JohnBriggs12

While both are having great years so far, Turang has 1.008 OPS to Nico Hoerner's .903. Yet somehow Hoerner leads Turang in WAR on B-R 1.7 to 1.5.? Brice also leads in OPS+ 183-164. Defensively, they are about as close to a wash as can be. How can Turang's WAR be below Hoerner?

Hamilton can't hit either. The lack of offense at SS is more of an issue because they're getting very little at 3B too. That's the real concern. How bad is it at 3B? I actually did a search on 35 year old Hernan Perez who hasn't played in the majors in 5 years. He had a heck of a season in the Venezualan Winter League this past winter with an .863 OPS. He's even learned how to take walks the last few years. He's back in the Mexican League this summer where last year he hit 19 home runs and posted a .943 OPS, Not necessarily suggesting they sign Hernan (though I always liked him as a Brewer) but they might want to see if there's a veteran out there playing somewhere that can top .200 and pop a HR once in a while in the big leagues.

Patrick was dominant as a short reliever in the playoffs. The Brewers have young starters waiting for opportunities (Henderson, Gasser, Crow, etc) that could replace him in the rotation where he's just another guy. Bullpens need to be refreshed every year. Injuries and performance can vary widely with bullpen arms as we are now seeing. Patrick is a guy who's shown he can handle big time pressure situations and get outs.

I would have preferred Lara getting a look.

Roy McMillan was part of arguably the worst trade made during the Braves tenure in Milwaukee. He was dealt to the Braves from the Reds prior to the 1961 season for 2 talented young starting pitchers. One was Joey Jay. All Jay did in 1961 was go 21-10 to help lead the Reds to the NL pennant and deny probably the last opportunity for the core of the Braves' pennant winning teams of 57 and 58 their last realistic chance at one more pennant. Jay would go on to another 21 win season in 62. The other starter the Braves traded away was lefty Juan Pizarro, who the Reds turned around and traded to the White Sox. Over the next 4 seasons as a member of the Sox rotation, Pizarro would go 61-38 and be a 2 time All Star. That trade started a sequence of events that resulted in the Braves leaving Milwaukee after the 65 seasons.

When Matos was rookie, he had a really good game against the Cubs that I saw. I was very impressed at the time and thought he was going to be a quality major leaguer. He's certainly young enough to find it and maybe a new start is what he really needs. He's supposedly tight with Chourio. They may help each other. Edit: He had a great series vs. the Cubs in June of 24, going 6 for 12 with a homer. I'm sure that's what I remember.

One or two more starts like his first one, and I could see him up pretty quickly. All depends on how Harrison and Sproat look, though he could fit in as a 6th starter too.

What's not being said, is that the lineup is totally out of balance with 2 of their 3 best right-handed bats down one game into the season. It wouldn't be so bad if Durbin or Monasterio were still around but they just had to be replaced by 2 more LH bats on a team full of them. I think we'll see more of Yelich in left, Sanchez DHing, Bauers at first, Lockridge in center and I would be on the lookout for a veteran RH bat as a stopgap somewhere.

Well drawing conclusions that he's capable of hitting well enough to play regularly in the big leagues after not playing a full season anywhere the last 5 seasons is even more of a stretch. He's averaged about 220 plate appearances per season in his 5 pro seasons. That's 2 years of actual playing experience at any level spread over 5 seasons. Hard to work on making yourself better when you're so rarely able to play. It may not be fair to judge him on small samples, but that's all there is to go on. Relying on 5 year old scouting reports at this point is wishful thinking at best. The opening day outfield should be Frelick in right, Chourio in center and Bauers in left. The LF platoon should be Bauers/Lockbridge not Mitchell/Lockbridge. Bauers will likely start a game per week at 1B against a tough RH. Maybe you can stick Mitchell in there on those days. I don't see how Murphy can justify playing Mitchell more than once or twice a week and say with a straight face that he's giving his team the best chance to win.

I don't get it. He's not young anymore, has hardly played most years and has shown nothing in camp in 2026 after showing virtually nothing the first month of 2025. I get that he passes the eyeball test. Always has. But why experiment with him finding it at the big league level at this point? He's too old to be a prospect and it appears he's missed too much valuable time that he may never come close to the promise he had a half dozen years ago.

I'd keep him over Mitchell. Bauers will play more OF in that scenario, and Black can provide depth at 1B and DH.

You sure Mitchell is a lock? He's 2 for 21 this spring with 12 K's. Clearly he needs time at AAA. I think the outfield vs. RHP should be Bauers in LF, Chourio in CF and Frelick in right. Against lefties, I'd have Chourio in left, Lockridge in center and Frelick in right.

I looked it up. Tim Johnson is 13th on the list of players with the most AB's since 1950 without a home run. Three of the guys with more AB's are pitchers, including Don Sutton.

I remember listening to the 1974 opener in my dorm room at St. Norbert's. I remember getting pumped up when Johnny Briggs, my favorite Brewer of the time, blasted a 3 run homer in the first. There was certainly a buzz about Yount that day. It wasn't common for an 18 year old to be in the big leagues much less be the starting shortstop on opening day. So in a way, it felt like something historic was happening. But let's face it, the incumbent shortstop coming into that season was Tim Johnson, who at 24 was coming off a rookie season in 73 where he hit all of .213 with zero home runs in 510 plate appearances. Johnson was so devoid of power he would go 1,408 trips to the plate in his career without hitting a home run. I don't know who has the most AB's since say 1950 without a HR, but Johnson has to be pretty high up that list. Johnson spent most of his career with the Brewers as a backup at SS and 2B. The AAA shortstop was a guy named Juan Lopez who was only 21, Lopez showed some promise by hitting .289 at AA the year before as a 20 year old but even though he stuck around the minors till 1984, he never made it to the majors. Robin was definitely in the right place at the right time and the rest is history.

I don't know how his bullpen performance in the postseason can be totally glossed over. His fastball ticked up. He was absolutely dominant vs. the Cubs. Yeah the pen is crowded but Mears is gone and frankly I think Patrick has way more upside than Anderson.