Joseph Zarr

Back to Transactions... - INF Andruw Monasterio was optioned to the Nashville Sounds by the Milwaukee Brewers

Well, I don't know if you missed it per se. He was placed on the 7-Day in early August. Then was converted to the 60-Day and missed the remainder of the season. However, he was procedurally activated off that 60-Day when the season ended. I had hope he would recover in time for the season but obviously he did not. Maybe A-Rob alluded to this earlier but I'm an aging geezer and have not tracked it.

Yes, when I watch Ferguson I see a more football athletic actual route runner. Vast difference. We're going to disagree on this. We do disagree on this. You could go on, sure. I'm basing my opinions on watching Luke Musgrave play (albeit limited in 2024) NFL football. And, frankly, I think we're watching a different NFL player. 😅 He didn't just fall once. Musgrave was repeatedly falling in the open field during his rookie season - the joke was funny because it was also quite true. Anywho, I'm going to continue hoping for a breakout of some kind - any kind, really. I'm not anticipating it. And, well, that's no big deal. Being a successful professional athlete is a very very hard proposition. I don't begrudge Musgrave one iota - he seems like an extremely likable guy. I just think, in the version we've seen of him to date, he's not all that impactful on the football field.

Me right now:

I've sent this inquiry to 'DOBE' (The Department of Brewers Efficiency) to see if we can't get a straight answer.

RHP/1B Quinton Low has been placed on the Full-Season IL by the Carolina Mudcats RHP Eric Prado has been placed on the Full-Season IL by the Carolina Mudcats RHP Fray Morelo has been placed on the Full-Season IL by the Carolina Mudcats RHP Enniel Cortez has been placed on the Full-Season IL by the Carolina Mudcats RHP Jason Woodward has been (officially - tho, we obviously discussed this earlier) placed on the Full-Season IL by the Carolina Mudcats RHP J.B. Bukauskas has (officially) been placed on the Full-Season IL by the Nashville Sounds RHP Yorman Galindez has been placed on the 60-Day IL by the Carolina Mudcats RHP Alexander Vallecillo has been placed on the 60-Day IL by the Carolina Mudcats LHP Thomas Pannone has been placed on the 60-Day IL by the Nashville Sounds RHP Jake Polancic has been placed on the 60-Day IL by the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers RHP Cameron Wagoner has been placed on the 60-Day IL by the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers In less hurtful transactional news... LHP Joey Broughton has been officially assigned to the ACL Brewers - Woot Woot! RHP Brailin Aguirrez - a 17-year-old Dominican hurler - has officially been signed to a ML contract (he has yet to be assigned to the Uno or Dos, fwiw)

Prepare yourselves to be wounded by the early IL announcements coming in from full-season affiliates...

In honor of the Lions weeping for a reformat of Playoff seeding, I am publicly proposing all 'Merican football games be played outdoors on natural grass. Thank you. I concede my time.

Wait, are you directing this self-proclaimed 'baseless thought' on Minor League ST line-ups?! Mr. Mueller. Hold your tongue! 😜

A beautiful spring day. I'm drinking a tall glass of Matthew Trueblood's tears. 🤭

A man can certainly dream: Many a player the Packers were surely looking at. Great to see a full arsenal of Packers evaluators.

Wasn't expecting a Luke Musgrave retort this am but here we are. 😅 We're never going to agree here but it's a fun disagreement. Musgrave does not and has not run fluid routes his entire time as a Packer. He has fairly tight hips. He is what I would call straight line fast - and for a man his size he certainly can really move. However, let's not forget, this is the same TE who was the running joke of his own locker room his rookie season because he could not stay on his feet in the wide open field. So much so his HC made a joke publicly when he stayed on his feet and found the end zone. I think it's also more than fair to point out he is also mostly incapable of breaking arm tackles because he has very little wiggle ability in his hips - ie he can't avoid tacklers. That just is not fluid from my POV. Kraft? Very fluid in the open field with the strength to match it. A very very agile and strong human being who moves naturally and with great purpose in the open field. Musgrave, again, from my POV is quite a bit more straight line fast than he is anything else and I would also casually opine he is moderately stiff. His 3-cones and shuttles were always 'good' but not 'great', if you recall back in his testing days. That bares out at playing speed where he lacks wiggle in his routes. We've disagreed on Musgrave his entire unimpressive tenure as a Packer. It's why I personally would love to see a Day 2 TE pick in the draft. And, this being said, we all know TE prospects are (at minimum) given a 3 year window to show signs of life. I personally expect very little from Musgrave when all is said and done. Would absolutely love to be wrong. If you want to talk 'Fluid' as a TE athlete, look to a guy like TE Terrance Ferguson out of Oregon in this year's draft. That man is 'fluid' in his game. His routes are incredible. In my perfect Packers football world, that's my target for the Packers to swap into Musgrave's role.

