tmwiese55

League average replacement level RH OF who should cost very little. Same type of SP, who should cost very little. Just league avg/replacement level types. And if they get lucky with Perkins keeping this up and Mitchell/Chourio hitting better over the next 6 weeks might not need the OF. With the gap between them and LAD/Phi/ATL I wouldn't be giving up any legit prospect capital unless its for several years of control. Which I guess would apply to Robert and those CWS pitchers too. Otherwise, generally stay the course with Canha/Santana level pick ups for OF and SP. And I suppose a Rosario type I saw above can't hurt for backup IF and to cover if someone gets hurt, again as long as it doesn't cost legit prospects

Of course we all see the injury issue. But have to remember its also the only reason he's available and why his contract isn't outlandish. For a small market team, this is a risk you have to consider. Lots of players who are injury prone have it go away and stay healthy, and lots stay being injury prone. A team like MKE can't buy players at market cost without flaws but one like this they can and then cross your fingers you can get lucky. Financially, yes there will likely be one overlap year with Hoskins (I assume as of now that he'll pick up his option and be back) next year but after that you're essentially just moving Hoskins money over to him. Before this year we've spending the 8-10 mil on the Mccutcheon/Winker veteran types, well this guy is only like 8 mil more than that. So it really comes down to prospect costs imo. And yea if he still commands a ridiculous haul then pass on him and carry on as is. But, with the issues mentioned and that in general nobody gives up top top shelf prospects anymore my guess is it wouldn't be absurd. Especially since we'd almost assuredly be giving up a ML ready OF Frelick/Mitchell type so that's a solid starting block. I guess I'd also note I'm much more skeptical on our young OFs than most and don't see the harm in a cash out while you can type strategy on them. ETA: I guess if you do get lucky and he can stay healthier keep in mind you'll be able to trade him for a larger package before his FA season as well. Could apply the 'cash out' idea to him as well if you can get a healthy 2025 or 26 out of him

Nothing changed for me. I think I've mentioned a few times I wouldn't be trading anything significant at the deadline due to the gap between us and Phi/ATL/LAD. I thought they're a tier below those teams and this kind of reinforced it. To the consistent O talk. Yes things have improved this year but I'd say the biggest thing of the last few years that frustrates us or could be improved is having all 9 guys be at least league avg/ok guys rather than having 2-3 guys each day you feel are easy outs. This was helped last year by guys like Canha and Santana cleaning up two spots to be competent. Right now you have at least RF and any days there's subs in then at least 2 spots. Perkins has at least bounced back from that slump but you still have a bit of uneasiness with him too. So its better than in past years (and likely why the numbers are better this year) that had 3B and issues at 2b, OF, and 1B/DH. But improve by adding at least one competent OF goes a long way

Well it sure would've been nice if they didn't get these comebacks from the White Sox. Hard to believe CWS can be that bad. But yea to the CC stuff, I know I joked about how he won't make it all 5 years, which I don't think he will. I still think he's a good manager and he was good for us. Its just the cubs, Chicago media/fans, their situation, etc where I think he's put himself in a tough spot with high expectations and that teams is very unlikely to live up to them. Fast forward 3 years of being mediocre like their roster should be (barring ridiculous FA moves) and I think he'll get pushed out

Feels so much like the playoffs th last few years. Get up against good pitching and the O just collapses. And somehow how MASH unit of a pitching staff keeps getting results even against a top lineup

Well I'm convinced Ashby is legit

At least he didn't go down looking

I think he's gonna love 2027-2028 when he's chilling with his family getting paid 8 mil to do nothing.

One thing I noticed with our games vs them and others that have been on TV lately is the talk about Swanson. Things like 'get him outta here before he gets hot', "this won't last long" and just in general this talk like he's some kind of great hitter. Of course, what he's doing this year is worse than expected and some bounce back should come. But the guys essentially been a mediocre hitter his whole career, but they talk about like this is prime Braun all of a sudden OPSing .650. He's a .750ish type guy but due to his name and them giving a terrible contract its talked about like he's some masher.

Yea there wasn't an easy pull up. And sure ok, but still doesn't mean he hasn't been generally fine/good and our standards are high and have to remember people can't be perfect. Most teams would love for his results from a mid innings guy being paid league min. Including last night, 5/10 of his last games he's given up 0 hits or BBs. And that was only his 2nd BS of the year. Personally, for a bullpen full of guys who suck they sure get good results.

Obviously can't remember every game as they run together and there isn't a quick way to game log inherited runners. But on frangraphs, he's only given up a hit in like 3 of his last 10 games before tonight. His season LOB% is 77.5%. I don't really know a comp % on that stat so I grabbed the Baltimore setup man Cano who is very good and should probably be their closer, he's in the low 70%s. Then grabbed former Brewer great Will Smith who's had like a 12 year career as a solid middle/setup guy and won multiple WS and his career % is 73%. I know we have grown accustomed to ridiculous pitching standards the last few years, but these guys just can't be perfect.

