HarveysWBs

Freddy looking really bad going into the trade deadline is one of the worst case scenarios for this team. He’s the guy who is supposed to get more innings than anyone else on the staff in the playoffs? If I was Arnold, knowing who was coming back healthy next year, and seeing the price of elite starting pitching on the market from teams like the White Sox or Tigers, I’d be really tempted to keep my powder dry. Bullpen guy and a backend starter for us maybe, but no more than that. We’ll have bullpen arms coming back healthy in the second half, and I feel pretty confident this team cruises to a playoff spot even if the starters get wobbly. But the offense still has some growing up to do (and to be fair, no one should be surprised—the hot start spoiled us a bit), and this rotation isn’t going to get playoff ready anytime soon. We can play our usual games with openers and what have you, and it almost got us to a World Series once, so I’m not discounting the strategy, but this wouldn’t be the year I go get a major piece.

Maybe this is only me, but seeing Chris Taylor still makes me sick. It doesn’t even help that he’s having the worst season of his career. Nothing will ever make it better until we get to hang a banner. Nothing.

Two wins at Coors—mission accomplished. Ride the gravy train tomorrow, y’all. Happy Fourth!

Yeli hacks 3-1

He would fill a need.

Ugh, McMahon is good.

Presenting your new starting 3B for the Milwaukee Brewers...^

Yeah, I was thinking pretty much exactly this. Next year will probably relieve a lot of the logjam simply by Adames departing. As for this year, I’m not concerned about Mitchell spending ample time on the farm. He’s nice insurance to have if somebody gets hurt, or Perkins comes back to earth, but I wouldn’t swap him in for anyone else right now. Chourio seems to be steadily finding his way, and the pros of letting him figure it out far outweigh the short-term possibility that Mitchell outperforms him some to my mind. The tricky thing is pitching. We need arms, everybody always wants arms, and starters are likely to be pricey. If someone loved Mitchell or Black, I wouldn’t be opposed to a deal for a starter that wasn’t a rental, but I’m not sure that deal is out there to be had. Moving Frelick is tougher because of his versatility and floor. The wildcard might be Hoskins. If he gets hot, and knowing he’s not here long-term, would the brass have the stones to move him for a starter amidst a pennant chase? Or has the fallout from the Hader deal cooled their heels? I fully expect another deadline of only minor bullpen bolstering, followed by angst, gnashing of teeth, and recriminations.

...so it must be true. I figure this is as good a place as any to put this, but it appears that a member of the Brewers organization lived a double life as a hired assassin. The earlier reports were that she was a Chicago native, but the Daily Mail apparently has more details: A wild story, and certainly not what any organization wants to deal with. The PR department just got a day or two more of work added to their list...

I don’t usually chime in from work, but… LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

That’s like saying the xenomorph and the predator are equal-distance behind you. I get what you’re trying to say, I think, but I’ll never sleep soundly until they are both nuked from orbit. Its the only way to be sure…

Heck yeah. Pour it on!

So, is that situation with Bauers just umpire’s discretion? I have no idea what should happen in that case. I know the home call was sure it was wrong. I’m sure the ball was already past the catcher when the contact happened. And I’m sure the contact was inadvertent—and that the catcher moved of his own volition into the path of the backswing. If it’s truly a judgment call, then it was a bad one.

What do I know, but another LT who tore an ACL? Too soon for my taste.

My man, Goodell, button that shirt up, for all of us babe.

We live rent free in the entire division’s heads. As per the usual.

Yeah, I get it, and if Frelick keeps doing that I think Chourio has to be the guy by default. But it is one thing to say that we have a system full of defenders who can all play center (which got brought up a lot the last few years), but really, the best ones are probably Wiemer, Mitchell, and if he ever puts it together, Chourio in some order. Perkins is great, obviously, but not with the stick. I’d suspect Frelick will end up considered the weakest of the lot defensively, though not for a lack of effort. I think there’s a reason he was the one seeing time in the infield, after all.

