Snoebird

How the 1957 Milwaukee Braves got there was on the back of an injury replacement call-up. Rookie Bob Hazle joined the team on July 27, and from Aug. 9-25 hit .473 with 5 homers and 19 RBIs in 14 games. The core group took it from there to hold off the Cardinals for the pennant and beat the Yankees in the World Series. It wouldn't be farfetched to imagine a Brewers prospect making a similar late-season impact.

I wouldn't downgrade Mitchell, a first-round draft pick, unless he forces the issue. Give him a runway like the team gave Oliver Dunn and Brian Anderson at third base, but keep sorting through the other candidates for a month or so. A trade for a slugging corner outfielder would change the dynamic greatly because the team would be less dependent on Mitchell's slugging ability. So, Frelick would become the primary CF candidate and Mitchell a spot player along with Perkins. Lockridge would come into play if Mitchell fails to launch.

Collins was a three-sport gamer in high school, but his baseball pedigree isn't impressive. The Brewers have one of him in Brandon Lockridge. They needed to see their top draft pick of 2020, Garrett Mitchell, play center field for as long and well as he can, with Jackson Chourio comfortably in left. Mitchell will have plenty of backups in Lockridge, Perkins and Lara. Not to mention potentially Frelick if the Brewers trade for a slugging corner outfielder, which appears likely. Kansas City is a terrific landing spot for Collins, a new dad and Twin Cities native. His infield versatility likely will come into play with the Royals.

For well over a century, major league baseball has comprised two leagues, the National League and the American League. The junior circuit was formed at a clandestine meeting in room 185 in Milwaukee’s Republican Hotel (aka Republican House) on the evening of March 5, 1900. A historical marker commemorates the site at which that once-grand hotel stood, near the corner of what is now Old World Third Street and Kilbourn Avenue. The five men most responsible for the creation of the second league met secretly in the Republican Hotel to escape the prying eyes and ears of Chicago newspaper reporters. The establishment of the new league, with a rival club in Chicago, challenged Chicago’s National League monopoly and represented a declaration of baseball war. The originators of the American League included two men whose names have remained prominent in baseball circles, Connie Mack and Charles Comiskey, who both became team owners. The other three were league president Ban Johnson and a pair of Milwaukee lawyers, Henry Killilea and his brother Matthew, previously the owners of Milwaukee’s team in the Western League. The unseen person was Timothy “Ted” Sullivan, a native of County Clare, and long-time resident of Milwaukee. Most people do not know that the American League was founded and incorporated in Milwaukee. The fact that four of them were Irish-Americans, as well as the man who initially brought them all together, Ted Sullivan, is even less well-known. One of the new American League franchises belonged to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers played their home games in 1900 in Milwaukee Park, a ramshackle wooden structure located between 16th and 17th Streets, with North Avenue on the north and Lloyd Street on the south. The street name gave the park the moniker by which it was commonly known, the Lloyd Street Grounds. The American League in 1900 was still considered a minor league. The following year it replaced several clubs with larger eastern cities and became baseball’s second major league. The Milwaukee franchise was summarily transferred to St. Louis after the 1901 season and became the Browns. Milwaukee did not return to major league status until Lou Perini relocated his Boston Braves to County Stadium in 1953 and became the Milwaukee Braves. (2017, CelticMKE blog)

I don't recall seeing Black lay down a bunt, and we know he isn't a slugger, so I would put him behind Collins in the pecking order. His occasional dropped throw at first base made him untrustworthy there. His strength is drawing walks and being nimble on the bases. Not worth keeping on a team loaded with guys who can get on base.

The sticky situation is that teams typically don't allow their backup catchers to DH unless there is another player on the roster who could replace an injured starting catcher. I think Quero should become Nashville's everyday catcher -- Alfaro is gone -- until the Brewers gain confidence in his ability as a total player. They could promote Quero at the all-star break and reduce Bill's workload similar to what they did this year.

Stearns' first good move was making a waiver claim for pitcher Junior Guerra. His first bad move was trading young first baseman Garrett Cooper to the Yankees for reliever Tyler Webb.

Stearns set the draft philosophy and was quoted as saying he wanted to focus on middle infielders and outfielders. It wasn't a mere coincidence that a change at the top immediately led to a change in draft philosophy. That the Brewers are now getting elite middle infielders from Latin America allows Arnold more freedom to augment his corps of slugging corner infielders. I came here to merely point out a giant hole in this lengthy story.

Why is it never mentioned that David Stearns didn't believe in drafting corner infielders? By sticking to the so-called premium positions of center fielder and middle infielders, he made the Brewers look sick for all the years they had to face Goldschmidt and Arenado in St. Louis. That Stearns' last first-round draft pick for the Brewers, shortstop Eric Brown Jr., is a bust smacks of arrogance on Stearns' part. Stearns deserves a ton of credit for turning the Brewers into a pitching factory, but we should all be thankful that he left and turned the team-assembly reins over to Matt Arnold, a disciple of Andrew Friedman. Arnold's initial first-round pick in 2023 was third baseman Brock Wilken, and subsequent drafts have pumped more corner infielders into the system. I was thrilled to see Arnold address the positional deficiency by trading for Vaughn but continue to wonder why the Brewers' draft philosophy never was second-guessed publicly.

From what I gather (Washington Post), Rob Manfred wants to overhaul MLB's TV structure by buying out the big markets' networks, putting all networks under the MLB umbrella and sharing revenue evenly among teams. His goal is to increase the value of the small market teams and allow them to compete with the giants, thereby making the regular season more attractive. And the carrot he has to dangle is worldwide streaming capability. In exchange for TV revenue sharing, the 48 percent of local revenue that MLB collects from teams would end. I think Manfred could get around the need for a salary cap by toughening up the luxury tax tiers, so maybe just a salary floor could be added, although he currently shows no interest in that.

