Turning2

May be true, may not. And if so, how did those offers stack up? I doubt anyone offered a better deal than MIL. As is said "he has to do what is best for his family". I don't necessarily agree with that after a guy has already made many millions of dollars. Even so, there is no reason to think he would have taken less then if he wouldn't take less now. I don't believe there was any sort of bidding war for him. Which leads me to conclude that MIL did him a BIG solid, and yes, he owes it to MIL. I'm not naive enough to believe he would take less to stick around. But a man with all too rare integrity who has already banked many, many millions would.

I've spent some time looking, haven't found anything to support that. That bolsters my view that he should be super grateful come contract talk time. Of course this all assumes that he is pitching as well come late Sept as he is now.

I don't recall reading of any other suitors lining up after he got hurt and MIL released him when his contract expired. Perhaps I missed it. My recollection was that he was dangling out there quite a while, and then MIL decided to try and make it work.

Everybody loves the fairytale story of his overcoming the massive shoulder injury. He's come back to initial success. Should he maintain that effectiveness for the rest of the season, he's going to be a prized free agent. I have no doubt he will jump to the highest bidder as soon as possible. But am I the only one that feels like that would be a grossly ungrateful "thanks suckers" move? - "Thanks for letting me rehab on your very generous dime, that was swell of you, but I'm leaving regardless". Woody would possibly be out of pro ball if the Brewers hadn't offered him a really nice contract knowing they were paying for nothing for almost half of its duration.

We just relocated back to WI a few years ago. Probably passed by Isaac Collins shopping around Arbor Lakes. LOL. Royce made a big splash introduction banging all those HRs, but unfortunately has battled Garrett Mitchell disease practically ever since. For a budget minded team like MIL, yeah, Castro would be a high quality pickup. Was trade joking with my son - the Twins need pitching and we need some power at 3B, so welcome aboard Brooks Lee. He didn't find that funny.

I've heard Castro being suggested a few times around the net. My family has split loyalties between MIL and MN, so I see / hear a lot of Twins ball. Castro would be a solid add at probably a fairly reasonable price. Not a big splash, but good bang for the buck most likely. Brings a little bit of power upgrade for the OF and super utility. My son and mother in law would be awfully disappointed though.

Rewarding an improving player who has been pretty good lately with less playing time does seem backwards, but it happens. Durbin has earned his spot as the roster currently exists, but trades alter the roster makeup obviously. If Contreras wasn't having a down year, he might be hanging around 12 HRs. If Mitchell was available and producing as expected he might be be contributing 10-15 HRs by this point. If Rhys wasn't having a down power year, he might be around 16. If those things were so, I'd be quite content leaving Durbin at 3B for the time being. But we know the reality. True, they are winning without all that power currently, but I wouldn't count on that continuing when Oct rolls around. Regardless, I'm fine if they don't upgrade at 3B too.

MIL needs a power hitter for a serious pennant chase and WS championship. Period. There is only one obvious choice on that list. I would trade his lacking defense at 3B for 20 HRs in the back half of the season. But that is only IF I thought they should go in that big. Not sure I do. Depends on the prospect cost for a 3 month rental. Everyone other than Saurez is either a move mostly trying to upgrade for 2026, or not a serious upgrade (McMahon shouldn't even be in the discussion). They can probably only afford , or have the will to make one big upgrade. It's pretty much Suarez from that list. None of the SS options have the power to make enough difference in my view.

Seems a little scrawny for a catcher, but he's young. A little disappointed to see Burke not being the thumper he was expected to be, not yet anyway. MIL desperately needs a big bat at 1B for the near future. Judge is still out on Vaughan.

Yeah, not much there that peaks my prospect interest. Am thinking of going to a game (never been at Appleton) to see if Burke, Areinamo and Dinges have a future.

I watched the condensed version and they skipped entirely over Nestor's innings, so I assumed he did well.

I try to mix in a few innings of at least one farm club most weeks. With MIL off, I caught the back half of this game. Have to say, NASH carries the least amount of prospect interest to me currently. Quero missed so much time again, so I'm trying to see a few ABs from him. Black seems like a dude whose window is closing fast. Seigler's time there was kind of interesting. With the exception of a few pitchers, most everybody else strikes me as career minor leaguers necessary to facilitate having a team to develop prospects.

That option eluded me. Good suggestion.

I suspect piggybacking is far more likely than moving him to the pen. Ashby or Hall would be good candidates.

