sveumrules

Also kind of funny that one play where the literal Little League infield played a major role is used as a metaphor for Hamilton's defensive shortcomings, but no mention of the rare 5-3 double play (requiring both his above average range and athleticism for a 3B) that he pulled off in very the same game.

Hamilton has +7 DRS versus 0 FRV at 3B so far this year and this is a case where I think the truth is probably closer to what DRS is coming up with. As a whole DRS says the Brewers have saved 41 runs (7th) for the season, but FRV says only two runs saved (14th). Considering their 3.56 FIP is the lowest in MLB and they've still managed to shave 0.14 runs off of that to get to a 3.42 ERA (and from watching the games) I'd guess that DRS is doing a better job capturing their defensive performance this year (again). Going back to 2023 they've shaved an MLB best 0.38 runs per game from their 3.99 FIP (6th) to their 3.61 ERA (1st). They've demonstrated a pretty steadfast commitment to the defense as a key element of the run prevention symbiosis. Do we think it's more likely the Brewers internal metrics are spitting out results closer to their +175 DRS over that time or their +114 FRV? Both totals rank 3rd in MLB over that stretch so it's mostly just a matter of scale, about 0.28 runs per game in the estimation of DRS, or about 0.18 runs per game in the estimation of FRV. With +61 DRS versus +17 FRV for his career, Brice Turang accounts for 72% of the 61 run difference between the Brewers team DRS and FRV since 2023 all by himself.

How deep is the Brewers minor league infield pool? They mentioned ten prospects in the article who are all in the org Top Twenty and you could still make a whole other infield out of intriguing guys they have outside the Top 25... 1B Bitonti (#26 | 434 PA of 126 wRC+ at A+ | 22 HR / 22 SB) 2B O'Rae (UR | 394 PA of 113 wRC+ at AA | 50 SB) SS Dickinson (UR | 447 PA of 127 RC+ at A+ | 51 SB) 3B Matos (UR | 228 PA of 149 wRC+ in DSL | 10 HR / 19 SB) UT Ortuno (UR | 455 PA of 108 wRC+ at A | 37 SB)

Innings shouldn't be too big of a concern at 116 IP in 2024, 141 IP last year, and 107 IP so far this year after today. Maybe seeing if the stuff plays up a little bit in shorter outings, or maybe just a function of the doubleheader today?

Looks like the link embedded in the article is still going to the Friday game that Brailyn didn't play in. He's in there for yesterday.

2025 Minor League Pitcher of the Year Tyson Hardin has taken a step forward working his way up to AAA with a 72 FIP- for the season and getting some T100 recognition. After missing all of last year to injury guys like Cameron Wagoner (34 IP of 63 FIP-) and Josh Knoth (68 IP of 77 FIP-) have had nice comeback seasons. Maybe not steps forward necessarily, but Bishop Letson (75 IP of 93 FIP-) and JD Thompson (41 IP of 78 FIP-) have both pitched well enough to maintain their respective prospect statuses. Undrafted and low dollar signings like Jack Seppings (64 IP of 85 FIP-), Braylon Owens (93 IP of 73 FIP-), and Jaron DeBerry (108 IP of 100 FIP-) have pitched their way to the upper levels, and even onto the back end of the BF Top 20 in DeBerry's case. At the lower levels guys like Wande Torres (104 IP of 88 FIP-), Ethan Dorchies (107 IP of 97 FIP-), Jayden Dubanewicz (69 IP of 92 FIP-), Andrew Healy (69 IP of 83 FIP-), Jose Meneses (53 IP of 61 FIP-), Daniel Corniel (43 IP of 89 FIP-), Miqueas Mercedes (66 IP of 87 ERA-), Diustin Mayorquin (58 IP of 92 FIP-), Derlin Garcia (56 IP of 75 FIP-), Raymond Sarmiento (48 IP of 78 FIP-), Alexander Mercedes (34 IP of 73 FIP-) and Paul Hoff (44 IP of 66 FIP-) have all had productive seasons while being considerably younger than their competition for the most part. Obviously this is about the minor leagues, but the Major League staff has allowed the 2nd fewest runs per game while having the youngest average age per BRef with all of Misio, Henderson, Ashby, and Uribe coming up through the system. Other relative youngsters like Drohan, Harrison, Patrick, Gasser, and Hall (& Priester last year) were acquired while still prospect eligible or with some meat left on the bone for the pitching brain trust to work with. Even with some ugly ERAs in the minor leagues it would be pretty hard to argue that many organizations have the top to bottom pitching depth of the Brewers, especially considering the majority of the MLB staff is still under team control for years to come, and the Brewers have signed almost twice as many High School pitchers as any other team over the last four drafts.

