sveumrules

Maybe things are different for the Dodgers with their revenue streams, but teams don't typically travel with the Trajekt machines because they are like 1,500 pounds and very difficult to move once installed. Believe there was a story this postseason about the Yankees going over to their nearby spring training complex to use the Trajekt they had there before the games in Tampa (to no avail).

Fischer made a total of 18 errors in only 84 games at 3B this year, then played his last 34 games exclusively at 1B/DH to close the season. Given how much the Brewers value defense, I'd guess Andrew ends up as more of a primary 1B/DH with some occasional 3B sprinkled in than a guy they view as an everyday 3B with legit fielders like Pratt, Made, and Ortiz in the mix.

Little blurb on Braylon Payne from the Arizona Fall League Position Players Scouting Notebook over at FanGraphs today... Payne is the best athlete in the AFL. He’s twitchy, he’s an 80 runner underway, and he’s a short-levered kid with strong wrists. He gets his bat into the zone fast and already has plus power. Still, the swing itself isn’t pretty. From an upright and slightly closed start, his front hip swivels open, and he has a funky, at times downhill swing path. It’s not how you’d normally draw it up, but I’m encouraged that Payne hasn’t made any less contact as he’s sprinted through Milwaukee’s system. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are speed bumps ahead, and it’s worth staying patient as he tries to harness his unusual swing. Defensively, Payne’s speed is playing down a little in center right now. On one play over his head, he turned the wrong way and tried to track the ball the whole time instead of running toward the spot and adjusting, which ultimately cost him. In the long run, he’s so fast that even if his reads and routes are just fair, he’ll get to enough balls to stick up the middle, and there’s obviously upside from there. Ultimately, he’s raw, but if there was ever a guy to stay patient with, it’s Payne.

Definitely a possibility, but if all of Turang, Made, Pratt, and Ortiz are on the roster at the same time I'd guess that Jesus would get more of a fixed spot and Joey would be the one bouncing around.

Going back to 2024 Ashby is one of 190 relievers with at least 100 IP in all of MLB. Of those 190, there are only 23 relievers with at least 4.0 runs allowed based WAR on the FanGraphs leaderboard. In true reliever fashion, nine of those 23 have pitched for multiple teams over the last three seasons (and one is Emmanuel Clase) which leaves 13 single team relievers with at least 4.0 rWAR over the last three years. The Brewers have three of those 13 with Uribe (4.9 rWAR | 11th), Megill (4.4 rWAR | 16th), and Ashby (4.2 rWAR | 20th). Some of their other pertinent ranks... Ashby (171 IP | 48th) 61 ERA- (14th) | 67 FIP- (13th) | +2.94 WPA (42nd) 136 K+ (22nd) | 138 GB+ (8th) | 50 HR+ (18th) 90 AVG+ (70th) | 93 WHIP+ (75th) | 112 LOB+ (10th) Megill (155 IP | 80th) 63 ERA- (19th) | 59 FIP- (8th) | +6.34 WPA (10th) 132 K+ (27th) | 121 FB+ (21st) | 41 HR+ (10th) 79 AVG+ (10th) | 77 WHIP+ (10th) | 100 LOB+ (104th) Uribe (149 IP | 88th) 55 ERA- (8th) | 71 FIP- (18th) | +4.96 WPA (19th) 126 K+ (35th) | 128 GB+ (25th) | 42 HR+ (12th) 83 AVG+ (29th) | 86 WHIP+ (41st) | 113 LOB+ (9th) So three of the Top 18 by both FIP- and HR+, three of the Top 19 by ERA-, three of the Top 20 by rWAR, three of the Top 35 by K+, plus two of the Top 10 by LOB+ and two of the Top 19 by WPA. All three with pretty extreme batted ball profiles too, ground balls for Ashby / Uribe and fly balls for Megill. With those three doing the heavy lifting some of the Brewers whole bullpen ranks over 1,927 IP (2nd) since 2024... 26.8 rWAR (1st) | 136 W (1st) | 104 LOB+ (t-1st) | +27.72 WPA (2nd) | 82 ERA- (2nd) | 91 AVG+ (2nd) | 93 WHIP+ (2nd) | 509 shutdowns (2nd most) | 226 meltdowns (3rd fewest) | 91 FIP- (3rd) | 18.2 fWAR (3rd) | 3.71 xERA (4th) | 76 L (6th fewest) | 80 HR+ (7th) | 107 K+ (8th)

I would guess that Pratt stays at SS and Made moves to 3B, maybe as soon as opening day next year if Jesus is interested in signing a pre-debut extension in the ballpark of Kevin McGonigle (8/$150M) or Konnor Griffin (9/$140M). If the Brewers brain trust thinks Made is a better defensive option at SS, then Cooper has all the tools to be a plus defender at 3B too.

