The stache

Domingo Santana has drool worthy upside, offensively. And what we're seeing from him (and Scooter) is the kind of development I've been screaming about for years. Fundamentals. Developing a good eye at the plate. Learning strike zone discipline. All he other stuff is going to come in time because these guys are showing the smarts at the plate. Better discipline is already leading to higher walk rates. Keep that up, and pitchers will reach the point where they have to start throwing more over the strike zone. Scooter impresses me. Domingo impresses me. We have a lot of holes in our line up right now. But we have a couple pieces for the future that I'm thrilled about. And that's what I'm looking for this season. Who cares about the short term? Let the Brewers lose 100 games. I don't care, if doing so means that Scooter, and Domingo are given the chance to work through what they need to. Scooter still isn't hitting lefties yet. In fact, his only hit is that bomb against Bumgarner. But even though he's only one for nine at the plate against southpaws, his OBP is .467 because he's got 6 walks. I would rather he consistently make solid contact against lefties, and bring up his average. But he's showing patience, which means his approach is smart. The average will come. And while that walk rate is unsustainable, if he can continue to have a good OBP against lefties, he can stay in the lineup. Smart baseball players make me giddy. Forget what the throwaway guys are doing right now. Aaron Hill isn't part of the future, so I don't care if he flops. Domingo and Scooter are. And when Orlando and Brett and the other guys start coming up, that kind of plate discipline will rub off on them. Hell, lose 120 games. I don't care. We're getting a glimpse at the future, and I'm loving that glimpse.

Thing is, the Brewers never should have changed from the ball and glove logo in the first place, thus it shouldn't even be an old logo. They had arguably the best logo in all of sports, a contender for the GOAT and for some asinine reason, they got rid of it (hey, if we create a garbage logo, then we'll sell even MORE of the ball and glove merchandise!). Everyone knows the old logo is the best - they should just suck it up and make the full switch. I agree with this completely. The Tom Meindel-based logo is one of the greatest I've seen in professional sports, and that opinion is not born from my love of the Brewers, but rather somebody who studied advertising art. We should have never gone away from it. That logo, and the old pinstripe home uni, were things of beauty together. "Two of us are going to Cooperstown, and we're going to look good doing it! Sorry, Gumby." Perfection achieved. Why mess with a good thing?

Gennett added ten pounds of muscle in the offseason, and each of his first two home runs have been bombs. Nice to see us scoring some runs in the win. I don't care as much if we have a losing record if the games are fun to watch, and if Santana, Braun, Carter and Gennett keep depositing the ball in the second deck, I think we're all going to have some fun!

Segura was 3 for 4 with a pair of runs, and another stolen base. He's got eleven hits, 5 straight multi-hit games to start the season, and a 1.613 OPS right now. That's more than he did in a few months last year (well, it seemed like it). How long was his son battling the issues that cost him his life? I couldn't even imagine losing a child, especially one that had been fighting for their life. Add in that his boy was so young, that could have absolutely impacted his performance in the field. I'm just trying to understand this. How else can we account for his monstrous production to start the season. He's the only guy I can think of in the NL that's hotter than Trevor Story. Though I wish he'd have done that more often here, I am happy to see him succeed. I've always liked Jean Segura, and wish him well. The man deserves some happiness in his life.

I am absolutely in love with the moves David Stearns has been making. Liriano is another guy with high upside. He's still relatively young (24?), and not fully recovered from TJ. I was really high on this young man a couple years ago, and he's the exact kind of player we want to be adding to our system. I'll take fliers on players like Rymer Liriano and Garin Cecchini all day long. Low risk, high reward is smart organizational building. Color me very excited.

I've been thinking about this signing since it was announced a few days ago, and I'm really warming to it. The Brewers are poker players in 2016. We're in the tournament, but there's no realistic expectation to win the big prize this year. So, we're looking to acquire chips. If we can take Carter, flip him for a prospect that in any way improves our overall organizational talent, that's a win for us. Because while signing Carter doesn't help this team in the long run, acquiring young players that we can package in deals for long term pieces very much does. Tom Tango's Marcels Projections on Baseball Reference shows that Carter should have a bit of a bounce back year in 2016. He projects a .221 AVG with 26 HR and 68 RBI, his slash line .311 OBP/.454 SLG/.765 OPS. I'm good with that.

