NBBrewFan

So you're to blame?

wRC+

If Houser can keep avoiding the strike zone and still getting strikeouts anyways he should be successful tonight.

In recent memory that's true, but in the late 90's early 2000's they were selling out Jacob's field nightly and had 6 straight years of over 3M in attendance. The main issue I think is that after the Dolan's bought the team in 2000 they went into a selloff and "tank" within 3 years which didn't sit well with the fans as that was the initial get rid of players as they reach free agency, which has pretty much continued on to this day and has hardened the fans. In many ways similar to the Huizenga tear down after the Marlins first World Series win, except he sold the team and another ownership group started with a clean slate. The Indians/Guardians have the same ownership that's turned off a lot of fans. A new ownership group might be needed to bring back the really pissed off fans. I still assert the initial tear down and continual trading/not signing of players as they hit free agency lead from a team that could bring in 3M fans into a team that struggles to get to half of that. That's a significant revenue loss based on team building philosophy.

I wonder how we would feel if the Brewers helped the Cardinals make it into the playoffs?

I think the Guardians are the downside of the strategy of trading away most of your star/going to be FA players. Their attendance in a larger market is less than 60% of what the Brewers are doing. Even with the Extension of Jose Ramirez, their fanbase hasn't responded by spending money on the product. I estimate that the gap between what the Brewers and Guardians draw is costing the Guardians $50M in revenue on pretty much the exact same expense. That's a significant downside for any team in the mid to low markets of MLB. There is a revenue advantage to having "star" players extended and while there is a good argument not to do it, there are number$ that support the "investment". I don't think the Rays have any concern about attendance as it's always been bad even when they have competitive teams so they don't see any value in keeping players long into an extension. To the topic of extensions, the Brewers have shown a willingness when it made sense. Making sense to the Brewers is when they are getting some advantage over the free Market Price. While the Yelich contract is almost universally panned here, the Brewers made the decision because they felt it was a value signing given his play at the time and the free market price for that level of performance. They signed Peralta and Ashby because both contracts gave them value. I think the Brewers will approach Woodruff because they can possibly get very good value if the price/years was in the Castillo ballpark. ($20M AAV is excellent value for a player that's capable of 4 WAR a year). I don't think they will get something close to a value with Adames, but who knows until they ask. Their FA signings have almost always been team friendly deals or value deals. I don't see that changing anytime soon. If they can't get an extension from Woodruff they likely will trade him first then look to moving Adames/Burnes/Renfroe later in the year (2023 trade deadline depending on where 2023 is going) or after 2023 (Adames/Burnes). And they should as I don't think anything short of a going deep into the playoffs is going to push attendance back to 2018/2019 levels, but personally I would pay to go to watch prospects taking their lumps than watch an aging vet like McCutcheon maybe have a game that resembles their prime.

I have seen something like that, but not in a climate where you had to worry about a cold winter. I think you are going to be out of luck finding an existing solution as even my 1990 era windows don't have replacement parts/screens/etc. I spent a lot of time on the phone with Pella and they didn't have a single thing that I could get to fix my issue as the original parts were long since retired. I would suggest getting a metal picture frame and a piece of glass and create a storm (does the bottom clip on? or is it screwed?). You can get padding at places like JoAnn Fabrics that is thin that you can place between the shutters and the glass to increase insulation (it's usually for upholstery). The easiest may be to get the padding and put it between the screen and the slats then find a piece of plastic (like a flexible cutting board) cut it to a width just smaller than the frame of the screen and slide it between the padding and the screen.

You don't?

I did that before we moved back to WI. In fact the upright was still connected to the roof from the previous installation (DirecTV IIRC) so I was able to easily clamp the outdoor antenna on, point it at the towers and connect the cable to the antenna and all the cable outlets in the house now had the HD antenna feed. No need for the AirTV (unless you want to record). We lived about 3 miles from the towers and had pristine HD almost 100% of the time. Also consider putting an outdoor antenna in the attic. Works almost the exact same as having it on the roof (depending on your position and where the towers are located) without having to deal with the weather and wiring 50+ feet of cable. It's relatively easy to run cable down an inside wall and to an outlet that you punch in the wall to attach the AirTV. The first time I went up into our attic in WI I found the previous owners had an outdoor antenna hanging there and they had wired most of the house with outlets so I was able to easily switch the antenna into the wall outlet on the 2nd floor attached the AirTV and had HD for any TV.

