Matt Breen

Chatwood is interesting - and several people have been promoting him for the past year. Ultimately, the club has to like the guy. He is an extreme groundball type pitcher - so a player like that might appeal to the club. Again, that's the first thing. Second, a lot will depend on Nelson. If he looks like he's going to miss a significant amount of time, I don't doubt the club will want another starter. Otherwise, they might pass. Finally, it's all about money. It is 3/$24M or 3/$40M? A lot to find out. I'm guessing that Chatwood gets a good deal. There are some clubs that really value his ground ball throwing skills - and someone (the Pirates for example) seem to specialize in taking mediocre guys like him - and turning them into really good pitchers. I'm betting someone overpays him as they think they can harness his talents. And at age 28, he's a guy right in his prime. People will take a risk on those things. The Brewers will no doubt do their due diligence - but I'm betting someone gives him a big contract in order to get him to sign. This is not a 34-year old guy who gets by on guile and diminishing stuff. Chatwood has a very good skill (ground ball pitcher) and age on his side.

Even better - knock the Cubs out of the division title, then Colorado beats Chicago and St. Louis for the 2nd wild card. That would be fun.

It's hard to predict the bullpen. So much depends on Nelson's health. No matter, I would bet that the club tries to bring back Swarzak - or someone like him. If Hader goes to the rotation, a lefty might also be added. Again, just so many variables right now. What's up with Nelson? What's the plans for Hader? No matter, I think we have a decent array of arms to fill the back end of the bullpen.

I don't recall the specific years as it's been so long ago, but from 1978-83 - six years - the club averaged 91 wins a season (this doesn't include 1981, when there was a strike - we still made the playoffs that year and were on pace for 93 wins). Those years were awesome. I was a teenager and had Brewer posters on my wall. The team was fund - and they just pounded the ball (Bambi's Bombers, Harvey's Wallbangers). For six years, were were a really good club. The World Series lose still stings. Unfortunately, it was hard to make the playoffs at that time. We won 95 games in 1979 and came in 2nd in the division - no playoffs. Just a killer. Today, if we had a six year run of 91+ wins - we'd be thrilled (and probably make the playoffs every one of those six years). Personally, I don't think 2016 was a 'good' year. The team was not very good. The main thing for me about 2016 was the club's continuing embracement of the rebuild. This has been an immensely fun year. The best in a long time.

Exactly. Let's just play well, and go from there.

Wilkerson played college ball at Cumberland - an NAIA school. He played all four years there. He had Tommy John right after college - and wasn't drafted. Because of the surgery, he could not pitch for over a year, so he wasn't ready to play pro ball until he was 24. Had to go to independent ball at that point. Red Sox signed him the next year. Just worked up the ladder slow and steady from there, but he really got started late as a pro. He was hit pretty hard last year in AAA - 6.42 ERA at Colorado Springs - after looking pretty good in Boston's system. I think that caused him to fall off a lot of radars.

That was a fun inning.

What are expectations for Thon Maker this season? I don't know a ton about the kid. I know the Bucks love him, but is he really ready to step up and be a force? Or is that another year or so away? He seems pretty raw. Just wondering what others thought about him.

How about a 22 game win streak for the Crew. That should net us the division title, plus almost get us to the World Series. Let's do it!

If the Brewers do well to wrap the season - let’s say 10-6 - it would give them an 87-75 record. Here’s what would likely need to happen to make the playoffs outright. * All records are as of about 9:00 p.m. CST on Thursday, September 14. Wild Card Option 1 Rockies - Go 6-9 to end the season, and finish at 86-76. Cardinals - Would need to go 9-7 - but not any better, finishing with at the most 86 wins. Cubs - Go 8-9 or better - win NL Central with at least 88 wins. Brewers - Go 10-6 and end up at 87-75 - win one of the NL Wild Card slots. Option 2 Cubs - Go 7-10 and end up 86-76. Cardinals - Go 11-5 or better and capture the NL Central with an 88-84 record. Rockies - Go 6-9 and end up 86-76. Brewers - Go 10-6 and end up at 87-75 - win one of the NL Wild Card slots. (This is not much different than Option #1, just that the Cardinals displace the Cubs as the NL Central champs). Division Title Cubs - Go 7-10 and end up at 86-76. Cardinals - Go 9-7 - but not any better. Brewers - Go 10-6 and end up at 87-75 - win NL Central title. Again, all this is if we go 10-6 to end the season. We have to take care of business going forward. We can't be mediocre. Time to win. Yes, we will need some help to make the playoffs, but it is achievable - although it looks pretty tough. It really requires us to play well - and someone to play poorly (and the Cardinals to be mediocre). This doesn't take into account ties - which would likely mean a one game playoff to make the playoffs. I did this just for fun - kind of wondering exactly what we need to do - and what others teams need to do.

