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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 […]

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Fluctuation Race

The 2017 Cubs had a good rotation, as far as typical, standard rotations go. The club entered the season with their four most productive starters locked in, and many pundits praised their depth moves to fill out the back of the rotation. When a team can prevent more than 100 runs on the front end, […]

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Caring About the Garza Tweet

A few weeks ago, Brewers starting pitcher Matt Garza made headlines with a tweet. In a response to actress Jessica Chastain lamenting the fact that birth control was no longer covered by health insurance, Garza both advocated abstinence and criticized an entire generation. It's called abstinence, a word that has been forgotten amongst this generation… […]

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A Tight Rotation

Spring Training starts soon, which means a number of things to everyone. It’s a chance for young players to make an impression with the big club. It’s two months to prepare for the season for those assured of a roster spot. And, in quite a few cases, it’s a semi-open audition for the unfilled spots […]

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Matt Garza’s Value

For an MLB player, value has two elements: Production: A player can be considered valuable based on how well they perform on the field. Alternately, as advanced statistics and analytical tools emerge, a player can be considered valuable based on their underlying elements — stuff, mechanics, plate approach, command, etc. Both of these metrics, traditional […]