Ron Robinsons Beard

I get the feeling they have a role for him in mind once he officially hangs up the cleats. But I certainly don't begrudge him wanting to play professional ball as long as possible, and I think it's pretty cool that the Brewers have given him the opportunity to do that. I could see him in a multitude of roles with the team, including radio color guy one day. While his videos are goofy, if you even listen to his podcast, he comes across as very intelligent and baseball-saavy, while not taking himself too seriously. While you hate to put the cart before the horse, his career path has a lot of similarities to Bob Uecker's.

They really did do a nice job with this. As I said in the other post, I'm typically not a big fan of the cutesy social media stuff they post, but this is pretty spot-on and is going to get a lot of people into the team's corner heading into the regular season. This movie holds a soft spot in my heart, too, and its fun to see that major league players appreciate it as well ... even though Brett Phillips wasn't even born until more than a year after it came out.

Considering no one else has signed him yet, either, I'm thinking the issue is either medical or unrealistic contract demands. I have a feeling that if Cobb was a clubhouse issue, we would have heard something on that. Word on clubhouse turds typically leaks out quite readily.

Kyle Lohse had a good first year with the Brewers in 2013 after signing March 25. If I remember right, he missed a start or two in April, then was inserted into the rotation and was good. The wheels didn't come off until much later.

There might be something to this. There has to be a reason why there has been very little out there as far as interested teams. Still, teams sign guys who are injured all the time. Wouldn't it be better to do the last part of his rehab under the guidance of a team's training staff? I'm sure the reason for the delay will come out when/if he signs somewhere. Did he miss any time near the end of last year?

I saw that Anderson was slated to go 90 pitches yesterday. He only had 79 at the end of 6, so actually went to the pen to throw his last 11. I think they typically try to get the starters pretty much at that level by the end of camp. Nice to see Anderson so efficient through 6 though. That bodes well for the first part of the regular season, which the pen no doubt is going to be taxed, especially if Miley is gifted a rotation spot (my opinion).

Oh no doubt the timing may be coincidental. That wouldn't stop it from appearing extremely ironic, at least to me. I know everyone has an opinion on the situation. I for one thought it was a fun way to pass the time in February.

Hiura's ETA is 2019. He's likely a better hitter right now than all 3 of the 2B options. In a different era, back in 1974, Brewer brass realized in spring training that the kid, Robin Yount, was better than what they had at SS so he made the team at age 18. There was no arbitration years and control years to consider back then. Had there been, he probably would have a nickname other than The Kid. Molitor was a major league ready bat right out of University of Minnesota too and made the jump from Midwest League. If we get to, say, June, and Hiura is tearing the cover off the ball in Biloxi, while the Brewers' three-headed 2B is scuffling, it is not completely out of the realm of possibility that Hiura could make the jump. He is 21, and was considered a very advanced college bat coming out last year. It isn't likely by any means, but if the team is playing well, and 2B is considered an upgradable spot, it could happen.

What prediction? We had a poster here that claimed to have a source in the Brewers front office that predicted Cobb would be signing the last week of March. He did not guarantee that it would be the Brewers signing him, although he alluded to that idea several times previously. That poster most here feel is a fraud, although he continues to feed "inside info" to a former poster here who passes along Brewer info on his right-wing blog. All that info is in this thread, but probably better to summarize than to take a couple hours to go back and read through this mess.

I have to admit, it would be a tad ironic if a certain prediction came true and Cobb signed the last week of March. That was supposedly crazy talk, yet here we are.

You know, I'm not typically a big fan of the cutesy social media stuff that they do, but that was pretty spot on. Nice to see the camaraderie this early on too. They nailed the casting as well. Is there any doubt that Vogt has a future either as a manager or a commentator on MLB Network? He's got a ton of charisma.