For his career Abbott is at 553 IP of 81 ERA- | 99 FIP-. Out of 85 pitchers with at least 400 IP over the last four seasons the -0.78 run gap between his 3.58 ERA and 4.36 FIP is the second largest behind only Shota Imanaga (3.43 ERA | 4.33 FIP) and just ahead of Jose Berrios (3.79 ERA | 4.44 FIP). If his mediocre peripherals (95 K+ | 103 BB+ | 109 HR+ | 97 AVG+) were more in line with his run prevention I'd be fine classifying him as a #2, but most thought Peralta was barely a #2 in the grand scheme of things and he had 516 IP of 81 ERA- | 93 FIP- (3.40 ERA | 3.88 FIP) over his last three years with the Brewers while also running a top end strikeout rate (130 K+ | 6th highest from 2023 to 2025) and being one of the hardest pitchers to get a hit off of (85 AVG+ | 4th lowest from 2023 to 2025). Stewart's raw power numbers will naturally be inflated hitting at GABP. All that only shakes out to a 114 wRC+ so far this year (115 for his career) and he is looking like a long term 1B where league average wRC+ has been 117, 109, 107, 111, 111, and 113 the last six seasons. Still plenty of time to improve for sure, but so far he has 2.5 WAR in 615 career PA which is more of a solid starter than any kind of star. If that is your second best player you are going to need a whole lot more depth than the Reds currently have with their 5.5 WAR (30th in MLB, 1.3 wins below even the Rockies) from their position players entirely accounted for by EDLC (3.6 WAR over 491 PA) and Sal (2.0 WAR over 557 PA). The rest of their position players have combined to put up -0.1 WAR over 3,773 PA.

Brewers have now signed 21 High School Pitchers going back to the 2023 Draft. Was curious to see how that number compared to the other 29 teams so clicked around through BRef and it looks like 20 of the teams had five or fewer HSPs signed with two teams coming in at zero (HOU and STL), plus the Mariners with just one (Ryan Sloan). Only three other teams have cracked double digits at CLE (12), ATL (10), and LAA (11 with seven HSPs in 2025 alone).

Have they promoted the young kids too quickly? Maybe, maybe not, only time will tell. At the moment the Major League Brewers have the youngest staff, with most of the pitchers under team control for multiple years still, and are allowing the 2nd fewest runs per game in MLB, so whatever they are doing is working at the highest levels. Could be wrong, but also believe Biloxi already secured a playoff spot by winning their division for the first half of the season.

For the season Biloxi is kind of like the AA version of the Washington Nationals...5.74 runs scored per game is best in the Southern League, 5.75 runs allowed per game is the worst in the Southern League. One big factor is that they have the youngest staff in the league (22.9 average age), second youngest is 23.9 and league average is 24,6. Another is that guys like Tyson Hardin, Brett Wichrowski, Cameron Wagoner, Will Childers, Jack Seppings, and Mark Manfredi were all promoted to Nashville at some point. As for the rest of the non-Complex affiliates...Wilson is the youngest staff (20.2 average) versus 21.5 second youngest and 22.0 league average in the Carolina League & are 9th of 12 teams in runs allowed per game. Wisconsin is the youngest staff (21.7 average age) versus 21.9 second youngest and 22.8 league average in the Midwest League & are 8th of 12 teams in runs allowed per game. Nashville is the most age appropriate at 27.2 average age versus a 27.2 average age in the International League and are 2nd of 20 teams in runs allowed per game. Brewers have the youngest hitters in the Carolina, Wisconsin and International Leagues also, plus the second youngest by a fraction in the Southern League so reading between the lines it seems like they believe challenging their players against older, more experienced competition is best for their own development. Wilson (61 W - 53 L), Wisconsin (61 W - 51 L), and Nashville (66 W - 57 L) plus both DSL squads have all posted winning records even with the abundant youth (& mostly less than stellar pitching) proliferating across the levels.

When yr the first team to 80 wins, and the only team yet to lose 50 games, you might just have the best record in MLB by a couple two tree games.

