*Not actually favorite

Minor League Ball || Thoughts on Brewers prospect Keon Broxton (March 22, 2016)
John Sickels reevaluated one of the major standouts of this spring for the Brewers, young center field prospect Keon Broxton. The 6’3” 25-year-old who is carved out of stone has made a major impact so far in camp, pushing for a roster spot and perhaps even the Opening Day start in center field. He has displayed all of the tools that made him attractive to the Brewers when they acquired him along with Troy Supak in the trade that sent Jason Rogers to Pittsburgh – he’s shown impressive plate discipline in leading the team in walks and has been swiping bases at will. Sickels bumps Broxton from a C to a C+ grade based on what he’s seen so far this March.

Baseball Prospectus || Winter is Leaving: Milwaukee Brewers (March 22, 2016)
Gone but not forgotten, our erstwhile editor in chief J.P. Breen revealed to the world that he was ready to take a break from writing about the Brewers on a regular basis in handing over the reins of BP Milwaukee to Nicholas Zettel. His first order of business after stepping away from writing about the Brewers? Writing about the Brewers, of course. Breen tackles the Brewers in Baseball Prospectus’ “Winter Is Leaving” series, recapping each team’s offseason and setting the stage for the 2016 season. A very entertaining and informative read, he outlines the lightning-fast way the Brewers have reinvigorated the farm system with talent at every level, even while retaining their two most valuable veterans in Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy.

Brew Crew Ball || Injuries clearing up the Brewers bullpen picture (March 22, 2016)
In the wake of the news that Sean Nolin would join Yhonathan Barrios on the Opening Day disabled list, I took a look at the remaining seven candidates for the last two spots in the bullpen. One of the more interesting cases is Rule 5 draftee Zack Jones, who must make the team if Milwaukee wants to keep him in the organization. Jones made his Spring Training debut on Thursday after an injury kept him on the shelf for the first few weeks of camp. He gave up two hits, including a home run, closing out the Brewers 9-2 win over the Royals, but most importantly he seemed to come out the other side healthy.

Baseball Prospectus || Notes from the Field: Brewers Got Bats (March 24, 2016)
Baseball Prospectus prospect writer Adam McInturff visited Brewers camp this week, and in this report he scouted some of the Brewers young, high-upside position player prospects, including Trent Clark, Demi Orimoloye, and Jake Gatewood. McInturff teamed up with Craig Goldstein to talk about the Brewers’ pitching prospects as well on Wednesday, although that article is behind a pay wall, so fair warning there.

Let’s roll it and pick up some talking points to share with the folks around you while you wait in line for your Ryan Braun autograph:

FanGraphs || Tanking: Does MLB Really Have a Problem? (Jan. 25, 2016)

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing in the past week or so over the concept of “tanking” in baseball, particularly in the National League, which is projected to have the six worst teams in the majors, including the Milwaukee Brewers. David Cameron (@DCameronFG) dispels the notion, mostly based on the fact that the practice isn’t likely to provide much payoff. While teams like Milwaukee, Colorado and San Diego have underwhelming rosters, they’re certainly not actively trying to lose, as each has signed free agents to bolster their 2016 rosters in addition to their rebuilding efforts. Tanking in the NBA works because an elite rookie can come in and make an impact right away, and a single player can alter the fortunes of a franchise. Neither of those is true in Major League Baseball.

The Hardball Times || The Art of the Tank (Jan. 26, 2016)

But dadgumit, if you’re going to tank, you may as well do it right. The Astros pulled off what was likely the first and only truly successful “tank” in Major League Baseball. They’re coming out of a period in which they sold off every conceivable asset — aside from a few players, such as Jose Altuve — in order to stockpile assets and gain higher draft picks to make the postseason in 2015. Chris Gigley (@cgigley) takes us through the steps to a proper Astros-style rebuild, which starts with really going for it wholesale and being honest, both with yourself and with your fans.

Beyond the Box Score || The rise and fall of catcher framing (Jan 27, 2016)

Henry Druschel (@henrydruschel) digs into some of the numbers regarding pitch framing, which have received a significant upgrade very recently from the folks at the Baseball Prospectus main site. Druschel notes that after a spike in the relative importance of framing in the early part of the decade, the gap between the best and worst framers has shrunk, and the rate at which it’s shrinking is growing. Michael Bradburn covered the steady decline of Jonathan Lucroy’s pitch framing in recent years, which has plummeted from otherworldly to just league average. As teams begin to understand the true impact pitch framing has — and as our ability to understand and quantify it grows — it may serve to nullify its effects for the elite framers as the rest of the league catches up.

