liveforoctober

I thought this was worth sharing. Love this view and as soon as Ortiz fields it cleanly both Hall and Contreras clock out. Contreras turns to the ump to thank him and Hall punches his glove to celebrate.

This is probably dramatic but our season possibly hinges on these next two rotation spots, all things equal. We have an idea what JM, CP, and BW will be ... if Sproat/Harrison live up to the hype we are off and running. Sunday afternoon game against a lefty. We will find out if we are just running with Bauers full time or which catcher will man 1B in the interim against LHP. Assuming we get our first Rengifo start today, likely Perkins as well.

MVP Ortiz was not on my early season bingo card..

Ortiz with a seed.

Interesting notes. Unfortunately for Chicago we had not yet unlocked Joe DiMaggio at this point in the season last year so this time around should be different. Speaking of Jake Bauers, he pitched in that game.

Garabito will be that vet once he comes back I would think. I don't mean to say this in too many threads but I still think Rodriguez could be had for a song by another team. The Brewers just have so many more guys who will be coming up to start ahead of him at this point..

Announcements! I'm ready. Just a gluttony of arms and infield prospects here.

First player announcement I've seen out of Biloxi is coming from a Nicaraguan news source re: Stiven Cruz.

I'm getting antsy waiting for roster announcements. I found this on X, a news station reporting so maybe reasonable reliability? translation: In Class A, right-handed pitchers Joshua Quezada and Enniel Cortez will start with the Wilson Warbirds, affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. Quezada finished at that level in 2025 with a 2.45 ERA in 11.0 innings, while Cortez has already recovered from Tommy John surgery.

Welcome back old friend.

Yeah, super interesting group listed currently. A lot of pitchers who need to throw regularly and a ton of infielders. I'm assuming Jett gets everyday work in the outfield in the interim. If I'm an opposing team I am calling daily to ask how we are feeling about the roster crunch in AAA and how I could be of service to help alleviate any of it ha.

I think it did wonders for Fischer's confidence. It seems to have put Ortiz in a good spot to start the year running. Whatever Zerpa has been working on was all but confirmed to be of use. It introduced a lot of casuals to Brice Turang - his MVP candidacy is instantly legitimized if he starts the season strong. I don't know - how many injuries have we attributed to the WBC thus far? Diaz is the big one but that has a small asterisk because he hurt himself celebrating if I remember right? Maybe Altuve got hurt one year. Is there anyone else I have missed? The positives of the WBC outweigh the negatives for me and it isn't even close to be honest. It sucks we were the unlucky ones and had the our guy get hit.

Back from the game. Fun one. Hamilton looks like a ballplayer. The biggest cheers to me came on the Bill double, the Sal Nuke.. and then both of Ortiz' hits. Felt like the crowd was really pulling for Joey. Jake Bauers. Cubs lose big. Brewers win big. Baseball is awesome. Only, only, only thing is I hope Murphy doesn't pitch Ashby 115 times this year. It's opening day so it's cool... But let's not throw him in blowouts please.

Against a RHP I'm assuming Mitchell and Bauers in the outfield... but maybe they tip their cap to Lockridge, who knows. Bummer of a thing to wake up to. Heal up quick young man! Thankful that we have a spring training Barry Bonds to replace him for a few weeks..

Definitely, I would be a little shocked if he wasn't leading off to be honest and I'm good with it. His offensive skillset is entering special territory and while I think he is a great lead off guy, I think he could be a major run producer for us hitting #5?

I THINK part of the process of fielding minor league rosters is letting the rosters breathe appropriately so as guys need to be advanced (or sent back) ... there is space to do so. This is the same reason why I think Carlos Rodriguez is going to cost very little for another team to acquire this spring. There is no room at present for any movement or flexibility in that AAA rotation. Of the 5 guys listed for the AA rotation (Hardin, Wichrowski, DeBerry, Letson, Hunt) Hunt was maybe the least sticky? (that can be argued) So the thought of the Brewers being able to get any kind of MLB value from Hunt (some right handed MLB mop up innings via trade) while also allowing the AA rotation to be slightly more malleable for guys to move up or down appropriately - seems like a reasonable move. A good minor league system forces you to alleviate pressure. Just like the Brewers have a lot of + middle infield prospects that caused us to trade away to depth pieces at the big league level AS WELL as move Josh A to LF (alleviated pressure at the position within the organization) ... I have a hunch the same needs to be done amongst our starters top to bottom to a certain extent. It's an amazing 'problem'. Now we can argue whether it was a worthy trade or if Hunt was the right guy to move to do the above (and of course acknowledging injuries will happen so depth naturally thins as the season progresses), etc ... but it seems there was another layer to this move beyond just a person for person deal. Just an observation.

.. and even then I don't see the merit. If Bauers' bat is truly his bat of the 2nd half last year .. he needs to be in the lineup anyway. So against RHP just put Bauers in left and Chourio in center and against LHP Lockridge should man center. Unless we think Yelich -> Bauers is a drastic downgrade defensively.

As an Appleton native, this week is always oddly exciting to see who we get to have to open the season. The timing of Pena/Made/Fischer all coming through last year for 9 minutes was unfortunate to us here... but understandable. Payne is a great start! Keep 'em coming..

Here's a little nugget on Lockridge from a Yahoo sports article posted today: – Speaking of Lockridge, the Brewers gave him an inning at first base to end the second exhibition against the Reds. He was getting some work in at the cold corner pre-game and it could be a spot for him to see some action this year, with Murphy noting that they need a third first baseman in the event they have to pinch-run for Andrew Vaughn. This would be similar to Andruw Monasterio’s role at first base we saw last year. From the same article: – As for Christian Yelich, he spent last year primarily as the DH with only a small handful of starts in the outfield. That could change this year, according to Murphy. Now another year removed from back surgery, physically he’s capable of handling that kind of workload, but it will largely hinge on what happens in that centerfield platoon between Mitchell and Lockridge. Murphy noted that if that centerfield group isn’t “offensive enough” that they could put Yelich in the outfield more often, signaling that Jackson Chourio would move from LF to CF similar to how he did last year in the absence of Mitchell.

Shane Smith on the hill for the Sox so it is either he or Mitchell getting the at bats I would guess. I see no reason not to have Bauers in the lineup against a RHP after this spring. Frelick Chourio Yelich Contreras Turang Vaughn Bauers Rengifo Ortiz I actually like that lineup a lot.

Meccage is a forgotten name in a lot of ways. Just turned 20 a few days ago. With all of the wildness of the MLB young pitching talent we've accumulated in the recent year+ and the quick ascension of a few draft picks ahead of him ... I think he is an easy one to forget about. 2nd rd pick. Big frame. Good tools. It would be awesome if he could get to Appleton this year and stretch himself to 100 innings maybe?

Sproat, Harrison, Drohan.. all give reason for excitement. Miz, Patrick, Priester, Gasser, Henderson... it's actually a little sick.

What is going on with Bauers? Why is he Barry Bonds right now?

I know Rob Z is starting on the DL but the '5 lefties in the pen' thing never made sense. I know Easton was on schedule to start up with us but I'd still be taking calls on Koenig. He feels like a regression candidate to me. Always need a mop up guy that can eat 4 innings in a blowout. Welcome to the squad Mr. Woodford.

I don't have a final number for you - but my current super bold prediction is that we have a better March this year than we had last.