Ron Robinsons Beard

I don't think Reyes makes the initial roster, but his versatility will play. He'll be up with the club at some point. Stearns loves those "do everything" types too much for him to be down long.

I think you are pretty close, except I think Arcia will make the team over Reyes. Arcia is pretty good against lefties as well.

I think that the Bradley acquisition likely helps Vogelbach's chances of making the club. Bradley's ability to play all 3 OF positions means that the Brewers could theoretically get away with keeping only four true OFers (Yelich, Cain, Garcia, Bradley), and with Robertson's and Arcia's ability to play OF, it spells doom for Fisher and McKinney's chances, and probably Taylor's as well. A lot will depend on whether they decide to keep 13 or 14 pitchers at the outset of the season.

Apologies if I missed this, but don’t they have to be under the cap by the full RB tag amount to be able to flip Jones? That seems like a tall order, given how COVID has complicated the Packers’ cap situation. They would have to restructure or extend Rodgers, and restructure Adams, along with make a few other moves. But it could be done. Not super easily, but I think this is the best course of action, rather than just to let him walk for a 2022 4th round comp pick. That's what the article said as well.

Of course you are correct. But I think that the Brewers probably would have found a permanent spot for Perez had he proven to have a good enough bat to warrant it. So I guess I was comparing him to other utility guys around the league. As a straight utility guy, his bat played. Sorry for not being more specific in my initial post.

I don't know. That .730 OPS he put up in 400 ABs in 2016 would have looked damn good on last year's Brewers bench. He had 13 HRs and a .272 batting average that year. If that isn't even close to "above average", you have a very high "average" bar. A 90 wRc+ which he had in 2016 is by definition below average. Low OBP but high (comparatively) slugging guys look better with OPS, but even then the league average (non-pitchers) that year was .751, for an OPS+ of 91. If someone's best season as a hitter is below average, he's not an above average hitter. He also never came close to those numbers before or after 2016. Above average for a super utility man? I haven't studied their numbers in detail, but he might be. But that wasn't the claim. My claim was that he was a player "who in his prime was an above average hitter with decent pop who could play competently anywhere on the diamond." I never said that he should be compared to the average MLB 3B. He was a solid utility guy, and in that role, was damn good for a couple seasons. Perhaps that was an overgeneralization, but I remember him as a solid piece of a team that, frankly, didn't have a ton of solid pieces. And yeah, 2016-17 are probably his prime years. Since he was pretty young at the time, my hope was that he'd continue to improve, but unfortunately he plateaued, and is now hanging on the perfory of the majors, despite being at an age where he should theoretically still be in his prime. He just never really got better, unfortunately.

I don't know. That .730 OPS he put up in 400 ABs in 2016 would have looked damn good on last year's Brewers bench. He had 13 HRs and a .272 batting average that year. If that isn't even close to "above average", you have a very high "average" bar.

You really think third base is the only huge question mark. I think the entire lineup is one gigantic question with few answers other than Yelich. The pitching and defense should be solid but this lineup looks like one huge snooze fest begging for some real answers. Yep. They'll be good in the other OF spots between Cain, Garcia and Bradley. Hiura should be fine at 1B, Wong is going to be consistent at 2B, and hopefully Urias can recover and take SS by the horns. If he doesn't, Arcia is going to have to continue the growth he showed last season. Narvaez should be be fine, as I refuse to believe that he is the hitter he showed in last year's weird season. He's got too big of a track record of solid offensive play to think that he truly is what he showed last year. They are obviously not going to be the '27 Yankees, but they should be a team that can show you many different looks on offense, and be able to score in multiple ways. That is a far cry from the "all or nothing" offenses of the recent past with Moustakas, Thames and the like. Pitching wise, they have the chance to have a great 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. They need several others to step up. I expect Anderson to be fine, and Lindblom showed better at the end of last season, which gives me hope that he can be a serviceable starter. I don't know what to expect from Houser, other than I know he has a very good arm and a quality starter's arsenal. No qualms about the pen. They have one of the most talented group of arms in the league there. The way I look at it, this offense managed to keep them in most games last year with Yelich and Hiura looking terrible. Even a modicum of improvement from those two will be this a solid offense.

Few things more exciting than the prospect of another Hernan Perez type of player. Love the enthusiasm! In reality, every team would love to have a Hernan Perez type, who in his prime was an above average hitter with decent pop who could play competently anywhere on the diamond. I would hope the Brewers could identify another one.

