Playing Catch

I feel like ZiPS often likes the Brewers. Also interesting that objectively, the Brewers have a lot of talent in the pipeline. Interesting that the 2016 list in that article shows that 98 of 100 players ended up playing in MLB. That's kind of an unbelievable hit rate to me.

Yeah. After further consideration, most of their guys have options. A lot of them will probably spend some time in Nashville. Probably a silly thread for me to keep pulling on.

Does this mean they believe Made has a better chance to be a HOFer than a "bust".

My point in comparing the splits was merely that we allow pitchers with typical splits to pitch to wrong-handed batters all the time when a guy is a "starter," because we want the innings. But why can't they do that for left-handed relievers? You can still bring them in to face the key guy, but they can go back out in the next inning. All of those lefties are dang hard to hit, regardless of which side of the plate a guy is standing on. As a right-handed hitter, myself, I sure as heck would feel uncomfortable facing Ashby. But you're right, it's unconventional. I just think a lot of those lefties are going to make the team. Although I suppose Zastryzny and Gasser and Hall all are subject to options/demotions/DFAs/trades. So, you are correct that it is probably more likely they end up with a typical bullpen when the season starts. I think, too, that the Brewers are looking at leaderboards like this, and want to make sure they have plenty of lefties. If you can make Ohtani, Soto, PCA, or Elly De La Cruz face a lefty as often as possible, you'll give your team a better chance to win the series.

Sure, but all of Misiorowski, Priester, Patrick and Sproat also have typical splits. being able to be more flexible with how they dole out innings could be helpful, or maybe not. Perhaps you are correct, and they have "too many" lefties and should trade one or more. But I think the reason they have a bunch of lefties is because they want more lefties.

Unless they believe the pitchers are basically split-neutral. I think with the development of the cut-fastball, if you can teach a sweeper or changeup, you've got a way to get righties out without risking a bunch of dingers with your fastball. All of Zerpa, Ashby, and Hall have starter-quality arsenals.

I completely agree with this. While the Brewers have been aggressive with their promotions in recent seasons, the current 40-man is deep enough that there's really no rush except for future Rule-5 eligibility considerations, which I haven't even looked at because none of their prospects have stagnated other than Black, Wilken, and perhaps Boeve or Brown Jr. (if one wants to include them with the rest --- after all, they were top picks, even though they were both pretty one-dimensional players), and with Wilken and Boeve, injuries have been pretty impactful.

With this team, 'twould be bolder to predict less-than-ideal outcomes. Collins and Durbin were instrumental last season with their ability to keep the line moving. Can Rengifo/Hamilton and Mitchell/Perkins have that same effect? I'm dubious. Fortunately, I'm expecting huge seasons from Contreras and Chourio. Those guys need no protection in the lineup to provide offense, and they are both at career stages where expecting big seasons makes sense. It's also fortunate to have a comparative cornucopia brimming with pitching and defense, which will allow them to be in nearly every game. I think they take advantage of a soft early schedule and will have a 3-game cushion on May 8th, when they'll welcome Aaron Judge to town.

I think if he were playing for the Rockies or Twins, he would be seeing a big-league roster by June (if he hits in AAA). But you are right about all of the little issues and red flags in his development. Some of those interruptions have been really quirky and disruptive, but it's hard to argue with a wRC+ of 158 last season in AA. So even though there looks to be a great deal of variability in his future outcomes, if he ends up being a quality big-leaguer, there will have been lots of signs of that success in his minor league profile as well. But the good news for the organization is that there are a number of other guys that could be ready to provide a spark after the deadline in an infield role, not just Wilken.

I don't think planning/expecting a lockout should have too much bearing on promotions. I think you raise some excellent points, and if, say, they lose an entire season, perhaps you are correct. But even during Covid, teams wanted to go try and win a World Series. If there is a 2027 playoffs, the Brewers will want to have their best team on the field, and their best team likely includes some prospects that have debuted and been given a little run to gain experience.

Boyd has some games when he's really special.

I give the Brewers an A+ for having a lack of obvious needs before the offseason even started. I give them a straight B on the offseason. They shuffled some value around, backfilled the roster depth. Seemed to trade current value for longer-term value, which like a solid performing stock, is probably a good investment even though it fails to scratch the immediate gratification itch of wanting the strongest 2026 squad they can get.