I drove over from LA to Maryvale a few days ago, and the biggest and most pleasant surprise was how smooth and comfortable Braun looked at 1B - despite what he says. A back-handed stab here; a pick in the dirt there. My friend, a huge baseball (ugh, Yankees) fan, was also adamant about how good Braunie looked there. So honestly I don't think that needs to be an issue. I could see him starting 60 games or more at 1B. That's great, thanks so much for the 1st hand account. I by no means think that Braun is going to suddenly be a 150-game starter at 1B, but if he can pick it up to the point where he isn't a major liability there, that really helps this odd roster's flexibility. Thames is a nice player, but he isn't exactly super durable, so having Braun as 1B to Thames' 1A is nice. I get the feeling from Braun's quotes that he isn't entirely enthusiastic about learning a new position at this point in his career, but I think he realizes that his lack of durability has put the team in a bind. Having Braun's bat in the lineup as much as possible is still a very good thing for this team, though.

Still some other solid fits out there. Darqueze Dennard is young, decent, and fits the size threshold. Ross Cockrell has been decent. Delvin Breaux if he checks out injury-wise. Dontae Johnson from the 49ers has a lot of talent and could be a good bounce-back candidate. Great size and speed. Davon House as the old stand-by.

I was out there this week and frankly was appalled at Thames jogging instead of running. Whether it's a conscious decision on his part to preserve his legs, the fact is he simply isn't running faster than a jog is alarming. If it is a conscious decision to preserve his legs, then his leg issues must be pretty severe. He hit a ball up the middle the other day against the White Sox that ended up being fielded after about 10 bounces in medium center field by the 2B who threw him out easily. In another AB, he ball got by the catcher on a third strike and again he jogged down to first, only making it because the catcher slipped trying to pick up the ball at the screen and dropped it. If choosing the roster was based on spring performance, Choi sure looks like the better option at 1B, knowing that won't happen because of Thames' contract. Also I've been hammered for mentioning Santana's K rate this year. He's fanned 19 times in 34 AB's. Last spring he fanned 20 times in 60 AB's so that's pretty significant regression. Regarding Thames, I'll take his proven numbers last year over a few dozen Choi at-bats. Choi looked atrocious last year in his MLB time. So bad that his team felt compelled to replace him with Garrett Cooper. As for Santana, his average is still ok, so I'm not worried. I still wish he weren't on the team, though. He is the definition of a Doug Melvin player. I've gotten so sick of watching these high strikeout guys over the years, but I think we are kind of Stockholm Syndromed into accepting that approach after watching it for so long. He defies the direction the team is going with Cain and Yelich coming to town.

I wonder at this point if they will take a look at Revis? Older, and hasn't been great for awhile, but he's also very familiar with Pettine's defense. At some point they just need bodies.

Really unbelievable. Apparently Packers didn't want him that badly. Maybe they are still caught up on the height threshold thing. I think at this point they are going to have to break out the draft pick trades to upgrade the secondary.

I agree. Packers offer was for two years, but only around $9 million. Easy to see why he took the Raiders' deal. Betting on himself, though.

That story looks like it was written by me ... when I was 9.

Yes, but I would assume that can be accomplished by putting Nelson on the 60-day DL. Forgot about that. Drake just needs to be DFAd! Tyler Webb could be jettisoned without much issue as well. Unless there's suddenly a big need for 27-year-old LOOGYs who have barely sniffed the majors.

Yes, but I would assume that can be accomplished by putting Nelson on the 60-day DL.

Good question, and tough question. I think I'd pick the consistently good team, but it's super close.

Here is McCalvy's roster prediction with two weeks to go: https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/predicting-brewers-2018-opening-day-roster/c-268793676 Not a fan of this roster make-up at all. But I'm worried that it has a high probability of happening. This prospective pitching staff is chock full of retreads like Miley, Gallardo and Hoover, while guys like Woodruff, Suter and Williams get the honor of watching snow-outs in Colorado Springs. No thanks.

I could not agree with this post more. If we are going to roll with question marks in the #4-5 spots, they should at least be intriguing question marks with upside.

Rotation with Cobb = smoldering fire Rotation without Cobb = raging fire Hopefully Derek Johnson has plenty of foam in his fire hydrant.

Yep, you're right. I have a feeling Stearns may be kicking himself over that non-move. But what's done is done (or in this case, not done). You figure things out and move forward.