Game Thread: Brewers (Gasser) @ Pirates (Skenes)

[biedergb]

14 minutes ago, trwi7 said:

As Chourio swings at a pitch about 4 inches inside and grounds into a double play to end it.

Have to wonder if the injury is still affecting him - or is this a guy who knows he is good but isn’t putting in the time?  Not trying to create stories that aren’t there but after his solid 1st year he looked good at times last year but never really. I’ll carry the team type of good. He is just 22 I know. Still expecting and wanting more from the guy who has a 10 year contract. 

[Bulldogboy]

I saw the Murphy rant on Yelich staying in no matter what. So basically no accountability. Young team that's the worst message possible. 

[trwi7]

3 minutes ago, biedergb said:

Have to wonder if the injury is still affecting him - or is this a guy who knows he is good but isn’t putting in the time?  Not trying to create stories that aren’t there but after his solid 1st year he looked good at times last year but never really. I’ll carry the team type of good. He is just 22 I know. Still expecting and wanting more from the guy who has a 10 year contract. 

I brought this up a couple months ago and got jumped on.  Chourio has always swung at pitches outside the zone and it limits what he can become.  If and until he learns to lay off some of those sliders out and fastballs way in, he's never going to become more than an .800ish OPS guy, which is fine, in the grand scheme of things really the least of our problems offensively but will leave you wanting more and wondering what he could become.

[edfunderburk]

This series & especially today irritates me because we lose games - including the lead over Chicago we worked so hard to get, our run differential is impacted, we no longer have the best ERA or fewest runs allowed … all because we decided to rest guys & play as if the games don’t count. Why not push through when staring at a four day break. Makes no sense. Just a complete disaster to close out the first half.

For me, this series takes some of the shine off the great season to date. It also reinforces to me that we should not go all in & trade prospects for short term help. There are a few good NL teams that could cause us trouble in the playoffs. We have no chance to beat LA this year.

I hope we play hard in the second half, win the division, give it our best shot in the playoffs, & plan for an excellent decade of Brewers baseball once some of our top prospects join the parent team. 

[edfunderburk]

8 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

I saw the Murphy rant on Yelich staying in no matter what. So basically no accountability. Young team that's the worst message possible. 

Both Murphy (health issues) & Yelich (poor performance) need to step aside for a bit rather than coach & play everyday. They’re doing us fans & their team no favors. There are others who could do their jobs well in their absence. 

[edfunderburk]

11 minutes ago, biedergb said:

Have to wonder if the injury is still affecting him - or is this a guy who knows he is good but isn’t putting in the time?  Not trying to create stories that aren’t there but after his solid 1st year he looked good at times last year but never really. I’ll carry the team type of good. He is just 22 I know. Still expecting and wanting more from the guy who has a 10 year contract. 

I think Chourio is a very good but not a great player. He may not reach the super star level that was projected for him. He’s very talented but I haven’t seen growth & progress since he joined the big league team. His stats are consistent but not dynamic. Maybe this is who he will be. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

I know there are years where it isnt the case, but this team seems to find a way to have train wreck series in Pittsburg right before the AS break routinely, especially at the end of a long string of games without off days ot extended road trip.

 

Hate seeing road games against the pirates in July on the schedule

[yourout]

9 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

I think Chourio is a very good but not a great player. He may not reach the super star level that was projected for him. He’s very talented but I haven’t seen growth & progress since he joined the big league team. His stats are consistent but not dynamic. Maybe this is who he will be. 

I would love to have seen what a Kevin Seitzer could have did with him

[yourout]

7 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

I know there are years where it isnt the case, but this team seems to find a way to have train wreck series in Pittsburg right before the AS break routinely, especially at the end of a long string of games without off days ot extended road trip.

 

Hate seeing road games against the pirates in July on the schedule

Didn't we get a rare five game series sweep from them before one of the break?

[wibadgers23]

25 minutes ago, biedergb said:

Have to wonder if the injury is still affecting him - or is this a guy who knows he is good but isn’t putting in the time?  Not trying to create stories that aren’t there but after his solid 1st year he looked good at times last year but never really. I’ll carry the team type of good. He is just 22 I know. Still expecting and wanting more from the guy who has a 10 year contract. 

It's his swing decisions.  Still not great in his 3rd season.  Until he learns to become more patient at the plate and wait for his pitch, this is what we're going to get out of Chourio.

[wibadgers23]

3 minutes ago, yourout said:

Didn't we get a rare five game series sweep from them before one of the break?