I also agree with betting the over. And I’m actually not all that worried about the drop off from Counsell to Murphy. I think his experience, especially with this group, will keep things on a more or less even keel. My biggest worry is that someone in the division has a huge lead by the trade deadline and the brass sells off to stockpile just a little more for 2025-2032. A .500 team that sees some veteran pieces (Adames, Hoskins, maybe even Contreras?) shipped out could be devastating in the short term, and the bottom might fall out for the second half. Apart from injuries, that’s worst case scenario for 2024, in my mind. But, as you say, spring is the time for optimism. Put me down for 86 wins and a wild card berth. And they finish ahead of the Cubs.

Sports gambling is still illegal in California, hence the “illegal bookie” angle. As such, that part doesn’t add any further intrigue to me. If Ippei was going to gamble, by definition, the bookie had to be illegal. What gets weird then is, if Shohei Ohtani knowingly covered payment, then he actively paid for something illegal, even if he himself didn’t gamble. I’m not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that is why the story changed so quickly. What blows my mind is why the Shohei camp didn’t do everything in their power to shut down Ippei’s interview with ESPN. I mean, the guy sat down for an optional 90-minute interview to discuss something that directly impacted the player who may now be the biggest star in world sports? All the ways that could go south are too numerous to count. All of the above makes me think Shohei Ohtani had a guy he trusted who he should not have, and, being a good friend who has recently come into a massive amount of money, did his guy a solid. That solid appears to be at least a legal gray area, if not an out and out crime, and his legal team and publicists have now quickly tried to protect their client with the accusation of “massive theft.” I generally do not attribute to malevolence what is more easily attributed to ignorance and incompetence. It will be interesting to see what else comes from this. As of now, MLB is not actively investigating (and for now, they can fall back on the position of waiting for the legal investigation to run its course first), but with so many powerful interests aligned behind Shohei’s ultimate exoneration, this is going to be talked about for a long time no matter what decision is rendered. While I don’t relish the idea of anyone committing any wrongdoings or going to prison, as someone who is no fan of the Dodgers or their ridiculous contractual shenanigans with Shohei, I’d be lying if I said a little egg on some faces is not a welcome sight.

Assuming they don’t bring in another starter from outside of the organization, I don’t know how they get through April without him up. They play thirteen days in a row from 4/5 through 4/17. I will be shocked if he hasn’t had at least his cup of coffee by that point.

This is kind of where I am, too, after rolling this around in my head for a while. We may never know the whole story, but if it was a question of Gutekunst (and LaFleur) being firm in their conviction that Jones isn’t really a RB#1 anymore because of his health availability but is probably the best “Robin” to somebody’s Batman in the NFL, and Jones just isn't ready to accept that—then I can come to terms with how this went down. If, however, it was simply a question of Jones wanted one million more and would have been ok as the change of pace guy for Jacobs at a 7 mil rate, then Gutekunst just committed malpractice, because that’s the best backfield in football and that offense is a juggernaut next year. This seems so obvious that I have to think Jones just was not going to come back once Jacobs was signed, but I don’t know. Maybe the idea of having a year on turf was attractive for him, since his best performances are on the fast track. As an aside, on the Green 19 pod (JS online), Spoon mentioned that Jones could have been a Leroy Butler, forever Packer type. He mentioned at one point that he could have “lived like a king” in Wisconsin as a fan favorite and done commercials for the rest of his life and transitioned into a emeritus position with the org after his playing days are over…and I actually laughed out loud. It is safe to say that most of us here love the Midwest in general and Wisconsin in particular, but the idea that a millionaire like Jones who could go live anywhere he wants would find being “king of Wisconsin” in his retirement is a huge draw amused me. He’s been a great guy for this org and the community, but it never occurred to me that he wanted to be a true lifer. And now we know that was never really likely.

Yeah, the vicissitude of reliever performance usually has a way of sorting these messes out. Or at least revealing that you don’t have an in-house solution to the mess at all. One of the two.

I hate having to root against him, but yeah, the current trajectories of the franchises suggest we’re going to beat them like rented mules next year, so it makes little difference what anybody’s feelings are on the subject. He ended up going to a loser, albeit on a one-year deal. That is the saddest part for me, actually: if he was going to leave, I was hoping somebody would throw a multi-year deal at him. I thought maybe one of the Texas teams, but Houston is too well-run now (shock) and McCarthy never appreciated him anyway. I get the economics of it all, but I hate him in purple and at only one year, seven mil—we’re essentially paying him to play against us. It just hurts.