True Blue Brew Crew

No official announcement yet but Hernan Perez is back with the big club and Travis Shaw is not. A spot on the 40 man roster will have to be opened to add Perez back to it.

Hmmm

Only took Grisham 2 ABs to achieve a feat that has been damn near impossible with this team. Drive in a run from third without requiring a hit.

It's not an experiment. It's literally what they have to do. They have to develop cheap young talent and pitching from within. They had to give Peralta and Burnes and Woodruff their shots at some point. Good starting pitching is ridiculously expensive to come by in either dollars or prospect capital. Neither of which the Brewers can ever spend recklessly. 1 of 3 panned out in 2019. I still believe the 2 that didn't, have bright futures.

This is a gross mischaracterization. Peralta and Burnes were supposed to be fixtures in the rotation. And leap of faith or not, Jimmy Nelson was going to get his shot at some point this year as well. All the talk coming into this year was how they had accumulated all this SP depth and how there were 9-10 legitimate rotation options. They're scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point because just about everything that could go wrong, went wrong. What is a small market team with a limited budget and a depleted farm system supposed to do? I don't think for a second that Stearns sees this is a recipe for sustained success. It's simply being creative with limited resources.

You just described 95% of pitchers in MLB. As long as the Brewers (and all other teams) keep trotting out 5 man starting rotations, it's going to be difficult to find 5 guys who can pitch deep into games regularly. Given what's currently available to them, Houser is probably one of the 5 best equipped to fill the role.

If people were expecting Ken Griffey Jr you'd see them clamoring for more than 3 starts a week. Get a grip.

Would seem like Braun is going to be playing some 1B again.

3 arms added today. Are all 3 ticketed for Milwaukee? If so, who's on their way out? And where are they headed - San Antonio or somewhere else?

Without speaking to the additions of either Pomeranz or Black, I'll go on record as saying the Brewers will never regret trading away Dubon. I just don't see an effective major league bat there. He's a slap hitting version of Hernan Perez with less power. It's all upside with this trade if either Pomeranz or Black provide anything at all.

There is no harm throwing a few darts on small deals and dispatching with some pieces that otherwise would need to be added to the 40 man roster. I don't think it makes sense to make a major deal and part with any major prospect capital unless it's for a rotation arm that's controlled for multiple years. Short of that, add a cheaply acquired reliever or two who might stabilize the pitching staff and who knows, maybe the team gets hot.

Kimbrel now a run a of 6 straight scoreless appearances in which the Cubs are 6-0 while he has accumulated 5 saves. Four of those six wins were of the 1 run variety. Hopefully he's not back to being a dominant force but it's starting to look like he's really helping them.

Here's your reminder of Freddy Peralta's numbers this year as a reliever... 28 IP, 2.57 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 32 SO, 10.3 SO/9, .229 BAA, .673 OPSA, 79 sOPS+ Not sure it makes sense to trade a guy who just turned 23, and is controlled through 2023, for a soon to be 30 year old, lesser reliever.

This sheds some light on why the Brewers are connected to so many names on the trade market each year. It's because Stearns makes so many inquiries on the price to acquire available pieces. He finds out who would require his top chips (Grisham, Turang, etc) and who he can get with lesser chips. Only via making so many inquiries can you uncover the deals to be had with pieces they can live parting with and get a veteran who can help now. That's not to say he'd never part with the top guys, but the return has to be someone who can help beyond this year. This definitely feels like a year where only a veteran reliever or two on the last year of their deals will be acquired for someone like Tyrone Taylor or Lucas Erceg.

Grisham is putting up a .333 / .412 / .678 / 1.090 slash line in AAA while 4.3 years younger than the league average age. Granted age numbers are skewed in AAA from the many "lifers" who top out there, but the young man is having a very impressive season at 22 which is even 1.7 years young for AA. Mod edit: This is better. Post like this

I can man up and admit that you are 100% right on Hiura, TBBC. He's exceeded my expectations in a big way. That bat has the chance of truly being difference-making. I liked him as a prospect, but in no way did I think he was going to be ready this year. I was WAY off. :thumbsup: This offense can be scary good the rest of the season. Now they just need to find the right mix on the pitching side.

