Staying the Course in Beloit

All photos of Snappers Home Opener 2016 available on Flickr.

The minor league season opened up shop for 2016 a couple of weeks ago, and as I normally do, I made it to one of the home openers.  This year I decided on Beloit after a one year absence, mostly because I enjoy torturing myself, but also because they were playing the Timber Rattlers.  As usual, it was another frigid home opener at Pohlman Field.  The temperature was below 40° for most of the game and on top of that it was overcast and windy.  I powered through about 7 innings, but by then I had lost all feeling in my toes, and the shrieking hum of the broken speakers was on the verge of driving me into hysteria, so I had to leave.  The Snappers ended up winning 2-1 on a pretty typical April night in the Midwest League - lots of walks and strikeouts with a scattering of ground balls through the infield, and basically everybody trying to get back to the warmth of the dugout as quickly as possible.

I'm always optimistic going to my first game of the year at Pohlman that the ballpark has been improved in some way in the offseason.  Outside of the new tally scoreboard a few years ago, it's pretty much the same place it has been the last 10+ years I've been going there, and probably the same as it's been since it opened in 1982.  At this point I guess all I am looking for is for basic things to be repaired and upkept, and a real jumbotron would be nice given what my attention span has been reduced to these days.  I'm not holding my breath on a new stadium or major renovation anymore at this point, but at the same time I know that Pohlman needs to be upgraded to a certain MiLB standard of operation if they expect to keep their team.  There are many ballpark enthusiasts who would say that the park in Beloit is one of the last of its kind - a simple, quiet, no-frills stadium where the game is the focus.  I do certainly take that for granted on nights when I can get a cheap walkup ticket and not have to deal with screaming children or stupid between-innings games or $8 beers.  And speaking of $8 beers, one promotion the Snappers tried on Opening Night that has already failed are the giant beers in 35th Anniversary souvenir plastic cups that you can pay to have refilled.  I am all for giant beers and souvenir cups, but you cannot properly pour beer into an opaque cup.  I ordered one and didn't realize until I got back to my seat that it was nearly half foam.  It's my love of the game and any little excuse to ridicule the Snappers on social media that keeps me coming back to Beloit almost every year.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 04.21:
Brewers 7-8, -4.0 (3 v. Phillies, 3 @ Cubs)
Reds 8-7, -3.0 (4 v. Cubs, 3 @ Mets)
Twins 4-11, -6.0 (3 @ Nationals, 3 v. Indians)

2016 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 5 (+0 worked)
Peter - 6

Brewers Home Opener 2016

All photos of Brewers Home Opener 2016 available on Flickr.

The Brewers got their asses handed to them for the 2nd straight opening day this past week, this time by a score of 12-3 to the San Francisco Giants.  In all fairness, this is an even year, so there's no shame in saying we lost to the team that will probably win the World Series.  The Brewers front office is not hiding the fact that this a rebuilding a year so I'm sure there will be many more games like this (Exhibit A: Monday's game), but I am by and large still excited to see all of these young kids play and hopefully improve over the course of the season.

While Opening Day is always special, this year was one of the more forgettable ones.  The day started with me waking up still in Canada from the Montreal trip, as I eluded to in my last post.  I had a flight through Toronto that eventually got cancelled after several planes broke and some bad weather.  I was put on a noon flight on Monday and didn't make it to the ballpark until the 2nd inning.  As if that weren't bad enough, by the time I got there it was snowing.  It was probably the coldest opening day I can remember that I've been to - I don't even think it touched the freezing mark.  My parents had already been inside for a long time to escape the elements and were warming up at the comforts of the club level bar, so I guess the silver lining is at least I didn't miss much tailgating.  Once inside, I was made suddenly very aware of how sober I was.  It's always awkward to be that one sober guy at a bar full of drunk people and that was the case here today.  Because I had not had a drop of alcohol I was more keen to all of the inebriated Brewers fans around me.  The stadium was humming with slurred words and yelling, crowds were stumbling and swaying like zombies, and I even saw two girls having a legit fist fight.  And this fight was in line for a Long Island at Friday's of all places, which is like the happiest place in town.  Megan even got called to help fix a homerun derby game her company had set up because a drunk fat guy threw the bat into the TV screen.  When I finally got up to the club level, the lines were packed at the bar because of the cold - you can only heat up a retractable roof stadium so much.  Between getting there late and spending most of my time in line for drinks, I probably only watched 2 innings of the actual game.  It was definitely one to forget in more ways than one, but I try to keep in perspective that that any day at the ballpark is better than a day at work.

One of the early takeaways so far this year is that the bullpen is really going to have a rough time.  Jeremy Jeffress looks good in the closer role, and Chris Capuano back with the team is a really great story.  But the Brewers lost five(!) relievers in the last week of camp and have been scrambling to sign guys off of the scrap heap just to fill the roster.  Coupled with Matt "The Count" Garza already injured, and this depth we keep hearing about in the minors is going to get tested early.  On the other side, the hitting has so far looked better than I expected.  We haven't had any breakout lopsided offensive games yet, but the heart of our order has been consistently getting on base.  Chris Carter is a beast and looks like he could easily hit 35-40 homeruns if he stays healthy.  Braun is looking alright, and so far Scooter looks like he is on a mission to rebound from last season, and to get out of the record books as the worst statistical lefty batter vs. lefty pitching in Major League history (seriously, that's a thing, look it up).  Our new additions have all played solid defense so far as well.  The biggest question is not if, but when, some of our other young talent is going to get called up.  We're about one week off from that magical date when rookies can gain an extra year of service time, and it will be interesting to see if the Crew starts the clock of guys like Arcia or Hader or Phillips sooner rather than later.

Another home opener in the books and my final as a single man.  I get married on Saturday and cannot wait to continue my baseball adventures with my wife Megan at my side.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 04.13:
Brewers 3-4, -3.0 (3 @ Pirates, 2 @ Twins, 2 v. Twins)
Reds 5-2, -1.0 (3 @ Cardinals, 3 v. Rockies)
Twins 0-7, -5.0 (3 v. Angels, 2 v. Brewers, 2 @ Brewers)

2016 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 3 (+0 worked)
Peter - 5

Tour 2016: Olympic Stadium

 

  
All photos of Montreal and Olympic Stadium available on Flickr. 

