Joseph Zarr

Hey, having a 1B/DH Nashville platoon of Ernesto Martinez; Wes Clarke; and Jake Bauers is pretty dang awesome. I am one happy camper!

I'm fairly certain velo wasn't the concern for RHP Isaiah Jackson's stint with the Brewers in the ACL (UDFA summer of 2023 - released late August 2024), but, none the less, it's nice to see him continue to put the work in:

Hey now! Welcome to the Wild fan club, my friend. I've been a peripheral fan of the Wild since their debut season. I lived in the Twin Cities for twelve years and owned a house across the bluff from the Xcel Energy Center. Went to many a game back in the day. I'm grateful for their current season - I think it's fair to say not many expected this! They're dealing with some nagging but significant injuries right now. The emergence of Rossi this season as a legitimate threat is a huge deal. Having Ek back is a major boost. Middleton's return right around the corner. The one tragic thing of being a Wild fan is they essentially always come up short. I have learned to never get my hopes up. I treat each season accordingly - yes, even in 2025. Despite their fantastic record they aren't dominant and they have one of lower goal differentials of the top teams.

My hope in this trade is the Crew go back to some of his funkier delivery sets in 2023. He kind of 'dumbed' it down last year and the results didn't really follow. I also hope he marries back to his tighter higher velo slider rather than his slower horizontally dominant sweeper of 2024. I became a pretty big Anderson fan when I stumbled upon him when tuning in to watch LHP Antoine Kelly pitch within the Rangers org back in 2023. Who could forget that historic 7 K (of 9 batters faced) in his debut vs the Tigers. That was an awesome moment. Anywho, Anderson has some really fun tools and I'm quite excited he gets a chance to work in the vaunted Lab. I see this as a pseudo right-handed Hoby role but I also see this as insurance for the loss of Bukowski in 2024 and his unknown return to form.

What a fun early January side road of Brewer fandom! Thanks for putting in the work in to do this, Jim.

LOL. No problem, I'll answer them here. I have typically finished hours of farm animal chores and chainsaw and mulching work by the time I come back into do the podcast. I am both exhausted but refreshed from a shower. As to the libations: Sometimes it is just my electrolyte lemon water with a side of an adult beverage (I have a kegerator on farm with local hard cider). This past podcast, I had my remaining coffee from the day, my electrolyte water, and a hard cider. LOL. It's funny you bring it up. Early in the pod I realized I had three different vassals going. I laughed to myself internally. It doesn't surprise me in the least you noticed!😅 And, no, I don't day drink so this is the first 'rewards' off of a day of burly farm work. 😆

I shore do wish RHP Robert Stock's arsenal moved like this when with 2023 Nashville (Hint: it emphatically did not). He's been working and tweaking!

We'll have to tack this on at the beginning of the Nashville episode - we recorded earlier this evening. We do address this vicariously, however, throughout the episode. Just missed today's cut🥲

Never too many questions. Love it. We will look through and answer accordingly. Let's be honest: any and all help is appreciated for a Shuckers deep dive😂. We were joking 'behind the scenes' we could discover a late technical issue and record the first half of the pod (video) from well behind and above us. Anyone who endured the Shuckers season alongside me knows what I'm referring to here.

Ask away nag dabbit! Freely and with moxy. Your questions are very welcome, doctor.

Black's best defensive performances in the Minor Leagues have come on the OF grass where his innate athletic gifts really take over. He's made some realllly nice ranging catches out in CF and LF. I personally don't trust a single bit of his infield defensive output - it just rarely ever looks or feels clean. This isn't to say he can't make plays on the infield. He can and he has. But, it just isn't consistently reliable in any fashion. At 1B, in particular, his scoops and stabs on liners or throws to 1B across the infield were very suspect in addition to not understanding positional responsibilities on grounders to the 2B side. How the Brewers end up using him is a hard nut to crack.

There are absolutely undeniably few better things in NFL football than beating the Queens in Minnesota on their turf. Hands down. Shutting down the 'Skol' chants is a bucket list feat for any Green Bay Packer. Man, when I lived in the Twin Cities I went to a significant amount of Packer vs Queens tilts at the then Metrodome. It was a grueling experience every single time. I may have added several a gray hair to muh beard in those experiences alone.

Your memory is speculatively accurate in that he was 'promoted' ahead of Barrios and Guilarte. He was 2-for-23 with 1 2B. It was a super small teaser sample size. At the time, if you recall, they were working with a suddenly small rotation of Murray, Black, and Warren as really the only everyday guys in the left side of the infield after Antonio Pinero got injured. They needed an adequate 'stop gap' before they traded with the Rangers for INF Jose Acosta (who has moved on this off-season as a FA). Acosta was acquired to essentially take Pinero's spot after they placed him on the 7-Day in early June. The ACL season began. Jadher spent the entire season there and then finished in Low-A Carolina through August and September.

