PrinceFielderx1

Amazing. 6th in runs scored with the starter slumping problems/injury's we have had this year. This should tell everybody that we are for real and are one of the best teams. Who is slumping? Braun, Gomez, Lucroy, Reynolds and Gennett are hitting like I'd expect them to. Aram is 37 years old. Him regressing is not unexpected. Overbay is old and regression is not unexpected either. Davis and Segura are struggling, and I suspect in large part due to horrible plate discipline. I'm not all that surprised by Davis' struggles. A lot of young guys tear through the league like he did the first time through last year. Pitchers adjust. Now we'll see if he does, or if he's a flame out. You're making it sound like suddenly a bunch of guys are going to start ripping the cover off the ball, when in fact over half the lineup is producing right about as their career numbers and trajectories indicate they should be. The Brewers #2 hitter/SS in Segura and Davis. Brauns been out of the line-up. Yes they will get out of those slumps and start hitting.

Amazing. 6th in runs scored with the starter slumping problems/injury's we have had this year. This should tell everybody that we are for real and are one of the best teams.

I don't think anyone is arguing (here) that they're not 'good'...... I'm seeing a few people (myself included) say that they're not top 3 talent. Hi and tight is saying the Brewers aren't one of the top teams in baseball and he was quite elaborate in say that the teams he mentioned were much much much more talented than the Brewers. He used talent as his basis for being good. I say who cares? The Brewers are a half game away from having the best record in baseball behind only SF. I'd say right now they are the second best team in baseball, and that's what matters. All teams have cracks. All team will develop wear and tear as the season progresses. The question is who can keep it up and weather the storm. Think about this, the Brewers have the second best team in baseball right now with a slumping offense that's been slumping for quite some time.

I think you could argue there are 3 teams in our DIVISION with more pure talent than the Brewers. Especially when the Pirates bring up Polanco and have one of the most physically talented OF's of the last 30 years. We have exactly ONE star player in Ryan Braun and he's dealing with a thumb injury that has changed his approach at the plate. K-Rod was a bad pitcher for the O's last year and now he's Mariano Rivera(but slightly better). I know what their pitching can do over 6 weeks. I have no illusions that I "know," what our pitching is over a 162 game season with so many young pitchers and 5 starters who are at best low 2, high 3 types. I don't even know how else to respond to this other than to say that I don't believe anyone can make a honest, sincere argument we're more talented than the Dodgers, Tigers, Cards, , Rangers or Nationals just off the top of my head. And those are just the teams that are just MUCH-MUCH more talented. Now talent isn't everything. Baseball is a game that depends on luck and sometimes the best teams don't win. Which is why I'm excited about the hot start and having fun and am optimistic right now. But if you put the Brewers lineup and the Tigers lineup together for example, where exactly are we better? They have 3 aces in their rotation, the best pure hitter in baseball(or 2nd, either way), and a loaded lineup around him. The Dodgers have 3 aces, 4 all star OF'ers along with another top OF prospect in the minors, a really good young 2nd basemen, an elite 1st basemen and about a billion dollars to add to their talent. The Cards...they bring in guys who throw 98 like we bring in new baseballs. But hey, I wish I was as..."enthusiastic," as you are, but it's going to take more than a very good start before I start to believe this team is one of the 3 more "talented," in baseball. In terms of just major league talent on their roster or their most major league ready talent, I think they're closer to a top 15-ish team than top 3. So again, I'm just going to hope they continue to play well and things go there way. But we're certainly starting to see cracks. If you mean talent that was rated by so called analysts then you can spare me, because I don't really care what they say. They said our minor league system was so bad, but yet we were able to get Greinke, Marcum, and Peralta was a shock to them? Speaks for itself. Braun hasn't changed his approach at the the plate and if he did he will be one of the best hitters ever to do that and still put up MVP numbers like he will do this season. Don't worry the power is still there and his ability to hit the ball out of the park anywhere on the field is alive and well. K-Rod is this good. Will he blow saves? Yes. He's made an adjustment and his change-up has improved and he is locating. Look at his mechanics. They are better than ever. No fluke. Our pitching is young and controlled for a wile and are a bunch of Number 2's except Peralta who is a #1. Isn't it great? Like I said I expect an era around 3.00. ARAM will get it going and make a 1/2 threat with him and Braun, then when Segura get's out of his slump by making and adjustment it will be a 2,3,4, 5 threat with Lucroy behind him. Oh I almost forgot about Gomez leading off. So what is that a 1,2,3,4,5, threat? Davis will turn it around. He's been hitting at all the levels his whole career. To expect different isn't being realistic. He will come around. We are winning all of these games on pitching, but what happens when the offense comes around even if the pitching does a little worse? Guys you seem cautious about giving into the pitching and comeing to clonclusions on it prematurely, but you are doing exactly that on the offense. Take a breather and relax and a little bit more logical.

The Card deserved it. Is there really any team or fan in the Majors that would argue with me on that besides Card and their fans?

I've been to 50 Brewers games and I live in Columbus,OH and I've only seen them lose 2 times. If you ever want to meet for a game or two PM me and I'll go. I'll even buy the tickets and food/beer. I'm a little crazy at the ball game and I have a way to get the crowd cheering and screaming and standing usually in the second half of the season and playoff games. It will be entertaining I promise. Happy you had a great time.