Our first international ball trip since 2009 took us to Montréal, Quebec this past weekend, where Erik and I watched the Toronto Blue Jays battle the Boston Red Sox in an exhibition series at Olympic Stadium (or Stade Olympique as it is known in French).  Both the games and the city were c'est magnifique!  As you can already tell, I fell in love with the French language while we were there and I have already accidentally said merci to several people since I've been back in the states.  Although French and English are both official languages in Canada, most predominantly speak English.  These are your stereotypical "yah der hey" and "a-boot" Canadians.  In Quebec however, French is the main language and it seemed that most people know how to speak both.  This was the first city in all of my travels that I really actually felt like I was in a foreign country.  We were usually greeted in French by the locals until it was clear we were from out of town, which didn't take long.  I was able to pick up some words while we were there - important words like au jeu (play ball or literally "to the game") and bouteille de bière (bottle of beer).  But it certainly helped that Erik took 4 years of French in high school and was able to get us around town as needed.  That French knowledge came in handy immediately as we were able to locate the closest watering hole to our hotel on Thursday night, a place called MVP Bar-Sportif.  After Erik and I both landed close to midnight we needed a few drinks before bed and enjoyed some Labatts Bleue Dry up until bar close at 3AM.

Friday was the first of the two games we had tickets to, but first pitch wasn't until 7pm so we had some time to kill.  We started out with a customary E + P stop at a local burger joint for lunch.  Uniburger is kind of like the In-N-Out Burger of Montréal - just a good greasy burger chain with like 3 things on the menu.  It really built up a good base for what would be the beginning of a 12-hour bender.  But before we hit the bars, we did our one super touristy thing of the trip and hiked up to the top of Mount Royal on the outskirts of downtown.  It's more of a large hill than a mountain but it was still exhausting.  It took us awhile to find the path up to the top and ended up wandering through the McGill University campus and the stadium where the Canadian Football Alouettes play.  Our reward for breaking a sweat on vacation was a stunning view from Chalet du Mont-Royal at the top.  We could see most of the city from up here, except for of course the stadium which was one of the reasons we wanted to walk to the top.  There also wasn't a bar at the top, so we quickly descended and grabbed a couple beers at a great little brewpub near our hotel.  In all we probably walked close to 10 miles before we got back to the hotel and hopped on the metro to the ballpark.  We could not have picked a better location to stay in - we were about a block from the main metro station, 3 blocks from the main bus terminal, and right in the center of downtown near Old Montréal.

Arriving at Olympic Stadium by rail is kind of like arriving at Nationals Park in DC.  You have no sense of direction because you're in a subway tunnel, and you're crammed on a car with a bunch of people in team gear drinking out of plastic bags that would otherwise have no business going to this part of town.  After the mass exodus off of the train, we arrived at a sort of lobby space with a bunch of banners celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Parc Olympique complex.  Outside in the lower plaza we choked down some terrible Canadian gas station beer and got our photos with a sorry excuse for a Youppi replacement mascot before heading inside. 

Olympic Stadium was built for the 1976 Summer Games and definitely has that 1970s feel similar to Kauffman Stadium - very futuristic organic white forms, brutalist concrete massing, and very little openness.  The only real views to the outside are from a band of windows around the second floor.  Being that it was originally designed as the main Olympic stadium, which are usually very cutting-edge for their time, the various oddities and expression of structure were about what I expected and what set the place apart from just a normal rundown, outdated ballpark.  The place definitely needs a lot of TLC but the wide array of unique features distracted me just enough to not really notice its dumpiness.  For instance, the folding chairs are unlike anything I had ever seen.  They're very narrow and have only one swooping armrest, and they unfold very loudly - fans actually use this to their advantage and there were many times that 50,000 people would clang them in unison to get a rally going.  I didn't really care that they were half-broken and not painted in 40 years because they were just so cool.  The same goes for lots of things, such as the brick bathroom "pods," or the chipping concrete on the arched beams, or the Kevlar retractable roof that doesn't work anymore.  Erik and I were both very curious as to what the vending and team store situations would be, but there was a pretty decent selection of basic ballpark foods and several varieties of poutine, which is pretty much Canada's national food - fries with gravy and cheese curds.  And of course, you can't go to a sporting event in Canada without the cups of beers that come with lids on them.  It was actually quite surprising what they were able to put together in a stadium that only hosts a handful of events per year, and has not had a regular tenant since 2004.  There were also several areas where you could purchase Blue Jays and retro Expos gear.  Erik and I both were impressed with the stadium in general, given the low expectations that have been bestowed upon it by the league.  The fact that it is a multi-purpose venue does present operational challenges, but it's definitely viable as a suitable temporary baseball facility.  I would even go so far as to say it's really not that much worse than where the Blue Jays play now, who were the home team for the 3rd straight year at this preseason exhibition.

Our seats for Friday night's game were excellent, on the 3rd base side of the lower bowl, about halfway up.  We got to our seats plenty early to witness the bilingual pregame ceremony honoring many former Expos greats, including Tim Raines, Pedro Martinez, and everybody's favorite bad-ball hitter, Vladimir Guerrero.  The game pitted Canada's national team, the Blue Jays, versus their AL East rival, the Red Sox.  The lineups were pretty close to the Opening Day lineups, minus the notable absence of Edwin Encarnacion for the Jays.  Erik and I were both hoping to see the beefy slugger Pablo Sandoval get the start for the Red Sox, but apparently he is not even good enough to run out there in a meaningless game.  The scoring got started early with a leadoff homerun by Kevin Pillar in the bottom of the 1st and a Michael Saunders homer in the 2nd, and the Sox responded with an RBI groundout by Xander Bogaerts in the 3rd.  The game went to extra racks and the Red Sox got the game winning hit in the 10th on a 2-run double by some guy who's probably not making the team.  Nearly every one of the 50,000+ fans stayed until the bitter end and it was loud until the very last pitch.  Montréal baseball fans definitely proved that they were passionate about the game and deserve another shot at baseball, and it was no different at Game 2 on Saturday.  For this game, favorite Québécois son Russell Martin was part of a pregame ceremony that honored the 40th anniversary of the Olympic Games with a ritual torch procession around the bases.  Former Expos manager Jim Fanning was also honored.  He passed away recently and was the only manager to take the Expos to the playoffs, in the strike-shortened 1981 season.  This game was also a loss for the Jays, this time 7-4.  The big hit was a homerun by backup catcher Ryan Hanigan to start the scoring for the Sox as part of a 5-run 5th.  Toronto made it a little bit of a game with a small rally in the 7th, but Koji Uehara and Kyle Martin shut the door in the 8th and 9th for Boston.  For some reason new closer Craig Kimbrel did not pitch in the series, which is a shame because I would love to have seen how high his fastball registers in km/hr.

