Warning Track Power

Amen to this concept. It has been a long time coming given the presence of the ball and glove on Spring Training merchandise, postseason paraphernalia, Kids Club, etc... While I hope the move is to the royal and yellow like my avatar, I fully expect the move to be to navy and gold. This to me is a lost opportunity as the royal and yellow is the Brewers and the navy and gold could be worn as an alternate on Fridays, Sundays, or day games. They have a lot of good conceptual jerseys on the internet already and hope they follow the format of using a modernized version of the mid-80s away script. Really crossing my fingers on this one... As an aside, I just convinced myself around mid-season they would not be changing away from the barley jersey anytime soon, given the revenue stream for two jersey types, and purchased three authentic jerseys (home, away and navy). The Brewers got me

In a vacuum, I think 2019 has been a bad year for Stearns & Counsell. I don't believe this means they need to be fired. However, I do think they need to take a real hard look at a couple of things. 1. Chris Hook and Andy Haines: Yes I know it's easy to blame hitting an pitching coaches when you have a season like this. However, can you name one player on the Brewers roster who you would consider is overachieving? I can name a number of players who I believe are underachieving (Shaw, Burnes, Peralta, Jeffress, Cain, etc...) but I cannot think of one player I believe is exceeding what could realistically be expected from them. Houser perhaps? My larger issue is that when it comes to the season long slumps that have occurred, from an outsider's point of view, it seems as if they have no clue as to how to get them out of it. 2. Re-signing Inexpensive Options: I think we all loved the idea of Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta in the rotation to start the year. However, moving them to the rotation significantly hit the Brewers bullpen and, when two of them failed, severely hurt their rotation. Given Miley signed a very cheap deal and Gio had to take a minor league (and fortunately was available given Burnes and Peralta's struggles), these are options the Brewers have to pick up in the future. Cheap quality depth is something the small market Brewers cannot pass up on. 3. Diversifying the Offense: I understand the game has universally gone to a 3TO system and part of that may be due to shifting, but man it is frustrating to watch. A lineup with the players the Brewers have should not have this many problems scoring runs consistently. Is it coaching? Is it approach? I don't know but Stearns and Counsell have to address this in the offseason. 4. Stop Undervaluing Your Own: Yasmani Grandal is an amazing offensive catcher. However, his defense (despite what the advanced stats may say) does not equate to $18m worth of value. We saw this firsthand in the NLCS. Pina, while no world beater, is a great defensive catcher and really didn't need replacing. Grandal's $18m could be spent elsewhere to shore up deficiencies in the roster. Bottom line, hindsight is 20-20. Stearns and Counsell are going to be fine but there are some significant lessons they should be taking from this season. I for one trust that both of them will take some of these lessons and the Brewers will be right back in it in 2020.

Brewers are my favorite sports team but I’ll be glad when this season is over. Easily my most disappointing season as a fan given their expectations at the beginning of the year. Like early 2010 Packers post-Super Bowl.

Great post. Very much agree. Counsell should shoulder A ton of blame for this season.

I would too, especially because they rarely make the playoffs, but I have low hopes given how bad their pitching is.

WC2 will likely be one of six inconsistent .500 teams And I would feel much better in that game and th next series with any pitching staff other than the Brewers.

This team is just not good. Period. I don’t care if they win tonight. The absolute worst pitching staff of contenders. Who can you rely on onnoffense other than Yelich? This an inconsistent .500 team.

Missed opportunities early in the game are significant but the mismanaging of the bullpen continues. Hader 2 nights in a row with two RH hitters coming up should have meant Jackson or Peralta immediately with Hader waiting for Olson. Hader also needs to fall out of love with his fastball.

Good God right? I had made the proposal of the Brewers acquiring Greinke, Ray and Bradley for a lesser prospect return if the Brewers offered to pay about what the Astros will be paying (roughly 2+ years, $55-$60m). I was thinking Ray, Dubon and Lutz would have gotten it done given the Brewers would've been taking on the contract. I guess it shows how far off we all can be in terms of armchair GM-ing.

