Joseph Zarr

Let me just say, as a resident Devanney Stan, in the very least they made this trade in the off-season. There is plenty of time to heal (sniffles). There is time to endure a full grief cycle (blows nose). AND, the real winner in this deal: they didn't wait until the in-season MLB trade deadline. We all know how that would have turned out. Let us pray.

Great to read thoughts here, Gents! Yeah, another session of Rate Cuts shouldn't have anyone feeling rosy about a falsely propped stock market heading into an election year. At least, not in my book. I look for opportunities to diversify when over 70% of the global market responds literally the exact same way as the US Market (bonds and stocks). The herd mentality is nearly always the losing One in the end. The current cumulative price action pictures are great for short term gains (astute point, Chorizo), but this is not a Long Term win - especially if you are keenly aware of the likely regression to Stagflation (given the current debt load and the Credit Markets picture) that could make the 1970's look like a cakewalk in the end. Do you manage your own portfolio or does Fidelity or the like? (Not saying this is a bad thing by any measure). What am I doing, for shirts and goggles? 1) Bitcoin is my insurance portfolio. 10% insurance. I trust my pro Bond Trader and Junk Bond traders. I diversified on the way down off of $67K. I could easily rationalize 20% but I personally prefer more diversity in my holdings. I continue to cost average. AND, let me just say you can make a solid argument the FED (contrary to the Biden SEC shenanigan policies and failed shadow bank shutdowns) has been shadow buying large sums. Likely to back a troubled US Treasury. 2) I can't trade spot gold and silver here BUT I can buy paper positions. Is it a manipulated market? Abso-friggin-lutely. What market isn't?! Most zealots would demand you hold physical, I can't get myself to horde in a safe or at a facility and deal with the shipping etc. Regardless, given the global picture in my book this is a must hold position. Gold has eclipsed ATH's (and will continue to set new AT Highs in the years ahead). Oddly, this being said, now is also the time to swap significant percentages into silver with the 81:1 ratio eclipsed just last week. 3) Given the low inventory in the Housing Market, I was still able to target upside areas and play the waiting game. With my flexibility and personal situation, I was quite easily the best buyer sellers were going to see. I was very picky. I moved some holdings into two solid rental properties. I targeted the areas hoping I won't have issues with renters (!!). We shall see. So far so good 😅 3) In the global stock market picture, Markets that are down one or two years historically tend to be up in the years following. To this end, and not boring you with PCA research; intel; and charts...in 2024-2026 I see distinct opportunities in: - Platinum -Gold Silver - the crypto market (Supercycle essentially already announced itself) - Japanese Bonds - Indonesian equities There is more but I won't divulge all my lil secrets! Here's one example from the above sectors: Ethereum shows a very possible $25-28K Final Target in its technical macro chart. You can enter a position, for example, in one of the Eth ETF's and not even deal with holding or buying crypto but you sure as heck can swing trade that price action.

It would appear MLB is creating a new Minor League feature to draw more attention to the prospects we all love following. Details HERE The Crew's Top 20-30 prospects will face the Royals Top 20-30 Sunday March 17th at 4:05 pm EST.

Meeker did indeed win Relief Pitcher of the Year and he was fantastic in 2022. What Gardner is doing striking out hitters is on a completely different level. He's struck out the same number of hitters in roughly 47% of Meeker's total innings. Gardner is essentially striking out the side, at this current rate, every outing.

Yes. Baseball America publishes it every fall: Link HERE

I'd put the shot of re-signing Feliciano at next to zero. That ship certainly appears to have more than sailed. Stranger things have happened, and I certainly wish him well, but let me just say: extremely unlikely. He did have a strangely positive season throwing out base stealers (11-of-26) after mightily struggling for years with the Crew. But, the sample size was so small given he was back on the IL - a recurring theme for the one-time highly touted prospect - it doesn't really carry any water. When it comes to catchers, Brewers fans continually forget they have an extremely worthy MLB back-up option/ Triple-A Nashville starter in Brian Navarreto. He is very very good behind the dish and surprisingly clutch when swinging the bat. Now that the Henry ship has sailed North, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they re-upped both Brent Diaz (another extremely underrated and highly professional back-stop) and finally bumped the very worthy Jose Sibrian up a level or two given he's clearly mastered Low-A. Both continue to test the ML FA waters. My one source of trepidations here, even though I highly enjoy watching both players, is they were released by the club - ie, they didn't choose FA (at least via the official Transaction Wire earlier this Fall). Regardless, both have been excellent Brewers Minor Leaguers.