That's you being a 'realist'? Most people would have a hard time saying that with a straight face, yet claim to say it while being a 'realist'. Most prognosticators had the Brewers as a darkhorse wild card candidate at best coming into the season, and I think that's still probably about right. We have a decent team that got off to a ridiculously hot start based on outstanding pitching, and a bullpen that's been out-of-it's mind good for a month and a half. The realist knew the Brewers would be good, but the people that know this team the best knew they'd be contending for the division. I stand by that.

I don't even know what to say to this as it is so absurd, what a completely biased opinion based on nothing more than a hot start. Objectively we don't even have the best talent in our division, much less top in 3 MLB. The Brewers have been fun follow, we couldn't have asked for a better start, but that doesn't represent the true talent of this team. Unless of course you really think we have 3 sub 3 ERA pitchers on the staff, a closer who's only going to give up a run every 20 appearances, Reynolds is going to hit 46 HRs at age 30, and so on down the line. If so that brings me back to my initial statement. You didn't mention a lot of other offensive players in that post of yours that will step up. I believe the pitching is around a 3 ERA pitching staff.

I never said any differently. I said, when the pitching cools off the offense will make up for it until the pitching heats up again.

Exactly. Now you know 1 of the reasons of why I'm so confident in my prediction on this Brewers team. The Brewers aren't even playing at their best yet. Not even close. Just wait till the offense get's back healthy even with ARAM out on the DL. The Brewers offense is MUCH better than this. Sure. If Aram hasn't hit the wall in his mid 30's after an injury plagued season last year and several relatively unproven guys perform how we hoped they would our offense will start to produce much better. However as that happens, our pitching is almost certainly going to go through slumps. Garza and Estrada have had health issues, Gallardo struggled last year, Peralta still is far from a proven #1/2/3 type pitcher. Lohse is pretty reliable. Our BP looks very good, but does anyone think Duke's gonna post a sub 2.00 ERA this year? Or that K-Rod is going to be able to give up 1 run every 20 innings pitched? Thornburg and Smith will be perfect? This team is good, but man, do you not see the talent on the Cards roster? You seem to take for granted that the players who have gotten off to uncharacteristically good starts are going to continue to perform at elite levels and that players who've gotten off to slow starts are going to perform at their peak level. I hate when people say, "I'm just a realist," because I've yet to find someone who thinks their opinions are just totally unrealistic....that said....I'm a realist. The Brewers aren't the best or 2nd best team in baseball talent wise and they're going to have to get lucky to win the division. The Brewers are in the top 3 in talent in baseball. There offense hasn't even gotten going yet, and that's me being a realist. We know what their pitching can do.

and Fires.

Exactly. They can't demote him. Needed to be done last year. No, they couldn't demote him after 2010. About halfway through the season. After 5 years you can't send a player down without their agreement. Just ask JJ. What do you mean it's all BA driven? He has a decent split between BA and OBP. I believe you.

Dunn might be having a resurgent year, but I wouldn't count on him keeping it up, and if he did, certainly not through next year. Though he could very easily hit .220/.320 and give us 35 HR's. The problem is he's so bad defensively that I'd rather just roll the dice with Hunter Morris. If the Brewers make a trade I believe it's going to be more along the lines of a Martin Prado from AZ, a guy who can play 3rd to backup Aram, 2nd, 1st, LF and RF. Not sure what it'd take to get him, but it won't take a Jimmy Nelson. A guy like Prado isn't going to put up a .900 OPS, but he can hit .280/.350 and do it at a number of positions. I don't think these teams are going to by prospect rankings. I think that teams are looking at players like Coulter, Tyrone Taylor, and a number of other players as pretty valuable prospects. They obviously scout players to see how they're progressing, and many of our young guys are really having great starts and have a lot of tools. Mike Fiers is a pitcher right off the top who could have a lot of value for a team looking for immediate help in someone's rotation and in their rotation down the road. I think you're really underrating the farm system. We have plenty of talent to put together a deal to fill a couple holes. We probably have the talent to make a major move if we were so inclined, but I don't think that makes sense to anyone. A major move for who? I agree about their farm, but the only 1B man I would want is Stanton.

Exactly. They can't demote him. Needed to be done last year.

I'll bet you it takes Weeks 2 weeks to hit 2 doubles, and 3 weeks to hit a "few." Only "if" Weeks is still a Brewer.

