Some things to read while buying your way out of it.
The Milwaukee Brewers were off on Wednesday and are off again today for the final day of the 2014 All Star break. They resume play on Friday in Washington, with Kyle Lohse scheduled to face Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals at 6:05 p.m.
In the meantime, this break gives us all a chance to look back at the first half and forward to the next few months. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com has five storylines from the season to this point and five things to watch down the stretch.
The Brewers enter play this week with the second-best record in the National League, but not everyone is buying into their ability to hold on in the second half. Mark Townsend of Big League Stew is sticking to his prediction that the Brewers will finish fourth in the NL Central, although he’s backed down from his claim that Carlos Gomez would have a down year.
Jonathan Judge of Disciples of Uecker, on the other hand, used projections to say the Brewers will “most likely generate enough production to win the division.” Paul White of USA Today listed the Brewers as a “bubble club,” one of nine teams across baseball that missed the playoffs last season but are over .500 at the break this year.
Today’s off day also gives us another chance to look back on the Brewers’ All Star Game performances from Tuesday. Jonathan Lucroy went 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles, and Noah Jarosh of Brew Crew Ball says his performance was among the best in Brewers history.
Jean Segura probably won’t be in the lineup on Friday, and it remains to be seen how much longer he’ll be out. As of Wednesday Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the Brewers had been unable to contact their young shortstop directly.
The 2014 non-waiver trade deadline is two weeks from today, and it remains unclear if the Brewers will make any major moves between now and then. Justin Millar of MLB Daily Dish left them off his list of teams that could be shopping for a starting pitcher, but his list of arms that could be available is still a useful resource. Elsewhere in trade possibilities, Milwaukee’s Own Brew Crew Fans has a list of four relievers that could help the Crew.
The Brewers could also look to upgrade at first base, where Mark Reynolds has hit 14 home runs but has a .205/.303/.390 (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging) batting line overall. Steven Jewell of Reviewing the Brew has a look at Reynolds’ season to this point.
Odds are you won’t see many intentional walks in the Nationals series, as the Brewers have issued just 11 of them in their first 96 games. Chris Teeter of Beyond the Box Score attempted to capture the wisdom (or lack thereof) in the free pass with his “Intentional Walk Rage Scale,” and has Ron Roenicke near the middle of the pack. The worst offender in all of baseball this season is Ned Yost.
On Friday we will, however, see one of baseball’s hottest teams. The Nationals have overcome a slow start to climb into first place in the National League East, and James Wagner of the Washington Post says they’re a second-half favorite.
Jim Henderson probably won’t be back with the Brewers on Friday, but he might rejoin the team soon. He pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts for AA Huntsville Wednesday night (h/t @AndrewGruman) and is expected to pitch again tonight to test his ability to throw on back-to-back days (h/t @Mass_Haas). If that goes well, he doesn’t have much more to prove on his rehab assignment.
In the minors:
- Mike Fiers and Donovan Hand combined to pitch two scoreless innings but it was not enough as the International League beat the Pacific Coast League 7-3 in the AAA All Star Game Wednesday night. Fiers and Hand were Nashville’s only representatives to appear in the game.
- The remaining affiliates went 2-2 on Wednesday and one of the wins came from Huntsville, where first baseman Nick Ramirez had three hits in the Stars’ 6-4 win over Tennessee. You can read about all of the day’s action in the Brewerfan.net Link Report.
- Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio has postgame audio, highlights and more from Wisconsin’s 6-3 win over Bowling Green.
- Congratulations are due out this morning to Dominican outfielders Joantgel Segovia and Yeraldy Martinez, who have been named to the Dominican Summer League All Star Game. The two players are a combined 35 years old.
- The Brewers have signed veteran catcher Hector Gimenez to a minor league deal and assigned him to AA Huntsville (h/t @BrewersPD). Gimenez is 32, has appeared in 37 MLB games (most recently with the 2013 White Sox) and was recently released by the Blue Jays.
Meanwhile, closer to home, 31,237 fans were in attendance Wednesday night as Miller Park hosted an exhibition soccer match between Swansea and Chivas (h/t @RadioJoeSports). One of those fans was Yovani Gallardo.
Also in Milwaukee, the Bucks announced a new group of minority owners on Wednesday and one of them is a familiar name: Brewers Vice President of Business Development Teddy Werner. Brewers owner Mark Attanasio had been rumored to be a possible investor but was not announced.
Around baseball:
Royals: Acquired reliever Jason Frasor from the Rangers for a minor league pitcher and designated infielder Jimmy Paredes for assignment.
White Sox: Claimed pitcher Raul Fernandez off waivers from the Rockies.
Today in former Brewers:
- Kevin Ruprecht of Royals Review has a post on Alcides Escobar’s rebound from a poor season in 2013 with Kansas City.
- Stephanie Liscio of It’s Pronounced “Lajaway” has a look at the development of All Star outfielder Michael Brantley and a look back at the CC Sabathia trade that brought him to Cleveland.
One of this week’s coolest projects comes to us via FanBrandz, who has a video of fans from all 30 teams chanting for their team at the All Star Game. Come for the video of a young family cheering for the Brewers, then stay for the sanctimonious Cardinals fan (h/t Baseball Musings).
In baseball economics: Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog reports the Mets’ attendance is expected to go up this season, after dropping each year from 2008-13.
Today’s most interesting statistical note comes from Michael Clair of Sports on Earth, who notes that baseball is on pace to shatter the record for position players pitching in a season. Fourteen non-pitchers have already taken the mound in 2014, including a pair of Brewers.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to think about something else.
Drink up.
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