Yes, 2018.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Bad combination today---a team that's been around .500 or slightly over looking forward to finishing off the 1st half strong & making a playoff run, something that's been pretty rare for them. On the other side, a team that's been playing a lot of baseball--mostly good baseball--for 2.5 weeks, had a couple one-run losses yesterday & for one of the rare times this season didn't seem to want to be there. Great game plan for Pittsburgh vs Gasser, but he was getting way too much of the plate & had a horrible outing after being pretty good for the last few weeks or so. And a real rare instance of the gloves failing. I'll preface this by saying Gasser was the main culprit; these were all hard-hit balls. But the double off Shewmakes' glove was far from routine but playable. Five batters later Davis, who's suddenly turned into Yogi Berra, hits one that honestly had 'jump up & catch the ball' written all over it & somehow Chourio doesn't. His next time up he lines out to Ortiz, except for some reason he doesn't see the ball. Looked like the same thing w/the pickoff throw to Bauers, although that didn't cost them. Just a day you flush. I think Pitt's defense has a propensity to let them down---could've/should've cost them game one yesterday---but save for that I wouldn't be shocked to see them climb the standings in the weeks to come.

Chourio can be so maddening. His second AB was a thing of beauty. Falls behind Skenes 0-2. Then lays off some pretty good 2-strike pitches from a very talented arm to run it full, then doubles in a run. In his next trip to the plate he gets to 3-1. He then swings at ball four. Then he swings at ball five. I'd give him a pass because it was a one-sided game at that point except that I've seen that stuff many other times. I'm sure people remember his rookie year; there were some that thought he might benefit from a trip to AAA. Then around the beginning of June he took a step forward & the numbers ballooned. AFA his swing decisions are concerned it's time to take another step. An over 3:1 K to BB ratio is something an immense talent like him can't accept.

Yoho looks useful. Hopefully that continues.

[Jim French Stepstool]

38 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

This series & especially today irritates me because we lose games - including the lead over Chicago we worked so hard to get, our run differential is impacted, we no longer have the best ERA or fewest runs allowed … all because we decided to rest guys & play as if the games don’t count. Why not push through when staring at a four day break. Makes no sense. Just a complete disaster to close out the first half.

For me, this series takes some of the shine off the great season to date. It also reinforces to me that we should not go all in & trade prospects for short term help. There are a few good NL teams that could cause us trouble in the playoffs. We have no chance to beat LA this year.

I hope we play hard in the second half, win the division, give it our best shot in the playoffs, & plan for an excellent decade of Brewers baseball once some of our top prospects join the parent team. 

There are a couple of starting pitchers that aren't rentals & I think that's what they should target (I would also feel the same way had they won 2 out of 3 this weekend). There's an awful lot of talent in the system, and no matter how much these guys are valued you can't keep them all. AFA short term is concerned ( I assume you mean a rental) I'd look into that too but that isn't where you want to expend some of the more highly-rated talent.

 Right after getting swept isn't exactly the best time to assess the post season IMO, especially since this most likely won't be the same team in a few weeks. There are teams that could give them problems but the Brewers are fully capable of doing the same to them. Sure, they'd be an underdog to LA. Again it's JMO but in baseball I don't think there's such a thing as 'no chance.'

[Jim French Stepstool]

44 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

 all because we decided to rest guys & play as if the games don’t count. 

I think Lara & Pratt didn't start mostly due to Skenes, thinking Frelick, Mitchell, Shewmake et al would have a better chance of success. Too lazy to look it up but maybe they've had success vs him?

Yeah, Contreras sitting was rather odd.

[Sixtolezcano]

A 5 game lead at the all-star break. Could be worse! At least the rest of the season should be exciting with a great division battle between the Cubs and the Brewers (who knows even the Pirates) for first place.

[BruisedCrew]

43 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

This series & especially today irritates me because we lose games - including the lead over Chicago we worked so hard to get, our run differential is impacted, we no longer have the best ERA or fewest runs allowed … all because we decided to rest guys & play as if the games don’t count. Why not push through when staring at a four day break. Makes no sense. Just a complete disaster to close out the first half.

For me, this series takes some of the shine off the great season to date. It also reinforces to me that we should not go all in & trade prospects for short term help. There are a few good NL teams that could cause us trouble in the playoffs. We have no chance to beat LA this year.

I hope we play hard in the second half, win the division, give it our best shot in the playoffs, & plan for an excellent decade of Brewers baseball once some of our top prospects join the parent team. 

