Brewers

The Brewers played another ugly week of baseball, but did manage to win three games, and they maintain first place in the dreadful NL Central. Here's the recap from last week's action, if you missed it.

The offseason signing of Brian Anderson didn’t generate a ton of waves, but Anderson has proven to be a solid acquisition so far for the Brewers. Through Thursday, he has posted a 108 OPS+, and has held down both third base and right field at various points of the season. Should Milwaukee try to keep him around for the long term?

While the Brewers are atop the NL Central, the team is not really sitting pretty. Injuries have ravaged the team, particularly the starting rotation. The offense has struggled to generate runs consistently. The situation is not desperate, but it is beyond dispute that the Brewers need to turn some things around. How do they do that? Here are four ideas:

Major League Baseball wants the Brewers to massively improve American Family Field. If that's going to happen, we might as well kick around a few ideas for how that work could serve the fans, instead of just ownership and the league.

The Brewers have had a tradition of cobbling together a bullpen and seeing it perform well, for the better part of 40 years. That is holding true so far in 2023. Just what has this bullpen accomplished? Well, they have taken up the slack for a rotation that has been hit hard by injuries. Let’s look at the state of the bullpen in the Brewers system.

In the modern game, every reliever throws 95 miles per hour, and has a slider. That's the standard-issue reliever kit. It used to describe Joel Payamps as well as anyone. Now? Not so much.

The Oakland Athletics aren't quite across the finish line at which they can announce their rebirth as the Las Vegas Athletics, but apparently, Major League Baseball can smell that barn from here. Rob Manfred has hit the road for a spring tour of stadia, and he's in shakedown mode. The city of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin should reject his intimidation and nonsense.

Mock Draft Season is upon us. We're still a solid seven weeks from having any clarity, but it's always fun to start to speculate. Last year's draft got crazy early. Even crazier than normal when you consider two pitchers went in the Top 7 and barely anyone saw a pitcher going in the Top 15. Other players fell to teams who were elated to take someone they never thought they'd have a chance to select.  

Welcome back for part two Fanatics! In the first part, I had a look into all of the strengths Owen Miller has provided to the Brewers in each aspect of the game, but unfortunately, there are some weaknesses that are showing up as well that could result in a slump down the line. Let’s take a look at some of the warning signs about Miller’s performance so far.

The starting rotation was considered a strength of the Brewers going into spring training. If the Brewers were to do well, the rotation’s performance would be crucial. Well, the Brewers are sitting in first place right now, but their position is precarious. One reason is the state of the rotation.

While the Milwaukee Brewers may be in a funk at the moment, one player of whom that cannot be said is Owen Miller. Brought in during the offseason in exchange for cash, he is a homegrown talent; a versatile infielder who can give you good defensive prowess; and a hitter who make solid enough contact to get hot for short stretches of time. The Brewers acquired him for his flexibility, but he's given them much more than that over the first two months.

Almost two months into the season, the Brewers outfield has been superb in some aspects, but has struggled in others. Down the system, the same can be said for the farm. Let’s review how the outfield is doing.