Mark has done a lot to strengthen the organization on the developmental side, but he has done very little to connect with the fanbase, including zero public appearances in Wisconsin cities outside Milwaukee. The International League could use a fourth northern team to form rivalries with St. Paul, Des Moines and Omaha. And, given that Nashville is on the cusp of losing its Triple A team in exchange for a MLB franchise, it would make sense for the Brewers to want to anchor their top affiliate close to home. Madison, the fastest-growing metro area in the state, would be ideal if Mark hit up Madison-based American Family Insurance to share the cost of a 12,000-seat ballpark so he could showcase the Brewers' next great prospects before they reach Milwaukee. Mark, or stand-in Rick Schlesinger, need to participate in the ongoing development study of the AmFam Field parking lots. At the very least, two hotels need to be built there to serve stadium events, the State Fair, Summerfest and downtown. And let's give the tailgaters an incentive to come indoors by building a huge beer hall -- Miller Hall -- that would connect the neighborhood brewery with the stadium and be Milwaukee's answer to St. Louis' Ballpark Village.

This season could very well come down to the question of who did the Brewers miss more, Willy Adames or Garrett Mitchell. The weakest defensive position this season has been center field, and I think most of us would rather see Jackson Chourio in left rather than center. So, the balance that needs to be struck includes center field as well as shortstop. Perkins or Collins? Ortiz or Monasterio? I would lean toward defense if the top of the order is producing, and use pinch hitters when trailing.

Not to demean the defensive acrobatics of Joey Ortiz, but the Brewers' alignment would appear to facilitate a potential introduction of Cooper Pratt to the lineup sometime next year.

During the 1980s, color photos in newspapers were reserved for section covers, to save money. This photo wasn't worthy of a section cover and probably ran on an inside "jump" page. The George Webb logo looks 1980s clean, and the guy's shorts in the lower right corner look very 1980s.

Because the Brewers don't sign players to second contracts, they're younger than most teams yet experienced and drilled to precision. But those young legs are being put to maximum use via Murphyball, and that's remindful of the 2014-15 Kansas City Royals. The most memorable quote from that Royals championship season came from Jarrod Dyson: "That's what speed do."

The Brewers need slugging balance. They can expect it from the right side from Vaughn and Hoskins, both of whom are needed due to Contreras' fall-off. And they need it from the left side because we're seeing Yelich endure a pretty tough July. Gotta ease the pressure on a guy we just don't know how will finish the season with his medical track record. O'Hearn would be a good fit for AmFam Field's outfield dimensions and an experienced bat off the bench.

It's unacceptable in that the infield needs to contribute slugging from more than one position. If Contreras was slugging at his normal rate, the need wouldn't be as great. Third base profiles as a slugging position. Ortiz could replace Monasterio as the utility guy, but another bat is needed to ease the slugging pressure on Chourio, Yelich and Vaughn or Hoskins. Matt Arnold likely was hoping that Brock Wilken would have been in the majors by now when he drafted him in 2023, but Wilken continues to have injury setbacks, much like Garrett Mitchell, another potential slugger.

I've been pushing for Castro and O'Hearn from the jump as replacements for Monasterio and Bauers. Robert Murray reports that the Brewers are also considering a backup catcher replacement for Haase. I would recommend Ryan Jeffers. He's done considerable damage against the Brewers, likes hitting at AmFam and, from my view in Twins Territory, would up his game in a pennant race. The Twins lack catchers in their system, so the Brewers likely would have to dangle Quero or Dinges in a trade for Castro and Jeffers.

I look it as O'Hearn replacing Bauers on the roster, along with Willi Castro replacing Monasterio. Both could be valuable late-game pinch hitters, and improvements over their predecessors. Let the Hoskins/Vaughn issue sort itself out.

Here is a clearer version of that sentence: Willi Castro would replace Andruw Monasterio on the roster, and Ryan O'Hearn would replace Jake Bauers on the roster. It didn't cross my mind that the players would be traded for the players they would replace on the roster, My intent was to show that they would be supplemental additions.

Castro would in all likelihood replace Monasterio on the roster as a 2024 all-star with more power. Joey Ortiz continues to work with the hitting coaches to improve his productivity, so he shouldn't be discarded. Castro can pick up a player who needs a day off. The sooner the Brewers act -- now that the Twins have dropped a series at Colorado -- the better chance they have to keep Castro away from the Cubs, who showed early interest.

Willi Castro for Monasterio, and Ryan O'Hearn for Bauers. Those moves add slugging, versatility and experience without messing with the current team's success.

O'Hearn has an .895 OPS with two homers in 10 games at American Family Field, an improvement over his stats at Kauffman Stadium and Camden Yards, and he has an expiring contract worth $8 million this year. Given the Brewers' rugged schedule to start the second half, the sooner they acquire him, the better. It would help counter the loss of Frelick's left-handed bat for any length of time and give the team an emotional lift.

Castro takes his craft very seriously -- he says he has 12 gloves -- and he deserves to play on a team that has the upward mobility that the Brewers do. I have no gripes with Monasterio except for the fact that he has warning track power. The Brewers need everyone contributing to run prevention and run production.

I live in Minnesota, and Castro is a winning ballplayer. The Cubs and Yankees appear interested in him, but the Twins are always looking for controllable pitching, so the Brewers would be smart to make an offer. Royce Lewis is too tightly wound physically and emotionally to be a welcome addition.