FanGraphs || Projecting the DFA’d Rymer Liriano (Jan. 25, 2016)

Unbeknownst to them, FanGraphs was devoting a big chunk their coverage to the Brewers on Monday. Three days before the Brewers swung a trade for outfielder Rymer Liriano, the recently-DFA’d-former-Top-100 prospect from San Diego, Chris Mitchell (@_chris_mitchell) took a crack at projecting him out with his KATOH system. While it projects just 1.9 fWAR over the next six years, Mitchell leans on Dan Farnsworth to get another perspective, and he provided a glowing report. While Liriano’s contact issues are a red flag, it appears that the Brewers have acquired, at worst, a solid fourth outfielder with a chance to become something more.

The Sports Post || Chris Capuano, Milwaukee, and a familiar feeling (Jan. 27, 2016)

The Brewers took us on a trip down memory lane this week, bringing back former fan-favorite Chris Capuano, now 37 years old, on a minor-league deal. Shaun Ranft (@Shaun_TSP) followed and found himself back in the early part of the century and in the middle of the last major rebuilding phase Milwaukee undertook. Cappy is back and while he may be a long shot for the major-league rotation, he represents a bit of nostalgia and, therefore, looks like an astute pickup for struggling team who will need to give its fans something to cheer about.

Beyond the Box Score || The Decision between Khris Davis and Domingo Santana won’t be easy 

As Kevin Ruprecht (@KevinRuprecht) explains, in Domingo Santana and Khris Davis, the Brewers have basically the same player offensively: a high-strikeout bopper who is a virtual lock for a quarter-century home runs as long as he gets enough at-bats to qualify. But he will also provide far more than his fair share of whiffs. While Santana projects as a better defensive player, he’ll need to cut down on his 37.6 percent Major League career strikeout rate in order to match Davis’ production. Neither is capable of being the long-term answer in center field, which means Milwaukee is faced with a three-headed decision: (1) relegate one of their best prospects to the bench; (2) trade Davis now at the height of his value; or (3) move Santana (which Stearns has already done once) before he has a chance to prove himself and hand the left field job to Davis until the younglings are ready to take over.

Beyond the Box Score || Will Smith requires your attention

Indeed, he does. While it comes as absolutely no surprise to Brewers’ fans, Austin Yamada explains why Smith is one of the best — and most underrated — young relievers in baseball right now. While it’s certainly nice for the Brewers to have a youthful, cheap and controllable ace reliever in the fold, Smith’s true value to the franchise at this point of the rebuilding process may ultimately lie in his trade value. With K-Rod gone, the southpaw is likely to get the first crack at the closer role and if he can prove effective, he could bring Milwaukee back a tidy little ransom from a contender looking for left-handed relief help.

Beyond the Box Score || Jon Singleton is keeping A. J. Reed’s seat warm 

The Brewers have already acquired one former Houston first baseman, and while Chris Carter is still under team control for three years, only the most optimistic members of Carter’s family believe he’s the Brewers long-term answer at first. However, there’s a chance that Milwaukee’s long-term first baseman was an Astro all along, as Houston appears ready to make Jon Singleton available. Nicolas Stellini (@StelliniTweets) says that A.J. Reed is knocking on the door for Houston, and Singleton’s days as a starter will be numbered once the Astros have Kris Bryant’d Reed by keeping him in Triple-A until the Super 2 deadline has past. If the Astros do decide to move on from Singleton, David Stearns (who had a hand in drafting him in 2009) would almost certainly have some interest.

MLB Daily Dish || Nationals rumors: Washington exploring catcher trade market

Look, if you want me to stop featuring my fellow BP Milwaukee writers in this space, you’re just going to have to ask them to stop writing important things in other places (don’t actually do that). Our Michael Bradburn (@MWBII) talks about the swirling rumors that the Nationals are in the market for a catcher. Anyone who has taken a peak at the Washington depth chart might already be aware that the crowned kings of the 2015 off-season might be seeking help behind the plate, but a confirmed #rumor from the recently-unemployed Jon Heyman has stoked the fires of the hot stove.