While I liked Rogers (and I'd have loved to have him as a bench bat in 2016), I think the return we got was quite good. You know, guys, one thing is jumping out at me, and it's a trend that I like: I'm seeing more and more athleticism enter into the Brewers farm system. Athleticism and versatility are two things that are always welcome, and we're stocking up on both. Gone are the days of "hey, this guy will hit .285 with 25 HR, but he can only play in left field, or first base." Too many hit first guys with no natural position, or real defensive acumen to speak of. And what do I say to this apparent shift in philosophy? Yay and double Yay!!! Athleticism cannot be taught. You either have it, or you don't. The fundamentals can be taught, and with the right collective coaching staff in place throughout the system, we can take these young guys, these guys that already flashed real baseball instincts, teach them the bedrock principles of being a good Major League player, and see what happens. More speed. More range. Fewer fly balls getting to the gap. The best thing we can do to help our pitching staff of the future, whoever they may be, is for the positional players behind them to show real talent defensively. Orlando Arcia and Brett Phillips are the new thing in Milwaukee, and I like it. My outlook for this franchise has changed dramatically in the past twelve months. I love where we are headed. The future cannot get here fast enough.

Put me down as another who thinks the Heyward signing was fantastic. He hit .293 with a .797 OPS last year, has stolen 43 bases in 50 tries the past two seasons (an 86% success rate), and we all know what he has done in the outfield. He's entering his prime now, and I think his power production picks up a bit. Put him down as a 20 HR/20 SB guy that plays spectacular defense. Would I take that in right field in Milwaukee? In a New York minute. He'd be spectacular backing up Braun at first base. It looks like the Cubs may play him in center for the time being. I think he puts in one season there, and then Albert Almora comes up full time in 2017. Almora is the center fielder of the future, and Heyward will slide back to his natural position. Kyle Schwarber only has to play average defense for that to be one of the best glove units in baseball. Here's what we could be looking at as a Chicago Cubs starting lineup in 2017. Excuse me while I go get sick: CF Albert Almora ® RF Jason Heyward (L) 3B Kris Bryant ® 1B Anthony Rizzo (L) SS Addison Russell ® LF Kyle Schwarber (L) 2B Javier Baez ® C Miguel Montero (L) Pitcher I don't know what they do with Jorge Soler yet. Do they somehow keep him, or trade him for a front line starting prospect? Zobrist is a nice insurance policy, but I think they way overpaid for him. Three or four seasons ago, he might have been worth close to $10 mil a season. Not now. Their rotation: Jake Arrieta Jon Lester C.J. Edwards John Lackey Jason Hammel The Cubs need more pitching. Arrieta won't repeat his 2015 season, but he should win 17 + going forward. Lester is rock solid. C.J. Edwards needs to improve his control, but he has the stuff to be a near-top-of-the-line starter (possible #2 ceiling) if he does. That's a pretty nice 1-2-3. The Lackey signing doesn't do much for me. The five seasons prior to 2015, he had a combined 4.33 ERA. He gave up 50 home runs between 2013 and 2014--he could get absolutely bombed at Wrigley. And Jason Hammel does nothing for me. I thought the Cubs should have gone hard after Jordan ZImmermann. But the Tigers grabbed him instead.

Scooter Gennett has an extremely high ceiling? I like the guy, but wow, that's a pipe dream.

What a great AB from Wilmer Flores. Awesome plate discipline, fouling back one pitch after another, then drawing a walk. It will be interesting to watch Flores and Zack Wheeler from a distance. I think they'll both be very, very good players.

Boy, I wouldn't want to face this Mets rotation next year. Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob de Grom, Steven Matz. And if Zack Wheeler is healthy, good lord, that's one of the sickest five man rotations I've ever seen. Every one of those guys has at least a #2 starter potential.

He hit five home runs in ten games between April 28th and May 8th. He hit five home runs in eight games between May 15th and 22nd. He's perfectly capable of hitting five home runs in twenty-two games. As for the stolen bases, he has four in eight September Games. Eight in twenty-two is doable. I'm not saying he'll do it, either. But he's completely capable of doing it if he hits a hot streak, and he's seeing the ball incredibly well right now, hitting .421 in September (16 for 38). He's hitting .374 over the past month with 6 home runs and 20 RBI. His OPS is 1.047.

