CheezWizHed

Correct. If he flounders, we are no worse than where we are now. If he succeeds, we improve for free. We have 2 months until the trade deadline to find out if he can succeed.

Joey Ortiz says "Hi!" .193 .290 .244 .534 Rengifro says, "Don't forget about me!" .204 .278 .253 .531 People aren't calling for Pratt because we expect him to come in and light the league on fire.. it's because the bar is already pretty low. Calling up Pratt today and sending Joey to AAA could be done today, could be done for "free" (no trades, no service time impacts, no DFAing a player), and really has very little downside.

That was my first impression too when I looked at his stats. But there has to be something more to it for him to get defensive ROY and a 2x ProBowler. If we drafted someone and I guaranteed he'd win DROY and Pro Bowl twice in his first two seasons, you'd agree that it was a win for a first round pick. That is how I valued him at a 1st rounder.

I think we missed Shane's pitch count from Monday as a starter.

I hope the PA system plays the theme to Ghostbusters between innings as he is warming up.

I find it mildly interesting that Burton has been getting reps with the #1s at RG and LG... but maybe more interesting is that he isn't getting any reps at C. John Williams is getting the reps there. So is it a case of: They are already comfortable with Burton at C so they don't feel the need to have him work in OTAs there? They are using the OTAs more for experiment time - vetting out Burton at guard and Williams at C? Or would that reflect the actual roles they see for Williams (C) and Burton (G)? I see that Lloyd went to a specialist to vet out his injury problems - similar to Watkins and Stokes. That makes me wonder why this isn't "standard procedure" for the team? Why wait until they continually have injury issues. I'd assume anyone could benefit from knowing where they have core and leg weaknesses to shore up.

Last year this time, we hoped Miz could gain his control to reach his TOR ceiling, and we had no idea who Harrison was. Big change in a year! Adding these two with our young core of Chourio and Turang and our upcoming prospects is pretty exciting!

Verse was the D-ROY and 2x ProBowler (which may or may not mean much) and he is one a rookie contract for 3 more years. I think it is easy to say a trade for him alone would be worth a 1st round draft pick.

I suspect they will wait until TC to make an RB move unless it is very obvious that Jacobs won't be part of the team. RBs are fairly cheap to get in trade and several will be available at the end of TC for cuts/trades.

As we come up on the Super 2 threshold, we should start seeing some AAA promotions. It is time to free Luis Lara. Centerfield has been manned by Garrett Mitchell, Blake Perkins, and now Jackson Chourio. Chourio's presence in CF has been a necessity to increase the offensive production due to poor production at SS, 3B, RF and CF. Garrett Mitchell has been pretty average with his bat - though mostly due to his high walk rate. And brings a positive WAR - though mostly due to his defense. There are some warning flags to be wary of (high BABIP and K rates) and the Brewers are also being cautious in how much he plays to keep him healthy. Blake Perkins made me realize the OPS+ can actually go negative (-9). and really has been unplayable aside for a defensive replacement. Blake is also in his final year of pre-arbitration. As a career 624 OPS / 74 OPS+ batter, I don't see the Brewers holding on to him after this year. Sal Frelick has also been having a cold, cold start on offense. While he solely plays RF, this lack of production is one reason the Brewers are pushing Bauers out to LF and Chourio in CF. I think all of us expect Sal to bounce back, the reality is that he only has one year above average (111 OPS+ last year), so his offensive reality might be lower also. So here we loop back to Lara. Luis has been tearing up AAA this year but is not an offensive juggernaut. His minor league career OPS has been 733 even while he is scorching the highest minor league level to a tune of 962 at the tender age of 21. Sal Frelick by comparison has an 844 OPS average in the minors while competing at a similarly young age (+1 year older at each level). So why am I calling for Lara to come up? At worst, he is upgrading the 2026 Blake Perkins back to the 2024 Black Perkins: excellent defense with a 650 OPS. Let Blake go back to AAA and see if he can figure out what is wrong with his bat. At best, Lara offensive outburst comes from a real improvement found this offseason. Perhaps he brings a 700-800 OPS with excellent defense to our CF and give the Brewers a chance to go Bauers-Lara-Chourio across the OF while giving Frelick a few days off to figure things out.

Maybe they didn't have the turn-over, but you had the potential every year. Everyone is a 1 year Free Agent. If you can bring back your team, more power to you.

