Brewers (Ross) vs Royals (Singer): 5/8/24, 1:10pm

[Bulldogboy]

2 minutes ago, yfinn6 said:

It looks like he's getting good wood on the ball only to fly out to medium-depth OF. Almost nothing on a line to any gap. His extra base hits have been things hit down the line or hustle doubles.. which are great, but those usually hits you get ON TOP of your ringing doubles, etc. There is NONE of that for Frelick. He's not hitting the ball hard at all. 

To me this goes back to when he came up. He was on fire great approach going the other way but then he was stuck into cleanup spot. Feels like every since he tried to do to much and has lost his approach. 

[Team Canada]

4 minutes ago, yfinn6 said:

I honestly hate watching this team right now, not sure why I subject myself to it. 

I can only imagine how much more unenjoyable it would be if they weren't in first place.

To the contrary, they've only had a couple really bad losses. They're in first place.

 

Not the best day for Joel.

[beekay414]

1 minute ago, duewizard said:

Perkins as a hitter, might be AAAA, sure. But who are the alternatives? Wiemer? Roller? Brewer Hicklen is performing well in Nashville but lets not kid ourselves there is a reason the guy was a minor league free agent and has 4 career PAs in the majors at 28. And you cannot ignore defense, especially with this team. 10 OAA and a 23.6 UZR/150 over his 648 innings long MLB career are insanely good. Elite even.

Sanchez has a 0.340 wOBA and 120 wRC+ going into today. Top of the league in xwOBA, xBA, xSLG, Barrel% and HardHit%. He will never be an MVP but he is a very solid backup catcher.

Defense can be ignored when the initial comment was about not having fun watching the guys hit. Not everything has to be a pages long argument. 

Sanchez I'll concede just because he at least provides MLB level power while not being a complete turd at the dish despite having some epic slumps over his career. The Slamchize will drive you mad 80% of the time tho and be part of the "no fun" department quite often.

[BruisedCrew]

A fail from both the offense and the bullpen today.  
 

5 runs in 6 games against SP on this road trip. That makes it tough to win games.

 

[yfinn6]

2 minutes ago, Team Canada said:

I can only imagine how much more unenjoyable it would be if they weren't in first place.

To the contrary, they've only had a couple really bad losses. They're in first place.

 

Not the best day for Joel.

I realize I'm being a downer in an in-game thread, but this team feels like they're trending in the opposite direction. Getting Yelich back should help but this is the same stuff we've seen for a while. A lot of weak contact early in the count, a lot of weak contact when they get into hitter's counts - IF they get into those counts. 

I know I said it in other threads that this is probably not a year they expect to compete but you hope that the young guys can take a step forward and so far it's only been Turang. We'll see what Mitchell looks like but I hope the player who loses PT to Mitchell is Frelick..and that's saying a lot. 

 

[duewizard]

Herget did his job in mop up. Horrible outing for Joel.

[Brian]

I agree Chourio doesn't look ready.

I was crucified for saying that just a week ago. 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

This is definitely the first extended struggle of the year. Still, a 2-4 road trip could have easily been 1-5 or 0-6. Really would have liked game one in Kansas City and/or game two in Chicago, but that's baseball.

Really hoping we can rip off a 5-2 homestand. Get things rolling at home. We're nearing the quarter pole here, and have created a 4-game separation on the rest of the division, which is good. I think the Cubs look like the favorites, but the Reds will win some games too. This division is going to come down to the last week in all likelihood, so going 2-4 instead of 1-5 in some 6-game stretches matters.

[beekay414]

I think jostling him around the lineup and now sitting him 3x in 7 games isn't going to help him any. Cement him in a position and give him every day at bats. Let him work through it. It's not like Jake Bauers is giving quality at bats either. Play the kid and let him see MLB pitchers. It's not like he's pressing like Jackson Holliday was when he got his call or he looked completely overwhelmed like Black did. 

Don't bat him leadoff one day and then 8th the next and then 9th the next. Don't play him in LF one day and then RF the next. Keep him in RF and keep him hitting 8th or 9th and let him figure it out. Give him less to think about and let his natural ability take over. 

[Nola Beery]

A digression, but not a  joke.  I just spent the last 30 or so minutes watching a big ol' tortoise, a rare sighting around here.   I followed it from the sidewalk up into my neighbor's back yard where it placidly muched on a some weeds and grass and even brushed up against my foot.  Was that worse than seeing the Brewers give up 3 in the 8th? 

Of course,  getting 4 or 5 in the top of the 9th would be better than watching a tortoise.    

[duewizard]

Brice!

[Team Canada]

Have a day, Brice.

[Team Canada]

McArthur coming in, how about a repeat of last night?

[Brian]

2 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

I think jostling him around the lineup and now sitting him 3x in 7 games isn't going to help him any. Cement him in a position and give him every day at bats. Let him work through it. It's not like Jake Bauers is giving quality at bats either. Play the kid and let him see MLB pitchers. It's not like he's pressing like Jackson Holliday was when he got his call or he looked completely overwhelmed like Black did. 

Don't bat him leadoff one day and then 8th the next and then 9th the next. Don't play him in LF one day and then RF the next. Keep him in RF and keep him hitting 8th or 9th and let him figure it out. Give him less to think about and let his natural ability take over. 

I agree 100%, your throwing players into a whirlwind by bouncing them to a different position every game. Not every player can handle that. 