The issue isn't pulling the plug on the starters too early. Too many assuming that there would be no dropoff for the starter going deeper. History says otherwise for all of these guys. Ask yourself - do you think CC isn't tempted to have these guys go longer? What do you think prompts him to take out a guy who has gone 5-6 innings and given up only 1 run? The answer is in the data. These guys all have a track record of giving up 800-1000 OPS vs hitters their 3rd time through a lineup. The only exception is Woodruff who this year was given a longer leash and has responded well with a .651 OPS against in 111 batters faced during a 3rd time through. The real issue with this team is the huge decline in defensive runs saved. Shifts are great if the pitch caller knows how to sequence pitches that work in concert with defensive alignment. Derek Johnson was/is an absolute master at it. Remember how it was shown you could take a pitcher from the worst teams at DRS and put them on the Brewers last year, and have them throw with the same effectiveness and shave 1 to even 1.5 runs off their ERA because of proper placed defenders? Well the Brewers aren't nearly as good this year at marrying the right pitch selection with defensive alignment. Many more batted balls are being hit where defenders aren't. Shifts are one aspect. The other equally important aspect is pitching to the way the defense is aligned. Derek Johnson called pitches from the bench last year. If pitch selection doesn't jive with defensive alignment, those shifts are much less useful. Anyway, here's the difference between 2018 and 2019 for the Brewers... 2018 Defensive Runs Saved: 96 (ranked 2nd in MLB) 2019 Defensive Runs Saved: 27 (on pace for 47, ranked 9th) Here are the numbers for the Reds... 2018 Reds DRS: -3 (ranked 19th) 2019 Reds DRS: 37 (on pace for 67, ranked 4th) Those are some darn big swings. The Brewers are on pace to save 49 FEWER runs while Cincinnati is set to save 70 MORE runs.. That kind of run giving/saving can do a lot to change a pitchers ERA. Want to know why the Reds pitching has improved so much while the Brewers has taken a step back? Look no further than the projected 119 run swing indicated right there if these paces are maintained.

Because aside from the true elites, the numbers show that most starters drop off precipitously the 3rd time a hitter gets a look at them. There are a number of reasons why and most of them are common sense (hitter acclimation and timing, fatigue). The problem for fans is how do they accept what they're not given a chance to see. It's hard for people to assume a pitcher rolling along would suddenly get hit hard the 3rd time through but its happens far more often than not. The proof is in statistics. The best answer I can give to point to success of this limited-look strategy is 2018. But it requires a lock down pen. They had one in 2018 and this year they don't. The other key difference being the loss of DJ, specifically his ability to call pitches in orchestra with the defensive alignment. They aren't nearly as good in terms of defensive runs saved this year. Batters are not hitting balls right at our defenders as often this year. And calling pitches that aren't as well in concert with defensive alignment has a big role in the dropoff of the team's pitching this year.

Happy, happy, joy, joy! All is well with everyone here, right?

No you can't because that's not how odds are set.

The West is going to be an absolute war. Kawhi leaving Toronto means the Bucks can't face him until the 4th round of the playoffs. A lot can happen. One less obstacle in the East helps the Bucks chances of making the Finals where anything is possible.

Lots of rather large holes in this but let's just keep it simple. They vote on the award at the end of the regular season. At that time, the guy who won the award had done more to improve his team from the previous year. The guy you're touting had actually seen his team win fewer games. So given those facts, it far from "ridiculous". If you want to argue that it's ridiculous that awards are given without the entire season, (including playoffs) in mind, then that's something I can get on board with.

Now we are going to the other extreme. I doubt anyone would complain about Stearns trying to fix holes on our roster. I really, really doubt anyone has. People are just saying that this hole, while important, isn't the main concern of this team and most likely won't be the difference between this team starting to win series again. Pitching will be. And I'm simply saying that swapping out an horribly under performing bat for one that has the ability to be a top producing one could have a compound effect in helping the pitchers to perform better. That's far from extreme. It's a team game and all parts have impact on the others. There are no guarantees. If the Brewers top prospect by far was a pitcher then everyone would have been clamoring for that player to be brought up. But just because the top prospect wasn't a pitcher it doesn't mean people should be ok with him being in the minors while the team stumbled. The Brewers didn't get blown out in all those losses. He very well might have helped them win a few games with his bat.

The Brewers could start losing games 10-9. Or they could win a few slug fests which could eventually ease the stress on a few pitchers. You just never know how not having multiple black holes in the lineup could have a compound effect. You don't ignore an obvious way to improve because you can't see how it could aid in fixing your biggest problem. Maybe they'll go on a string of games jumping out to 3 run leads instead of falling behind by 3 runs out of the gate. Anyone see how that could benefit the pitching?

I recall saying that Hiura is the best RH bat in the organization which take however you want, (as an indictment of how subpar the team's RH bats are or as indicator of how good Hiura is) it's a fair opinion to hold. I also said that Hiura will be the team's 2nd best bat for the remainder of whatever season they decide to keep him up permanently. And hopefully it's this one because I stand by it. His bat is that special. And it's a characterization shared by people much closer to the situation.