Martin Maldonado made his debut in Milwaukee in 2011 and has been the Brewers’ backup catcher since broke into the big leagues. He hasn’t started more than 66 games in a season; however, since Jonathan Lucroy blossomed into one of the game’s best catchers during his tenure, it’s understandable that Maldonado has had a difficult time earning playing […]
Tag: Commentary
Wily Peralta’s Last Gasp
Wily Peralta finds his career at a crossroads this year. In his first year of arbitration, Peralta will earn $2.8 million, and with his arbitration reward only set to increase in the coming years, Peralta has to prove he’s worth the cost soon. A repeat of his 2015 campaign — an injury-riddled season in which he […]
Speculating About The Lead-Off Position
In recent years, the Brewers have been famous for their exquisitely-calligraphied lineup cards, courtesy of Jerry Narron. In 2015, the most frequently-seen names at the top of it were Jean Segura and Carlos Gomez—neither of whom are still with the team. Gerardo Parra led off the fourth-most often, and he is also no longer with […]
Lucroy’s Trade Market Will Simmer A Bit Longer
Spring training has now officially begun (yay!), and Jonathan Lucroy remains a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. Despite his public comments this offseason about not wanting to be a part of a rebuilding situation, the Brewers’ starting catcher remains a key part of this rebuilding organization. The question therefore remains: How long will that be the […]
The Brewers Roster & The Drama of Spring
I typically don’t watch much spring training baseball. As great as it is to see people back out on the field in March after a long winter, the novelty wears off quickly for me, and there are only so many games that don’t matter — games that aren’t so much games as glorified practices — […]
Who Does Free Agent Compensation Help?
Ever since free agency reared its head in 1975, baseball’s owners (particularly the cheap ones) have demanded compensation for their departing talent. The 1981 strike was, in part, driven by player resistance to a system of free-agent compensation in which the owners would “receive a player of similar value,” which would effectively kill the free-agent […]
Is There a Place for Aaron Hill?
The Brewers are a rebuilding team, without a doubt. They spent last season and this offseason unloading veterans in favor of prospects or flyers, and they have therefore ended up with a relatively young roster (per ESPN, the second-youngest in baseball). The lack of proven veterans who will demand playing time is a positive for […]
Milwaukee’s Billion Dollar Gambles
One of the biggest philosophical debates in sports is whether a team is a business or a public good, and the answer tends to be whichever suits the person talking at that specific time. As a rule, though, governments tend to think of their city’s organizations as goods, while the team owners think of them […]
Baseball’s Revenue Sharing Fails in Theory and in Practice
The logic behind revenue-sharing programs is easy to follow. In a post-free-agency world, team payroll is a huge predictor of team success, but budgets are limited by things outside of a team’s control, like market size and stadium situations. Revenue sharing, then, allows those teams who can’t match up financially with the big boys to […]
How Do the Brewers Adapt to Miller Park?
Miller Park is notoriously a hitter-friendly ballpark, and the Brewers have exploited this in the past. Their best teams from earlier this century contained a team full of power hitters who were able to take advantage of a smaller, homer-prone field. But now, only Ryan Braun remains from that core, and this version of the team is […]