- LHP Rob Zastryzny has agreed to a Minor League (read: Triple-A Nashville) contract with the Milwaukee Brewers More HERE As the article indicates (linked above), Zastryzny has no ML options remaining. This would appear to be a (1) earn your way straight out of Spring Training or (2) start the season establishing yourself in the Nashville Pen (while giving Sweet a proven Triple-A lefty) with a chance to get the call-up and stick. If he doesn't stick, for whatever reasons, he would likely pass through waivers and head back into the ML FA pool.

Let me do the heavy lifting here (sheeeeesh!) 🏋️‍♂️ Chourio starts at 03:22:05. Here is your time-stamped video Brewers fans:

This isn't a 'little run'. FWIW. The next Supercycle has essentially made its opening remark. We are at the very beginnings of the next Supercycle. This is (most likely and historically) a 1-2 year Bull run at its nascent phase. Think 2020/2021 when BTC broke $10k and danced between $10-20K and everyone was freaking out. If you know Futures charting, we have 4 clear signals staring us in the face. BTC being the Polaris of this space (obvious reasons), has already made this clear for two weeks. Let me take one moment to be more specific on these signals from my technical perspective (not posting my charts here, no offense but most of you won't understand a thing from these anyway). For posterity sake, I'll give you the verbals: Rebreak (intra-bar/candle) of the horizontal line of the BTCUSD weekly S1 pattern Weekly bar close of BTCUSD above this same horizontal line Monthly bar close above its horizontal line Rebreak (intra-bar/candle) of the horiontal line(s) of the ETHUSD S1 pattern Suffice to say, in my world: these are huge confirmations. I absolutely take these seriously. Now, the inevitable retrace action was the CME weekend gap at $40 K. Already tickled. They settle 93% of these historically. There is another gap remaining at $20K. I'd be extremely surprised/shocked honestly if they dealt with that. It's a weekend gap. Price action stops due to Forex regulations. They don't have to do anything now that the momentum has built; the ETF's are due etc. There is much much more Big Money (not to mention Fed shadow buying that has been obvious on the blockchain for two years) waiting to get their signals. What am I looking for for more (unsolicited) LT entries? The retouch flirtation with the 200 EMA. That will likely be near $35k. Some shenanigans and fear mongering BS will be used. More big money will buy. Regardless, suffice to say, Bitcoin will go well above $100k. The overall baseline targets on my charts still read $450 K as Target 1 (not necessarily in this cycle, mind you). I loathe Ethereum with a passion. BUT, given its lion's hare of the second position you are a fool if you aren't charting it (speaking for myself not anyone here). I won't buy it principally. BUT, if you have access to an ETF position to ride the chart and price action: the Targets are $25-28 K. For those of you at home, what this means essentially is you can enter a share-holding position in an Eth ETF and ride a likely 12-14x earnings on your Swing Trade. That's potentially life-changing money. Crypto does this. It will do it again. People in this thread telling you to '...sell it all...'. They don't understand a thing about Markets. There is literally a website (and has been for years) that tracks 'Bitcoin deaths'. This is due to more fear-mongering foolery that gets the herd every single time. While the Big Money buys up their Stop-Losses and sells at losses. This isn't rocket science. Every market does this. Crypto is no different. Don't kill the messenger. Do your own TA or research. These are free unsolicited nuggets. As an aside, for any bullion hodlers: the Gold:Silver ratio just eclipsed 80:1. Time to sell a good chunk of gold into silver. I digress. But, I share this because we can't trade spot silver/gold in the US. Silly!

