Playing Catch

I wonder if now that some of those arbitration guys are signing, we'll see some movement (as in, teams know what they cost).

Just bumping my original questions post.

1) Fast Riser(s) - Blake Burke and Mike Boeve (Burke will get to AAA, and Boeve will be in MKE by June) 2) Out of Nowhere - Jorge Quintana 3) Rise to Top 100 - Braylon Payne 4) Comeback Player - Eric Brown Jr. 5) Disappointment - All the Biloxi hitters except Burke 6) Predictions - This goes with #5, but I think Cooper Pratt, Luis Lara, Jadher Areinamo, and Luke Adams all struggle in 2025.

It's hard for me to take this very seriously. I usually really like informal polls from anonymous "experts," but this one just looks like typical patting-the-small-market-on-the-head kind of piece. Like after reflexively answering, "The Dodgers," the exec says something like, "oh yeah, and that plucky Brewers club got Chourio, they must be good at signing Internationals". I mean, "Most Underrated Farm System??" C'mon.

I thought the reffing was okay. Rutgers clearly got the message to not foul, which allowed Wisconsin to shoot a lot of layups and open threes, instead of free throws. I didn't like both Blackwell and Klesmit twisting ankles. But having McGee and Janicki really makes one feel better about short-term injuries. Crowl was awesome tonight. Tonje was good. I agree that he seeks out contact to a fault, but percentage-wise, he's a good shooter anywhere on the floor. Having Harper basically out was huge. I wasn't impressed by Bailey. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's good, but he doesn't look "lottery" good to me. "Lottery" good players shouldn't get frustrated by Carter Gilmore.

Good signing.

As the Badgers are on the road at a tough venue and a decent B1G opponent, I expect they won't enjoy a lot of trips to the line, nor will they shoot well from deep. If they are to win, I think they will need to pound the glass on both ends, and really work hard to touch the post on offense. They'll need to rotate bodies on Harper, and make him work on defense, and as you mentioned have Gilmore frustrate Ace Bailey, while Crowl/Winter box out Sommerville. Grind them to a pulp. Can this Badger team do that?

Sorry to just now be reporting back, I've been largely indisposed the last couple of weeks. So my wife and I were invited by her brother and his wife. They had 4 tickets from a professional connection. Corporate perk sort-of-thing. On the glass. two seats away from the Utah bench. These seats came with free underground parking, all-you-can eat/drink buffet and beer in some sort of "club" that I forgot the name of. The food was good, the beer was good. Although, honestly, there were way too many 25-year olds in there (and frankly, all-ages) with their friends POUNDING beers. The drunk quotient was too high for my liking, and I feel like I have a pretty high tolerance. As I mentioned earlier, I am a huge sports fan, but have never had friends or family that taught me anything about hockey, so I never really learned the sport. The first thing I noticed, EVEN THOUGH this is what everyone says, was the speed. A few minutes before puck-drop, they do the whole drama-lighting, laser-show. But before announcing lineups, the refs get out there during the laser show. My god. Those refs were FLYING. I felt so jealous that I never learned to skate, because it looked amazing. I do think the proximity made a big difference here. Had we been 20 rows up (still great seats!) I don't think it would have been as impressive. But being inches away from the speed was dramatic. The game starts and I am immediately awed. Taking as many pictures of Kaprisov and Fleury as I could. I was really struck by the fact I could tell my grandchildren (I don't have any, but if I did) that I saw one of the greatest Goalies of all time. It reminds me of my first trip to Wrigley, and seeing Doc Gooden pitch for the Mets. Or my first trip to New Comisky and seeing a young Randy Johnson. I don't know if it was as cool as going to the MNUFC game where Ibrahimovic played, but it was still really cool. Despite getting outshot, 29-18, Utah prevailed 2-1. I was never really able to master understanding how line-changes work, or the broader strategic nuances, but loved it. I'm worried sitting on the glass may have hampered my ability to enjoy it any other way, because it was so awesome. I was a little surprised by the general atmosphere. Living in the Twin Cities, I've always had an impression that Wild fans that attend the games are typically well-off suburban hard-core hockey family types, and I think that is probably accurate. But I expected the fans to be a bit more "into" the game. I thought the environment would have been more raucous. But I thought it was pretty quiet, and that there were lots of fans that weren't even paying attention to the game. Just my impression. Anyway, the whole experience was a 10/10. Just a sports highlight for my lifetime, for sure.

I would. Iowa literally won't win another B1G game if they continue to play defense like that. It was one of the worst defensive displays I've ever seen in the B1G, and I don't think I'm being hyperbolic. The Badgers did well to take advantage, they scored 116, so they did awesome. But, no, that defensive effort from Iowa was beyond the pale pathetic.

This is certainly the hope. That all of the promise shown in the minors will begin to translate to the big leagues, and that he can find a role as a lefty 1B/LF/DH - pinch hitter/runner. That's a lot of little roles that his skillset works with. He may not be able to get 4 PAs a game, but he could consistently get 1-2 PAs a game.

I agree that the Brewers believe enough in random outcomes that they are always trying to "compete" for playoff opportunities, and that they may never have a "go for it" mentality (which I also agree with). But do you not believe that they see some seasons as having a stronger team than others? That in some seasons, they may sign a guy (say, Rhys Hoskins, 2024), whereas in other seasons that they would choose to just go with unproven youngsters? I guess I would push back on that. I think that there is enough nuance and flexibility that they would view opportunities differently from one season to the next, specifically in terms of how it could impact future rosters.

