Lets get started
Dallas Keuchel is in the house, but said he didn’t get Pat Murphy’s text. Skipper had the wrong number, it seems.
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) June 26, 2024
Here he is on the new opportunity: pic.twitter.com/3hUgwIvpE5
Matt Arnold letting the Brewers know he just traded for Dallas Keuchel pic.twitter.com/JWIIZrrbU3
— Trenten Scheidegger (@TrentScheids) June 25, 2024
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They also put Gasser on the 60 day DL and brought up pitcher Joel Kuhnel from Nashville. Sent Carlos Rodriguez back to Nashville.
The way the small market teams (especially the Brewers) handle pitching staffs has changed so much in the last 20 years. It's almost like they are playing a different sport than the large market teams. You sometimes get lucky and end up with pre-arbitration young guys on a staff that give you a real shot (Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta, Hader, and Williams on the same team), but that's the exception for small market teams.
The large market teams assemble staffs with 2-3 big money guys and build the staff around that. The Yankees have 82 million invested in Cole, Stroman, and Rodon. The Dodgers have Kershaw and Glasnow. The Mets tried Verlander and Scherzer last year. The Rangers have 73 million invested in their starting pitchers. The Braves have 51 million in their top 3 starters. It doesn't always work for every big market teams, but those teams are more likely to win the World Series. Having those ace pitchers is a huge difference in a playoff series.
The Brewers have had 13 different pitchers start games this year. The strategy is to cobble things together 1-2 innings at a time. They take reclamation projects like...
Keuchel (6-19 with an ERA of over 9.00 in the major leagues the last 4 years
or Kunhel (lifetime ERA of 6.30 in 77 major league games)
or Megill (ERA of over 6.09 in 67 major league game prior to Milwaukee)
They then reduce the expected roles for these guys and somehow find success.
The problem is that if you get to the playoffs. Just like the NBA playoffs, the better players then play more and if you don't have an ace pitcher to set the tone, it's tough cobbling things together. This is especially true in the playoffs when the coaching staffs and advanced scouts can prepare for a 5 or 7 game series and weaknesses are exploited more than in a random 3 game series in the middle of June.
Michigan, Great post on how small market vs. large markets work in MLB. The one huge advantage large market teams have is that they can afford to make mistakes with contracts. Small market teams have to get lucky as you said before they go to make the big money or get traded because the small market teams wont be able to afford them.
It will never ever happen in MLB but they really need some sort of salary cap (And salary floor) to even things out.
@The Heckler posted:Michigan, Great post on how small market vs. large markets work in MLB. The one huge advantage large market teams have is that they can afford to make mistakes with contracts. Small market teams have to get lucky as you said before they go to make the big money or get traded because the small market teams wont be able to afford them.
It will never ever happen in MLB but they really need some sort of salary cap (And salary floor) to even things out.
The whole small market equation discussion is going to play out in about at the deadline for the Brewers.
The Brewers are currently on pace to win about 95 games. I'd be surprised if they keep up that pace, but they are clearly a strong contender to make the playoffs. The one thing they are missing to really be a top tier contender is a #1 starting pitcher. They had one under one more year of team control in Burnes but traded him for DL Hall and Ortiz. Ortiz looks like he is going to be a very good player for a long time, but if you were just looking to try to win this year only you'd trade him back to Baltimore for Burnes in a heartbeat at the deadline. The Brewers have to look long term and that trade gives them a very good young player for another 5 years at a relatively low cost.
The trade deadline question will come down to Adames. If you really don't think you can win a World Series this year, then you shouldn't keep Adames either. I think you either trade both Adames and Burnes, or keep them for a run this year. My guess is they probably didn't think they'd be this good so far this year and figured they'd trade Adames at the deadline after moving Burnes in the off-season. Splitting this in half really doesn't make sense. Why give up one of the top 5 pitchers in the league to make sure you get something for him with a year of control left but not do the same for a very good veteran shortstop. And Burnes is a lot better pitcher than Adames is a shortstop.
They have a club option on Devin Williams next year, Hoskins has a mutual option for next year. If they are bomb, those are easy sells at the deadline. Adames as a deadline trade a forgone conclusion in my spring training mind.
But screw it, I was wrong and this team is the shit. Only one thing left to do
When is Williams going to be ready?
Supposedly ahead of schedule which was mid to late July.
Brewers picking up another arm. Let's see if our staff can get him to regain the form he had last year. Have to admit I don't know much about the prospect we had to give up in Gregory Barrios. But the Crew is stacked at IF and OF so I don't think it's that much to give up.
Not a trade, but I hope Keston has four home runs against the Cubs this weekend