I would have thought that both legal and illegal drugs would be required to compare Chryst to Alvarez, or at least something that is up near the top in mind altering substances.

Anal vibrating beads? What were the Astros thinking using a trash can to signal when there's clearly a better option!

Well I am fine if CC took him out because of the baserunning mistake. The rest of the season CC gets an F grade for how he managed the DH spot. I just hope if CC is successful running Hiura out of town like he was with Villar that the Brewers just cut him loose instead of giving away another prospect and getting a negative value player back. Just cut bait and while Villar has been very hot/cold since leaving he's put up about 5 fWAR in 5 seasons. We just paid $8M to get to a free agent and got 0.4 fWAR so Villar has provided some value. Maybe if Keston get's out of the doghouse he can at least have a few years of productive baseball somewhere else.

The issue is the next 2 years when they will still have a lot of players that are in Arby2/3 that will be getting a lot in arbitration. An extension of Woodruff or Adames could be backloaded with the big numbers starting in 3 years when the Brewers will likely have 5 or 6 positional players on league minimum, 2 starting pitchers with team friendly deals and 2-3 with league minimum salaries. They have the flexibility, it's whether they should go that route. I think if they decide to trade one of Burnes/Woodruff and don't extend Adames then they should trade both Burnes and Woodruff. Take a year to step back then have the gains from trading both entering the starting lineup/rotation in 2024 to augment most of the current prospects coming up. They may not be a playoff team in 2024, but they would have a very talented young team that could be competitive in 2025 and better than anything they've had in the last 3-4 years.

They'll add chips over each players uniform, chips chips chips everywhere. That will allow them to monitor false starts in nanoseconds, illegal motion, everything. It will just be easier for when all players are replaced with robots or 3D virtual players. No concussions then.

I do look at as a missed opportunity. There really were only 8 teams in the NL with realistic chances at 6 playoff spots (the current 6 qualifiers plus the Brewers and Giants). That's pretty good odds coming off a 95 win season. I think more teams in the rebuild/don't care to compete group are going to look at what it did take to make that last playoff spot this year and invest more to get within striking distance of the playoffs. The last offseason with the lockout and delayed Spring Training gave those teams little time to do much and they weren't sure how the new playoff structure would play out. Now they have the time and the idea and with attendance down in multiple cities I think that means more competition from some of those teams and increasing cost to add those bargain FA like Wong and McCutcheon (and lest we all forget, JBJ), it will also likely drive up costs for mid-level pitching and players like Jace Peterson may be getting starting offers vs. 75% Utility man slots. Our budget and circumstances likely change going forward with being much harder to add a bargain through free agency. Any economics that increases cost of players disproportionately impacts the smallest market in baseball. I could be wrong and many of the current owners that are happy just walking away with $30-40M in profit fielding a horrible team will keep doing it, but if attendance keeps going down and it's clear that many of these organizations aren't making any progress there may be more friction among owners about the current welfare system in baseball (revenue sharing) and a push to start investing the revenue sharing.

I do look at as a missed opportunity. There really were only 8 teams in the NL with realistic chances at 6 playoff spots (the current 6 qualifiers plus the Brewers and Giants). That's pretty good odds coming off a 95 win season. I think more teams in the rebuild/don't care to compete group are going to look at what it did take to make that last playoff spot this year and invest more to get within striking distance of the playoffs. The last offseason with the lockout and delayed Spring Training gave those teams little time to do much and they weren't sure how the new playoff structure would play out. Now they have the time and the idea and with attendance down in multiple cities I think that means more competition from some of those teams and increasing cost to add those bargain FA like Wong and McCutcheon (and lest we all forget, JBJ), it will also likely drive up costs for mid-level pitching and players like Jace Peterson may be getting starting offers vs. 75% Utility man slots. Our budget and circumstances likely change going forward with being much harder to add a bargain through free agency. Any economics that increases cost of players disproportionately impacts the smallest market in baseball. I could be wrong and many of the current owners that are happy just walking away with $30-40M in profit fielding a horrible team will keep doing it, but if attendance keeps going down and it's clear that many of these organizations aren't making any progress there may be more friction among owners about the current welfare system in baseball (revenue sharing) and a push to start investing the revenue sharing.

