Playing Catch

Not specific to amateur talent, but they won the most games in MLB last season. Is that not objective enough? The Brewers could beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series, and Jopal would be back on here the next day talking about how much better that 1990 Reds team was because they won the Series in a sweep. Look. The Brewers are really, really good. Kinda at everything. Objectively good. Subjectively good. They are all the kinds of good a baseball team can be good. And they ARE BETTER THAN MOST TEAMS AT NEARLY EVERYTHING right now. And it shows up with wins and losses. Anyone saying otherwise has an agenda.

Sports media in the social media era has never been so damaging in big markets. Every headline preys on fear-based clicks. If there were 100 million more Brewers fans riled up with social media and NY Post headlines, The Brewers would be a shambles. It's the businesses that stand up to the torches and pitchforks that can remain strong. You don't hire "The Smartest GM in the Room," to run your organization unless you are going to give him multiple transaction windows through multiple seasons to get the roster where Cohen and yes, even Mets fans, where they want it. If Cohen bends to the will of social media, the Mets will become a parody of themselves, constantly cycling through management to satisfy the horde and they will never get where they want to go. It's tough, though. Particularly because I think a personal weakness of Stearns could be the PR-part. He was willing to trade Hader mid-season. He traded away a lot of Mets identity when trading Nimmo and letting the two big FAs walk. Those are either bold moves, or moves made with an ignorance about fans and what fans actually want. But the story here isn't the Mets, Cohen or Stearns. The story is the Brewers. Stearns has the Brewers shine, and everyone in baseball is trying to catch that shine, and has been mesmerized by what's in the black box.

He should try to latch on with a lesser organization. He's a big league bench corner. He's just in the wrong org.

Anyone feel comfortable laying out a scouting report on Martinez? Spencer was down there. How good is his defensive skillset? His numbers are undeniable.

I think you are correct. I liked your point about the enjoyment-factor, because that can be misconstrued with Attanasio's "Summer of Enjoyment" comments. So much of what one can enjoy, is having faith that the Brewers will be good again next year, and the year after that. It's precisely because ownership put faith in smart baseball leadership that we, as fans, can have faith that our personal investments of time, money, and passion will be worth it. We can buy a Yelich or Chourio jersey knowing they'll be here. You can feel that the team will truly give it their all every day. When was the last time you questioned a Brewer's effort? When was the last time the Brewers developed a HOF-level-prospect? How about two of them? The Brewers won 97 last season, and are on pace to have a similar season. What ownership has brought fans is the opportunity to dream on a World Series in now consecutive seasons, and possibly in the next few seasons. That alone deserves incredible respect in a sport so slanted to the big teams. Ownership has merely been trying to actualize the Optimism Thread for over a decade now, and we're experiencing the fruits as fans. When you plan to have success, and then do it. It's not optimism. It's faith and trust between all of the stakeholders, including fans.

He reminds me of Jeter, the prospect. 1st-round type talent. Thought to be surefire shortstops. Big enough to grow into some power with an opposite-field right-handed approach. Good at all of the little things. Instinctive more than rangey. Not base-stealers, but base-runners. Looks to get the ball to consistent, hard contact more than looking for max-EV. Just high-floor consistency with across-the-board skills. I'll continue to be anxious to see how good I think he can be defensively, and say what one will about the left side of the infield's offensive ability, In the dirt they have to be one of the better teams in baseball based on my eye-test. Granted I base it mostly on watching Brewers games, so I acknowledge my bias.

Gosh, the rest of the numbers/arguments really go a long way to assuage my concern about his K%.

That's the Dodgers' argument, too, though.

I'm no longer worried about rehabber's velo after seeing how other guys have recovered their velo after an outing or two --- I'm basing this on memory, but we've been worried about Megill and Uribe, certainly, and others throughout the season. I really believe them when they say they aren't worried about velo when they are rehabbing and ramping up to their assigned workloads.

I was mostly referencing how La Porta was a corner slugger from the SEC who was traded after one season in the organization for a franchise altering pitcher😜

I'm not sure this is what you meant, but are you saying keeping Fischer in A+ may juice is trade value and make him (pure speculation!) a more moveable asset? I'll be honest. Fischer is really fun to have in the organization. He adds a burst of that SEC-competitive energy to the organization. But for some reason, he never quite felt like a typical Brewer pick to me. Maybe he just reminds me a lot of Matt La Porta.

When I watch Contreras, I see a guy that gives the team every single pitch. Every single pitch he's involved with, he gives his best, and gives it to the team's benefit. I think it was that kind of work ethic, and even-keeled leadership (but obviously a driven competitor), that made Molina so valuable [puke]. Contreras will age, and it will show in his surface stats, but he competes with the team in front of him, and takes what that team gives him, to maximize every pitch. When he gets into his 30's he's still going to give the team tough as nails ABs, and while things like pop-time and framing may decline as well, it's really hard to evaluate and quantify the value his calm leadership style offers the pitching staff, and team as a whole. Like the Yelich contract, I think whoever gives Contreras his next deal will end up being very happy with what they get from the player, not because it is a guarantee of a ROI, but rather a near-guarantee that the player will give you everything they've got.

