Jim French Stepstool

I call the underlined the 'NFL mentality'. In an 18 game (or whatever they play now) season, you lose a few in a row & it can really derail your season. In baseball it sucks, but it's hardly a disaster. I think some are better at dealing with the ups & downs than others. But those who involve themselves with the IGT, more power to them if they enjoy it. I prefer sometimes commenting before, then maybe a few thoughts after the game. In between, the last thing I want to do is dick around with devices when trying to pay attention to what's going on between the lines. IGTs get a lousy rap on a lot of fan boards. But they exist, and they're active while the game is going on. To each their own.

If Turang has to sit, hopefully Lara moves up to the top 3rd in the order. @sveumrulesmentioned sequencing awhile back. It's a fancier way of illustrating the RISP & runners on 3rd w/less than two out struggles they've had recently. That stuff goes in cycles---they're still ranked relatively high in that stat on the year---but if/when that worm turns it'll make quite a difference. Because even with those struggles, in their last ten games their hits per game is above the MLB average as is their W/game. Even the runs/game in their last ten is at the league average, OBP is slightly higher. Of course they've only scored 2 runs in the last five days, so there's that.

For my money Black would be a good callup if Yelich went on the IL as they both fit the same role/profile. I suppose you could've recalled Black, split him up with Vaughn at 1B & thrown Bauers back in the OF, but this should give Lara a nice run of PT. Plus they're always going to put versatility & defense on a higher plain than many others do.

Could an effective opener for an inning or two factor in here? I'm not nuts on the idea of using an opener for Misiorowski, just spitballing.

Yeah, I thought about it after Frelick went down, and I suspect it'll be Perkins. I just don't see them going with a roster that would include a guy who apparently can't put on a glove & play defense (Yelich) & another one who I don't think they trust defensively (Black). Not to mention Vaughn, who only played somewhere other than 1B because he absolutely had to. Hurtubise would be a good 'upset pick' though. And Shewmake has never played the OF as a professional. Agree 100% re Baddoo; this would be a perfect opportunity for him. His being out & Lockridge being gone this long is frustrating.

Seeing as how he's 25 (and has been throwing the ball really well), I was wondering/hoping Wagner would see Nashville soon. It's so easy to pull for guys who had the long health-related setback. Go get 'em, Cam!!!!

Good to know I wasn't the only one.........🤔.

Hey, give him credit. He avoided 'cromulent'. Yes, if we could've made the same trade except given them Freddy Zamora instead of Caleb Durbin that would've been great.

You forgot the most important part----"and blame the manager/front office when it doesn't work."

I don't think this is a situation where if Gordon & McCullers both contribute, we'll sit out the rest of the month & say 'OK, we're done'. If anything, that would create a situation where we can be a little less desperate regarding what deals we might agree to. And less desperate is always good.

Could be, unless Koenig gets ILed again at some point. His velo just isn't there.

Yeah, Brantley was no throw in. When the deal was being kicked around & LaPorta was rumored, I remember just hoping the deal could be put together w/o Brantley being included. You'd think including Zach Jackson could've prevented that haha. As to this deal, Houston kicked in some cash & we kicked in someone with a very, very small chance of climbing our prospect lists or ever making it up here. This is worth rolling the dice on because it's pretty much a free roll.

I had the same thought when reading this, but two things: I suspect they feel there's potential to get his FB to avg around 95 which would be a little more velo than Yoho, and more importantly they must feel there's something there re the curve & slider. If at least one of those can develop then you have what sounds like Henderson. Those things would probably need to happen for him to start which I'm sure is the plan.

When he plays I'd much rather have Lara in one of the first couple spots in the order. Not just the speed/baserunning but the contact, ability to go deep into counts, and he seems to maintain those qualities from both sides of the plate. Do I expect to see him continue to hit sixth? Probably.

I glanced at where Yelich was last year when we were hearing similar things from fans. In the middle of June his BA & OBP were both worse than what he's currently sporting while the OPS & slugging were higher. We all know how impressive the offensive numbers were by the end of the season. I don't expect the power to return to any great extent and IMO neither does Murphy or the organization. After the back surgery & being a year older, I wonder if there's a little bit of a re-invention going on with him. If there is, 96 games in it certainly hasn't worked because if you're no longer hitting for power you certainly can't be K'ing over 28% of the time while sporting what would be his lowest OBP of his career if it stays where it is. Personally, I get the long leash as well as hitting him in the leadoff spot when he's in the lineup. With the diminished power & the strikeouts there's no way I want him hitting 5th or 6th. If the struggles continue, the only other spot that makes sense to me would be 8th or 9th but they might prefer more bench time to doing that (or the phantom IL stint). AFA regular ABs I think he's got another 2-3 weeks.

I'll go with anything re Sal Frelick & third base (sorry, I guess that originated last year). How about 'They should bring up Eddys Leonard'.

The Twins may very well not be sellers. But if they were & wanted Made & Pena for Ryan the proper response should be 'nice talking to you'. It's almost always a waste of time trying to figure out who we might deal, what it would take to get this or that player, etc. But if I tried to hit a target on that dart board I might look at one of the OFs playing in Wilson, or one of the 1B-3B types in the 3 levels above that.

