BrewerFan

Are the Milwaukee Brewers Losing Their Fans?

I think Lloyd is going to have a bigger role than you may be anticipating(assuming he can handle it). This was a 3rd rd RB who many believed was the best back in the draft. I'm glad we had 2 3rd rd picks as I'm not confident Hopper bucks the trend, but I think Lloyd does. And some of it should be as a 3rd down back...but also just in our overall run game. MLF has run the zone blocking scheme since he got into the league. It's what he came up in, it's what he ran in Tennessee(if you saw his Bussin' with the Boys pod you'll hear him talk about it)...but last year, without the type of back who can get to the edge, they ran mostly gap. And that...as I've said since we cut Jones, that takes away a MASSIVE portion of the playbook. It was a great job by MLF to adjust to his personnel, but he also spoke pretty glowingly about getting Lloyd back last year...before the appendectomy put him back on the shelf when he was set to come back and the Packers lost an appeal to be able to activate him. He spoke at length about the "dynamic ability" and how he adds a different element to the team. Again, that offense HAS...and it's certainly changed, but it has been built off that outside zone movement. Get everyone moving one way, and you either give the back the ball and he hits his landmark and reads the cutback lanes OR you pull it out and you have the LBs flowing the opposite way as you have guys on 3-4 different levels coming across. It also set up those deep shots to...Watson, hopefully it'll do the same with Golden, or you can just dump it down to Kraft. It's just that type of back adds just another layer. Just as Golden can change the way defenses have to rotate over to help protect against his deep speed(as did/does Watson if/when he gets healthy). I think Wilson just takes snaps from Jacobs. Jacobs getting that many carries probably isn't ideal and Wilson is a really good back with quick feet and he's big. If you can get Lloyd 12-15 snaps a game, Wilson 10-12 and Jacobs 25-30...on average, it can keep them fresh. Same with Musgraves....who has certainly dealt with the injury bug, but he has a different type of skill set as compared to Kraft. I'm excited about all the things they'll be able to do with this team. Though NONE are more important than 1-CATCHING THE BALL-We were the 2nd worst last year among WRs and it was even worse weighted for impact. 3rd and 5 and you drop a 6 yard dig or 3rd down and you drop a ball in the endzone. https://www.fanduel.com/research/nfl-teams-with-the-most-dropped-passes-this-season?utm_source=chatgpt.com 2023-We weren't great, but we were closer to average and they weren't as consequential. I think the key player on this team will be Wicks. A little corny, but he got the nickname "3rd down and Wicks," as a rookie and then fell apart. 2-Getting Josh Myers out of here, Elgton Jenkins. Basically replacing Myers with Banks. Love gave up a LOT of pressures up the middle. 3-Competition. Everywhere you look there is competition. Milt Hendrickson was talking about how they viewed Oliver as potential Off-Ball LB. They wanted to start him out on the edge as a pass rush specialist, but they think he can ALSO lineup as LB and play the run. Obviously a STs stud. And you go back and watch him and he looked REALLY good at reading and hitting the hole hard. Just feels like we don't need ONE guy to step up, we need to play better as a unit. Fewer weak links(Myers) and then just avoid mistakes and that should help Love and Love needs to also just not fall into bad habits and play better himself. We HAVE seen him play at an elite level and we've seen him play at a good level. Top 2-3? Top 5 the last 10 weeks of '23. And then....top ~12-14 in 2024. A lot resting on his shoulders this year. All the pieces, a great offensive mind. The defense seems like it should be good enough to be a top 10 D and Rodgers only had that 2-3 times in GB...if that. Gonna be fun. Already working on my 53 man...WAAAY before we even have an idea how anyone else looks!

I mean...I think they expected some tariffs as the market was already down and we still have at least 10% tariffs across the board and the highest tariffs levels since 1932 without the nonsense that came on "liberation day," and the subsequent pause. What were we being "liberated" from? 401Ks I suppose? I'm also still not sure who is responsible for this economy. Back in January of '24, it was the current President, but in May of '25, it was...well, still the last President... until the following day of course(maybe it was 2 days later) when they came out with the jobs reports. So guess it just depends on how bad these tariffs work out... If the Economy is bad, it's the last guys fault, if it's good, well... you can figure it out. It's more of a vibes thing. And that's really how the best financial decisions and data comes about.

