Eye Black

Hader averaged 95-mph with the fastball in his first outing of the year, but it appears has been down a couple of miles on the fastball since then.

I can’t remember a more frustrating base runner than Jonathan Villar, albeit this time in a different way. Seems strange he would stop at third with Sedar sending him unless he slipped or something. Edit: I think it would have been close, he may very well have been out, but it was going to be close.

An interesting set of Tweets from Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel... And a clarification to that last Tweet via Patrick...

I missed this unfortunately, but Wainwright is easily my favorite Cardinals player.

[pre]Brewers Lineup Cardinals Lineup 1. Lorenzo Cain ® CF 1. Dexter Fowler (S) RF 2. Eric Thames (L) 1B 2. Tommy Pham ® CF 3. Ryan Braun ® LF 3. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B 4. Travis Shaw (L) 3B 4. Marcell Ozuna ® LF 5. Domingo Santana ® RF 5. Jose Martinez ® 1B 6. Eric Sogard (L) 2B 6. Yadier Molina ® C 7. Manny Pina ® C 7. Paul DeJong ® SS 8. Orlando Arcia ® SS 8. Kolten Wong (L) 2B 9. Jhoulys Chacin ® P 9. Miles Mikolas ® P [/pre]

Yeah, good call. Under 172 services days for Free Agency purposes, and likely under 122 needed for salary arbitration to be delayed a year.

June 1st this year marks 122 days of services time remaining in the 2018 season. Since 2009 that is the lowest cutoff for number of service days a player has accumulated (beyond two full years of service years) and still received Super Two status following their third season. Here are the Super Two service time cutoffs since 2009... 2017: 2.123 2016: 2.131 2015: 2.140 2014: 2.133 2013: 2.122 2012: 2.140 2011: 2.146 2010: 2.122 2009: 2.139 I think it’s important the Brewers wait until at least a few days after June 1st to ensure they have the extra year of control for Corbin Burnes. While service time manipulation is typically frowned upon, it is unfortunately a necessary evil for a small market club like the Brewers. If they call Burnes up before June he will likely gain Super Two status following the 2020 season. That would make him eligible for a significant raise via arbitration starting in 2021 and he would become a free agent following the 2023 season (so a FA heading into his age 29 season). If they wait until at least a few days into June he will remain cost controlled until 2022, and will be under team control through the 2024 season (not eligible for free agency until his age 30 season). The incentive for keeping Burnes in the minors until June appear too great to imagine the Brewers would consider bringing him up any earlier. It would cost them a significant amount more financially in 2021 when they are hopefully still within this competitive window, as well as the fact they would lose a potentially important rotation piece a year early (before the 2024 season as opposed to following it).

Very nice start to the season for RHP Thomas Jankins. Skipping over High-A this year appears to have been an important vote of confidence from the Brewers staff. Still just 22 years old, Jankins is more than two years younger than the league’s average pitcher age and he is the third youngest pitcher on the Biloxi roster behind only Kodi Medeiros (21) and Luis Ortiz (22).

Three shutouts in the past five games is tough to stomach. [sarcasm]Currently on pace to get shutout 49 times this season.[/sarcasm] I don’t believe in “must win” games in April, but I would feel a little better if they could’ve found a way to win one of the last two. Not going to get much easier heading to face the Cardinals and Mets on the road this week.

Nine games into the season, Santana is slugging .310 and has one extra base hit. Teams wary that he could repeat his 2017 are still wary. Maybe they are indeed concerned about his ability to repeat his 2017, but I can’t imagine a slugging percentage based on 29 at-bats would move the needle much regarding that concern.

Christian Yelich was placed on the 10-day DL with a right oblique injury retroactive to 4/5. The earliest he will be eligible to return is Sunday, April 15th vs. the Mets. Here is the Brewers announcement via Twitter...

[pre]Cubs Lineup Brewers Lineup 1. Albert Almora Jr. ® CF 1. Lorenzo Cain ® CF 2. Kris Bryant ® 3B 2. Domingo Santana ® RF 3. Ben Zobrist (S) 2B 3. Ryan Braun ® LF 4. Willson Contreras ® C 4. Jesus Aguilar ® 1B 5. Kyle Schwarber (L) LF 5. Hernan Perez ® 3B 6. Addison Russell ® SS 6. Manny Pina ® C 7. Victor Caratini (S) 1B 7. Jonathan Villar (S) 2B 8. Jason Heyward (L) RF 8. Orlando Arcia ® SS 9. Jose Quintana ® P 9. Chase Anderson ® P [/pre]

Indians starting RF Lonnie Chisenhall is headed to the DL with a right calf injury. It was also a right calf injury that caused him to miss a significant portion of the season last year. It appears they are going to bring Tyler Naquin back to the majors. Maybe the Indians aren’t that into him, but it seems apparent Santana’s right-handed power bat would be an upgrade for the Indians current OF mix.

He isn't in the starting lineup, but the only member of the Brewers active roster with double digit at-bats against Darvish is Eric Sogard. He is 5-for-16 (.313) with two doubles against Yu. The only members that have hit home runs against Darvish are Hernan Perez (1-for-2, HR) and Christian Yelich (2-for-5, HR). It's obviously doubtful we see Yelich today, but on the flip side the Cubs appear to again be without Rizzo.

[pre]Cubs Lineup Brewers Lineup 1. Ian Happ (S) CF 1. Lorenzo Cain ® CF 2. Kris Bryant ® 3B 2. Eric Thames (L) 1B 3. Kyle Schwarber (L) LF 3. Ryan Braun ® LF 4. Willson Contreras ® C 4. Travis Shaw (L) 3B 5. Tommy La Stella (L) 2B 5. Domingo Santana ® RF 6. Victor Caratini (S) 1B 6. Jonathan Villar (S) 2B 7. Jason Heyward (L) RF 7. Orlando Arcia ® SS 8. Javier Baez ® SS 8. Jett Bandy ® C 9. Yu Darvish ® P 9. Zach Davies ® P[/pre]

Great win, good start to the weekend!

Travis Shaw’s HR was 113.5 mph. Thought this Tweet was good...

This is a very good, very well reasoned post... but this is the In-Game thread so we’re going to need you to pick one end of the emotional spectrum and practice some irrational fervor. Wouldn't be an in-game thread without a passive aggressive post about how fans react in said in-game thread about an in-game event. It's almost more surprising at this point that posters can't seem to grasp than in-game threads are the absolute perfect places for reactionary posts. Wasn’t trying to be passive agressive at all, I love (and participate in) the emotional roller coaster of the in-game thread. I’ll use the winky face next time to convey that better.

This is a very good, very well reasoned post... but this is the In-Game thread so we’re going to need you to pick one end of the emotional spectrum and practice some irrational fervor.

Only the 2nd time in Hendricks’ career he has given up two home runs in one inning.

RUNZZZZZ!

After that first strike call on Shaw I had to hold my breath on the one that bounced off the plate and the one that almost hit him.

And that team won 65 games, so we are definitely going to win again!

Found it... 48 innings, we have a ways to go.