502 to Right

It disappoints me that people are so quick to kick a guy to the curb who has averaged a 4.0 WAR over the last two seasons because of a poor start.

Agreed. I doubt Shaw just suddenly had a wrist injury. Brewers sure could have used that bat the last 4 games. Our second trip of the year to the infamous Phantom IL, following Wilkerson's "left foot contusion"? I'm not so sure about that. Shaw has a long enough track record to know he's a good hitter in MLB (against RHP at least). I'm willing to bet his suckitude this year is due to an unreported injury rather than forgetting how to hit a baseball.

Well I guess I called this one wrong. On the plus side, I like it when my pessimism proves incorrect because it means a Brewer is playing well. All that said, I would take JJ year by year because shoulder issues scare me immensely.

He already has. In AAA. He's been lit up like a Christmas tree. If you want to ignore the evidence go ahead. I'm out of this discussion.

I totally understand that pitchers can make a living throwing in the low 90's or high 80's. They are pitchers who have worked for years developing pitches that can be effective at that velocity. They usually have a plus changeup as well. JJ is a velocity dependent pitcher suddenly being forced to work at a much lower velocity. He might well be able to develop pitches that work, but I wouldn't have him try it at the MLB level.

That chart doesn't show him sitting 90-91 with his fastball early in the season. And he didn't start last season after being shut down due to a sore shoulder. This is a disaster in the making. I hope CC has the sense to use him in low leverage situations so the Brewers don't actually lose games as a result of horrible pitching.

No it doesn't. It means he's trying to get his shoulder stronger and is rehabbing. Nope, that's exactly what it means. If they wanted him to take it easy and build his arm up he'd be in extended spring training.

I'm not confident in Jeffress, but his AAA results have little bearing on that. I think he's got to get into a big league game, get the juices flowing and we'll see where his velocity is then. He has actually developed into a pitcher, not just a hard thrower, so as important as it is that he works in the mid 90's is, if he's at 92-93 and feeling good, that's all that matters. Though you would have expected him to accidentally get a clean inning in AAA by now. If JJ is throwing in the lower 90's he's going get lit up in the majors. Pitching at the MLB level is not the place to see if you can make a living with diminished velocity.

Or people could stop posting asinine, childish threads on April 1st. I vote for that.

Stupid. Can moderators be put on ignore?

This better be a one year deal.

Here's why I don't want Kimbrel: his pre-pitch routine is annoying as hell.

No time to capitalize words. You must be a busy man.

MLBTR is reporting that the 12/430 includes the 2/66.5 he still had left on his old deal, so really only a 10 year/363.5 million extension. Had he stayed healthy & put up two more Trout caliber seasons, one has to believe he would have gotten way more than 10/363.5 on the open market, so really only an "underpay" when viewed in that context. The bolded part is what people are glossing over and it's a very important consideration in the value of this extension.