Wellness Check

[RobDeer 45]

How we all doing?

 

I found myself really bummed out after the game ended.  Following a team for 162 games and then all the sudden the season is done in two games.  Those games could have gone either way, we didn't get the breaks.  We hit the ball hard several times with runners in scoring position and it seemed like worst case scenario kept happening.  I enjoyed this team a ton and wished this season would have gone a bit longer.

[wibadgers23]

I need a break. Looking forward to seeing what offseason moves they make.

[brooks_quichenick]

Fire up the dang hot stove and let's get to work.

I'm ready to be hurt again.

[homer]

Bucks in six

[pitchleague]

I’ll admit that I took it kinda hard last night and some tears were shed.  I’m beginning to realize that my chances of seeing a Brewers title or even another WS appearance are starting to run out.

It did not help that, on Tuesday, a good friend of mine from the Milwaukee area, said that “word around town is that Uecker is done after this year.”    Not sure about how much truth there is to this rumor, but it just hurt really hard just thinking about it, so every time Ueck was talking, it all came flooding in that this could be the last game I hear him.

Thankfully, his post game comments made it seem like he’d be back in the spring.  But that may have just been a smoke screen, too.   And the guy turns 90 (!) in January (?) so I’ve been preparing for it for a while anyway.

 

[jerichoholicninja]

I checked out after game 1. Last night I didn't flinch an inch when I got the alert that they blew another lead.

[nate82]

48 minutes ago, RobDeer 45 said:

How we all doing?

 

I found myself really bummed out after the game ended.  Following a team for 162 games and then all the sudden the season is done in two games.  Those games could have gone either way, we didn't get the breaks.  We hit the ball hard several times with runners in scoring position and it seemed like worst case scenario kept happening.  I enjoyed this team a ton and wished this season would have gone a bit longer.

It is baseball everything that can happen or not happen should be expected.  The team lost after the first game when their ace couldn't get past the 3rd inning without blowing up.  Then their third best pitcher the wheels fell off after the 5th inning.  The offense couldn't get going enough to overcome the disappoint in the starters.

In playoff baseball your starters have to show up if they don't then you are in trouble no matter how many runs your hitters put up. 

I get over things really fast also.  I was already over the game after about 5 minutes from when it ended. 

[recte44]

Coming up on five decades of disappointment for me. It's not funny anymore. It's not unlucky. If there is some being or force that controls events, there is certainly some storyline of punishing Brewers fans. 

What did we do to deserve this? I get myself so emotionally invested and it's the same old song and dance every single year. 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Is an alternate definition of insanity simply being a Milwaukee Brewers fan? I know for sure it feels like this to me:

[DHonks]

Nearly every loss in our last month followed the same script.  Take early 1, 2 or 3 run lead, don't score again, opponent rallies to win.  It was sad, but sort of expected

[TPlush]

Disappointed

 

But hey, it's almost Dame Time

[Brock Beauchamp]

Immensely disappointed because the Brewers team I watched over the final 60+ games didn't look or feel like the one I saw for two games in the postseason.

I think it's probably time to shake things up significantly this offseason. Focus on building out around the current young core, maybe to the detriment of 2024.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

It's funny. I spent about an hour postgame thinking we now had the longest active playoff losing streak in sports (at 5). Turns out, that's way wrong. The Pistons have lost 14 playoff games in a row. 

So, okay, I thought, longest in baseball? Nope, that's Rays at 7.

Longest in the NL? Nope! Not even the longest in the division. The Reds have lost 6 in a row, and the Marlins and Cardinals (!) have also each lost 5.

All of which is to say, we aren't exceptional at losing, even in our division! At least not lately. Plus, having actually won a playoff series in the last decade, we're in a better position than  a lot of franchises. 

This series sucked. Baseball is cruel. We weren't good enough, didn't get some important breaks, and now we just hope the experience pays dividends for our young guys. I maintain that this organization (even anticipating a lot more uncertainty next year) is in the best shape of my life. We're a chronic contender, and as someone who actually celebrated after that 2005 Brewers won their 81st game, I cannot believe how much better the last 15 years of difficult postseason losses have been. In all honesty, sign me up for 5 more playoff appearances over the next 6 years, even if you also guarantee me they won't win a WS.

[Harold Hutchison]

11 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Immensely disappointed because the Brewers team I watched over the final 60+ games didn't look or feel like the one I saw for two games in the postseason.

I think it's probably time to shake things up significantly this offseason. Focus on building out around the current young core, maybe to the detriment of 2024.

