Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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In that case, after what I saw last night let's pick up Peralta & mandate that Doug Eddings call balls & strikes for the rest of his starts😀.
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And that's why I don't see this happening. From the Brewers' perspective, given the year Peralta is having & the fact he's a rental I don't see the appropriate cost being something Stearns could possibly go for. Giving up Burke & Williams would be silly.
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I've been as critical of Yelich as anyone. OTOH, the calls for his head on a stick are similar to what we heard last June, and we all know how he hit the last few months of 2025. He IS a year older though & no, I don't expect a similar re-emergence. But if you bench him because he can't hit, he's...........a pinch runner? With a four-man bench, he HAS to contribute as a DH to have any viability, so that & the fact he's signed for two more years make it obvious why they're handling this the way they are and hoping for the best. For those who want him moved on from or buried, I think the only two options are 1) an IL stint; phantom or otherwise or 2) after another five weeks or so, if he doesn't catch fire you can add another option on 9-1....Black, Luke Adams, maybe Baddoo can regain health? You might add a bat before the deadline but it appears the mound is a greater priority.
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I don't know what the timeline would be, but I agree I'd much rather have Sproat continue to start in Nashville if/when the rotation is added to rather than work him out of the 'pen. Long-term, he's an option to start & potentially a pretty good one. But right now I don't like the idea of him coming into a game in the middle innings & being asked to hold serve, or coming in late---especially if there are runners on base.
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As absurd as this sounds, many of Chourio's ABs look exactly like this. Pratt & Lara have that innate 'feel' for pitch/location recognition & discipline. You watch them, and you can understand why the organization wanted them locked up. Chourio does not, and it can be a hard thing to develop. With youth on his side I assume he will, at least to a greater extent than what he displays now. Otherwise the book pitchers have on him will never need to be amended & he'll be one of those guys with decent power numbers, a .275 avg with an OBP of about .300 and a ton of Ks.
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Usually when the Brewers get shut down the opposing pitcher(s) aren't given enough credit here. But this looked like one of those nights where the ABs just weren't there, whether due to first night of a west coast swing or whatever. I'll give the SF pitchers credit for being on the edges all night; they were good in that regard. And when they were off the edges we either chased or Doug Eddings added a couple inches to the zone. Just for good measure, Wild Bill spends a useless challenge in the bottom of the 8th, running us out of them for the 9th. I kinda thought the game was epitomized by Lara's AB. He tries to steer one through the right side, Devers gets to it, then from a semi-prone position throws a balloon to Hentges (who is 6'8"). He has to leap for it & happens to come down right on the bag. Oh yeah, Lara reacts like he thinks the throw is going to hit him & takes a circuitous route to 1B which probably costs him an INF hit. Meanwhile Sproat gives up 3 in 6 innings, none of them involving walks. It was that kind of night.
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Who stays/goes with a fully healthy outfield?
Jim French Stepstool replied to adambr2's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Lockridge started his rehab last week. His first handful of ABs in Nashville have looked pretty ugly. Seems to me the timeline would be Lockridge shaking off enough rust to be deemed to replace Perkins, and if that happens does he do enough to keep a roster spot over Frelick, who would then get slow-played in his own rehab until 9-1? In a perfect world I agree it's Chourio, Mitchell, Lara & Frelick. No real room for Lockridge since you have a guy on the roster who's pretty much a DH-only. -
Actually, you potentially COULD be taking a significant bite out of the team by jettisoning your experienced backup catcher for someone with zero MLB experience when in a post-season push. Apparently Quero can't catch right now, and the LHH C who IMO has more upside (Wood) is still in AA.
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Wilson has a 5-2 lead in their game. And they're being no-hit. Low-A baseball is awesome.😁.
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If they add an OF I would hope it's a RHH. I would certainly at least check in on Ward.
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- 2026 trade deadline
- jj bleday
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Sign me up lol.
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Pratt has amazed me lately. Not that I had no belief he could contribute, but he's really starting to do damage pull-side. THAT was something I thought might take a while. And then you watch Lara go out & just play, like he knows he belongs. I was advocating for Lara moving up to the 1-2 spot, but since he's obviously comfortable & heating up I'd just leave him where he is rather than chase hot streaks & play batting-order roulette. Both him & Pratt, leave 'em be. As the hamate issues get further & further in the rear-view mirror, seems we're seeing a little more of the 2025, drive-the-ball ABs from Vaughn. That would be fun.
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Yeah. Anderson has a rubber arm, Yoho threw I think 15 pitches, Ashby basically did little more than warm up. Wilson might be down tomorrow, Patrick probably since he threw two days in a row. BP is OK. Now Sproat needs to not blow up so it can stay that way.
