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Managing circles around the Reds. Feels like we’re playing the ‘07 or ‘08 Yost-managed Brewers.

Why would any good candidate be interested in the NU job? There's clearly a serious lack of intuitional control given the issues across multiple sports and the AD is in damage control mode right now. I wouldn't touch that program until they have cleaned house at the higher admin levels.

The nice thing about EVs is that you rarely use the brake pedal. You wouldn't need it in stop/go traffic. Or if you have a Tesla you can have autopilot drive the car in that situation.

Yes which is why the MLB and NFL absolutely LOVE publicly funded stadiums. The city/state are stuck now because they own the building. That's why I wish they would offer to sell the facility to the Brewers for $0 as part of whatever financing package they come up with. The taxpayers need to get completely out of the stadium business. Arenas are different, since it turns out they can be quite profitable. So of course we're now seeing fully private financing for many arenas. I have heard from a source that the Seattle Kraken ownership group is making a huge sum of money from concerts of which they pocket 100% of the revenue.

There are several different ways to raise enough capital for stadium improvements with that valuation.

The formula for EV transition is well known. You start with the luxury vehicles because they have higher margins and then you roll out the lower priced models a few years later. Everyone has them in the pipeline now. The Tesla Model Y is the #1 selling car in California. People are buying Teslas because they have the supercharger network. There is little demand for EVs that do not have a supercharger network, which is currently all EVs except Teslas. Toyota's strategy is risky. They are benefitting from people having range anxiety right now. Soon everyone is going to have access to Tesla's superchargers and every other charger will use the same plugs. It blows my mind that Toyota doesn't have a full EV Prius yet. They need to get those solid state batteries ramped up in production by the end of the decade at the latest. I'm in the market for an EV crossover. We currently have a plug-in hybrid SUV and it sucks (although 63 mpg is pretty good for an SUV). We regret not buying a Tesla.

His defense is so good that we can probably live with a 75 wRC+ from Turang.

Agreed, I think we should be buyers at the deadline and pick up a mid-tier bat. Although that will be tricky with 20 or so teams in contention and only a handful of true sellers.

The HR derby is one of my favorite events of the year and it was pretty wild to watch in person last night. There were often two home run balls in the air at the same time. The crowd really gets into it when a player smacks a few in a row like that which is exactly the situation that makes it difficult to watch on TV. I'll admit that it was even tricky to watch in person because your eyes want to be looking in two or even three places at once. I get why they do the current format -- it is optimized for getting as many home runs as possible -- and it's clearly working to accomplish that goal since there were something like 340 home runs hit last night. This event probably draws more non-baseball fans than any other event of the year, so my inkling is that it doesn't necessarily have to be appealing to baseball fans and it's ok to make it a bit gimmicky. The event has certainly benefitted from the format changes over the years -- the "outs" format was clearly inferior to the current timed version, but now the timed version has run its course and it's time to make more changes. Any change to the format will test something different -- right now it's largely an endurance test which is fine but BruisedCrew's idea to limit the number of swings in a timed round is appealing. That could potentially introduce some other incentives like giving a bonus swing for an opposite-field home run or hitting one beyond a certain distance. The main thing that is lost in the current format is probably the 475+ ft home runs, since there's no incentive to hit more than two 440+ ft home runs under the current rules. Another idea that I have is to make the bonus round consist entirely of incentive-based swings (or pitches). One bonus swing for every 440 ft home run, two for every 480 ft home run. And maybe some other incentives like the opposite-field home runs or bonus swings for hitting home runs on more than 3 consecutive pitches. The possibilities are endless which is part of what makes it fun!! By the way, the all-star game itself needs a format change as well. I think it will come eventually and I don't know exactly what it should be ... maybe not as crazy as having them play banana ball but something along those lines would be kind of fun.

80 steals/year adds a ton of value. It's why Ruiz has 1.5 oWAR despite a .640 OPS. The real mystery is how someone that fast has -1.3 dWAR playing center field????

Stolen bases: Ruiz: 43 Contreras: 1

I was browsing the Padres' depth chart and was thinking that Jake Cronenworth might be a decent candidate...age 29, having a down year, probably up for free agency soon. Then I realized the Padres threw $80 million at him a few months ago. What in the world is Preller doing in San Diego?

Yeah these Adames comparisons need to stop. League average OPS is .760-.765 at 1B/DH, .715 at SS. So add 50 points to Wily's OPS if you want to compare apples to apples. It's Tellez, Winker, Hiura. Pick 2/3.

Time to end the Winker experiment and call up Hiura.

In my view the biggest risk in repaying federal student loans too soon is that I would miss out on a forgiveness program. I didn't quality for the $10K forgiveness so that one was no personal loss to me, but various other options have been floated that I would have qualified for. I'm especially interested in proposed reductions to interest rates or accrued interest. I don't know how you estimate earnings potential from a college or college major. The biggest issue was people who took the loans and then didn't finish their college degree. Some of the people in the worst financial shape with loans are doctors and lawyers.

Everyone I've worked with in recent years takes electronic debit with no fees. If they don't do it yet they will soon. I wrote one check in 2022 and one in 2021. The one in 2022 was to the IRS (oops, underpaid on my taxes). None so far this year. My checks have an address on them from a place that I moved out of in 2016. I have 9 checks left so that should get me through the rest of this decade.

They have been failing the eye test since April. I'm still waiting for someone to confess that Yadi was actually managing the Cardinals for the entire 2010s. It's only a matter of time until an "anonymous former teammate" admits it to some reporter...

Make the trade on Sunday and Alonso shows up to the home run derby on Monday in a Brewers uniform?

How long does it take to fix the issue with the infield shadows? I think there's something to this and if so, I think it's a brilliant move on our part. Once you get umpire approval to close the roof, do you have to press the button immediately? And can you get an improvement in the shadows in 3-4 minutes? That said, it does seem like yesterday's complaints are far fetched. Looking back at the highlights, it was the light from the windows that was interfering with the Cubs in the top of the 8th. In the bottom of the 8th it appears to have been cloudy outside so there was no sun coming through the windows.

I don't see the Mariners parting with France even if they sell (which is appearing less likely since they are heating up like they did last year at this time). They don't have a good replacement option for France and they finally found a suitable DH in Mike Ford for the time being. If they do sell, Teoscar Hernandez would be the most likely candidate to move. How about Mark Canha as a salary dump option from the Mets? He's owed about $5.5 million more this year + a $2M buyout. Not a splashy option but he can fill in all over the field which is attractive.

The above is from a Chicago-based source but I think the Brewers may have gotten themselves a home field advantage by closing the roof at the perfect time. Gotta love this latest twist in the rivalry 😀

It’s interesting that he got DFA’d with those not terrible numbers and even splits. Roster spots are just too valuable to carry a DH with an OPS below .700. The Brewers already have Winker so they don’t have a spot for him. Someone will probably pick him up.

Almost turned it off...now I'm stuck for a while longer

We're getting beaten to death.