Game Thread (8/04/2022): Brewers (Woodruff) at Pirates (Thompson) - 11:35 AM CDT

[Samurai Bucky]

So, this is going to become the norm, I suppose.

Epic....

Fail...

[CdrbrgMark]

My God, swept by  Pitt!! Hey, maybe we can win a game at home against the Reds..maybe

[Jim French Stepstool]

6 minutes ago, torts said:

Counsell was ejected, for those who weren't watching

I suspect that's still CC's call.

[BruisedCrew]

The Brewers are now 

7 minutes ago, torts said:

Counsell was ejected, for those who weren't watching

Dont kid yourself, he’s still making the decisions. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

Swept by Pittsburgh in a truly ugly fashion. Yuck.

[Jim French Stepstool]

11 minutes ago, YelichPosse said:

Judging by the player's reactions... I feel they have the air let out of them by the Hader trade. Professionals or not, it just seems like a bunch of crap going on. We sure deserved to be swept too. Played about as bad in a 3 game series as I have seen.

Possible, but I don't know if they come off the deck like they did last nite if there's issues like that.  One thing I'd like to see/hear, is a defined plan from CC as to what everyones' role in the pen is. Today only seemed to muddy the answer to that up more.

[Pugger]

16 minutes ago, mtrebs said:

Best way to lose ever. 

Pitt got 2 runs today on passed balls/ wild pitch.

[yourout]

Not sure what it would have taken to have gotten Reynolds last year but it probably would have been worth it.

[BruisedCrew]

5 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Not an apologist, but you look at Reynolds'  double in the tenth, and compare it to the ball Renfroe hit.................

 

I look at those two plays and see Gamel making a play defensively and Renfroe letting a high fly ball drop fair.

in other words, the Pirates made plays and the Brewers didn’t. 
 

I’m guessing that the expected batting average on Reynolds double was very low. A ball hit that high, and pulled no less, has to be caught. 

[Pugger]

15 minutes ago, wOOgiE22 said:

Another great bullpen trade by Stearns. 

This is the first thing I thought of after this mess today.  We try to bolster the pen and that pen plays like crap.

[wntrtxn21]

So Strearns' "best" pickup, Bush, yesterday allows 3 hits and two runs in an inning in a Brewer loss. Today allows a double to the first guy he faces to tie it, then a wild pitch loses yet another game for Milwaukee. You just can't get any more pathetic than how the Brewers have been playing since the trade deadline. 

[Hopper]

5 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Possible, but I don't know if they come off the deck like they did last nite if there's issues like that.  One thing I'd like to see/hear, is a defined plan from CC as to what everyones' role in the pen is. Today only seemed to muddy the answer to that up more.

It seems like right now, Williams gets the 9th, NO MATTER WHAT!

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 minute ago, BruisedCrew said:

I look at those two plays and see Gamel making a play defensively and Renfroe letting a high fly ball drop fair.

in other words, the Pirates made plays and the Brewers didn’t. 
 

I’m guessing that the expected batting average on Reynolds double was very low. A ball hit that high, and pulled no less, has to be caught. 

Could be wrong, but I think Reynolds gets played in the gap a little on the pull side. Gamels' play yeah, when you go through a stretch like this he'd probably be able to stick his glove on his right foot & still catch it. Bad luck & bad baseball. Just have to fight through it.

[willie key]

This is a bad team

[brewers888]

I guess making the playoffs beats the alternative but really who is this team beating in a series much less winning multiple series.

[brewers888]

Stearns really killed the moral of this team with the Hader trade. We either should have held out for a lot more or waited till the offseason and if the offers didn't improve just kept the best reliever in the game through next season.

[Nola Beery]

17 minutes ago, YelichPosse said:

Judging by the player's reactions... I feel they have the air let out of them by the Hader trade. Professionals or not, it just seems like a bunch of crap going on. We sure deserved to be swept too. Played about as bad in a 3 game series as I have seen.

In my reductionist mind, this is exactly true, especially because there was sloppy baseball (so I've heard), which seems to be good evidence of mental dullness or lack of inspiration. I think there is a subjective element to the Hader trade that has badly affected the clubhouse. 

And I still don't know what is supposed to be the (objective) upside of trading Hader.      

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 minutes ago, willie key said:

This is a bad team

The last four days, they sure are. They were something different in the previous 8. And when they played Toronto & Tampa. Need to play better. And, if the Hader trade really is the cause of this consternation then there needs to be a meeting, attitude adjustment, whatever you want to call it. Because if it is, it's a self-inflicted prophecy because physically, Josh Haders' absence had nothing to do with two of these losses if not three.