I know not everyone has the Athletic but the article below analyzes the Brewers acquisition of Pomeranz and Black: https://theathletic.com/1110345/2019/08/01/drew-pomeranzs-addition-gives-brewers-valuable-flexibility-in-bullpen/ The most interesting thing I found though was in the comment section, Robert Murray's explanation for calling the trade "significant": Good enough for me.

Faria has shown nothing in the majors or at AAA to suggest he is anything more than a Wilkerson type player. AAAA guy who has little upside. A low,low,low level move by Stearns. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fariaja01.shtml 2017 Faria says hello.

I will tell you what a needle mover is...To me it's a player or players that you acquire, that almost EVERYONE in baseball or associated with baseball in anyway can clearly see by acquiring that player you made your team better for a pennant race, or into the postseason. They are a proven commodity, very consistent in what they do and will make an impact down the stretch...some examples of this...when the Brewers acquired CC Sabathia=HUGE needle mover...do they make the playoffs without him?? Absolutely NOT. When they acquired Zach Greinke=HUGE needle mover. When those two took the mound every night, you felt like you had a legitimate chance to win every night they pitched. You knew they were VERY unlikely to get shelled(it happens to everyone). Examples this year...Greinke to the Stros...that pretty much locks them in as the clear American league favorites to at least get to the World Series, and now with that rotation can go head to head with the Dodgers, easily. Shane Greene to the Braves...model of consistency, night in night out when he closes. he comes in, almost always he will finish it out...=Needle movers. What the Brewers did today are NOT needle moving moves...they can be I guess, but..you hope/wish/cross your fingers that it can. Not enough of an impact for it to be a CLEAR upgrade for anything. especially the rotation. so REALISTICALLY, what did you want the Brewers to do today? While I was initially disappointed in this trade (and I still don't necessarily love it), it has become crystal clear that the prices on pitching was astronomical and this was about the extent of what the Brewers could do with their system. Did you see what the Astros gave up for Greinke? And they are STILL having to pay him a significant amount of his contract. Short of dealing Hiura, the Brewers simply weren't going to be able to acquire that top end pitcher. Like I have said previously, I blame the click-baiting of Robert Murray that got all of our hopes up by saying Dubon was being traded in a "significant" deal. I think any one of us would assume a writer calling a "significant" deal for players of Pomeranz, Black and Dubon is the epitome of bad journalism. This one tweet alone got me emotionally twisted for this deal as I automatically assumed the deal would include actual significant pieces like Bumgarner or Smith, as well as actual significant pieces (Ray, Turang, Grisham, etc...) being included on the Brewers end.

I cannot fathom this. Shaw still hasn't shown much and who plays 1B if he is DFA'd? If anything, I think the Aguilar trade solidifies Thames being in Milwaukee not only for the remainder of 2019 but likely 2020 as well.

Sounds to me like a rotation for Grisham between Braun and Cain. Guessing he sees 3 starts per week and Gamel becomes the 5th OF now. Bench of Grisham, Gamel, Pina, Saladino and Shaw/Thames. Not a bad bench honestly.

Unreal

Reality of the Brewers trades over the past week is that they could have a quietly good bullpen: LHP Hader LHP Pomeranz RHP Faria RHP Lyles RHP Black Not to mention Jeffress, Guerra, etc...Unfortunately, they aren't all going into the pen.

Agreed. Saying an agreement is close would've been fine. We all still may hate the trade but his reporting got our hopes up for something much more.

This deadline is shaping up to be one of the worst in memory. I would have rather the Brewers stand pat then make that deal. Having said that, Murray calling it "significant" is a joke. Bad reporting in my opinion. Could have left it as "in agreement"

Pomeranz?!?!

Not MadBum or Will Smith...Murray initial report of "significant" isn't holding up.

To call it significant, it can't just be Will Smith. This has to be an SP.

Bumgarner and Will Smith?

He's actually the one SP I want and would immediately try to extend him. If Burnes ever figures it out, a front of the rotation with Woodruff-Wheeler-Burnes could be real nice.