Craig said they think there's more power in Nico. They might be a little high off his spring... but maybe there is. If he could just turn on the meatballs more often he could be closer to a 120 guy.
The Brewers are better at PD at the MLB level and the MiLB level. They have a loaded farm system and could leave us in the dust while our solid-yet-unspectacular roster wanes. It could get pretty ugly, pessimistically speaking. The spectre of MIL continuing to lord over us while spending peanuts looms large IMO. They absolutely have to take the division back.
Unfortunately they are like Australia trying to keep up in the arms race. And that actually goes for the entire division. Like the Pirates are about to have a whole rotation of guys atop the average fb rankings. Luckily they are able to spend to fill out the pitching staff at a level far above the other teams. They cannot continue to lag so far behind in developing their own pitchers, however. They have to invest more in IFA and make a concerted effort to target 'live' arms. Its gotten a little better and the pitch labs have gotten decent results from some. But there is a shitload of flotsam still.
They dont put opt-outs in these early extensions, do they? Usually there's 2-3 team option years. Like Jackson Merrill got 10m signing bonus and the contract is structured like this:
2026: $1 Million
2027: $6 Million
2028: $8 Million
2029: $10 Million
2030-2034: $20 Million
PCA isn't going to start having 20 AAV for several years still.
Hell yeah. Hopefully he cuts the chase rate a little this year and avoids a major slump like he had at the end of last year. Even if he doesn't, his floor is insanely high. Well worth it.
Thinking any baseball season would go by with the high watermark at 87 wins is ridiculous. I get, within the context, that its exciting to see the Cubs among the best teams and winning the division, but it seems like a pretty useless exercise overall.