Ah, just pulled them from the FanGraphs leaderboard. Says they are over 154 PA which was our total for the four games?

Yup... .339 xwOBA (t-1st with LAD) .311 actual wOBA (1st) 45.9 HardHit% (1st) 107.2 EV90 (1st) 91.1 EV (3rd) .266 xAVG (2nd) .414 xSLG (3rd) Oh yeah, one more...8.2 Launch Angle (12th) & here's one more fun one, the Cubs had zero barrels in 43 batted balls in their two playoff games this year.

Believe they flashed a graphic on MLB network yesterday that to this point these playoffs have had the lowest run scoring environment since 1990. The Brewers 95 wRC+ is the best in the field so far. Tampa Bay just hit for a 65 wRC+ (9th) over their three games and swept out the Yankees anyway. Even with 8 HR and a .188 ISO that are both best in the field the Dodgers have hit for a 79 wRC+ (5th) on account of a .203 AVG (7th) and .264 OBP (8th). Also, Brewers bullpen in the playoffs so far...0.47 ERA (1st) and +0.94 WPA (1st).

Carsten Charles Sabathia is my Chourio placeholder for now. Monuments are built for legends and I'd put his 2008 run up there with Bo Jackson and Andre the Giant for the most legendary things I've witnessed. From 2008 to present there have been 1,859 individual pitchers seasons of at least 130 IP. During his 2008 run with the Brewers CCS put up a 39 ERA- (1st) | 56 FIP- (14th) | 40 HR+ (15th) | 72 WHIP+ (32nd) | 114 LOB+ (39th) | 253 K/BB+ (40th). This year Misio had a 43 ERA- (4th) | 52 FIP- (7th) | 62 HR+ (156th) | 61 WHIP+ (3rd) | 113 LOB+ (65th) | 233 K/BB+ (58th) for comparison. Even with a little bit of a clunker in G1, he's been pretty good in the postseason so far too with 16 IP of 54 ERA- | 48 FIP- | 49 HR+ | 72 WHIP+ | 213 K/BB+. (dang, might need to carve out two new spots sometime down the road) Since Chourio debuted in 2024 there are 99 players with at least 30 postseason PA, as of today Jackson comes in at +1.23 WPA (1st) | .346 ISO (6th) | .327 AVG (7th) | 179 wRC+ (8th) | .429 wOBA (8th) | .420 xwOBA (10th). A true joy to behold.

From 2021 thru 2026 there have been 127 pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched. Here are some of the pertinent rankings for Freddy Peralta, Corbin Burnes, Drew Rasmussen, and Brandon Woodruff... 907 IP (20th) | 84 ERA- (28th) | 90 FIP- (44th) 125 K+ (13th) | 85 AVG+ (7th) | 87 WHIP+ (21st) 20.1 rWAR (15th) | 16.7 fWAR (21st) | +9.43 WPA (13th) 831 IP (30th) | 72 ERA- (9th) | 77 FIP- (16th) 123 K+ (15th) | 85 AVG+ (8th) | 81 WHIP+ (9th) 22.3 rWAR (6th) | 19.7 fWAR (10th) | +9.61 WPA (12th) 617 IP (76th) | 68 ERA- (5th) | 76 FIP- (12th) 106 K+ (53rd) | 88 AVG+ (13th) | 79 WHIP+ (5th) 18.5 rWAR (20th) | 14.3 fWAR (30th) | +10.80 WPA (7th) 509 IP (122nd) | 67 ERA- (3rd) | 75 FIP- (11th) 133 K+ (8th) | 81 AVG+ (3rd) | 74 WHIP+ (2nd) 15.8 rWAR (28th) | 12.7 fWAR (36th) | +8.70 WPA (17th) ...maybe the most interesting thing is that Peralta has stayed the healthiest of the four despite being the smallest dude. Probably not too surprising that Woodruff has been the most dominant on a rate basis, but also had the most health misfortune. To crack Top 30 rWAR and Top 20 WPA despite being 122nd in IP is pretty remarkable in its own right though. Three of the top nine by both ERA- and WHIP+, four of the top 13 by AVG+, three of the top 15 by K+, four of the top 17 by WPA, four of the top 28 by rWAR.