To me, the issue is offense.

The good news: I see an in-house improvement at third in the form of Tyler Black. He's got nothing left to prove in the minors.

First base gets improved by moving Yelich there. Frelick, Mitchell, and Taylor make for a good offensive/defensive OF. Second base will be improved with Monasterio moving there. Stand pat with Adames in 2024 at short - and hope Juan Baez has a Jackson Choruio-esque rise - his bat's been dynamic, and I'm ready to live with his ,871 fielding percentage at short if he can generate a .900+ OPS there.

Devin Williams may be the best trade asset the Crew has. Deal Williams, get three good AA/AAA prospects in a team's top 30, and that could be very good. Uribe/Megill/Payamps/Milner/Peguero is an excellent front end of the bullpen, and the Crew has Rea/Brice Wilson/Ethan Small/Clayton Andrews as the top back-end options.

As for Burnes... at this point, I lean towards keeping him and Adames, and going the QO route. I'm thinking Adames could be retained for $15 million a year - not cheap, but if he could be a bridge to Baez, that would not be the worst thing. Burnes... I worry the team will get an underwhelming return at this point, and I'd rather roll the dice.

The Crew will have to keep Woodruff and offer the QO. It could enable one more run. 

[dlk9s]

I'm fine.

[RobertCrawley]

Maybe we should re-think our priorities just a little bit.

The top 7 hitting teams:

1) Atlanta

2) LA

3) Texas

4) Rays

5) Astros

6) Phillies

7) Twins

Top 7 pitching teams

1) BrewCrew

2) Padres

3) Mariners

4) Jays

5) Rays

6) Twins

7) Orioles

[Joseph Zarr]

33 minutes ago, clancyphile said:

First base gets improved by moving Yelich there. Frelick, Mitchell, and Taylor make for a good offensive/defensive OF. Second base will be improved with Monasterio moving there. Stand pat with Adames in 2024 at short - and hope Juan Baez has a Jackson Choruio-esque rise - his bat's been dynamic, and I'm ready to live with his ,871 fielding percentage at short if he can generate a .900+ OPS there.

At the present time, I don't mean to steal your thunder here, Baez is pretty much strictly a 3B in the Brewers organization as he hits the lower levels. His defense actually improved there in the short Low-A stint. He has the arm. And, there's still a lot of growth that needs to happen there. The organization loves him - heck, he was taking meaningful innings over Luke Adams (the 3B stalwart for the majority of the Mudcats season) in the late season and post-season. I'm assuming, here, you're talking about INF Juan Baez? I personally think he's a lottery ticket - we don't really know what we have as he's really only completed a full season of ACL and we have nominal Low-A looks. If we're talking about fast-rising SS's - and strictly SS's - I would imagine you have to first lean on EBJ - hope he has an accomplished AFL season, stays healthy, starts off ripping in Double-A and is in Triple-A some time in the 2024 summer. Even that, for me, is a bit of wishful thinking.

[BlightyBrew]

39 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

It's funny. I spent about an hour postgame thinking we now had the longest active playoff losing streak in sports (at 5). Turns out, that's way wrong. The Pistons have lost 14 playoff games in a row. 

So, okay, I thought, longest in baseball? Nope, that's Rays at 7.

Longest in the NL? Nope! Not even the longest in the division. The Reds have lost 6 in a row, and the Marlins and Cardinals (!) have also each lost 5.

All of which is to say, we aren't exceptional at losing, even in our division! At least not lately. Plus, having actually won a playoff series in the last decade, we're in a better position than  a lot of franchises. 

This series sucked. Baseball is cruel. We weren't good enough, didn't get some important breaks, and now we just hope the experience pays dividends for our young guys. I maintain that this organization (even anticipating a lot more uncertainty next year) is in the best shape of my life. We're a chronic contender, and as someone who actually celebrated after that 2005 Brewers won their 81st game, I cannot believe how much better the last 15 years of difficult postseason losses have been. In all honesty, sign me up for 5 more playoff appearances over the next 6 years, even if you also guarantee me they won't win a WS.

I celebrated the 2005 Brewers.  I celebrated the 82 Brewers AL Champs. Also, the '81/2008/2011/2018/2020/2021 and 2023 squads.  Side note I also thing the 1979 and 1992 squads were pretty good.  All those teams have the same thing in common with the teams that were not competitive.  They all lost the last game of the season.

I would sign up for 5 100 loss seasons if you could guarantee me a WS winner in the next 6 years.

