Fear The Chorizo

There are a handful of arms on the 40 man that should be expendable once the Brewers deem Yoho or Misi ready to contribute at the MLB level...including guys who have been mlb bullpen mainstays until struggling. Depth is always a good thing, to me it makes sense for the brewers to actually try and package some of those mid tier relievers via trade for lotto ticket prospects to make 40 mam roster room for more talented arms earning their mlb shot

Honestly any Skenes start is must-watch

Not lost on me that many of the recent offensive inconsistencies occurred once Ortiz went down - will be great getting him back in the lineup soon!

How much did Contreras make last year?

Not from a financial standpoint

define lifetime of a gas mower....if people actually change the oil annually, most mower small engines will be still running just fine long after the rest of the mower falls apart. Batteries in lawn mowers have an average lifespan of 3-4 years and depending on the size of a yard they wind up requiring multiple charge cycles to get fully clipped. Although, retrofitting all those Cybertrucks with a set of mower blades does sound like a pretty solid idea for those large/expansive grassy lots (and some hay/wheat fields)... I will say that the noise reduction from having a 100% EV fleet of yard equipment would be a welcome change and make the world a better place.

Yes, but let's still sign him to a well over nine-figure contract extension because that's the going rate for good defensive shortstops who occasionally get hot at the plate I don't hate Adames as a player, but I'm going to be glad moving on from him as a Brewer next offseason because he's maddeningly inconsistent offensively and approaching the age where his steady defensive value at SS will tank.

with at least half of that time not getting a legitimate MLB opportunity to sort it out one way or the other - when healthy, all Hiura has done since the start of 2023 has been hit at the AAA level, with enough production to warrant another extended MLB opportunity with somebody.

This year, Hiura has been with two organizations and hit well enough to get called up by the 2nd one in roughly a couple weeks of regular AAA playing time with them. Hiura didn't break camp with the Tigers following Spring Training because they had their own logjam of high draft choice hitters who were underperforming already on their 40 man roster they had longer commitments to. Hiura wasn't cut from the Tigers because he was terrible this year with Toledo - he was cut because Torkelson sucked at the MLB level and needed a spot to get regular ABs in the minors. If he has that gaping a hole in his swing, he wouldn't be putting up the numbers he is this season cumulatively - regardless of the level he's at.

While obviously not the same caliber of competition, failing to include any mention of Hiura's overall production in the high minors from 2021 through 2024 (916 plate appearances, largely indicating Hiura is more than a AAA player) is also statistical cherry picking over a ~5 season stretch of baseball from the Covid-shortened 2020 through the present 2024 season.

Hiura spent the entire 2023 season in AAA (Meaning there was apparently no Dallas Keuchel like situation where a team was willing to bring Hiura up and Milwaukee facilitated a transaction to get him there). You're choosing to omit the fact he went down with a knee injury in mid-May while he was destroying the baseball in Nashville and then took awhile to get back into form. Meanwhile, the Brewers primary 2023 DH was busy OPS-ing sub-0.500 that month when Hiura did get injured and many on this board were pulling hair out wondering when he'd get called up to the Brewers since he couldn't do any worse than what they had at the MLB level.

Keston Hiura has a career MLB average of 0.239 and OBP of 0.319...so apparently you're referring to a different Hiura with your post above. His 2019 remains the longest extended run of MLB at bats and consistent playing time of Keston's MLB career - so it shouldn't be discounted out of hand no matter how much you want to. His 2019 still carried a high K rate, too. That production was over about 40% of Hiura's MLB plate appearances, and the fact we're 5 seasons after that with only about 1 full MLB season's worth more of plate appearances for Hiura should also be taken into consideration. 946 MLB at bats sounds like alot, and it would be a decent sample size if it occurred over about 2 calendar years - not 6 - especially if you're refusing to include any of the AAA production Hiura also had during that same stretch while getting yo-yo-ed between Milwaukee and the minors from 2021-2022, all the while being thrown into several different defensive positions instead of just telling him that he's a DH. Hiura's knee injury in 2023 prevented him from getting one last shot in Milwaukee, and I'll maintain the 2020 COVID season with no minor league year really couldn't have come at a worse time for Hiura - having to slog through MLB and try to adjust to the "book" on him with no video options in the clubhouse, limited onfield work due to COVID between games, no opportunity to get sent back down to any minor league level to work on things, etc. is pretty rough shakes.

I don't think Hiura even got an AB on sunday's game, but he's settled in nicely and I'm pulling for him to stick in MLB. As for the hole in his swing, agreed on your take above - coming out of college Hiura's biggest plus was how effective his hitting approach/swing was with offspeed. Hiura has elite handspeed through the zone, which is why when he's going well he's driving everything to rightcenter. That approach is great at letting offspeed get to the hitter, particularly from righthanded pitching. However, velo upstairs is a different animal, and it's something he didn't really have to worry about through college and even while rocketing through minor league levels early in his pro career. It's been something where I've long thought if he could never make that adjustment to velo effectively at the MLB level, he'd wind up playing forever in Japan/Korea and perhaps finding his way back stateside ala Thames. Hiura has quieted his batting stride/swing load down a ton in effort to turn his elite slider speed bat into one that can also time up velocity and do damage to it. His K rate will always be a concern and a cause for him looking bad at the plate at times when he's slumping - but the damage Hiura can do when making contact should be enough to warrant everyday at bats as a MLB DH. Right now the Angels are seemingly a perfect fit to give him that extended run to see what happens.