I couldn’t care less about things like run differential and leading the league in ERA and runs allowed. 

But I care a lot about letting the Cubs claw back from the horrendous stretch they had through parts of May and June. Between the Brewers offense being average for the last month and some real concerns about the pitching staff going forward, that 5 game lead doesn’t look as “comfy” as it did even 36 hours ago.

The starting rotation that started this 18 game stretch, is in disarray. Woodruff is presumably done for the season and Harrison will be down for at least a week after the ASB while we hold our breaths for news about whether his sore elbow is a sign of something that will lead to an extended absence. Hopefully Misiorowski will be able pitch next weekend, but his fatigued arm is a reminder that it isn’t realistic to think he’s going to pitch 6-7 innings throwing 100 MPH plus pitches every 5th day. 
 

The schedule coming out of the break is 6 games, 1 day off, 6 games, 1 day off, then another run of 17 days with no days off (thankfully no doubleheaders) that includes 2 separate west coast trips concluding with 4 against the Dodgers. That schedule is probably going to require 6 starters and some deadline reinforcements. 
 

I think subsequent events have shown that thoughts that the division title was all but certain and that the Brewers should be planning for the playoffs were premature. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

13 minutes ago, Sixtolezcano said:

A 5 game lead at the all-star break. Could be worse! At least the rest of the season should be exciting with a great division battle between the Cubs and the Brewers (who knows even the Pirates) for first place.

I used to tell people in past years when the Brewers had a lead in June, July or August that at some point, someone will make a run at them. And that's perfectly fine. How you respond to it is the important part. And in a couple of those years I was actually wrong because they never really WERE challenged. 

So, we'll see. A couple of interesting weeks coming up w/the trade deadline. The never-ending war between the "That was a smart, cost-effective move that didn't take a lot of prospect capital" crowd vs the "HE'S NO GOOD, WHY BOTHER, WHY DON'T THEY MOVE THE NEEDLE???" legion. Although after losing three in a row, the 2nd group might think we should be selling.

[RWeeksFan23]

1 hour ago, trwi7 said:

As Chourio swings at a pitch about 4 inches inside and grounds into a double play to end it.

chourio has been very jumpy at the plate recently. 

All-star break coming at a good time for him

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

I’ve been very impressed with Lara and Pratt thus far.  Easily exceeding my expectations 

[TURBO]

[endaround]

If this board were Braves fans I would think wellness checks would be required.

[biedergb]

58 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Although after losing three in a row, the 2nd group might think we should be selling.

I think we could be “sellers” in the sense we don’t really buy. The way it shapes out 2028 could be a big year for the brewers with most of this roster intact, and a plethora of prospects who could be ready.  The dodgers are just so far ahead of the field and the cubs are likely to sell everything to go in,  with a possible locked out season for 2027, I’d keep the trade bullets for 2028.  Maybe even offload a rule 5 or minor league FA eligible players or two for some other prospects.  Yeah I know “hot take” but I don’t post often in major league forum and don’t watch games too much but watching today just made me pretty mad, and the fact is the team is truly poised for ‘more bites at the apple” but 2028-2030 could be some big bites if things fall in to line. This years team has had an amazing first half (really wanted so badly to get to 60 wins), but they feel like they overachieved (again), but unsure if it’s sustainable given Harrison on IL, Sproat is a work in progress, Priester and Woody are out, and the offense is too reliant on Bauers and streak Mitchell.  Turang may have slowed down. Chourio is a nice mlb regular but not the all star we hoped for. Vaughn is solid but the injury (wasn’t it hamate) is limiting his power, and Yelich is a bench player pinch hitter at this point of his career.  Would love to see what Lara and Pratt can do and get some playing time for other youngsters. 

[Bulldogboy]

2 hours ago, wibadgers23 said:

It's his swing decisions.  Still not great in his 3rd season.  Until he learns to become more patient at the plate and wait for his pitch, this is what we're going to get out of Chourio.

It's also where does he hit? Pick a spot one two or three and leave him alone. Murphy playing wheel of fortune with the lineup doesn't help. Is he a run producer? Is he getting on base? Let's give him a plan and a spot in the order.

[Bulldogboy]

2 hours ago, edfunderburk said:

I think Chourio is a very good but not a great player. He may not reach the super star level that was projected for him. He’s very talented but I haven’t seen growth & progress since he joined the big league team. His stats are consistent but not dynamic. Maybe this is who he will be. 

He has been a very slight disappointment imo. He hasn’t made the adjustments needed to become a star. He's still playing on talent alone.