Guys, Elvis has a sub 3 era and that's the 2nd run he's given up in his last 10 outings. He's given up like 4 runs since mid April.

Yea survive a couple weeks until some guys are back, maybe trade for a blah innings eater type. But its crazy to have been hit like this and somehow still be in 1st by this much

yea that's why attacking him over it is overboard. He said exactly that with tons of caveats and did not pass it off good as again. He passed it off as there might be a possible sliver of hope for him not sucking.

I mean yea, that's exactly what he said he was doing. He basically just said "hey the guy finally had two good starts after he's sucked for a long time, hopefully we get lucky here and get something out of him". That's it, nothing too crazy warranting all this

I haven't done any digging on what SP might be available. But I'd guess we'd just be grabbing a mid level guy who hopefully costs very little to acquire. I'd question if higher level guys needing high prospects is really even out there, but even so with the gap from LA/Phi/ATL to us I don't think they should be forking over anyone significant. Get a league avg ok guy to hopefully eat some innings along with our guys coming off IL, hope you can get lucky in the playoffs.

Yea after that incident I'm sure he's off the list and might have been anyway. Essentially you could get roughly the same thing out of Tyrone Taylor (Pharm probably a tad more reliable on O) for the same or less cost and you know the team likes him. Should be several other guys if you look around the bottom 12 teams.

From what I can tell. One year 2.5 mil. Basically league min

During the weekend I was thinking Pham is the exact level of player they could use to finish the year. Fine at D, right hand hitting league avg hitting OF, who costs very little in pay and little in cost to acquire. Knew he's had some personality issue type things in the past but it had been a few years. Then he goes 5 ft inside the baseline out of his way to try to run into a C, then he gets mad that the catcher gets upset about it, makes a scene and continues with it in postgame. So yea, think he's out and likely why he's toiling around on CWS. But, if Frelick/Chourio etc don't start hitting more this month a guy about his level would help

I had it on in the background. He did an in game with the Cubs announcers. He really seemed a bit beaten down and no energy, basically sounded bored and not into it. Funny part of the broadcast is apparently the Cubs thought wearing their socks on the wrong feet today would really snap them out of their funk. Don't get me wrong, superstitions happen all over baseball and can be fun. But you can't like pre-plan one or kind of talk into happening. Something like that has to happen on accident, like Joe Schmo wears on wrong feet then hits 2 HRs that day and everyone realizes it, so everyone starts doing it

Brian Kenney on MLB talks Mets a lot and how they should teardown and rebuild. In it he puts up the contracts they owe and its laughable how bad they are. Pretty much every one of them when signed people like us would've said 'well that'll be a bad contract' and they're all worse than we would've guessed. Things like 160 mil for Nimmo. Just a terrible spending spree where the agents had to just be laughing their way to the bank. All those "needle movers" have moved in the wrong direction. Yea, Stearns probably gets a 2-3 year pass here to clear through some of these contracts. Step one could be trading Alonso rather than paying him 300 mil that he won't live up to.

With the lead they have and the state of the division they should be looking to add a Taylor/Canha level RH OF bat to finish the year. With the WS still being a longshot due to LA/ATL/PHI you don't need to chase a big name or anyone that would cost legit prospect capital. Just a proven RH league avg OFer who's fine at D. Add that person and Hoskins and you have a descent and deep lineup most days. Other things to note in this discussion, if his target is the 17th thats still several weeks where someone else can get hurt or even he has a delay of some kind. Someone always gets hurt though. I agree Chourio could use a 2-4 week breather to clear his head. Go back down, work on things, see himself hitting well again to get feeling right/confident again and then come back. But yea, with no other RH options it probably can't happen unless they trade for someone.

At time of trade I think I was of the opinion that you'd probably get a similar return in the offseason so what was the rush messing with a playoff team. But, there was real fear that his slump could prolong and crater his offseason value. So I get it. Plus they brought back Rodgers as the 'insurance' for that year, unfortunately he flopped like Hader did too. Think of it from the perspective of if Rodgers is what he'd been then him vs Hader for 20 inning is negligible or at least greatly minimized. But even still they did well in this and as shrewd as it is unfortunately it is what has to be done in our market. Of course management doesn't get everything right, but this seems to be one they did. And returns look good so far on Burnes too.

Yup. Was talking about this at the game Monday. Definitely their biggest thing the last 7ish years that has led to their success and overachievement. They churn over these pitchers every year and keep on producing. All the injuries this year and you throw guys like Wilson, Tobias and others out there and get your 3-4 innings somehow, and bullpen takes care of it. Of course this year without the top line starters we all have a 'how long can this continue' fear but here we are 1/3 of the way and its still humming

Yea just get your 2/3 from them and move on. I think Philly during the week next so