I think the timelines you offered, jay87, are about right. I think of this crop of prospects, the guys that I can imagine breaking out to the point of early promotion are only Made and Fischer. I can see guys like Jett, Pratt, Lara, and Wilken getting promoted early due to injury/positional need, but I can only imagine Made and Fischer performing in a way that "forces" their way onto the 26-man on an accelerated timeline. And even then, the team may look for ways of signing a pre-promotion extension in order to lower the guaranteed dollars on the backend of such a deal.

I had a rapid series of thoughts when I saw this yesterday... - Yay! I like El Gary. - Jeez, I'm not sure I like him that much. - Gosh, what does this mean for McGuire, Quero, and Wood? - Every team wants about 12 catchers in Spring. - Wow. Even at 33, this guy could be the primary catcher for 5-10 teams.

The collective cognitive dissonance with this move will be too much for us, I fear.

I understand. I have the same concerns when it comes to the tone of disagreement, particularly in these times of uncomfortable change in this regard. But as it relates to the Brewers success on the field, why do the Brewers or their fans need to drape anything in sunshine and lollipops?

Not to turn this into a Tyler Black-like height thing, but there's no way Pratt only has 2" on Made based on that photo.

It doesn't. I like contrary opinions, even if they are stated as straw-man devil's advocates. I don't believe that we will find truth in our opinions, but without testing different hypotheses, we won't advance toward truth, either. But let's not hide behind the "realist" label, either. Nor explain away other opinions as groupthink when the Brewers have outperformed on every front relative to their standing in baseball, year after year after year. Look, most of us agree that this was a weird trade. Not in terms of talent-acquisition, but in terms of roster construction. I don't like the roster right now. I would prefer not staring at an Ortiz/Hamilton left-sided infield come opening day. But Durbin isn't some $20M albatross the Brewers were trying to offload. He had real value to a team like the Brewers, so they must be thinking about something, here, particularly when they trade away Mona and Seigler in the same deal. I think that, literally all of the posters here would prefer to have Durbin and co. playing 3B than [fill-in-the-blank]. And I'm not sure the Brewers wouldn't either. But they were willing to take that hit in order to acquire more SP depth. They might be wrong. The move may end up looking arrogant and too clever by half. But let me ask you this... Are you taking the over or the under on 85.5 wins? There are good reasons to take the under, but I think all of those reasons have to do with what the other teams in the division did. Not what the Brewers have or haven't done.

Correct. I believe all of Ashby, Zerpa, Hall, Gasser, and pick any righty can be used as bulk relievers. Heck, do away with set-up men altogether and have 2 co-closers that take turns pitching every-other game. It would probably be good for both Uribe and Megill to know ahead of time that they'll rarely pitch in back-to-backs. Now is this idea practical or is it a house of cards plan that falls apart with the first IL stint? I don't know. I just feel like the optimum number of innings for an individual pitcher's health is probably shorter stints with at least one day off in-between outings.

With Murph's comments about he and Ortiz reprising their full-time roles at their respective positions, I would be surprised if he was moved for the WBC. I think you are too concerned about people having an agenda, here. Most of us are merely trying to understand the Brewers thinking. Their recent track record simply suggests that whatever they are thinking, they should keep thinking that way. I don't think Hamilton is the player Durbin is. However, I think the Brewers really like having certain guys playing certain roles, and Hamilton has some real skills that can be used in a limited role. So perhaps the Brewers didn't like Durbin in an everyday, starting 3B role because of his limited ceiling, his reliance on getting drilled, and the deep LF corner in the AmFamClam. But maybe they love Hamilton as the first IF bench role due to his defense, baserunning, and left-handed bat. I have no idea. But I like trying to consider what the braintrust is thinking, because they've proven to be the highly successful counter to baseball's conventions. The thing about being the eternal realist, is that one needs to tap into reality. The reality is that the Brewers organization has done incredible things, so the pessimism in some posts isn't a realist's outlook, it's just pessimism, and pessimism, by definition, is expecting bad things to happen, even when it's not warranted.

