Jim French Stepstool

May coming back & starting soon would be terrific for the reason you mentioned; you wouldn't have to bump everyone back but it's a nice option to have. As mentioned earlier, Gasser really was a life saver. Wagoner is now back after being down a couple weeks. I like him quite a bit but unless you have a rash of injuries in September I don't think he plays a role until '27.

You can add one pitcher, but can't go over 14 w/regards to a pitching staff. I've never paid attention to other teams' additions but assume adding one pitcher & one position player is standard. I agree Baddoo is probably the one to go if they need 40-man room.

Seeing as how they're using Sanchez these days you could make a strong argument for Naylor, pending any stupid service-time issues mentioned above. If he gets going offensively in Nashville, Lockridge would also be a strong possibility. Last night was a good illustration of how he could have value aside from PR & defense---we had four bats on the bench to begin the game, all LHH. The same Lockridge argument could apply to Adams, but I think he'll have to get & stay quite hot to be considered. This all leads to my annual rant about the expanded rosters. Forty was ridiculous, but IMO 28 is too thin. Thirty would be nice. Even for teams not in a playoff hunt, where you would have a chance to look at another young'un or two.

For all the railing about hits w/RISP, there was a lot of immaturity late tonite in situations where you didn't necessarily need a base hit. Lara & Mitchell need to simply be better in the 9th inning. Then I have to listen to Rottino talking about 'lifting one to the OF'. If that's the approach then you're most likely taking yourself out of your usual approach, which IMO is pretty moronic. I wish Morel was trying to 'lift one' in the 10th; I suspect our chances of getting out of the inning would've been much, much better. And Chourio in the top of the 10th........such a talented kid, but the good stretches followed by the backsliding, wow. His last trip to the plate was downright comical. And while the offense cost them this one, Harrison made a horrible 0-2 pitch on the Lindor HR.

They could certainly go back to a 5-man if they wanted to, but they're so close now to 9-1 I wonder if they're just going to bite the bullet for another week until they can then add an extra arm. Either way the decisions will be interesting. Romero & Uribe should be added soon, Crow has been good & Sproat seems to be on a roll.

I agree. No matter how he approaches the ball on the Murphy grounder, that was one whale of a divot that blew up & I don't know how much difference anything would have made because he has to charge it regardless. Let's all be glad Misiorowski wasn't pitching that night, what with his (at times) reliance on grounds crews.

Rengifo providing little to no offense when he was here is a large factor in all this.

The bolded. Yes, we gave up 3 infielders. But IMO two of them are fairly comparable to Hamilton. And as for Durbin, if you were able to acquire the 2 pitchers included WITHOUT including him it would've been a steal for the ages. As it was, the deal was clearly worth it.

I'm a bit surprised Uribe is going on rehab; I thought he may rejoin the team straight off the IL. I expect it to be similar to Pratt. A quick cup of coffee & then back up. With Jett Williams quite likely done for the year, I'd like Ornelas to decide to hang out in Nashville. Not that he was a world-beater when here, but as with Shewmake there was a reason they chose him over the other AAA options (for those not aware, Bae stuck around & is with the Sounds).

Sure. Their performance is certainly tied into that. It definitely does go further than personal numbers on the days May pitches. In Romero's case, not only does it deepen the pen but if Hall continues to perform w/o walking hitters then the two of them allow you to pick n choose a little more with Ashby which can be huge.

All of this makes sense. Over the last 2-3 weeks Lara has stretches where he looks maybe not quite ready (at the plate), and then he does something like last night---that was a beautiful AB. With Mitchell, Frelick & Yelich all LHH Lara can be particularly important--not much difference in his splits in AAA w/more pop from the RH side, Especially if Frelick returns to something closer to what we saw last year, there will be pressure on Yelich to continue to get regular DH swings. And Bauers seeing less time in the OF definitely looks to be in the cards. I'm just not sure how often it'll be either Bauers or Vaughn DHing. There will be options. Hell, after 9-1 we may see Naylor here, which frees up Sanchez to DH w/o having to worry about running for him or Contreras & burning your only backup. Oh, and Ornelas going, that's pretty easy money.

No doubt. This is just meant to be an early look-see on a day w/no baseball.

That's easily the scariest of the deals. Time will tell. How 'shallow' it is of course depends on the performance of Romero & May, can the team make a run, and if so what was their contribution towards that. On deadline day I didn't feel good about the price paid, but I'd feel much worse if there wasn't quite a bit of prospect depth to cover it.