Obviously publicly, and to a certain extent, in the clubhouse, the Brewers brass are sure to be talking about another division title in 2025. And they should be! The Brewers are returning most of the talent on a division champ. Many of the players are young enough that expecting them to continue to improve is a fair expectation. This is a good team. But! In the deeper reaches of the front office. What are the conversations? Where are the Brewers on longer-term cycles? They are now completely in the post-Hader, Woodruff, Burnes, Williams era. They are now entering the expected decline years for the Yelich contract. Contreras is under team control through 2028(!) How is Matt Arnold viewing this season in relation to 2026 or 2027? I'm kinda feeling like the Brewers are going to use 2025 as a soft-launch for what they hope to be a really bright 2026-2029 window. I'm getting the feeling that they are going to continue to blood in a lot of rookies so that they can have a really strong foundation from which to build teams down the road.

This, and the other available options out there. It's possible the big spenders go somewhere else for 1st base, and Walker is left choosing between non-playoff teams and penny-pinchers.

Facts

Anyone else have an issue with his exaggerated leg kick? Just seems like a timing nightmare.

Those jerseys are all dynamite.

I do that all the time.😶

Thanks for your detailed points! Much appreciated! Coincidentally, I was invited to the Wild game on Friday. On the glass/ice! (I don't know what the equivalent of "courtside," is in hockey). I'm psyched! I love most sports due to the tactical battles. What sorts of things should I watch for? Your Utah Hockey Club at My adopted Minnesota Wild.

To be fair, in this day and age, this forum is like a Metacritic aggregator on all things Brewers. Fallible, certainly, but also very up-to-date, and with information from a variety of outlets, and CONSTANTLY reviewing and criticizing our aggregate information. So, in a sense, this forum SHOULD be a better barometer than any single outlet. The "danger," of course, being that we are probably 95% biased toward optimistic outcomes. Which should always be considered. Also, in terms of Gasser, he will have lost nearly an entire season's worth of value as a prospect, and now has a significant injury history. For myself, I had him top 5 due to his successful big league debut, but there's plenty of reasons why someone may not like him as a prospect. I think all of these lists simply highlight the depth of the system. I mean, in another thread, we're talking about Luis Lara being out of the top 20. I think that's nuts! He's a sure-fire MLB CF, and has yet to "fail" with his bat, being sent to the AFL as a 20-year old! I have to think he's EASY top 10-15 in most other systems.

Looks to me like Baseball Prospectus, then, has four Brewers in their top 100, as I can't imagine they leave out Misiorowski, or include Mike Boeve.

I don't care if the Brewers trade Civale or not, but let's not pretend he's irreplaceable.

I'll respectfully disagree, but even if those two are better, it's pretty close. I'd be willing to bet neither of them get drafted higher than wherever Wohler ends up being picked.

Since this is "ALL" things hockey... I know very little about the sport. I struggle with what are probably basic concepts. But I find myself sitting here watching Wild-Panthers. It seems like 3rd and especially 4th lines, and the 2nd defenseman pairing should be really good at buying/wasting time in order to give the top players a blow, especially after tough stretches of play... icing, flipping the puck into the stands, etc., would be the dark arts associated with those players, no? Thanks in advance for any responses.

I find his minor-league story-to-date to be a frustrating one. Even just a 40-glove at 3rd, 2nd, and an OF corner could make him Zobrist-like. Does he have a viable path to a roster spot in 2025? Is he going to replace Bauers? If so, would you be excited to see what he can do? Do you believe that he can be a serviceable lefty bench stick? For a contender? What is his trade value/prospect value? As for my own thoughts, I think he has a weird skillset that has a hard time making it in the big leagues, but that he deserves a shot. Like Hiura before him, he needs to go to a bad team to let him work on his game at the big-league level. On one hand, I'd be tempted to rep him to death at 2nd/3rd to try and improve his defense, on the other hand, I'd be tempted to just stick him in left field full time, and see if he can carve out a career as a 5th OFer, pinch hitter/runner. But I don't think his bat will ever be good enough to be a strong-side platoon player at first base/DH.

So, I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately, and one thing I've noticed, not specifically in yours, but generally, that they use a lot of pronouns, so that if I'm casually listening, and Spencer says, "His in-zone contact rate is elite," and it perks up my ears, but I have to go back to hear if Spencer is still talking about the guy I think he's talking about, or if Spencer has moved on to talking about a different guy. Perhaps I just need to concentrate harder through the three hours, (which I'm willing to do!), but I think it would be helpful for more casual listeners that are doing two things at once. T-RATS: This is still a more general overview question/comment, but I would appreciate any thoughts you have about the Brewers owning the Warbirds (nee Mudcats). Is Third Base Ventures LLC (owners of T-Rats) affiliated with the Brewers ownership? For some reason I thought the Brewers owned the T-Rats. Why may this be advantageous? Does it help to solidify the organizational structure to protect against future league-wide expansion/restructuring? What would Blake Burke need to do to firmly place himself as part of the Brewers plan for 2026/2027?