I had initially thought that Suter would be a leading candidate for a starting role in 2018, but the Brewers use of Suter recently has me wondering why. So I simply pulled up the numbers (in this case OPS) based on pitch count: Hitters OPS vs Suter in 2017: Pitches 1-15 - .494 OPS Pitches 16-30 - .624 OPS Pitches 31-45 - .903 OPS Pitches 46-60 - 1.231 OPS I guess I've noticed that teams seem to get to Suter after the first time through, but I didn't realize how dramatic it had become. The guy had a great July, but since then, he's been pretty mediocre when asked to start and go long. I wonder if this is how the team views him - as a reliever. His ability to go 2-3 innings is the most the club wants him out there - and with all the relievers in the pen, we can employ this strategy during September. Not really sure. Just speculating. Still not a big sample size - but the use by the Brewers makes me wonder if that's how they view the guy.

A statement from Marlins President David Samson reads as follows: “Major League Baseball in conjunction with the Miami Marlins, agreed that it is in the best interest of our community to relocate this weekend’s Marlins games against the Milwaukee Brewers to Milwaukee. Marlins Park stood ready to host the games, but we all agreed that burdening public service resources was not the proper course of action. Following Hurricane Irma, the Miami Marlins realize that all of our employees, as well as our entire community, have other needs that must take priority at this time. The Miami Marlins look forward to returning home on Monday to play the New York Mets.” http://fox6now.com/2017/09/13/marlins-games-against-brewers-will-be-played-in-milwaukee-instead-of-at-marlins-park/

Pittsburgh Pirates LF Starling Marte ® 2B Adam Frazier (L) CF A. McCutchen ® 1B Josh Bell (S) 3B David Freese ® RF Jordan Luplow ® C Elias Diaz ® SS Jordy Mercer ® P Tyler Glasnow (L) Milwaukee Brewers 2B Eric Sogard (L) LF Eric Thames (L) 1B Neil Walker (S) 3B Travis Shaw (L) RF Hernan Perez ® C Manny Pina ® CF Brett Phillips (L) SS Orlando Arcia ® P Chase Anderson (R

Hanhold is a big guy who throws hard. Improved a lot this year. He's a ground ball pitcher - so someone looking for that kind of guy might find him intriguing. He still has a lot of work to do, but could potentially be a bullpen arm if he puts some things together.

Perhaps we could play in Colorado Springs. Giancarlo could threaten the HR record if he had a few games there.

I'm not sure if there are more injuries - but that aside, I think the causes of injuries is probably different compared to the injuries suffered by pitchers several decades ago. In 1970, you did not have so many guys throwing 95 mph on a consistent basis like you do today. In baseball today, I believe there is more strain and abuse and stress put on the arm because of how powerful many of these guys are - and how often they use that power. You have high school kids throwing 100 mph, and pitchers are being taught how squeeze out every ounce of velocity that they can. A guy in 1970 might throw 140 pitches, but the stress on his arm might have been much less than a guy who throws 100 pitches in today's game. Perhaps the stress put on today's pitchers arms leads to more injuries than previously - but I'm guessing the injuries and the causes of the injuries is often (not always) different. Also, as noted, these guys are massive investments for clubs. When they have 10s (or 100s) of millions of dollars invested in a single guy, the club is going to be cautious. I think the whole 'guys today are wusses' argument is wrong. On the surface, you can see the numbers and wonder what happened to guys throwing 300 innings. But the game has changed. Pitching is a different animal than it was previously. At least, that's my opinion.

