Joseph Zarr

Our Epidose One OPUS is up. 2 hr and 30 minutes to put you all to sleep before we dive into the full-season clubs. 😅 Please submit any and all questions pertaining to the Carolina Mudcats - their 2024 season and what might be in store for the 2025 season. The Mudcats (or is it the Wilson Whirligigs?) will be the focus of Episode 2.

Fair point. I thought of it ex post facto. I was trying to keep it minimally involved at the time because it was a scared teenager in one regard and my whining crying low blood sugar 6 yo daughter. My insurance agent, who we have had in our nuclear family for two decades, conveyed in this type of incident even if culpability is say 10/90 the fact a claim is filed is what drives a Premium alteration. He also mentioned if the hike becomes prohibitive we'll move around some numbers and make it look the same. -Principally, however, I am still miffed. 😅

Ranked 31 by Baseball 'Merica this past spring they had this to say: "Restituyo signed for $200,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2017. The Rockies converted him from the infield to the outfield and he’s steadily progressed over the past five seasons. In 2023, Restituyo spent the entire season with Double-A Hartford and hit .258/.277/.414 with a career-high 15 home runs. Restituyo is an undersized outfielder with standout abilities defensively, a high motor and a big swing. He shows above-average bat-to-ball skills but rarely sees a pitch he doesn’t want to swing at." In ye ol FWIW. A 16.5% strikeout percentage is fine by me for a rangy plus defensive OF'er. Hope he takes off!

Here's what's bugging me... I was in a parking spot in downtown Sandpoint, ID taking my 6-year-old daughter to her favorite restaurant. Lo and behold, the restaurant was closed. I got back into my truck after fastening my little gal into her car seat. I checked my mirrors. Nobody there. Meanwhile, a teenage boy (couldn't be more than 17) was driving down a blind alley with his extremely small (in size and stature) brother in the front seat of their 2000 Mercury Sabel. They pulled down the alley to turn onto the street I was parked on. They pulled forward. I backed up. I poked the front passenger's side of their vehicle causing a dent in the body panel behind the headlight. I was likely backing up 1 mph but my 2013 Ford F150 is lifted 6" and is an all metal body with Rhino coating on the bumpers. Zero damage on my vehicle whatsoever. SO, we opt to go through our insurance en lieu of any police involvement. Nobody is hurt whatsoever. This was a boom-boom mini moment poke of a much bigger and beefier vehicle on a teenager's donated vehicle. Goes through agents. Today, I get a note: "We are paying for damage to their vehicle because we backed into another vehicle." I find this utterly amazing. Nevermind I have a flawless driving record for over 20 years. Nevermind this teenager just got their driver's license. I am at fault here? You can just pull down a blind alley into the way of a truck backing up and you take zero responsibility? What a world. Anywho, the end impact on my Premium is the same regardless because I went through the Claim filing process. My agent is a family friend and we will work around any increase. BUT, in principle, I am literally incapable of grasping how this decision was made without actually circling back to consult me on my version of the events. I would just love to be a fly on the wall as the parents and the young man discussed their version of events. Is what it is. Doesn't mean I have to swallow it with pride. 😅

Great ?'s. I have yet to come up with a sensible answer. It was a complete and utter cluster of poor execution. That's all there is. Glad they stole the 'W'. BUT, I felt that botched play in general was a perfect metaphor for their season to date.

INF Pablo Reyes (an all-time favorite utility player of mine in the Brewers system for a variety of reason) has signed on with the Yankees in hopes of earning the trust of the MLB clubhouse as a key utility piece. AND, RHP Jason Alexander has signed on with the Oakland Athletics in hopes of reclaiming the magic he experienced with the Brewers just two years ago. Best of luck to both!