Let's ease up on the hyperbole here. Despite sporadic playing time Weeks is hitting pretty well. Better than Segura and Davis at least. Gennett is atrocious against left handers, and Weeks isn't hurting us by playing second against lefties. Take a look at what's being run out every night by Toronto, St. Louis, or Atlanta, and you'll see Rickie is still capable of being a starter in this league. Not for 11 million dollars, but if the Brewers cut him loose right now he would quickly have another job in the majors. Gennett still needs a platoon mate, and Weeks is a more valuable bench bat than Schafer or Bianchi, so I don't really see what the rush to get rid of him is. You pay his salary either way. There's not really any situation where it makes sense to play Rickie in the outfield either, so I don't see why everyone is so upset about this. So much irrational hatred of Weeks, not just on this board, but among Brewers fans in general. Davis is hitting .217/.239/.388 and was on the verge of a trip to Nashville to get straightened out though A-Ram's injury might have given him a reprieve. Roenicke wants to get both a recently hot Weeks and Gennett in the lineup at the same time. Most guys would do what they have to to get in the lineup and help the team. and Weeks would be in Nashville right now if we had that "option" to work on what's going on with him. For him to go from a huge power threat to a guy that can't square up on a ball and hit it with power is VERY troubling for his career.

Let's ease up on the hyperbole here. Despite sporadic playing time Weeks is hitting pretty well. Better than Segura and Davis at least. Gennett is atrocious against left handers, and Weeks isn't hurting us by playing second against lefties. Take a look at what's being run out every night by Toronto, St. Louis, or Atlanta, and you'll see Rickie is still capable of being a starter in this league. Not for 11 million dollars, but if the Brewers cut him loose right now he would quickly have another job in the majors. Gennett still needs a platoon mate, and Weeks is a more valuable bench bat than Schafer or Bianchi, so I don't really see what the rush to get rid of him is. You pay his salary either way. There's not really any situation where it makes sense to play Rickie in the outfield either, so I don't see why everyone is so upset about this. So much irrational hatred of Weeks, not just on this board, but among Brewers fans in general. Sometimes you need to look at the stats of the players to truly believe and see what is happening, http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=571697#gameType=%27R%27&sectionType=splitsCareer&statType=1&season=2014&level=%27ALL%27 http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=430001#gameType=%27R%27&sectionType=splitsCareer&statType=1&season=2014&level=%27ALL%27 http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=516416#gameType=%27R%27 http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=501981#gameType=%27R%27 Gennett has had only 14 AB vs LHP, which is a very small sample size but has 103 AB (3 times as many as Weeks, fyi) vs RHP and is hitting .301 with a .339 OBP with many XBH and has 2 HR's . Weeks is hitting .217 with a .280 OBP with 0 RBI's vs LHP and is showing zero power by hitting all singles. If anybody has earned the right for a starter position it's Gennett by a mile, and there's a reason why he's getting it. To say Gennett can't hit LHP is premature, but saying Weeks has been terrible and should be off the roster isn't. Answer a question - Why did the Brewers approach Weeks about LF if the platoon was working or worth a further look at 2B? Also, don't look at AVG and OBP after only 128 AB's for Segura and Davis. Look at their RBI's and all of their XBH's. They have shown more production than Weeks has even though they are going through adjustment periods called slumps. The fact that they are showing gap power tells me there's still plenty to be expected out of them. To compare them all to make the point you were making by trying to beef up Weeks is ridiculous. Now I never said Weeks career is over, but it's looks really bad; especially his lack of power and XBH, and it's certainly over with the Brewers, and after watching these numbers I'm thrilled, and have accepted this over coming to this conclusion over a long period of time. He's had his fair shake.

I'd swap Weeks contract for Adam Duns. Pay Chicago 10-15 million, and have them eat the rest. We instantly upgrade 1B and we have him next year also. Imagine Dunn homers in Miller Park RF.

If Davis keeps this up through July AAA will be an option, but that's highly unlikely.

Exactly. Now you know 1 of the reasons of why I'm so confident in my prediction on this Brewers team. The Brewers aren't even playing at their best yet. Not even close. Just wait till the offense get's back healthy even with ARAM out on the DL. The Brewers offense is MUCH better than this.

You tell 'em, buddy! You bet. At this point in Weeks career it would hurt him to play LF and have it not work out defensively or on offense, plus with Davis being a RH batter Weeks wouldn't see much playing time since Davis will eat up the playing time and is more of a long term option. His best hope which is slim is to start hitting while playing 2B even in a platoon. This move has more to do with someone picking him up in FA to play 2B than anything, so he can keep his MLB career alive. It's a smart move he made with his agents advice more than likely. Either way he's going to be gone by mid-season. The Brewers were doing him a favor by platooning him at 2B, so he could get playing time to increase his value, and up until this point he's been terrible. So bad in fact, that he's hurting the team by taking up a roster spot and costing Gennett playing time and hurting the Brewers. He's has no good scenario unless he starts hitting, and no better option than a platoon. However, his time might be up because I think this was the Brewers last move with him, and now he could be released in just a matter of days.

This was a last ditch effort to give weeks more playing time, because they want to go with Gennett full time. Look for Weeks to be released within a month, and if he starts hitting, then he will be traded by the trade deadline.

We'll, I love you, trwi7.

I said this exact same thing to you 2 weeks ago and you said the race would be basically wrapped up at the end of April. I know and I stand by it. I don't know why people freak out when this whole things is already in the bag. The Brewers will win the division. There offense will start exploding.

Dude, of course there are fans that are starting to lose it already. It's Brewers fans we are talking about here. It's natural for the average fan to freak our prematurely after 1 month of baseball. People forget the things that can happen in a long season. This thread is needed or will be needed fairly soon. Keep it up.