It's really easy to blame this on Joe Barry because, in the end, when has a Joe Barry defense done anything to seal a game? This being said, and I really dislike Joe Barry and his soft as Charmin scheme... IF you're going to blame this loss on Joe Barry: 1) Keisean Nixon (who also muffed the opening 2nd half punt) got smoked in man coverage as he has been smoked much of the year. He is not a starting Nickel CB (maybe that's on Barry? Could be. The Packers tend to play the wrong guys in the wrong places). Nixon's unimpressive season continues, unfortunately. 2) Turnovers. Turnovers. Turnovers. 3) Silly over-reliance on the gadget plays by LaFleur. Seriously, how many more Reed hand-offs are you going to try Coach before using it as a Play Action to a defense clearly reading those? 4) Missed FG The Packers didn't deserve this game. That was a heck of a series to take the lead by J-Love. My goodness those throws were nuts. And, just like the Rodgers years...the other facets of the team failed the star QB when he had for all intents and purposes stolen a 'W'. This was a vintage Packers loss. And, let's look at the bright side: we can still jockey for better draft position. 🫢

It is true. It is a bummer indeed. AND, also: don't sleep on Navarreto. We lost a good one. We have a good one. This also opens a clear path for Quero at Triple-A to work himself onto the MLB doorstep. To Add, regardless of what this individual transaction means there is no doubt the catching position within the organization in the lower levels is in flux. Navs and Kahle are the only listed catchers in Nashville and Biloxi (Quero was added to the 40-man to Rule 5 protect). We've lost Henry, Jackson, Diaz, and Sibrian all within the last six months. What was a position of broad depth within the organization is now facing openings and opportunities and a bit of uncertainty as a result. What will this mean for Darrien Miller, Matt Wood, Blayberg Diaz, and the bounty of catchers in the ACL and DSL? Time will tell. AND, I imagine the Brewers as an org will be bring free agents aboard or some of the above mentioned men back.

Ugh. Losing Contreras and now Henry is a loss of two very good; resilient and available; highly skilled veteran Minor Leaguers. These ones hurt as a Brewers Minor League aficionado. Every year we see some semblance of turnover and some sting more than others. These two sting. AND, I wish both young men the absolute best in their upcoming baseball endeavors. Both men are worthy of an MLB opportunity in their future pastures!

RHP Sam Gardner starring in 2024's "Next Stop: Biloxi", a Southern League production.

Fantastic. THIS was just a fantastic article @Seth Stohs. Thank you.

My proverbial Brewers Minor Leaguer(s) plug: C Brian Navarreto is more than capable of playing the part of an MLB back-up. C Payton Henry (currently a Minor League Free Agent) is also more than capable of handling back-up catching duties. Both young men are extremely professional. They have the physical stature. Henry hits for average with acceptable defense. Navs is the better and more dynamic defender and has become a clutch hitter. His arm and pop are a weapon. Maybe they sign a low cost vet FA? I'd rather they fill the role in-house. Season Quero in Nashville to get him ready.

Best of luck, Mr. Mathias! Mark latches on in Cincinnati, presumably starting with their Triple-A ball club in Louisville.

More than fine. Likely not going to be a gold glover due to his limited range but the glove is good and he grabs anything within his range. He scoops very well. Decent sized target. Won't make errors he shouldn't make. Has the vantage point behind the dish so he knows what the right play is within the base paths etc. He's a legitimate prospect and absolutely was one of the best storylines of 2023. It was just great and really re-affirming to hear it straight from the hitting coordinator.

Getting out ahead of this here. Considering we don't have an International Free Agent Signings thread yet let's pique our fancies: (Notes to Self: We do have an International Free Agency Thread, silly. HERE)

The two highlights of this interview from my vantage point: INF Ethan Murray as the surprise candidate (alá 2023 Andruw Monasterio) to make it and make an impact at the MLB level. 1B/C Wes Clarke, straight from the horse's mouth here of the Brewers Hitting Coordinator, is simply put an MLB player. Love it.

