long ball

So I agree that I don’t necessarily think this was a “master class”. the brewers basically did what I expected them to do in game 3, but did it in game 2 instead. I think if we step back for a second the reason why is obvious. The off days on either side of the planned bullpen day is so much more advantageous than trying to pull off the bullpen game in game 3. By doing it in game 2 they have the off day leading into it and the off day before game 3 and they can have as short of a leash as they need with any of the relievers and still have most if not all of them ready for the next game. this also allows them to pitch Priester in game 3 and Freddy in game 4 (if needed) where you hope to get 4-5 innings apiece and need less from your pen. In the worst case scenario they’d also have an off day leading into another potential bullpen game in game 5 if it came down to that. I thought the allure of having Priester available for 2 potential starts in the DS was to great and that’s why he’d be going in game 2, but clearly I was wrong. The Brewers took advantage of that extra off day instead to set it up to bullpen 2 games if needed.

Many commenters on this forum have been interested in seeing a tandem start approach in the regular season given this group of starters/bull guys we have. it will be interesting to see the brewers attempt to execute that strategy in a short series. i have more faith in Priester than I do Misiorowski, Gasser, and Quintana, but I’m still not surprised not see the Brewers go this route.

Rea threw 1.2 IP on 15 pitches Wednesday. So similar to his bullpen day if they decide to start him Saturday. I do think whatever the cubs decide to do, there will be a planned short leash on their starter/bull guy for game 1.

I’m most interested to see if the cubs will bring back Boyd on 3 days rest to start game 1 Saturday. He pitched 4.1 innings on 58 pitches. if they bring back Boyd on 3 days rest then Imanaga will be on 4 days resist game 2 and Taillon would be on 5 days rest for game 3. Boyd and Imanaga could both pitch games 4 and 5 on normal rest. I could really see it going either way.

Ya both teams have legit weaknesses like you mention. the strength of the padres is going to be that bullpen which gets even tougher with all of the off days. (The cubs do have some good relievers too, but not as scary). the cubs strength is great defense. Which does hurt us with our contact approach. It just “feels” more beatable than the Padres bullpen though.

I think I’d lean Padres over cubs. Both have some question marks in their rotation, but that padres bullpen in a 3 and 5 game series is daunting. On paper the cubs offense is way better, but they’ve been really hot and cold in the second half of the season. I think either team would be a tough opponent in the NLDS. for the other series, I’ll pick Dodgers, Cleveland, and the Yankees.

I’ve also spent way too much time thinking about this over the last 2 weeks and flip flopped many guys. 14 position players: All the usual guys you’d expect plus Lockridge I went with Lockridge over Hoskins for a few reasons. Lockridge had a clear role: late game pinch runner. Jansen could be that right handed power bat off the bench and Hoskins just was never given a chance to show he deserves an NLDS roster spot pitching is a lot trickier for me. starters: 3 freddy, Priester, and Quintana. I’m going to assume Quintana is healthy and he gets 1 or maybe 2 turns through the batting order in game 3. pen: 9 locks: uribe, Ashby, Koenig, megill, Patrick, Mears uncertain on these guys but it’s how I’m leaning right now: myers, zastryzny, and Misiorowski Gasser and hall just didn’t do enough to get a spot. Slight lean toward Misiorowski over Anderson as the last man in the pen- neither was good down the stretch, but Misiorowski can at least provide length if needed… I hope they don’t need to use Misiorowski in the NLDS. I like Myers but I probably like him more than Murphy. 2 weeks ago I didn’t think Patrick was going to be on the NLDS but now I see him as a lock. Zastryzny is basically a lower leverage 2025 version of a loogy

You’re probably right. That’s what they’ve been doing for the last month since Ortiz returned from injury. curt Hogg mentioned something on twitter yesterday questioning whether they could live with Ortiz’s bat so that got me thinking of a potential way to maximize the abilities of the guys we have. We almost survived the wild card series last year with Ortiz going 0/11.

One thought about line up construction: Priester is a massive ground ball pitcher. 55.5% ground ball and 19% flyballs Freddy more even: 36.8% ground ball and 29.1% ground ball. I think we should start Monasterio at short stop during Freddy starts. Ortiz comes in as a defensive Sub if we have a lead. Perkins plays CF and Chourio in left. For Priester starts I think we should go with Ortiz at short and Chourio in centerfield. Then have either Yelich or Collins in left field. Maybe Yelich in left and Bauers DH? Maybe even bauers in LF?