Somewhere along the line I saw Coco Crisp (5'10 / 185 lbs / switch hitting CF) thrown out there as a comp for the shape that Lara's career could possibly take. Through age 30 (Lara's last team option year) Coco put up 3,779 PA of 95 wRC+ with +37.5 BsR and +68.9 DEF for 21.3 WAR. Batting profile was 91 BB+ | 81 K+ | 103 AVG+ | 84 ISO+. Here's a few other players that made being short and not having much power work because they were fast and really dood defenders with strike zone discipline during the Thirty Team Era (with their stats thru age 30)... Brett Gardner (2864 PA) 104 wRC+ | +38.8 BsR | +61.5 DEF | 21.7 WAR 122 BB+ | 100 K+ | 102 AVG+ | 86 ISO+ Shane Victorino (3629 PA) 107 wRC+ | +35.8 BsR | +36.0 DEF | 21.9 WAR 87 BB+ | 66 K+ | 105 AVG+ | 103 ISO+ Denard Span (4001 PA) 105 wRC+ | +25.4 BsR | +33.1 DEF | 22.4 WAR 104 BB+ | 64 K+ | 110 AVG+ | 71 ISO+ Michael Bourn (3941 PA) 92 wRC+ | +60.6 BsR | +59.0 DEF | 20.9 WAR 98 BB+ | 112 K+ | 103 AVG+ | 62 ISO+ Brian Roberts (4379 PA) 105 wRC+ | +36.2 BsR | +34.9 DEF | 24.4 WAR 120 BB+ | 79 K+ | 105 AVG+ | 84 ISO+ Luis Castillo (5618 PA) 98 wRC+ | +20.4 BsR | +43.4 DEF | 23.2 WAR 115 BB+ | 75 K+ | 108 AVG+ | 39 ISO+ Jean Segura (4657 PA) 97 wRC+ | +23.9 BsR | +43.6 DEF | 20.2 WAR 61 BB+ | 67 K+ | 111 AVG+ | 75 ISO+ Rafael Furcal (5192 PA) 101 wRC+ | +41.2 BsR | +36.7 DEF | 25.0 WAR 99 BB+ | 77 K+ | 106 AVG+ | 77 ISO+

103 ERA- (20th), -7 FRV (22nd), 4.74 RA/G (22nd), 105 FIP- (23rd), .307 wOBA (25th), 4.05 RS/G (25th), -88 Run Differential (27th), -33 DRS (29th), 87 wRC+ (30th) What talent though? EDLC is electric but how big of a Star he is mostly comes down to if you believe his DRS (-18 for 12.5 WAR on BREF) or his FRV (+11 for 16.3 WAR at FanGraphs). Chase Burns (4.9 rWAR) looks like a Legit Ace, but that's pretty much it with Hunter Greene hurt again. Andrew Abbott is a fine #3 starter, Sal Stewart & JJ Bleday would be alright as a team's 5th and 6th best hitters but they are 2nd and 3rd on the Reds, Tyler Stephenson is a cromulent backstop. Pickings get pretty slim after that. Bottom of their WAR leaderboard is downright ugly with Eugenio Suarez (383 PA of 86 wRC+ for -0.6 WAR), TJ Friedl (246 PA of 31 wRC+ for -0.9 WAR), Noelvi Marte (201 PA of 44 wRC+ for -1.4 WAR), and Ke'Bryan Hayes (193 PA of 20 wRC+ for -0.8 WAR)...that's almost four wins down the drain there plus they have another 17 hitters and pitchers between -0.1 and -0.5 WAR totaling another five wins out the window. Realistically they should sell off EDLC before he gets too close to free agency, and Chase Burns while he is healthy and dealing, plus anybody else they can get some future value for because their organizational talent level is pretty far removed from the Pirates and Cardinals (much less the Brewers and Cubs) at the moment.

Kinda speaks to how few bats are good enough to be regular 1B year in year out for extended periods of time, and how the league views it as one of the more fungible positions. Would guess the universal DH last few years has also stolen some guys from the 1B pool. Here are how many players got 5,000 innings at each of the spots since 2002... SS (73) C (66) 3B (60) CF (58) 2B (54) RF (50) 1B (50) LF (36) ...doesn't quite line up perfectly with the defensive spectrum / positional adjustment values but its the same general shape and ideas playing out.