The Cauldron || How Barstool Sports Uses Social Media as a Weapon

There’s not a ton more that I can say about this outstanding and brave piece from Nicolas Stellini (@StelliniTweets), who takes aim at perhaps the largest pack of vindictive Twitter-warriors on the web in Barstool Sports. I posted a rather personal response of my own here. Stellini’s piece talks about the vicious social media attack levied by the so-called “stoolies” against Jen Mac Ramos (@jenmacramos), just the latest in a long line of misogynistic pile-ons from the frat-blog’s hyper-loyal followers. Barstool is the blueprint of how not to act.

The Crawfish Boxes || Brewers sign former Astro Chris Carter to 1 year, $2.5 million deal

As always, when the local nine bring in a new face, I’m looking for some input from the writers of the team from which he came. I know I’m going to get the most positive spin from the Milwaukee beat writers — he hit 90 home runs in the last three years! But the Astros writers know him better, because they’ve watched him play for his entire career. Ryan Dunsmore (@d_more55) paints a less-than-rosy picture of Carter as a frustrating three-true-outcomes hitter who, he surmises, is perhaps too patient. While his 11.5 percent career walk rate is respectable, it’s hard to imagine a player having a 33.4 percent strikeout rate because he’s too patient. Carter comes in to fill a significant hole on the Brewers’ Major League roster and has the added benefit of being under team control for a couple more years through arbitration, should he turn out to be another J.D. Martinez-type castoff from the Houston organization.

Gaslamp Ball || Stupid Hall of Fame voters snub Trevor Hoffman

The Hall of Fame announced its 2016 class on Wednesday, which means the baseball world had to carve out a several hours to be very mad online. I was personally upset that Jim Edmonds, the best defensive center fielder I have ever seen, didn’t garner enough votes to even stay on the ballot for next year. Others were upset about the three jabronis that didn’t vote for Ken Griffey, Jr., while still other were upset about the votes that Jason Kendall and David Eckstein did garner. For Gaslamp Ball, SB Nation‘s Padres blog, Richard Garfinkel (@gdarklighter) chose, understandably, to be very upset about Trevor Hoffman’s failure to find himself enshrined. I say “understandably” because Garfinkel is a Padres fan, not because Hoffman’s vote total is anything to sneeze at. With 67 percent in his first year on the ballot, Hoffman will almost certainly get in at some point, and if one is the type to care about “first ballot” Hall of Famers, I don’t think any but those most devout of Padres fans would argue that he belongs among them.

Brew Crew Ball || The Brewers and the Rule 5 Draft  (Dec. 3, 2015)

My good friend and colleague Kyle Lesniewski (@brewerfan28) delivers a fascinating look at the Brewers history in the Rule 5 draft in anticipation of the annual Winter Meetings, which begin next week in Nashville, Tennessee. He explains what the heck the Rule 5 draft is and provides an interesting trip down memory lane, recapping the Brewers’ activities in the draft since the 1997 draft. The decision to non-tender utility infielder Elian Herrera this week further fueled the speculation that GM David Stearns plans to be active in the Rule 5 draft. Of particular note are a trio of players from his former team that the Astros left unprotected that could fill positions of organizational need: outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, right-hander Brady Rodgers, and catcher Roberto Pena.

ESPN || A Winter Meetings wish list for each NL team (Dec. 3, 2015)

We’ve never done the following in this space before — because I really do try to curate the best Brewers-related writing of the week to bring to y’all when Fridays roll around — but I think it’s important (especially when it comes from a place with so much sway over the sports zeitgeist) to call out when someone gets something as fantastically wrong as Jonah Keri (@jonahkeri) did in his offseason preview of National League teams. Keri is one of the best in the business, and I’ve featured his stuff in this space before, which is why it’s so disappointing to see him miss the mark so completely in this piece. Perhaps in the wake of the shuttering of Grantland, his mind is elsewhere, and for that, no one could blame him. Writing for the mothership now, Keri delivers a list of needs and an offseason plan for each NL team in this article. Showing a complete lack of knowledge regarding the Brewers organization, he lists shortstop and center field as positions of greatest need for Milwaukee, stating, “they’ll need to find long-term replacements for Carlos Gomez (traded) and Jean Segura (bad at baseball).”

