Ennder

I think I probably go to the bullpen in the 8th even though Davies probably has another inning in him.

Bellinger is running away with it. The Rockies pitchers, Josh Bell, Pina, the Padres OFs all in the mix. Nick Williams probably up there. The problem is a lot of these guys have partial years now but if they play full time the rest of the season they will catch Pina since he is a C.

The bad news is that after this weekend series the Cubs have 27 of their next 30 games against teams at or under .500. The good news is we still have 7 games head to head against the Cubs and if it stays close I feel all the pressure will be on them. The longer the post season is in doubt for the Cubs the better things look for us imo. The Rockies still have 20 games against playoff caliber teams so plenty of time for them to collapse too.

This simply is not true. Talk to a professional athlete about it just once and you know it. The money matters and if one team blows away the others this is true, but when someone gets multiple offers that are pretty close the situation usually dictates where they go. Whether they grew up in the area, dislike one of them, want to just be on a winner, have a house closer to one, likes the players on the team, has a history with the hitting/pitching coach etc. It isn't 100% just the highest bid wins. With a team like the Brewers it is even more important because a lot of players are going to pass just based on the market, being in the midwest, the colder weather etc. Being on the team, getting to know the players etc builds a lot of stock into the players chance to sign with the team. If the odds of signing him next year started at 10% they are up to at least 20% if he enjoys his time with us. Think of it in simple terms of you getting a new job. I'm sure there are areas you do not what to move to for work even without going to them. I would hate having to move to New York and I haven't spent more than 3 days there. If I spent half a year in the city my views could very well change. It is no different for a ball player. Now he isn't passing on a $10M deal to take $6M from us or anything, but if we give a fair market offer the odds have gone up for sure assuming he likes it here. He may hate it here and the odds go down. This concept is the entire reason salary caps don't work. The Browns have to pay 50% more for a player than the Patriots do. It is a poorly ran franchise to begin with but it is at a bigger disadvantage in the NFL than any MLB team is even with the salary cap.

I'd say the closest comp to him right now is Kyle Hendricks who is making it work this year even with his lowered velocity. It is a pretty thin line to walk though, I agree with you there. I wouldn't be looking to acquire Suter if he were on another team but these types of pitchers can have multi season runs of being good pitchers.

It isn't impossible to be a starter with just 2 pitches but it is very hard to do and it usually means you have to have great fastball command to be able to spot it inside and outside, up and down. Hader is nowhere near that type of command. The current Hader most likely would not make it as a starter. That doesn't mean he can't hone the command and become one, but I think it is going to be a rocky road that is going to take multiple seasons of struggling later in games to do it.

538 has the Brewers at a 26% chance to make the playoffs, I'll take it!

It is easy to just dismiss him because of the velocity but it is also poor analysis. He induces a ton of pop outs which are as good as Ks. He has pretty elite control with only a 5.8% walk which is in line with his minor stats. He throws a lot of first pitch strikes which is an awesome skill to have, induces a lot of ground balls which is great. The single best skill a pitcher can display is pitching ahead in the count and he does that regularly. There are all kinds of signs that a large part of this is for real. It probably isn't all for real but enough probably is to make him a valuable player.

That is just how baseball works. The Royals were by far the worst offense in baseball for like the first 7 weeks of the season. They have been the best offense in baseball the past few weeks. The variance of production is just huge in this sport. People like to say this or that has been going on for 2 or 3 months so it is no longer a small sample, the reality is that a full season of baseball is still a small sample. Most results on a baseball field take more than a full season to become significant.

I think he probably profiles as a super reliever but I don't mind them exploring the starter side of things. I think he is wasted as just a closer.

The peripherals suggest he is like a number 3. It is a small sample but I think given that he really needs to be given a long look.

Woodruff has a full starters arsenal. I'd like to see him stay in the rotation and not in the pen. Hader may very well be just a bullpen guy.

It has to be really hard for you as a fan with this completely glass half empty approach you have to the franchise. Stearns didn't want to give up pieces he finds highly valuable for a small increase in our chances to win a world series. That doesn't mean our prospects all stink and it doesn't mean he thinks our odds of catching the Cubs are futile. Quintana and Gray are the big controllable pieces that were moved and neither of them look like that big of upgrades over what we already have given their peripherals, health history etc. We easily could still trade for a Kinsler or Verlander type this month if things look more favorable.

I don't consider Braun, Thames, Perez or Anderson part of the teams future most likely. Those are all guys I expect to finish their contracts and be gone or just be traded at some point. Brinson and Hader are part of the future but they aren't regulars right now and aren't being placed in the impact roles they will be going on. Out of our regular starting impact players right now I think you have 5-7 guys who are going to stick around. I did forget about Pina so that is one more than i was thinking of.

I moved out of state so I watch the games on mlb.tv. In most cases I put on the road feed because Schroeder is so awful and listening to Augustine try to construct a full sentence without stumbling over half of it is just painful. Anderson is fine, just a bit boring.

Cardinals beat reporter says it will be Weaver today.

We are still in the first step of the rebuild imo. Until we start graduating a lot of young players from our minor league team to the major league team we are still in step 1. What this team is this year is just the placeholder guys mostly. A couple of them will get signed long term but most of this team is not part of the future.

Outside of the week he tried to play hurt he has been exactly the same player he was the last 2 years statistically.

Davies would be a good 4 or even a mediocre 3. Albeit one who stinks early in the season for some reason. Most of the time players figure out the early season yips eventually. The sample is too small but Suters peripherals suggest he has been a 3.

College players have to adjust to the different bat most of the time and they have to adjust to the better fielding in the majors. They do not try to hit for power all that much because the fielding in college is so subpar that just putting the ball in play anywhere is valuable. For hitters I usually think college players are behind the same aged players drafted out of high school by a significant amount.

Just terrible that they call that a hit, this is why I want them to do away with the error stat, it is so misleading on every level.

For as much hate as Broxton gets he has over a 2 WAR in a full season of play. He is streaky and obnoxious but he also hasn't been nearly as bad as people think he is. For what it is worth he has killed the Cardinals this year, not that I buy all that much into that small sample.

We were never going to get a fair deal for Sonny Gray because his name has more value than his arm does. He is an undersized 3.50 ERA type of pitcher with bad mechanics and a significant injury history that is seen as an ace because he had a couple of heavily park influenced elite looking seasons. Dubon, Ponce and Clark is probably a fair offer for him but it was never going to actually get him. In Yankee stadium I'll take the over on a 3.50 ERA and the under on 2 seasons worth of innings.

Not really all that much and they were all 1 year deals. Not enough to sign the 2nd best RP on most teams in MLB much less a single top reliever. The bullpen is usually where you go when everything else is in place, it should not be the strength of a team not expected to compete.

I noticed the comments above on Feliz and I have to say there was a real reason to think something might have changed. When he was good he threw 96 and then his velocity dipped down into the 93 range. In 2016 he was back up at 96 and posted decent numbers including a huge spike in strike outs. In spring training he again was throwing 96 with the Brewers. This wasn't some awful risk taken with nothing backing it up, it was a smart risk that just didn't work out. It is interesting to note that Woodruff probably has no innings limit the rest of this season. He can go something like 90 innings more and he shouldn't need more than that to finish the season. If he does get the call it could be for good if he performs.