Why and for who? We already don't have a whole lot of power in the lineup. Hoskins has been...pretty good this year. Hew as sitting at like .300/.400 about 4 games ago. I still think this team is going to be competitive and they could get a WHOLE lot better with just a couple pitchers coming back+a trade. I don't see Hoskins having a ton of value in terms of prospects...or MLB ready players. It's just a salary dump when we're basically over 100M in team payroll. Once you get Chourio and Yelich starting to hit a little better/more consistently, I think the lineup will look good. Get Ashby, Woodruff and maybe Civale or Hall back and I think the Brewers will get hot and be right in the race all year long.

I don't think they could have traded Middleton for Dame. I thought they looked into that and tried and were unable to. Portland wasn't interested...or the numbers didn't match up. And Portland just didn't want him. Jrue was a good, not great player to get back and they were able to flip him for more than Middleton. I believe they did what they could to paid Jrue and Dame. And I don't think it ends up making that much of a difference. Middleton...WAS a stud in the post-season last year.

I think the reason they didn't cut him or trade him is because...he just doesn't have any GTD money left. They were reportedly close to a trade but he was unwilling to take a cut. They haven't said much, but...they kinda confirmed they were looking to trade him. Jaire has never really been very vocal about complaining. He's just a pretty chill guy. I don't think they wanted to move on because he's a problem(like Za'Darius/Campbell). He just...hasn't played. But then the off-season played out as it has and this is why stars want that GTD roster bonus on the backend so teams can't just string a player along like this... but they don't have to do anything until week 1 of the NFL season. Though, you don't want him in camp unless you're planning on going to the regular season with him. But just no real starting caliber CBs signed...and I hope Dobbs is good and I hope Valentine...who I'm a big fan of plays well and Nixon can keep playing physical and be a #3 CB, but the depth is....brutal and it was a weakness last year and you had Stokes who was at least decent in press and Ballentine who was good depth. I hope they bring him back. I wouldn't also like to see them keep their eyes out(as I'm sure they are) and maybe bring in a Gilmore aslo. You're going to keep....low end, 5 CBs. 4 is really just like 2 snaps away from a disaster, so presumably 5 CBs. You have 3. Maybe they really like Hadan. They didn't get the 1 or 2 really athletic UDFAs. This feels like a desperation move. I suppose it's better than a desperation draft move and taking a guy they didn't like in the draft. Also, I think Jaire is pretty laid back and a pretty chill guy, so if you're going to reconcile with someone, I think it's Jaire who would actually prefer to be here(as long as he's making his agreed upon salary). Definitely like a Bucks-Middleton situation though. You don't need him for 17 games and the post-season, you just need him for the post-season. He's a game changer in Dec/Jan.

I wouldn't do that if I were them...I'd be focused RIGHT NOW on Gunnar and Jackson Holliday. Lock them up and...that's gonna cost them probably a billion dollars. Maybe 1.2 if they lock them both up for ~15 years, the type of extension you'd expect(especially for Gunnar). Also...you lose way too much value moving him to 1B. Basallo, you don't know for sure if he can handle it, but you never know until they do. But just playing the odds, Rutschman will get ~35M a year probably and a LOT of his value disappears at 1B. I think Mayo will end up just as good at 1B. I would think the best move would be that keystone duo, but if that's not feasible, he has been a key to that team.

I can't imagine Civale has much value...or Carlos Rodriguez for that matter. Perkins is replacement level. Mears would certainly help them, but I think you're talking about Quero+Misiorowski for Basallo. Maybe you get another piece in exchange? If I'm Baltimore, I'd just keep him and plan for Basallo to take over for Rutschman... though the timeline is not the best.

My mistake, 20 years old...will be 21. Still not really MLB ready. I think he's in a very good case scenario, a year away.

Yeah, this oddly just makes me even more ok with trading him. Hey, maybe Portland wants him. They had a talented young group...and then we can at least get our picks back. I don't actually expect that to happen, but...I also don't see an avenue where the Bucks are a contender during his career again...aside from extraordinary luck. So...do we just watch him pass up milestone after milestone on a ~45 win team?

