Ron Robinsons Beard

Adrian Houser is getting the call to start Monday, according to McCalvy. I'm pretty stoked to see what he can do.

I have no idea if this guy has inside info or not, but he is literally a 16-year-old kid from Florida. I suppose he could be a minority owner's kid or something.

Assuming this is somewhat directed at me and that's fine I've brought it on, it's self-inflicted. But I never said that what we saw in September/October was sustainable, nor the plan going forward. Remember, they were using pitchers for one out, one inning, and one trip through the order. That's not at all what I envision going forward. I talked about pitching staffs with undefined roles where eventually everyone pitches an average of 2-4 innings every 2-3 days. No more 1 out guys, no more 1 inning guys, and no more reliance on someone to go 6-7 innings every 5 days. I also said it could take years, perhaps even a full decade to set in. The best way to combat someone you disagree with is to misrepresent what someone says. And there are a couple posters (not you JMB) who continually attach the Sept/Oct model to what I said. The entire objective is to limit pitchers from exposure to that 3rd trip through the order. There are ways to do that which look nothing like the Sept/Oct usage we saw. And if people look close enough, not only are the Brewers doing it now, they've been doing it for some time. They won't be able to fully implement this usage until they no longer have 1 inning specialists they're heavily relying on. No doubt ... I fully expect them to use the same type of model this year from August-September on. It was pretty innovative, and ended up working awesome. I think we'll see it more too in select games and series against their biggest rivals during the year as well. Just having that flexibility to go that route is a huge advantage. If this team's management has proven anything, its that nothing they do is concrete or "by the book". Yeah, right now they seem to have set roles in place. That will change throughout the year, and that's cool.

With a past as a sports reporter, I especially appreciate this Haudricourt lede from this morning's paper: Christian Yelich is putting on the best performance at home since Macaulay Culkin got left behind at Christmas. Yes. Yes he is.

That plan just wasn't sustainable without the flexibility of larger rosters and days off between games. It wasn't going to happen, no matter how much a few people said it was. And that's ok. The pitching wasn't great last year at this time, and they rounded into form later int he season. No guarantee things will go that way again, but they improved the offense to the point where they theoretically shouldn't need to be a pitching-dominant team to go on a run into the postseason.

If the Brewers tried to trade Aguilar now, they wouldn't get so much as a nibble. If they waived him, though, I bet 20 teams would put in claims. Because MLB Baseball.

The Dodgers are tough and a difficult match up for the Brewers. Probably the best team in the NL. A split in this series would be great IMO. Since they should have known the Dodgers were their main competition, getting a couple righties to hit all their lefties would seem like a logical move. Obviously the Dodgers knew we'd be awful against lefties and added talent. There's a lot of time left, but I think our weaknesses are showing real nice and shiny-like. I agree. This team was lefty-heavy on offense in the playoffs last year, and managed to double down on that, dropping Santana for Gamel. I can't really understand a reason why, other than just assuming that Stearns love him some lefty power for that short porch in right in Miler Park.

Putrid offensive performance wastes a very nice Davies start. Two days in a row of the offense not showing up. Hopefully they swing the bats for Chacin tomorrow.

No Rock ... 92 on the outside corner shouldn't be hard for Braun ...

Kimbrel has his own thread in the Rumors/Transactions section. It has hundreds of posts. You'd love it.

Yeah ... would have looked much nicer as a 3-run shot.

LOL, a mod literally told you the same thing in yesterday's game thread. Yes, it is old. Ok. I give. We have an awesome pitching staff. We don't need anyone. Go with what we got and finish over .500. Sounds swell. My opinion is in step with the official board take. Yay, another poster pulling the victim card. Look, I get the frustration with the pitching staff. I really do. But regardless of how well they pitch, the starters and relievers are going to give up runs. Because that's baseball. Having a poster continuously go back to the same argument that we need Kimbrel every time a reliever gives up a run just doesn't serve any purpose. If there is fresh news on him, then yes, by all means he should be discussed. But the arguments from both sides on why he should or shouldn't be acquired are completely played out.

I'm really hoping Lutz has a great year. They've been pretty aggressive in promoting him, and he's pretty young for High A ball. A solid year will put him squarely in the team's top 2-3 prospects, and should vault him into a lot of Top 100 lists.

Eh, Barnes has been the best reliever today and not really all that close. Barnes has the stuff to be a shutdown late inning guy. For whatever reason he's been very inconsistent his whole career. I'm not expecting him to finally find it now, but given how weirdly inconsistent relievers are, who knows?

Well ... some hard hit balls off Jeffress, but ended up being an effective inning. At this point, I'll take it.

LOL, a mod literally told you the same thing in yesterday's game thread. Yes, it is old.

My take has been and continues to be the pen is an issue. It can be addressed either by adding a reliever or a starter. Both are available for a pro rated amount of cash. It makes zero sense to not do so because the need is glaring. Even when you get a great start you are maxing out at 5 innings. It's going to be a long summer if something isn't done. Is the conversation seriously going to turn to Keuchel and Kimbrel in the IGT every time the pitching staff gives up any runs? Because that has already gotten old.

No, that can't be right, because I've been told time and time again that other than Hader, the Brewers bullpen is a dumpster fire. And it's on fire again. The poor aging of that post has already been acknowledged. Thanks, though.

Well, this got ugly pretty quickly.

No, that can't be right, because I've been told time and time again that other than Hader, the Brewers bullpen is a dumpster fire. You were saying? Why do we continue to pitch to Bellinger? Damn it! That aged poorly

No, that can't be right, because I've been told time and time again that other than Hader, the Brewers bullpen is a dumpster fire.

All these heavy hitters ... and it's Arcia

Jesus Aguilar really really sucks right now.

David Meter (Kimbrel's agent): Hey Jon, Craig hasn't gotten a call from a team in weeks. Do you have any ideas how we can fabricate interest in him out of thin air? Jon Heyman: Well, the Brewers show tepid interest in pretty much everyone, and they are a contender with bullpen issues. Why don't I throw out a tweet that they are showing interest? David Meter: But David Stearns hasn't returned any of my calls since January when I told him Craig wanted $125 million for 5 years. He just started laughing while muttering something like, "If I were that crazy, I'd just call K-Rod again ..." Jon Heyman: The Brewers never confirm or deny their interest in anyone. They are the perfect mark! David Meter: OK, do it. Are you still fine with our customary .5% when Craig signs? Jon Heyman: Deal! I'll get to work on my feature about how Albies' deal is great for the players.

Sure! This is one I saw yesterday. Horrible! 1st Round (#12) - D.K. Metcalf, WR, Ole Miss 1st Round (#30) - Drew Lock, QB, Missouri 2nd Round (#44) - Irv Smith Jr., TE, Alabama 3rd Round (#75) - Jachai Polite, EDGE, Florida 4th Round (#114) - Andy Van Ginkel, ILB, Wisconsin 4th Round (#118) - Wes Farnsworth, LS, Nevada 5th Round (#150) - KaVontae Turpin, WR, Texas Christian 6th Round (#185) - Cole Tracy, K, Louisiana State 6th Round (#194) - Tyler Roemer, T, San Diego State 7th Round (#226) - D’Cota Dixon, S, Wisconsin