Playing Catch

I am a believer that the kids need to be exposed to winning baseball, and important September baseball. It gets beaten into their heads that the season is a marathon, not a sprint, but EVERY team in the chase sprints through the finish. I suspect that the Cubs want him to experience that.

I appreciate the nod to historical feats, but until the Brewers score a run, the manager's job is to win the game. If it were 3-0, 4-0, perhaps there is an argument. But I think he absolutely made the correct decision to bring in Williams after Burnes left it all on the field with 109 pitches in 8 no-hit innings. It stinks, but the Brewers are in a playoff chase, and personal feats, regardless of their rarity, cannot be placed in front of team goals. Also, part of the team goals is keeping Burnes healthy. He's fundamental to the team's chances in reaching a world championship.

The Canha thread seems like a great place to ask this question: Is there a "consistency metric" somewhere? I've found over the years, that I LOVE the players that are consistent. Guys that can contribute in nearly all the ways a ballplayer can contribute, and nearly in every game, but never quite WOWs you into having a strong impression? I've loved Canha for years. I'm so glad he plays for my team.

Probably the wrong thread, but what Edwin Jimenez is doing this year seems pretty unusual to me. I can't remember the last time a 21-year-old or younger went 7 innings in back-to-back starts, let alone 4 of 6. His ERA and ERA+/FIP/xFIP etc. look pedestrian, but to have this many innings, and long starts with a season's WHIP under 1.20 is special.

So why don't the Angels REALLY convince Ohtani to stay and release him, too?! Give him a chance! He'll almost certainly return the goodwill in the offseason.

If that's the case, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in one of those borderline WC teams' front offices... Assistant to the assistant GM: "Passan reporting that the Angels just released a bunch of regulars." GM to Assistant GM: "So how many 40-man spots are open for waiver-wire pickups?"

What do realists and wet blankets say when their team wins a World Series? I mean, c'mon... we're all baseball fans here. If there were such thing as a definition for a team that "no one wants to run into in October," doesn't this Brewer team meet said definition?

The immaculate grid game is fun. It's fun to do while watching/listening to baseball. Anybody else comfortable just saying that the Padres hitched their wagon to Machado and Tatis Jr., and the baseball gods are punishing them for it? I don't like calling people bad names, but I can think of a few for those two.

I think this thread is a proxy for the larger argument between posters that want to criticize an organizational decision, but feel like the "defenders" of the organizational decision put too much trust in the decision-makers, and that bothers them. As one of the "defenders" of management's decisions, I feel like the Hiura situation comes down to my believing that there are "known unknowns," about why Hiura hasn't been promoted. If the Front Office was able to candidly explain what their criteria were, then perhaps all of us would have stronger arguments. Who knows? If I were privy to that privileged information, perhaps I would totally disagree with management.

I think the thread should simply be renamed "BREWERS DH WOAH SOLVDD"

I believe Alonso was worth a Quero or a Black. BUT, I think the difference between Alonso>Santana isn't as big as the difference between Black>Jhonny Severino, so I'm happy with how it worked out.

I think they meant, "one of Quero/Frelick/Black along with Rodriguez."

Tink Hence? Griff McGrarry? C'mon, you're just making these names up, aren't you?

Trying to balance the value of Adames is tricky. He's a good defender, He has some power, a positive in the clubhouse/leader (presumably). His on-field dollar value is probably around $8M/season, but he'll probably get about $20M/season in FA. There are enough big-spenders that would be happy to have him (Yankees, Dodgers, Braves), but will they be motivated to trade for him? Does he boost your SS production enough for 1 season to give up a good prospect for him? I mean, maybe. My guess is that his offensive production in that Braves lineup would be really, really good (The Braves 8/9 hitters, batting ahead of Acuna are batting a cool .279). So, yes, he has some value. Then for the Brewers... are you only willing to trade for MLB contributors, or are you willing to take teenagers in exchange? If you're requiring contributors in exchange, you're probably looking at 40-man roster filler, rather than high ceiling guys, and those guys won't fill the WAR void that they're losing with Adames. I think this goes for all of Burnes/Woody/Adames. I think the Brewers will either keep them through free agency, or trade them for high-ceiling teenagers. The only teams in the market for those 3 players will be competitive teams, so unless the Brewers are able to pluck a prospect that is perhaps, blocked, and/or up against rule-5 roster rules, they won't be getting back a big-league contributor for 2024. I think next season will really test their organizational strategy. Do they "go for it," keeping their core and adding a FA stick (Rhys Hoskins? He'd probably cost $20M/season). Or do they stay with their organizational strategy, take a half-step back, trading those guys for A-ballers, still trying to "compete" in 2024? I suppose they could still choose option C: package Adames with a guy like Wiemer for a guy with a couple of seasons of control (e.g. Ty France, Josh Naylor, WhiteSoxGuys) They are in a tough spot, but an enviable one. Even as a fan, I'm not sure which strategy I would prefer. Before this season, I would predict that they would trade 'em and take a step back, but with the strength of the farm right now, I wonder if they feel comfortable enough with 2025+ that they can envision letting those guys walk in free agency.