I think the drop in attendance will allow them to cut back on salary to maximize revenue/income. Attanasio's investment in Norwich FC will definitely impact his management of cash-flow from the Brewers as he will need to invest in Norwich to maximize his capital appreciation. They will attempt to extend either Adames or Woodruff to offset fan concerns when they go ahead and trade Burnes and/or Adames depending on whom they extend. They will go into 2023 with Frelick/Mitchell/Renfroe as the OF, Adames, Turang, Urias and Tellez for the Infield and Caratini/Severino at catcher with Taylor and Brosseau as the backups for OF/Inf they may go after signing Peterson too if the overall money is right and the trades. Depending on the moves I see them going with a $110-115M payroll or less.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Brewers offered a Castillo-like extension/contract to Woodruff soon with the intention of using that move to offset trading Burnes to the highest bidder. Burnes is likely going to cost more than the Brewers can afford and has a higher trade value. Those moves will coincide with Frelick and Turang as intended starters for 2023 and passing on Wong's option. Depending on the Haul they get for Burnes I wouldn't be surprised if they try to extend Adames (in the 4 year range and maybe an option) to buy out 2 FA years. If they use Ashby as a starter in 2023 that gives them 3 of their 5 SP with long-term deals so Gasser replaces one of Houser/Lauer and a Burnes trade chip replaces the other over the next several years. If they can't get Woodruff to extend at Castillo-like money I think they will definitely try to extend Adames.

I don't think they have lost a dime, but their nice profit they get each year is down.

I think it will be pretty close to end the season and the Brewers will just miss out. In that case, the biggest question about this team might be why Andrew McCutcheon received over 580 PA putting up a 0.4/0.5 fWAR when players like Garret Mitchell in 1/10th as many PAs can put up 0.3 fWAR. ONE-TENTH as many PA and he is almost as valuable. Or Keston Hiura in 240 PA could put up 0.9 fWAR and Tyrone Taylor could put up 1.8 fWAR in 380 PA yet every time Counsell filled out the lineup card he made sure that Cutch was there while basically ANY OTHER PLAYER would have given them a better result. It isn't McCutcheon's fault he's toast, it's entirely on the management that the worst option got AB after AB after AB when this team needed every Run they could get.

It all comes down to 3 and 4. For the Brewers to pass either the Phillies or Padres they have to lose 3 less than the Phillies and 4 less than the Padres. That leaves us with the following possibilities: I don't think the Brewers will do better than 6-3 over the last 9, but they could go 7-2. That leaves the Phillies as the likely team to pass and they have to go 5-5 or worse. The Phillies are 12-2 vs the Nats this year so the 4 game series may be the key if the Phillies take 2 from the Cubs (Wheeler and Nola will be pitching against the Cubs) then the Phillies could easily take 3 of 4 from the Nats and have the 5 wins that requires the Brewers to go 7-2. Even if the Brewers go 7-2 the Phillies need to win 1 against the Astros (if they go 5-2 against the Cubs/Nats). If the Brewers go 7-2 the Padres only have to win 4 of their last 9 and with the Giants and White Sox in town to end the season I think even if the Dodgers sweep the Padres, they pick up the 4 wins at home to finish the season. Still a glimmer of hope. Just don't lose bad to Mikolas on Tuesday and they likely could beat Quintana on Wednesday.

It all comes down to 3 and 4. For the Brewers to pass either the Phillies or Padres they have to lose 3 less than the Phillies and 4 less than the Padres. That leaves us with the following possibilities: I don't think the Brewers will do better than 6-3 over the last 9, but they could go 7-2. That leaves the Phillies as the likely team to pass and they have to go 5-5 or worse. The Phillies are 12-2 vs the Nats this year so the 4 game series may be the key if the Phillies take 2 from the Cubs (Wheeler and Nola will be pitching against the Cubs) then the Phillies could easily take 3 of 4 from the Nats and have the 5 wins that requires the Brewers to go 7-2. Even if the Brewers go 7-2 the Phillies need to win 1 against the Astros (if they go 5-2 against the Cubs/Nats). If the Brewers go 7-2 the Padres only have to win 4 of their last 9 and with the Giants and White Sox in town to end the season I think even if the Dodgers sweep the Padres, they pick up the 4 wins at home to finish the season. Still a glimmer of hope. Just don't lose bad to Mikolas on Tuesday and they likely could beat Quintana on Wednesday.

Can he play WR?

I think we're going to need that defense a lot this season.

Part of me would have preferred going to overtime and losing so MLF get's his "lose a big game by being stupid" out of his system instead of waiting for the playoffs.