I think this is the likeliest attitude the front office would take. But if that is correct, then they may just want to keep Made in Biloxi all season, regardless of performance, and let Pratt and the other guys in Nashville do the same. And if that's what they want to do... then how do they handle the Wisconsin guys? You see, it's back to what homer was saying in his post I quoted. It's kind of a maze of dominoes, but which domino falls first? I just think that hypothetically, Made could get moved up now, start hitting like Luis Lara has in Nashville, and then we're all wondering if he SHOULD be on the playoff roster. And honestly, we could be saying the same thing about Fischer if he were to blow up in Biloxi. Both of those guys profile at 3B, and have demonstrated having a special bat that just may be capable of such an aggressive timeline. I mean, it probably wouldn't hurt either Made or Fischer in the maturity department to have them in the big league dugout this fall, and promoting and playing the kids means you get to keep all the kids, instead of trading them. The good news with giving those guys 40-man spots is that they all will have options. And that includes Ortiz, Hamilton, Perkins, and Lockridge, too.

I completely agree. The more I think about it, the more I think that before anything else, they need to decide if they think Made should be on the playoff roster in 2026, as he may genuinely offer the best bat that could reasonably be added to this team, and make it better. Because if they think that would be his path, it could very much impact how they manage the 40-man roster spots that they start giving to MLB debutantes in June. And perhaps more importantly, how much playing time they want to dedicate to that inexperience on one of the top threats in the NL to win a World Series.

This is arguably true with the surface-level performances over time, but certainly true comparing his game to other dominant games in MLB history. Last night's game was the first Game Score of 100 I can remember seeing in a while. I think the historical comparisons are fair. Obviously, if a pitcher is matching/outdoing what we're seeing from the greats of recent vintage, like Skenes, Sanchez, Scherzer, DeGrom, etc., that alone says a lot about how special they've been. But I think the question, though, is if he's performing like Bob Gibson in '68? MLB is a pretty offensively challenged league in 2026 so far. With that said, so much of the reason that it's a depressed offensive environment is because never before have pitchers thrown with such dominant ability and intent. It's probably time to compare his fastball with other sport-breaking superlatives that required rules changes to their respective games. Even though he pitched like Cy Young last night, though, doesn't mean he'll be Don Larson in a playoff series. Any team that's going into a playoff series with a guy that's capable of putting up a HOF-level performance like last night, is going to have a good advantage. But I don't think that it changes the math on how to pursue "the window". In fact, I just don't believe in windows. I think Attanasio and the Brewers organization merely opened doors and walked through them, and they'll need to keep opening those doors going forward regardless of the style of winning in which the front office decides to operate. Based on their extensions to Pratt and Lara, I suspect that the Brewers (and probably most of the teams) have a lot of concern about how the upcoming CBA could impact which doors they try to unlock next.

He MUST be one of those crazy dots over near the margins on one of those scatterplots.

If the Brewers are going to best their record win-total, regression-projections will be there all season. Projections don't typically project outliers, I wouldn't think.

I mean, his ceiling is high, too, but he's 5'7".

So... I'll be OTR to state that I was dubious about Pratt's extension at the time, but if the Crew extend Lara, I'm all about it. I don't think I even care what the number would be. I'm just a true believer in him being a "good" MLB starter. Just a really high floor, I think.

The satisfaction alone?

Others are convinced 2 or 3 starts of Skubal in a playoff series is worth watching Ortiz, Rengifo, Perkins, and oodles of other replacement-level position players for the next 6 seasons.

I prefer neither. The game is in a good place. I actually am optimistic that they will peaceably come to an agreement that satisfies both groups w/o a cap&floor, but with continued modifications to the systems already in place. More money will go to the players in some fashion or another in exchange for enhanced revenue sharing (including streamlining and standardizing local TV/MLB.TV) to mollify middle-market shoppers in free agency.

20-7

Good conversation. I think it is certainly fair to say the O's "won" the trade based on CheezWhizHed's argument regarding players that occupy key roles on a playoff team, and the "extra" value good players have in a playoff series. With that said, I think Joey Ortiz has been very nearly the player that the Brewers hoped he could become, and DL Hall has been a key lefty out of the pen this season. Ortiz's bat simply hasn't gotten over the hump in MLB to make him a key contributor on a playoff team, although he could still play a valuable role as a defensive replacement, I suppose. If DL Hall's best innings in a Brewer uniform are in front of him, he could certainly be a key player for a playoff team.

Would it be fair to compare him to Sproat? Or am I way off?