Catcher has been an oft-cited area of need for the Brewers over the last several seasons, starting with the trade of Jonathan Lucroy and leading to plenty of speculation over names like J.T. Realmuto, Wilson Ramos, and, in some sectors… Jonathan Lucroy. More recently, some of this speculation has turned to free-agent-to-be Yasmani Grandal and […]
Tag: Jett Bandy
Roster Surplus and Depth Questions
The 2018 Milwaukee Brewers are in quite a strange position, representing the bundle of contradictions that defined their uncanny 2017 campaign. On the one hand, the organization dropped a “rebuilding” narrative in 2015, meaning that industry writers, analysts, and fans alike did not expect the club to compete, let alone contend, for several years; on […]
A Vogt of Confidence
On the surface, the Brewers’ waiver claim of former Oakland catcher Stepen Vogt might look like more of the same. I’ve written before about Milwaukee’s propensity for using the waiver wire and, really, a significant part of the team was built from the scraps of other franchises. Hernan Perez. Junior Guerra. Carlos Torres and Jared […]
Update: Cashing Out OFP 2
Earlier this week, I examined the surplus added by Brewers GM David Stearns, which is undoubtedly one of the reasons the club is performing quite well. Stearns, in stark contrast to recently famous rebuilds in Chicago and his previous front office (Houston), is building competitive clubs at the MLB level by cashing in on short-term […]
Surplus: Scalp or Spread
The Brewers are currently lead by a group of surprisingly valuable players, which is undeniably one of the reasons that the club remains steadily better than average. Entering Sunday’s game against the Dodgers, the Brewers’ top WARP belonged to: Eric Thames, nearly a handful of years removed from the MLB, previously a Korean Baseball Organization […]
Bandy-Maldonado or Win-Win
It’s quite easy, at the moment, to appreciate Brewers GM David Stearns by heaping praise on the young front office executive’s trades. After all, the slinging one has seen a few of the Brewers’ prized veterans collapse or experience injuries after their departure from Milwaukee (perhaps Jonathan Lucroy and Tyler Thornburg most notable). Some of […]
Heavy Hitting Brewers
Can anything slow down the Brewers offense? Over the past couple of weeks, they’ve dealt with absences from the Eric Thames, Ryan Braun and Travis Shaw — the entire heart of the order — and yet they’ve continued to produce. Even with Sunday’s loss to the Cubs, the Brewers are 10-2 over the past 12 […]
An Ode to Chumps
In my household, a “chump” comes as highly regarded as any baseball player not named Jose Altuve, Khris Davis, Geoff Jenkins, or Scott Podsednik. I owe this concept to one of my closest friends and baseball watchers, when we cut our teeth with a wrecking crew tasked with watching the likes of Seth McClung, Craig […]
Manny and the Jett
So far in 2017, the Brewers have received elite offensive production out of both of their catchers. Entering play Wednesday, Jett Bandy slashed .321/.367/.607 with a .333 True Average (TAv) in nine games, while Manny Pina is putting up a corresponding .433/.452/.633 and .367 TAv in nine games of his own. This from a 27-year-old […]
The Opportunity Cost of Harvesting ‘Wiet’
Sometimes, the offseason feels like one of those games that you want to leave early. We’ve all been to a boring snoozer of a game at some point that was well out of hand long before beer sales even stopped, where staying for the rest of the event is nothing but an exercise in stubbornness. […]