Humans Need Water

Subluxated my left shoulder and then dislocated it completely a few weeks later in high school football. Had a bankart reconstruction but either subluxated or completely dislocated the shoulder about 10-12 more times over the next 25 years. The instability has occurred in multiple directions and under different motions. The effect on my overall proprioception and sense of balance/symmetry has been profound. There's a lot of scar tissue as well. And with all that, there have been times that I felt 100%, just like Jimmy Nelson is saying now. But it was never 100% structurally sound, no matter how good it felt, and that's usually the case with surgeries - especially shoulders, which have very poor success rates compared to, say, torn ACLs or UCLs. Also have a labrum torn in two places in my right shoulder. First had problems with overextending to stock high shelves for years, then tore the back of the labrum whipping a pass to someone behind me, followed by a minor anterior labral tear from lifting weights and then a more serious one from throwing too hard without warming up. I opted against surgery this time because it often doesn't make much difference for shoulders (and sometimes makes it worse). Bottom line, you just have to rehab the heck out of it, keep the rotator cuff as strong and healthy as possible, and hope for the best... but you can never have your original shoulder back, and trying to do the same things you did before will often lead to problems. So I don't know how many shoulder experts there are here, but you better believe there's at least one. Am I reading this correctly - you're saying you're a shoulder expert due to your personal injuries? All of which *aren't* what Nelson had surgery for nor are you working with the minds/experts he's working with. And that doesn't even touch on comparing your body to his in general. Step off your pedestal - you're not a Dr. You're not board certified. You're an ex-patient. The biggest problem in this discussion is people *assuming* those who are backing Nelson are saying he'll be at his 2017 level when literally nobody is saying that. Him being back means he'll be an effective starter, which also means he'll be better than a lot of other starters in that case. Literally nobody is saying he's 100% not going to be injured again moving forward or it's impossible there will be setbacks/flareups. The conversation is about him being ready come the end of March and how ready will that be or will it leak over to April before he can get to 100+ pitches and be deep in games. And all the evidence we have thus far says he's on pace with everyone else. Nelson literally just said a bit ago he was scheduled to have a live BP session next but the team met in the middle with him so they're bumping it up to intrasquad game.

This may have had something to do with the Brewers having an expanded roster for the month he was with them. I think the leash would be significantly longer if he were to be re-signed. Nothing would change. Gio had 5 starts the final month averaging 5 innings per start. 5.2 in 89 pitches 4.2 in 89 6 in 90 4 in 69 (3er) 5 in 74 (won 11-0 and guerra/lyles finished it so no reason to leave gio in) Gio would be a good addition to the team in both the rotation or pen. Another experienced lefty who can help.

1 - zero issues with his shoulder 2 - he's on the same pace and program as every other pitcher in camp 3 - his velocity is better at this point than usually is 4 - he, and the team, have felt great about every pen/live session he's had thus far (20-40 pitches each) 5 - there's 3.5wks until opening day so depending where he slots in the rotation he has 3.5-4wks to finish getting ready It's easy to say there's zero evidence showing anything when you ignore all the evidence. The only difference between his 20 or so pitch, 1 inning performance yesterday in live session compared to what Chacin, Woodruff, Peralta have done thus far is the batters they faced were in a game. But that doesn't matter much right now given Nelson's experience. He's doing one more live session before game action. And if he's not able to get up to 100+ pitches in spring then the Brewers can use April to get him from X number of pitches to Y given how the pen is built. Nelson isn't injured right now. Neither is Davies. Pitchers come back after missing large chunks or full seasons all the time. *Right now* they're healthy. They're no longer injured. They're on the same pace/program as everyone else. Maybe they are injured moving forward but that can literally be said about, and happen to, any player. All that matters is right now they're healthy and they're on the same pace/program as everyone else.

No question. I guess I'll use the word "serviceable." If he can even get back to that level, where he pitches every 5th day and he's serviceable I would consider he's "back." Even with that low bar, I have serious doubts he can return to even that level. Totally disagree with this negative line of thinking. His labrum tear was on The front part of shoulder not the back like all other pitching injuries. Based upon this fact doctors say this injury less devastating To a pitcher And should make a full recovery. He was at 88-91 last sept in instructs. Now 20lbs heavier said he’s throwing harder with movement,breaking ball Sharper in fact he said all his pitches better than ever. I agree with on the black, surprise player of the year YES. It's annoying people continually skip over this fact. His tear was on the *opposite* side of the shoulder pitchers always tear and struggle to come back from. Nelson is clearly on his way back to where he was. There has been zero evidence suggesting otherwise. The only question is whether he'll be ready to throw 90-100 pitches opening day or if it'll take a little longer to do so.