Yikes. Not only is that overly-harsh shot at Segura hyper-simplistic, it’s just not true; though he’s struggled at the plate over the past two seasons, Segura remains a valuable defensive asset. Additionally, to say that the Brewers need to find long-term replacements in center field and shortstop is about as wrong as one could be, as those are two positions at which Milwaukee is strongest in the higher levels in their farm system. Keri wraps up his blurb about Milwaukee with another swing-and-a-miss. He says that “rebuilding a farm system that doesn’t have much more to offer at the higher levels should be the Brewers’ top priority.” I’ll let Christopher Crawford field this one:

Oh hey guess what? The #Brewers system is coming out tomorrow, and…I think it might be my favorite system right now. Yep. The Brewers.

— Christopher Crawford (@CVCrawfordBP) December 3, 2015

 Minor League Ball || Milwaukee Brewers Top 20 Prospects for 2016 (Dec. 2, 2015)

SB Nation’s John Sickels (@MinorLeagueBall) released his annual ranking of the Brewers top 20 prospects on Wendesday. This may shock you, but he has Orlando Arcia at the top of the list, rated as an A- prospect. There are a couple of surprises on his list, none bigger than his lofty #4 ranking of LHP Josh Hader, who is coming off a suberb showing at the Arizona Fall League. No other publication that I’ve seen has Hader ranked in the top ten right now, but it’s hard to argue with the upside pick here. While most scouts doubt Hader’s ability to stick as a starter long-term due to his arm slot and small frame — something our own Michael Schwartz discussed yesterday — the numbers that he’s putting up right now are making it harder and harder to doubt him. Speaking of those other publications, you should of course take a peek at Baseball Prospectus’s Brewers top 10 prospects list, which was released yesterday, as well as the 11-20 supplemental list released exclusively here at BP Milwaukee, if you missed them.

SB Nation || Royals fans are caught between the impossible and the entirely possible

Someday in this space, J.P. will just allow me to write “PLEASE READ WHATEVER GRANT BRISBEE WROTE MOST RECENTLY” in big, shiny capital letters, permanently emblazoned on the top of my posts and saving me a few dozen words every week. Until then, I’ll have to keep pushing you in the direction of the best in the business. Brisbee perfectly captures the excitement of the World Series taking over a city. Milwaukee hasn’t experienced this since 1982, but there were shades of the excitement level after the Brewers’ win over Arizona in the 2011 NLDS, before the Cardinals ruined everything.

San Diego Union Tribune || How the Padres failed Pat Murphy

When the Brewers jettisoned Ron Roenicke in favor of Craig Counsell in May, C.C. immediately went after his former coach at Notre Dame, Pat Murphy — who was serving as the Triple-A coach for San Diego — as his bench coach. The Padres blocked the move, apparently anticipating the firing of their own manager a month later; Murphy was quickly named the interim manager for the Padres. When he was not hired as the full-time manager after the season, it was a mere formality that he’d eventually be named the Brewers’ bench coach. That pretense ended this week. Sometimes in circumstances such as this, it’s interesting to look as the hire from the perspective of the team being left behind. Murphy was given to the keys to the Padres, but he was never really in control, taking over a team that was still populated with Bud Black’s coaches. Now finding himself in a situation where he’s very clearly valued and wanted, Murphy should thrive.

MLB.com || Brewers in AFL: Phillips keeps up hot hitting in Surprise

Here’s an interesting about Brett Phillips, the young center fielder acquired in the Carlos Gomez/Mike Fiers trade at the deadline. Phillips struggled a bit with Double-A Biloxi, hitting just .250/.361/.413 (which is really only sub-par in relation to his own previous numbers) over 98 plate appearances before unleashing a bit in the Southern League playoffs with a 1.062 OPS over two series. Phillips is thriving in the Arizona Fall League as well, hitting .346 with as many walks as strike outs (five each). It sounds like Phillips understands that while it’s always tough to leave your teammates behind, he’s found himself in a situation that’s better for his career.

Brew Crew Ball || Korean 1B Byung-ho Park to be posted Monday

Derek Harvey, taking over the reins of Brew Crew Ball this month, takes a peek at a potential off-season target of the Brewers in KBO superstar Byung-ho Park. Park has some eye-popping numbers, though big KBO numbers are not necessarily indicative of MLB performance. However, the breakout season from Pirates 3B Jung Ho Kang has many teams looking across the western pond.

