Brock Beauchamp

Unfortunately, I'm pretty underwhelmed.

Rumors have circulated that Hader could be dealt but most expected it to occur in the offseason, not during a division race. Per a report from Jeff Passan, Brewers left-handed reliever Josh Hader has been traded to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Taylor Rogers and prospects. More information to come as details unfold. Taylor Rogers, who is a free agent at the end of the season, is also left-handed and after several successful seasons with the Minnesota Twins, was traded to San Diego just before Opening Day. Rogers has struggled in the closer role for the Padres, blowing seven saves and posting a WPA of -0.5. Josh Hader leads MLB with 29 saves. Rogers is second with 28 saves. This marks the third time that Hader has been traded at the July deadline in his career. A 19th-round pick in 2012 by the Orioles, he was traded to the Astros in a deal that sent Bud Norris to Baltimore. Then at the July deadline in 2016, he and three others were traded to the Brewers for right-hander Mike Fiers and Carlos Gomez. Hader made his debut in 2017 and has been named to each All Star team since 2018. In his six seasons with The Crew, he pitched in 269 games, all out of the bullpen. He is 17-17 but has 125 career saves. In 316 1/3 innings, he struck out an incredible 541 batters (15.4 K/9). Robert Gasser is a 23-year-old left-handed pitcher in A-Ball. He is the Padres #7 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. Esteury Ruiz is a 23-year-old outfielder. ranked #28 on the Padres MLB Pipeline rankings. He has spent time with the Padres. Dinelson Lamet, 29, has recently been brought back to the Padres after fighting injuries the last couple of years. He has shown flashes of brilliance recently out of the bullpen, though the sample size is very small and the ERA isn't pretty (9.49 in 12 1/3 innings). If he can harness some control, he could provide depth to the Brewers bullpen. Heading into play on Monday, the Brewers are 57-45, three games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals atop the NL Central division. The Padres are 57-46 which puts them 12 games behind the NL West-leading Dodgers (68-33). There it is. How do you feel about the Brewers trading Hader, and specifically, how do you feel about the reported return? View full article

This is something baseball fans need to keep in mind. There’s no such thing as “blocking” an up the middle player. It’s not a consideration. Literally every up the middle player can fall back to another position.

This is something baseball fans need to keep in mind. There’s no such thing as “blocking” an up the middle player. It’s not a consideration. Literally every up the middle player can fall back to another position.

The state of modern MLB offense makes for a really bad spectator experience, I agree with that.

Jon Heyman of the NY Post wrote that the Brewers have discussed acquiring Ramon Laureano from the Oakland As. Laureano has three more seasons of control so should cost quite a bit in trade. He's not a great defender in center but is above average with the bat. Coming off a PED suspension, Laureano essentially lost a year of free agency and has question marks about performance given his previous substance use. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of pursuing Laureano. If the price is good, sure, have at it. But Laureano lacks on-base ability, which is perhaps the Brewers' greatest need right now. He checks the box for centerfield - sorta, anyway - but doesn't offer a lot of other qualities that make him attractive to me as a player on this roster. Thoughts? Would you pursue Laureano or go with someone more bat-first like Bell? View full trade rumor

Put Hiura second and watch Yelich, Keston, and Tellez be completely taken out of the game in later innings as opposing managers exploit their .689, .491, and .634 OPSes against LHP. It would be ridiculously easy to neutralize the top of the Brewers order and every manager would do it.

Oh, I agree more OBP would be useful - to the team in general, really - I'm just saying there currently isn't a better option in the second slot than Adames. Go pick up Bell and put him there? Sure, absolutely. But as the roster stands right now, Yelich/Adames/Tellez is the best the Brewers got.

Worrying about Adames' OBP in the second slot is old baseball thinking. Modern thinking says "put your best hitter second" and Adames is the Brewers' best overall hitter. Getting Adames more plate appearances is more valuable than putting a lesser hitter in his place just because he gets on base more often.