Or the league. They want to make sure that SPs can be marketable stars. But IF the conventional wisdom says that piggybacking is a way to maintain pitchers' health? I have no data on this, so it's mere speculation, but if it's bad for a starter to throw 110 pitches and needs 5 days to recover, and it's bad for a reliever to go 3 days in a row, I don't see how having a guy throw 75 pitches with 3 days of rest is anything but a moderating condition for pitchers' health.

I think we agree. I was supporting the outside-of-the-box thinking the OP suggested, rather than any sort of formulae a team may use. I think that as individual pitchers, it would be a benefit to have designed shorter stints. For example, Ashby could open, and go, say, 4 innings/75 pitches. Say three or four days later, he goes 1.2 IP or something. It's pretty obvious that the pitchers are already designated. The third time through the order, the meat of the order will get a new pitcher. But with all of the lefties that can go multiple innings, you can alternate between opening and relieving. But why is "fixed, built-in rest," the best way to keep a pitcher healthy? That way of thinking is merely an old convention that was designed out of a different era. I think that these days, the training staff and pitching coaches have different ways of measuring workloads/high stress pitches, and letting a guy air it out in some situations, or conserve in others is made available by game-by-game pitching plans. If Chad Patrick only goes 3 or 4 innings on Tuesday, why does he need to wait 5 days for his next opportunity? After all, his cutter/sinker game is going to work awesome against so-and-so in Friday's game, whether he gets to start a clean inning, or come in as a fireman with guys on base, because he has such good control, and he's used to flexing into different situations. I think we mostly agree. I want Woody going out every 5 days, for example, (even though he'd probably work great as a fireman, too). But having 2 or 3 classic 6+ IP starters, and then a collection of guys that can get through the entire order one time or more, is a great way to save innings on the rest of the staff, including the bullpen.

Firstly, why has no one suggested Turang to 3rd? I don't really care how it shakes out, because I trust the Brewers, but if one imagined that he came up as a glove-first 3B-man, he actually fits a lot of the 3B profile that people crave. I think he would compare well with the position league-wide. This would keep the excellent defensive shortstop, Oritz at short, and allow the Brewers to play Hamilton and Jett at what I believe to be their most-likely strongest positions, and in a soft platoon. Turang's defensive excellence took a big hit last season, but his bat more than made up for it. As the trade sinks in, and considering Arnold's comments, I just wonder if the Brewers really wanted Hamilton, and believe he is a better player than Durbin (or at least, a better roster-fit). Durbin has the advantage in age/service time, but the Brewers need to create room for one or more prospects to come up before the end of team control on Durbin/Hamilton anyway. People have mentioned that switching home parks will probably benefit both players.

This is exactly my thought. Position-less pitching allows the team so much flexibility game-to-game, and week-to-week, in terms of monitoring workloads. IMHO, this is actually the advantage of having flexible roles. Having a blow-up outing is a threat, no matter the style of rotation. It is never a good thing for a pitcher to be unable to finish their assignment, and will always burden a pitching staff.

I was really concerned with this in live time. It happens a lot, and I suspect that in practice, the coaches blow the whistle after the first team secures the defensive rebound. They need to start making sure they can cross half court first. This has long been "a thing," that I've noticed. But as I type this, it also sounds like a classic fan's lament. I'm sure Gard has made this clear many, many times. Rapp deserves so much credit for his improvement. He's been so much better lately, and not just because the shots are falling. His 6' 10" athleticism is starting to show, and all of those practice reps are becoming 2nd nature. All of the bigs did a better job last night of keeping their chests in front of their opposites. As awesome and exciting the win was, and no disrespect to the quality of the win, but playing without Boswell and Stojakovic is pretty substantial for the Illini. Every so often, Rohde comes out of the gates with his hair on fire, and he played that way last night. This Badger team demonstrates more inconsistent effort on both ends than any Badger team... in my lifetime?? I think a lot of it comes down to Boyd and Rohde. Boyd's effort is super-inconsistent possession-by-possession, and Rohde's seems to come and go game-by-game. If they played that hard all season, I think they'd have two more wins (Villanova and USC). With that said, we saw this last season as well with the 3 guards seemingly "trading" possessions off, in order to rest. At times, Boyd has to put in so much effort offensively, that I think his defense suffers, and I think for Rohde, it's kind of the opposite. I think there is a yang to the yin of playing up-tempo.