This organization badly needs some prospects that can hit and hit with power especially at third base or they will continue to struggle offensively. You are talking about two different things. Yeah, I'd like to see a top-flight 3B prospect in the system, but drafting a guy this year isn't going to solve any perceived offensive deficiencies at the MLB level any time soon. Frankly, the Brewers not being able to develop Lucas Erceg and Jake Gatewood at 3B has been a major deficiency in the system, but it isn't like the Brewers have struggled for production at 3B over the last decade until 2020 rolled around. They've managed to actually find some very good 3B production over the years, magically no thanks to their minor league system (unless I suppose you count dealing Thornburg for Shaw and Phillips for Moose).

I'm just glad to be able to see some actual baseball while there's still 2 feet of snow on the ground. I don't think it's ever a great idea to watch Spring Training for the competition. It's more about the little things: the positional battles, which pitchers look good, any changes regulars have seemed to make between seasons. So far Garcia looks great. The pitching has been solid. Hopefully Shaw will pick things up with the bat and solidify 3B, because that's my only real huge question mark so far.

What gaping hole? I think you need to reevaluate your opinion of the catcher position, new guy. LOL. Geno outdates most everyone here.

I know it's only been two innings, but Aaron Ashby looks like he might just be something.

I am guessing the Brewers made the executive decision to put the tailgating ban in their master plan before they even talked to the city. Mostly because they probably knew the city wouldn't allow it. Rick Schlesinger indicated this morning in an interview that the Brewers wanted tailgating, but pretty much sounded like the Brewers had to give the health department something in order for them to agree to the 25% capacity. Tough to tell, though, because he's sort of sleazy and adept and corporate-speak.

He's certainly making his case today.

I don't think the tailgating has much to do with anything other than optics. There are all kinds of arguments about spread and what not, but in reality someone going to a game to get piss drunk has very, very likely not been taking this whole thing super seriously. And it will still be pretty low overall risk at a 25% full stadium. It simply just doesn't look good to open out of the gates with bag toss and 40 people drinking out of red solo cups. I'm not upset with the team in the slightest. With the rules in place and some things off the table, you get a different pool of people who are showing up too. It'll be people who know what they are getting into and will just do what they've been asked. I would assume many of those who chose to "follow the rules" and not tailgate before the game will instead sit in the enclosed space of a bar for a couple hours before the game while crammed in with a bunch of strangers without masks. [sarcasm]Corona averted![/sarcasm] Sure, that'll happen. But if someone catches it, they won't be able to blame it on the Brewers. Never underestimate the power of plausible deniability.

Considering the contract that La Stella actually received, and the lack of much chatter about him this offseason, I wonder if he has been perhaps overrated?

You greatly underestimate both the percentage of the population that is willing to get vaccinated and the percentage required to achieve the level of herd immunity to “tie a bow on this whole damn thing”. Too many of us are educated and understand the risks and will not attend mass gatherings without appropriate restrictions in place. So those restrictions will continue in some fashion for the rest of the year most likely. Masks will be the last to go because they don’t impede anyone making money. We’ll have games at 100% capacity with masks still required, guaranteed. The Brewers make more money in that situation than not requiring masks but having most of us stay home. It’s the same reason nearly all the stores and businesses here still require masks despite no legal requirement to do so. They don’t want to lose their best customers. The Brewers (and anyone in the sports/entertainment business) knows that the key to recovery is making those of us who’ve taken this seriously feel safe. If we don’t, we won’t show up and as the past year has shown, these businesses lose big $ when their only clientele is the anti-masker anti-vaccine minority. There is no greater pandemic in this country than the mental pandemic of those who think they are intelligent and educated. If no tailgating and cloth or paper masks worn sometimes but not while not eating or drinking makes the "educated" feel warm and fuzzy inside, I guess that's what will have to be done for a while. It's unfortunate that this has seemingly turned into an "us versus them" thing. From my vantagepoint, everyone is dealing with it, and nearly everyone deals in a different way. It is certainly my hope that the mask thing comes to an end at some point this summer, though. I would hope that would include MLB stadiums.

Good first inning from Houser. Eric Lauer continues to punch his ticket to Appleton, though. Where the heck is the pitcher we were supposedly getting from San Diego?

The real question now is ... what uniform number is Bradley gonna pick as a member of the Brewers? I have a feeling that his traditional #19 ain't gonna fly.

Who do you recommend? He was advocating for Yoenis Céspedes last week.

Exactly! But this seems to be exactly what a few posters are upset they aren't doing. As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Every team in MLB that isn't the Dodgers and sporting a $300 million payroll is playing a degree of the "what if" game. Heck, even the Dodgers played the "what if" game for three decades before things came together for them last year, despite playing in a huge market and annually having the biggest payroll in MLB.

So you've said! Fortunately, 4-2 wins count the same as 8-6 wins. I think scoring 4 runs is going to be a challenge. Agree to disagree, but ehh, you do you

So you've said! Fortunately, 4-2 wins count the same as 8-6 wins.