Tim_Unroe_Helped

Things looked grim when we couldn’t score anything off Boyd after two hits to lead off the 4th, followed by the Cubs scoring 3 in the bottom of the inning. I was definitely down at that point, but I tried to remind myself it was going to be a whole different game when we got to the Cubs bullpen. They have a good bullpen, but it hasn’t been good lately, and it’s nice to see the Brewers take advantage.

At this point, these aren’t high stress pitches. After using Anderson for multiple innings yesterday and putting Wilson on the IL, the remaining long reliever is Chad Patrick or DL Hall. Hall has looked quite good lately (maybe a dark horse SP candidate if May/Harrison/Gasser don’t look playoff ready?) so I’d rather use him in high leverage. Hopefully Patrick can get us through multiple innings tonight so we don’t use much of our A bullpen. Barring a huge comeback, having Gary pitch the 9th is probably best case scenario.

Well, just gotta remind ourselves that a week ago at this time, if we knew the Brewers would be 7 up in the division after tonight, we would have been thrilled. I also think our two best pitching matchups are the last two games of this series, especially given Harrison’s recent struggles. I wouldn’t give up on a Robert Gasser start either. His numbers are really inflated by two blowup starts, but other than that, he’s been cromulent as a bottom of the rotation arm. We do need to figure out who is our #3 pitcher, though. Thankfully, we have some time for May, Gasser, Drohan, Harrison, or maybe even Crow to get red hot.

Just to put things in perspective, I’m going to go back just under 20 years and 11 months ago, on a cool Friday night in Pittsburgh. The Brewers were playing their third to last game of the season against the Pirates. Vibes were high after the Brewers had just won their last home game of the year with a Gary Glover masterpiece in front of a full house of freeloaders (relatively new owner Mark Attanasio made every ticket at the ballpark free that game). But now the Brewers had to hit their goal in Pittsburgh. The Brewers had a slight 6-5 lead in the bottom of the 9th. Closer Derrick Turnbow got the first two outs easily, and now he had to face Tike Redman of the Pirates. Redman hit a ground ball to 2nd base. Bill Hall picked it up, threw it to Lyle Overbay, and it was done. The Brewers had done it, and it was shown prominently on the TV screen: “Clinched .500 Record”. I bring this up because at the time, this had been among my most exciting moments as a Brewer fan. For the first time in my Brewers fandom (I was a freshman in college at the time), the Brewers weren’t going to finish with a losing record. Today, the Brewers won their 81st game of the year. On August 22. As frustrating as this team can be sometimes, we have it good. Really good. Mark Attanasio is a reason for that. Matt Arnold is a reason for that. Pat Murphy is a reason for that. Our scouting, pitching lab, and minor league staffs are reasons for that. And of course every player from Ashby to Zerpa is a reason for that (I think I got the first and last players alphabetically for this year). I know the grass always seems greener on the other side, but for all of our complaints about Murphy and Attanasio and Arnold and the players as a whole, if we tried to replace them, it is very likely we’d do worse, and possibly much much worse.

I’d venture to guess that if Luke Adams was a middle infielder or if Joey Ortiz wasn’t day to day at this point, Adams would have been called up. With Pratt on the IL and Ortiz (at best) day-to-day, our only middle infielders available were Turang and Hamilton, and that’s with using one of our two emergency 3B in the lineup (the other Frelick, is rehabbing now). For a team that depends son its defense so much, I don’t like the idea of Vaughn, Adams, or Sanchez (ok, Sanchez should be in blue) playing shortstop or 2nd base.

I was wondering if the team would option Drohan after the game yesterday to (more than anything) give him a break (his innings have increased significantly from last year and it’s showing), give Crow a spot start this week, and bring up Drew Rom in the interim. Having said that, I’m not really surprised by the move. Wilson was perfectly cromulent for what he was brought in to do, but it’s clear they didn’t trust him much.

I’m definitely not a fan of the return in this trade, but this front office has proven time and again that they know what they are doing. I know trade deadline trades have been an Achilles Heel for our Front Office, but there has been so much more good than bad that I can’t automatically say this is a bad trade.

