Harold Hutchison

The offense will be very hard to give up. In a way, I hope the Crew goes to that sometimes.

Lemme guess. Errr, no guess needed, there could only be one. I'll own it. I've liked the statistical numbers he's putting up. Reminds me a lot of Mickey Tettleton (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tettlmi01.shtml) as a switch-hitting C/OF with power and who draws tons of walks. In 2019, the top three position players in wRC+ for the Brewers farm system were Hiura, Grisham, and Hummel.

How is that optimistic? The second-guessing usually starts in six hours?

Black is a serviceable bullpen piece at this point. That said, the Brewers, with Williams/Hader/Suter/Rasmussen as Nasty Boys 2021, followed by Feyereisen, Yardley, Wahl, and Lindblom with lots of prospects in the minors like Andrews, Perdomo, Barker, and Torres-Costa, plus Topa on the DL, plus whatever nuggets could emerge, Black is kind of crowded out.

Mets owner Steve Cohen reportedly lost a billion dollars bailing out his friends in the Game Stop saga, and has nearly twice the wealth of the next closest MLB team ownership (his net worth is allegedly between $14-$15 billion). I don’t imagine he’s overly worried about how the contract ages. For him, a 2021 World Series trophy is worth it. With DeGrom around until 2024, he may get one or two more, especially if Stroman and/or Thor re-sign.

Twins 3-0 @Cubs 3-0 @Cards 3-0 Cubs 3-0 (George Webb loses a LOT of money) Pirates 2-1 (lose third game of series) @Padres 1-2 @Cubs 3-0 Marlins 3-0 Dodgers 1-1 22-4

For the first five years, this is not a bad deal, especially if the Mets make two to three real World Series runs. It's the last five that will be a killer, if he either has to move to third or first or if the offense fades. It'd be like signing Prince Fielder to a ten-year, $150 million extension prior to the 2011 season. Having him probably does tip the Brewers a little better early on. Maybe there's playoff appearances in 2012 and 2014. But his neck injury is a question. Does it happen in Milwaukee? Or does that get butterflied away?

News breaking on a trade... the Brewers and Angels are making a major deal. The Angels will get outfielder Avisail Garcia and first baseman Daniel Vogelbach, sending the Brewers RHP/DH Shohei Ohtani. Filling the spot on the 26-man roster opened by the two-for-one trade... Ryan Braun is re-signing with the Brewers. How will this change things? Ohtani will get a lot of playing time at first, as opposed to holding down a rotation spot, and Keston Hiura will spend a lot more time at second base, with Kolton Wong moving to play shortstop. Lorenzo Cain becomes the primary right fielder. The Brewers did say Ohtani being the primary first baseman will mean he doesn't start, but promise he will be used on the mound in "high leverage" situations. One insider says, "we'd have won game four of the 2018 NLCS with Ohtani on the roster." Plans for Braun include using him at third base against tough lefties, given his career .989 OPS against them, compared to Shaw's .683. He will also spell Ohtani, Yelich, and Lorenzo Cain at times, and be a bat off the bench. Word has is Ohtani and the Brewers are close to agreeing on a major contract extension, and that one is in the works for Hirua as well. --- You folks know what today is... although I think a lot of us wouldn't mind if this were for real...

I've always felt that Jeff McNeil was someone the Crew should have found a way to acquire. High-average left-handed bat with lots of doubles. Given what Yelich has done at Miller Park, I wonder if McNeil would have a similar boost in power - given that Citi Field is actually MORE pitcher-friendly than the Miami Marlins stadium. I wonder what sort of package could get McNeil. He's one of the few players I'd consider offering Hader for.

Houser was no slouch in the 2019 rotation, though. Suter did well in 2017 and 2020. Yet you'd haave one - or -both ticket for the pen.

I remember when he was racking up those CGs at Brevard County - I really thought he had the potential to be a mainstay of the Brewers rotation. Granted, Brevard County was very pitcher-friendly, but those complete games were coming at a very high clip.

Maybe the Crew ought to bring JJ back.

McKinny's brought some big power lately. Leading the team in spring training HRs. But the OBP and average tools haven't been there. An interesting choice, though, given what American Family Field/Miller Park has done for left-handed hitters. Ray, though, brought some interesting walk numbers. He's drawn the most among Brewers OFs, and trails only Reyes, Robertson, and Shaw. He may break back out again after a rough 2019 and a cancelled 2020. Ray's recently struck me as a left-handed version of Keon Broxton.

