2026 has seen a lot of potential purveyors of 'new school' MLB thinking, guys like Blake Butera and Tony Vitello who have a younger, more advanced approach to building a winning team. And you hope that there can finally be a new breed of five-steps-ahead manager who can revolutionize how people think about running a team. I think about what Stephen Vogt's done in Cleveland, and how he's turned that team into a run production machine. Kevin Cash counts, all the analytics is driving the bus rather than contracts. Perhaps Darren McCaughan also fits.
But one of the main reasons I want there to be a new breed of managers is because there's still a handful of them who are living too far in the past. I thought getting rid of Tony LaRussa was gonna help this. Now I'm fearing there's still some of this 'pro-decorum' energy about.
The Giants, for reference, have this outfield thrust they do when they win games. And it's Harrison Bader, Jung Hoo Lee and Drew Gilbert mostly, they do this hug-thrust thing when they win. Tony Vitello seems to be fine with it. Let 'em have fun. Well, Abner Uribe of the Brewers does this triple-crotch thing when he strikes out the side the other day, and it's full on reliever dominance stuff. And then after the game, Pat Murphy's going 'well, that's not how we do things here'.
I can never tell where the line's gonna be with these guys. It's just a thrust, it's not like he assaulted someone, and even then he'd probably keep his job anyway. Pat Murphy's doing the whole 'this is the way things are done' schtick that I hated when LaRussa did it. And it's not like Murphy's comparable to LaRussa in that many other ways. Murph was taking pancakes out of his pocket last year. How is that 'the way things ought to be done'?? I'm pretty sure they're meant to go on a plate. I dunno what upscale restaurant Pat Murphy's going to, where the waiters put the pancakes directly in your pockets, but if that's The Way We Do Things Round Here than why not get silly and go 'your mum' when you strike a guy out, or whatever the hell Uribe's doing? Who's he hurting?
So now you're gonna have Abner Uribe out there, stock serious at gunpoint, afraid to have fun. This is what got Yermin Mercedes run out of the leave, cause some old codger with a superiority complex told him The Way Things Are Meant to Be Done, regardless of any, ahem, difference in background or heritage. Carlos Estevez does the 'I am about to pulverize you like the man from the anime' stance every time he notches a save- nobody starts a shit-fit. He's not literally going 'I am going to pulverize you', just like Abner Uribe isn't actually saying he's gonna perform any lewd acts on anybody. The Way Things Ought to Be Done is just a gatekeeping tool men of a certain generation use to prevent anyone from reaching their level of success. Pat Murphy's committed to a lot of new school tactics, but this could be costly.
And it takes the sting out of a really excited, and varied, Brewers team, succeeding as very few [including me] knew they would. Losing Freddy Peralta hurt, but Miz and Harrison have been incredible, and have instilled a rotation stability that many thought was still a few years away. And yes, Logan Henderson's hurt again, but look at Coleman Crow filling in for him. They're being VERY careful with his service time, but he's succeeding at the MLB level. The team is hitting, and William Contreras is hitting .308 with 33 RBIs, which is a very strong stat for a catcher. Turang, Bauers, Chourio, Yelich and Mitchell are all following behind. And when not being yelled at by a manager, Abner Uribe's working out in the ninth, with 5 saves already. The interesting bit about this team is how many former starting options, like Aaron Ashby, D.L. Hall, Carlos Rodriguez and Shane Drohan, are working better as relief pieces than they would have been otherwise. A variation on the Dodgers' 'whatever you do don't hand the ball to a reliever' strategy from last fall [which has subsided to reveal a pretty fantastic bullpen actually].
The Brewers are a great team hitting their stride. The last thing they need is random decorum BS to bring them down, much like the 2021 White Sox were brought down by theirs. Hopefully good prevails here.
Coming Tomorrow- In 2025, the reaction to his presence in the Mariners' lineup was '...you're absolutely right, Leo Rivas IS the better option'. Now, he's finally delivering what he was supposed to.
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