I just found out today when my Sis called with the 'news'.😅

I'm certainly not going to start a WNBA thread (no offense to any WNBA fans) and I don't see a miscellaneous NBA/WNBA thread. I personally am not a watcher of WNBA games but today my brother-in-law, Sydney Johnson, took the Head Coaching position for the Washington Mystics. He has worked incredibly hard for this opportunity - he's been coaching the FIBA USA Women's 3 v 3 for quite awhile and assisted (led the defense) the disaster that was Theresa Witherspoon in Chicago last season. I wanted to share we are all, by proxy, now Mystics 'fans'. Go ladies! Best of luck, Syd! He is most likely going to need it!😅

- LHP Bruce Zimmerman has been signed to a Minor League contract with an invite to Spring Training. He has been assigned to the Nashville Sounds. Zimmerman went 3-4 in 15 Games Started pitching for the Norfolk Tides (Orioles) last season. He did not appear at the MLB level.

I was pretty much referring to the whole game. But, yes. IMHO, the defensive growth is the most impressive. He has cut back on the ticky tack reach fouls and has become a legit shutdown menace. Glorious.

The development of A-Jax this season has been nothing short of phenomenal. The Bucks desperately needed him to take a step and, man, he has taken several. He is playing controlled - he is maximizing that absurd athleticism and he isn't losing control in doing so. If he can continue developing something off the dribble and to the hoop in addition to fine tuning that set shot 3, he becomes a true weapon. I think, for me personally (beyond Giannis just reaching newer other-worldly heights), it's the highlight of this early Bucks season. Credit to Doc for sticking with the young guns even with Midds returning. It had to happen but that certainly doesn't always mean it will happen in a professional sports League.

Man, that's just an egregious lack of understanding of what the full scope of the job entails. That really sucks for your daughters. My main contention as the uncle across the country is simply: these people are put in places of trust and authority and these are very very basic tasks. Fill out the forms, belong to the proper coaching groups, hand them in to the right outlets. The, the rest takes care of itself. My niece will be absolutely fine. She's handling it better than all the adults over yonder. She'll likely start as a Freshman on an NCAA-tourney caliber Ivy League squad. Things will take care of themselves. Principally, however, the lack of any type of 'punishment' (for lack of a better word) to this coach is something. Karma will ultimately have its comeuppance in some way, shape, or form however. I do believe that.

Well, RHP Taylor Clarke joins former Brewers and new 'teammates' INF Cam Devanney and RHP Ryan Brady in the Kansas City Royals organization. Clarke rejoins the Royals (after one mostly disappointing year with the Brewers) on a Minor League deal. We wish Taylor the best as he attempts to earn his way back to a 40-Man roster spot.

All I gotta say: This blog rocks. Another banger.

The BTC evolution and developments have, honestly, ventured beyond my wildest dreams. When I was mining in 2016/2017 - before I shifted full-time to trading (and, then, ultimately to hodling/accumulation/and LT swing trading) - I couldn't even fathom or realistically accept what is now unfolding before our eyes. It's a testament to my limited thinking, on one hand, but also I am inherently conservative in the markets. I have family members who were burned in the Dot.com bubble because they were greedy. BUT, it's hard to turn a blind eye to what we're seeing and as I've grown in this crypto market as a whole my thinking has changed. And, well, in my charts when I pull out to the macro larger timeframes I can't deny what I'm seeing. I try to disprove it. I really do. BUT, before this cycle even kicked off and turned bullish - I'm talking late 2023 and beginning of 2024 charting - I could find ways to see certain price action giving me $350K this cycle. That never materialized but it got me going through various market scenarios. Ultimately, $1 Million was (and is) on the table as a logical first Mid-Term target. Say 10 years or so out. Which, well, got me thinking and extrapolating. I was already pontificating one could make a reasonable argument that beyond Microstrategy like purchases, the US Fed was shadow buying lots of BTC to leverage against the US Treasury. I'm not going to get into specifics but I can tell you I'm not the only one who thinks this or was charting this. I digress. So, I had been asking the question: What is a reasonable growth estimate - annually and in 5-10 year cycles - if Bitcoin actually became a global reserve? AND, well, here we are that is being openly discussed across the Sqwuak Box almost daily. Then, well, yesterday I saw this: The long and the short? Other than a very small but keen sense of validation, I reminded myself: Just keep buying every dip. Doesn't matter the amount of money you or I have. Responsibly cost-average in and it will all come out in the wash. I just no longer think this is an outlandish proposition whatsoever. 4-5 years ago? I would have looked at you like you shot my dog. Lastly, man, my mom is retiring this upcoming summer. I hand fed her the golden opportunity for the rest of her lifetime. I sent her weekly texts when BTC went sub-$20K. Just not in her risk profile or, honestly, her realm of comprehension. Is what it is. I still have the hardest time grappling with that failure to execute as her son.😅

Closing this loop for now in the 'High' Mountain air: Best of luck to Mr. Yan as he seeks to work his way back into a possible MLB discussion.

Brew Crew once again have 3 players in Baseball America's Top 50 International Prospects Bonus Board. Will post tidbits later (feel free to beat me to it).