Reviewing the Brew || Milwaukee Brewers Should Take Flier on Domonic Brown (Oct. 20, 2015)
Brew Crew Ball || Phillies outright former top prospect Domonic Brown (Oct. 20, 2015)

Here’s a couple of takes on the Brewers potentially being suitors for the servicers of former top prospect Domonic Brown, whom the Phillies outrighted off their 40-man roster this week. One is from myself at Brew Crew Ball, and the other from Pete Schwichtenberg  (@schwick26_pete) at Reviewing the Brew. The issue with Brown, of course, is that while the Brewers do need an outfielder, that outfielder needs to play center field. Brown cannot. The Brewers gave young Domingo Santana the reins in center over the final month or so of a lost season, but he’s not a viable long term solution and will eventually need a spot in one of the corners, where the Brewers already have entrenched starters in Khris Davis and Ryan Braun. Trying to find starts and at-bats for a fourth corner outfielder – barring a trade – would be difficult.  If the costs are low (minor-league contract with an invite low), then the Brewers should take a look to see if they can help Brown find his power stroke again. However, he’s posted an identical .634 OPS in each of the last two seasons, and there’s not a lot of positive indicators to point toward a revival. Note: there have been absolutely no rumblings from the Brewers organization that they’re interested in Brown, and any discussion of them being matched with him is entirely speculation.

MLB.com || Callis examines Lopez, Houser and Weaver (Oct. 20, 2015)

Here’s a quick scouting report from Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) breaking down the early returns on a few of the Arizona Fall League’s pitching prospects, including the Brewers’ Adrian Houser. The 22-year-old has been stellar so far for the Surprise Saguaros, striking out three with just a pair of hits and a pair of walks through 6.1 innings  (two starts). Houser has fallen as a prospect — he’s ranked No. 27 in the Brewers’ system — but he still has the raw tools that made him the second-round pick of the Astros in 2011.

Disciples of Uecker || Replacement by Design (Oct. 21, 2015)

Over at Disciples of Uecker, the Brewers arm of ESPN’s blog network, Nicholas Zettel (@SpectiveWax) takes an interesting, numbers-heave look at how the Brewers might want to model their pitching staff after the Cubs and Dodgers. Both of those teams got a lot of mileage out of what he terms “replacement starters,” those who had less than 100 innings pitched and/or pitched more than 50 percent of their innings as relievers. Of course, the Dodgers and Cubs had Zack Greinke/Clayton Kershaw and Jake Arietta/Jon Lester respectively to anchor their rotation, and there’s no one on the Brewers roster who is at the level now nor is there anyone at the major-league level who necessarily projects to get there. For 2016, Zettel advocates for a revolving door in the starting rotation, boldly stating that “if the Brewers don’t have 15 starting pitchers in 2016, and they don’t make the playoffs, one should question their rotational approach.”

MLB Daily Dish || Who will replace Don Mattingly? (Oct. 22, 2015)

Matt Goldman (@TheOriginalBull) speculates on who might take over the reins of the Los Angeles Dodgers and their $300 million payroll in the wake of Don Mattingly’s somewhat-but-not-really-all-that surprising departure that was announced on Thursday morning. One man Goldman mentions as a potential replacement is former Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke, who was fired by the Brewers in May and caught on with the Dodgers’ as their third base coach in August. Rumors circulated in the wake of his hiring that he was being brought in to inevitably replace Mattingly, who has gotten into some public blowups with his players recently and has obviously fallen out of favor with the Dodgers’ new front office regime, who did not hire him. I don’t necessarily think that’s likely – Gabe Kapler appears to be the front-runner at this time – but Roenicke probably took more heat than he deserved for being unable to compete with a thin, poorly constructed Brewers roster that didn’t have a first baseman or a legitimate ace pitcher (among other issues).