Before Game 2, we were able see more of the outside of the stadium and the rest of the grounds.  Up on an upper platform level, we were able to walk around most of the stadium, although it is just giant expanse of empty concrete and not really that interesting of a space.  To the north of the main stadium are also some venues that were used as part of the '76 Olympics, including the arena, the velodrome, the swimming arena, and the practice track.  Today, the velodrome has been converted into a BioDome, and the Montéal Impact soccer team built a stadium over the site of the former track.  The swimming pool is actually underneath one of the most unique features of the stadium: a slanted observatory tower.  It is still in use today and is still the world's tallest inclined inhabitable structure.  It was like $22 to get up there and we had already had our fare share of climbing up tall things the day before, so we decided to pass, but it was very cool to see this part of the stadium up close.  It's kind of sad walking around the stadium and seeing all the peeling paint and general poor condition of the grounds, even despite the billions of dollars invested into repairs and renovations, but that I suppose is more of a commentary on Olympic Villages in general than Montréal.

After the game on Saturday, we took the metro back to the hotel, and then walked for quite a bit around town looking for a decent restaurant.  We then found a couple of interesting bars before going to bed in the wee hours of the morning.  It's only when I go to other cities that I realize how good we have it here in Milwaukee with a bar on every corner.  Besides the tragedy of having to walk a whole 5 blocks to find an open pub, Montréal was a fantastic city that is full of life and culture, and just one more reason why I love Canada.  However, I do NOT love Air Canada, as I was stranded in Toronto on the way home for nearly 24 hours and almost missed Opening Day in Milwaukee.  Lesson learned: it's still always better to buy American.

park rankings and statistics:
aesthetics - 7 (would be higher if it was in better shape)
views from park – 0 (dome)
view to field - 8
surrounding area – 4 (Parc Olympique but really nothing else)
food variety - 4   
nachos - n/a (poutine is Canadian nachos)
beer - 2 (expensive, low variety)
vendor price - 7 (pretty fair except for beer)
ticket price - 7 ($99 lower, $22 upper)
atmosphere - 10
walk to park – 6
parking price/proximity - n/a (subway)
concourses - 6 (liked the intermediate concourse in the seating bowl)
team shop - 4

best food – poutine
most unique stadium feature – world's tallest inclined structure
best jumbotron feature – commercials for monster truck rally
best between-inning feature – OK Blue Jays in 7th

field dimensions – 325/404/325
starters – Steven Wright (BOS) v. J.A. Happ (TOR); Sean O'Sullivan v. Scott Copeland
opponent – Boston Red Sox v. Toronto Blue Jays
time of game – 3:11; 3:05
attendance – 52682, 53420
score – 4-2 BOS, 7-4 BOS
Brewers score that day – 4-2 L, 7-4 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 04.06:
Brewers 0-2, -2.0 (3 v. Astros, 3 @ Cardinals)
Reds 1-0, -0.5 (3 v. Pirates, 3 @ Cubs)
Twins 0-1, -1.5 (3 @ Royals, 3 v. White Sox)

2016 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 2 (+0 worked)
Peter - 3

New Spring Training Uniforms

Today we baseball fans get to shout our favorite 4-word phrase for all to hear: PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT!!!  It not only literally represents the start of the MLB calendar, but is a symbolic day to remind us that the doldrums of winter will soon be behind us.  One of the things I look forward to most every spring training is seeing the new uniforms players are donning at camp.  Seemingly every year now, teams will unveil some type of new cap, logo, and/or jersey in spring ball so that fans will have more crap to buy when they travel down to Arizona and Florida.  That new apparel will usually become the team's batting practice gear during the regular season.

The 2016 crop of uniforms retain a lot of the strong secondary logos that were featured in the last few years - such as Cincinnati's Mr. Redlegs or New York's Mr. Met - and expounds on those even further, including the Rays' sunburst and the White Sox and Brewers retro 1980s logos.  My personal favorite is the new Dodgers' alternate logo that is a clear ripoff of the Chunichi Dragons logo from Mr. Baseball.  Beyond the usual cosmetic changes, this year's jerseys are unique in that they incorporate changes to help player performance as well.  They use a fabric called Flex Base that is 10-20% lighter with mesh panels along the sides to provide for greater movement and comfort during those long days in the hot sun.  The first thought that immediately popped into my head was when George Costanza implemented cotton uniforms for the Yankees on Seinfeld, and we all know how that ended.  But these have supposedly been in testing for 2 years so I will trust that analysis over George's ill-thought idea.  The other noticeable change to the uniforms this year is the increase of branding.  As MLB does with Opening Day, the All-Star Game, and the postseason, so too are they giving the Grapefruit League and Cactus Leagus more of their own identity and marketing.  Each team will have either an 'AZ' or an 'FL' road sign patch sewn on the side of their cap to identify them with their particular league, and the playing fields and game-used baseballs will be emblazoned with the logos as well.  I think that increasing the promotion of spring training as its own event is a great idea for MLB and will help capture another 6 weeks of the calendar from which to draw a larger fanbase.

I will most definitely be purchasing one of the new Brewers spring training caps and I cannot wait to wear it to Miller Park in only 45 short days.

Tour 2016

In any normal offseason, the amount of time between the last pitch thrown in October to the pitchers & catchers reporting date in February feels like an eternity.  During the harsh Wisconsin winters, it seems like we can go weeks or even months without seeing a sunny day or even a patch of grass.  However, in this particular offseason, Erik and I have both kept occupied with planning for our upcoming weddings in April and June respectively.  It's been a welcome distraction from the piles of ice and snow covering Miller Park, and has certainly made the time fly by much faster than usual.  That's why I can hardly believe that the season starts in only 70 days - and even less for our Tour 2016 season.  For this year's trip, Erik and I are flying to Montreal, Quebec to watch a couple exhibition games at Olympic Stadium. 

This will be the 3rd year in a row that the Blue Jays end their exhibition season at the former Expos' home and this series has been at the top of our Tour must-see list since its inception.  With the Blue Jays coming within 2 wins of the World Series last year and talk of a new team in Montreal gaining more traction than ever, we couldn't have chosen a better time to take this trip - the energy at the Big O will definitely be palpable.  We have tickets to both games, one on Friday evening and the other Saturday afternoon.  It doesn't leave us a whole lot of time to explore the rest of the city, but Montreal is definitely a check off of the travel bucket list and I'm excited to see what we can.  I'll be brushing up on my French and the lyrics to our Canadian version of "Kokomo" in the coming weeks.

Because my wedding is a mere 2 weeks after this trip, honestly it hasn't been in the front of my mind as a normal ball trip would be.  But after finalizing flights and hotel accommodations in the last few weeks I am really starting to get excited.  Erik & I haven't planned a trip together just the 2 of us in 4 seasons, so it means a lot to me that we get to spend this weekend together as one last bachelor hurrah before we take another giant leap into adulthood.  Who knows where our lives will go from here and if/when we will be starting families, but we are always going to have this trip to remember the fantastic year of 2016.

Postseason 2015

All photos of the Brewers final game of 2015 available on Flickr. 