Braun is in shape. Prince was just strong. He had no real speed to speak of, and his defensive reflexes were terrible. Braun would make much more sense at first base if he's not going to play at first. We're going to have younger guys manning the three outfield positions, and soon.

Assuming this treatment for his thumb keeps him healthy, he should continue producing at a similar clip until age 35 or 36. He's in phenomenal shape, and while the stolen bases will likely drop some, his power numbers and run production shouldn't. I don't think he should be traded, and not just because I'm a big Braun fan. There is no other hitter in our system that can match his production. His combination of power and pure hitting ability is a rare thing. Keep him, and build around him. If we stop moving him around the diamond, he'll continue to get better at right field. I can really see him hitting over 400 home runs as a Brewer. That looks much better than the old team record. That's respectable.

Lost amidst this terrible season is Braun's power-speed numbers. He's just the 31st player in MLB history to have four 20 HR/20 SB seasons. There have been nine players in MLB history with two 30 HR/30 SB seasons, Braun being one of them. If he were to do it again, he would be only the fourth player in history. Howard Johnson did it three times, Alfonso Soriano did it four times (shockingly), and both Bobby and Barry Bonds did it five times each.

This would be great. I'd love that average to get up to around .290 and a 30/30 season. That would be a great thing for him to bounce into next year and beyond. Thumb or not, he can still smack the ball around. Plus, the closer he is to his MVP years, the more people realize how great this guy really is. He's close to that right now, hitting .288 with 25 HR and 22 SB, top 10 in the NL In home runs, stolen bases, runs, RBI, slugging and OPS. If he has just one fairly big game, say two home runs and a couple extra RBIs, I think .290 +, 100 runs, 30 HR, 100 RBI, and 30 SB is very doable. He's got 5 multi-hit games in his last six. He's seeing the ball well, and a few mistake pitches are going to go bye bye into the seats. Here's what I'd projected for Braun back on April 13th: http://forum.brewerfan.net/posting.php?mode=quote&f=63&p=935036 That projection, at least right now, is looking pretty good.

You know, they'll probably give the third to Carlos Gonzalez, because he's been on a home run tear. I don't think he deserves it, though. He's a completely different player away from Coors. He's got a .994 OPS at home, and a .790 OPS on the road. Braun has a .772 OPS at home, and a .951 OPS on the road. He's not benefiting from some huge boost at home.

Stanton won't get one, not missing the entire second half of the season. Harper and McCutchen will get two of them. It will be between Braun and A.J. Pollock. If Braun continues producing at the rate he has been, or even picks up his run production just a little (assuming people get on base in front of him), he has a real shot at 30 HR and 100 RBI. Right now, Braun's OPS is higher than Pollock's. While Pollock has more stolen bases, that won't figure into Silver Slugger. Braun has a 10 home run advantage.

Braun with another nice day. 2-4 with home run #25. His OPS for the season is up to .864. Too bad Nelson had such a bad start.

Brauny has really been in the zone the last month or so. Up to .282 now. .351/.504/.855 is a pretty nice slash line.

Nice meltdown, K Rod.

If Kyle Lohse or Matt Garza are anywhere near this team next year, no matter how bad we are, I'll just lose it. But they would be great for tossing to participants in next year's home run contest at the All Star game.

Because he puts the ball in play? Only guy who actually came through with RISP tonight. He puts the ball in play, right to a fielder who throws him out. Between 2013 and 2014, he's hitting .186 with a 53 OPS + in 201 plate appearances. And with RISP? In 17 plate appearances this year (prior to tonight) with runners in scoring position, he's had 1 hit, 1 walk. An .077 AVG, a .200 OBP, a 0.77 SLG, and a .277 OPS. He's terrible. He has a -0.6 WAR this year. He has played 263 games in the Major Leagues, and has a 0.5 career WAR to show for it. We'd be better off picking a random fan out of the stands, and sticking them in the lineup instead of Logan Schafer.

Wow, through six innings, Francisco Lindor has stolen three bases, and Abraham Almonte two. They had four combined coming into tonight's game. Is Lucroy asleep behind the plate?

Respectfully, I think trading away a 22 year old player who nearly wins the Triple Crown the very next season trumps a no hitter as being the most "Brewers thing ever."