It's essentially a day later and I still can't make sense of the breakdowns in the Bucks defensive rotations on the final inbounds play in the 'W' versus Houston. How does this happen in an NBA game in the final seconds? It shows to go you mental lapses and brain farts happen at even the absolutely highest of levels of sports: (Embedded under the game-saving Giannis defensive masterclass that led to Dame's winning lay-up. Giannis steps on the out of bounds line. No call. Refs owed us one. Heck, they owe us 10 more. LOL)

Man the Brewers just have an incredible ability to co-create attractive baseball people. Congrats to McKinven. You hate to lose good baseball people. But, I celebrate the fact the Brewers are genuinely a culture of people. I look forward to seeing who gets the next opportunity.

With all due respect...My main 'contention' (I say this lightly here but with some conviction - ie I don't begrudge opinions) is really the lack of evolution in the entire conversation around Patrick's game and his season. He is constantly an afterthought. There simply appears to consistently be reasons he is not taken seriously. He didn't get discussed in the 'Minor League Pitcher of the Year' announcements. Fine. There are many strong pitchers and a handful of worthy arms in the Brewers system. He wasn't even brought into the conversation, however - I definitely took note. There always appears to be a classic modern day baseball referral to his 'stuff' - movement profiles etc. - that don't match up to what the group think of statistical profiles and graphic reads have people saying. I'm not saying these aren't important - they are crucial and rightfully so and many on our board and across baseball can discuss them with infinitely more adept acumen than myself. BUT, there has to be an ability to accept and embrace outliers and there has to be an ability to embrace and celebrate results. Nobody was seriously advocating for or discussing his game when he literally accomplished a feat only three pitchers in the entire history of the International League have accomplished. There were 'Yeah, but(s)...". Like Gasser, he won International League Pitcher of the Year. AND, Matt, with all due respect, instead of celebrating and lifting up his accomplishment by being selected to the 40-Man you literally headline your article by pretty much diminishing it. This is what I mean when I purport to put some respect on his name. I personally don't care if there was inner-organizational doubts. The head man and the likely Manager of the Year in the NL and his staff wanted him on their team and available in their staff. The 'surprise' or the 'doubts', in my humble opinion, 'should' or would ideally come in the body of the article. It most definitely shouldn't be the lead in my baseball world view. I love your stuff and I love your baseball mind. I don't agree with how this article was delivered. And, hey, that's OK. It gets us all talking passionately about Brewers baseball and at the end of the day that's a good thing. Your reasons for going the route you did are your reasons and I accept that. I simply don't agree with the approach. The only thing I personally find surprising in today's announcements so far is what this possibly says about RHP Shane Smith - in all the various ways this can be interpreted. A pitcher I really like and many of us here do. And, well, a pitcher I certainly hope the Brewers don't lose. Maybe the Brewers and others feel he just isn't far enough along in his attempts to be a starter? Those are conversations I would love to hear.

Patrick's best pitch, btw, is his cutter. He can throw that pitch in a variety of ways with a variety of movements. By season's end it was a legitimate weapon. It's a filthy filthy pitch. And, well, you know how the Brewers love a cutter. I think Stern wrote about this recently (?). Regardless, by season's end the pitch had evolved into a plus MLB pitch. I am not exaggerating here. It gets and got a lot of swing and miss.

<Joseph in his Man Cave pondering how he will calmly and with a level head celebrate and tout his guy RHP Chad Patrick getting Rule 5 protected on the 40-Man...😜>

No surprise here. Patrick is a fantastic pitcher. You don't do what he did on the mound and not get protected. It's really as simple as that. He really sealed his fate over his last month plus. He was electric. Go back and watch his start vs those dangerous Norfolk bats @ Norfolk to close his season. One start after punching out 12 Redbirds. He had just reached an entirely new level by season's end. He was the first International League Triple Crown pitcher since 1976. Like Gasser won the League Pitcher of the Year. That means something.