Another disappointing Brewers season has come and gone, and it's time once again to start watching competitive baseball.  The Brewers have been so bad since so early in the season that I've had little appetite to watch any games on television this year, so I'm excited for everything to get rolling.  As with most years, there are several surprises and feel good stories.  The Toronto Blue Jays have now passed the "longest postseason drought" torch to the Seattle Mariners by pulling away from the Yankees to win the AL East for the first time since 1993.  Almost everybody in the industry still thought the Astros were still deep in the midst of a rebuild, but surprisingly held on to win the 2nd wild card spot in the AL.  They led the West for much of the season and have a really strong rotation that can take them far in the playoffs if some of their power hitters can get hot.  The Mets won the NL East this year, and what baseball fan outside of the Bronx doesn't want to see the a team widely considered a laughing stock of the league do well?  I mean come on, how can you not root for Big Fat Bartolo Colon and Captain America?  The Texas Rangers seemed to be selling rather than buying at the deadline but somehow managed to overtake the Astros late in the season to win the AL West.  Just about everything that needed to fall into place did for them - Prince Fielder had a monster comeback year, Josh Hamilton has played like the player he used to be, Yovani Gallardo emerged as a staff ace, Adrian Beltre was the hottest player in the league the last 6 weeks of the season, and some key young players really stepped up their game.  Lastly, the Cubs made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and will travel to Pittsburgh for the NL Wild Card, who is hosting the game for the 3rd consecutive season.  Even with the emergence of a much douch-y-er St. Louis Cardinals in recent years as my most hated team, I still hate the Cubs, but even I have to admit that they are a very fun team to watch, and it will be hard not to cheer for Joe Maddon.

I once again foolishly picked the Nationals to win the World Series, and this year they made me look even more foolish by not only not making the playoffs, but playing so poor down the stretch that their manager has already been fired.  I might have to let my mind take over my heart next year when making my picks.

PLAYOFFS START 10/6/15
NL Wild Card - #4 Pirates v. #5 Cubs
NLDS - #1 Cardinals v. WC winner
#2 Dodgers v. #3 Mets

AL Wild Card - #4 Yankees v. #5 Astros
ALDS - #1 Royals v. WC winner
#2 Blue Jays v. #3 Rangers

World Series Prediction: Blue Jays defeat Cubs in 6
Rooting for: Blue Jays v. Mets

Preseason Predictions
#1 Nationals
#2 Cardinals
#3 Dodgers
#4 Marlins
#5 Padres
Nats defeat Cards in NLCS

#1 Blue Jays
#2 Tigers
#3 Angels
#4 Royals
#5 Athletics
Royals defeat Tigers in ALCS

World Series - Nats defeat Royals in 5

FINAL STANDINGS 2015:
Brewers 68-94 , -32.0, 4th NL Central
Reds 64-98, -36.0, last NL Central
Twins 83-79, -12.0, 2nd AL Central

FINAL 2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 17 (+26 worked)
Peter - 42

End-of-Season Grabbag

Just some miscellaneous notes and tidbits as we wind down the 2015 season:

- I saw an interesting story in USA Today during the summer about this new "axe-handled bat" that is slowly becoming the new vogue in Major League Baseball.  The article mostly focused on how Dustin Pedroia has been some combination of hurt and/or God awful the last two years, and he owes his reemergence in 2015 due in large part to this new bat.  It is designed with ergonomics in mind to help hitters increase swing efficiency and bat speed, and at least partially eliminates the troublesome knob of a traditional bat that causes discomfort and a lot of hamate bone injuries.  This story went largely unreported in the media, but to me it is significant because of how slow MLB has been historically to adopt any change at even this small of a scale.  It's another small initiative that is slowly but surely being rolled out to increase player safety.  It may take years if not decades to see increased netting in foul territory, or the goofy padded caps to protect pitchers, but in a game largely based on "feel" or "instinct" this new bat could soon become the norm.

- Congratulations to the Biloxi Shuckers, who lost in Game 5 of the Southern League Championship Series to the Chattanooga Lookouts.  Much has been reported about their new stadium issues an overwhelming majority of the season on the road, and for them to even sniff the playoffs let alone come one game shy of winning the title is pretty remarkable.  It really speaks to the level of the coaching staff down there and just how good this next crop of talent is coming up for the Brewers.  A good portion of these players were also on the 2012 championship roster at the low-A level in Appleton and have been playing together the last 3+ years.  Some of those 2012 players have already been on the major league roster for awhile, such as David Goforth and Jason Rogers, and a bunch of them got called up in the last week to get a little taste of the big leagues as a reward for their great season.  The Brewers have had nearly a dozen players make their big league debuts this year, and whichever players don't make the roster next year will certainly be making  a run at the AAA title in Colorado Springs.

- Congratulations to the Toronto Blue Jays for ending the longest playoff drought in baseball (22 years) by clinching a spot this past weekend.  With their high-powered offense they are an easy team to root for, but moreso I am just hoping that Erik and I are celebrating a championship with the team in Montreal in April!

My picks for postseason awards:
AL Cy Young - Dallas Kuechel
NL CY - Zack Greinke
AL Rookie of the Year - Carlos Correa
NL ROY - Kris Bryant
AL MVP - Josh Donaldson
NL MVP - Bryce Harper
AL Manager of the Year - Paul Molitor
NL MOY - Joe Maddon

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 09.28:
Brewers 66-90 , -32.0, eliminated (3 @ Padres, 3 v. Cubs)
Reds 63-92, -34.5, eliminated (1 @ Nationals, 3 v. Cubs, 3 @ Pirates)
Twins 80-75, -11.0, -1.5 WC (4 @ Indians, 3 v. Royals)

2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 16 (+25 worked)
Peter - 41

Brewers Hire Guy Younger than Me as New GM

The Brewers were officially mathematically eliminated from playoff contention last week, but continue to make headlines off the field.  The big story to come out late last night was that the team had finally found a new general manager: David Stearns, who is currently the assistant GM of the Houston Astros.  I should specify that this was the big Brewers story last night, as it has largely been overlooked in the local media thus far thanks to the Packers' handling of the Sea Pigeons.  At age 30, Stearns becomes the youngest active GM in all of baseball - and judging by the few photos I've seen of him, he is probably going to be the richest guy in town who still gets carded at bars.  He's even younger than arguably the team's most recognizable star, Ryan Braun.  In a week where the team narrowly escaped a winless homestand and saw two players sent to the hospital, it was a welcome bit of good news.