41 Series Down, 11 Series Remain. So far the Brewers Series Record for the season is 28 W - 11 L - 2 T. Individual Series Results are... 3 W - 0 L (x7) 4 W - 1 L (x1) 3 W - 1 L (x3) 2 W - 1 L (x17) 2 W - 2 L (x1) 1 W - 1 L (x1) 1 W - 2 L (x8) 0 W - 3 L (x3) 35 of the Series have been of the standard three game variety with the Brewers sitting +12 Wins on Sweeps (21 W - 9 L) and +9 Wins on Splits (42 W - 33 L). For the six oddball series that were 2, 4, or 5 games long the Brewers have come out another +9 Wins ahead at (16 W - 7 L).

Yeah, the first season that DRS is available is 2002. In that time there have been an even 50 players with at least 5,000 innings at first base. Fielder is 50th with -101 DRS, Ryan Howard is 49th with -76 DRS, Josh Bell is 48th with -46 DRS. Prince was a DH out of the womb.

A tall athletic first baseman is always preferable, but Christian Walker (listed at 5'11" and 208 lbs) has put up some of the gaudiest 1B fielding stats of the StatCast Era (& 5'10" Carlos Santana is right there with him) so being limited vertically doesn't necessarily impede one from reaching the highest highs. Vaughn (0 DRS | 0 FRV over 941 innings as a Brewer) has graded out better than the taller more aesthetically pleasing Bauers (-6 DRS | -7 FRV over 869 innings) these last two years for whatever that is or isn't worth.

No doubt the strength of the system is the bats currently, but the crazy run scoring environment makes some of the stat lines look a lot more skewed at first glance. Tyson Hardin's 5.85 ERA (121 ERA-) has been ugly for instance, but he's got a much more impressive 3.50 FIP (72 FIP-) under the hood. Of the 95 pitchers in the minors with at least 100 IP so far that 3.50 FIP is 8th while his 3.66 xFIP is 3rd. Those underlying indicators tend to be better predictors of what the future may hold. Some of the other more impressive pitching performers (once adjusting for that crazy run scoring environment) this year... 25yo Cameron Wagoner (AA/AAA) 33 IP of 39 ERA- | 66 FIP- 23yo Jack Seppings (A+/AA/AAA) 64 IP of 79 ERA- | 85 FIP- 23yo Jaron DeBerry (AA) 108 IP of 92 ERA- | 100 FIP- 21yo Bishop Letson (AA) 75 IP of 94 ERA- | 93 FIP- 23yo Braylon Owens (A+/AA) 93 IP of 77 ERA- | 73 FIP- 22yo JD Thompson (ACL/A+/AA) 41 IP of 79 ERA- | 78 FIP- 21yo Wande Torres (A+) 104 IP of 85 ERA- | 88 FIP- 19yo Ethan Dorchies (A+) 98 IP of 94 ERA- | 94 FIP- 20yo Josh Knoth (ACL/A+) 63 IP of 86 ERA- | 76 FIP- 20yo Jayden Dubanewicz (ACL/A/A+) 69 IP of 80 ERA- | 92 FIP- 22yo Andrew Healy (A/A+) 69 IP of 81 ERA- | 83 FIP- 21yo Jose Meneses (A/A+) 52 IP of 48 ERA- | 62 FIP- 21yo Daniel Corniel (ACL/A+) 43 IP of 69 ERA- | 89 FIP- 19yo Miqueas Mercedes (A) 62 IP of 64 ERA- | 88 FIP- 18yo Diustin Mayorquin (ACL/A) 58 IP of 80 ERA- | 92 FIP- 19yo Derlin Garcia (DSL) 56 IP of 57 ERA- | 75 FIP- 18yo Raymond Sarmiento (DSL) 48 IP of 55 ERA- | 78 FIP- 19yo Paul Hoff (DSL) 44 IP of 31 ERA- | 66 FIP- 17yo Alexander Mercedes (DSL) 34 IP of 99 ERA- | 73 FIP-

They're kind of like the AA version of the Nationals. Also already wrapped up a playoff spot winning the 1st Half Championship.

2023 1st Half 49 W - 42 L (.538 W%) 2023 2nd Half 43 W - 28 L (.607 W%) 2024 1st Half 55 W - 42 L (.567 W%) 2024 2nd Half 38 W - 27 L (.585 W%) 2025 1st Half 56 W - 40 L (.583 W%) 2025 2nd Half 41 W - 25 L (.621 W%) 2026 1st Half 59 W - 37 L (.615 W%) 2026 2nd Half (so far) 19 W - 11 L (.633 W%) ...they're doing it again...

