mtrebs

I like this mainly so that Counsell can’t load the lineup with one more 26th-man. We’ve had too many lineups with 2-3 of these types of guys (in addition to the pitcher). I know injuries came into play, but not always.

Hopefully Tellez just couldn't see the ball well in Buffalo (or wherever the Blue Jays have been playing this year)...

Hopefully that’s the limit, and not an 11-game losing streak.

Wow, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a wild pitch leave the playing field!

Reyes down 0-2 on two balls outside.

Was just saying that same thing. Are pitchers still afraid of what he did 2 years ago? Need to get some protection after him in the lineup. I think he’ll start regaining some of his power after that (or at least I’m hoping that’s the case).

The Pirates are batting 228/299/352 & scoring 3.50 runs per game. The Brewers are batting 212/301/365 & scoring 3.99 runs per game. Batting average tells an incomplete story as it excludes walks & extra base hits. Yes, the Brewers have the worst batting average in MLB, but their offense as a whole has been objectively closer to average than to the worst in the league. Runs per game are at 4.48 since the Adames trade, so they've actually been slightly above average for the last month. I understand and yes, the offense has been better since the Adames trade. Still, the Brewers as a team are the least successful at getting a base hit. Walks only do good if you get a hit afterward (or a bunch of walks/errors like we saw a few weeks ago) so having the worst batting average is a hindrance there too. I guess I just didn’t think my comment was that far unfounded.

While I would certainly like the offense to be better too, it needs pointing out that it isn't the worst in MLB. By runs scored it's 22nd, by non-pitcher wRC+ 24th (Including pitchers it's 9th in the NL), by Fangraphs overall baserunning metric (BsR) 6th. So it's already subpar, essentially. Over the last 30 days position players have a 95 wRC+, good for 20th (Cardinals and Cubs are sitting at 84 in that time). Basically the offense is slowly coming around, because there were far more unsustainably bad than unsustainably good performances during that terrible early stretch. As players regress towards the mean (From both directions), Brewers offense has been getting better. Now the big thing for me is that while we can now actually field a full lineup of 100+ wRC+ hitters with good defense, we run into problems when we have to go beyond that and the quality drops of big time. So for example while I'm happy with Urias at 3B both offensively and defensively, he is also the primary backup for 2B and SS, and an injury to either of those three positions weakens the team badly. So an average to above average 3B bat (Ideally with some positional flexibility) is an upgrade on the Reyes/Peterson/Robertsons of this world really, and that goes a long way and shouldn't be too hard to find. So while we're all unhappy to varying degrees with regards to the offense and would like it to be better, can we stop the hyperbole? It's not the worst in MLB, and it's certainly not the worst lineup of all time that we've seen posters here declare it as. The thing about stats is that they can argue different ways. The Brewers have the worst team batting average in MLB, and it’s not far off from the worst ever, so my comment is far from hyperbole.

I don’t think anyone (hopefully) is asking for ELITE offense. Even a subpar offense would be a huge jump compared to having the worst offense in MLB.

I only could read this in Yoda’s voice.

Stearns needs to take a long look at his approach to building the offense if he seriously thought signing a former president that's been dead for 48 years would help this team. At least the offensive production is explainable then!

I don’t get this batting order. If you have Wong, Adames, and Urias available, why put a slow, bases clogger like Vogelbach second? I would think something like Urias second with Vogelbach seventh would make more sense. With nobody resting, I would go: Wong, Urias, Yelich, Garcia, Narvaez, Adames, Vogelbach, Bradley, Pitcher, or something similar. Yeah, I don’t get having Vogelbach bat second, especially with the way Urias and Adames have been hitting, and then getting Wong back. The thought must be to move some of the hotter hitters down to spread out better at-bats, but that doesn’t make sense either.

Bad strike calls against Urias in a big at bat.

Are there alternate Bally channels on Spectrum? I’m seeing the Brewers game on DirecTV but sometimes (typically if the Bucks are playing at the same time) I have to go to an alternate channel to watch the Brewers.

Maybe we’ll give up another grand slam now…

Yep, I guess I’ll watch the Bucks blow it instead.

I thought about putting my “Can he hit?” comment in blue, but with how bad our offense is I decided it’s a valid question. Of course all parts of the team need to constantly be addressed. I didn’t mean to imply that Stearns should only be looking for offense.

Can he hit?

I’d still take JBJ over Schoop. I couldn’t stand him moping around. That being said, I think it’s time to cut out losses and release JBJ at some point soon.

I’d rather the Brewers acquire Schoop again than continue to put Lopes out there again. And I absolutely hate Schoop for how bad he was as a Brewer and how well he does against us now.

Yep. Game over after Narvaez struck out. Pathetic series.

He’s not the only hitter on the team that’s had this problem. That would make you think it’s more than just the hitters’ faults. Hitting coach maybe?

Even if we hit a HR, it’d likely be a solo so then we’d be tied and go into extras, where we’d likely lose because we can’t score a runner from 2B with no outs.

He is good. The problem is that he’s going to be paid to be great. He has gone from MVP level hitter to adequate player being paid franchise caliber money. Doesn’t help that there’s no protection around him anymore. That has to factor in to his decline to an extent.

Did we just have one or two below average batters consistently in the lineup? I can’t believe that we regularly had half the lineup be this sub-par. Also, we didn’t have position players batting close to .150. This is a whole new level of suckitude.