Barely a month ago - August 7 - Garza had a 3.68 ERA. Six games later and he's at 5.06. Amazing how quickly things can go in the tank. His $5M option seemed like a great deal five weeks ago - now he's looking like junk. At this point, he's sitting on his third straight season with a negative bWAR. That's not very attractive. I'll just be happy to have him off the books and out the door. I don't hold anything against the guy, but he's not part of this team's future. Let's move on. I want to see Suter and Jungmann and Guerra and Wilkerson. Let's give those guys a shot. No point in trotting out the dead horse any more.

I am bugged by the forum autocorrect always changing 'Hader' to 'Vader', 'Suter' to 'Super', and 'Burnes' to 'Barnes.' As my son would say, first world problems.

BA has their minor league all star team. The Brewers are represented by Corbin Burnes, who made first team: http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2017-minor-league-star-team

Yes. It is hard 99% of the time to be a fan of that franchise. Sometimes I wish we were like the Browns - never even a glimmer of hope. The constant looking like things are going our way before the crashing and burning is worse. My brother is a Cleveland Browns fan. Trust me, you don't want that. It's painful.

I agree with you 100%. I got to see Lutz play two games this summer in the Arizona League. I hate comparing players to big leaguers, but his strength, size, and athleticism remind me of Mike Trout. When the Brewers drafted Lutz I didnt like the pick because I thought his swing was long. I spoke to a scout at the Arizona League game that said the Brewers were in the process of rebuilding his swing from scratch. If the Helena results are tied to the swing change, Lutz could be a Top 100 guy by mid-2018. I will be interested to see if someone runs a story on Lutz this off-season. I'm excited about Lutz as well, but we should really take into context the environment in Helena. The average ERA for the Pioneer League was 6.52 the year. The average OPS was .825. This was an extreme hitters league. That said, Lutz did great, especially when you consider how young he is. We have every right to be excited about him. I'm looking forward to seeing him next year - hopefully at Wisconsin.

Ponce, Perrin shutout BayBears as Shuckers win season finale Shuckers finish the 2017 season with a 71-66 record By Biloxi Shuckers Cody Ponce pitches six scoreless innings on Monday for the Shuckers (Hunter Reed) Biloxi Box Score Cody Ponce and Jon Perrin combined for a 3-hit shutout as the Biloxi Shuckers took down the Mobile BayBears in the season finale. Ponce went six innings to earn the win while Perrin covered the final three innings - which earned him the first save of his career. The Shucker bats were paced by Angel Ortega, who slugged a three-run HR in the 7th inning. Biloxi ends up 2017 with a 71-66 record, but did not make the playoffs. Pitching Summary: Cody Ponce: 6.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 1BB, 3K, Win Jon Perrin: 3.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER, 1BB, 2K, Save Hitting Summary: Johnny Davis: 2-4 Angel Ortega: 1-4, HR, 3 RBI Troy Stokes, Jr.: 1-3, 2B, BB, SB Dustin DeMuth: 1-3, BB, SB Biloxi Game Log Biloxi put the game out of reach with a four run 7th inning, the highlight being three run HR from Angel Ortega. Biloxi Top of the 7th Pitching Change: Kevin Grendell replaces Luis Pena. Troy Stokes Jr. flies out to left fielder Brennon Lund. Dustin DeMuth walks. Clint Coulter strikes out swinging. Dustin DeMuth steals (6) 2nd base. Jacob Nottingham doubles (21) on a fly ball to center fielder Derek Jenkins. Dustin DeMuth scores. Johnny Davis singles on a ground ball to third baseman Jose Rojas. Jacob Nottingham to 3rd. Angel Ortega homers (9) on a fly ball to left field. Jacob Nottingham scores. Johnny Davis scores. Blake Allemand flies out to left fielder Brennon Lund.