#24 INF Juan Baez: @Smichaelis9 I personally watched every one of his innings at 3B in Carolina. Played there strictly in Low-A and ate the majority of Luke Adams' 3B innings in doing so - take that for what it's worth as Adams gets away with 3B because of his ridiculous athleticism but struggles playing it smoothly I'll just say. That at least tells us something, first off. Baez actually has very good and soft hands. Natural feel for the ball in his fielding and scooping. Where he struggled was he can see the ball sail on him when making charging or barehanded scoops and throws on the move to 1B. BUT, he improved significantly in this department in his limited time in Carolina. I think he could easily slot to 2B - with more limited range (think Boeve but with a much better cannon). I think he'd be very troubled at SS and 'should' be a "...in case of emergency break glass and slot Baez to SS" due to his limited range and likely finding himself being rushed. BUT, very much could be seen as, today, a player who could become serviceable at the hot corner. In other words, I certainly don't see him as strictly a DH prospect. Given his age. Given his arm. Given the improvements I saw in limited Low-A innings. He was Estevez's chosen primary 3B upon call-up. He did little to give me concern and I certainly had concerns when he was called up from the ACL given the errors you also allude to - it was something I was repeatedly going back to during the torrid ACL work. 2024 will be very interesting to see how it develops as players move within the system.

The signing bonus and pre-DSL hype agree with you. Rough year for sure, unfortunately. Hopefully, he bounces back - the pedigree is definitely there.

I didn't even get into pitchers. I figgered I'd keep it a short long. 😆

Fun to dream indeed. Lotta lotto picks in the system right now. I'm just curious, Jack, given this isn't an article solely focused on 'this year's draft' - tho, it does mention that in the opening paragraphs - why is INF Tyler Black not listed here? Literally just curioous. If we're talking about a player who fits the very mold of "...drafting high-ceiling players instead of their usual hit-over-power, solid-defense picks...", this is the very definition of Black. Who, by nearly every measure, is likely the second most exciting offensive prospect in the entire system. Bat discipline? Check. Surging power stroke? Check. Hit to all fields? Check. Threat on the basepaths? Double check. Defensive 'Superunknown'? Check.😅 Anywho, curious to hear your rationale/opinion/thoughts. As an aside, I'd throw some more 'lotto ticket' type names into that last paragraph beyond Baez and Lara if we're really digging for the nuggets: Tier 1: - Luiyin Alastre - Filippo Di Turi - Pedro Ibarguen - Demetrio Nadal - Edgardo Ordonez Tier 2: - Luis Lameda really impressive first DSL season given he just turned 17 this past late January - Eric Martinez my gut tells me this is the Brewers Jose Sibrian like up-and-comer. He 'should' be stateside with an opportunity to reach Low-A Carolina this year. Signed young. 3 successful seasons in the DSL. Clearly appears to have some pop and plus defense. Really want to see him play. - Yannic Walther do the Brewers have something with this young German backstop? Hard to tell but he flashed for sure in his first DSL season - Christopher Vasquez showcased a great power/OPS profile...can he show more plate discipline? - Ramon Moreno - Danny Puerta like Lameda, extremely young, and flashed enough intrigue in roughly 90 AB's I want to see more. The young Colombian turned 17 yo just this past mid-April! - Yeison Perez Anywho, FUN TIMES to be a Brewers Fanatic babayyyyyy😅

Merkel came on as his season progressed. He became a key 7th inning guy for manager Joe Ayrault and really filled some key innings in their second half surge. At this stage, he relies heavily on his breaking ball arsenal and, at High-A it proved to be a strikeout pitch. It would be nice - with that mammoth frame - to see him add a couple ticks to the velo department. Is that possible at this stage? I don't know. Like Cameron Wagoner, he became one of my favorite watches in the second half of Wisconsin's season. Double-A is going to be a huge test for him, however, and I wouldn't be surprised if he struggles at first to find how his stuff plays in a more challenging environment. Brady also relies on off-speed but whereas Merkel has more a 12-6 hammer array (especially given his height) Brady is coming from a lower release point on the hill. He works that slider with aplomb and has a worthy curveball. The heater also touches 95-96 (very occasionally at 96) but sits 93-94 with decent ride. I would imagine an off-season strength and pitching specific program could do him wonders. Year 2 in Biloxi will be big. In 2023, everything went up a notch in the Southern League exposure - BAA, WHIP specifically. But, even with more runners on base he still didn't allow all that many runners to cross home plate. Tho, here again, there was an increased BABIP; Inherited Runners scoring (7-of-12 IR scored); and a slight decrease in K with an uptick in walks. All fine for a first exposure in an oft very challenging shift from High-A. BUT, he'll need to address those in year 2.