Given his age and relative obscurity in the game so far, there isn't much more that I can add to the story that what is already out there.  He's a 2007 Harvard graduate that follows the mold of the many younger, analytical-driven front office folk that the game has seen in the last decade.  He has seen time with the Mets and Indians organization, the Arizona Fall League, and even the MLB front office before holding his most recent position with the Astros the past 3 years.  It's no coincidence that the Astros have experienced an organizational rebirth during his tenure there.  From what I can tell he is very smart, a good leader, and seems to have a lot of experience on the scouting side of the game.  I'm very excited to see what this guy brings to the table, and I am glad the Brewers went with a younger "sabermetric" GM to lead the Brewers through their rebuild and into competitive baseball again, hopefully now sooner rather than later.  You can say what you want about owner Mark Attanasio, but one thing he is first and foremost is a savvy businessman.  I have no doubt in my mind that this GM search was exhaustive and that he hand-picked that absolute best possible candidate to right the ship in Milwaukee.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 09.21:
Brewers 63-86 , -30.0, eliminated (3 @ Cubs, 4 @ Cardinals)
Reds 63-85, -29.5, eliminated (3 @ Cardinals, 4 v. Mets)
Twins 73-73, -11.0, -2.5 WC (3 v. Indians, 3 @ Tigers)

2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 16 (+23 worked)
Peter - 41

Baseball Returns to Montreal for 3rd Straight Season

(photo courtesy of Ballparks.com)

It was announced last week that the Blue Jays will be playing another exhibition series at Olympic Stadium in Montreal to start the 2016 season.  It is the 3rd straight year the Jays will be concluding their Spring Training schedule in Quebec, and this time their opponent will be the Boston Red Sox on April 1st & 2nd.  There was some speculation, due to the overwhelming popularity and sold out crowds in 2014-15, that this would be moved to a regular season series in 2016.  Even as an exhibition series, these are far from meaningless games for a city that has experienced a groundswell movement to bring a team back permanently.  Any opportunity to showcase baseball on an international stage is good for Montreal's prospects.

I've written several articles on this blog about how I think Montreal deserves another chance at an MLB team, and with each passing year that becomes more inevitable.  But I write today because there's a good chance I'll finally get to go there!  Erik and I are both getting married in the spring (not to each other), so we've naturally been kicking around different ideas for a bachelor ball trip.  But when this was announced it immediately moved up to the #1 option.  With my wedding being on April 16th and thus pretty early in the season, the timing could not be more perfect.  I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself, but the thought of visiting French Canada and Le Stade Olympique has us both very excited; it is an area and a stadium I have long had on my bucket list.  Erik and I both have a inexplicable fascination and admiration of Canada - we even made up our own song about Canada on the Tour that is a parody of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys - but wherever we decide to go, it will be our first ball trip just the two of us in nearly 4 years, and it will be a blast.

UPDATE: Tickets purchased!!!  Can't wait!

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 09.13:
Brewers 62-80 , -26.0, -20.5 WC (3 v. Cardinals, 3 v. Reds)
Reds 60-81, -27.5, eliminated (3 @ Giants, 3 @ Brewers)
Twins 73-68, -11.0, -1.0 WC (3 v. Tigers, 4 v. Angels)

2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 16 (+21 worked)
Peter - 40

Return to Dodger Stadium

All photos of Dana Point and Dodger Stadium available on Flickr.

Megan and I were in the greater Los Angeles area for a wedding this past weekend, and of course we found time to fit a game in.  Come on, did you think I was going to fly all the way across the country in the middle of summer and not watch ball?  Even though I have been to LA before, I didn't fully understand until this weekend just how spread out the city is.  When we were on the Tour I just attributed the long drive times to the LA traffic, but on top of that, from one end of the metro area to the other is over 100 miles.  That pretty much ruled out any California League game this weekend, since we were in Laguna Beach, which is almost as close to San Diego as it is to downtown LA.  After seeing that the Angels weren't home, we decided on a Dodger game, which was relatively close to where my friend Stu lives in Pasadena.  He and his wife Silvia were down for the wedding as well and we coerced them into going along and driving us up to the park, with a quick stop for some more beach time in neighboring Dana Point on the way.  Thankfully the game was moved to a Sunday night game, which afforded us some relief from the heat, and allowed us to make it up there on time.  When I say "on time" I mean before the 3rd inning when regular Dodger fans show up.  Thanks to their lax efforts even for a nationally televised game, we were still there early enough to obtain the sweet Beats-ripoff headphones giveaway.

We entered the park from the outfield, which was a completely difference experience compared to the last time I visited.  Dodger Stadium is unique in that it is set into a hill, with the outfield entrance being the lowest point of the site, and the area behind homeplate being the highest point, about at the height of the upper deck.  This means that when Erik and I were there on the Tour and entered from the top of the hill, the façade was very short and unimpressive as a result of the drastic grade change.  At Dodger Stadium, the grand entry is at the bottom or "back" of the park, down closer to field level, because there is the height to make a more significant gesture.  It was a much nicer view entering at the top of the park and looking out into the ravine, but here at the bottom I really felt like I was entering a stadium and not an office building.  Walking in from the back also allowed me to circumnavigate the stadium for the first time.  At this ballpark, just like at US Cellular Field or Marlins Park, you are only allowed on the level in which you have a ticket.  The people in the nicer seats can walk up to where the peasants are sitting, but not vice versa.  So on the Tour, being that we scraped by on the cheapest seats at every park, we only got to experience the upper deck.  Now that I have a real job, I could afford the luxury of the main level and got to see the main concourse for the first time.  "Luxury" in this case means $15 cans of Modelo and more than one concession stand.  If you can't pick up the sarcasm, there was nothing too exciting on the main level.  I can't say I expected much, as the stadium is over 50 years old.  It's pretty cramped width-wise and height-wise just as at the old Yankee Stadium, and a lot of the vendors and team shops are set up in carts in the aisleway or have been tacked on, which lessens the width even more.  However, unlike at old Yankee Stadium, you can see the field from most places on the concourse, and I've got to believe this was one of the first stadiums to do that.  I also liked the narrow seating sections that make it so you don't have to to jump over 14 people to go to the bathroom, and I've always liked the expansive "open suites" down by the field.  There have clearly been a lot of nip-and-tuck fixes to the stadium to make it feel more modern, but some things just can't be fixed, such as the shady and tight stairwells tucked in back corners to get to the upper levels.  It took awhile for us to find a stair up to the loge level, but we eventually made it to our seats, with Dodger Dogs and giant cold beers in hand.