If I have to guess, Naylor gives us 3rd catcher depth if Contreras or Sanchez get injured. Quero doesn’t seem to be much of an option right now, and I don’t think we have any other legit catcher if someone gets injured. Next year, he becomes our backup catcher. As has been said, the Brewers don’t seem high on Yoho and maybe they see something in Heuer the pitching lab can fix. I’m guessing we will be adding a ML reliever or two, so Yoho likely wasn’t going to be on the roster in August/September anyways. If I want to dig deeper, there are plenty of teams that could use a catcher, and maybe Sanchez could be sold high. (I’m not sure how to make the font blue using my phone, but the following comment should be in blue): Or maybe the Brewers will make a Haderesque trade and trade Contreras with 1.5 years left.

Maybe I’m a little off base here, but I’m thinking Freddy’s value isn’t significantly more than Frankie Montas’ value two years ago. To acquire Montas, we had to trade Joey Wiemer (who didn’t seem to have a huge future with the Brewers at that point) and Jakob Junis (who I suppose filled Cincinnati’s bullpen). The Mets shouldn’t have any need for a bullpen arm like Junis, so I don’t think adding someone like Bryse Wilson would make any sense. However, the idea of a blocked AAAA player being the headliner could work. Tyler Black comes to mind, though I think his value’s a bit lower than Wiemer’s two years ago (especially if Soto is going to have to DH more). I think the second piece would add some value (at least a little more than what Junis added two years ago), so I think this is where a borderline Rule 5 protection like Brock Wilken or the aforementioned Dylan O’Rae can come in. A third lottery ticket may be needed for this deal to come to fruition, but I don’t think it would need to be a highly acclaimed prospect (certainly nobody in the organization top 30). I realize I am looking at this through Brewer fan glasses, so maybe this package could seem a bit light, but I’d see if the Mets would take (1) Tyler Black, (2) Dylan O’Rae or Brock Wilken, and (3) low level lottery ticket for Peralta at this point. To me, Jett Williams is a non-starter, Blake Burke is a non-starter, and both Jett Williams and Blake Burke gets you laughed off the phone (but again, I’m wearing Brewers fan glasses).

The good news is the Brewers have a 2-0 lead. The bad news is that the team that has scored first has gone 0-5 this homestand.

Glad to see Peña back, but when do we start to worry about Payne’s absences?

I think you may be thinking of Erik Komatsu, who was traded for Jerry Hairston, Jr. Erick Almonte was a guy who won the last roster spot on one of Ken Macha’s teams (over Luis Cruz, if I remember correctly), and I think he got hit by a ball in batting practice, and I don’t think he ever came back after that. I can’t remember the names of people I meet , but I can remember this stuff.

This is Cody Ransom erasure!

Vinny Capra isn’t a bad pick, but I don’t remember him making as many mental errors (not hitting a cutoff man, popping up a bunt, challenging a pitch fully in the strike zone)… plus he could play a plus defensive position. The last player that I can think of who looked this bad with the Brewers is a pitcher: Johnny Hellweg.

They definitely exist. I know Prince Fielder’s contract with the Rangers was insured, and he was already having injury problems with that contract. I’d guess they are more common with multi year contracts, though. I’d guess the Brewers have guys like Chourio, Yelich, and Pratt insured because if those guys had a career ending injury, that would set the franchise back years financially. A 1 year $22 million contract is a lot, no doubt, but it’s not a franchise altering contract.

Only insomuch as it’s from the same show that taught us that 64 slices of American cheese can make one blind.

Didn’t the Brewers drop Jeffrey Hammonds before his bobblehead game one year? Ah, the glory days.

It seems to me that the Brewers thought Isaac Collins’ 2025 season was an aberration. Unfortunately, it seems that 29 other teams thought so as well.

I’d guess that Hall and Myers make the NLCS roster. Gasser is almost certainly out. For the other spot, it would be either Anderson, Lockridge, or Collins out. I guess a lot depends on how the team feels about Chourio’s availability in CF. If he is back to being available in CF, you can replace Lockridge.

Jameson Taillon has been really good since coming back from injury. I’d argue he’s been their best starter the last month and a half or so. The Brewers will have to be on their A game tomorrow if they want to win.

I think we can replace him. We just couldn’t move him into the field without losing the DH