Matt

I don't think the guys you mention (Rodriguez, Weimer/Mitchell, Lara, Wichrowski) have that kind of value.

Nobody. I have only love in my heart. (the Miami Heat)

Would really, really hate to include Boeve in that deal, but Knack is an overpay for a few months of Adames. I get it from that author's side. Do it with O'Rae or Brown Jr. instead and I'd help Willy pack.

They're gonna need to make room in Biloxi for Hunt soon.

He's arby eligible next season.

Rough start for Misiorowski.

They should trade him if they get a great offer. I just doubt a great offer exists.

I don't think it's a bad idea to move Willy for starting pitching. I just have a hard time believing his value is so high that making a trade would be worth it.

Rosenthal:

LOL holy hell.

It's wild that he's still only 22 years old. He's earned the call-up but he's still young as hell.

I'm legitimately confused. The 7th player taken in the Brewers '23 class was their top draft pick?

As awesome as Crochet has been, he's already pitched more innings than he has in any prior season. I wouldn't be comfortable giving up an enormous trade package for a guy I don't think you can rely on in two months.

Passan: Few teams have as good an understanding of who they are and where they exist in their contention cycle as the Brewers. Two years ago, they got filleted for trading closer Josh Hader while in first place in the NL Central. Well, the main pitching prospect in the deal, Robert Gasser, has been Milwaukee's best pitcher since debuting May 10. And outfielder Esteury Ruiz, who arrived in the deal, was later flipped in a deal for William Contreras, who should start at catcher for the NL All-Star team. Gasser reporting soreness in his elbow after his last start doesn't exactly buttress the idea that the Brewers should go for it, but with a top-end starting pitcher joining Freddy Peralta in a playoff rotation, Milwaukee would cement itself as an even greater threat to Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Garrett Crochet certainly fits and is what they hope DL Hall -- whom they got in a deal for Corbin Burnes, the sort of ace they really could use now -- can be: a lefty with obscene stuff who can head a rotation. Same goes for Jesus Luzardo. Milwaukee has the system to land one of them.

There are other factors, though, like Frelick's defense being terrible and Chourio being signed through the next decade. There's no reason to send Chourio down; he needs ABs against the best pitching possible. Meanwhile it's looking less likely by the day that Frelick will ever be more than a 4th outfielder.

The easiest thing the Brewers could do to upgrade their lineup is send Frelick to Nashville and insert literally anyone else. If Hicklen were on the 40 Man he'd be an obvious choice.

I'm gonna miss Willy so much next year.

With Ortiz being a front-runner for ROY and looking like a probable All-Star this summer, the Burnes trade thread already looks hilarious.

Baseball America on the day of the trade:

I don't need or care for the barrage of stats they throw at you, but it doesn't take away anything from the broadcast either. What I'm talking about is simply the video quality and the number of cameras. Their presentation makes Ballys look like blurry standard def. Apple puts everyone to shame.

The Apple TV broadcast might be the best in all of sports. It puts every other broadcast (ESPECIALLY Ballys) to shame. I'd absolutely kill to have more games on Apple.

I don't believe for a second the Hader trade had any kind of impact on the clubhouse. The idea that 25 professionals would go into a collective sad spell over a business decision by management, one that was perfectly reasonable if not predictable, is crazy.

No problem. Sorry, won't do the language thing again.

Lauer is now on the market. Opted out of his deal in Pittsburgh. I know the last time we saw him it was rough, but I wouldn't rule out a reunion. Though Lauer looked well on his way to a breakout with the Brew Crew in 2021 after adding a slider to his arsenal, his 2023 campaign was a disaster. From 2021-22, Lauer pitched to a 3.47 ERA in 277 1/3 innings, showing strong strikeout and walk rates along the way — particularly after incorporating that new breaking ball into his repertoire. However, last year saw the southpaw post a grisly 6.46 ERA in 46 2/3 innings. The Brewers optioned him to Triple-A Nashville in hopes of getting him right, but he served up a 5.15 ERA there as well. Lauer incurred both shoulder and elbow injuries from 2022-23, so it’s certainly possible he wasn’t pitching at full strength during that miserable 2023 campaign. He lost more than two miles per hour off his heater last year, dropping from a 93.3 mph average in 2022 to just 91.2 mph before he was optioned. While that ugly final outing in Indy skewed Lauer’s 2024 ERA, he fanned a sharp 29.1% of opponents in his brief stint with the Pirates organization, coupling that mark with a solid 8.7% walk rate. Even if he doesn’t get all the way back to his 2021-22 form, Lauer has a 4.30 earned run average in nearly 600 big league innings — a 4.11 mark if excluding last year’s tough showing. He also only has 4.111 years of big league service time, so if a team signs him and brings him to the majors at some point, he can be controlled through the 2025 season via arbitration (or even through 2026, if his MLB promotion comes with 60 or fewer days remaining on the season’s calendar).

I'm not sure he's gonna be on my list, but can you add TJ Shook, please?