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Playing Catch

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Everything posted by Playing Catch

  1. Playing Catch
    Seventeen!? I can't remember such a resounding start to the MILB season. Is this typical across baseball this season?
  2. Playing Catch
    They traded for an injured Jordan Montgomery on a $22M contract just last deadline. I'm not disagreeing that they have a cap to what they are able to acquire, but they've certainly proven to be creative with money.
  3. Playing Catch
    Yeah, I once had hope that he could develop into normal power for a glove first SS, but it just hasn't materialized.
  4. Playing Catch
    I'm still not worried, though. Speaking for myself, I think the long, boring offseason has made all of us overanxious about seeing the Brewers at the bottom of the standings. .500 is a perfectly acceptable winning percentage at this point of the season. Last year, the Brewers were 13-15 at this point, and were still over a month away from seeing .500 again. I think most of us anticipated a divisional dog-fight all season in this improved division, but that doesn't change the fact that last place sucks.
  5. Playing Catch
    LOL, I know... I was thinking the same thing as I typed it.
  6. Playing Catch
    If I'm looking for a silver lining in this stretch of play, I've felt good about what we've seen from Lockridge. Not in a starting capacity, but I like what he has to offer a playoff roster, although his inverse platoon splits are mildly annoying.
  7. Playing Catch
    I've never understood the league's fascination with Cora.
  8. Playing Catch
    His frame, though... *whistles* He's only 19.
  9. Playing Catch
    You didn't answer my question, but whatever. Let's try these instead... 1. Do you believe the Brewers should try to acquire players that are clear upgrades, or go with the depth moves/prospects route? 2. If you think they should try to improve, are there any guys out there that you like?
  10. Playing Catch
    Right. But do you see any players out there that represent clear upgrades? Because I don't. Pena I thought was one of the few players that represent a clear upgrade, and who's contract is within the realm of possibility of acquiring (if Houston falls out of it). I get that Pena doesn't represent that to you, but are there other players that do, or are you content with the Brewers standing pat.
  11. Playing Catch
    If we take Boras at his word when he said, “The point of it that I heard was that, for him, this is something that allowed him to explore a corridor where he could go out and risk and seek optimization without restraint,” then perhaps Pratt believes he needs to make some difficult adjustments to become a star, and that those adjustments may come with some struggle(?) Perhaps he's doing something different at the plate?
  12. Playing Catch
    Okay. Do you think there exists such a move?
  13. Playing Catch
    I think we could use a thread dedicated to crazy stats and discussing them. I couldn't believe the other day when I saw Teddy Higuera's 1986 season, when he led the league with 9.4 bWAR. That's more than Ohtani's 50-50 season.
  14. Playing Catch
    Looking through the stats for other teams around the league, the Brewers aren't really in a different position than any other team, based on 2026 performance. The Dodgers are giving Alex Freeland lots of innings at 2B (58 wRC+), the Yankees with Jazz Chisholm Jr. (55), or Ryan McMahon (49). The Mets' trio of Killer-B's, Bichette, Baty, and Benge (53, 36, 25). The Mariners with Leo Rivas (53). One could argue that Ortiz's defense is more valuable than all or most of those examples. This isn't to say that Ortiz should be the plan going forward, but that it isn't some kind of emergency situation unique to the Crew. Every team has these kinds of decisions that they need to make. This just happens to be what the 2026 Brewers will need to sort out.
  15. Playing Catch
    No doubt the financials would be a big part of the deal, but deadline deals have a way of making the money work for both clubs. The Astros are a big-enough franchise to eat money in exchange for prospect-quality. Without knowing how the money/assets would flow, Pena still represents a clear upgrade, and, in the event of falling out of the race, an opportunity for the Astros to trade present value for future value. Most trade targets represent either a miniscule upgrade in on-field value (so why bother), or they're too good or too expensive to be realistic targets. Pena is *affordable* enough to be discussed in this thread as a possible option come the deadline. I acknowledge that it would be something of an outlier for the Brewers to do this, although there are parallels with the Adames deal.
