SeaBass

Right. I think the poster I was responding to and I came to an understanding of where our opinions lay. By nature free agency tends to lead to teams paying an inflated price. I think there's reason for a team like the Cubs to spend on a guy with above average offense and production at a premium defensive position like SS where other teams are willing to accept lower offensive thresholds for similarly good defenders. For the Brewers it makes less sense to spend because obviously they are only able to carry very few players at a time with premium salaries. In the end it all boils down to teams having different philosophies of attacking value on the margins. Some just don't mind spending big money on what they perceive to be proven players.

I'm going to admit I misunderstood this, I thought you were trying to have it both ways when I was thinking the Cubs knew his offensive capabilities going in... and yeah I get what you're saying now. Fair enough, you're entitled to your opinion. I think I still disagree on behalf of the Cubs, their market and spending power allow them to make these types of signings and absorb the risk. Not the Brewers though but they wouldn't. I'm also not going to default to Swanson declining offensively or defensively just because he's over 30. It's been two months and three weeks of struggle in a season where there is significant decline in offensive statistics throughout baseball. I think you're also being overly harsh predicting he'll be bad at age 32 or 33. Maybe overall trends support that but once it goes to the individual level it's more difficult to apply it to everyone. I have now read the other thread (but hadn't before my previous post) and I wouldn't want the Brewers to sign Adames to a similar one either. Adames does have some intangibles that can't be measured by statistics but end of the day production is king. Have to kind of disagree on Turner too, I do think the Cubs should be happy with their deal by comparison. I'd take Swanson's deal and production over Turner's just because it's shorter and for less total money. It'd be like adding 3 years and $110M at the end of Swanson's deal. Even being personally more optimistic about a player's early to mid 30s I'd have big reservations about Turner's age 37, 38, 39 & 40 seasons.

So you think he would have gotten that contract if he wasn't a shortstop? Lol. Cool you only want to talk about his offense, I guess nobody should engage in the conversation then since you're rejecting the entire purpose of his means of earning a paycheck. It's not like the Cubs didn't know what his career OPS was when they signed him. Trea Turner is signed until he's 40 at $27M+ per year. I think the Cubs feel just fine being committed to Swanson until he's 35. There's no reason he can't be productive until then the last 3 months of offensive struggles included.

He's still generated positive WAR this season (0.9 fWAR) despite an 84 wRC+ which means a hefty part of his value is based on defense. In 2023 he finished with 4.7 fWAR and in 2022 he had 6.6 fWAR. That's with wRC+ values just above average at 104 and 116 respectively. He's struggling with the bat this year no doubt, but can't ignore the defense.

Hoskins isn't a failure. He's been bad since coming back from his injury, so like 12 games. This is offensively of course, his defense is what it is. March/April: 114 PA, 13 R, 6 HR, 18 RBI, .237/.342/.464/.806 May: 47 PA, 4 R, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .244/.340/.488/.828 June: 41 PA, 3 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, .158/.220/.263/.483

Packers fans used to say the same thing about the Bears when the rivalry was dominated by the Bears and the Packers were terrible. And we meant it. That's why some of us old guys still relish the rivalry even though it's been so lopsided for 30+ years, it was truly infuriating to lose so much against them. The Bears have been afterthoughts for so long the rivalry focus for the Packers has shifted to the Vikings. I, for one, love that and I'm sure it would rankle most Bears fans to hear it. It's the ultimate indignity.

Nobody mentions how Ross is still getting paid to sit on his couch and do nothing. Poor guy. There are 30 MLB manager positions. Damn right it's a cut throat business. Bring your big boy pants. Craig Counsell is supposed to say "no"? Absurd.

Yeah I can't argue with you. Mostly just looking for the "why" in it. Bottom line I'd rather give Ortiz and Chourio the playing time.

I'm not a big fan of strict L/R balance in the lineup but if I had to theorize allowing young players to face pitchers of opposite handedness maybe gives them a boost in trying to get guys going with the bats. There's so many young guys that all need at bats. That said, I wouldn't be against Dunn going back down to get those at bats but I don't mind that he's getting an opportunity here.

They should have been co-managers! Problem solved!

Yelich reinstated, Black optioned back to AAA. Let the Bauers hate ensue.

Why do I feel like this will be unpopular? (Black being sent down I mean. Yay, Yelich though!)

Worker cares more about their own career than their co-worker's career. Everyone that has ever worked for a living.

Watched Miller's Girl on Netflix. It's the movie there's been some controversy over the depiction of an age gap relationship between a high school teacher played by Martin Freeman and a student played by Jenna Ortega. The age gap between the actors themselves is part of the criticism since they are doing what actors do by performing the actions of the characters and Freeman is 30 years Ortega's senior. This did not bother me in the slightest, these are adult professionals. I thought all the actors were really good, Ortega is fantastic as usual. The story was interesting and suspenseful up to a point but I'm not sure the ending was executed in a satisfying way even though I'm not sure if I would change anything. Overall I thought it was worth the watch.

Craig Counsell is just a guy. To quote Brad Pitt's character in Seven, "Just because [he's] got a library card doesn't make him Yoda." [Spoilers] Of course, Yoda did end up being the killer in Seven but it's still a good point overall.

All well and good but it wasn't picked up by mics and it took a guy reading lips to understand what was being said back and forth. Are we really impacted THAT much by a conversation we're really not supposed to be privy to anyway?

15-13

It's the intentional part that earns the suspension and I believe, along with a few others that have posted here, that a suspension is automatic every time. Intentionally throw at a guy and you'll get suspended. It happened in the Mets series after Hoskins was thrown at (due to the whole McNeill late slide thing), pitcher and manager both got suspended.

I think it's just MLB backing up their umpires. They'd be more interested in doing that in the name of preventing more beanballs than breaking that play down to see if they agreed it was actually intentional. It's weird in that I actually do think it was intentional by Peralta (there's video of the catcher using old school signs just before that pitch that look sketchy enough to be a beanball call) but at the same time believe that there is no earthly way the umpire could be so sure in that knowledge to the point where he jumps right to the decision of tossing Peralta out without first issuing warnings. Whatever, it happened and now the Brewers have to deal with it. I also doubt the suspension gets reduced. Still possible I guess, let's hope.

As far as Freddy getting suspended I think it's pretty automatic when a player gets tossed for intentionally hitting a batter with a pitch. 5 games is pretty much the minimum to guarantee a starting pitcher misses at least one start. I doubt it gets reduced. Relievers usually get less, maybe 3 to 4 games. Depending on severity of course. Throwing punches feels like it deserves more. I was initially upset that Siri only got 3 games when Uribe got 6 but it's probably fair for a position player.

He did have some good swing and miss with those punches too.

Yeah, this is what tipped me over to believing that Freddy hit him with purpose. Contreras gave a classic fastball inside sign and then some other motion, looks like a fist. Levering even remarked on it saying, "Going the old traditional signs." Video here. Why is the catcher giving an old school sign? That's not the norm anymore. I doubt there's a button on the communication device that says, "Taladra a esta perra." Anyway, I agree with the other poster that said even if it was intentional it seemed pretty mild as far as throwing at guys goes. It wasn't obvious in the moment, maybe there was some chirping on the field after the Siri home run earlier that tipped the ump off to something but the umpire jumping directly to tossing Freddy out wasn't really something I think most viewers would expect. Seems to me giving a warning would have been enough.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted by the umpire stuff the last few days.

If you had Tyler Black making his first appearance as a Brewer as a pinch runner/DH due to injury then you win the lottery.

May he Rest in Poster Peace. 🙏