Joseph Zarr

Ryland just signed onto Arizona's PS yesterday - not that that means much of anything but just updating this zesty fringe kicker discourse. Man, we need a Whelan kicking FG's.

Really really happy for Erceg. The Brewers did him a solid when they traded him to the A's and back to his familiar stomping grounds out West. He's only run with his opportunities since then. It's just awesome to see him have mastery and control of his tools. He always had the raw talent with the Brewers. He struggled with repeating releases and results. Always sat mid to upper 90's on the heater. He really just hadn't mastered his change-up. Well, watching him now? His change-up is a certifiable weapon. Just an awesome development and just insanely happy for him and his family given what he's endured in his own life as a man.

They pretty specifically moved Manfredi into a high-leverage bullpen role (according to manager Victor Estevez - who explicitly discussed how they love his fastball). We also saw him as a piggy-back guy. I personally don't think Peterson or Manfredi are starters at present - obviously, I could be wrong and we'll learn more in 2025. I think Aquino is best out of the bullpen as well (unless he can add a couple ticks on his heater) with his slider being his best pitch. I think Rudy definitely showed he'll get more opportunities as a starter after his performance at Lake County. It was a truly masterful start when it mattered most. And, that was coming off a second half where he started showing improvements across the board.

Man, I love me some Garrett Mitchell. What a wonderful guy:

🤭

I think arguments can definitely be made for 'Honorable Mention' inclusions for RHP Brett Wichrowski (based on his second half alone) and RHP Alexander Cornielle (based on what he meant to that Timber Rattlers starting staff - he was their bulldog the entire season). And, given what we saw in the playoffs, RHP's Will Rudy and Daniel Corniel have me even more excited about their upcoming 2025 seasons - though their seasons as a whole likely won't catch most peeps' eyes. Watching the games? Rudy and Corniel came to play when it mattered most. That definitely means something to me.

We won this One for the Twinkies and the Orioles so we could some shine on our collective deplorable post-season records of recent vintage.

I legit can't handle this. Devin PLEASE don't load the bases and strike out the side for the Save. Please just do NOT do that.l thing you can do.

The Brewers in the playoffs is just a recipe for pain. Unreal poor performances across the board from the veterans in the clubhouse and the team leaders. There is only pain.

I mean as long as no Cubs fans are in the proverbial Hizzy, I think it's all good from here. Maybe my expectations and demands are too low?

Yeah. It's weird. 1 sack over his past 13 games is just absurdly poor production from a guy who is supposed to be one of the core and core leaders on the defense. Before, at least, we had tons of pressure. This season, he's a near complete non-factor in that department.

What a story for Isaac Collins in 2024! Man, I am so happy for him and his family. Just WOW.

You could even say a major step back. His 2024 pressure rates through 4 GP is drastically lower than his previous two seasons. I'd say it is concerning.

Reports were he is sitting 95-97 mph. Touching 98 mph. Which is, well, it's pretty awesome if the reports are accurate (and I have little to no reasons to think they are not).

Yup. It's extremely hard to formulate truly accurate opinions on any of the DSL (or ACL, for that matter) pitchers. I am still only half a season or so removed from the LHP Osbriel Mogollon rise-and-fall within the organization. He was a gem throughout his DSL summer. Came stateside; was promoted to Low-A Carolina; struggled mightily; was sent back to the ACL; played sparingly but still struggled; and was Released. It's very very much hit or miss and, honestly, mostly miss (tho, that may be changing). We can use any number of stats to try to read the Tea leaves but until we see them face those Low-A bats we really don't know all that much of anything. This being said, I personally considered the LHP Jesus Flores and RHP's Yorman Galindez, Dikember Sanchez, Brailin Rodriguez, Manuel Rodriguez, and Daniel Corniel collective developments to be toward the top of my favorite system storylines of the entire 2024 season.

That's OK. I somehow missed voting entirely. 😅 I believe that qualifies for a 'total oversight', actually.

It seriously baffles me the Pack can't find a kicker who can make 85% of his FG. That's the low end of an acceptable NFL kicker in 2024. I just can not grok.

I'm old enough to remember when I thought Narvs' was the LT answer at kicker. 🫠

Man, Narvs missing from 37 has me dressing Emo Goth all weepy-eyed.

I did. Any I went like this:

Agreed. I don't know why you'd choose to play Houston over Baltimore. Baltimore has essentially backed into these playoffs with some serious slumps the past month. They have no historicity of success in the post-season. They're very young. I take the O's 7 days a week over a Houston team and organization that almost always seems to find a way to surprise and advance (if not dominate) in the post-season.

Hard to complain about this list. I have to laugh: Seth sent out the message to get us to Vote as Report writers all season. I completely forgot to vote on anything when I shifted into off-season Farm Mode. 😅Glad to see some of y'all tallied votes! I'll be very curious to see who you all selected in the full-season affiliate realm.

I think my favorite part of tonight's 'W' was this very tempered reaxe vid from Franky 'Bag of Doughnuts' Fleming. Here's to you, Tanky Boy.

I'm surprised about Wilken in that I personally feel an off-season to reset - get further away from his broken face; a disappointing season overall; and find out what it's like to be a father - is more important than more AB's in 2024. BUT, obviously, from a strictly baseball perspective a chance to have a better run at the dish might be worth it as is more games and experiences as a general rule. And, more games and more exposure give the Brewers more information on what he might need to work on in the later part of this year and into spring. I get all that and, at this point, I just hope he crushes it. Baez, also missed quite a bit of time with his shoulder injury this past season so the PT is a need. He's a very fun player. An underrated player at 3B defensively as I've said for awhile. Sure, he had some misplays late in the season but, as a whole, his defense has been better than advertised since the ACL. I continue to believe he can get even better there. He needs the AB's and higher-end exposure - we need to find if he can find more line drive power, for example. I think the AFL is a good fit to see where he is truly at in his career. And, it's a good challenge. He makes too many outs on the base paths - almost as if he thinks his extremely impactful aggressive bat-to-ball skills will just work running the bases. It very much doesn't. Can he rein this back? IF he were a more disciplined base runner, we'd likely be talking more seriously about Baez. Given his primary is the hot corner he has to tap into more power. Given his age and lower prospect ranking, I imagine he will probably be a PT player in Arizona. I hope I'm wrong. I want him to see FT exposure.