SB Nation || Every reason why Blue Jays-Rangers Game 5 was one of the best, weirdest games ever (Oct. 15, 2015)

For six innings, game five between the Blue Jays and Rangers was an tight, entertaining winner-take-all playoff game. The Rangers took an early lead, and the Blue Jays chipped away at the lead to tie the game. In the seventh inning the baseball game ended and was replaced with a Lovecraftian horror; the Rogers Centre was pulled from Toronto and airlifted to Miskatonic County, dropped into Arkham as the Old Ones descended. Unable to process what they were seeing, Blue Jays fans tossed their beer cans at the monsters to defend themselves from madness. Grant Brisbee (@mccoveychron) stared into the abyss and came back changed. His description of Jose Bautista’s bat flip heard ‘round the world is white-hot fire: “Jose Bautista used his bat to pull the soul from the baseball and eat it. He watched the empty shell sail over the wall. And he discarded the bat, disgusted that it didn’t send the ball even farther.” It’s some of the best sportswriting you’ll ever see.

Disciples of Uecker || Personal List: Brewers End-of-Season Top 15 Prospects (Oct. 15, 2015)

In his debut at Disciples of Uecker, Kyle Lesniewski (@brewerfan28) – who is now required by law to write for every Brewers blog – unveils his Top 15 prospect list for the Brewers organization. This is the first write-up of Brewers top prospects that I’ve seen that includes Cody Ponce, though plenty of scouts and members of the baseball blogosphere have been raving about the Brewers’ 2015 second round draft pick. It will not be the last. Ponce runs it up to the high 90s,  has a head-turning stable of pitches, and at 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, he’s an imposing presence on the mound. The rest of the list is populated with the usual suspects from David Stearns new arsenal.

Baseball America || Instructional League Notes: Brewers’ Gatewood Tries Third (Oct 9, 2015)

Jacob Gatewood was added as part of the Brewers’ high-risk, high-reward draft class of 2014. He hasn’t quite lived up to expectations thus far, though there is still plenty of time for the young infielder, who just turned 20 last month. Primarily a shortstop, Josh Norris (@jnorris427) talks about Gatewood’s move to the hot corner at instructs in Arizona. While the typical shortstop prospect wouldn’t have the kind of power and hit tools necessary to stick at third base, Gatewood is far from a typical shortstop prospect. Drawing comparisons to Troy Tulowitzki at draft time (for his bat, not his glove), Gatewood burst onto the national stage with a 13 home run outburst during the junior home run derby at the 2013 All Star Game, and he posted a .203 ISO in 54 games at Rookie-level Helena this season. He strikes out too much (a 28.6 K% at Helena in 2015), but if he can get that figured out, he could rise quickly in a Brewers system that is entirely bereft of talent at third base – and is loaded at shortstop.

MLB || Brewers’ Phillips building off strong season heading into AFL (Oct. 13, 2015)

Spender Fordin (@SpencerFordin) chatted with Brett Phillips, whose long baseball journey this season has arrived at its final destination. Phillips, the headliner of the Carlos Gomez/Mike Fiers trade with Houston in July, started his year at Single-A Lancaster in the Astros organization, was bumped up to Double-A Corpus Chrsti, traded and assigned to Double-A Biloxi (a team that knows a thing or two about being displaced), and is now playing with the league’s top prospects in the Arizona Fall League. His last stop comes with a bit of familiarity, as he’s joined by six other Brewers prospects – five of whom played with him in the Southern League playoffs – and Biloxi’s manager Carlos Subero, who is managing the Surprise Saguaros.

Hardball Times || Jose Bautista’s bat flip is right up there with baseball’s other memorable celebrations (Oct. 15, 2015)

NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) joins the cacophony of sportswriters chiming in on Bautista’s savage bat flip from Wednesday evening, comparing it to a host of other big moments in baseball history that were memorable not only for the scope of the play in context, but also for the iconic celebrations that accompanied them.  The Brewers of recent history have come under fire for their celebrations from time to time, most notably the “untuckers” of the 2008 outfield, the Fielder blast that ended with a “bomb” at home plate (mentioned in Calcaterra’s article), Tony Plush, and the many antics of Carlos Gomez. Of course, all those players are gone now. At some point, it seems like a lot of people forgot that baseball is a game, and games are played for fun.

1) Houston Astros
2) Toronto Blue Jays
3) Texas Rangers
4) Kansas City Royals
5) Los Angeles Dodgers
6) New York Mets
7) Chicago Cubs
8) Other

Let’s get to this week’s stories:

Grantland || ALDS Preview: Breaking Down Rangers vs. Blue Jays and Astros vs. Royals

Brewers fans looking for a postseason rooting interest are likely to find it in the American League, where seven former Brewers are enjoying the postseason with their new teams. Besides being filled with former Brewers, the AL also features a variety of teams that aren’t the Cardinals. For Grantland, Ben Lindbergh breaks down the match ups in Junior Circuit.