I agree with this, and I believe, too, that it is a reflection of ownership. Attanasio is one of the best owners the Brewers could hope for. Despite being one of, if not the smallest media markets in MLB, and him being comparatively less wealthy than most professional sports team owners, and responsible to the other investors in the club, they've managed to win on the field and at the same time, invest in a competitive infrastructure (minors/scouting/PHX complex/front office) that will help the team stay competitive going forward. The guy's barely took a bad step since taking over the team. It baffles me when people don't respect what he's done. (I reserve the right to hate him forever if he moves the team)

I've wondered about this as well. We get plenty of info/stories about the pitching lab and the genius that is Charlie Greene, but on the hitting side, I've only seen things about taking hit-first profiles and adding power. Adames' first season (including minors) with an ISO above .200 was in 2020 with the Rays, where he struck out 36% of the time. I feel like the club may have messed up Hiura indefinitely, taking a hit-first player and trying to add loft and power to a swing (but I don't have any evidence this happened, maybe he had the same swing in college). I tend to prefer higher-average, lower power production simply due to the propensity for MLB pitchers to pitch differently with RISP, so the swing-and-miss that we've seen over the last decade hasn't been my preference, even if it seems to help produce winning teams. I also think the league, as a whole, has adjusted to 3TO on the pitching front, which is why no one can seem to produce great DH/1Bmen without significant platoon-splits. I mean, even uber-hitting prospects like Vlad and Spencer Torkelson have okay-to-bad production rather than the Miggy/Goldy-level production both guys were promised to provide. (edit: probably way too early to write off Vlad as an underperforming player)

If the only beef that posters have around here is not bringing up Hiura, then the organization is in a good spot. Let's all go back in time and pretend the Brewers had given Hiura 600 PAs this season. Do ANY of the Hiura-posters really think that he would have "bolstered the first base position" in any meaningful way so that the same posters wouldn't be frustrated by the lack of first base production?

Who should they have signed/traded for? What would you have been willing to give up?

I was just looking at FanGraphs' Roster Resource and was surprised to find that both Tampa Bay and the Brewers have fewer (10) homegrown players on the 40-man than most of the league, including the big spenders. The Astros and Guardians have a whopping 22 homegrown players; the Dodgers have 18. Even the Yankees have 13. I suppose it's partially a reflection of teams being able to re-sign their homegrown guys.

I love Counsell and hope he stays forever. With that said, is it possible that this gnashing of teeth is just Derek Johnson all over again? We (myself included) like to think that he's been working with bad rosters for his entire term, but is this a fallacy? He's benefitted from having lights-out bullpens for the last 6 seasons. He's had 2 MVP caliber seasons from Yelich. He's had Cy Young+ with Burnes/Woodruff with good, quality depth in pitching. Perhaps Counsell is looking at a minor re-build the next couple of seasons and isn't looking forward to that kind of grind. Why not take a couple years in a cushy FO role, and take over again in 2026? Baseball is littered with great managers that take a couple years to do something different only to return later.

Yep. I missed this while on vacation, but you guys are the best!

Purely looking at stats, I suspect that Chourio has been taking feedback all season about how to improve his swing/approach, not to mention defense, baserunning, locker room presence, media familiarity, making adult decisions, English, etc. I have no doubt that he was hoping for/expecting a promotion, but I'd bet he's still swimming with plenty of ways to mature and improve before inevitably being promoted to MLB. I suspect the Brewers will strike the right balance between challenging the future face-of-the-franchise, as well as trying to give him a "soft" landing in the heart of the big-league order, not to mention planning for service time and roster implications of his move. With this said, if Monte Harrison is the guy keeping the AAA roster spot, I certainly hope the Brewers promote him this season, if for no other reason than to let him acclimate to living/working in Nashville. But there is no rush, unless the team feels that he needs to be on the playoff roster. Although if Mitchell returns, that probably won't happen.

I think this is really an underrated aspect to the organization right now. Of the top farm systems, the Brewers have several top prospects in AA/AAA, and that's without including Contreras, Ashby, Turang, Wiemer, Mitchell, Monasterio, Peguero, Perkins, and the other AAAA pitchers like Junk and McKendry. The doubley-nice thing is that when those top guys graduate, there are a number of players in the lower ranks ready to take their spots. The franchise is really, really setting itself up to not need to pay free agents to fill roster spots in the coming years, which is super important with the Yelich contract, and hopefully one or two other "premium" salary spots (e.g. Woodruff extension, LoCain-type signing). It would be a fun thread idea to predict the Brewers top-15 prospect list in say, June 2025.

Jackson ChourioJacob MisiorowskiJeferson QueroSal FrelickTyler BlackEric Brown JrBrock WilkenRobert GasserAbner UribeCarlos F RodriguezLuke AdamsMike BoeveLogan HendersonLuis LaraCooper PrattEdwin JimenezBradley BlalockYophery RodriguezJosh KnothEric Bitonti Wow, this is just a really fun farm to follow right now.

When you look at the minors stats for good MLB players, they rarely have any growing pains or hiccups with the bat (over the course of a full season). I'm thrilled with all of the hot starts. I've absolutely fallen in love with Wilken, even though I was dubious on draft day. His swing is sooooo quiet and smooth. I hadn't really considered this fact. It's incredible. Most strong farms are due to the two factors you mentioned. They're doing a lot right.