I just want the guy traded because I'm a huge fan of his and...I don't want to see him squander the rest of his historically great career in Milwaukee. I think if the Bucks could re-do that trade, they do not make it again. They lost AJ Johnson who looks VERY promising and they got back Kuzma...who should be viewed in the same light as a Gary Trent Jr. A guy who can score at times, but not relied upon. Their only chance to win in the playoffs this year was Middleton playing like he did last year in the playoffs and a healthy Giannis and Dame... Instead they chose to try and regroup for next year(at least IMO) and those plans backfired when Dame tore his Achilles and now we likely don't see him in a Bucks uniform again or maybe we see him at 36 making nearly 60M. I'm alright with it though. Could have done things differently, but there's a snowball effect. I thought the Jrue trade was a good one. I thought the Dame trade was a good one. I thought they did a terrible job developing young talent like Beauchamp or whomever it may be and then when they draft young guys to fit a particular role like Jackson Jr, they don't use them in that role, even when they appear to be well suited to it. Off-season, sign and trade Lopez and Portis if you can. I think it's reasonable you can get a pick for each and teams that can really use them may not have cap space(though I think Brook is a great fit in SA). I'd mostly just be looking to acquire as many young players and picks as possible after that. Porter Jr is 22. He's...alright. He could have developed into a good #3/4 option... but now he's your #2? I just don't see the point in prolonging the inevitable. It was a good team. It was entertaining...mostly(I mean, the next graphic is infuriating)...but old boy has been sick the last couple years and now he's just suffering. Gotta take him out back and do the humane thing.

Ok...well, I don't consider Pratt particularly close. He's 19 and in AA but I wouldn't expect him to be up this year, maybe next year, but more realistically I'd look at late '26 with him taking the job in '27. I don't think Made is actually that far behind him and I've seen pretty positive evaluations on his defense. Same with many of their young Shortstops, but if you'd have just said good MLB ready SS's, ok, but you said none in the system. With regard to Areinamo, I mean, he's a slick fielding IFer who makes contact. We have two top 50 prospects who play SS, but if you're narrowing it down to top prospects at SS who have big offensive upside AND are surefire Defenders at the 6, then...I mean who is going to have multiple players? Maybe Boston? I don't know... I do agree...but I would just say I would ALMOST never trade a guy who is winning minor league Gold Gloves with the potential to hit for a lot of power and draw a lot of walks. You never have enough depth when it comes to THAT type of talent.

I hope your perspective is right. I would guess it's not a shock where I may lean politically, but...I really hope Trump really DOES build the strongest economy ever and do all the things he said he did last time-this time. I'm...skeptical that's going to happen. I guess we'll just have to see. I do ironically wish he was listening more to Elon than Navarro at this point, but...it's kinda moot.

And META and MSFT had big earnings which...caused Semi stocks to see a nice litttle bump. That said...I don't really see how this doesn't turn into maybe the high point of the year. This week, maybe through the end of May. Just ugly numbers today and I can't really see them getting much better in the near future. Are you expanding your company in this market? If you make 11 figures as a company, I guess it probably doesn't matter too much. I am...a little surprised at the number of people who genuinely believed other countries would pay for our tariffs. I'm very tired of seeing news reports about how someone's expenses have gone up so much and they had no clue. Really? No clue? Nobody suggested tariffs may cost you more money? Not...not ever?

I like Welch a lot last year and I didn't like Hopper, though I hope he's taken a big step. But Special teams. In '22 he was used more as a pass rusher. he graded out well at that...but he's not an edge by any means. The more than can simplify things for him and just let him worry about the weak side, he's the type of guy who could get out to the flat in time on one of those...insanely frustrating play-action passes the Lions and Vikings run particularly well. Most teams run them, but those teams are really good and have the threat at RB. I would think this is mostly for Bisaccia...obviously, but I'd think Hafley could imagine some uses for him. I think since Dumas-Johnson was the first UDFA we heard of(or one of them at least) and he's a pretty good athlete and more of a MLB and Welch....he looked pretty good last year, they may be competing for one spot. Or maybe whatever role they had pictured for Oladapo last year is what Simmons competes for? More of a sub LB, but the 53 man is going to be tight.

I mean...they're 21 and a year out of College(and we have Contreras and Querro) and then 19, 18 and 18. They've got a while. They are absolutely crushing the ball, but how soon were we reasonably hoping they'd be up, particularly the later 3? I'd say 3...4 years. If they were just incredible, a year sooner, but playing SS/2B/3B may delay that a bit, but I'd guess they don't continue hitting that well that their defense becomes too big of a problem.

They've got so many SS's they're rotating them! Maybe he's the only one who's reasonably going to play in Milwaukee this year...but they do have a 2B who I think could pretty easily cover SS. They need Ortiz and Turang to play well, but...I think we've got a whole bunch of young shortstops. Some may move, but Jesus Made is a pretty big one in the system. But Pena may be a young star, Areinamo can play SS. Adamczewski has moved to 2B because of all the SS's in Carolina. I think he's untouchable because he's a SS who looks like he can stick and hit 30 HRs while staying there. Not lack of depth.

