadline for less than kings ransom trade packages....and I think Fedde has another season or two of control. If they held onto Burnes, they wouldn't have gotten much more by trading him at the deadline.....and they wouldn't have traded him at all because they'd still have been close to 10 games leading their division at the deadline, too. Ortiz for 6 seasons alone is worth 1 year of Burnes, Hall still has an elite arm who could add value, and the Brewers picked a 1b slugger with the comp Pick in this year's draft they got from Baltimore. That's a pretty good haul, tbh.

Yep, you got me before I finished my edit to add Flaherty in there. Was hoping the Brewers would've gotten him, too. Still, Montas has been really solid even when compared to him

It seems like a huge drop but it really isnt when there is fresh talent added to systems every draft, every international signing period, and after every team has a prospect or two surface from dominican/instructional leagues. Guys who get a lofty ranking early that fall flat the next season have guys like Jesus Made leapfrog them based on recency bias.

I don't know actually, but was curious... Has their been a pitcher traded at the deadline who has been better than Montas since joining their new team? Maybe Fedde or Flaherty?

When he is commanding his stuff, electric is an understatement. Knowing he can follow that filth of a breaking ball with triple digits with ride at the top of the zone is just silliness.

I think the 2024 regular season as a whole has done more than enough to soften the fans up. And I'd doubt waivers is going to be enough to save them from that luxury tax unless they put other more desirable players on them for teams to claim. Hoyer should honestly be fired, and this weird comment is probably him trying to save his own job in some way to sell the fact they spent money this year to contend, while also trying to hide the fact the players they have for this payroll aren't nearly good enough to do so.

Rest of the division "rivals" this morning... "Maybe 2025 is our year"

sure - but the odds of a 6-1 stretch against the Brewers are very slim, and even if that happens it's just as likely for the Cardinals to follow it with a 2-5 stretch the following week against other teams. With how the Brewers have been finding ways to consistently put together winning months of baseball (the lone outlier was an 11-13 July - not great but hardly a cratered month), I'm not worried about losing a division lead to a different team until there's one at least 5 games above 0.500 at this point in the year. The Cards would have to go 7-0 just to achieve that right now.

It hasn't been super pressing, but the Chicago sports media does have a way of repeating questions daily when they get non-answers, and basically that approach lets a manager give himself enough rope to consider hanging his job out to dry when things arent going well. Before the ink was dry on CCs contract I thought he was in for a rude awakening with the publicity and media attention that job brings. Hoping when the cameras and mics are off he still finds time to smile while counting his $$$

I like the rule change possibility - primarily because there would be plenty of guidelines put in that allow a starter to be pulled earlier that fall right in line with typical reasoning for a manager to yank him in today's game. Throw 100 pitches before a full 6IP, get him out if you want give up 4+ ER before 6IP, he can get yanked whenever Obvious one, but if he suffers an injury, he's out. There's already 26 guys on the roster - teams can use that extra spot for an extra starter instead of one more reliever that throws 98+ who can't go more than 4 batters per appearance. And it's not about shoehorning the current crop of pitchers who have largely been told their entire careers to throw as hard as they can, as long as possible. If things are allowed to continue, MLB pitcher contracts as a whole will in a way devolve to that of the current pecking order of NFL running backs - teams will bring in a ton of them, ride them hard until they break, then move on to the next flamethrower without having to commit crazy longterm guaranteed money to anyone.

Their pitching staff IL also makes more than most mlb teams (when including ohtani not being able to pulitch right now)

Screw ROY - where does Chourio finish in MVP voting at the end of this season?

No, no battery banks will not. Many of my main clients are BESS developers, and they're primarily looking to set up facilities near/on existing or planned renewable developments that in no way are set up to generate the energy needed for heavy manufacturing processes. Or large urban population centers. These facilities will readily store energy generated from the renewable sources whenever they are generating it, and attempt to contribute it to the grid at a measured rate around the clock or as needed instead of just being "all or nothing, regardless of whether or not the grid needs it" like renewable energy has typically been added to the grid. It will make the actual consumption of that energy more efficient. Because of that, several BESS clients I'm working with are much more interested in sites next to fossil fuel power plants than renewables - due to their ability to provide excess capacity with the flip of a switch that can quickly be stored away in those battery facilities instead of it just dissipating as grid loss and being wasted. It's actually a really good idea to help make the energy generation to consumption much more efficient regardless of what the fuel source was. The main problem with those renewable sources isn't the sporadic reliability due to weather/nighttime/geographical climate limitations - it's the amount of real estate and materials needed to build large enough generating farms to actually replace the steady state grid capacity that fossil fuel or nuclear plants can do in their sleep. With the rising cost of all new vehicles and car insurance, now more than ever people are willing to pay more for significant repair costs to keep their existing older vehicles on the road as long as they possible can. That will also be a persistent drag on the pace of overall EV passenger vehicles added to the road.

Agreed...one thing I'd add to this is having Yophery in the same sentence as "lesser prospects" means the Brewers have been churning out some damn impressive prospects from the DSL recently. The farm system is in some seriously good shape right now

let's get a win, please