Harper to Phillies has long been the rumor so it's not surprising. Nor is the amount given he turned down 10/300 so you knew it was going to be north of that. Will be interesting to see what happens with Keuchel now

Tatis' looked like Machado's in game 1 of the NLCS. I think it would've gotten out. It might if it's over far enough to the left but I don't think it is. I think it gets upper half of the wall where it severely cuts in

By the time he got his head turned around it was already over the fence. Hedges just hit one that hasn't landed yet too. I was really hopeful that Anderson would figure out his HR issues, but early returns are not looking too promising. Hedges was a bomb. Tatis HR would be a double at Miller Park.

Reed is far from Haniger. All these guys will be AAAA players

Outstanding

Here's a better link...

I don't see it with Taylor or Stokes. I think both follow the Michael Reed path. Turang had an excellent AB - very impressive approach for a kid who recently turned 19

Zack Brown starting today and fingers crossed it's Turang filling in for a sick Dubon given the game is on TV. EDIT: puke it's Orf in for Dubon even though Turang was on the travel list today

I see the rotation as locked in at Nelson, Chacin, Davies, Chase, Burnes barring injury or an additional arm acquired. Pen being Hader, Knebel, Jeffress, Claudio, Albers, Woodruff, Guerra. When they roll with 13 arms it's one of Peralta (if not filling in for someone in rotation), Barnes, Williams, Houser at first crack depending how the schedule breaks. Brown, Tomlin, Wahl will pitch at some point as well most likely.

Agree with this perspective. Those 4yrs are what you expect to get from Marwin but his 2017 also shows he possesses the ability to achieve beyond what he's done thus far. Not that it'll happen but it's possible. Whereas Perez doesn't have that ability. The past 3yrs he's slashed 262/294/411/705 (83 wrc+) and that *includes* his 2016. Marwin is definitely better than Perez offensively and even if you remove his 2017 his wrc+ is still 20pts+ higher than Perez. While I was never opposed to targeting Marwin because him and Dubon would have everything covered I'm also hard core against paying him what he wants to be paid because I think he's nothing more than a better Perez. Which is no doubt valuable but not that price-tag valuable, especially when Hiura is up this year and still have the OF in tact next year + Ray. Marwin will literally take Perez's spot as he isn't starting over anyone.

Agree. When you read Nottingham's write-up, independent of his 20/80 grades and system ranking, you'd absolutely think he's in the top 10 in the system and a starting catcher once ready. He's had a wrc+ below 103 *once* in his career between A-AAA. He was 3yrs young for level in AA and that was the year they first broke him down (literally) defensively to start rebuilding him. And his wrc+ was 87 (not good but not horrific given his position and age/level). The Brewers and their AA/AAA managers seem to believe he's definitely a MLB starting catcher based on comments they've made in the past.

Is it terrible to think we have a decent top 6? We have 6 Top 100 caliber prospects whether they have a Top 100 in front of their name or not. They're good

Obviously that's going to be the case - as I've said for months. There's always breaks in the calendar (usually first part) where you can bullpen a game, etc and still keep everyone rested. Counsell wasn't stating we're going with 5 rotation arms and nobody else will start and everyone is throwing 100 pitches. He was clearly starting we're going with a rotation and we need that rotation to get as many outs as possible. So when that happens 90% of the time that's pretty black and white. So you're agreeing that there is some grey area? Sounds good. We are on the same page. No. Because the grey area you're talking about is a common or consistent happening. The tandem approach, lefty starting vs Carpenter (if he's leadoff) aren't common or consistent happenings. Sounds good. Glad to see you're on my page...aka the page the Brewers showed everyone last year until Sept aka the page Consell just showed us a few days ago when he said he needs the rotation to eat up innings