Baddoo did most of his damage all the way back in 2021 with 461 PA of 108 wRC+ and 1.7 WAR. From 2022 to 2025 he followed that up with 682 PA of 73 wRC+ and 0.2 WAR. He did not appear in MLB during the 2026 season and finished with a pretty bleh 113 wRC+ over 262 PA in AAA. Frelick had a down year, no doubt, but $2.4M is small change to see if he is capable of bouncing back. Since Sal's first season in 2023 there are 296 players (just shy of 10 per team) with at least 1,000 PA. Only 85 of those players (not quite three per team) have 1,000 PA playing in the OF. Lowering the PA threshold to 850 gets us a little more robust player pool with 105 qualifiers. Some of Sal's ranks among those 105 outfielders... 1,689 PA (34th) | 8.3 BB% (50th) | 13.3 K% (5th) | .099 ISO (100th) | .262 AVG (31st) | .328 OBP (39th) | 94 wRC+ (73rd) | +7.7 BsR (21st) | +28 DRS and +16 FRV (both 3rd among RF) | 5.8 WAR (40th) Even with some of the worst power of the bunch, Sal has been good enough at everything else (getting on base, running the bases, playing defense) to put up career numbers that easily make him a starting calibre OF. Even if he only bounces back to around the 87 wRC+ and 1.5 WAR he put up in 2024 or the 94 wRC+ and 1.5 WAR per 425/450 PA he has averaged over his career that is still perfectly cromulent 3rd OF production for $2.4M. Clicking thru the 2026 team OF leaderboards it looks like the best 3rd OF was Ian Happ with 2.4 WAR. Average WAR for a 3rd OF was 1.1 with only six teams getting 1.5 WAR or more from their 3rd OF. There were 14 teams that got 1.5 WAR or less out of their 2nd outfielders this past season, including the Dodgers and Phillies (whose best OF was 188 PA of Bryce Harper for 1.1 WAR).

Three days is short rest, four days is regular rest, and the now typically preferred five days is giving them an extra day, That's how I look at it anyway. Wouldn't be too surprised if they used Misio out of the pen for an inning or two on what would normally be his throw day between starts, but would be pretty surprised if he started a game on three days rest unless it was some kind of G7 scenario where he was only expected to go four five innings tops. As of now I believe it would map out as start today. G2, day off, G3 (possible relief window) G4, day off, start G5 (on five days rest if needed). day off, G1, G2, day off, start G3 (on four days rest), G4, G5, day off, G6, start G7 (on four days rest if needed). day off, day off, day off, G1, start G2 (on four days rest), day off, G3, G4 (possible relief window) G5, day off, start G6 (on five days rest if needed), G7. If they were to close out the NLCS before G7, could line up the World Series rotation for Misio to start G1, G2, day off, G3, G4, start G5 (on four days rest), day off, G6, then would presumably be available for a couple relief innings on two days rest for G7 if needed.

Yeah, it's like who do you really need to pinch run for on this team? Contreras and Bauers are too valuable in the box to replace with a pinch runner. None of Turang, Pratt, Ortiz, Hamilton, Chourio, Mitchell, Lara, Frelick, or Yelich really require one. That leaves Vaughn and Sanchez as the only real guys you'd pinch run for. Say Vaughn starts, and gets a hit in the middle innings so you pinch run with Lara. Then when Lara comes up you like the match up with Sanchez so he pinch hits and gets on. You still have Frelick to run for him and take over in the field. Plus Hamilton waiting on the bench for an emergency of some sort. Easier for me to see a scenario where having a 13th pitcher is more useful than a 4th pinch runner.

