Our biggest weakness...

[dave]

I feel like our biggest weakness is still bullpen depth.  I worry 1 or 2 injuries could easily be a big problem, especially with such young starters.  I wonder what the plan is, beyond McGee and Yoho? Do they have young arms that are ready to try? How much potential does Childers have? Would he be next man up?

[wallus]

I don't have any worries about the pen. We have Zas coming back soon along with Yoho and McGee. I think we will see Crow and Holub get some pen innings as well. You can also see some of the young starters get some innings there to keep their workload in check.

To me our biggest weakness is the left side of the infield. 

 

[Frisbee Slider]

Yankees have one more game played, Braves two. Our relief pitching has been very good and left side of the infield are both top 10, at least by bWAR.

[Dragonbait]

Out biggest weakness so far... Mother Nature. 

 

Our first game outside, and its cancelled.

[SF70]

I’m concerned about the decreased velo with Megill-Koenig & Uribe. All 3 are down considerably from where they were at last year. 

Megill is far too hittable unless he’s commanding his CB. Koenig is a shell of his second-half of last season self. Uribe’s stuff is still good enough to get outs, but down a couple of ticks just not the same dominance.

Unless a couple of them get their stuff back to where it was last season — we could be in some trouble ahead.

[cragi]

2 hours ago, SF70 said:

I’m concerned about the decreased velo with Megill-Koenig & Uribe. All 3 are down considerably from where they were at last year. 

Megill is far too hittable unless he’s commanding his CB. Koenig is a shell of his second-half of last season self. Uribe’s stuff is still good enough to get outs, but down a couple of ticks just not the same dominance.

Unless a couple of them get their stuff back to where it was last season — we could be in some trouble ahead.

That seems to be the entire staff this year if you think about it. Just makes me wonder if the Brewers are adjusting their approach to the season to preserver the arms more. Remember they dont look at pitch count but rather the number of high intensity pitches

[yourout]

I think the starting pitching is going to be the biggest issue this year. 

Chris Hook going to really work his magic for this to work.

[DonBarclay]

Our biggest weakness is the existence of the Dodgers. 

[Austin Tatious]

Personally I’d have Uribe as a closer but there are locker room routines and other considerations.  

[Oxy]

There are no weaknesses, only slightly lesser strengths than our greatest strengths.

[Fear The Chorizo]

On 4/5/2026 at 5:41 AM, SF70 said:

I’m concerned about the decreased velo with Megill-Koenig & Uribe. All 3 are down considerably from where they were at last year. 

Megill is far too hittable unless he’s commanding his CB. Koenig is a shell of his second-half of last season self. Uribe’s stuff is still good enough to get outs, but down a couple of ticks just not the same dominance.

Unless a couple of them get their stuff back to where it was last season — we could be in some trouble ahead.

Early season velo is often a tick low - temps, still building up arm strength, etc all play a factor.  It's barely April, I'm not concerned with 1-2% velo dips to start a year out.

I think one issue Megill is going to run into is the ABS impact on his curveball - As a pitcher, he's at his best when he's at the top of the zone with his heater, and at the bottom of the zone with his curve.  Multiple times in save/late game situations he's already had called strikes on curveballs wind up being overturned because they were fractions of inches below the zone.  His pitch mix lies on the upper and lower extremities of the zone, and hitters can adjust their game plans to just not be aggressive early in counts in hopes he's not able to find the zone enough to put them in a hole.

[Ewitkows1]

Production from SS and 3b is going to be a challenge for us all season.

[Frisbee Slider]

Brewers are only below replacement level at one position through ten games: first base.

Bauers at -0.1 bWAR

SS and 3B both are 8th best in baseball, so far. bWAR

[SF70]

17 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Early season velo is often a tick low - temps, still building up arm strength, etc all play a factor.  It's barely April, I'm not concerned with 1-2% velo dips to start a year out.

I think one issue Megill is going to run into is the ABS impact on his curveball - As a pitcher, he's at his best when he's at the top of the zone with his heater, and at the bottom of the zone with his curve.  Multiple times in save/late game situations he's already had called strikes on curveballs wind up being overturned because they were fractions of inches below the zone.  His pitch mix lies on the upper and lower extremities of the zone, and hitters can adjust their game plans to just not be aggressive early in counts in hopes he's not able to find the zone enough to put them in a hole.

Well Koenig is now down, so his velocity dip explained by injury.

Megill is a ticking time-bomb (my opinion) with his flexor issues and has yet to get his velocity anything close to where he was at pre-injury. He can’t continue to pitch at 96-98 and close games for this team. 

Uribe I’m a little less concerned with at this time but if he can’t consistently touch 100 fairly soon, count me as concerned.

[BrewerFan]

On 4/3/2026 at 10:07 PM, dave said:

I feel like our biggest weakness is still bullpen depth.  I worry 1 or 2 injuries could easily be a big problem, especially with such young starters.  I wonder what the plan is, beyond McGee and Yoho? Do they have young arms that are ready to try? How much potential does Childers have? Would he be next man up?

I'd be more inclined to agree if we were talking about our high leverage depth. Koenig was struggling, Megill I think is alright, but he had that elbow issue last year. 

But just overall depth? I think we're pretty damn deep. We're also only a week into the season and have a LOT of time for guys to earn a call up. 

[BruisedCrew]

I think the biggest weakness is the everyday lineup, especially against left handed pitchers. The issue should be solved if Vaughn and Chourio can come back and no other significant injuries hit. That includes Turang’s ankle problem not turning into a bigger problem. 

[Jopal78]

31 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

I think the biggest weakness is the everyday lineup, especially against left handed pitchers. The issue should be solved if Vaughn and Chourio can come back and no other significant injuries hit. That includes Turang’s ankle problem not turning into a bigger problem. 

