mrn1ceguy

One thing this doesn't capture, and I'm not sure how you could capture it, but is Contreras's ability to push all the right buttons with the pitchers. It seems he's able to help control our pitchers in a way that gets the absolute best out of them whether that is calming them down, getting the extra focus, working to the right pitch sequence or all the other intangibles I don't even notice. Even if Contreras would fall off offensively to a 220/300/700 type player for his 30s, I think the boon he gives our pitchers is worth extending him at market rates to ensure our pitchers keep putting out their best possible outcomes. He should be our Salvador Perez.

20 years ago (time does fly). https://uwbadgers.com/news/2005/10/15/Blocked_Punt_Gives_UW_Late_38_34_Win_Over_Minnesota I remember there being a better photo but here's the one I found quickly.

All these extensions could be the brewers thinking there will be a lot less years of control after the new cba. It may be less about getting a good deal and more about ensuring 6-8 years of cost controlled players they have high confidence will be at least an average starter.

Thats the explanation for this famous picture from the ice bowl. Chuck Mercein (#30) had his hand up during the run, to show he was not aiding the runner. I also remember Reggie Bush getting a penalty or maybe should have gotten a penalty when he was at USC and they were going for a national championship when he pushed Matt Leinart into the endzone. Google tells me they revised the penalty in 2005 to only be a penalty for pulling and carrying a runner, not pushing. But a simple reversal of not allowing pushing would eliminate this, IMO, boring play and improve the game.

For awhile the tone was getting a little too hostile for me but a sprinkling of the “ignore user” feature cleared that up. My only issue has been technical. When loading a page, the ads sometimes load in a wonky order so the page jumps to the “last read” message then jumps up and then back a few times before finally settling down. While it’s doing that, it’s slightly frustrating as you will be reading a post then have to either try to scroll for it multiple times or wait awhile for it to fix itself. And even less often, sometimes the whole page needs to reload once or twice because an add crashes it. All in all, a pretty minor issue and who knows, could just be me.

That would make later years worse and in theory, we will wanting to hand out a lot of high dollar receiver/TE extensions. But if we did the Bakhtiari, Newman, Campbell cuts that still gets us an extra ~$35 million. That alone should be enough to get us a safety and extend Love. Maybe add a 3 year extension to Clark or 2 year extension to Jones clearing a little more space and that should be sufficient for a productive offseason without burdening future years.

I'm not one to rate people because there are stat folks much better at it than me. But from a familiarity point of view, the whole wide receiver room has reminded me of past Green Bay greats the past few months in terms of play style and (hopefully) production: Christian Watson - Javon Walker Romeo Dobbs - James Jones Malik Heath - Allen Lazaard Dontayvion Wicks - Donald Driver Jayden Reed - Greg Jennings Bo Melton - blank, I got nothing yet but man these have been a good couple games. So if they all keep reminding us of those past greats, they are certainly going to be a fun group.

While not dominate, Clark did have an amazing play sniffing out that screen pass early in the 3rd quarter. That heads up play right after Wyatt got that monster sack killed any chance by the bears to get some early 2nd half momentum. Honestly, that Wyatt sack and Clark breaking up the screen where some of the best heads up plays I've seen our DL do in a long time.

I went to the game on Saturday and Am Fam is not setup for these full house events. I’ve typically gone on quiet days in the past (about 1 a year) so not something I have prior experience. But outside of the hour long wait to get into the stadium (expected) most every food vendor that wasn’t just popcorn or ice cream had 20-45 minute lines. Combined with the faster play and food took over an inning to get. Compared to setups at Camp Randal or Lambeau, there’s just far too few stations causing the ones with meal food to be packed. It also didn’t help my kid didn’t want the short line options of grilled cheese or chicken. Giveaways would be nice (showed up too late for that, but that’s on me) but it’s not worth dealing with the crowd to do anything but sit in your seat. Lessons learned I guess.

At $3.1 million per year, I don't think it makes a difference. If he is a very solid multi-inning reliever, it's a bargain. If he's a 4.00-ERA starter, it's a bargain (less that 1/3 of what Matt Garza got). If he becomes a right-handed Hader or an ace... the Crew laughs to some division titles while Yelich is here, then they laugh as they flip Freddy for prospects - because that surplus value will be really up there. I would actually say this extension shows the Brewers believe he will end up a starter eventually (or closer). When everything is guaranteed, you can't just take the average. The 5 year portion is likely setup as $1M, $1M, $2.5M, $4.5M, $6.5M. With year 4 & 5 a guaranteed salary of >$4M, you have to believe he is going to be a starter or closer to give up the opportunity to release at no cost. You don't guarantee that to someone who is going to be a Junior Guerra-esque setup man or multi-inning reliever. The extension gives him time to work his way into being a starter (or closer), but I fully expect he will be there by 2021.