I was initially pretty grumpy when we got to our seats - it was hot and the sun was shining directly on us, my friend Stu just spent $60 on a round of piss beer, and we missed what would be the only runs of the game (a 2-run shot by ROY candidate Kris Bryant).  Even as the crowd settled in and Dodgers kept putting up zeroes, I didn't really fathom that anything special was going on.  It wasn't until about the 7th inning when I realized hey, this Cubs pitcher is dominating.  By the 8th inning I was glued to my seat even though my beer was empty and I had to pee.  The crowd - what was left of the crowd after most Dodgers fans left - was on its feet in the 9th to watch the Cubs' Jake Arrieta strike out the side to finish the game.  I couldn't even believe it - I had just seen my first live no-hitter!!!  It was a complete out-of-body experience.  I couldn't even process at the time what had just happened as I walked out of the stadium.  But looking back now at the relative rarity of this feat, I feel very fortunate that I was there to witness it, even though it meant rooting for the Cubs for a few innings.  I still grin ear to ear as I think of it even now as I type this.  So many close calls in my life, and 40+ ballgames a year, and I was finally able to see a no-hitter.  The four of us left the stadium in amazement at what we just saw, and glad we had chosen to take this little excursion after John's wedding.  As a side note, my buddy Stu (who knows practically nothing about baseball) has only been to 2 ballgames this year - this game, and the Cole Hamels no-hitter in Chicago.  I hate him.

Just like all the stadiums I have revisited since the Tour, my opinion of Dodger Stadium has improved, if for no other reason than I got to see more of it.  It's still not one of my top parks or even middle of the pack, but now I at least feel like I've experienced the real and complete Dodger Stadium.  Much like Wrigley Field, no matter how rundown or outdated it might be, there is something to be said for just being in the crowd at a timeless ballpark.  Sharing the evening with good friends witnessing a historic event is something that I will never forget.

park rankings and statistics
(see also original post from 8/14/07): 

aesthetics - 4
views from park – 9
view to field - 7
surrounding area – 3
food variety - 4   
nachos - 5
beer - decreases to 2 ($14.50 for 24 oz can of beer!)
vendor price - 3
ticket price - decreases to 5 ($50 loge level)
atmosphere - increases to 7 (Dodger fans still suck, but it was a no-hitter!)
walk to park – increases to 3 (much nicer from back of stadium)
parking price/proximity - 1 (expensive)
concourses - 4
team shop - decreases to 7 (team stores on main level not impressive)

best food – Dodger Dog
most unique stadium feature – stadium set into hill
best jumbotron feature – incredibly difficult crazy cap shuffle
best between-inning feature – fan vs. Clayton Kershaw naming as many holidays as possible in 15 seconds

field dimensions – 330/395/330
starters – Jake Arrieta (CHC) v. Alex Wood (LAD)
opponent – Chicago Cubs
time of game – 2:42
attendance – 46679
score – 2-0 L (Arrieta no-hitter)
Brewers score that day – 4-1 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 09.03:
Brewers 58-75, -28.0, -17.5 WC (3 @ Reds, 3 @ Marlins, 4 @ Pirates)
Reds 55-77, -30.5, -20.0 WC (3 v. Brewers, 3 v. Pirates, 4 v. Cardinals)
Twins 69-64, -12.5, -1.5 WC (3 @ Astros, 3 @ Royals, 3 @ White Sox)

2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 16 (+21 worked)
Peter - 40

Doug Melvin to Transition out of Brewers GM Role

(image courtesy of JSOnline.com)

It was announced a couple of weeks ago that Doug "The Stache" Melvin, the Brewers general manager of over 12 years, was relieved of his duties effective when a suitable replacement is found, and will be transitioning to an "advisory role."  This may sound like a polite way of saying he was fired, but on the contrary it was a mutual decision being talked about with the ownership for quite some time.  It was pretty clear with the signing of Craig Counsell as manager in May that the writing was on the wall for Melvin, who was in the last year of his contract.  Since that hiring, the Brewers have sold off a lot of their veteran players, and now with Melvin stepping down, an complete multi-year rebuild has been all but cemented, whether owner Mark Attanasio wants to admit that or not.  I would expect that nearly every other job in the front office will be vulnerable when the season ends, and I would not be surprised if DM's Canadian cohort Gord Ash - the assistant GM - is canned as well (who by the way is somehow older than Doug Melvin). 

It's a pretty popular line of thinking with the casual Milwaukee Brewer fan to blame Melvin for every single bad trade or signing, but it is easy to overlook all of the good he has done for the franchise as well.  The CC Sabathia trade in July 2008 and the Zack Greinke trade in December 2010 by themselves should be enough reasons for every single fan to personally write Doug a letter to thank him.  Without those trades we don't make the postseason either year, and the Brewers would certainly not be drawing 2.5 million fans in a year they are probably going to lose 95 games.  Yes, Mark Attanasio and the crop of young players that came up in the 2000s deserve a lot of credit as well, but Melvin was the guy pulling all of the strings.  Melvin also orchestrated the trades that brought Carlos Lee, Richie Sexson, Lyle Overbay, Carlos Gomez, Shaun Marcum, and Francisco Rodriguez here.  He understood our market and was not afraid to spend money and sacrifice future prospects to win at all costs, and when it comes down to it, that is what every fan wants at heart.  Ten years ago Milwaukee was never even close to any free agent's radar, and now it is honestly surprising if an offseason goes by in which we don't sign a big name.  Not to be forgotten, and certainly the most impressive thing to me, was Melvin's ability to find pitchers off the scrap heap - sometimes literally bagging groceries - who would go on to productive seasons.  One of the things that Doug said that has always stuck with me the most was that just about any professional pitcher can save 25 games, but it is the next 10-15 saves that make a closer cost big money.  Doug had a knack for finding guys for just the right window of time, and then knowing exactly when they were used up to release them, and it's because of that strategy that I have never believed in giving closers hefty contracts.  Solomon Torres, Derrick Turnbow, John Axford, Jim Henderson, Trevor Hoffman - the list could go on forever.  Bottomline is the 'Stache brought winning baseball back to Milwaukee, and he will certainly be missed.

Doug Melvin did not make his decisions alone, however, and was often aided by one of the best scouting departments in the league, which brings me to my final point - who will replace Doug?  A lot of signs point to Brewers Scouting Director Ray Montgomery as a likely candidate.  He is young and already well respected in the league, and the Brewers are known to like to promote from within.  Whoever it is, I think the team is likely to go the route of a young sabermetric-type guy as so many teams are moving towards these days.  It's kind of like global warming - at a certain point sabermetrics has shifted from theory to fact, and it makes a team seem dumb and stubborn not to be on board with it.  I still think Craig Counsell would be well-suited for the job and is in my opinion still a candidate despite his 3-year contract as manager and a vote of confidence from Mark Attanasio, but there are certainly plenty of exciting assistant GMs in the game now that would also be worthy candidates.

