Playing Catch

If Vaughn started everyday would it help or hurt him? While the IGT may not like Vaughn's starting the game on the bench, it sure is a dangerous bat to bring in against a lefty late. I think Vaughn's role is really valuable for a team that wins on all the margins. I kinda feel like he's more valuable in his role than a typical RH masher, as it pertains to wins/losses, but that his platoon-role could cost him in terms of market-value.

Good comp

Good article. He's really hard to comp, I think. Particularly with his observed numbers. If a guy is hard to comp, that usually means that all the players like them failed to make it in the big leagues. We don't remember the lesser players. So, with that said, when I watch him hit, he reminds me of some combination of the following successful players... Kyle Seager Ben Rice Phil Plantier J.D. Drew Jeff Bagwell Barry Bonds Joey Votto But NONE of those guys struck out like Fisher does. If Fisher is ever successful carrying a +30% K-rate in MLB he's going to be wild to watch. It would most likely be Oneil Cruz-like, w/o the carrying physical tools.

It's crazy enough that those trades don't happen very often. I think that it's hard to find motivated trading partners. If you are the Rockies, trading for say, Blake Perkins and Tyler Black might make sense, as the Rockies likely need guys to play in the big leagues, but for a team like that, aren't they trying to stockpile prospects? Why would they send prospects back? I suppose if you wanted to trade Luke Adams for 2 A-ball pitchers or something, that could make sense for both sides. You would basically be finding trade partners that could use some more 40-man/AAAA depth right now and are willing to trade future assets for that depth. Or perhaps teams believe so much in prospects like Adams, that they are banking he can be a regular with playing time.

So what you are saying is, is that Sveum's stat-slinging will never find a sample stone big enough to convince a giant to change their mind?

I think the power-requirement against good pitchers maxim is the same as the power-requirement for scoring runs in the regular season. There's a positive correlation, no doubt. But it's pure silliness to suggest a team can't outhomer another team in a seven game series and lose, or vice-versa. It happens all the time during the regular season. But like anything that positively contributes to scoring runs, it is good to do more of it. So duh, it's better to outhomer your opponent. As I will always say during this argument --- The Brewers outhomered the Mets in the 2024 series they lost to the Mets. Also, one reason that truism has been emphasized forever is because hitting HRs in the playoffs is how the Yankees win games in the playoffs. I know that if it's Game 7 and the Brewers are looking at a one-run deficit against the Yankees and peak Mariano Rivera, I like David Hamilton's chances of a bunt single, followed by three opportunities to get him over and get him in, than I do of one of your 7-8-9 guys just taking their hacks at homering on a cutter. It might be likelier, statistically, that a random hitter hits a HR off Rivera. But you don't get random hitters in the bottom of the 9th down by a run. You get the hitters you got. The Brewers aren't going to trade for any guys good enough to just take their hacks in that situation, and frankly, I don't think if the Brewers trade for 2024 trade-deadline Eugenio Suarez, that he is batting 7-8-9 anyway.

Bravo to all of their teachers. I used to marvel at 18-year old basketball players becoming millionaires overnight and still being able to keep their heads enough that they became KG, King James, or Black Mamba. In baseball --- as neurotic a sport that there is --- I'm amazed that these Latin kids (and every prospect, really, regardless of where they are from), are able to perform with the sheer volume of attention they get as 18-year olds that look up to 21-year olds. The language side of things is one part of it, but also just the cultural whiplash it must be for them. The pressures of capitalizing on their fame. The Brewers must have excellent, excellent staffing at every level, and must truly value the persons beyond the players. If people push for their maximum, in the hyper-competitive space of pro sports, it requires incredible support for them when they inevitably fail or struggle on their journey. Obviously, family and friends play the most important role of support, and I'm sure there are examples of players being dissatisfied with how the team treated them, but from an outsider view, it sure looks like they are doing a lot right to help players reach their career goals, while managing all of the off-the-field stuff that comes with the job.

We've been anticipating this log-jam for months. I think most of us just figured that due to trade, injury, or performance, the hypothetical log-jam would straighten itself out. But here we are, on the cusp of the mid-season acquisition window, and there haven't been any significant changes to the situation except for the oodles of performance the players are providing. The proverbial good place to be, with good problems to sort out. There's a hypothetical limit to acquiring the best players where all of the good players are already on your team, so any addition is really just a subtraction from the whole. While I'm not suggesting the Brewers are at THAT point, I think that improving the 26-man will necessarily diminish the overall talent/value in the organization, which just doesn't seem to fit the Brewers' worldview. But I've said it before, this organization has never stopped evolving. Perhaps trading a bunch of prospects could be a new twist in that evolution. But I doubt it. I think they are looking at all of those 40-man spots in 2027-2030 and they know they will want much of those spots to be filled with cheap, controllable talent. I think that with the looming CBA, and with this current 26-man, the Brewers see this being a "peak" season for picking/biting apples. I think whatever moves are made are made with the idea that there will be a different team on the field in 2027. I think they move on from the bottom-half of the 26-man, and truly commit to Pratt, Lara, Quero and a number of the AA guys by June '27. I think that if the Brewers make a "big" trade, it won't be for a rental like Skubal, but it will be some kind of suprise acquisition of a controllable guy, like when they traded for Contreras or Adames.

I thought I saw that Fischer was asked about the K-rate, and he basically said that the Brewers want him to wait for struggle before making adjustments. I think that as a prospect, the hope is that he's Kyle Schwarberesque. But Schwarber didn't crest 30% until his first season in the big leagues and has consistently been south of that mark in MLB. I think Fisher's approach MUST change. But I trust the Brewers' process. They've had success coaching at the MLB level with guys that seem unfinished, as prospects. Not with Hiura, of course, but each player's development path is unique. Turang and Mitchell have evolved. Chourio has improved his approach. I think the Brewers, as a club, believe the game will show players they need to change and adjust. Right now, Fisher doesn't need to change a thing. But he will. With that said, most of the qualified hitters that are currently posting +30% K-rates, are good players, although guys like Goodman, Cruz, or Mitchell have defensive profiles that are much friendlier to fringey hitting profiles making them more likely to become qualified in the first place.

16-10 Limp into break (6-7) All-star Break 10-3 out of the break.

That '82 Team gave away as many runs on defense as they gained with the long ball.

Do we need to start having a serious discussion about Luke Adams? Just a complete afterthought right now.

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.