However, I understand not everyone shares my view.  I have a feeling that the fanbase is fracturing between the those that are happy with the participation trophy and those that want more. 

Neither side is right.  Neither side is wrong.  

 

[Harold Hutchison]

18 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

At the present time, I don't mean to steal your thunder here, Baez is pretty much strictly a 3B in the Brewers organization as he hits the lower levels. His defense actually improved there in the short Low-A stint. He has the arm. And, there's still a lot of growth that needs to happen there. The organization loves him - heck, he was taking meaningful innings over Luke Adams (the 3B stalwart for the majority of the Mudcats season) in the late season and post-season. I'm assuming, here, you're talking about INF Juan Baez? I personally think he's a lottery ticket - we don't really know what we have as he's really only completed a full season of ACL and we have nominal Low-A looks. If we're talking about fast-rising SS's - and strictly SS's - I would imagine you have to first lean on EBJ - hope he has an accomplished AFL season, stays healthy, starts off ripping in Double-A and is in Triple-A some time in the 2024 summer. Even that, for me, is a bit of wishful thinking.

Baez took his bat up a notch this year... and I'd like to see Adams get playing time at third - even with Boeve and Wilken there. That said... Brown's health is a huge question. Baez, on the other hand, is a very dynamic hit-for-contact bat who took it up a notch this year.

I'd keep him at short. You don't often get a .900ish OPS at that position. The good-field, barely-hit Brewers fell to a Diamondbacks team that had a dynamic offense. Tyler Black could hold down third for a while. If Black's bat is MLB ready (no reason why it isn't), then why not keep Baez at short?

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

19 minutes ago, BlightyBrew said:

I celebrated the 2005 Brewers.  I celebrated the 82 Brewers AL Champs. Also, the '81/2008/2011/2018/2020/2021 and 2023 squads.  Side note I also thing the 1979 and 1992 squads were pretty good.  All those teams have the same thing in common with the teams that were not competitive.  They all lost the last game of the season.

I would sign up for 5 100 loss seasons if you could guarantee me a WS winner in the next 6 years.

However, I understand not everyone shares my view.  I have a feeling that the fanbase is fracturing between the those that are happy with the participation trophy and those that want more. 

Neither side is right.  Neither side is wrong.  

 

Yeah, this is good.

It really comes down to the role you want baseball to serve in your life. I really like the rhythm and routine of the regular season. I like having that nightly game to look forward to and track and mark time by. I like the background and the moments of surprise, and I care more about preserving that than having October success. I just like when the regular season matters.

I also know that nothing delivers joy and pain like October, and lots of folks would be willing to let go of consistent, daily meaning for that big, World Series payoff.

Good to have both approaches. 

[Nola Beery]

1 hour ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

It's funny. I spent about an hour postgame thinking we now had the longest active playoff losing streak in sports (at 5). Turns out, that's way wrong. The Pistons have lost 14 playoff games in a row. 

So, okay, I thought, longest in baseball? Nope, that's Rays at 7.

Longest in the NL? Nope! Not even the longest in the division. The Reds have lost 6 in a row, and the Marlins and Cardinals (!) have also each lost 5.

All of which is to say, we aren't exceptional at losing, even in our division! At least not lately. Plus, having actually won a playoff series in the last decade, we're in a better position than  a lot of franchises. 

This series sucked. Baseball is cruel. We weren't good enough, didn't get some important breaks, and now we just hope the experience pays dividends for our young guys. I maintain that this organization (even anticipating a lot more uncertainty next year) is in the best shape of my life. We're a chronic contender, and as someone who actually celebrated after that 2005 Brewers won their 81st game, I cannot believe how much better the last 15 years of difficult postseason losses have been. In all honesty, sign me up for 5 more playoff appearances over the next 6 years, even if you also guarantee me they won't win a WS.

I posted this on another thread, but here anyway:

My reductionist (i.e. oversimplifying) mind says we just needed more guys who could hit, especially under pressure with RISP.  

But I'll leave it to the rest of you smarter folks to figure out the details and to provide the necessary guidance to Arnold and the rest of the front office.

Except for the ending, it was a fun season.  I learned a lot from many posters. But mostly, it was just great fun to share the experience with all of you.

Cheers! And better luck next year!

Kevin    

 

[BruisedCrew]

Compared to a few other sports disappointments in the last year, this one doesn’t bother me that much. 