You don't need a fine tooth comb to sift out why the Brewers have won the most games in MLB over the last three regular seasons...they've allowed the fewest runs in MLB (3.90 RA/G) while scoring the third most (4.97 RS/G). When you outscore your opponents by over one run per game over the course of three seasons, you'll naturally win a lot of games. Their pitchers have likewise tallied an MLB best 70.9 runs allowed based WAR (though their 52.7 FIP based WAR is only 6th) with some help from the position players saving them somewhere between 70 (FRV | 6th) and 138 (DRS | 3rd) runs along the way. With their -0.35 ERA/FIP differential second by fractions behind the Cubs at -0.36 over that stretch, I'm guessing it's closer to the latter. In addition to scoring and saving a lot of runs, the position players also tallied +42.6 BsR (1st) along with a 106 wRC+ (5th) and 82.4 WAR (5th). Oh, you like contextual measures? The bullpen's +27.72 Win Probability Added is second in MLB while their 189.97 RE24 is first. The batters are first in all of PA, wRC+, and runs scored with RISP, plus second in Win Probability Added behind only the Dodgers. Misio is likely to win the NL CY this year and is probably the closest thing we have to a superstar, while guys like Turang (12.9 WAR | 16th from 2024-26), Contreras (12.2 WAR | 20th), and Chourio (11.5 WAR | 24th) have been more down ballot MVP vote recipient level stars. Though Brice should land inside the Top Five at least this year with his 7.3 WAR at BRef second in the NL while his 5.9 WAR is 3rd at FanGraphs (plus the whole his team winning 103 games thing). All that said, the depth of the team has always been kind of their calling card so I set out trying to quantify that somehow. On the hitting side I used 400 PA as the cutoff point. From Turang at the top down to guys like Blake Perkins (1.4 WAR), Gary Sanchez (1.2 WAR), and Rhys Hoskins (1.1 WAR) the Brewers had 15 total players take at least 400 PA over the last three years with all of them tallying at least one win. Here is how the other 29 teams fared in terms of (total players to reach 400 PA | how many had at least 1.0 WAR | how many had at least 3.0 WAR | how many had at least 4.5 WAR) MIL (15 | 15 | 10 | 9) CHC (13 | 12 | 9 | 8) LAD (14 | 11 | 9 | 7) NYY (16 | 13 | 8 | 7) PHI (12 | 9 | 8 | 7) TOR (12 | 12 | 9 | 6) STL (16 | 11 | 8 | 6) ATH (16 | 10 | 7 | 6) ATL (14 | 10 | 7 | 6) NYM (17 | 15 | 9 | 5) BAL (18 | 13 | 8 | 5) ARI (17 | 13 | 8 | 5) DET (15 | 13 | 8 | 5) HOU (13 | 11 | 8 | 5) TEX (16 | 12 | 7 | 5) SDP (13 | 12 | 7 | 5) BOS (17 | 16 | 9 | 4) SFG (16 | 13 | 9 | 4) MIN (16 | 13 | 7 | 4) MIA (18 | 12 | 6 | 4) SEA (14 | 12 | 6 | 4) WAS (14 | 6 | 4 | 4) TBR (17 | 15 | 7 | 3) CLE (16 | 14 | 4 | 3) CHW (16 | 9 | 4 | 3) PIT (17 | 7 | 4 | 3) LAA (12 | 6 | 3 | 3) CIN (18 | 10 | 4 | 2) KCR (15 | 10 | 5 | 2) COL (15 | 8 | 4 | 1) Doing the same thing on the pitching side using a 70 IP minimum, runs allowed based WAR, and then cutoffs of 1.0 rWAR | 2.5 rWAR | 4.0 rWAR (slightly lower at the top end than the hitter ranges to account for WAR typically undervaluing relievers) and the Brewers had 24 pitchers with at least 70 IP, 20 of them at least 1.0 rWAR, 14 of them at least 2.5 rWAR, and seven at least 4.0 rWAR with Ashby (3.9 rWAR) just missing out. Here are how the other teams fared using the same criteria... MIL (24 | 20 | 14 | 7) BOS (21 | 15 | 11 | 7) SDP (20 | 16 | 9 | 7) CLE (18 | 12 | 10 | 7) NYY (19 | 15 | 11 | 6) ATL (19 | 15 | 8 | 6) DET (17 | 13 | 8 | 6) PHI (13 | 8 | 7 | 6) SEA (12 | 9 | 7 | 6) KCR (18 | 14 | 8 | 5) PIT (17 | 12 | 8 | 5) HOU (25 | 11 | 7 | 5) CIN (16 | 10 | 6 | 5) LAD (22 | 17 | 10 | 4) TBR (22 | 17 | 8 | 4) CHC (15 | 11 | 8 | 4) STL (20 | 12 | 6 | 4) ARI (16 | 11 | 6 | 4) NYM (18 | 15 | 10 | 3) TOR (21 | 14 | 5 | 3) TEX (21 | 14 | 5 | 3) MIN (18 | 7 | 5 | 3) CHW (19 | 9 | 4 | 3) MIA (20 | 12 | 7 | 2) WAS (18 | 8 | 6 | 2) BAL (21 | 13 | 4 | 2) SFG (21 | 11 | 5 | 2) LAA (17 | 8 | 5 | 1) ATH (22 | 9 | 3 | 1) COL (23 | 7 | 1 | 0)