[Nola Beery]

IMAGINARY:

CC to TEAM:  Josh has been traded.

TEAM:  &$#@!  BUT...  I'm  sure we got somebody in exchange who will get us to the Series, right?! 

CC; Stearns: [indiscernible]

[HarryDoyle]

This organization is such a joke. While the Cardinals addressed their weakness, not only did we not address ours, but at the same time, weaken a supposed strength.  I'm so glad we got that ten game outlier out of the way so we can piss the division away. And people wonder why we celebrate the 1982 team. Because it's the only Brewers World Series team that most of us will see in our lifetime, if not all of us.

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 minutes ago, Nola Beery said:

 

And I still don't know what is supposed to be the (objective) upside of trading Hader.      

On paper, you have the same depth in the pen (actually more after the other trade), with (again, on paper) a quality closer replacing a quality closer. The idea is the effect on the pen is negligible, and you add two prospects they really like. This wasn't designed to make them better right now (unless Ruiz comes up & contributes), but to add to the talent pool while not getting appreciably worse. 

Now if the team is bothered by the move, it either is a move we shouldn't have made, or the team collectively needs to grow up & accept the challenge. I'm sure there's people on both sides of that.

[BruisedCrew]

14 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Could be wrong, but I think Reynolds gets played in the gap a little on the pull side. Gamels' play yeah, when you go through a stretch like this he'd probably be able to stick his glove on his right foot & still catch it. Bad luck & bad baseball. Just have to fight through it.

That could be. When I watched it live it looked like Renfroe was moving over and then slowed down, and I thought it was going to be a foul ball. Then it dropped in fair not that far from him. Maybe with his various muscle injuries he isn’t covering a lot of ground, but I think a RF with better range might have gotten to it.  
 

I could go back and watch it again but I don’t have the stomach for that.

It’s interesting, though, that on Sunday I was driving through the UP of Michigan and could only get the game on satellite, and they had the Red Sox feed. I put it on just after Renfroe’s HR so they were talking about him and how the Sox miss his bat in the OF. One guy made a comment that he always thought Renfroe was overrated defensively. That has been my impression too. I don’t know what the defensive metrics say, but It seems like he doesn’t have great range. Again, he may be reluctant or unable to really stretch it out after pulled hamstring and calf muscles.

 

[mtrebs]

13 minutes ago, Nola Beery said:

And I still don't know what is supposed to be the (objective) upside of trading Hader.      

The only logical explanation that I can think of is that Stearns is trying to get let go so get can go be the Mets GM. So, the upside is that maybe Stearns will get fired.

 Yeah, like that would ever happen…

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

That could be. When I watched it live it looked like Renfroe was moving over and then slowed down, and I thought it was going to be a foul ball. Then it dropped in fair not that far from him. Maybe with his various muscle injuries he isn’t covering a lot of ground, but I think a RF with better range might have gotten to it.  
 

I could go back and watch it again but I don’t have the stomach for that.

It’s interesting, though, that on Sunday I was driving through the UP of Michigan and could only get the game on satellite, and they had the Red Sox feed. I put it on just after Renfroe’s HR so they were talking about him and how the Sox miss his bat in the OF. One guy made a comment that he always thought Renfroe was overrated defensively. That has been my impression too. I don’t know what the defensive metrics say, but It seems like he doesn’t have great range. Again, he may be reluctant or unable to really stretch it out after pulled hamstring and calf muscles.

 

Watching him this year, I think for the most part he's average defensively, with the exception of the arm of course. Metrics-wise I have no idea.

This is the time of year guys play through w/o being 100%, so that's a valid theory.

[brewers888]

11 minutes ago, mtrebs said:

The only logical explanation that I can think of is that Stearns is trying to get let go so get can go be the Mets GM. So, the upside is that maybe Stearns will get fired.

 Yeah, like that would ever happen…

I know I will get shouted down for saying this but I think Stearns has checked out and can't wait to get to New York. If this is the case Attanasio should let him leave after the season. No way do I trust this guy to get what we need when we are forced to trade Corbin and another give away trade like the Hader one will kill this franchise for years to come.

I guess we are pretty much locked in to Arnold to replace Stearns when the time comes but I would make the bold move and get Luhnow who must be allowed back by now. Its all pitiful to think about but this trade deadline might be the worst in team history though I'm sure someone will find some more awful deals to compare this one to,