Playing Catch

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?

Its not about punishment. Its about precedent. And comparing Uribe and PCA in this context is apples/oranges. MLB has encouraged players to be more demonstrative on the field, but needs to maintain its authority between the lines so that teams don't fight with each other. A one-game suspension for a repeat "offender," in Uribe keeps MLB's authority intact, while not meaningfully punishing the team or player for a minor infraction that was publicly dealt with by the teams. With PCA, the league offered its implicit support to the players over fans when there is any conflict between the two. And while PCA didn't suffer any consequences from the league, his PR-work following the incident was a brutal punishment compared to anything Uribe would face. Its comparing a speeding ticket to doing community service.

I wouldn't expect a collapse. But I think it's fair to look at all of those guaranteed roster spots dedicated to guys well into their 30's to envision a decline to being merely good.

I think that is part of the point of trying different balls in different leagues. If they understand how different balls work, they have a better chance at finding the "perfect" ball for MLB. I look at it the same way them trying out new rules in lower leagues. Add in all of the variables in different leagues (e.g. low-altitude, hot humid air in the Southern League, or high-altitude, cool dry air in California League), and it's really impossible to make one ball to rule them all.

I'm not at all worried about the velocity yesterday, what with the soft mound. While I have no proof that the mound was actually softer, I have no doubt that every single road game, the grounds-crew have conversations with team personnel about ideal dirt moisture/grass length for the series. I'm also not worried about the leg cramps, yet. It's been reported that Miz has been pumping a lot of iron. I suspect the cramping is related. He also looked as relaxed as I've ever seen him yesterday. Maybe he just woke up really tired. Lots of plausible scenarios that aren't accompanied with klaxons and flashing lights.

I absolutely believe that Ashby's contract "allowed" the Brewers to use him the way he's being used. It's a role that perhaps is valued by winning teams with pitching depth, even though it may be detrimental to the earning potential for the pitcher. My two pet-favorite stats are innings-pitched, and runs scored, because they ARE counting stats that DO matter in the context of a single game. Every time a Brewer role player slides safely into home, or bridge those few outs in the middle, I feel like they earned their paychecks that day, and at the end of the season, Runs Scored and Innings Pitched show guys that post, and are believed to be the best option by the managers that play them that day. Innings-pitched bonuses are prevalent in the game. I see no reason why that couldn't be emphasized more to better compensate guys like Ashby/Patrick, which would better reflect the value they have to teams.

Different balls are different balls, no doubt, but I would suspect that teams are trying to teach their pitchers to beat hitters in-zone to combat all of the plate-discipline that teams are promoting with their hitters, too. Learning how to pitch in-zone and beat contact comes with a lot of bumps and bruises, as every little league pitcher learns the hard way.

I think it's fair to just leave the IGT in it's own little place in the Brewerfan world. The IGT is the equivalent of texting friends and family during the game. It's a private conversation in a public forum, and who among us haven't cursed a Murphy move, or Ortiz AB this season in the privacy of our homes and text threads with family/friends during an in-game moment? I think the IGT folks would make Murph proud of their relentless pursuit of perfection, and I'm guessing the dugout wouldn't call Murph a mope for verbally undressing Greg Jones in the dugout after airmailing his cutoff man. The IGT "mopes" keep the rest of us with Brewers-sunglasses on, honest with ourselves, and I appreciate them for it. I blame the Cubs, their manager, their CFer, and their fans for sewing discord here in the good place.

Like, not normal due to what we know about the human body? Or not normal because most teams don't typically use guys they way they use Ashby, because if a team has a guy like Ashby, he's almost never pitching in middle relief? It's unconventional, yes. But aside from baseball's long-established pitching roles, codified through conventional wisdom, player contracts based on stat-accumulation, video game player designations (CP, SU, RP, SP), and with an assumption that every pitcher experiences the same stress/recovery on their arm every time they throw, why do we assume that the Brewers are babying Miz, and overworking Ashby? Miz said he had one more inning after the 5th, so that's what Murph gave him. Ashby likes the ball all the time, and the pitching coaches and training staff (perhaps) recognize this and give Murph the go-ahead to use him. If we can all agree that there is the "right" amount of high-stress pitches over the course of a game, a series, a week, a month, a season, for a starter, or for a closer, why can we not agree that the "right" number of high-stress pitches for a middle reliever may be somewhere in-between? Last season, Miz threw 129 IP in 28 appearances (27 starts) between AAA and MLB. Uribe threw 75 IP in 75 appearances (19 back-to-back outings), and Ashby threw 66 IP in 43 appearances (3 back-to-back outings). Ashby is on pace for about 110 IP in about 80 appearances, and has had 3 back-to-back outings. So long as the Brewers keep giving him more days off between appearances as they would a leverage arm, isn't this simply a "Goldilocks" zone of arm usage between a typical starter's workload, and a closer's role?