I tend to think the Packers got the better deal overall. LAR gave up an ascending player in verse that was probably worth more than a single 1st round pick. Clark was probably more like a 4th round pick value at best. So you are talking 2 firsts and a 4th(Clark) vs 2 firsts (Verse), a second, and a third. Or if you want to discount one round for every year the draft pick is out: 1 first, 1 second (discounted), one 4th (Clark) 2 Firsts (Verse), one third (discounted), one 5th (discounted 2 years) Garrett is a better player today, but not by too much. And how soon will he drop off? Can't fault the Rams for being aggressive and trying to win on possibly Stafford's last year.

Good thing we look at more things than K rates... Certainly, Fischer's K rate is concerning, but it wasn't typical of him in college either.

I don't follow Marquette much, but this is surprising. It would be like having Ted Thompson in draft only mode, but you only are ensured to have your draft picks for 1 year.

Where there is smoke... It would explain why they aren't kicking the tires on any of the EDGE FAs out there (i,e. Reddick)

Ironic that AJ Brown leaves the Eagles with Wicks as a teammate to join the Patriots with Daubs as a teammate. So which trade do you like better? Garrett or Parsons?

I hadn't heard anything about Patrick's nerves... something from one of his interviews?

Patrick and Drohan and now Drohan and Patrick? I'm glad Shane is getting a chance. He really seemed to be impacted by the Brewer's pitching clinic and getting his stuff aligned. Good to see if he can be a #3/4 SP.

They have a lot of resources, so I'd be for that... Granted, when the Bucks are out of contention, I don't mind cheering for San Antonio... Kind of funny how their history of superstars are all centers.

Yes, I agree with Jim. I'm sure Gasser, Crowe, and Henderson wish they could remain on the 25-man roster like Woodford... but I'm sure those three prefer their long-term role over Woodford's (i.e., being an expendable arm)

And a 2 month DL stint...

Yeah, I wasn't saying there would be two teams in one city. There is plenty of precedent that when a city gets an MLB franchise, the AAA team normally moves. The Twins and St. Paul Saints are unique, though. The Saints were pretty well established as an Indy league team when the Twins turned them into the AAA affiliate. They had enough popularity to manage both.

Yeah, I don't mean that the intensity or focus of the playoffs is the same as 6 games mid-season. But if you compare the health and availability of players on both teams during those two times, and you will find a big difference. They walked into the playoffs healthy and in a good state. Woodruff was shelved. Priester was fighting his wrist (ultimately TOS) issues, Contreras hit a wall with his broken finger and playing nearly every game that season. It was a pretty big swing for both teams.

Why wouldn't another city get the minor league franchise? We used to have Denver as our AAA affiliate, but then the Rockies were awarded, our AAA moved to another city.

I find the Brewer's approach to not exactly be this; and yet, be brilliant at the same time. They tend to take a player a bit lower in the consensus rating and sign him for less than the slot. Then find a tough sign later on that they can "steal" at a lower draft pick level. Almost like trading down in the NFL. We (the fans) tend to think that the player drafted at #19 must clearly be better than the player drafted at #20; and #20 is clearly better than #21, etc... But that is never fully the case. So if you have buckets of players (players with similar talent) and try to get multiple players from that bucket, you get two options to get good players instead of one good option and one weaker option (from a lower tier bucket). Intuitively, it would seem like your 1st round pick (taking someone lower on the consensus board) would result in more busts. But the Brewers seem to manage great 1st round picks despite doing this (remember how bad the Brewers used to draft when in the top 10 yearly??). It's like they are playing 3D chess! First round picks signed as underslot: Andrew Fischer (signed 5 picks at round 11+) Braylon Payne (signed 5 picks at round 12+ including Tyson Hardin) Brock Wilken (allowing us to sign Cooper Pratt) Eric Brown (allowing us to sign Jacob Misiorowski) Sal Frelick (actually overslot signing). Eric looks like a bust. Brock will get a cup of coffee at the MLB level at least due to his power, but I'd say low probability to stick. Sal made it. Payne and Andrew are tearing it up and look every bit like good MLB players. Plus you snag pseudo first round picks in Pratt and Miz. Hardin looks like another great find. Yet, it seemed like there is always plenty of complaints (at least Braylon, Brock, and Eric) about the first round pick despite a pretty high hit rate.