Carolina closes 2017 season with seven game win streak The Mudcats completed a home sweep of the Pelicans with a 3-1 victory on Monday By Carolina Mudcats Kodi Medeiros pitching for the Carolina Mudcats at Five County Stadium in Zebulon, N.C. (NIKOLAUS - Carolina Mudcats) Carolina Box Score The Mudcats closed out the 2017 season with a 3-1 win. Kodi Medeiros wrapped things up on a good note, tossing six shutout innings to get the win. Max McDowell hit a a solo HR and had two hits to the lead the Mudcat batters. Carolina ends the 2017 season 73-65. Unfortunately, they did not make the playoffs, so their year is complete. Pitching Summary: Kodi Medeiros: 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 0 ER, 3BB, 4k, Win Luke Barker: 1.0 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 1BB, OK, Hold Parker Beberet: 2.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER, 1BB, 1K, Save Hitting Summary: Corey Ray: 2-2, 2B Monte Harrison: 2-4, 2B Max McDowell: 2-4, HR Carolina Game Log

Davis' four steals and Noriega's 13th inning single lifts Shuckers over BayBears Johnny Davis has a league-leading 52 stolen bases after four on Sunday By Biloxi Shuckers Biloxi Box Score Biloxi rode some good pitching on Sunday, defeating the Mobile BayBears 4-2 in 13 innings. Jorge Lopez was outstanding in relief, throwing three perfect innings to get the win, while Matt Ramsey would close out the game to get his 27th save. On the offensive side of the diamond, the Shuckers had only six hits, but were lead by Johnny Davis, who not only had a hit and two walks, but stole four bases (giving him league leading 52 for the year). The BayBears struggled at the plate, going 0-12 with runners in scoring position. Pitching Summary: Luis Ortiz: 4.0 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 4BB, 1K Travis Hissong: 3.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3K Josh Uhen: 2.0 IP, 1 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0K Jorge Lopez: 3.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3K, Win Matt Ramsey: 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0K, Save Hitting Summary: Johnny Davis: 1-3, 2BB, 4 SB Gabriel Noriega: 2-6, 2 RBI Biloxi Game Log Biloxi scored two in the top of the 13th to get the victory, the big blow a two run single from Gabriel Noriega. Biloxi Top of the 13th Johnny Davis hit by pitch. With Dustin DeMuth batting, Johnny Davis steals (51) 2nd base. Dustin DeMuth called out on strikes. Blake Allemand flies out to left fielder Brennon Lund. Jake Gatewood walks. With Gabriel Noriega batting, Johnny Davis steals (52) 3rd base. Jake Gatewood steals (3) 2nd base. Gabriel Noriega singles on a line drive to center fielder Derek Jenkins. Johnny Davis scores. Jake Gatewood scores. Troy Stokes strikes out swinging.

Yamamoto, Hanhold and Griep combine on 1-0 shutout Yamamoto went seven scoreless and wrapped up his season with a 21.1 scoreless innings streak By Carolina Mudcats Carolina Box Score It was a classic pitchers’ duel on Sunday, and this time the Mudcats were left standing with a 1-0 victory of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. The game’s star was Jordan Yamamoto, who threw seven shutout innings to get the win. He ends the season with a scoreless streak of 21.1 innings. Nate Griep would successfully work the 9th to get his 30th save of the season. The Mudcats managed only three hits on the day, but two of them came in the 6th inning - a leadoff double by Jose Cuas and an RBI single courtesy of Monte Harrison. Carolina dodged some bullets on Sunday as the Pelicans went 0-6 with runners in scoring position, and stranded eight men on base. The Mudcats are 72-65 for the year. They wrap up the season tomorrow, Monday, September 4. Pitching Summary: Jordan Yamamoto: 7.0 IP, 7 hits, 0 ER, 1BB, 7k, winn Eric Hanhold: 1.0 IP, 1 hits, 0 ER, 1K, hold Nate Griep: 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER, 2BB, 1K, save Hitting Summary: Monte Harrison: 1-3, game-winning RBI Wendell Rijo: 1-3 Jose Cuas: 1-3, 2B Carolina Game Log The games only run came in the 6th. Carolina Bottom of the 6th Pitching Change: Dakota Mekkes replaces Alec Mills. Jose Cuas doubles (5) on a line drive to left fielder Eddy Martinez. Trent Clark grounds out, second baseman Trent Giambrone to first baseman Vimael Machin. Jose Cuas to 3rd. Corey Ray walks. Monte Harrison singles on a ground ball to left fielder Eddy Martinez. Jose Cuas scores. Corey Ray to 2nd. Weston Wilson walks. Corey Ray to 3rd. Monte Harrison to 2nd. Cooper Hummel flies out to left fielder Eddy Martinez. Luis Aviles strikes out swinging.