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McCullers DFA, Stallings recalled
Jim French Stepstool replied to owbc's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Similar to the Montgomery thing, I guess. I thought it was more a case of having a chance to 'fix' something with McCullers. Nope. -
McCullers DFA, Stallings recalled
Jim French Stepstool replied to owbc's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Yep. I thought there was a chance, but wasn't convinced quite yet. Funny thing is, he wasn't hit hard. Just couldn't throw strikes with a big lead, which you can't have. It wouldn't have surprised me had they given it a little more time, a tweak, an arm slot, something. This pitching brain trust has been really good at that. OTOH I'm sure it's tough to re-invent someone who has been successful doing things one way for a dozen years. And definitely some redundancy with Wilson who has been much better. Bottom line, I don't know if there's any pitcher on anyone's 40-man you don't take a shot at if all it's costing you is Jayden Fielder. Not to mention you also received Gordon. -
The team that's currently in 2nd place in the division has to play over .700 baseball from here on out to finish with 100 wins. Anything is possible, but I'd take the under on that one.
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Yeah, having to go to him sucked, but it's not like he threw 3 times in the last four days. Having to use Megill was a major annoyance, fortunately nothing more.
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I'm sure the "DFA-nicks" are out in full force regarding McCullers after this one. And they may be right. But this organization is largely about fixing pitchers, figuring stuff out, and I'm sure they'll try to do that. In fact they've probably BEEN doing it. If they can fix the command---really no one hit him hard at all. But if not, then obviously he ain't gonna help you. Two in six frames for Gasser, and coulda been less. Well done. This was certainly a day for the young'uns. OTOH, I was wrong about Jake Bauers. Not nuts about him playing RF, largely due to the arm. But he certainly got a lot of air under the 40-ft throw in the ninth. Impressive.
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Woods' K-to-BB ratio is really astounding. And Miller has been a pleasant surprise (to me, anyway). Add Quero & suddenly the catching situation looks quite a bit brighter. Much further down the road, but I'm a little intrigued by young pup Rylan Mills, too.
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Great point re Bauers in the OF. It hasn't really stung us yet, and hopefully won't. And I feel mostly OK when he's in LF. But Bauers in right scares me a little. Also a great point re the DH role. Like everyone else I hope Yelich can get hot & maybe his last couple games are a precursor, but a roster sure can flow a lot more freely when you don't have someone that can only DH.
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I mentioned yesterday that I wouldn't have hit for Lara with Vaughn yesterday. But I think it's a little too early to get upset about the way he's being handled; let's see it play out. Vaughn had a couple games where he was swinging the bat well & we had a couple men on, that might've played into going against the platoon advantage there. I'm not surprised Lara has been moved around. before coming to Milwaukee they were throwing him in RF a little in Nashville. That, and Mitchell's emergence kinda wrote that script. It'll be an interesting week. There's always the possibility of adding another OF via trade (doubtful IMO). You also hopefully get a better sense of where Frelick is at. As for Lockridge, I saw an AB or two last night & he looked pretty rusty. That's not surprising, but I just wanted to mention it in case some think he may play only a couple games there & return to the roster. Right now is the opportunity for Lara & I agree I'd like to see him get a little more run.
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Cleveland was getting either Brantley or Taylor Green, I believe it was dependent on whether or not the Brewers reached the post-season. That caused the delay & the PTBNL aspect. Believe me, Brantley was no throw-in.
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The thing about Sugano, he's one of those guys who doesn't walk many but when I've seen him, he seems to use that well by setting an aggressive mindset to the opposing hitters and taking advantage---not by getting chases so much, but by throwing the pitch you don't expect. And he has like 6 different ones. Couple of solos aren't gonna beat him. Some other hard-hit balls--although not as many as Brian Anderson seemed to think--but we usually mix in walks when we have big innings & that wasn't happening. IMO using Vaughn in the 6th wasn't a "What a moron!!!!!" moment, but I would've stayed with Lara. Drohan had a bad day. Some good young hitters on the Rockies & they put up good ABs especially early, but he was staring right at Castro & allowed much too good a jump, the SB cost him a run. Then he stays out to start the 7th L vs L and walks Moniak. Another run. Not who you play, but how. At least the top part of the order swung it pretty well, maybe a portend.
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The Sabathia trade is a good example of just how tricky this stuff can be. The 'headliner' was LaPorta, who was so-so & never made a huge impact. Yet Cleveland wouldn't make the deal w/o the Brewers including Mike Brantley, who had a long & productive career yet at the time wasn't considered on the same plain as Laporta. Assessment & projection is such a huge thing. Also depth at a particular spot; that's what made me think some of the 1B-3B depth in the system might be dealt before the deadline.
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- tarik skubal
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I was all ready to say that he pitches pretty well away from Coors, but his numbers are actually a little better at home. As mentioned by @homer he doesn't walk many, and our large innings are often fueled by long ABs/walks so there's that. Hoping for continued growth from Drohan. And the BP is in pretty nice shape (still hoping for one more LHP out there though).