Assuming the Urias injury is minor and he can be considered a major part of the team this year, Yes I consider them to be a 2020 contender however with a decent amount of risk. As mentioned above, they key to the offseason seems to have been to improve the worst parts of the 26 (or 40) man roster so as to not have any really poor performers drag us down. We have done that with a lot of bounce back / upside / growth type players rather then the proven, sure bet choices. Because of that risk path, I'd like to see a few more minor league contract depth signings to have more depth in case of poor performance. If we can do the following, I would consider us a strong / stronger contender this year. -Current SP depth for April/May/June is Corbin Burnes & Shelby Miller. Since I expect Burnes to need a month or two to show his he is back, we really only have one starter in reserve not targeted for the bullpen (Suter, Peralta). Another minor league signing would cover my concerns. -Current RP lineup for April is Hader/Suter/Peralta/Claudio/Black/D. Guerra and two of the following. If we can make it one of the following, our depth would be solid. Feyerson/Wahl/Williams/Williams/Perdomo/Yardley. -Current IF lineup for April is some combo of Gyorko/Sogard/Urias/Arcia/Hiura/Smoak/Braun with Healey & Morrison in AAA for support. I'm comfortable here with this level of depth and ability to maximizes good AB while minimizing bad ones. -Current OF lineup for April is some combo of Yelich/Cain/Garcia/Braun/Gamel with Taylor/Ray/Broxton in AAA for support. Also good here. -Current C is Navarez/Pina with Freitas/Nottingham in AAA. Also good here. So really, get a AAA SP depth (probably with a June Opt-Out) and a solid RP who can be the 3rd/4th type option and I would say we are a strong contender for the playoffs this year with sufficient depth & options to cover all the "risk" we took on.

I could see it happening. Unfortunately, I also cannot see us competing for the playoffs with this roster. We struggled on offense last year, can you imagine the struggles with this lineup? This type of lineup and you are banking on a few IFs to go right. For offense, you probably have the following base assumptions: -Yelich and Hiura to rake like they they should. -Braun and Naverez to perform like last year. Then you need probably at least 2 of these 6 IFs to go right: -D. Smith to live up to his pedigree and shine. -Urias to live up to his pedigree and shine. -Lowrie to rebound and hit like he did in 2017 or 2018. -Cain to rebound and hit like he did in 2017 or 2018. -Flores to grow on what he did last year and become a solid hitter. -Arcia to follow the teachings of Jobu and becomes a solid hitter. If you get the main four batters to perform followed by 2 of those IFs, you have 6 solid hitters in your lineup. Three or 4 IFs and you have a stacked lineup. Fix any glaring hole mid-season and thats a decent lineup to work with. If Yelich, Hiura or both stumble, we are probably doomed no matter what. If either Braun or Naverez under perform, you need more of the "IFs" to go right. If we don't get any "IFs", then you try to piece meal a competent roster and lean heavily on the pitching. If the pitching fails, you have a decent group of "next up candidates" to try. If the next up candidates fail as well, then we are doomed no matter what.

As of 12/12/2019, this is what I want. Current payroll at $76M (sportac) Trade with Mets for Lowrie ($9M) & Smith. Send them a low level (non-pitching) prospect. Lets go with Larry Ernesto. Sign Wilmer Flores to 2 yr / $6M (insurance in case Lowrie is hurt or washes out) Sign Dallas Keuchel to 3 yr / $40M Sign Wade Miley to 2 yr / $16M Roster: C: Navarez / Pina 1B: D. Smith / Flores 2B: Huria / Urias SS: Urias / Arcia 3B: J. Lowrie / Flores LF: Braun / Gamel CF: Cain / T. Taylor RF: Yelich / Gamel Bench: Pina, Flores, Arcia, Gamel, Taylor SP: Woodruff Keuchel Miley Houser J. Lindblaum / Lauer RP: Hader Claudio Suter Lauer / Lindblaum Black Faria T. Williams D. Guerra IR: Knebel AAA Pitching Reinforcements: Burnes, Peralta, Feyereisen, D. Williams, Wahl New Payroll: ~$110M

I mentioned it in the Winter Meetings thread, but what if the yankees were to include one of their 2 young 3B (Gio Urshela or more likely Miguel Andújar)? Both raked in their respective one year in the bigs (2018 for Andujar, 2019 for Urshela). One is blocking the other unless the Yankees move Andujar to DH. So this is a trade from depth to unload salary (for the yankees) and a trade to fill two holes for the Brewers.

I'll take Jasson Dominguez off their hands if they want us to take on Happ. It doesn't need to be an MLB ready prospect. Any value on the farm helps. IMO it does have to be a MLB ready player to take Happ and his $17M salary. Happ was awful last year. 4.91 ERA - 5.12 FIP and he's going to be 38. Everything indicates he will be getting worse, not better. The Brewers would be spending $17M to get the other player. If it was just a prospect it would be way too expensive for a smaller budget team. I think a few people mentioned Miguel Andújar. Was fantastic at 3b in 2018 and Yankees are covered with Gio Urshela. The baseball trade simulator would need us sending Lutz and something else to get Happ and Andújar but it would solve the 3B and #5 starter problem. Need to find a 1B (or LF) and a #2 and we would be done-ish.

