Playing Catch

Reading people's ideas and mulling things over in my own head, I keep coming back to the same thing... The Brewers are currently in a really good spot with the talent in the organization. They should be able to compete for years to come. I'm not naive to the prospective loss of Burnes/Woodruff, and the impact that would have on being able to win division titles, but there isn't a true re-build in the foreseeable future, either. A re-fitting, perhaps, but they should remain competitive.

Fun thread, even if I don't play every day.

That's my point. Those big-spending teams you just listed are NOT analytically driven... yet. Those teams are still, "sign 30 year-old stars," driven, regardless of how you support the team through scouting/analytics/pitching lab/defense/etc. Atlanta, after extending all of their young guys, chose to NOT re-sign a 33-year-old Freddie Freeman (happy birthday, BTW), choosing instead to extend a then, 28-year-old Matt Olson. We all know that the Dodgers like to re-make/recycle relievers to make them something special with what I would assume is their OWN pitching lab. What happens to baseball when all of the big spenders choose not to pay 30+ year old FAs and choose instead to use analytics to drive their winning operations? The fun part is that the MLBPA will riot... Both sides will, (fingers crossed), decide that revenue-sharing and competitive balance is better than what college football is choosing to do... kill the golden goose.

I realize that big-markets have gone all analytical before (Astros), but I do fear that the days of the Rays (and Brewers) being competitive by these means are numbered. Baseball really needs to figure out if they want to be the NFL, European (and Saudi) soccer, or a pleasant mesh in-between in terms of competitive balance. I hope we are able to keep most (all?) of the scouting staff.

I like the idea of a 10-game IL stint, even if he's healthy-ish. See what Donaldson has in the tank, give some ABs to the bench guys (who haven't been seeing many ABs lately, and I'd like to keep them in form), get Christian ship-shape for the stretch run.

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.

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.

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'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 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.

Gotta expect a number of promotions coming soon. If not today/tomorrow, Then maybe not until Tuesday?

In a word, no. I don't necessarily enjoy watching it. But I do enjoy that there is a strategy that lesser teams employ to combat being so outmatched. I like that soccer features David versus Goliath situations. I like the idea of these huge clubs going to play in some 5,000-seat stadium in the middle of nowhere, England, and have to decide whether or not to even play their best players, but risk bowing out of the tourney early. The fact that there are opportunities for huge upsets is fun for me. I prefer college football/basketball to NFL/NBA for the same reason. I like that fans for most soccer clubs seem to have their own definition of what a successful result is, or a successful season looks like, which doesn't have to end in victory or a championship. Historically, I like the limited substitutions as it puts a real emphasis on being able to run that much in 90 minutes. But there's no doubt that having more substitutions makes for a better viewing experience. As for the USWNT, it seems clear to me that Rapinoe and, perhaps to a lesser degree, Morgan, are washed up and shouldn't get much time from here on out. I haven't seen enough of Rodman, Smith, and Thompson to have an opinion on their quality, but if they aren't better than Rapinoe and Morgan, the US isn't going to advance that far in this tournament. I don't mind that Rapinoe and Morgan are on the roster, but they shouldn't be playing much more than as late-match substitutes.

Blalock and Jimenez... let's keep the pitching pipeline going!! Also, I can't seem to find the bonus info on Alastre. That little highlight reel was impressive.

Offsides is the most fundamental part of soccer, IMO. Without it, the game would be completely different. I like that the defense can strategically condense the playing field with the rule (playing a high line), thus forcing offenses to adapt. The lack of timeouts/commercials is fantastic. Relegation leagues are awesome. I like that regular season greatness is held in a higher regard than tournament-style championships (although the Champion's League is probably challenging that assertion). I like that when there is a dead-ball event, the game can sometimes just start up again without all of the exactness of American sports. Same thing with 90 minutes. You just keep playing until the ref says the game is over. It's like the game just isn't taken so seriously... With this said, VAR (video assisted referee) has been horrible to this effect. Who cares if the player was an inch offside, let them play! I don't love penalty kicks, as they seem to disproportionately penalize the offending team for certain fouls in the box. But I also don't always love the way free throws in basketball, either. Flopping doesn't bother me at all in either basketball or soccer, but only because it's the only way to get refs to call the foul. If basketball players didn't flop, there would never be an offensive foul called, and if the most talented players in soccer didn't go down easy every now and then, they'd just keep getting kicked over and over without the ref calling the foul. In many ways, I like soccer because it hasn't been so Americanized. It just feels different.

I'm new to the thread, but am curious about others' curiosity/fandom of soccer. As a kid from rural Wisconsin, with so little opportunity to experience soccer, I tended to ridicule it. But then I started playing soccer video games with my college buddies and became curious, particularly about the World Cup... How can billions of fans be so wrong? Anyway, after many years, I now love the sport.

Before reading your analysis, I would rather have Canha (and actually think he fits the Brewers' "philosophy" really well). The extra years of control for Rooker, though, are intriguing. Although, I'd probably just prefer they use Hiura instead of Rooker.

In 2003 a Venezuelan phenom was brought up late in the season and helped the Marlins win a World Series... just sayin'.

Jimenez is always hurt. This has gone all the way back to when he was a prospect. I just can't get behind giving them anything of value for him.

I just don't like the guy. I'll be accused of being old-fashioned, but I don't like his showing up pitchers for throwing him balls/walking him. I like bat-flips and celebrations and think old school retribution for such things is ridiculous. But his taking a close pitch? It's so annoying.