2K24: Milwaukee Brewers

[chancellor]

All this may be true, but that is not the way to build a franchise. It is a recipe for staying stuck in the middle. They need to stay on the rebuild path to success.

- Well, you could be right. I don't think we have the pitching needed to compete at a high level yet. But their point of view is the pitching they need isn't available in the draft at a pick point we'll get.

Cubs homerism aside do you really think they are better than St.Louis?

- No, but weirder things have happened. I'd expect the Cards hitting to turn it around, but maybe they won't.

They have some nice pieces but they are still pretty far away from winning anything.

It is going to be an interesting weekend series with the Cubs

- Agreed. I'm hoping Lackey and Lester go away crying about steroids again.

[Controller Jacobs]

Paolo Espino having a nice start today so far for the Brwers, taking advantage of the wind blowing in.

30 year old Brewers rookie starting pitcher - sure sounds familiar. Somewhat surprising he's never been used, at least for a spot start, since he's got solid minor league seasons all over his career.

[Ken]

Somewhat surprising he's never been used, at least for a spot start, since he's got solid minor league seasons all over his career.

This was my reaction when I looked at his minor league numbers earlier as well. Must have just been unlucky to be depth behind a healthy staff for years. Normally with those kind of numbers in the upper minors a starter will at least get a cup of coffee before 30.

[chancellor]

This was my reaction when I looked at his minor league numbers earlier as well. Must have just been unlucky to be depth behind a healthy staff for years. Normally with those kind of numbers in the upper minors a starter will at least get a cup of coffee before 30.

More than one Brewers fan has commented in years past along the lines of "He HAS to be better than Wily Peralta!!"

[madducks]

The Brewers claim catcher Stephen Vogt off waivers from the Athletics.

[Bernie Brewer]

And the mighty Eric Sogard continues to dominate the NL.

For those keeping track of teams likely to dump/rebuild, I'd say recent events point to the Brewers becoming less likely to do so. Support:

- Had the Brewers wanted to start the rebuild, I think they'd have brought up Brinson to see how close he really was. The loss of control time versus knowing if he was ready or really close would have tilited to knowing if he was ready/really close, given Braun is going 10/5.
- Quietly, Braun has pretty much come off the market.
- The move of Knebel to closer. Had the Brewers still been committed to rebuilding this year, they'd have left Feliz in the role longer and see if he could work out his issues. Feliz will still carry some value as a MR on the market, but it's notably less.
- Sitting Villar down for a couple days. This has been easily covered by keeping the white-hot Sogard in the lineup, but they're sending him a message.

Now, all this could change if the Brewers suck in the next month and fall out of contention. But if they keep playing well, I'd not be surprised if they're buyers (esp. for SP) instead of sellers.

A lot has changed in the last 40 days or so, and yet not much has changed, as they still sit with 1.5 game lead over the Cubs. Only 4 gms over .500, but held a part of first place for most of season. I think they've a good job of holding steady with the rebuild plan. Shoot, Braun has been D/L for most of this time, if not all of it, Villar has been down for awhile too. It'll be interesting to see what they do with Villar when he comes back with Sogard playing as well as has. Brinson was killing it in the minors but doesn't seem ready for the majors just yet. He'll go back to AAA when Braun comes off D/L tomorrow. Not sure who goes down when Villar, probably Franklin or Phillips. Hadar has looked pretty solid in relief role, I think he stays up for a while as does Espino. How long can they carry a nine man pen? They really could use some proven pen help, but I think top three starters it looks good. Anderson is pitching his brains out as is Nelson. Guerra has been ok but still not at 2016 form. Garza is the next to go, I suspect. He is a guy they will look to move and hope to get something for, or just DFA in August. Davies pitched great today but his record of 8-4 proves why pitcher wins shouldn't be overly valued.

[pitbull]

Aguilar goes 3 for 4 2 HR 7 RBI yesterday. He has killed lefties so far this season hitting .351. With Thames only hitting .214 against LH pitchers it seems that this becomes a platoon at 1B. Thames with a half season of stats is showing power is real, BA low with a high K rate but a good BB rate. Last 30 games for Thames is showing 86 AB 8 HR 14 RBI 13 BB 32 K .198 BA. Almost half of those hits were HR.

[chancellor]

Im not sure it'll be a strict platoon, but Aguilar will get more ABs in the near term. Long term, I'm still not sure. The other key difference between Thames and Aguilar is that Thames is much superior defensively at 1B. After errors four and five last night, I thought Counsell was going to explode like a villain in an Indiana Jones movie.

Edit to add: if you're a Villar owner, I'd be watching this closely. The things that will drive him back to the bench are far less tied to his bat than his brain-dead defensive miscues and base running blunders. For those of us who are Brewer and Rockies fans and old enough to remember, Villar is another Dante Bichette in the making.

[overkill94]

Seems like Aguilar will be in there against pretty much all lefties, but I'm not sure it'll always be at Thames's expense. He may have a low BA against lefties, but he's still got an .818 OPS against them so he's far from useless. Unfortunately, his other option would be LF but both Santana and Braun have .900+ OPSes against lefties.

[madducks]

Brewers acquire Neil Walker for a player to be named. I guess Villar and Sogard lose playing time here.

[Gregg]

Im not sure it'll be a strict platoon, but Aguilar will get more ABs in the near term. Long term, I'm still not sure. The other key difference between Thames and Aguilar is that Thames is much superior defensively at 1B. After errors four and five last night, I thought Counsell was going to explode like a villain in an Indiana Jones movie.

Edit to add: if you're a Villar owner, I'd be watching this closely. The things that will drive him back to the bench are far less tied to his bat than his brain-dead defensive miscues and base running blunders. For those of us who are Brewer and Rockies fans and old enough to remember, Villar is another Dante Bichette in the making.

My 3 dollar Dante Bichette propelled me to second place.

[Gregg]

Seems like Aguilar will be in there against pretty much all lefties, but I'm not sure it'll always be at Thames's expense. He may have a low BA against lefties, but he's still got an .818 OPS against them so he's far from useless. Unfortunately, his other option would be LF but both Santana and Braun have .900+ OPSes against lefties.

Aguilar is now 0 for his last 16.

[revo]

At what point do we downgrade Domingo Santana and Keon Broxton, who appear to be the odd-men out of this loaded Brewer OF? Neither appear to be on the move anytime soon.

[Gregg]

At what point do we downgrade Domingo Santana and Keon Broxton, who appear to be the odd-men out of this loaded Brewer OF? Neither appear to be on the move anytime soon.

Jan. 26th is the day the downgrade happened.

The real odd man out is Broxton. I have him for $4 bucks and have to wait it out. He is borderline as a 4th OF in our NL keeper league. And that is if Santana is moved.

I still think Santana will get moved for pitching. It will not surprise me if the Brewers buy one of the free agents and trade Santana for another starter.

[pitbull]

I expect some type of deal to get done. The Brewers need starting pitcher so expect a FA or 2 signing still and a deal likely involving Santana. No way they break camp with Santana, Broxton, Perez and Phillips still on the team.