Good points. First being the placating of casual fans by doing something / anything. Yeah, most casual fans are like low information voters - ignorant of the big picture and facts, needing instant gratification. Second, Suarez is about the only real impact power upgrade at 3B. But as other big market contenders are likely also in the hunt for such.... he's probably going to quickly travel outside of MIL's reasonable budget boundaries. Durbin has been good enough for what this team probably, really is this year (which is, still a 2nd tier team with too many needs than they can afford to fix via trades). Still, inquiring on the asking price for Suarez would be prudent. Just don't sacrifice too much prospect capital for a band aid rental. Third.. and this is a kick in the marbles... yes, MIL has a surplus of MLB quality SP, but probably no meaningful way to leverage it to address their current needs. Usually, teams that are contending don't have this surplus to trade with. More typically, teams with quality pitching, and not in the race are selling starting pitching to bolster their farm with prospects. Their buyers are typically contenders. The Brewers don't need prospects for the future, they need a couple of thumper bats NOW. Very few impactful bat options exist, and most are on teams that won't trade from their big league roster as you mentioned. Now that I type that last bit, the more I lean towards being OK with a packaged deal for a few months of Suarez IF MIL decides to go for it. Henderson, Black or Mitchell and Luis Pena? Just spit balling of course... If prospects are all they can acquire for surplus pitching, I'd vote for some OF prospects who project to 15+HR type power.

The injury to Hoskins might make Cortez more expendable. Somewhat hinges upon how Vaughan plays.

Not sure if Hoskins makes that or not. Either way, that was a huge defensive play that I think went somewhat overlooked.

Fans love that Passan recently said (paraphrasing) he believes MIL needs one big bat to be a serious WS contender. Well... now they need two. The unfortunate timing of Hosk's injury has a big ripple effect. It was enough of a stretch debating whether or not MIL would (or should) make a significant trade to upgrade the power on offense already, and where (3B, SS, OF?) That issue still remains. Now we're speculating about them also trading to fix 1B if Vaughan is mediocre. I don't see it happening. If anything, I think Hoskins getting hurt made Arnold's decision to dance with the girl he brought easier. The amount of prospect capital needed to add not 1 but 2 meaningful bats is too steep of a cost, There is an outside chance they catch some bottled lightning with Vaughan however which reverts the scenario back to pre Rhys thumb injury.

As an addendum... my instincts owe to old time sentiment that values developing and retaining rosters. I have wondered if the Brewers won the WS, if fans 20-30+ years from now would remember the players as fondly as us older guys revere the '82 team. Today's rosters change so much. (Yes, the 80's Brewers brought in a couple of hired guns too I realize.)

My instinct is they should do nothing because they need more than 1 big bat. It would probably cost far too much in prospect capital to acquire 2 big bats. Although we have a surplus of the very valuable commodity - starting pitching, there doesn't appear to be a good fit for a trade partner that has what MIL needs for a pennant chase. Maybe you could swing something for a 3 month rental of AZ's Suarez. Again, is the cost worth it? Doubtful. My (and others') instinct to stand pat partially owes to assuming the pitching will be solid and competitive again next year. And that's the sticking point. Maybe it won't be. Maybe the phenomenal pitching they are getting this year should be taken advantage of by taking some bigger risk, and adding some serious firepower to the offense.

No apologies necessary. I have a soft spot for the underdog too. I like all our underdogs. The annoying reality of modern MLB economics is that MIL has too many of them. I very much root for Ortiz, Collins, Durbin. But emotions are a fool’s guide.

What are you seeing that gives you reason to hope that a 28 year old who has never hit with meaningful power or a high batting average, is going to start doing so all of a sudden?

Not exactly, The flow of the thread topic and rebuttals begged for a comparison. Collins is good value for a nice price for an aging player with little experience. Perhaps that qualifies as market inefficiency, but it usually doesn't lead to winning much more than consolation prizes. Our current OF offers almost nothing for power hitters outside of Chourio. Mitchell may never achieve his potential. Sal has become an excellent contact / singles hitter. Perk is glove only, Yelli is largely a DH now. Collins might get you 15 HRs in a career year, but he's not likely to become a consistent power hitter. He's never been one and it took him a long time to reach the bigs. Twenty seven year old low power leopards don't usually change their spots is all I'm saying. I like him, I just think sometimes fans rationalize a bit too much when their team can't afford hitters. They need to start getting some more thump, or be content with consolation prizes.

Suarez is enticing as the team is woefully lacking in power, but honestly, they need more than one bat. He might help them get past the WC, but the expected prospect capital and the salary cost wouldn't be worth the rental. If Mitchell was healthy and pounding HRs as many expected, if Contreras' hand injury wasn't stifling his bat, if Hoskins was banging like MIL thought he might, then you bring in a guy like Saurez. Brewers should have 5 guys with 20+ HRs on the season. Suarez as a 6th, with this pitching staff and defense would have made them very formidable. Damn injuries.

Defense and speed are affordable tools for small market budgets. Multiple good hitters that can carry a team with power and batting average aren’t.