They beat the Twins twice in two games. Do you not count two game series as sweeps?

Pitcher wins don't matter one bit but I didn't realize Ashby is 2-8. Yikes.

Indeed. I mean occasionally there are really good chest logos. Look at MN United’s Target kit. It’s pretty awesome, clean, and barely feels like a sponsorship while also obviously being a sponsorship. Most teams and corporations aren’t that clever. It’ll be an eyesore far more often than it isn’t.

Given the number of injuries in baseball now, I think there'll be room in perpetuity. And once the postseason arrives, having that extra position player available off the bench is really useful.

One of the things that bothers me most about electrification is that, like so many other things, we largely approached the problem bass-ackwards. The biggest, most inefficient vehicles should have been addressed first: fleet vehicles. School buses, delivery trucks, vans, fleet pick-ups... those should have been our first electrification. Instead, they're some of the last vehicles being addressed. Fleet vehicles are PERFECT for electrification; they drive around cities (where ICE are at their worst and EVs at their best), they drive limited miles per day (negating range issues), they're WILDLY inefficient, and they have a ton of downtime to recharge. Instead, the first cost-effective EV was the Chevy Bolt, a commuter car that replaces 40mpg ICE commuter cars. The net benefit there is at its lowest. Where the big changes can happen is in those larger, inefficient vehicles that sit around idling in traffic for a significant portion of the day.

Benintendi agreed to become vaccinated as part of the trade. *eye roll*

Benintendi agreed to become vaccinated as part of the trade. *eye roll*

Using current technology, yes. But there are several varieties of batteries in development right now that are both more energy dense and far less damaging from a raw mineral aspect. Let’s not allow perfect to be the enemy of good in this situation. There are downsides to EVs right now - but they’re still overall a net benefit over ICE - and we’re just getting started. The first “real” EV hit the road just a decade ago when the Model. S released. We’re in the bottom of the first inning, there’s a lot left to play.

One aspect of EVs people don’t talk about enough is increased reliability and decreased maintenance. Once EVs mature, they’ll be far more reliable than an ICE vehicle because there is only a fraction of the moving parts. Second, they’re close to zero maintenance. No oil to change and even the brakes last way longer, as the electric motor does a lot of the braking instead of the rotors.

Oh, I think the Nats would be very interested in Chourio, I didn't make that clear... but I think the Brewers lack *other* pieces that would entice the Nats, at least in comparison to other farm systems, primarily close-to-majors pitching. And yes, acquiring 2.5 years of Soto is a HUGE get on its own but I think larger market teams will be willing to up the prospect haul knowing they can negotiate a 15 year deal with Soto. The Brewers are at a significant disadvantage in that regard. They pretty much have to negotiate for those 2.5 seasons and nothing more, I don't see any possible way they can have Soto and Yelich on the same roster consuming $60m per season.

Oh, I think the Nats would be very interested in Chourio, I didn't make that clear... but I think the Brewers lack *other* pieces that would entice the Nats, at least in comparison to other farm systems, primarily close-to-majors pitching. And yes, acquiring 2.5 years of Soto is a HUGE get on its own but I think larger market teams will be willing to up the prospect haul knowing they can negotiate a 15 year deal with Soto. The Brewers are at a significant disadvantage in that regard. They pretty much have to negotiate for those 2.5 seasons and nothing more, I don't see any possible way they can have Soto and Yelich on the same roster consuming $60m per season.

EVs are WAY quieter than ICE vehicles. The only sound is wind and the tires on the road. If you slam the pedal down, there's an audible whine/whistle but other than that, the power plant is completely silent. When you first ride/drive an EV, it's kind of eery. Also, no vibration in an EV. Another way it's eery, especially at speed on a smooth road.

Good point, the Tigers have a stable of really nice relievers considering how utterly incompetent the team is as a whole.

Yeah, without looking I'm assuming that's CF defense-driven. He was... not like dad... with the bat.