To say the 2015 has been rough would be an understatement, but as I've been saying, all of the moves this year have been necessary and have me very excited for this team's future.  I can't wait to see the changes in store for the offseason and am already eagerly awaiting the release of the 2016 schedule.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 08.24:
Brewers 53-72, -26.0, -19.5 WC (2 @ Indians, 3 v. Reds, 3 v. Pirates)
Reds 51-71, -26.5, -20.0 WC (1 v. Tigers, 3 v. Dodgers, 3 @ Brewers, 3 @ Cubs)
Twins 63-61, -12.5, -1.5 WC (3 @ Rays, 3 v. Astros, 3 v. White Sox)

2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 16 (+17 worked)
Peter - 39

Mallards Fall Short, Kingfish Win Northwoods League Title

All photos from Madison v. Green Bay NWL Wild Card Game available on Flickr.

Another year, another home team championship for me!  Congratulations to the Kenosha Kingfish for winning it all last week Thursday, defeating the St. Cloud Rox to win the NWL Summer Collegiate World Series 2 games to 0.  The Kingfish have continued a nice little streak I have going - the last 3 champions of the Northwoods League have all been teams I owned a ticket package for.  The Mallards won their 2nd league title in 2013 when I was living in Madison, the Lakeshore Chinooks won last year, and this year the Kingfish in only their 2nd season of existence.  As he was all season, Eric Filia was one of the key members who led the team to the promised land.  He finished the year 5th in the league in batting at .340, to go along with 48 runs and 55 RBI primarily hitting out of the 3-spot in the order.  For a 72-game schedule and probably his first time ever using a wood bat, that's pretty damn spectacular.

Megan and I thoroughly enjoyed our 7 treks down to K-hole and getting to know the city a little bit better, and I'm sure we will be renewing again in the future, but we chose to attend a Mallards playoff game in lieu of the Kingfish this past Monday.  We've been a fan of the Mallards longer than any other team, so no matter where we end up they will always be our "Northwoods League home team."  We for sure had to get out there at least once this season and this was our last opportunity to do so.  I have grown accustomed and come to expect something new at Warner Park every time I go, and this year was no different.  One of the last open picnic areas was closed off in left field with brick and elevated onto a platform for better viewing, and the second and most obvious addition to the Duck Pond was the double-decker pizza bus.  It's pretty much just that - you walk into the "ground floor" of the bus to order pie that is cooked right in the bus, and you can eat it on the "top floor."  This is a mobile bus that has been going around to the different parks owned by Big Top Baseball.  We didn't get to go inside, but since the Kingfish are also a part of Big Top, we will have to make a point of it next year.  Yet another example of how this ownership group is constantly trying to innovate and improve the fan experience.

It didn't quite feel like a Mallards game on this night as the stadium was probably only a quarter full, a far departure from the team that has been obliterating summer collegiate attendance records for the past decade.  Madison won 3-2 to advance to the South Division finals, and would lose to the eventual champion Kingfish the following night.  The Mallards got a stellar pitching performance from Andrew Beckwith, who gave up only 1 unearned run in 6 1/3 quick and efficient innings.  A leadoff homerun in the 1st by Anthony Gonsolin would be all the support he would need, but they tacked on 2 more in the 4th just for good measure.  The Bullfrogs made a game of it with a run in the 8th to cut the deficit to 1, but North Carolina junior A.J. Bogucki took the ball for the final 2 2/3 innings and shut the door.  Bogucki has been a proficient starter all year for the Mallards, but Donnie Scott was pulling out all the stops and wanted his best guy out there to finish the game, which was I'm sure what the league was hoping for with the new single-game elimination divisional format.

Another Northwoods League season is in the books, which means pretty soon I'll be replacing the window fan in our bedroom with plastic wrap to keep the cold out.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 08.18:
Brewers 51-69, -26.0, -18.0 WC (3 v. Marlins, 3 @ Nationals)
Reds 51-65, -24.0, -16.0 WC (2 v. Royals, 4 v. Diamondbacks)
Twins 59-59, -12.5, -2.5 WC (3 @ Yankees, 4 @ Orioles)

2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 16 (+17 worked)
Peter - 38

MLB Expansion?

In his first year in office, Commissioner Rob Manfred has already caused quite a stir with proposed and implemented changes to baseball.  Perhaps the most obvious for anyone who has been to a game this year are the "pace of play" initiatives - the between innings pitch speed clock and batters being required to keep one foot in the batters box at all times to name a couple.  These tweaks have shaved an average of 8 minutes off of games this year in a rather non-invasive way.  There have been talks of reducing the schedule back to 154 games, various discussions of how to inject more offense into the game, rebuilding relations with Cuba, even recently Manfred being open to moving back the trade deadline due to larger number of teams vying for playoff spots now.  The most intriguing to me is something that has not even been on baseball's radar for 20 years: expansion.

When you hear the word "expansion" as a ballpark enthusiast, first you immediately get excited about a future ball trip.  It's at least two more cities and ballparks I get to go to!  And adding a team in baseball means not only just that one major league team, but also at least 5 other minor league affiliates.  So expanding MLB to 32 means at least 12 more teams in reality.  After that, you start speculating where those teams could be, no matter how infeasible.  Yes, Erik and I would love to go watch a series in Havana, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.  Charlotte has been in talks for many years as the next viable market, but they just spent a lot of money on a new AAA stadium.  Portland also has been a city mentioned in the same breath as expansion, due in large part to its proximity to Seattle and having almost no market competition.  But it was only a few years ago that the Beavers left town, and I find it hard to believe if a city can't even support (and finance a new stadium for) AAA baseball, that a major league team would be likely. The most exciting and probable in my mind is baseball returning to Montreal.  Montreal is the largest remaining North American market without a pro ball team at any level, and it is a very wealthy city that is relatively close to other large east coast markets, not to mention natural competition with Toronto.  The obvious hurdle in Montreal is the stadium issue.  One of many, many reasons the Expos moved was because of the albatross known as Olympic Stadium, and its repair and funding bills that have moved well into 10 figures.  The stadium was never proper for baseball and only got worse as the years went on, but on the heels of a couple of very successful Blue Jays exhibition series the last couple of years, and possibly even a regular season series in 2016, it is clear the people of French Canada are very excited for the return of baseball, and more importantly that it is a more stable financial situation than it was 10 years ago, which is what MLB really cares about.  Granted, it is a large assumption that Montreal would build another stadium, but I see that as the only thing stopping the city from getting another team, whether that be by expansion or the Rays or Athletics moving (who knows what the future holds for those teams).  Build it, and they will come.