Yeah, how Arcia was handled is in my mind when I think about Urias. Arcia was brought up in a PR stunt to showcase the team's top prospect. At the time Villar was doing fine at SS, Gennett was manning 2B, and Arcia wasn't ready for the show but he was brought up anyhow. Once up, he was cemented into the position regardless of performance, and Gennett was left without a position, so he was let go right before his breakout. We'll never know how Arcia would've progressed if he was given some more time in the minors, but we know he didn't grow the way we hoped while playing in the majors. The minors are made for development, the majors are not. I don't want the same mistake to be made here. If Urias is the obvious choice, then he should be the starting SS. If it's a toss-up, then let Arcia play and save Urias' service time. All rushing prospects does is uses us their cheap arby years when they're not that good, and by the time they're MLB-ready they're getting expensive. I personally wish we hadn't burned up a year of Burnes' service time bouncing him between the rotation and bullpen when he should have been sent to AAA after his first few starts. When he hits free agency a year early, we'll just have to cry in our beer about how unfair baseball economics are, while we should also be lamenting how we wasted a year of his service time. It's not a big deal if you waste the service time of a so-so prospect, but your top prospects' service time is very valuable... don't waste it. I'd rather have an extra year of Urias' prime when he's playing like a star rather than forcing him onto the roster this year when he's struggling just because "we didn't trade for him to be in AAA." This. And it wasn't just Arcia who they messed up with. I personally would have even used Jimmy Nelson's option year for him to recover in 2019 after he'd missed all of 2018. Service time would not have been burned up, he would have been able to pitch regularly. They had time before he could have refused the assignment. They did it right with Grisham. Now, we're wondering if we got burned when we dealt him, because he'd look great in that OF with Yelich, Cain, and Bradley.

Calling him up in 2016 when he was posting a .723 OPS at Colorado Springs was incredibly stupid on two counts. 1. We're talking a drop of 77 points from his 2015 OPS playing half the time in a park where a pitcher would give up five runs and call it a good day. It was a red flag that he needed more time. 2. Jonathan Villar was more than capably holding shortstop down and posting some excellent offensive numbers. It was bad for Arcia, it probably didn't do Villar any goodm and it was bad for the Brewers.

I think this season, it would be a good idea to see just where he is now. In a non-pandemic season, Mitchell would have been at either Rocky Mountain or Arizona, and we'd be seeing just what his skill set was doing in a game setting. Until they can see that, it's a big roll of the dice to make changes until you have that baseline. Incidentally, I think it's why there should have been a maintenance of those short-season minor leagues. For the Brewers, it does two things: 1. It gives you that baseline of where the players you drafted are, and how their skills and talent play out when another professional is doing their damnedest to get to the major leagues and another team is doing their best to win the darn ballgame. 2. They may find they have a late-round gem like Brent Suter or Quintin Torres-Costa on their hands.

I don't even look at anyone as a 4th OF. They just have tremendous flexibility to play matchups now without sacrificing any defense in the OF. That and at least one of them is bound to get hurt. Of they can play the hot hand and maybe eke out another win or two above expectations.

Coulter and Roache were definitely busts. Mitch Haniger was taken by the Crew in that draft ahead of Taylor dealt as part of the Gerardo Parra deal, which eventually netted the Crew Zach Davies. Tyrone Taylor's looking like a solid 4th OF. Damien Magnifico made the majors and was good enough to land an international bonus slot. Tyler Wagner was part of the Chase Anderson/Isan Diaz deal. The latter player was part of the package sent for Yelich. Chase Anderson, incidentally, got the Crew Chad Spanberger. Then, of course, there is Brent Suter, who is basically the redemption of that draft. Not the best draft, but I'd rate it as better than 2011 and 2013, the drafts immediately before and after it.

Any updates on Noah Zavalos and Max Lazar? Those are two righties who I think are headed for some big years.

Any updates on Noah Zavalos and Max Lazar? Those are two righties who I think are headed for some big years.

I recall Harrison having a lot of injury/production issues. I was not upset to see him and Brinson go. I was far more worried about Yamamoto and Diaz. The latter I saw as a possible option at shortstop as opposed to second base, especially with Hiura on the way.

I recall Harrison having a lot of injury/production issues. I was not upset to see him and Brinson go. I was far more worried about Yamamoto and Diaz. The latter I saw as a possible option at shortstop as opposed to second base, especially with Hiura on the way.

Haven't we felt that way about Arcia for about 3 years already? Right here... Was even willing to re-sign Moustakas to play short after 2019.

Haven't we felt that way about Arcia for about 3 years already? Right here... Was even willing to re-sign Moustakas to play short after 2019.

Stress fracture is not as bad as, say, a Tommy John. Hopefully, he is ready to go by June.