Seattle pitchers benefit greatly from their home park... 2026 SEA Home 3.32 ERA (2nd) | 3.60 FIP (4th) | .289 wOBA (4th) 2026 SEA Road 4.40 ERA (17th) | 3.95 FIP (5th) | .324 wOBA (17th) Going back to 2022 their 3,095 runs allowed are 4th fewest in MLB, but they've pitched to a 3.22 ERA (1st) | 3.56 FIP (2nd) | .279 wOBA (1st) at home versus a 4.21 ERA (13th) | 4.17 FIP (16th) | .317 wOBA (15th) on the road.

The Brewers 129 wRC+ at 2B is the best in MLB. The Dodgers are at an 87 wRC+ (22nd), the Cubs a 96 wRC+ (15th), the Braves have a 102 wRC+ (12th). The Brewers 145 wRC+ at 1B is third in MLB. The Braves aren't far off at a 141 wRC+ (5th), the Dodgers are 9th with a 130 wRC+, while the Cubs are 20th with a 107 wRC+. The Brewers 74 wRC+ at SS is 27th on the year, but has been considerably upgraded since Cooper Pratt (103 wRC+) came up. The Braves have been even worse with a 61 wRC+ (29th), while the Dodgers 89 wRC+ (17th) and Cubs 96 wRC+ (14th) are more middle of the pack. The Brewers 83 wRC+ at 3B is 24th on the year, but that is mostly dragged down by 193 PA of 58 wRC+ from Rengifo. Ortiz has been fire at the hot corner with a 131 wRC+ over 92 PA there, while Hamilton's 90 wRC+ over his 170 PA at 3B is fine for a speedy #8/9 hitter. Dodgers 133 wRC+ (2nd) is best of the top NL contenders with the Cubs in 13th at a 102 wRC+, while the Braves and Austin Riley (86 wRC+) have hit worse than Bunty. Put it all together and here are how those four infields stack up in a few different counting stats (manually computed the total infield Off | WAR | DRS | FRV so no thirty team rankings there) plus their combined wRC+ for all four spots... BREWERS 1B: 79 R (4th) | 28.8 Off (1st) | 2.8 WAR (9th) 2B: 79 R (3rd) | 20.3 Off (1st) | 4.5 WAR (1st) SS: 54 R (22nd) | -13.5 Off (27th) | 0.8 WAR (23rd) 3B: 47 R (24th) | -7.0 Off (20th) | 1.6 WAR (18th) IF: 259 R (8th) | 28.6 Off | 9.7 WAR | 109 wRC+ (5th) DEF: +30 DRS | +5 FRV [first base defense (-7 DRS | -11 FRV) kills their WAR. Rengifo (-13.0 Off | -0.7 WAR) eats into the totals some too. DRS loves their work at 2B (+16), 3B (+13) and SS (+8) this year. FRV typically lagging behind at +9, +4, +3 for those same three positions (which also cuts into their WAR here since that is what FG uses as their defensive input). Quick look at BRef (5.2 Wins Above Average) has them as the best infield] DODGERS 1B: 63 R (17th) | 18.1 Off (7th) | 2.9 WAR (6th) 2B: 57 R (17th) | -7.5 Off (22nd) | 1.5 WAR (18th) SS: 62 R (15th) | -7.4 Off (19th) | 2.2 WAR (16th) 3B: 73 R (3rd) | 19.5 Off (3rd) | 4.1 WAR (2nd) IF: 255 R (11th) | 22.7 Off | 10.7 WAR | 110 wRC+ (4th) DEF: +23 DRS | +18 FRV [worst second base production of the four teams, career worst year for Mookie (90 wRC+), and they are still the most Postseason Bona Fide Offense anyway, though BRef has them slightly behind the Brewers at 4.5 Wins Above Average on the year] CUBS 1B: 54 R (25th) | 1.5 Off (22nd) | 1.5 WAR (19th) 2B: 58 R (14th) | 0.7 Off (12th) | 2.6 WAR (8th) SS: 79 R (5th) | 2.7 Off (9th) | 3.6 WAR (5th) 3B: 64 R (12th) | 1.6 Off (14th) | 2.7 WAR (10th) IF: 255 R (10th) | 6.5 Off | 10.4 WAR | 100 wRC+ (16th) DEF: +18 DRS | +25 FRV [solid across the board, but nothing spectacular with Bregman (112 wRC+), Busch (109 wRC+), Hoerner (94 wRC+), and Swanson (95 wRC+ before hitting the IL) getting the lions share of the reps starting all but 31 games for the Cubs infield. BRef says they have been 4.3 Wins Above Average] BRAVES 1B: 89 R (1st) | 26.6 Off (4th) | 4.2 WAR (1st) 2B: 74 R (5th) | 0.7 Off (13th) | 1.7 WAR (15th) SS: 55 R (21st) | -21.0 Off (29th) | 0.0 WAR (29th) 3B: 54 R (21st) | -8.4 Off (23rd) | 1.1 WAR (24th) IF: 272 R (3rd) | -2.1 Off | 7.0 WAR | 99 wRC+ (18th) DEF: +16 DRS | +4 FRV [easily the worst infield of the four primary NL contenders, buoyed only by another monster season from Matt Olson (140 wRC+) plus a tread water one from Ozzie Albies (98 wRC+). BRef sees them as being 1.8 Wins Above Average so far]