Other cities I think are very good candidates for expansion are San Antonio, Mexico City, Oklahoma City, or if the stadium situation was right, Las Vegas.  Vegas would almost assuredly have to be away from downtown and a covered stadium for it to work, and it is always a gamble (pun intended) to put any sort of sports team in a city where tourism is the major industry.  MLB would love to grab a city outside of the US to expand is reach, and Mexico City is the most likely non-Canadian candidate for that.  San Antonio is one of the top 10 largest cities in the country and could definitely support a team, and they also have the Alamodome to serve as a decent temporary structure until a suitable facility is built.  Much like Le Stade Olympique, the Alamodome has hosted some preseason exhibition series and has drawn very well despite its shortcomings as a baseball venue.  The geographical locations of OKC and San Antonio give them both a huge advantage in this game.  Having a bunch of teams close enough to be rivals but not so close as to infringe on territorial rights is definitely something MLB wants, particularly in a baseball hotbed like Texas.  As with any city, it is going to come down to market size, stadium, and most importantly money/wealthy ownership group.  There are not a lot of cities that have that combination, so it will be interesting to see how this shakes out.  I will say with relative certainty though that I expect MLB to be expanded to 32 teams within 15 years, and I would be very surprised if both the Rays and the A's stay in their respective cities.  Major League Baseball will most certainly capitalize on its popularity and financial prowess sooner rather than later, before the NFL completely swallows the entire world.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 08.10:
Brewers 48-65, -24.0, -15.5 WC (3 @ Cubs, 3 v. Phillies)
Reds 49-60, -21.0, -12.5 WC (3 @ Padres, 4 @ Dodgers)
Twins 55-56, -11.5, -4.5 WC (3 v. Rangers, 3 v. Indians)

2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 16 (+15 worked)
Peter - 34

Brewers Officially in Rebuild Mode

(photo courtesy of CBSsports.com)

You have to give credit to the Milwaukee Brewers front office - they rode the wave as long as they could.  After sucking for most of the 90s and into the and early 2000s, the Crew put together a pretty impressive stretch of 10 years or so when they ranged from competitive to downright fantastic.  They went "all-in" and mortgaged their entire farm system - not once, but twice - leading to their first postseason appearance in 26 years in 2008, and coming within 2 wins of the World Series in 2011.  All of the team's on-field terribleness and off-field advanced scouting for many years allowed the front office to have to tools to go out and get star-caliber players, and have a legitimate pre-season chance at the playoffs nearly every year since 2005.  We're talking about impact players that would otherwise have no interest in coming to Milwaukee, players that before Attanasio we could not even sniff an attempt at affording, and throwing boatloads of money into not only large contracts, but millions in stadium upgrades.  The Brewers went from just something to watch in the summer to pass the time between Packers seasons, to drawing 3,000,000 fans a year in the smallest market in baseball, and in general creating a buzz and pride around town that had not been seen since the year I was born.  The Brewers literally did everything they could to squeeze every last drop out of every dollar they spent, but sooner or later, the bough had to break.  This occurred this past week, when the team traded 20% of their active roster, and pretty much waved the white flag that they were entering what would likely be a multi-year rebuilding period.

The first domino to fall was Aramis Ramirez, who was traded to the Pirates for pitcher Yhonathan (yes that is the correct spelling) Barrios.  This trade was about dumping salary and clearing a roster spot more than anything; the player we got in return was secondary.  I see that Ramirez has already been benched after 7 games with his new team, and he is 37 years old and retiring at the end of the season, so the trade was a no-brainer.  I hope he can make one last playoff run with the team he started with so long ago, and I will always remember him not only for all the years he killed us with the Cubs, but as the best player I've ever seen at charging the slow roller on the infield.  The next trade was the big one - Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers to Houston for 4 of the Astros' top 20 prospects.  We got a 5-tool stud outfield stud in Brett Phillips, who was hitting .320 with 16 homers between A/AA at the time of the deal.  He already slots in as our #2 prospect in the system behind the rapidly rising Orlando Arcia, and will almost certainly be the biggest impact player of the deal.  Every single Astros blog you read about the trade says something to the affect of "I like this trade, but losing Phillips is going to hurt."  The Brewers haven't acquired or drafted a prospect that impactful probably since Ryan Braun, so fans have every reason to be excited.  Rounding out the pack are Domingo Santana, Josh Hader, and Adrian Houser, all with skill sets above many of those in our system, but with a ways to go in their development.  Santana is an outfielder described as a "Nelson Cruz type" to quote Doug Melvin.  Cruz was a guy who developed late in his career with a lot of raw power, and Santana looks to be following that same trajectory.  Both Hader and Houser have some plus pitches, but project to solid back-of-rotation starters or setup guys moreso than an "ace."  However, as uneasy as it makes me feel to write this, the Brewers now seem to have a surplus of young arms coming up and might not need an ace yet if Nelson and Peralta continue to develop, and we can hit on at least one of our first-round pitchers of the last 3 years in Devin Williams, Kodi Medeiros, and Nate Kirby, all of whom are in the top 10 of the system.

It was hard to believe following the Gomez deal and all the drama that went along with it, that the Brewers were going to do any more, but they did.  Hours before the deadline on Friday, our best hitter in Gerardo Parra was unloaded to the Orioles for pitcher Zach Davies, and bullpen goat Jonathan Broxton was traded to the Cardinals for a bag of balls.  Ok, so we actually got an A-level prospect for Broxton, but I am willing to bet somebody in the scouting department just was throwing at a dartboard for that one.  Like the Aramis trade, this deal was about dumping salary and clearing a roster spot, although at least for Aramis we got somebody with potential, unlike Malik Collymore from the Cards who I doubt will even be playing in a couple years (the nice thing about recording my thoughts on a blog is I can go back and look at this if he becomes a star and see what an idiot I was).  Parra, on the other hand, was somebody we actually turned a profit on.  We traded a AA-bat for him in Mitch Haniger last year, a promising player but probably still blocked at the major league level for several years (incidentally he was demoted to A-ball this year in the D-backs organization), and we then flipped him a year later during the best season of his career for the O's #3 prospect and a guy who is near major league ready.  The organization feels he is probably going to slide right in and compete for Mike Fiers' spot next spring, and still has his full 6 years of control, both of which are what was attractive about him.

Overall I am very excited for the deals the team made and very excited for the future of this team, something I didn't think I would be saying at all this year.  I really didn't believe that the ownership had the stomach for a rebuild, especially considering the uncertainty of the GM position moving forward, but I am glad they did.  Next year is going to be another brutal year most likely, but looking ahead to 2017 the Brewers look like they have a chance to start another window of success like they did 10 years ago.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 08.03:
Brewers 44-62, -23.5, -14.0 WC (4 v. Padres, 3 v. Cardinals)
Reds 47-56, -19.0, -9.5 WC (3 v. Cardinals, 3 @ Diamondbacks)
Twins 54-50, -8.0, +1.0 WC (4 @ Blue Jays, 3 @ Indians)

2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 16 (+15 worked)
Peter - 31