I'm assuming they do not plan on playing Simmons as a slot or DB. That was ALMOST certainly a mistake that I saw. I think he could be very useful vs a...Washington or a team with a mobile QB. I don't think he's going to have any regular role. He looked so good at Clemson though...and he's still just 26, so I'm not expecting much, but I am hoping they can simplify things enough for him that he can be useful.

Pratt has Superstar upside and...a reasonably high floor. He's a 19 year old(maybe 20 now) in AA and playing well. He's the type of player you build around, not trade in this market. And then we're trading him AND the guy who throws 100, has a nasty slider, is mixing in a Changeup that's been getting good movement...though still registering as a FB as it's coming in at 91-92. And then a curve. Both players may fizzle(any propsect could) but I'm not trading that package for Mayo. Made, Pratt...I guess Misiorowski wouldn't be untouchable, but I would hate to move on from him. I'd really like to see a Pratt-Rosario comp and who made it.

Where is that his comp? I've seen Gunnar Henderson, not Ahmed Rosario. That's a ridiculous package.

By the way, anyone mention we signed Isaiah Simmons? The 6'4 238LB LB from Clemson who....once seemed like a mix of Sean Taylor but bigger, more athletic, could cover the slot, ran a 4.39, 39 vertical, 33 3/8th inch arms, 11 foot broad jump... Still just 26 years old he seems like he could carve out a little niche role as a STs ace, I could see him as a 3rd down LBer in some 3rd and short looks, maybe playing spy vs some QBs. He's had some success. He's flashed. Not good vs the run, and they said the Packers would play him at DB...but I'm guessing that was misreported? Interesting player though. Hope for a resurgence for him...maybe?

Yeah, I'd definitely do that. Especially since...we're going to almost certainly be playing the same type of coverages next year. We don't have the personnel to play much man, so...Rasul in a cover 2 zone scheme, he can press, he can sink and read the QBs eyes and he can come up with turnovers. Most importantly, unless they just love these guys they have who are right now the #4 and #5 Corners, they need bodies. I'd love to see them sign Samuel Jr, but...he's got some shoulder issue that seems like a possible shoulder/neck issues. Kendall Fuller was an elite cover corner two years ago. Last year he'd have probably been our best CB. If you brought back Jaire, Fuller and Jaire would allow you to do some different things, but that's unlikely. So Fuller, Rasul, wait and see on Asante, Gilmore...someone really has to be added. If we're talking about urgency, then letting unproven guys fight it out for the 4th and 5th CB position seems.... unwise. As for Douglas...I'd also pointed out...he was bad before he came to GB the first time around.

I agree... at least with regard to the Brewers and virtually all the moves they've made. I thought a Corbin Burnes extension made sense for Baltimore...but you said "almost always," so perhaps that would have been an exception. I hope...however this whole TV deal situation plays out, it does, as the Brewers have said, end up being better for the Brewers in the long run....but we're never going to be able to swim in the same circles barring some massive shift in the economics of Baseball or some insanely wealthy Cohen like guy buying the team and deciding he doesn't care how much he loses. And even then, even assuming we have the money to keep Hader. Who is our catcher? The Padres have traded away a lineup of All-Stars, a rotation of aces and a bullpen of closers to spend more and to have...uninspiring results. The next big deals I hope the Brewers are budgeting for are Turang(not because of the start, I've just always thought he was a poor man's Turner) and then Pratt, Made, maybe Quero. I'm only half serious, but those are the type of contracts the Brewers should roll the dice on. Young players who would be hitting FA in their early 30s. The John Hart special.

I never said we should have signed him. I very clearly said; So...that's not me saying we were NOT correct to not re-sign him, but he was very good and that didn't end up being a bad deal. Prince played every game the next two years, hit 69 HRs, .295/.387/.491 slash line. That's elite. Then was injured, came back, played another 158 games, hit .305/.378/.463 ....suffered a fluke injury and the Rangers didn't have to eat that contract as it was insured. He continued to perform at an elite level. Again...no, though...you're kinda ignoring the .69 ERA and he's been pretty dominant on balance, but...am I mad we didn't re-sign him? When did emotions come into this? It was just answering the question, there really wasn't a choice in signing Burnes or Prince or Hader or Adames...there likely won't be one in 9 years when Chourio is 30 and HE likely walks(though that may be the one exception...who knows). All I did was answer this question literally; That's it. Who has been good. Not "are we mad we didn't pay Hader 19M a year." I...don't know how you jumped to that... ....?

I know this was rhetorical, but...who was it? Prince was a stud until the injury(and his contract insured). Burnes obviously last year and now this year and...well, I guess Hader. Cortes was a very good starting pitcher. One is terrible, the other is hurt. Hopefully Durbin becomes someone.