adambr2

I'm really over this umpire. These inside corner strikes were nowhere to be found in the 1st for Guerra.

Damnit Santana.

Way more generous zone on the corners for Kingham than it was for Guerra in the 1st.

Might as well have served that one on a platter.

Bill, please stop talking about Sogard's horrible luck every time he makes an out. His last 'hit' was a gift double from the wind on a lazy pop.

Atta boy Pineapple.

He would have been a great flyer for the 2016 Brewers, but has no place on the 2018 Brewers. We'd have to jettison a productive pitcher just to take a shot. Not happening.

Well, that was an annoying inning. Hopefully the next 8 go better.

Thought it was fair live, but on replay you can see the ball go in front of the pole. Not sure what LePay and Rock are talking about. It was foul.

Well, that could have been worse, but going to be a short night for Junior if he's commanding like that.

Come ON Junior.

Good one! I'm ashamed I know where you got that. I have referred to him as Wade Miley Cyrus before.

I wonder if they go with this "role-less" bullpen they have been using since Knebel went out. Imagine being able to use Knebel whenever you want instead of just he ninth knowing you have any number of guys that can lock it down. Keep everyone pitching multiple innings in fewer appearances really seems to be working. That's what I'd do. Forget the defined roles. Go with everything situationally. I don't like the idea of automatically going to Hader in the 8th and Knebel in the 9th and burn Hader on the bottom of a lineup in the 8th and then save Knebel for the top of a lefty heavy lineup in the 9th. They've done so much better since Knebel went out, and I know that isn't BECAUSE he went out but likely has a lot to do with the situational approach.

Braun at 2nd? Villar instead of Aguilar? Possibly, or Braun. Despite what Counsell said on Wednesday I'm expecting at least one of Braun or Shaw out of the lineup today.

Braun at 2nd?

As you said right now the NL is highly competitive. You could make a pretty strong argument that there are only 3 "bad" teams (Marlins, Reds, Padres). The rest, including L.A, could reasonably consider themselves buyers if this continues, although I expect (hope?) to see Pittsburgh slip into that group as well. The A.L. is not a whole lot different. Just a few very bad teams at the bottom, a lot of competitive teams at the top. There is still a lot of time and some teams will fall off, and perhaps some teams that aren't doing so well right now like the Dodgers and Twins might rebound. Still, if this trend continues, here's what I would guess we see: - Very little separation from beginning to end in races, with highly competitive division races that come down to the last week, and perhaps 90 games winning a division while 88 win teams sit at home. - A barren trade deadline market for buyers, and a great market for sellers who can essentially name their price, even on rentals. Teams like the Cubs, who have very little to offer from their farm system, can forget about getting any real deadline help without parting with MLB pieces like Schwarber or Happ. - Perhaps, deadline deals that involve teams that are both buyers, trading surplus areas to try to shore up a weak area. For example, if we take our time with Nelson and he doesn't return until July, if we have starters like Guerra, Chacin and Miley performing at high levels then, would it make sense to try to swing a deal with a contender who may have a very weak starting rotation but high level middle infielders with their own internal high prospects ready to take those spots? It's possible. Obviously, this is all speculative right now, just something fun to talk about because it's May.

If Dubon could learn how to draw a walk, he'd be up sooner rather than later because he checks the boxes of both not striking out much and good D at either middle infield spot. Unfortunately, not a good OBP player thus far.

Cost of an elite bullpen: Albers: $2.5M Jeffress: $1.75M Jennings: $750,000 Barnes: $558,900 Hader: $556,500 Suter: $556,500 Williams: $515,680 Total: $7,187,580 That's just amazing to me. These young power arms in the minors are no coincidence. Okay, so if I put in the guys on the DL and the ones we did pay this year like Gallardo, it goes up to about $14M. Still, amazing.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/blogs/daugherty-blog/2018/05/03/daugherty-cincinnati-reds-could-learn-milwaukee-brewers-bullpen/576541002/

Anthony Swarzak was another one. I was on the bandwagon to re-sign him. I wasn't in panic about our pen without him, but some were. Well, Swarzak has thrown 2 innings and is making 2/14. Albers, Jeffress, and Jennings are not even combining for one year salary of Swarzak and are blowing away what we even could have expected from a healthy Swarzak.

I think its going to be Suter and a position player, likely either Phillips or a Sogard DFA. Counsell has said ideally he'd like an 8-man pen. Williams is pitching too well to demote in my opinion. I agree. I would vote that it be Phillips and Suter down. An 8 man pen makes more sense with the short hooks on this team, but the ability of most guys to go multiple innings eliminates the need for a long man.

Is anyone concerned about forcing open a bullpen spot for Logan? I mean, this is a way different situation than Knebel. Logan is basically a LOOGY only. I can't really justify sending anyone down for him besides maybe Suter, without it being totally counterproductive. We already have Jennings, Hader, and Suter. Not really needing a 4th lefty in this pen, right? The more I think about it I think it's got to be Suter going down.

Yeah, what others said. Concluding anything one way or another after one start, just no. With that said, I fully admit I was one of the ones saying "Huh??!" after Miley was signed and couldn't have imagined he would make the team. But I will be very happy if I am proven wrong. If they think there is something to find here with Miley, maybe there's something to it. They obviously didn't pull his name out of a hat.

23 years old. Barely a month of ML at-bats. Yep, screams no chance to me. Solid hot take, though. I would guess he was referring to that AB, not necessarily his career in general.

Jeffress, Hader, Albers, Jennings, Williams, and Barnes have ERAs under 2. 6 guys. I mean I know that itself isn't sustainable but it's just unreal how loaded this pen is. I'm kind of at the point where I see Boone Logan coming back and think, are we sure we want to clear a spot for him? I mean is there really room for him?