As an off-day exercise I thought I'd take a look at some of the talent the Brewers shed themselves of before the trade deadline and see how they're doing. Alexander Frias is at Palm Beach (low-A) where he's gotten off to a .241 start w/a couple of HRs. Young, extremely talented & not surprisingly still has the K issues. Josiah Ragsdale has found the going a little tough in AA Springfield, hitting .203. But true to his skill set his OBP is about 100 pts higher. Mark Manfredi struggled at the AAA level for Colorado, but maybe they figured that was good enough training for Coors because they promoted him anyway. In 3 games with the Rockies (3IP) he's allowed quite a few baserunners but only one run. The other part of the Senzatela trade, SS Juan Martinez, is doing pretty well at class A Fresno--6 XBH in 16 games & a .361 OBP. Blake Perkins is at AAA Columbus. He's hitting .231 in 11 games w/2 HRs (neither off Christopher Sanchez). He's drawn 9 walks for a .375 OBP so Blake might be getting his eye back. Craig Yoho hasn't had much fun out of the Guardians' pen. An ERA over 7.5 & a WHIP of just under 2. Jadyn Fielder is hitting .214 for class A Fayetteville. Bonus addition (because he wasn't traded): Braden Shewmake is back in the Astros' system at AAA Sugarland & is hitting .163.

Antunez......I mean, wow.........

I've noticed that Bitonti seems to be getting more run at 3B lately. I didn't foresee him seeing Biloxi this year, but if they bump Made maybe Pena & Bitonti on the L side of the Shuckers' INF?

Halfway there from 1st is usually standard fare. But down two runs (& with no one out) yeah, you'd like to see a little better presence of mind there. It's a 'feel' thing for the runner, but I'd still like to know if Spencer Allen covered it beforehand.

To me it was a day with a # of pretty good ABs but just enough bad ones to keep you from winning. Mitchells' first one was a killer after getting up 3-0. And he's been on a nice stretch too. Couple of worm burners for runs for ATL. Felt bad for Hamilton. Two hard hit balls, another one where he didn't hit it well but had a great approach, and no hits. Then he can't make a play on the RBI dribbler cuz the grass gives out. Score that one for Punxsutawney Pete or whoever the groundskeeper in Williamsport is. It'll be quite interesting when Frelick returns AFA roles & PT are concerned. Lara's triple after falling behind 0-2 & battling, that was some impressive stuff.

I was thinking the same thing until checking the dimensions, which are run-of-the-mill. It also sounds like the wind has never been a factor in previous games. Just viewing the layout, MAYBE it plays a little bigger re X-base hits?

The latter is certainly in the vast minority, yes. You just HAD to bring up High Point?

I agree with this. I think some pooh-pooh the first & dwell on the second while others reverse it, while there's no such thing as the correct balance except in ones' own mindset. I always feel disappointed when a post-season ends in a loss, and later revitalized in knowing that this is the type of outfit that'll keep coming back for more.

You think Mitchell sits vs a RHP? This feels to me like a day when a Chourio or a Bauers might get off his feet & DH.

The team from Curacao has one of their alums, Ozzie Albies. playing in the game so they should have a decided Braves' leaning. Similar flavor to two days of Madison residents in Am Fam wearing Braves' gear because of Drake Baldwin. A little touchy re the pen today if Drohan doesn't provide length. After the day off tomorrow I'll be interested in seeing if they stay w/the six-man rotation. I think they will, especially since they can add an extra arm in a little over a week. EDIT: Just saw the above re Gasser. So they might just skip one turn, or they could be setting things up for Crow. Stay tuned.

I disagree with this. Civilly, of course.

While reading this I was reminded of one of my very favorite Barry Alvarez quotes-----"There's nothing like doing something that nobody thought you could do." It certainly was relative to Badger sports after the quarter-century their FB & BB programs experienced prior to the 90s. It also can relate to the situation that the majority of MLB teams are in today. What the Brewers are doing is they recognize that the 'unattainable' can be attained but it takes a well thought out plan by the FO, from personnel decisions at both the MLB & amateur levels to the sifting, winnowing & development from the DSL all the way to Nashville. And what I love about this organization is that it's working. The sobering reality is that it can 'work' & still not result in a WS champion----there's a lot of randomness to this game. Batted-ball luck (both good & bad). Health. Over a six-month plus season, playing your best baseball at the right time(s). Despite the stacked deck---and who knows, in the next contract maybe it won't be as stacked---I suspect I'm the type of fan that gets much more enjoyment out of what this organization has built & continues to build, and whatever that may lead to, than if I was a fan of the Yankees or Dodgers, or Ohio State FB, or Duke basketball. I don't think it would be quite the same level of satisfaction for each season to be either an expected championship or a failure w/no in between. As much as I relish the destination, maybe I hold the journey to a higher esteem since I so greatly appreciate what it involves.