DuWayne Steurer

Gotta get him in here. Absolutely have to

Yeesh, make that catch.

The Brewers roster will almost always be at least half pre-arby guys and pre FA guys

As for the Hiura argument, everyone's got their own interpretation of the facts and data, and that's cool. That's what we're here for, to talk baseball, but how about everyone just can it with the condescending crap and make the points they wanna make and be civil. Thanks.

Other than the first month of the season, McCutchen has been fine. He's actually hitting righties better than lefties this season, which is interesting. Unfortunately, he's been pressed into duty as an outfielder a lot, which hinders his value, as he's a net-negative defender, and he makes easy plays look adventuruos.

big big 2 out hit for Cutch

9 baserunners in four innings and one run to show for it.

Rodon trying to set the record for most baserunners allowed during a 9 inning shutout in modern MLB history.

I remember a time in baseball when having the bases loaded with nobody out was almost automatic at least a run. once Davis got to 2 strikes I was sadly reasonably sure we were gonna get nothing.

Cool beans thanks.

With the Crew coming off a lackluster home stand, they looked to rebound against their cross border American League rival Minnesota Twins. The lineup was bolstered with the return of Hunter Renfroe from the IL after a second extended stay for hamstring issues. Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports With the Crew coming off a lackluster home stand, they looked to rebound against their cross border American League rival Minnesota Twins. The lineup was bolstered with the return of Hunter Renfroe from the IL after a second extended stay for hamstring issues. Game 1 -- Brewers 6, Twins 3 Box Score Game one of the series was only occasionally stalled by rain, thunder, and lightning, as the Brewers and Twins waited at times for the ground crew to pull the tarp out only to immediately take it back off the field. Three separate weather delays held the game up, but ultimately the game was able to be completed in its entirety. The Brewers jumped out to a quick lead on a two-run, opposite-field poke from Andrew McCutchen. With his early season struggles well behind him, McCutchen has put up a .941 OPS with five home runs over the last 28 days. With so many injuries to the outfield, McCutchen has been forced into action in the field more than the Brewers had likely planned, and his -.4 dWAR undoes some of his offensive value, but he's been one of the offensive anchors for the past six to eight weeks. Brewers starter Jason Alexander gave up single tallies in the second and fourth innings, while the Brewers offense was held in check by Twins starter Josh Winder through the fourth after the McCutchen home run. In the fifth inning, light-hitting Jonathan Davis slapped a single to center to score Hunter Renfroe and restore the Brewers lead at 3-2. With two outs and Davis on base, Willy Adames hit a towering home run to left that either the cameraman lost, or hasn't come down yet. Given the rain delay between his last inning, and possibly other factors, manager Craig Counsell pulled Alexander in favor of reliever Jandel Gustave who pitched a scoreless fifth inning. The Brewers stretched the lead to 6-2 on a Jace Peterson RBI single in the sixth inning. The Twins struck back for one off of recently-struggling reliever Brad Boxberger. The Brewers will have to have Boxberger get things figured out quickly with Josh Hader also running into some trouble closing games out as of late as well. With no further drama (or rain delays) on the night, the Brewers brought Hader in, and he emphatically slammed the door, striking out the side in the ninth. Gustave gets the win to bump his record to 2-0 on the season and Hader records save number 27. Game 2 -- Twins 4, Brewers 1 Box Score The Brewers offense went dormant again, providing just one run on a solo home run by Peterson. Starter Aaron Ashby went just 4 1/3 innings, with his pitch count ballooning over 100. He allowed six hits and three walks but allowed just one run in his short stint. Despite Ashby's short start and the Brewers lack of offense, the bullpen locked things down for the bulk of the afternoon, as Trevor Gott, Boxberger, and Devin Williams held the Twins in check until the ninth inning. The Brewers offense was held punchless as well, offering up just the noted solo homerun by Peterson against Twins starter Joe Ryan in the third inning. The Crew managed just four hits on the day, went 0-6 with men in scoring position, and left six men on base all told. Going into the bottom of the ninth, each of the first two Twins reached base against Brewers all-star closer Hader, and the third batter of the inning, Jose Miranda, ended it all with a monstrous three-run second deck shot. The loss drops Hader to 0-3 on the season as the Brewers left Minnesota with a split in the short two-game set. View full article

this might have been answered elsewhere, but do the taxi squad guys get to go out and take bp and field grounders/shag fly balls and whatnot? I'm assuming so but just curious.