To you first point, that sounds reasonable. I don’t doubt your point of view is on some level salient. I’m not debating the causes; I’m debating the effect. Home run-strike out driven baseball is boring to some. I also like European football better than basketball because I’m not a fan of cheap offense. So what if I like pitchers duels better than barrages of runs. It doesn’t matter. I fundamentally disagree with your second point. I do believe that variety equals quality. You don’t agree. You’ve got every right to think so. I support your right to think so. It’s just that it’s ruining the game for me. That’s okay too. Who the heck am I? The one thing I can say with certainty is that I do love baseball though. The fact is you don’t know me and that’s an unfair statement. I’ve played it constantly in my youth, as an adult I watch it, read about it, listen to podcasts,heck, I’ve even authored two small press books of poetry about baseball. They’re not very good and have long ago disappeared from the shelves, but they are tangible proof of my love of baseball. My ideas might be poor; you might be intellectually superior, I wouldn’t presume, but I don’t lie: I care deeply about baseball. Take care friend. I agree with you on some points and not on others. I'm not solely for increased offense either. Pitchers duels are equally as fun to watch as 11-10 games. But you can have both of those outcomes without the pitcher embarrassing himself in the box 2-3x per game while not sacrificing strategy in the process. That's all I'm saying. And I personally think the number of offensive players should mirror the number of defensive players. Good day, Sir

The Brewers starters are going to operate how they've always operated. We missed the playoffs by 1 game in 2017 and Nelson averaged 6 innings per start, Davies 5.2ip, Chase 5.2ip and Chacin the past 2yrs has averaged 5.2ip. These dudes are almost going 6 complete innings. If they pitch like they're capable of this won't change. Counsell literally said this last week. That he needs them to eat up innings.

People keep pushing this and it's simply disingenuous. Their offense bit them. It was not their lack of having a big time SP. It's stuck because it is easiest thing to say after a cursory glance. Did you watch the games? We quite literally lost the series because our best reliever during the regular season was gassed during the postseason. Obviously the offense went cold too, but the 2018 team was always a bullpen-first team. Jeffress wasn't gassed. He last pitched in the regular season on Sept 29. His next game was Oct 4 giving up 2 ER (18 pitches). He then had 5 days off between series and there was a one day then 4 day window in the LAD series between throwing. Jeffress had an neck injury he dealt with at the very end of the season, which is why he wasn't available for game 163.

With this mind set there's no way you've been a fan of baseball for 54yrs. Baseball hasn't decided it's about K and HR. Ever think that part of the reason Ks are up is because everyone throws 97mph? Part of the reason HR are up is players are bigger, faster, stronger, more explosive. One of the reasons MLB wants to calm down shifting is because it's robbing plenty of hits resulting in less offense. The DH is one way to solve that issue. Variety doesn't automatically equal quality. MLB has variety between DH in AL and starting pitchers hitting in the NL using double switches later in the game. But the quality of offense provided by starting pitchers hitting is poor and there's no strategy in choosing between a pinch hitter or double switch. Again, the first 2/3 of every game the AL and NL operate exactly the same strategy wise the only difference being the NL has one automatic out every time through the order. There's always been a generic design forever when it comes to ballparks. Polo Grounds, Baker Bowl, Fenway, etc aren't the norm and never were. You can't hate on MLB for being a simple K/HR driven game today then suggest new stadiums have foul lines/gaps that are 260-300'. Players today can throw the ball farther than that.

Too funny coming from someone who claims to know what *real* baseball is Yes the lowest common denominator! Baseball has determined that it’s all about strike outs and home runs. The game used to have a variety of players and strategies. That is being slowly drained away. I for one think triples are more exciting than homers. That stolen bases are better than walks. That Rod Carew bunting is amazing. I miss the sheer variety. It’s a generic sport now. That was one of the good things about last years: the 3 inning reliever. That hasn’t been around for a while and it’s revival was awesome. Who didn’t love what Hader and Burnes and Woodruff could do?! It was great because it was different. Yes the lowest common denominator! The variety? Except hitting triples isn't a skill. Part of it is luck based on where the position player is lined up and/or the kick off the wall someone gets or OF running into each other. If everyone in the OF plays straight up then it amounts to big time speed that few have always possessed. I agree with you on the drag bunting and it's beyond annoying that more players don't do it, especially against a shift where it can be an easy hit. Sac bunting is what it is - analytics say don't give away outs. So while it was a strategy at one point that doesn't mean it was a good strategy. Hader and Burnes threw 3 innings *once*. Woodruff did it 3x out of the pen. While it's different it's not common. It sounds like what you want is something that's different *and* common. Hey, I know what teams could try, how about defensive shifting every batter? How about putting career corner IF (3b) up the middle (2b)? If only the game was different and we saw a variety of (new) strategies, right? There's still strategy involved in the game - that's never going to change.