A large part of it is that I never was able to convince myself that this team was likely to make a deep run. I was much more disappointed in 2021. The Woodruff news on Monday made that deep run even less likely, 

 

[CheezWizHed]

[Joseph Zarr]

23 minutes ago, clancyphile said:

Baez took his bat up a notch this year... and I'd like to see Adams get playing time at third - even with Boeve and Wilken there. That said... Brown's health is a huge question. Baez, on the other hand, is a very dynamic hit-for-contact bat who took it up a notch this year.

I'd keep him at short. You don't often get a .900ish OPS at that position. The good-field, barely-hit Brewers fell to a Diamondbacks team that had a dynamic offense. Tyler Black could hold down third for a while. If Black's bat is MLB ready (no reason why it isn't), then why not keep Baez at short?

EBJ's health is a very real question - they seem like freak injuries to me and nothing LT there, however. He just needs to stay healthy. Boeve they have strictly been playing at 2B whereas Moore has, to date, been the High-A SS fill-in with obvious doses of Eduardo Garcia (and Jose Acosta when he gets opportunities at 2B). The thinking on Baez at 3B (and not SS), as I understand it, is range. He just doesn't have anywhere near the twitch or horizontal quickness and range as any of the guys currently placed above him. I could list at least 6-8 guys the organization prefers there defensively at present. Don't forget, with Black, the organization began playing him about 50/50 at 1B in the late season. He improved at 3B but it certainly wasn't smooth or plus defense at the hot corner - the ongoing conundrum for the uber-talented young man. I've said for months now: it doesn't matter where you play him. Move him around. He can be a back-up at several positions where he isn't going to win you games with his glove but he likely won't kill your team in the end either. The offense is just so elite it is relatively meaningless by my eyes. To me, given his elite skillset, it's kind of like in football thinking of "Jimmies and Joes. Not X's and O's." If you have a guy that elite in the batters box and on the base paths, you find ways to keep him in the line-up. You run plays for him, in this way, by having him back-up several positions - 3B, 2B, 1B - while also keeping him as a utility knife DH. This way he is almost always playing even if he doesn't have a true position. 

And, of course lost in this current conversation is the very worthy caliber of play of several guys I haven't even been touching on that can fill in all throughout the left side of the infield to varying degrees of impact and, I would politely opine, are all light years closer to the Bigs: Patrick Dorrian, Abraham Toro (who I personally believe was inexplicably given the short end of the stick given how fabulous his bat was throughout 2023 - oddly, his best position by my eyes in 2023 was 1B.), Cam Devanney, Freddy Zamora (who showed very real signs the defensive reputation was ready to live out in real time - he made several clutch and crucial plays late in 2023 during the playoff push and showed a possibly ascending bat), and Ethan Murray. All of these guys, in my humble opinion, are deserving of opportunities with the Brewers on a shorter timeframe than a lottery ticket like Baez. 

As to SS at the lower levels, I just don't think the organization considers Baez a better SS option than players like Moore, Garcia, EBJ, Guilarte, Barrios or Areinamo. That's a lot of very good defensive players at a premium defensive position. And, as a result, every inning Baez played in 2023( once he entered the affiliated levels - ie Low-A Carolina) was at 3B. The thing with Adams, in my opinion, is he plays a good 3B because he's such a fantastic and underrated athlete. But, I don't think the organization really knows where his raw tools will best fit down the line (my own personal opinion given what I saw nothing direct sourced). Even after a fairly successful full Low-A season, he's pretty much still a raw ball of clay. He played an incredible first base in limited opportunities, for example, showing deft glove work and ridiculous athleticism snagging throws and what not. But, he's a bit of a unicorn in terms of his athletic profile; build; and unrefined raw everything. Exciting, most definitely, but also with that comes the inevitable ups-and-downs.

Anyhow, I am rambling. Baez is very intriguing, yes. I would be highly surprised (given what I've heard - maybe @ARobsBrewCrew can speak to this even further) if they moved him off the hot corner. The last I heard the plan moving forward was: Baez plays 3B.

[patrickgpe]

I really never get too upset or excited about sports anymore. I enjoy watching and was disappointed with how things went, but life goes on. Guess its a product of getting older and going to games for 35 years. 

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

I've been kicked in the balls so many times by this team that I'm pretty much numb to it. Although they did manage to find a small part of a testicle that hadn't been kicked and took care of that with the way they lost on Tuesday.

Like a blow to the groin, it hurts like a MFer for a bit but subsides. I woke up this morning with my normal octave range and no pain.