Eye Black

I still haven’t lost confidence, but I didn’t have a good alternative place to post this... currently in the 7th inning versus the Astros, Trent Grisham just hit his 3rd home run of the night (and 4th hit of the game). He now has 7 home runs on the season. Also, Zach Davies is now pitching into the 8th inning and still has under 100 pitches.

For those who didn’t click the link, per Robert Murray: At 11-14, the Brewers are an interesting team to monitor with the trade deadline nine days. Teams that have spoken to Milwaukee say they’re stuck in the middle and that if they do buy, they’re prioritizing players with multiple years of control. I believe this is the route they will go if they make any trades. I think it will be difficult to rely solely on free agency to patch weaknesses, so if you can find players now with multiple years of control that could go a long way towards improving next year’s roster.

Glad they were able to keep the Pirates to a zero that inning. This isn’t any sort of revelation, but Lindblom is likely going to require some decent run support in the majority of his outings this year. Seems like the type of pitcher that might be able to keep the blow-up innings to a minimum, but is likely going to get hard enough to typically give up a few runs per start.

Derek Holland’s first outing of the year was against the Brewers, and he gave up 2 earned runs on 2 hits and 3 BB over 5.2 IP. Since that first outing these are Holland’s stats... [pre]G Rslt IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA BF BA OBP SLG OPS 3 0-3 12.2 18 13 13 3 13 5 9.24 59 .321 .356 .643 .999[/pre]

I could obviously be proven wrong, but I have a hard time believing the Brewers DFA’d Brock Holt to fill his spot with Jace Peterson for the remainder of the season. Tyrone Taylor has reportedly been performing outstanding in Appleton, so if this was a long-term play it seems like Taylor may have been the choice. I have a feeling the Holt DFA increases the chances the Brewers will add a hitter via trade at some point in the coming week.

Josh Lindblom: Batter (Pirates) vs Pitching Stats Derek Holland: Batter (Brewers) vs Pitching Stats

Yes, the Mariners would obviously need to send a significant amount of cash in any deal they make involving Seager. Yes, it’s a low likelihood the Brewers will make this move (as is almost every trade target we discuss). The unknown of how next season will potentially be impacted also does likely make owners less willing to take on significant salary risk. That’s part of the reason I don’t have much hope the Brewers will make a run at any top tier free agents this off-season. Regarding Seager, it isn’t quite as far fetched from a financial standpoint as some think. Seager’s remaining salary in 2020 is about $3.75 million. Remember, the Brewers saved around $5.2 million this year just on Cain’s decision to opt out. For 2021, Seager is owed $18.5 million. There is a team option on Seager’s contract for 2022 that would be more than $15 million if picked up, and the buyout is currently listed between $0-$3 million which must include some sort of vesting clauses. If the Mariners were willing to include around $12 million in a deal involving Seager, than it would look something like this... Brewers receive: Kyle Seager $12 million Mariners receive: 2-3 mid tier prospects In that scenario the Brewers would get Kyle Seager for the remainder of this season and all of next for around $10 million total (maybe slightly more if the team option buyout vests). That looks more appealing than the $5 million per season they gave guys like Smoak and Sogard this past season ($5 million with the buyouts factored in). As I stated earlier, there will likely be no solutions at the 3B this offseason, unless they somehow wanted to try to workout a free agent contract with 36-year old Justin Turner.

Kyle Seager has played in all 27 games (started 26 at 3B) for the Mariners this year and in 110 at bats is currently slashing .301 BA / .391 OBP / .548 SLG / .939 OPS. He is the only third baseman on the trade market that has a chance to be a middle of the order bat. He is under control through next season (has a team option for 2022). The Mariners will likely have to send cash along with him in order to move him, but the rest of the potential 3B market seems pretty barren at this point even for the upcoming offseason.

If things don’t turn around soon offensively, I would like to see the Brewers give priority to the hitters that are likely to be part of this lineup next year. For the remainder of the season I would like to see a top four in the lineup of: Urias ® Yelich (L) Hiura ® Garcia ® I understand the platoon advantage thing they are trying to do with batter handedness, but at some point you need to have some consistency and get your future players the majority of the plate appearances

Yes, the Brewers winning streak over the Pirates for 17 straight stretched from July 4, 2008 to May 5, 2009. It was the 2nd longest modern day steak at the time, but is now the 4th longest modern day streak of one team over another.

In other news the Cubs are down 8-0 to the White Sox in the 6th inning. Hernan Perez started for the Cubs and has already played three different positions tonight. The Tigers had lost 20 straight games to the Indians (MLB record is 23 straight), but they are up 10-5 on Cleveland in the 8th inning.

That Luis Urias single (103.7 exit velocity) was the Brewers second hardest hit ball of the night behind the Ben Gamel home run. Yes, it was ahead of the Yelich HR. Urias isn’t a guy with typically high exit velo, but that was some good contact.

The pressure is certainly going to be on the Brewers now, they really need to leave Pittsburgh with two wins.

Yeah, I don’t care if you don’t bunt regularly, in a case like that they are basically giving you a hit on anything pushed to the left side.

Per Alex Speier... Sources: Red Sox are finalizing trade with the Phillies. Believe both Hembree and Workman are involved. EDIT: Ken Rosenthal confirms the deal details... Deal official: Workman, Hembree and cash to Phillies for pitchers Nick Pivetta and Connor Seabold.

I’ll have to give the Sea Salt and Lime a try, that sounds like a great summer beer.

I thought the at bat from Urias was good, he has a good ability to foul off pitches he recognized late. They really needed to get something out of loading the bases.

Adding this reminder to the top of the second page for those who join late and miss the first page. For my drink of choice this evening, I picked up a 4-pack of the Working Draft Beer Company’s Pulp Culture IPA. I have had other beers from Working Draft, but this is my first time sipping this particular beverage.

It appears the Phillies and Red Sox are working out a trade that may include multiple players from both sides. One target for the Phillies appears to be RHRP Brandon Workman.

Use this thread to share information and speculate about on-going trade rumors leading up to the 2020 trade deadline on Monday, August 31st at 3:00pm CT.

A couple of things to add here... 1) The Brewers have had the 5th toughest strength of schedule in MLB so far according to Baseball Reference’s detailed standings. The only 4 that rate as having played tougher schedules so far are the Diamondbacks, Padres, Giants, and Red Sox. I assume for those first three it has a lot to do with having had to play the Dodgers. 2) Heading into today the National League has gone 67-71 overall in Interleague Play (East vs. East, Central vs. Central, West vs. West), but the NL West has actually gone 30-20 in games against the AL West. Obviously playing games within divisions is a zero sum game, but divisions on the whole can pick up extra wins by beating American League teams.

This is also an excellent answer. The lineup is now posted above. I’ll admit I was surprised to see Ben Gamel hitting 5th tonight. Might be a good night for “what are you drinking” after all!

Since I thought it might be a nice change of pace to have something to discuss beyond solely the ineptitude of the Brewers offense, I figured we could try something new for a topic: Whatcha Drinkin’? When you check in to the thread tonight, feel free to share your beverage of choice for the evening. Whether you’re indulging in an adult beverage or sticking with something non-alcoholic, chime in with what you are drinking on this Friday night.

Happy 50th Birthday, Craig Counsell.