Eye Black

Yeah, I am usually on the overly optimistic side of things when it comes to players returning from injury (I was making a pitch for acquiring Garrett Richards just a couple of days before he broke again this season). In the case of Jimmy Nelson, I am not expecting him to ever return to the breakout performance we saw in 2017. That season was amazing, but it was also a pretty significant outlier from his three previous professional seasons. I think he will indeed make a return to the mound at some point, but next year in his age 30 season I expect him to struggle to regain his command and overall ability to pitch. I hope that ends up looking like a silly statement, but I can't imagine the Brewers are expecting him to return to the mound looking like the pitcher he was when he suffered the injury.

Well cross him off then. Thanks for the heads up, I’ll try to update the list as we go through the off-season for signings and retirements.

With the Brewers having a couple of bullpen arms they relied on down the stretch that are candidates to move to the rotation in 2019 (i.e. Woodruff and Burnes) I don’t think it is crazy to think they may look to add 1-2 more impact bullpen arms this off-season. Below is a list of free agent relievers taken from Cot’s Baseball Contracts. I removed the guys that have team/player options that could potentially be free agents. I don’t know if the list is complete, I did add at least a couple of players that I noticed were missing from the Cot’s list (Jesse Chavez and Craig Kimbrel). If anyone notices others let me know. Some are not all that appealing, but there are actually a decent number of solid bullpen arms available this off-season. EDIT: Unfortunately that Cot’s list appears to be more out of date than I realized so I put it inside the “spoiler” window above for now. I will try to do a better job updating it later, but in the mean time here is an MLB.com list that seems more up to date. MLB.com Free Agent Relievers List Adam Ottavino (33 years old) Jeurys Familia (29) David Robertson (34) Craig Kimbrel (31) Jesse Chavez (35) Oliver Perez (37) Tony Sipp (35) Zach Duke (36) Brad Brach (33) Joe Kelly (31) Sergio Romo (36) Jake Diekman (32) Justin Wilson (31) Tyler Clippard (34) Shawn Kelley (35) Andrew Miller (34) Kelvin Herrera (29) Mark Melancon (34) -- Can opt out of the two years and $28 million remaining on his contract. Greg Holland (33) Tony Barnette (35) Aaron Loup (31) Jonny Venters (34) Adam Warren (31) John Axford (36) Bud Norris (34) Ryan Madson (38) Jeanmar Gomez (31) Zach Britton (31) Santiago Casilla (38) Cody Allen (30) Jorge De La Rosa (38) Fernando Salas (34) Zach McAllister (31) Blake Wood (33) Daniel Hudson (32) Jerry Blevins (35) Matt Belisle (39) AJ Ramos (32) Hector Santiago (31) Jim Johnson (36) Randall Delgado (29) Boone Logan (34) Peter Moylan (40) Junichi Tazawa (33) Blaine Boyer (37) Josh Tomlin (34)

I am curious to see what kind of deal J.A. Happ ultimately signs. He was outstanding with the Yankees in the second half of the season (and good with Toronto in the first half). He is a lefty that has maintained a high strikeout rate. Less appealing is the fact that he turned 36 years old last week. He is originally from Illinois, and with it likely being his last MLB contract I could see a possibility that he would value finishing his career playing for a midwestern team.

I just want a sweep so the off-season can start as soon as possible. For whatever reason I really enjoy baseball hot stove season.