Ryan &/or Detmers are the guys I'd be most interested in. Detmers clearly looks like the one more likely to be dealt though. If they DO shore up the rotation, a possible benefit to that could be a Drohan or a Gasser moving to the 'pen. Right now the L side of the bullpen is Ashby and................. . Koenig was a guy who used to throw 97-99 & his secondary stuff played off that pretty well. Now it looks to me as if he doesn't trust throwing anything BUT the secondary stuff.

I think Chourio is a major talent & one of their most productive hitters. My bone to pick is where I see him AB-to-AB consistency wise----of course I don't expect a successful trip to the plate every time up, but the swing decisions can go from pretty good to really, really bad, often within the same game & vs the same pitcher. I get that he's 22. That's the good news; room for growth as he gets more comfortable each trip to the plate, understands what pitchers are trying to do to him & the best way to counter it. I agree that he'll put up good numbers this year; maybe an .850 OPS as you said. Too talented not to. I just see room for more as he grows, as the poor ABs (hopefully) become scarcer, resulting in fewer Ks, more walks & more favorable counts. Agree 100% re Vaughn. I think some are still living the '25 season pre-hamate when he got & stayed hot. Certainly can still help but it appears he pretty much needs to be pigeonholed.

He's a 'traditional' leadoff hitter in a non-traditional era, but I don't think that's a very good reason for him to not hit up there. The main thing is that he plays, which early returns show should be happening, and I'd be happy with him in either of the top two spots in the order. Frankly I'd rather hit him 9th than 6th, which is where he's been a couple of times.

I used to tell people in past years when the Brewers had a lead in June, July or August that at some point, someone will make a run at them. And that's perfectly fine. How you respond to it is the important part. And in a couple of those years I was actually wrong because they never really WERE challenged. So, we'll see. A couple of interesting weeks coming up w/the trade deadline. The never-ending war between the "That was a smart, cost-effective move that didn't take a lot of prospect capital" crowd vs the "HE'S NO GOOD, WHY BOTHER, WHY DON'T THEY MOVE THE NEEDLE???" legion. Although after losing three in a row, the 2nd group might think we should be selling.

I think Lara & Pratt didn't start mostly due to Skenes, thinking Frelick, Mitchell, Shewmake et al would have a better chance of success. Too lazy to look it up but maybe they've had success vs him? Yeah, Contreras sitting was rather odd.

There are a couple of starting pitchers that aren't rentals & I think that's what they should target (I would also feel the same way had they won 2 out of 3 this weekend). There's an awful lot of talent in the system, and no matter how much these guys are valued you can't keep them all. AFA short term is concerned ( I assume you mean a rental) I'd look into that too but that isn't where you want to expend some of the more highly-rated talent. Right after getting swept isn't exactly the best time to assess the post season IMO, especially since this most likely won't be the same team in a few weeks. There are teams that could give them problems but the Brewers are fully capable of doing the same to them. Sure, they'd be an underdog to LA. Again it's JMO but in baseball I don't think there's such a thing as 'no chance.'

Bad combination today---a team that's been around .500 or slightly over looking forward to finishing off the 1st half strong & making a playoff run, something that's been pretty rare for them. On the other side, a team that's been playing a lot of baseball--mostly good baseball--for 2.5 weeks, had a couple one-run losses yesterday & for one of the rare times this season didn't seem to want to be there. Great game plan for Pittsburgh vs Gasser, but he was getting way too much of the plate & had a horrible outing after being pretty good for the last few weeks or so. And a real rare instance of the gloves failing. I'll preface this by saying Gasser was the main culprit; these were all hard-hit balls. But the double off Shewmakes' glove was far from routine but playable. Five batters later Davis, who's suddenly turned into Yogi Berra, hits one that honestly had 'jump up & catch the ball' written all over it & somehow Chourio doesn't. His next time up he lines out to Ortiz, except for some reason he doesn't see the ball. Looked like the same thing w/the pickoff throw to Bauers, although that didn't cost them. Just a day you flush. I think Pitt's defense has a propensity to let them down---could've/should've cost them game one yesterday---but save for that I wouldn't be shocked to see them climb the standings in the weeks to come. Chourio can be so maddening. His second AB was a thing of beauty. Falls behind Skenes 0-2. Then lays off some pretty good 2-strike pitches from a very talented arm to run it full, then doubles in a run. In his next trip to the plate he gets to 3-1. He then swings at ball four. Then he swings at ball five. I'd give him a pass because it was a one-sided game at that point except that I've seen that stuff many other times. I'm sure people remember his rookie year; there were some that thought he might benefit from a trip to AAA. Then around the beginning of June he took a step forward & the numbers ballooned. AFA his swing decisions are concerned it's time to take another step. An over 3:1 K to BB ratio is something an immense talent like him can't accept. Yoho looks useful. Hopefully that continues.

It's cash deal soooo, perhaps. He may also get stashed in Nashville when Hamilton returns. They might be looking at it as a policy to guard against Hamilton maybe needing an extra week or whatever. Like others have said he's better than running Jones out there.