  16. Playing Catch
    "He has better range than Ortiz, and perhaps a stronger arm." I find this very difficult to believe.
  17. Playing Catch
    Focusing on the target, instead of the hypothetical return, Jeremy Pena would be a really good target, IMO. He's a plug & play, everyday shortstop on an arby 1 contract. He would instantly stabilize the entire lineup for at least the next calendar year --- which very well could be how long it takes to properly develop the young infielders. He wouldn't be cheap, but you could flip him again in the offseason, if one wanted.
  18. Playing Catch
    I have no data to back up my personal hypothesis... The Brewers lineup is usually pretty "deep" in the sense that even most of the poor hitters take professional ABs (Perkins, Collins from last season, etc.). They are pros enough to make the pitchers execute in multiple ways, which is hard to do consistently. Ortiz isn't one of these guys, for whatever reason. So, when opposing pitchers fail to execute, or even choose to pitch around a guy like Perkins, they can relax and just pitch to K, which most pitchers are comfortable trying to do. Or even pitch to contact with 2 down, because compared to the #8 hitter, Ortiz just isn't much of a threat. Against Ortiz, pitchers can just use their best one or two pitches over-and-over because Ortiz is EASY to execute against. He is always a battery's plan B, which they are pretty comfortable using. So basically, my hypothesis is that the Brewers' #8 hitters just take really professional ABs. edit to p.s. - So basically, Ortiz is the least hitter in the lineup. Brilliant analysis.
  19. Playing Catch
    I mentioned it in one of the ML threads, but to my untrained eye, Lara has a little juice from the left-side this season. Can anyone here confirm/deny? I don't know where to find AAA statcast data, and I'm scouting merely as a long-time fan, never as a coach/scout, so I don't trust my observations. His swing from that side just looks really natural. If true, it certainly puts him into the conversation for one of the Perkins/Lockridge spots. If not, then I think it's probably for the best to let him have the full season in AAA to build on his profile.
  20. Playing Catch
    Bat Speed - Elite Bat Control - Elite Batting Eye - Elite It's really something. I never dreamed they could produce prospect-Chourio+. Unrelated, but I can't remember the last time Nashville did a cross-promotion with Milwaukee. I've always felt like Nashville can't believe they are playing 2nd fiddle to Milwaukee in the org chart.
  21. Playing Catch
    Anyone find a nice link to a list of guys? Here's the Spotrac List. I think it's hard to predict at this point because we really don't know what they're going to need, or what the team will look like near the deadline. I don't love hammys, hamates or thoracic outlet syndromes. In addition, it looks like a lot of those expiring contract guys are on teams that hope to compete this season. There aren't a ton of obvious options from 2nd division teams. There are a number of pitchers, there, but not very many hitters that I think would be so demonstrably better than their internal options. I guess Yandy Diaz would be a good target(?)
  22. Playing Catch
    How long until the Front Office pulls the plug? I think Ortiz has until about May 15th to demonstrate he's the best candidate. I think his developmental door has basically closed, so I feel like May 15th is about the time when one can be confident that it's not just a slow start for an improved Ortiz (if indeed he has improved, which would be a dubious claim). I've felt that the team has been patient enough. He has such a gifted defensive skillset, you really want to give him as long of a leash as possible, which they've now done, IMO. His transition to the bench has already started, what with Hamilton getting as many innings at short as he has. So far, Hambone has looked passable there, to me. But in more of a David Eckstein kind of way (sheesh. Eckstein is 51. I feel old).
  23. Playing Catch
    A beautiful box... Milwaukee Brewers vs Toronto Blue Jays Box Score: August 28, 1992 | Baseball-Reference.com
  24. Playing Catch
    Lara's stroke from the left-side is certainly smoother, and more loft-oriented than from the right. If he can consistently get barrels like that, then he very well could offer something different than Perkins.
  25. Playing Catch
    I'm not a big hard-salary cap guy, but I would like to see something like a 3-year window that caps Free Agent Spending over that span. Most of those Dodger guys could've received similar deals from other teams, so it's not like you're restricting total salary, but rather trying to more evenly distribute the top talent.
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