FanGraphs || C.C. Sabathia and the Humanity of Athletes

Many words have been spilled on former Brewer CC Sabathia’s decision to enter a rehab facility for his alcohol problem this past week in advance of the Yankees’ first playoff appearance in three years, most of them rightly positive. It’s not easy for anyone to admit that there’s a problem, let alone a professional athlete living under the bright lights of New York City. As the product of a family that dealt with addiction, I have nothing but respect for Sabathia’s ability to put his own life, and his family, before his baseball career. But he hasn’t done anything heroic yet, and he has a long road ahead of him. I wish CC well as he walks the road to recovery.

Just A Bit Outside || Which Manager Had Most Success With Review System in 2015?

Owen Watson takes a look at the numbers behind managers challenges this year, a skill that Milwaukee’s managers ranked among the league’s worst in 2015 — though not as bad as Matt Williams, who was the worst by a large margin (as if any further justification was needed for his firing). At the top of the heap you’ll find a trio of playoff managers in Joe Maddon, Clint Hurdle and Ned Yost, though with just a few seasons of data with which to work, it’s impossible to say how big of an impact these managers’ challenges had on their teams’ playoff runs.

Brew Crew Ball || Brewers Get Fifth Pick in 2016 Draft

Derek Harvey takes a look at the silver lining for the Brewers after a disastrous 2015 season. Milwaukee will have the fifth pick in the draft next summer, giving the team to add even more to a drastically improved farm system that should jump from the bottom third to the top third in most system rankings this winter. Harvey points out that the last time the Brewers had a top ten pick was in 2007, when they selected Matt LaPorta, and though the former top prospect never made good on his potential, he was the key piece in the Sabathia trade that delivered the Brewers’ first postseason appearance in 26 years.

Reviewing the Brew || Milwaukee Brewers Make Wholesale Changes on Counsell’s Staff

Brewers’ new general manager David Stearns officially took over the front office this week as Milwaukee’s season came to a close, and while changes were expected, I don’t think anyone predicted the kind of turnover Milwaukee is in for as five of the team’s coaches were let go. Among the departed are Rick Kranitz, who had been the Brewers’ pitching coach since 2011, and Jerry Narron, who was the Brewers’ bench coach since 2010 and was responsible for the calligraphy on the Brewers’ iconic lineup cards. Surviving the fallout from Milwaukee’s most disappointing season in a decade were hitting coach Darnell Coles and Teflon-coated third base coach Ed Sedar, who has manned one base or the other from Milwaukee since 2007. While no annoucements regarding replacements have yet been made, it is widely assumed that Pat Murphy, whom the Brewers requested an interview with this summer prior to his being named interim manager of the Padres, is at the top of Craig Counsell’s list. If Brewers fans are looking for things to be afraid of this winter, erstwhile Nationals manager Williams’ name has also been bandied about as a potential add for the Crew; Williams and Counsell were teammates in Arizona.

Baseball America || Southern League Top 20 Prospects Chat   

I’ll leave you this week with the transcript of a chat Matt Eddy of Baseball America conducted on Wednesday regarding their most recent Top 20 prospect list for the Southern League, of which the Brewers’ prospect-rich Double-A Biloxi Shuckers were the runners-up. Several Brewers’ prospects are discussed throughout, notably Jorge Lopez, Michael Reed and Adrian Houser.

Brew Crew Ball || On “selfie girls” and alienating your fans

I want to thank Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) for writing this piece and putting on Brew Crew Ball, allowing me to talk about this with a Brewers connection. This is an absolute must-read, if there’s ever been one in this space before. It’s time to make a change. I’m going to go in on this issue below, but please don’t take that as an excuse to skip Haase’s brilliant piece. I’m a straight, white, American male; I don’t know a damn thing about being ostracized at a sporting event. I am not the opinion that matters.