I've said it in other threads, meh - good for him, but he's just not a fit for how this Brewers team plays and he showed absolutely no reason to entertain bringing him back after 2023....frankly he showed absolutely no reason to keep him after April 2023.

I think people don't realize how razor thin the gap is between a mlb hitter who can play for a decade at the highest level and a guy who washes out before he hits free agency. Any minor adjustment to his approach that yields positive results will be enough for Hiura to stick in mlb into his 30s - he has that kind of talent when he gets the bat on the ball.

This team needs another veteran starter in the worst way to take pressure off a pen that's on fumes....it's the downside of the way this team has been built - pens are begging for the AS break right now

With the exception of the Covid season of 2020, the Brewers haven't had a losing season since 2016 and are on pace for their 4th 90 win season in that stretch, and they are baseball's smallest market. Both of them have 0 world series titles in their history, too. I root for the Rays in the division they are in, but I personally I think they are also a bit overrated as an organization, too. Now that the Orioles have finally gotten around to trying to win the Rays would probably be best served to burn it all down at the MLB level and restock their farm system for a few seasons.

necessary move to add depth to the rotation...hoping it's not the only starter added before end of July. Also, why are the Rays still regarded as a team you "don't want to trade with", assuming they fleece people on every deal? They're muddling through AL mediocrity and don't show any signs of that changing anytime soon at the moment. I don't want to give Adames 9 figures to remain a Brewers the next 4-5 seasons, but that trade worked out pretty darn well for the Brewers.

Ops-ing just shy of 1.400 since joining the Angels AAA affiliate....give him another mlb shot!

Who regrets letting Scooter go?

Frelick should be trade bait....if Mitchell could stay healthy I think he'd already have been traded. He just doesn't have an everyday position on this roster. I don't dislike Frelick as a player, but his ceiling is just not in the same area code as what Yelich/Mitchell/Chourio can provide as a starting trio of outfielders.

I would think high K rate arms that rely on a combo of velo and deception instead of pitch movement would be the premium...guys with fastball/cutter/changeup arsenals instead of relying on sinker/slider/curve secondary offerings to get swings and misses. I don't trust sinker arms in thin air. And yes, rangy outfielders coupled with infielders who simply don't make errors. Probably the equally important aspect is that group of position players having offensive traits that they can exploit at Coors, knowing it's going to be a pitcher's nightmare more often than not regardless of defense.

What would that "critical mass" amount be? As of November 2023, approximately 0.9% of registered vehicles in the US are electric. https://explodingtopics.com/blog/electric-vehicles-stats Also, convenience stores are a LONG ways away from moving ahead with a widespread push to replace filling stations with EV charging stations (or even adding a charging station or two to their existing gas station building). The utility fees charged to the entity operating the charging station are just too high to make that a feasible strategy at this point. It's not nearly as simple as "just throw a bunch of new chargers everywhere and suddenly the percentage of registered vehicles in the US that are EVs will jump from <2% to 50%. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/18/business/ev-chargers-convenience-store/index.html As for EV battery replacement - used under optimum conditions in ideal, temperate climates, yes an EV battery can outlive the functionality of the light passenger vehicle it powers - the exact same thing can be said of an ICE. However, under harsh conditions (extreme heat/cold/season fluctuations) or heavy use, that lifespan is much dicier for an EV compared to an ICE vehicle. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a31875141/electric-car-battery-life/ Regionally, particularly in urban areas (where frankly the push should be to reduce cars altogether), I can see EVs taking up a solid percentage of passenger vehicles decades from now. That's also simply an easier area to add the charging stations necessary to support the scaling you're hoping to see compared to moderately rural or even suburban areas that would require significant grid infrastructure upgrades. But if it's just EVs versus ICE vehicles, there will always be a large percentage of ICE vehicles on the road and manufactured across the globe and domestically. The hybrid vehicle makes a ton of sense, combining the best of both technologies and using them in the same vehicle - particularly in vehicles whose primary use is for more than hauling two people home 5 miles from the grocery store.

I feel like this Brewers roster is actually set up really well for Coors field - anyone can hit HRs there, but having speed all over the lineup with high contact rates leads to a lot of hits and a lot of runs. Plus the defense should help limit the opponent from scoring as often - assuming the pitchers can keep the ball in the park.

This feels like one of those 15-12 Colorado specials with these two guys starting.....hoping it's the Brewers with 15 tonight