I am interested to see how Wang Po-Jung’s impending posting from the CPBL turns out. News broke last week from the Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (LINK) that he will go through the posting process: It is official, the Lamigo Monkeys announced they will post 25-year-old outfielder 王柏融 (Wang Po-Jung) this offseason. According to the Monkeys’ general manager, the posting process will begin on November 4 after the Taiwan Series. “Wang Po-Jung will be the first player in the CPBL history to use the posting system,” said Monkeys’ general manager Justin Liu. “We hope everything will go smoothly and we can wrap everything up before the end of December.” He just turned 25 years old in September. According to scouting reports he still needs to improve defensively in the outfield. The CPBL is an offensive league overall, but Wang Po-Jung has been clearly the best offensive player in the league. His CPBL stats are below (doesn’t include the various international competitions he has participated in)... [pre]Year Team G AB H HR RBI SB Walk|BB SO GIDP BA OBP SLG OPS 2015 Lamigo 29 111 36 9 29 0 10 22 2 .324 .377 .640 1.017 2016 Lamigo 116 483 200 29 105 24 51 59 5 .414 .476 .689 1.165 2017 Lamigo 115 437 178 31 101 16 76 44 6 .407 .491 .700 1.192 2018 Lamigo 118 453 159 17 84 9 51 63 7 .351 .446 .547 .993[/pre] Selfishly part of the reason I would love to see the Brewers consider taking a chance on Wang Po-Jung is I could fantasize about him hitting a walk-off home run in the NLCS to beat the Dodgers or Cubs immediately followed by giving them his signature bat flip... http://mlb.mlb.com/images/4/1/2/157331412/111415_wsbc_premier12_wang_hr_med2_uz9zo7zo.gif Below is the Fangraphs overview of Wang Po-Jung written by Sung Min Kim from last February... The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is not covered as thoroughly in the US anywhere near to the degree of the NPB or KBO. In recent years, many of the circuit’s top amateur players have signed directly with the MLB teams instead of going to the CPBL because of league-wide instability that has resulted from a series of game-fixing scandals. As a result of fiasco, the CPBL has reduced to four clubs total and lost out on many amateur talents to MLB — but it is still checked and scouted. Recently, after the 2015 season, the San Diego Padres were interested in the top infielder Chih-Sheng Lin; however, due to the posting fee and Lin’s age (he was then 33 years old), it didn’t happen. However, there is a talent who took the CPBL by storms by putting up video-game numbers: Po-Jung Wang. (His name is pronounced closer to “Bo-Rong Wang,” but is spelled using the “Wade-Giles system,” which is one of the four ways to romanize Chinese characters.) Wang hit an eye-popping .407/.491/.700 in 115 games in 2017, winning the quadruple crown (average, hit, home run, RBI) — and, of course, the league MVP. Sure, it is true that the CPBL is quite offensively inclined. There are many reasons for that — a number of talented positional players, a lack of talented pitchers, a shrinking strike zone, and juiced balls — and it makes you wonder how Wang would adjust if he were to head to the NPB or MLB. However, there’s no doubt that the 24-year-old is talented. Here is Wang taking the aforementioned Takahiro Norimoto deep over the center-field wall during an international match: Former Royals and White Sox reliever Andy Sisco, who has pitched around the globe (Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Dominican Republic), is quoted at the CPBL English site as saying that Wang “definitely projects as a major league player.” Continues Sisco: “He hits for power, he hits to all fields, he can hit a good fastball. He’s not a guy who can be overpowered.” Wang also garnered some attention from the American media in 2017 by unleashing one of the most awesome and flamboyant bat flips humanity has ever seen. An international scout told me he sees potential in Wang to succeed in the NPB/MLB but that he has to fix some flaws, saying, “He has holes in his swing that make him vulnerable to inside pitches in the next level.” This evaluator added that Wang’s glove isn’t anything special, meaning “he’s pretty much stuck in the corner-outfield slots.” Due to a recent rule change in the CPBL, players are eligible to explore going international after three years of service time and with their club’s permission (including posting fee). Wang now has two seasons under his belt, so hypothetically, he could head elsewhere after the 2018 season. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the Athletics, Diamondbacks, Pirates, and Reds have had scouts to see Wang, though it seems likely that Wang will go to Japan first before challenging himself to go to the MLB. There is plenty of NPB interest in him, meanwhile. Wang himself has said that, ultimately, he’d like to go to the MLB but would not mind stopping by the NPB before it happens. Here is video of all 159 of Wang Po-Jung’s hits in 2018:

In the last week we have had posters speak in sweeping generalities that “the board” is too much in love with Peralta, and now alledge that he is being way underestimated. I think a lot of people here actually have a more balanced view on Peralta than is being portrayed. He is a pitcher that obviously saw both success and failure over the course of the season. He throws his fastball nearly 80% of the time and is prone to losing his command. He does, however, possess elite extension off the rubber for someone his size that seems to lead to really good deception against hitters. At this point I don’t think even the Brewers know for sure how viable his long-term prospects are as a starter, and I think a lot of people here understand the performance variance possible with Peralta going forward.

A few things that I think will be important... - Evaluate the likelihood as to whether or not Jimmy Nelson will return to be a solid MLB starter. - Begin Spring Training with at least 9 or 10 viable starting pitchers within the organization. - Map out an expected time table for the arrival of Keston Hiura (2B) and possilbly Mauricio Dubon (Utility). - Address the catcher position.

[pre]Dodgers Lineup Brewers Lineup 1. Joc Pederson (L) LF 1. Lorenzo Cain ® CF 2. Max Muncy (L) 1B 2. Christian Yelich (L) RF 3. Justin Turner ® 3B 3. Ryan Braun ® LF 4. Manny Machado ® SS 4. Travis Shaw (L) 2B 5. Cody Bellinger (L) CF 5. Jesús Aguilar ® 1B 6. Yasiel Puig ® RF 6. Mike Moustakas (L) 3B 7. Chris Taylor ® 2B 7. Erik Kratz ® C 8. Austin Barnes ® C 8. Orlando Arcia ® SS 9. Walker Buehler ® P 9. Jhoulys Chacín ® P[/pre] Link: Brewers Game Notes TV Broadcast on FS1

That’s awesome! I’ll be there tomorrow night, and I can’t wait (or likely sleep).

There is obviously still plenty of work to be done for it to ultimately matter, but at this exact moment in time having home field advantage for this series seems really important.

LIKE, EVERY LETTER OF EVERY WORD? I THINK YOU MODS ARE TAKING THINGS A LITTLE FAR. JEEESSSSUUUUSSSS!!! Very nice.

I am getting greedy, but I would like the option of having Burnes (over Soria) for an inning tomorrow.

Capitalize

Grandal’d again!! Edit: yes I know that was an impossible pitch to block.

Well here is Santana’s chance for a hero moment.

Run Jesús, run.

It would be amazing if they could save Hader for tomorrow. Hopefully it plays out to the point that they are afforded that luxury.

How many would we need to go to Pérez?

Yeah, I am torn on it. I agree that it is one of those nights where you can’t look to far ahead and just need outs. I also think there is something to be said for playing it agressive in that situation. Edit: Corey certainly did his job though, wow.

I really, really hope not batting Santana with the bases loaded isn’t the thing that comes back to haunt them tonight.

Would be really nice to keep Knebel under 25 pitches if you have hope of getting something from him in a Game 7.

I love ya Agi, but that at bat was no bueno.

Same here, that is exactly the type of life the Dodgers offense needed.

Walks are one of the things I fear most at this point. Don’t put free baserunners on and you make it much tougher on the Dodgers to comeback.