Very cool article. Really interesting to get a deeper discussion of where he and the Brewers are thinking as he positions himself on the rubber. I think it's fair to point out he didn't really see any type of regression whatsoever in his jump from High-A to Double-A - a level jump historically seen as the most challenging across all levels of the Minor Leagues. And, it's no secret, the jump to the Southern League can be brutal for many a player. As a matter of fact, Yoho was striking out more batters per inning out of Biloxi's Pen than he was in Wisconsin. What he (and KC Hunt) did in their leap to Biloxi was what really made the season so dang remarkable. The jump in free passes did indeed happen at the tail end of the season in the International League. He pitched a mere 14 1/3 frames in Nashville over 14 appearances. Personally, having watched every one of those outings more than once (re-watching them this off-season), I saw it just as much from a fatigue and fluke perspective than anything else - 5 of those 9 free passes came in 2 of 14 appearances. We can nitpick, sure. But, as always, context helps. None the less, the main takeaway from my vantage point is he understands he can't get away with too many of those types of outings at the MLB level and the Brewers and Yoho himself recognize how good his stuff is.

Welcome to Brewer Fanatic! Let's see if we can't figure that out for you. But, be prepared, this may be a case of they shifted all these replays to Condensed Games.

BTW for those of you unable to watch any of the Breakout Game, here's an extended look of RHP Tyson Hardin with RHP Craig Yoho interviewing and discussing his outing. Includes a swinging K to a lefty on a really nice inside slider working off heat and Wood's CS throw to 2B to end the frame:

Yeah, I saw he had the lowest win rate amongst the GT DL but 9.54 RAS and nearly ducked for cover. This is PFN's draft profile: Yikes?

I imagine, come draft day, it will be 'The Biggers they are, the harder they fall.'. I still don't see him getting picked beyond the 7th or UDFA range but what do I know? My specialty is obscure DSL and ACL'ers.😅

My main takeaways: (1) Hostetler is indeed filthy and there is indeed a set of reasons he was originally in the transfer portal to Oregon State before signing on with the Brewers. (2) Hardin with a Five-Pitch Mix?! IF he can dial in more control (significantly lacking in 2024's short stint) this is considerable development. (3) Really refreshing to see Jose Anderson swing the lumber. That is a very natural swing with flexibility, repeatability, and innate power. It kind of answered my own questions about his late 2024 DSL season power drought and mini slump. If we recall, he was essentially shelved the last week or so during that DSL 1 failed playoff push (they stacked the Uno roster before the Orioles Orange pulled away). I wondered at the time if that was injury, rest, fatigue or getting others more opportunity. I think it's reasonable to seriously wonder aloud if he doesn't just start in Carolina, after all. Edit to Add (I can't believe this wasn't #1 originally) (4) Holy simplified swing and leg lift Luke Adams! Whoa! Fascinating.

Hope some of you had a chance to watch the Breakout game yesterday. It was only one over-hyped contest but, none the less, there were several things to take away of note imho.

Georgia Tech Pro Day:

I can still remember being at a bar in Dinkytown Minneapolis watching A-Rod come into a game at Dallas in the regular season - spelling an injured Favre (? I was mildly sippy sippy by that point as a younger lad). He nearly completed the comeback. I knew then and there - and, I swear I remember I was obnoxiously pontificating aloud and pointing to the big screens: "The Future! That is the Future right there! Aaron fricken Rodgers!". Part of me was praying we could just move on from the interception buffets of late-career Favre, part of me had probably drabk a couple too many, but the other part of me saw what was possible in the years ahead if the stars aligned. Watching the Atlanta playoff game in their dome was the absolute drive it home moment for me. That performance was unbelievably good given the context and given how dominant that Falcons team had been. To your point, though, absolutely agreed. It's so easy to forget with the silly storylines that have bled into the conversations around him - some his doing, no doubt, but the vast majority I would politely opine are just frivolous nonsense. In his prime he was an unbelievable talent. And, in that same prime, he was annually considered the best player in the entire League by a good margin. We were blessed as fans to witness his greatness.

FWIW:

Congrats, Bucky fans! Big Dub!

More Transactional Bookkeeping: - OF Brewer Hicklen was optioned to the Nashville Sounds by the Milwaukee Brewers - 17-year-old Dominican LHP Joan Pena (2025 International FA signing) was officially assigned to the DSL Brewers #1 *** Which, if I'm being honest, led me to ponder, In the Quiet Morning: Will we ever see a 'Joan Baez' from down yonder? *** I digress. More transactions surely to appear in the days ahead.