Put some respect on Mr. Patrick's name, please. My goodness. There is capital zero surprising about him getting selected. The first Triple Crown feat from the mound in the International League since 1976. International League pitcher of the year. Very clearly pitched his best baseball over his last month plus - ie got better and was his best in the deepest part of the season. Legitimate five-pitch mix. 26 years old. He follows suit after Gasser and Myers. If his pitches move and evolve like they did that past month more will be wondering how they didn't see it. His late season surge was very very much an equivalent to what we saw with Tobias Myers out of the Sounds bullpen late in 2023. Unlike Myers, however, Patrick pitched to fantastic end results nearly the entire season. This was a no brainer add.

(Profanity...but well well worth it)

I will not allow the Minnesota Wild to lure me in again. Incredible start for them. I imagine the Xcel Center is absolutely rocking nightly. There is only pain in the end (until, hockey gods willing, there isn't). I'm staying at a distance this entire season.

I saw Bucky won. I saw they scored over 100 points. All incredible. Then I saw: 87 combined FT's ?!? 😳 87 COMBINED FT'S?!? I can't imagine there was a lot of flow to this One. Glad the Badgers came out on top but, sheesh, from afar I would have guessed they had MAAC refs calling this one.

It is, yes. BUT, it has limitations. NBA refs can not review fouls they have called to overturn them. I think they can review the type of foul (?). But, in the particular case of this foul they were literally only determining the clock when they called the foul. What I didn't understand (and still don't understand) is the refs determined it was a two shot shooting foul on the floor when they blew the whistle. That, to me, is patently absurd. That didn't qualify as one via any other criteria other than the refs determined it was a shooting foul. And, obviously, I never saw it as any type of foul to begin with and the NBA agreed.

I just saw this. He gets a coveted 7 figure salary while trying to build on his incredible last month and a half starting for the Sounds to hopefully get more serious MLB attention next off-season. White's mother is also Korean so there is a bit of that rarefied feel good deeper layer here. Good luck, Mitch!

Yeah and the NBA also came out post-game with their final two-minute report stating the refs blew the call - ie it wasn't a foul - and they couldn't review the play itself because they called it a foul on the floor. Is what it is. The zebras are literally always lurking.

On EMJ a gent named 'Ian' brought up a great point to Jim earlier on Twizzler while sharing McCalvy's recent tidbit on EMJ in his Newsletter (expand the comment): As Jim said over HERE, it is unlikely EMJ passed on a 40-Man opportunity with another ball club due to an allegiance to the Crew. And, if a club wanted to sign him to their 40-Man they could have while he was a Minor League FA (albeit, briefly) and they then would have the ability to Option him to their system. As we know, you can't do that as a Rule 5 selection or you are simply forfeited back to your old club.

Hey all, @Spencer Michaelisand I have penciled in the recording of our first Brewer Fanatic podcast - first of five in a five-part Brewers Minor League system dive - next week Wednesday (11/20). I would like to use this thread as an ongoing question submission for any and all. I would also like to keep the questions generally focused within the body of our intended discussions in each respective episode. SO, please do submit any questions here or suggestions as to areas you'd like to hear/see us dive into deeper. To that end, here is a current rough outline of areas we will travel in the FIRST Episode: Releases and Signings Rule 5 protections - deadline for the 40-Man adds is in four days AFL recap Winter League happenings No Australian League participation in 2024? Macro View of the System: Combined records, individual records, post-season appearances and results The 2024 DSL season The 2024 ACL season The 2024 Draft and player placements and performances (if applicable) If the (formerly known as) Bird App is your thing: That's the general gist of Episode One - lots of intriguing ground to cover. As we go through the remaining episodes we will be spending dedicated attention and time to each affiliated full-season team per episode. Low-A Carolina is coming down the pipeline. So, to that end, please consider the rough outline I've shared above and ask any and all questions or consider adding a little flavor to the above topics - or any other topics that might marry well within we simply may not have thought of. We look forward to sharing this conversation together!

My favorite moment of the 2024 Yoho Tour was when we finally got the Statcast data and they labelled his screwball a left-handed curveball. Thems were times.