wake up and check the box score and see Hader pitched the 9th and k'd three and no base runners. that's encouraging.

I'm not in favor of trading Tellez for Bell, but this idea that Tellez is a decent defensive first baseman is something I think people are just gauging on the ol' eye test. Both fangraphs and BR have him as pretty much near the bottom of the NL as far as defensive first basemen go, and the whole "I watch the games" just isn't as good as the data that breaks down the information that we have. On top of that, he's our guy, and we're biased to a large degree. He's not good at defense, even though he may make a nifty play from time to time, and that certainly colors our perceptions of his value on defense. He's a .4 WAR 1st baseman past the halfway point, and if a clear upgrade could be found (honestly, there probably isn't) that doesn't include top tier prospects or cost certainty (which Rowdy is, over Bell) for the next few years, the Brewers have to at least explore it.

The underlying metrics suggest he's been pretty good, to go along with his numbers. It's hard to gauge that out of course. If he had a larger body of work it'd be something to look at as well, but coming into this season he had less than 100 major league innings to look at. Maybe he's turned a corner and is coming into his own..... maybe he's (as you say) having a smoke and mirrors campaign. The stats don't necessarily suggest that, but it also wouldn't be the first time for a reliever, as they're super volatile from year to year.

The Adames homerun still hasn't come down. Seriously though, I've watched the replay 3-4 times and I don't see anyone in the stands reaching/reacting at all, so it's hard to tell where it's coming down. Statcast has that sucker with a 38 degree launch angle, which is pretty nuts for an almost 400 foot shot.

Looking at his stats from last year, he looks more suited as a reliever than a starter. Of course, he was a rookie last year, so who can say. His k/9 went way up and somehow he gave up 23 (23!!!) homeruns in 82 innings last year. That's nuts.

Just taking a cursory glance at the Twins on B-R, their bullpen has been pretty rough. Griffin Jax looks like he's having an ok year? But if you have 2 guys that you can lean on, that's even tougher than the Brewers having Hader/Williams/Box and "a bunch of guys" bullpen.

I did not have a "take the lead on a Jonathan Davis rbi single" on my brewers bingo card tonight.

Jerry Augustine is, happily, still with us.

Based on what we know, it seems like Counsell and Stearns have a pretty good working relationship, and share similar values and have a similar vision for how the team should be run. That may not be the case behind closed doors, but to the public and the fans, they've presented a fairly united face, and there's no reason to believe they're not similarly aligned, for as long as CC has been with the team. That being said, Counsell has been ....puzzlingly mediocre this year with his in-game decisions and lineup makeup, so I'd be surprised if there's not some behind-closed-door discussion about where those things are at. I'm pretty sure we're not at the level where Stearns would consider firing Counsell. Yet.

Even accounting for a 3 for his last 19, McCutchen has an .884 OPS the last month. He's not going to get waived. Whatever fate has in store for the Brewers, it's going to be with Andrew McCutchen on board.

Brosseau and Caratini are the only two guys aside from Hiura who have an OPS over .800 on the entire roster. Whatever they've been doing lately hasn't been working since the 19 run game, so trying something different can't hurt. I'll give you that Hiura probably shouldn't be hitting cleanup vs a lefty, but this honestly isn't a terrible lineup today, given the state of the offense lately.

Thanks @Brock Beauchamp @John Bonnes @Adam Rygg and anyone else I met that I don't mention by name. Had a blast despite the outcome.