Just look at how much it meant to the players from Venezuela. The TV ratings for the WBC were through the roof. Maybe USA fans dont care as much but fans from Venezuela, the DR, Italy, Japan, etc. certainly cared
Not only is Lockridge having an awesome ST, I think what's more important is how good he was for us in a limited sample last year. He was worth 0.4 bWAR in only 53 PAs for the Brewers last season. Thats nearly a 4 win player if he got 500 PAs. Given both the small sample last year & what he's doing in ST I hope we give him plenty of PT early to see if any of it is sustainable
The easy answer here is no. If the WBC spanned 162 games and then had a best of 7 series it would feel a lot different. What really helps the atmosphere of the WBC is the short time period & single elimination nature of it. Every game in the WBC truly means something and once you get to the knock out round any team can be knocked out at any point
I mean I wouldn't put it past Arnold to make a deal at anytime. I think they gave up so much for Zerpa because they expect him to be a late inning guy for them. So I think they are happy to deal Megill if a team offers a good package, I just dont think theyve gotten that offer, maybe a ST injury will change that
Not too mention the payroll is up $14 million over last years OD payroll according to Fangraphs. So ownership actually upped what they were willing to pay a decent amount
I think this is mostly correct but I expect Hamilton to platoon with Rengifo & Perkins with Mitchell. Bauers will likely also get a good amount of starts vs RHP
With the Rengifo signing, Fangraphs now has the 2026 payroll $14 million higher than the 2025 Opening Day payroll & $7 million higher than the 2025 Final payroll. So a bit of a jump this offseason in terms of money spent by the Brewers