On Wednesday, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ TV crew of Bob Brenly and Steve Berthiaume completely embarrassed themselves by spending a full two minutes shaming a group of young ladies for having the audacity to take pictures of themselves during a lull in the action of a thrilling 1-0 game between the third- and last-place teams in the NL West. If you can get through it without rage-quitting I encourage you to watch the entire video of the incident, which is embedded in Haase’s piece, so you can get the full scope of how preposterously sexist these two act.

What is gained by this juvenile, gate-keeping mentality from the Arizona booth? By now, these women have assuredly seen themselves as the story has circulated around social media. We now know that this was a sorority from Arizona State – when it comes time to plan their next group event, I bet “go to a baseball game to be mocked by a regional sports broadcaster and then by the entire internet for being regular people in 2015” is not going to be super high on the priority list. Everyone takes selfies now. One of the last games I attended this year was the September 15th game between Milwaukee and St. Louis. I bet you can guess how that ended, and I would have had to at the end of the evening, because I spent the innings after Ariel Pena was pulled from his first MLB start exploring the wonders of the new Snapchat update with my girlfriend. We left in the eighth inning because it was Tuesday and the Brewers aren’t very good and literally who cares.

Never mind that this whole thing was happening during the between-innings break and the run-up to the first batter of the inning. Never mind that the segment literally begins with a promotion asking fans to take pictures of themselves and send them in. Never mind that while Brenly and Berthiaume are breathlessly lambasting these women for not paying attention to the game, they are also not paying attention to the game, even though doing so is literally their entire job description. Never mind that 15+ (the camera never pans out to show exactly how large the group is, presumably in fear of showing the rows of empty seats not occupied by Real Baseball Fans) women decided of their own free will to show up to a baseball game on a Wednesday in late September to watch two teams who had both long been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. No, never mind all of that. This is baseball, and if you’re going to ignore any part of a baseball game, you had better do in the Real Baseball Fan way — by getting up six times to buy a Miller Lite and fighting a guy because he’s wearing different colored laundry.

And if you want to keep your faith in Brewers fans, stop before you get to the comments section.

Grantland || The Great American Pitching Experiment: Why the Reds Won’t Stop Starting Rookies (Sept. 30, 2015)

Let’s get back to talking about the on-field product. During a September 18-20 series, Milwaukee and Cincinnati did something that hadn’t been done in over 100 years: in their three-game series, every starting pitcher for both teams was a rookie. Results went as one might expect. Two of the weakest offenses in the National League combined for 36 runs on 71 hits. It was part of a larger experiment for the Reds, who haven’t used a non-rookie pitcher since July 28th, while Milwaukee’s reliance on rookie pitching has been due more to extremely poor performance (Matt Garza, Kyle Lohse) and injury (Jimmy Nelson, Wily Peralta).

Of course, the Brewers haven’t been quite so extreme in their use of rookies on the mound. They’ve now used a rookie in 13-straight games as of Thursday night and will almost certainly finish the season with rookies as well, bringing their streak to 17 when it’s all said and done. Extending beyond that, Milwaukee’s starting rotation has been startlingly young for much of the second half of the year, particularly in September – the last Brewers’ starter who’s seen his 27th birthday is Garza, who last pitched during game one of a September 5th double header. Things haven’t gone well at all for the Reds during their rookie-heavy stretch, going 19-40 over that stretch as of Jonah Keri’s writing on Sept. 30, including an active 12-game losing streak that has allowed the Brewers to clinch fourth place (yay) in the NL Central.

FanGraphs || Projecting Milwaukee’s Slew of Late-September Call-Ups (Sept. 25, 2015) (Chris Mitchell)

Chris Mitchell (@_chris_mitchell) spent some time projecting out the first several years of the six prospects who were called up from the Southern League runners-up Biloxi Shuckers last Tuesday. He’s got some encouraging things to say about outfielder Michael Reed and right hander Jorge Lopez, each of whom had breakout seasons in 2015. If we want to get real optimistic with it, we can cherry-pick Bernie Williams and Jordan Zimmerman as comps for Reed and Lopez, respectively, according to Mitchell’s system. Mitchell doesn’t have too much positive to say about the rest of the Biloxi invasion, none of which are highly regarded prospects — Adrian Houser (#27) is the only other of the group on the MLB.com Top 30 prospect list for Milwaukee. He almost completely writes off Yhonathan Barrios, who has impressed during his short audition over the past week — though he fails to mention that Barrios, a converted infielder, has only been pitching for two years.