Since the NLDS has so many off days plus the break leading into it I feel good enough about our pitching even without woodruff (and megill if he’s out) im concerned about the offense given the recent lack of runs. Everything is tighter when it comes to the small sample size of the playoffs. Last year we out homered the Mets 5-1, but their 1 homer is the one that won the series. im going to just be optimistic and not let this run of roughly .500 ball affect my expectations.

It was obvious that Zimmerman would be 1 and done after they used him as a starter last night. They at least have an open 40 man spot for Henderson should they wish to add him to a playoff roster. rodriguez potentially offers more length than McGee so I guess that makes sense with Patrick going on 3 days rest today and Myers pitching last night.

Assuming these starts against SD are the final appearances for Freddy and Priester, that gives them both 11 days off before their first start in the NLDS. Hopefully the rest does them both some good. I’d also be curious to see how hard they push them in these starts. Is it a 50-60 pitch tune up? No restrictions? Who knows. We very well could face the Padres again in the NLDS so I wonder if that has any affect on how Murphy uses his pitching staff. I’m also guessing we get a Bruce Zimmerman start tomorrow.

From the most recent injury update on the brewers website: megill-best case scenario is to get an inning against the reds. (I’m officially concerned) hall, Quintana, and Henderson are all listed as early October at best. reading the tea leaves: maybe we get Megill and Quintana back. I’m less optimistic about hall, Henderson, and woodruff.

Ive been hemming and hawing over whether I think they’ll go with a 5 or 6 man bench. I really do want that full position player group available in the NLDS. You’ve laid out my exact thoughts on the situation. I think you can squabble over the final 2 spots in the pen between Myers, Patrick, Gasser, Zastryzny, and Anderson but I’m not sure I have strong opinions either way.

Ya I’m definitely starting to get nervous about the Megill situation. The silver lining is that the NLDS has 3 off days if it goes 5. So your high leverage guys could potentially in all 5 games if needed. So depth in the pen won’t be quite ad important as it would be if we advance to the NLCS.

Optioning Chad Patrick after his start on Saturday (just announced he’s starting Saturday) is a decent option. Unlikely to start again, unlikely to be needed in relief again, and unlikely to make the nlds roster (although he’d still be eligible for the nlds roster if needed). payamps is also likely to be DFA’d if 2 of gasser, hall, and megill return. I think they keep fedde as long as possible at this point. But if all 3 of hall, megill, and gasser make their return during the regular season then Fedde is likely the Dfa candidate.

This might be the game to get Hoskins a start. full day off for Yelich and Contreras. jansen catches and Vaughn/hoskins man the 1b/dh roles against a lefty starter.

So I think this is pretty close. However, I’m guessing they will go with a 12 man pitching staff for the NLDS since they will only need 3 SP and there will be 3 off days if it goes 5 games. Misiorowski makes the nlds roster as a potential opener or reliever. ill work under the same assumption that Megill will be healthy. I’ll swap out Chad Patrick for Rhys Hoskins. (I’ll join you in leaning toward Gasser over a potentially healthy DL Hall). I’d love to find a way to sneak Lockridge onto the NLDS roster for pinch running scenarios, but I think the bats of Hoskins and Bauers are more valuable than a pinch runner.

The brewers haven’t announced any probables for the St. Louis series. if I’m doing my keyboard managing… I don’t think I’d start gasser on Sunday. I’d keep Freddy, woody, and Priester all on a 4 day rest rotation through the end of the regular season. That would result in Freddy, woody, and Priester all getting final tune up starts in the final series in Cincinnati. If they keep in that order for the nlds that is 7 days rest for Freddy, 8 for woody, 9 for Priester before their first nlds starts. Saturday in St. Louis is the place for a spot start/bullpen game. Gasser would possibly be ready to pitch in that game if needed since he’s pitched on both 2 days rest and 3 days rest during his move to the bullpen in AAA. I think it makes most sense to start Patrick on Saturday. If they feel comfortable having Gasser pitch as part of that bullpen game, great. If not, he can pitch in normal relief through the rest of the season hopefully getting at least 2 appearances.

We have very little in committed in future salary. At least 25 players on our 40 man are going to be pre-arb. But our roster will be getting more expensive in 2-3 years as we start having these guys roll through arbitration. this might be an off-season they could strike on a big contract that hangs around late into the off season like they did with Grandal. Multi year free agent deals would probably be tough because of the impending arbitration cases starting in a couple years. Always tough to see who that player will be, but a center fielder would be a potential place to add. This would allow us to have insurance from a Mitchell injury and keep Chourio in a corner. Not sure there’s a name out there that really fits the Grandal mold though- possibly Grisham could be a guy who is young enough to take a 1 year deal if the multi year deal doesnt materialize for him.

