CheezWizHed

It has been interesting to me how the team has been on renovating the team under a youth movement and still consistently winning. Yes, we are all waiting for a WS victory, but you have to admire the transformation without losing any steam in the standings. Just looking at our future core - anyone with more than 3 years tenure with the club (i.e. club control for 2027-2029). C - Open. Quero and Dinges aren't far off, but there is a lot of uncertainty here. 1B - Open: More options with Adams, Bruke, or maybe Fisher, but still uncertainty. 2B - Turang (5-6 WAR player) SS - Pratt (looking like a 3-4+ WAR player) 3B - Ortiz - not terribly exciting, but a 2-3 WAR player. This is probably Made's future position LF - Chourio - 3+WAR. Likely the "+" kicks in as he matures. I keep forgetting that he is only 22. CF - Mitchell - 3-4 WAR player when healthy. Technically only 2 years of control left. RF - Lara - Not sure where to put him at this point. Seemed easy to peg him as a 2-3 WAR player based on past results, but this year he looks more like a 4+ WAR (both minimal MLB and AAA stats) OF - Frelick 2-3 WAR as a starter. Thought he might have one more gear, but really stepped backwards this year. DH - Open: Yelich has a mutual option for 2029 that is unlikely to be accepted by the club. SP - Miz (6+WAR): true TOR starter and annual Cy Young candidate. SP: Harrison, Priester, Henderson, Sproat, Gasser, Drohan - Rather than list the rest individually... just admire the depth and quality of this group. That is 7 SPs deep with pitchers that are at least 5th SP level today. Sproat's upside is impressive too if he can manage his control and endurance. Not all will remain with the team due to options running out, but still. It is impressive when you have Sproat, Gasser and Drohan fighting for the 5th SP spot. BP: Uribe, Patrick, Hall, Yoho, Ashby*, Koenig*, Anderson* Ashby has club options up to 2029, but I tend to doubt they will take them Koenig and Anderson might be questionable as they work through arbitration and become expensive. That would be 20 of a 26-man roster potentially set for the next 3 years (assuming 2 SPs move to the BP and maxing out at 13 pitchers). Upgrade options: C: Contreras' leadership role with the team and Quero's arm issues make that the most concerning gap on the team. 1B: There are several big stick options close to the majors. I'd bank on one of Adams, Burke, or Fisher (my favorite) to work out there. 3B: Ortiz is probably the target to replace, but Made needs to play somewhere. Fisher isn't far behind either. RF: With Mitchell's injury issues, moving Lara to CF and finding a bigger bat to play in RF would be good. BP: Uribe works at the closer. Keep finding more arms like we always do. DH: Hopefully we have enough quality depth to avoid a DH only player. But overall, that is an impressive group of young, controlled talent to build on.

Normally, a 5th OF fits on the team fine - Chourio, Mitchell, Lara, Lockridge, and Frelick would be very good. But with Yelich at DH only and Bauer's and Vaughn's bats pushing more time for Jake in the OF, there isn't room for a true 5th OFer. Hard to replace Lara at the moment because he is playing so well. Lockridge and Frelick end up being LH/RH versions of similar players. If they hit over 700 OPS, their defense brings good value to the team. If they drop below that, they end up 4th OF material. My hope was that Sal was ascending and we'd end up with a ~300 BA player that provides 3-4 WAR/year. But this season makes you wonder if 2025 was an outlier and the truth lies more in the 650-700 OPS or 80-90 OPS+ range with 2.5 WAR/year. Lockridge was having a great start to the year, but his history has much less to rely on (even in the MiLB he was averaging only 768 OPS). Personally, I'd stick with Chourio, Mitchell, Lara, and Frelick at the MLB level. Looks like Lockridge can be optioned to AAA, so I'd probably do that. Nice level of flexibility when any of Lara, Frelick, or Lockridge can be optioned.

What are the chances of McCullers taking a AAA deal from the Brewers to continue working his way back? I heard some rumors about his returning to Houston (I'm sure he is well ingrained to the organization), but the Brewers might be the better choice to resurrect his career.

True. Sproat to AAA is another decent option. Flip a coin between him and Gasser.. but its been Gasser doing the traveling for now.

I think the plan for McCullers would be to build up and join the starting rotation (assuming all goes well). Otherwise he and Wilson are pretty redundant. I think the Yoho YoYo continues... back down to AAA for now. He is improving at the MLB level, but not a lock for the BP yet - reminds me of Hall a couple of years ago that way. Gasser has been very up and down too. Looks great one game and blah the next. I think you take the chance on McCullers in his spot (once he is built up) and use Gasser as depth for now. Hall is on the 15 day DL and not the 60, so no 40-man roster shuffle needed.

I'm wondering if how they used Miz (4 innings) and Harrison on the DL with forearm tightness might be something they learned from Dodgers when a chunk of their pitching staff took a mid-season holiday and then came back strong late in the season.

Agreed. I'm a little concerned about our SP health at the moment. If Miz, Harrision, and Woody were all pitching strong, it might change things. But most of your core is here for the next couple of years (Woody, Megill, Contreras, Vaughn, and Bauers the exceptions) and most of the core that is here is still developing (Yelich the exception). With a few big options still coming.

"One third of an inning is a big piece of pie".

I think we need a pet parrot for the clubhouse mascot. The tortoise was easier to handle, but we need to go "all in" this year!

Just praying for a little extra Hook magic on these arms.

Where is Frelick on that chart?

Living in MN, I'd be surprised if Ryan is traded away. They are tied for the last WC spot right now. And after last season's sell off, the fans revolted enough that the owners made some key management changes and have been careful to build back trust. Whether it is the right baseball decision or not, I think they are going to be buyers instead of sellers.

Given the state of our rotation, 5 IP every start is valuable.

Hot cakes instead of hot takes? If Murphy stuffs a hot cake into his pants, does it become a hot pocket?

Well obviously, I missed that. Rasmussen is an easy substitute.

SP: Either Reese Olson or Rasmussen would be wonderful. Burnes is slated to be ready by the playoffs. Would you say no? Freddy Peralta would be great too. Shane Smith sounds like a typical fixer upper Brewer move. 3B: I was surprised how much Dubon had improved since we had him. Willy Adames if his contract doesn't come with. Luis Urias is out there, but not much of an improvement on Ortiz. Probably Caleb Durbin is the best option. RP: Hader is an easy one here. Tobias Meyers would be another reclamation project (i.e. the Jeffress Award). Or we could get Holby Milner back because it would hurt the Cubs. 1: Olson 2: Durbin 3: Hader.

Titanic... blah. I had to pee three times during the movie. 2 might been excuses to just get out of the theater. 😂

Here is a future of many punny headlines such as "Buck Burries the Heat".

Do you think the teams have a Venmo QR code for this? 😂

Or running into a wall? I hate to say it, but I think Bryce coming back is more of an indicator that they wanted a long BP/spot starter. SP depth is a mite thin at the moment.

That was a nice complementing compliment. 😉

Well, they traded away their former GM...😏