MadScientist

Maybe that was what Ozuna was trying to catch last night.

Anyone know what his asking price was?

It's clear he misjudged it. Given the downturn in is fielding and offense, maybe something is off with his vision. Gyorko has no excuse for his play. I hope he plays the rest of the series. Fortunately I missed the Gyorko gaffs, but we acquired him to be a bat off the bench. It was known he was no Brooks Robinson, or even Smokey Robinson. The lack of hitting makes Matheny forget about that stuff. He and his paycheck cashing flunkie-cronies of a coaching staff could really give a damn. Get this: After the game Matheny blamed the stadium and a "couple of bad breaks" for the loss. The man doesn't even realize how stupid that sounds. I'm pretty close to giving up on this team like I did when Torre was manager, and I'm not alone. Gyroko looked bad for a little leaguer in his first year on the big field. He Billy Buckner'ed one and spiked a throw to first in the same inning allowing 4 runs to score. Between that, Ozuna and the other gaffs, the Cards gave the game away (keep it up, it's better to give than receive). The only thing Matheny could say that would have been more truthful would be blaming the loss on a "couple of bad players", but no manager can be that honest.

Watching the poor defense was really something, not very cardinals-like. It's hard to imagine the Cardinals staying in serious contention if they are capable of games/stretches like this. This might have been a reasonably close game if they played good defense and eliminated the errors. As much as I hate to say it, that's part of why the Cubs rarely have blowup games like this...they have plus or double plus defenders at every position on the field except 1(excluding pitcher spot). Like I pointed out early in the thread the Cardinals have the worst defense in baseball, playing tag with the Texas Rangers for the lead in errors. So last night was VERY Cardinal like. On Ozuna: the only thing I can figure is that he DID lose track of the ball....but fielders DUCK when that happens; it's a natural defense reflex as basic as batting your eyes in a dust storm. I have to conclude that the guy was high as a kite on something. If not...he needs to be traded immediately! It's clear he misjudged it. Given the downturn in is fielding and offense, maybe something is off with his vision. Gyorko has no excuse for his play. I hope he plays the rest of the series.

Wow Gyroko is terrible in the field.

He's only at 75 innings right now. His limit is likely 150 and they are only about 2 weeks away from the halfway point. I can see a 6 man rotation at some point or skipping his turn a couple times and that would keep him at his target. I know you keep throwing it out there, but they're not going to a 6 man rotation. They need the arm in the bullpen, not another starter. They have basically been using a 4 1/2 man rotation all season. If Peralta stays in the rotation all year, even using a very conservative number of 5 innings per start, he would rack up another 90 innings. That's 165. And more likely it would be closer to 180. They can't just keep him on the 25 man and skip his start a few times. I mean, they could, but that would be a waste of a roster spot for way too many games. Maybe they ride him until Davies is back, send him down and he can skip a couple starts, limit his outings here and there, and then you'll have him fresh for the stretch run. He can come up and replace whoever is injured/ ineffective at that time. I agree Nelson isn't even in the picture. If and when he comes all the way back, we'll see where things stand. Nothing to even plan for at this point though. There are a lot of ways to reduce innings. He will miss a start over the ASB, plus they will probably line him up after to hit a couple of off days in August, where they might send him down for 10ish days and get a couple of 'starts' there that only go 2-3 innings. Then September happens and its easy to keep a starter to 5 innings and maybe skip a start. First he has to prove he can stick.

Logan doing his best Valentin impersonation.

Agular didn't like having fewer hits and RBI's in the game than Suter.

Offense looks pretty good too, at least against Philly pitching. 10+ runs in 3 of 4 games. Arrieta was at 2.66 before the two games with the Brewers and now he's at 3.34

I'm sure they have a general numbers worked out. There may be some variability depending on what others nearby sign for. Also at this point a college offer isn't a huge amount of leverage. There just isn't that much of a chance of improving his draft status and a whole lot of chances to see it drop. Also if he does progress in college it a way that would make him a higher pick, he could do the same in the minors and be on the verge of the majors. Unless there was some undiagnosed injury or illness, I have to think he will sign shortly.

There have been many cases where a lost player has found it (see Segura), so it can be done. Only time will tell if it works out for Arcia. The question is Machado enough put the Brewers over the top. The pitching for the Brewers has been good enough that I'd consider it if the plus in the Arcia + package isn't too steep. Let Orf and Dubon duke it out next year if they can't sing Machado to an extension.

Given the Cubs struct out 13 times today and didn't score a run, that's all their fans had to cheer about.

2 of 3 from the Cubs, with back to back shutouts. Now the Cubs will have to start wondering what they need to do to score on the Brewers.

No need to worry about missed tags when you just strike them out. Hader is just unreal.

How many options does he have left? If they can find a stopgap this year and maybe next, it's possible he can work out is options in a less critical location and be good enough to deserve a MLB roster spot. Unfortunately the Brewers options at the moment are 1) Sogard who makes the current version of Arcia look like a good hitter 2) Miller who's defensive prowess leads me to think he will be Yuni 2.0 3) Guys with only one functional leg.

Here's the link: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-most-and-least-team-friendly-strike-zones/ The description seems a bit unclear as to how expected strikes are figured out.

I’d say Stearns deserves little credit for that one. He essentially wanted to only be here. If I remember correctly we didn’t even offer the best contract, he came here for less. But he pulled the trigger on trading for Jeffress last season. That deserves some credit. From a team standpoint the contract signed is extremely low risk. I don't know if there was another contract offered, but I think Josh thought that he might be able to get a little more guaranteed for one year elsewhere, but both he and Jeremy essentially thought that Jeremy would pitch better here and do better over the length of the contract.

I wonder if ESPN is treating it at the team level, so it is the number of times the Brewers have given up 3 or fewer runs in the first 6 innings of a game. I could easily believe that happened 38 times this year for the Brewers.

I feel the same way, but who knows. The MO of Sterns and co is becoming clearer. The really favor the SS/CF types who can run and throw, and they favor control in the pitchers. Position flexibility is a good thing, plus I seem to remember a time in the late 80's when just about every position player for the Brewers had started out as a shortstop. For pitchers they either found data saying that control is a better indicator of future success, or that you can project stuff, and if a player has control, you can teach him how to pitch. It doesn't matter if he can throw through a wall if he can't execute his pitches.

I'm going to be honest, I don't expect it to last, figured he'd get hot for awhile. But I'll certainly enjoy it while it lasts, great to see, and the longer it goes on the better. Great swing. He tends to act like the Braun of old after coming back from the DL. If the have to put him on the DL for 10 days a month, but get good results the other 20, I'd be ok with that.

So that's why Braun is hitting 3rd.

This should be a serious sellers market year, with many teams close to the division lead and just a few tankers. The Brewers have advantages, with Nelson coming back, multiple players ready to come up (Houser, Peralta) they can afford to either stand pat, or use their strong farm system to pry Machado away from Baltimore.

16-10 - Anderson and Davies regain form and the Brewers show they have staying power. Division lead increases by 1-2 games.

I need to work out more so my heart can survive the season. 2 of 3 from the Cards, I'll take that.

So the umpires on the field gave him a pass, and so did the replay official, but MLB apparently informed the teams that it was interference. If the field umpires and the replay umpire can't get a rule right, something is wrong with the system. Reference: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosenblog/ct-spt-cubs-anthony-rizzo-slide-rosenbloom-20180529-story.html Pretty fair analysis from the Chicago paper.