I'll be there this same weekend making it 6 of the past 8yrs for me. The 4 minor league fields seem to be in the same place with the cages/mounds also in the same location just updated/upgraded. There's walking lanes on each side of the fields, essentially a massive cross if you're looking from an aerial view. If it all remains the same the players walk back and forth on these lanes so you can interact with them at that point in time while also literally standing next to a fence while the pitchers throw sessions and dudes take BP 10' from you. Autographs, balls, conversations all happen here. I always tell people if you're going there multiple days back to back ask one of the coaches what the schedule looks like the next day as, if they give it to you to browse, you can see times, which field which players are on, etc. Some of the MLB guys are always on the Minor League side getting work in so you won't just see Minor Leaguers. Try to get there 2-3hrs before game time (ie 10-11am) but they'll have a day off so you want to make sure you know which day that is so you're not showing up when nothing's happening. No idea what type of restaurants you, and those you're going with, are interested in or what makes sense but Cafe Monarch is outstanding, Grimaldi's (same chain as in Brookfield) has several locations there but downtown Scottsdale is the best, Scottsdale Brewing Company, if you like frozen yogurt there's plenty of Yogurtland's around (way better than any places we have here). For breakfast - Butters, Breakfast Club, Alo Cafe are a few. Now for my Breakfast Club story from ST 2017. Braun, Scooter, Garza, Bandy had breakfast there a couple hours before we did and their waitress knew this old man seated at the other end of this 10 person table we were sharing. This old guy had to have ties to the Brewers or MLB. She says the four of them were rehashing the story of a bet they made the first day of camp after they ran their sprints. Scooter didn't partake in the bet so it was Braun, Garza, Bandy. The bet was if Bandy didn't run from home to 1b in less than X seconds (can't recall what it was) over the course of the first full week of camp he'd owe Braun/Garza 10K each and if he ran it under that time they'd each pay him 10K. Bandy lost. So he went to the local currency exchange place and gave Braun 10K in shekels in a yamaka and gave Garza 10K in pesos in a sombrero. Good times. Check out an ASU baseball game at night. It's NBA/NHL season (NHL arena is next to AZ Cardinals stadium and a nice area to check out - Westgate Entertainment District - and it's like 5min down the road from where the Dodgers/White Sox play). Can tour the Dbacks or Cardinals stadiums. There's a mini shopping/restaurant strip on ASU campus too you can check out...can even Kayak in the damn right there. Check out other spring training stadiums. Can go whitewater rafting 1.5-2hrs east of Scottsdale (it's around that ghost town area). Hike Camelback Mountain. There's a ton of stuff to do and the weather is usually awesome early-mid March.

Comparing weak hitting *position* players with weak hitting *non-position* players (pitchers) is apples to oranges. But since you think they're comparable.... 2018 MLB C - 233/304/678 2018 MLB 2b - 254/317/714 2018 MLB SS - 259/317/733 2018 MLB P - 115/144/293 Also, there are 12-13 pitchers on every team over the course of the season. 7-8 of those pitchers *never* walk to the plate (pen arms). For those who want pitchers to hit change your narrative to "I want *starting* pitchers to hit" because none of you want pen arms to hit so stop speaking in general regarding pitchers hitting. *HALF* of pitchers PA are *currently* coming from position players (DH/pinch hitters/double switches). A NL Manager literally has two options when the starting pitcher is removed or their spot in the order comes up - pinch hitter or double switch. This isn't strategy - it's common sense. It's a basic decision made every single game by every single manager. With the DH a manager can still sub players in based on splits/career success vs a certain pitcher/pinch runner/defensive replacement/etc etc. Double switches still exist in the AL as well you just don't see it much for obvious reasons. I'm for the DH for two main reasons - (1) pitchers are as close to an automatic out as there is and (2) I'm tired of teams having an easy escape out of an inning by intentionally walking the 8 hitter with 2 outs to get to the pitcher. It's not interesting to watch. It's depressing and boring. *I forgot to mention if the DH is implemented for the 2022 season we can then have Dubon at 2b and Hiura at DH....both with 4yrs control still.

Too funny coming from someone who claims to know what *real* baseball is