[yfinn6]

Welp, nevermind. 

[Team Canada]

For the griping about offense, Payamps gets the blame here.

This team consistently is in it right up til the last AB.

[Nola Beery]

Boogerrrrs! At least Yeli is back, even if he kinda pooped on the last out.

 

[Nola Beery]

Just now, Team Canada said:

For the griping about offense, Payamps gets the blame here.

This team consistently is in it right up til the last AB.

That matters, I think, and will matter later on, too.

[tmwiese55]

Just now, Team Canada said:

For the griping about offense, Payamps gets the blame here.

This team consistently is in it right up til the last AB.

Rough day on D too.  first two runs were on the D (just crappy luck with slipping, no one to blame) and then the messup late too.

[beekay414]

2 minutes ago, Brian said:

I agree 100%, your throwing players into a whirlwind by bouncing them to a different position every game. Not every player can handle that. 

AFAIK he hasn't actually done that yet to Chourio since he's started 4 straight in LF but it's still a new position to think about during the midst of being benched more often and struggling at the dish. We saw the hesitancy of playing LF today from him with Adames on that popup in the 8th. Frelick's played 16 games in LF. I'm not sure why all of a sudden we needed to start playing Chourio there.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Out-executed today, and it wasn't close. Three sac flies, one of which advanced TWO runners. And a perfect throw from LF which kept us from tying the game up. And I admit this is a bad time to rag on Adames after yesterday, but on the opposite side of the big-moment moxie we just have to live with the other stuff--like not touching the ball w/the runner on third & one out in the opening inning. Then in his last AB, he's 1st-ball swinging vs Stratton on a ball he couldn't even pull (weak grounder to 2nd), leading off the inning down 1 run. Now, it turns out Stratton was throwing strikes, but on the 1st pitch he throws we don't know that. He's been walking a LOT of people this year. Just a really dumb AB. Then throw in the slip in CF by Perkins........

I thought I saw Sanchez play a really good game at 1B. Still trying to process whether I actually saw that happen.

Turang obviously looked great leading off. But flip a coin as to whether he'll be there vs a LHP. And if they're going to use Contreras & Yelich hitting behind him as an excuse for not running him as often, then just hit him 8th or 9th & be done with it.

So we get a starter through 5 at 63 pitches, and STILL need the BP to cover nine outs---twelve if we were tied or leading. Blame the offense for not giving him a 3 or 4 run lead, I guess. Still, it's maddening.

[Brian]

Good, the Cubs lost today also. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, beekay414 said:

Bauers, Sanchez, Dunn, Perkins

I'll save you time on Perkins since that's where the argument will probably come, he started nicely but he's hitting .211 over his last 20 games since hitting .367 over his first 8 games. 

Sanchez provides one thing and one thing only and he doesn't provide it at an elite enough pace to be as poor a hitter as he is. 

Bauers and Dunn are self explanatory. 

And your replacements would be? (keep in mind there's a 40-man roster to deal with).

NOTE: I'm not a big Bauers fan, I panned the trade when it happened. But I don't think it's over-the-top to say they might have 2-3 less wins than they do just on his defense at 1B alone. He made a handful of plays in crucial situations Hoskins may or may not have made & Black almost certainly wouldn't have. Even though I didn't like the acquisition I'm trying to be open-minded about his play on both ends of the floor, to borrow a hoops term. And the defensive end is usually overlooked on fan boards.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, beekay414 said:

I think jostling him around the lineup and now sitting him 3x in 7 games isn't going to help him any. Cement him in a position and give him every day at bats. Let him work through it. It's not like Jake Bauers is giving quality at bats either. Play the kid and let him see MLB pitchers. It's not like he's pressing like Jackson Holliday was when he got his call or he looked completely overwhelmed like Black did. 

Don't bat him leadoff one day and then 8th the next and then 9th the next. Don't play him in LF one day and then RF the next. Keep him in RF and keep him hitting 8th or 9th and let him figure it out. Give him less to think about and let his natural ability take over. 

I like all of this, except I didn't think Black looked completely overwhelmed. He got in a few bad counts, took some borderline pitches that were called strikes, then overcompensated by chasing, which he seldom if ever did in the minors. All in all I don't think it was a bad handful of ABs, but he certainly needs to go back down rather than get the paltry opportunities he would with Yelich back.

[yfinn6]

14 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

And your replacements would be? (keep in mind there's a 40-man roster to deal with).

NOTE: I'm not a big Bauers fan, I panned the trade when it happened. But I don't think it's over-the-top to say they might have 2-3 less wins than they do just on his defense at 1B alone. He made a handful of plays in crucial situations Hoskins may or may not have made & Black almost certainly wouldn't have. Even though I didn't like the acquisition I'm trying to be open-minded about his play on both ends of the floor, to borrow a hoops term. And the defensive end is usually overlooked on fan boards.

Bauers doesn't bother me as much because I know he's not a long term solution. So he's... meh... until the Brewers can finally solve their 1B woahs. 

I realize Chourio has looked like a AAA player but he could just camp in the 8th or 9th spot and provide more value than some other AAAA player who also doesn't have a long term future here, IMO. 

I figured they'd get more from Frelick but maybe he's just fighting himself now or what. Not sure but he looks like he's lost a lot of his power, of which was questionable to begin with.