When they run out an outfield of Bauers (143 wRC+), Chourio (120 wRC+), and Mitchell (109 wRC+) they have three outfielders that can all hit to varying degrees. Since Chourio and Vaughn returned on May 4th Brewers outfielders have a 105 wRC+ that is 10th in MLB and 146 runs scored that are 6th in MLB. The Brewers 59 W - 33 L record since that date is the best in MLB by 4.5 games over each of TBR and BOS. Over the same stretch the Dodgers OF are at a 97 wRC+ and 141 runs scored (& they've lost six games to the Brewers in the standings), while the Braves OF are at a 107 wRC+ and 135 runs scored (& they've lost nine game to the Brewers in the standings). The Cubs have an MLB best 124 wRC+ and 171 runs scored from their OF since May 4th and they've still gone ahead and lost nine games to the Brewers in the standings too over that stretch anyway. The outfield has hurt the Brewers chances of winning of a daily basis so much that they've got the best record in MLB (again) and are only on a 100 Win pace in a season when even the most optimistic fans expected them to take a step back from their Franchise Record 97 Wins last year. Going all the way back to 2024 the Brewers have won the most games in MLB with their outfielders coming in at 105 wRC+ (10th) | +32.5 BsR (2nd) | +46 DRS (5th) | +32 FRV (4th) | 25.3 WAR (5th) | 725 Runs Scored (5th). Those outfield fielding numbers are a big part of the equation for the Brewers running an MLB best 3.58 ERA since 2024 with a -0.34 run gap between that and their 3.92 FIP (7th). Get a lot of fly balls (105 FB+ | t-4th), which result in a lower BABIP (95 BABIP+ | t-1st) and fewer hits (93 AVG+ | t-1st) with that Top Five OF defense behind them, en route to an MLB best strand rate (105 LOB+ | 1st), which has helped them shave a third of a run per game off their peripheral indicators for 449 games now.

There are currently 379 individual Brewers player seasons with at least 400 PA in Franchise History. As of now Bauers 143 wRC+ is tied with 1978 and 1981 Gorman Thomas for spots #21 to 23 on the leaderboard. The Top Twenty features Braun (x4), Prince (x3), Yount (x3), Molitor (x2), Cooper (x2), Yelich (x2), 1970 Harper, 1978 Hisle, 1979 Sixto, and 1980 Oglivie.

Pirates went 123 W - 201 L for a .380 W% (2nd worst in MLB) from 2021 to 2022. From 2023 to 2025 they improved to 223 W - 263 L for a .459 W% that was 25th in MLB. After finishing last year with a 3.83 FIP (3rd) | 3.76 ERA (7th) | 3.98 RA/G (5th) but an 82 wRC+ (29th) and 3.60 RS/G (30th) they went about as ALL IN as it gets in Pittsburgh to fix the offense, hopefully have their first winning season since 2018, and maybe even get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2015. And the first part worked, this year they have a 105 wRC+ (6th) and 5.02 RS/G (3rd). But just like all those bones in our bodies are connected together, the offense is inextricably linked to the defense. So far this year Pirates pitchers have been a little worse with a 3.92 FIP (7th), but their 4.31 ERA is 20th and their 4.79 RA/G is 24th. The only teams with a bigger wrong way gap between their FIP and ERA are the Rockies (+0.65) who play half their games on a mountain and the A's (+0.51) who play half their games in a rinky dink AAA park.