I was nerding out this morning during some downtime at work. I was looking at the full 40 man and how the guys coming back from the 60 day IL will affect it. I think the most interesting fringe 40 man guys are: Grant Anderson and Rob Zastryzny- same deal here. Effective in their roles this year, pre-arb, but out of options. Tentatively I’d expect them to last till opening day next year, but I also could see them go on waivers. connor Thomas- rule five thing complicates it. I’m fine either way if we keep him or if he has to go back to St. Louis. The 3 options would be really nice if we are able to retain him. We will need a few guys on the shuttle squad. jake Bauers- basically the same thing as last year. A non-tender candidate. He offers a similar skillset to Tyler Black at a slightly higher price - do we just give black a try? Vaughn- I’m pretty sure they’ll tender him, but I wouldn’t put it at 100%. I currently have all of these guys except bauers penciled into a 40 man spot exceot Bauers. So after accounting for free agents, likely non-tender (payamps), and returning from the 60 day I have our 40 man at 36. The main minor leaguer I’m thinking of adding is Coleman Crow (I know he’s been hurt, but he might be our best hope of some starting pitcher depth of anyone in the org who hasn’t already made their mlb debut), but this gives us space to add some waiver claims/minor trades/signings at the beginning of the off-season. for reference I have these guys all off the roster: fedde, miller, Montgomery, payamps, Quintana, woodruff, Hoskins, bauers, Jansen.

So who gets added to the roster today? Hoskins feels like a safe bet. Is Yoho the other? I assume Gasser will be up at some point, but he pitched 5 innings on Friday. Chad Patrick pitches Saturday. Unless September call ups don’t need to meet the minimum optional assignment requirement and they opt for McGee (I’m not sure about that rule).

Like many of the posters have already said, I’m happy with the season. I love the daily soap opera of the regular season. Tracking the probables, the daily bullpen usage, the slumps, the hit streaks, the standings, the roster moves, the optimism. When your favorite team wins as much as the brewers have this season, especially when most of us had lower expectations coming into the year, it’s hard for me to not be happy. The regular season is months of happiness. We’ve seen how fleeting the playoffs can be. I’m going to being devastated in any outcome that doesn’t result in a World Series win. That feeling will pass after a few days and I’ll finish watching out the rest of the playoffs even if the brewers aren’t playing. Then we get to come back here and debate on who needs to be added to the 40 man, whether they should trade peralta, whether they can re-sign woodruff, whether they should tender Vaughn a contract, etc.

C- Contreras is the guy here. Don’t trade him. Probably add a vet back up so Quero can star the season in AAA. 1b- I think at this point there’s a good chance Vaughn gets tendered a contract. Hoskins and Bauers become free agents. Tyler black still an option to play the bauers role. 2b- Turang is the guy. 3b- Durbin still probably the guy. A lefty platoon partner probably warranted as insurance. ss- i think Ortiz he remains the guy until the prospects start to push him (Made/Pratt). We gave Burnes for him and he was good in 2024. No reason to move on from him. LF- Chourio is the guy cf- Mitchell until he gets injured. I don’t see us giving him up when his value will be at its lowest. RF- Frelick is the guy 4th outfielder- Collins 5th outfielder- Perkins DH- Yelich bench- would like to see a lefty or switch hitting infielder added. Probably a waiver claim type guy. I don’t see the brewers committing to any guaranteed salary for a bench infielder. rotation peralta- keep him. misiorowski priester Henderson Gasser Patrick myers id like to see another Quintana level signing if not just bring Quintana back. Some of these young starters will probably spend time in the pen and or AAA. Woody will decline his half of the option brewers will offer the QO, but he will get 3-4 years at $75-120m which we won’t offer pen- megill, uribe, Ashby, hall, anderson, Mears, Koenig. Then a rotation cast off like Myers or Patrick. we will bring in some relievers like we did last year with Alexander, wolfram, anderson, etc. one of them will work out like they have with Koenig and Anderson the last couple years. payroll will possibly go down or stay the same… no multi year deals. This team will star to get expensive in arbitration so we are bound to see some of the arbitration guys eventually get traded, but I don’t think it happens this year. basically running the thing back without Rhys or Woodruff.

I’m actually kinda glad we are getting a my least 1 legit start from Myers here. He was so good for us last year so I’m still optimistic he’s a reliable starter for us going forward. I know he had a real clunker of a start when he got optioned, but I’m not too worried about that.