I haven't seen anyone discuss this but do we know how Narvaez does with handling pitchers and getting the most out of the pitcher (getting them in a good routine, pitch sequencing an all that "intangible" stuff)? It seems like Pina (and especially Kratz before him) could get more out of our pitchers than Grandal could. I have no data to back this up or even know if this data exists, it's more of a feeling or perception thing. Would love to hear that pitchers seem to do well with Narvaez behind the plate.

I was wondering where everyone's go to place to get a new Brewers Jersey are. I swung through the pro-shop last week and I only really found the mesh-like jersey's but wanted to get the thicker jersey but not spend several hundred on it. Anyone have any suggestions?

I don’t think quality starts is a goal for this team. I think heir goal is for the starter to go a little more than twice through an order while giving up 2 or less runs (typically 5 innings) and then construct a bullpen to handle the larger load. The bullpen can do this by having multiple guys who can handle 2-inning stunts and 80 innings on the year. Round that out by rotating 6 or more guys through the bottom two bullpen spots. Now wether this will be successful year in and year out is yet to be seen, but I don’t think increasing the inning load on the starters to save the bull pen is this teams goal (and I don’t blame them considering stats of starters >3 times through the order).

WTMJ is back on the mlb app, much better now.

Well, he just got bumped to AA today. So in about a month he went from A -> A+ -> AA with only needing 5 showings to prove his worth. If he is in AAA by mid-July and continuing to dominate, I would consider it a definite possibility. I expect him to run into challenges at some point in time, most likely with AA where he will stay all year. That being said the Brewers are definitely advancing him hard and quick so it is a realistic possibility. He is a college pitcher...or was. Getting to AA fast isn't that hard. Things slow down fast once you get to AA. Especially since he is a starter as it stands. They would have to make him a reliever to push him all the way to the MLB level this year. Look at Burnes, those kind of movements are normal for guys. Blow through A- through A+....then you get stuck at AA for a solid half year and then maybe get the bump to AAA if utterly dominating. Him at the MLB level this year would be massive optimism...not impossible he could be a September call-up...but man that is crazy optimistic and assuming he pitches like the next great thing without a single bump in the road till then But getting to AA after only 5 appearances? I've never seen anyone for the Brewers do that. As fast as Burnes was, he had 3 rookie league appearances, 9 in A, and 10 in A+ before getting the bump to AA. Burnes doing it in 22 appearances is also the best Brewer I can remember. But even if you want to consider Burnes rise as normal for advanced prospects, what Rasmussen doing is other worldly. Obviously he now needs to perform in AA as good as he has been and show he is still a man among boys before he would be bumped to AAA, but its getting closer to a possibility.

Well, he just got bumped to AA today. So in about a month he went from A -> A+ -> AA with only needing 5 showings to prove his worth. If he is in AAA by mid-July and continuing to dominate, I would consider it a definite possibility. I expect him to run into challenges at some point in time, most likely with AA where he will stay all year. That being said the Brewers are definitely advancing him hard and quick so it is a realistic possibility.

It makes it an easy call to face the Cubs with Hiura against all the lefties and then send him back down. Don't think it will happen but think it should. Unless Thames goes on the 60 day DL for the groin tweak, they would still need to make a corresponding roster move to add Hiura to the 40 man before bringing him up to Milwaukee....doubtful this happens, because they probably don't want to lose other depth. If Thames is forced to go on the IL, I'd expect a move like bringing Spangenberg or Saladino up before Hiura. He'll be in Milwaukee at some point this summer, but let's not get too carried away with expecting a mid May callup because they're likely to face 3 lefty starters against the Cubs. Spangenberg has a mighty line of 235/298/362, so he would be an easy choice to DFA for Hiura if/when that happens. Until Spangenberg is not on the 40, I don't see a crunch on getting Hiura on the 40.

My vote, send down Peralta today. Keep the pen as full and fresh as possible and give Peralta a start or two in AAA to work on his secondary pitches without worrying about results. Then in 2-3 days, send down Petricka after he gets the rented mule treatment (if needed) for Houser to make Peralta's next start or two. Then once Peralta is down for the 10 days or so, get him back up here for Houser (or move Houser to the pen and send down whoever is struggling).

This is my thought as well. If/when Nelson is going well (first week of May?), send each young one down for ~2 weeks at a time to sort of rotate the three of them in two spots through the all start break pending no one gets hurt or struggles enough to need a demotion. This will help keep their innings low enough to be usable in September/October. Then come mid July, re-assess Nelson progress and maybe give him some time off if needed and then start up the 6 man rotation with rotating AAA/DL as needed to get to September. Now, injuries will probably break this plan, but it seems like an ideal best case scenario option right now.