Brock Beauchamp

Yeah, all MLB owners probably have their shady pasts but Crane seems like a real jerk. Which kinda fits in line with how the Astros as a whole have operated for the past decade.

I'd rather work for Cohen 11 times out of 10.

Honestly, once Cashman was extended, what might happen with Stearns kinda dropped off my radar. I assumed he was a possibility for the Mets, then maybe the Yankees, and I kinda forgot about the Astros being the Astros and losing their head honcho after winning a World Series. I'd hate to see Stearns land there because the Astros have become such an easy-to-hate franchise and I have nothing against Stearns, he seems like a perfectly reasonable fellow. His going to the Astros would conflict with my quiet dislike of the entire organization.

What are all of your favorite pre-game activities (other than tailgating). Where do you start your game experience? And then how do you get to the stadium? Are some of the Bluemound bars still offering shuttles? I haven't used them in over 10 years so I'm unsure of what still exists.

Yeah, Jason did a hell of a job breaking down the zone in this piece and highlighting Contreras' strengths and weaknesses... and this is his first story on the site. Well done, Jason! Also, I'll try to push the second part of this piece out later today. I'm a bit underwater this morning.

Some of the smartest baseball people I know or read are suggesting the impact will not be large, possibly even single-digit batting average changes for groundball pull lefties. I wouldn't pin too many hopes on that changing Tellez's profile, though it certainly should help him somewhat because despite his lumbering slugger profile, he puts the ball in play quite a bit.

Great tips, everyone, keep them coming!

That's great, Eric is going to be a regular contributor here so you'll be seeing more of him!

Yeah, there are a half dozen ways to compile these lists. They're a fun read but must always be taken with the caveat "these are my own self-imposed rules I am following, feel free to make your own rules on your own list". Does a player qualify for only one position or multiple? Is peak or career more important? How much does Brewer career vs overall career matter? Lots of different ways to look at these things, all are valid.

I just realized that no Brewer second baseman ever accumulated even 20 fWAR while in Milwaukee. Gantner came really close at 19.5.

Ahead of the new season Brewer Fanatic is looking to publish a new resource on the site: A Fan's Guide to American Family Field. We are looking to provide all the best secrets, deals, hidden gems for people who are attending the ballpark from inside or out of town. I want to crowdsource this a bit and make sure we're not overlooking any goodies. If you have a chance, could you please share some of your personal favorite: Places to eat before the ballpark Things to eat AT the ballpark Places to park, shuttle options, etc. Places to sit in the stands (and favorite values) Bars or other attractions in the stadium Hidden gems (memorabilia, sight-seeing, team shop savings, things to do with kids, etc) I'm hoping I can get some contributions from some of our passionate AmFam diehards in the group. This could be a really nice resource that we offer to Brewers fans, updating it every season. Thanks, all!

Oh, for sure. Injuries are always a factor.

Unless Contreras completely reverts into a pumpkin offensively, this is an obvious move. Good-hitting catchers almost need to DH regularly just to extract as much value as possible from the player.

Welcome to Brewer Fanatic!

It was hard to see where Hiura fit into this roster and then the Brewers went out and signed Brian Anderson. Now I simply don't see a path for Hiura to make the Opening Day roster.

The Brewers have come to terms with the 29-year-old third baseman and outfielder, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Can the former promising young player get his groove back in Milwaukee? Reports are coming in that the Milwaukee Brewers have come to terms with third baseman and right fielder Brian Anderson, formerly of the Miami Marlins. Anderson, still only 29 years old, looked to be a rising star with the Miami Marlins, posting a .811 OPS and 114 OPS+ over the 2019 and 2020 seasons but has fallen back to earth the past two seasons, posting just a .681 OPS and 90 OPS+. It wasn't only Anderson's offense that slumped in 2022. Formerly a solidly well-above-average defensive third baseman, according to DRS (Defensive Runs Saved), Anderson slid into below-average territory last season, posting a -4 runs number over 371 innings played at third base. Nonetheless, this could likely see Luis Urias shift over to second base for the Brewers on Opening Day while Anderson handles the hot corner on a near-daily basis. On the surface, the acquisition looks like an upside play by Milwaukee to rehabilitate a formerly promising infielder still on the right side of 30 years old. Miami has been notoriously poor in developing hitters over the past several seasons, so the Brewers may see something to unlock in Anderson's bat. Last year's defensive slide could be an aberration or a longer trend of decline but given Anderson's age, he should remain acceptable on defense for at least one or two more seasons. Even more strangely, Anderson, a right-handed hitter, also carries reverse splits similar to Keston Hiura. Throughout his MLB career, Anderson has a .766 OPS against right-handed pitching and only a .702 OPS against southpaws. As a result, over the past few seasons, Miami has shielded him against left-handed starters, and he has faced over three times as many right-handers in his career as lefties. This move also puts into question the future of Keston Hiura, who has become even more redundant on this roster with the addition of another infielder who hits righties better than lefties. Anderson's deal with Milwaukee maxes out at $5.5 million, a relative bargain if performance escalators are met. Information in this article will be updated as it becomes available. View full article

It'd be cool to see, for sure! I spent a few weeks in Nicaragua a year or two before their civil war. To say that country is poor understates the word "poor". Lovely people, lovely country, abject poverty even by central American standards.

Four pitchers from Nicaragua? That's wild. That country isn't exactly a hotbed of MLB talent.

I stared at that thing for awhile but according to the press service, it's Quero so I threw up my hands and moved on.

Oh, I'm not crying for mid-tier players but baseball would be better if more revenue sharing happened, coupled with younger players getting paid a lot more with older players getting paid a lot less. The sport would do better for itself if players were paid commensurate with their on-field ability at the time. The sport would be more compelling if Juan Soto made $25m right now and Xander Bogaerts didn't have a guaranteed eleventy-seven year deal.

To add to this a bit, this is why you so often see players like Kolten Wong or Gio Urshela dished off via trade in their final year of arb. Some team might need one year of a player at that price but even though it’s a solid value for the team that controls said player, the system doesn’t properly rate and value that player so they move on. Yet one more way MLB bites mid-tier players in the ass and devalues them into a lower tier. The entire system is so broken.

It's not likely, that's the situation. Baseball arbitration is an archaic system that is based on rather strict rules and outdated modes of evaluating players (it's a union arbitration that is not baseball specific, so you get arbitrators who know nothing of baseball's intricacies). If you're arb 1, you basically get X% of your free agent value. If you're arb 2, you basically get X2% of your free agent value. If you're arb 3, you basically get X3% of your free agent value. At the far end of the spectrum, you occasionally see a player get something close to their actual free agent value in their arb 3/4 years (usually 4th year if that player happened to be super 2). The entire system is based on number of arb years with actual talent being a distant secondary part of the equation.

Yeah, but the fact Garlick has done it at the MLB level a couple of times now inspires a lot more confidence in me.

Yeah, but the fact Garlick has done it at the MLB level a couple of times now inspires a lot more confidence in me.