I think you’re attaching too much weight to Chourio and Vaughn. Chourio’s OPS+ last year (113) would put him ahead of only Lockridge (111) and Bauers (94) and Ortiz (69) on this year’s squad. And nobody knows if Vaughn truly broke out last year or merely had an extended hot streak.

But you did hit on the Brewers biggest weakness, with apologies to Yelich’s fast start, they don’t have that middle of the order hitter with the .500+ slugging percentage protecting the bats in front of him. 

[BruisedCrew]

13 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

I think you’re attaching too much weight to Chourio and Vaughn. Chourio’s OPS+ last year (113) would put him ahead of only Lockridge (111) and Bauers (94) and Ortiz (69) on this year’s squad. And nobody knows if Vaughn truly broke out last year or merely had an extended hot streak.

But you did hit on the Brewers biggest weakness, with apologies to Yelich’s fast start, they don’t have that middle of the order hitter with the .500+ slugging percentage protecting the bats in front of him. 

A significant part of my concern is that I don’t think several of the hitters who have carried the team in the first few games (Sanchez, Mitchell, Yelich, Hamilton) can or will continue the pace that they performed at in the first 10 games. 
 
The offense has been great in the games the Brewers have won and completely missing in the games they have lost. Going forward I’m concerned that there will be a lot more of those 0-2 run games if they have to keep putting out the lineups they have been using. I’d rather see guys like Mitchell and Bauers batting in the 6-8 spots than in the heart of the order.

[Outlander]

13 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

I think you’re attaching too much weight to Chourio and Vaughn. Chourio’s OPS+ last year (113) would put him ahead of only Lockridge (111) and Bauers (94) and Ortiz (69) on this year’s squad. And nobody knows if Vaughn truly broke out last year or merely had an extended hot streak.

But you did hit on the Brewers biggest weakness, with apologies to Yelich’s fast start, they don’t have that middle of the order hitter with the .500+ slugging percentage protecting the bats in front of him. 

Definitely don't think attaching too much weight to Chourio. Hitting against LHP was specifically mentioned and Chourio was 343/384/584/973, basically MVP level. Vaughn a step down but still a hefty 313/389/470/859 against LHP. The Brewers are very good against RHP so they have that covered, when the Brewers get Chourio/Vaughn back they are a significantly more balanced lineup. Put in a LHP to face Turang/Yelich, let's see what happens when Chourio/Vaughn come up after them.

[Jopal78]

2 hours ago, Outlander said:

Definitely don't think attaching too much weight to Chourio. Hitting against LHP was specifically mentioned and Chourio was 343/384/584/973, basically MVP level. Vaughn a step down but still a hefty 313/389/470/859 against LHP. The Brewers are very good against RHP so they have that covered, when the Brewers get Chourio/Vaughn back they are a significantly more balanced lineup. Put in a LHP to face Turang/Yelich, let's see what happens when Chourio/Vaughn come up after them.

Sure but they’re not strictly platoon guys. So while the performance against LHP may improve, somebody currently in the lineup goes to the bench against RHP 

[RobertCrawley]

Injuries injuries injuries.

[jay87shot]

I think the biggest concern is the starting pitching over 162. Right now we are at like 55 innnings in 12 starts by our starters. That is ok early but if we get to the middle of the season and only average 5 innings a game the pen will get eaten up fast. Right now Ashby is on a pace for like 90+ appearances and around 120 innings out of the bullpen, which just isn't sustainable.

I will say our biggest weakness is still the end of our lineup even though they have been decent. Offense for 3B, SS, 1B (until Vaughn is back), CF (to a much lesser degree) is still I think the biggest potential hole that I would call a weakness. I have a lot more faith in finding 2 consistent starters to go along side Misi, Woody, Patrick, and probably Harrison to this point then I do in the bats of Rengifo Joey, Perk, and Bauers (starting to feel good about Hamilton, Lockridge, and Mitchell) and the AAA depth has been sketchy to start the year at SS/3B.

[BruisedCrew]

So, it appears that the  bullpen, and offense are both weaknesses right now.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 4/9/2026 at 12:42 PM, jay87shot said:

I think the biggest concern is the starting pitching over 162. Right now we are at like 55 innnings in 12 starts by our starters. That is ok early but if we get to the middle of the season and only average 5 innings a game the pen will get eaten up fast. 

Easily the biggest concern when looking big picture. The closer we can get to 6 innings per start (not saying we'll average that; just wondering how often they can get to that target) the more games you'll be in, and the better off the BP will be. Getting back to full strength is obviously important also.

[Turning2]

Biggest weakness is a shortage of healthy All Star caliber talent. Yeah, that's pretty obvious, but it's hard to pinpoint an area.

They CAN score runs. Collectively, the offense hasn't been that bad. But who wouldn't want another consistent .275+ / 30+HR leader on this team. Who wouldn't want another .280-ish hitter good for lots of doubles? 

Pitching is still largely unproven. Priester could have been a fluke in '25. Mis isn't proven yet as a consistent, grizzled vet yet. Woody is always a health risk and a short timer. And then you have another 7-8 guys that are little more that hype, hope, and prospect potential, and will be in my view for awhile. I need two consecutive better than average years before I get sold on a player. Too many froth at the mouth about prospect status. Yeah, they have to come from somewhere, top prospects bomb too. 

They have speed aplenty, but speed that can't get hit is worthless. They have defense. Shaky lately, but I suspect that will level out. Regardless, great defense wins you division championships not the big prize. 

I do think there might be a "swagger / confidence" aspect they are deficient in. But swagger/confidence tends to equate to jerk personalities, and I'd rather my team lose with quality humans than egomaniac jag offs. 

So biggest weakness... impossible to say in my opinion.