Warning Track Power

RHP Trevor Richards coming with Adames

100% agree with this. Overpay for quality hitters and take on a big contract to lessen the cost in prospects (Nicholas Castellanos and Josh Donaldson), and do whatever it takes to compliment the Burnes-Woodruff-Peralta TOR. I wonder what the Reds thoughts are on Castellanos right now? Do they view themselves as contenders or would they be willing to get out of that contract if the opportunity came along? I would be very willing to take on Castellanos entire salary (2 years $34m minimum after 2021, assuming he doesn't opt out after 2021) if the Reds were willing to move him. Heck, I would take on Moose as well (2 years $38m) if the Brewer can't get Donaldson. Give them Garcia and his $2m buyout and lesser prospects for those big contracts. The way I see it, those contracts should not inhibit the Brewers from possibly signing or extending Burnes or Woodruff as Moose and Castellanos both expire after 2023 and Burnes and Woodruff aren't FA until after 2024. It's easy to say you would take on $36M for 2022-2023 when money is no object. Unfortunately for the Brewers, money doesn't grow on trees. Yelich's contract goes up by $12M, they still have Cain at $18M plus JBJ at $13M. If you add the Reds players you want those two plus Yelich-Cain-JBJ almost equal the Brewers payroll for this year alone. Wong is making $8.5M and they will re-sign Narvaez if he keeps hitting. Not to mention the arby guys who will be getting some good size jumps in pay. The larger points I am trying to make are: 1. The NL Central, and maybe the entire NL, is there for the taking with no true powerhouse save maybe the Dodgers. 2. If this isn't the time to be pushing the payroll, when you have three potential aces on cheap contracts, then when is the time right? 3. The poor performance of the lineup as constructed necessitates change. Unfortunately, with the farm still in poor condition, they will have to spend their way into quality hitters be it FA or trade. 4. Similar to #3 above, due to the poor condition of the farm, the Brewers can't offer top end prospects, so they will have to spend in dollars. Taking on contracts is likely necessary. I get that it isn't my money, nor do I have access to cash flow. However, the Brewers have quite the opportunity to be truly special with the pitching they have, especially when it's as cheap as it is. I do not want to see them blow this opportunity.

Jo Adell, Brandon Marsh, Anthony Rendon (pay 1/2 of his contract), David Fletcher and Reid Detmers as a starting point.

The absolute worst thing about this was 2+ years ago when they would show the nightly Dodger game (as you indicate) and SportsNet LA was battling with the rest of the cable providers and MLB Network would be blacked out most nights for 80% of us in Southern California. So either you watched the Angels or had to pay for MLB Extra Innings to get your baseball fix. Luckily, the situation has been remedied and now SportsNet LA is on Directv and other providers now.

100% agree with this. Overpay for quality hitters and take on a big contract to lessen the cost in prospects (Nicholas Castellanos and Josh Donaldson), and do whatever it takes to compliment the Burnes-Woodruff-Peralta TOR. I wonder what the Reds thoughts are on Castellanos right now? Do they view themselves as contenders or would they be willing to get out of that contract if the opportunity came along? I would be very willing to take on Castellanos entire salary (2 years $34m minimum after 2021, assuming he doesn't opt out after 2021) if the Reds were willing to move him. Heck, I would take on Moose as well (2 years $38m) if the Brewer can't get Donaldson. Give them Garcia and his $2m buyout and lesser prospects for those big contracts. The way I see it, those contracts should not inhibit the Brewers from possibly signing or extending Burnes or Woodruff as Moose and Castellanos both expire after 2023 and Burnes and Woodruff aren't FA until after 2024.

Assuming they are buyers, I would have interest in Josh Donaldson and moving Shaw to 1B. This would assume the Twins would pick up a significant part of Donaldson’s contract. I don’t think the prospect package would be significant either given his age.

The idea that Zach Green is some kind of savior is laughable and sad all at once. You want to bring him up to replace Pablo Reyes as the very last man on the bench? Sure, I guess I am good with that. You want to bring him up to replace or take ABs from Travis Shaw? No thanks. I also remember a time when people were pining for more Billy McKinney or Tyrone Taylor. How is that going? I would much rather see Hernan Perez, who at least might bring some life back into what appears to be a dead clubhouse without Arcia and, heck, Aguilar.

This is how I feel. It certainly doesn't help that our favorite team cannot hit, but even watching other teams play has become a bit monotonous for me. I don't need to watch 6-5 games every night to be entertained. A 2-1 or 3-2 game is quite entertaining. Where I think tmwiese nails it is there is a general lack of action in these games as a result of the acceptability of strikeouts now. The games lack action because there are so many strikeouts and lazy fly balls as a result of the launch angle craze. While the Brewers are frustrating me out of my mind with their poor offensive performances, at least they were putting the ball in play last night. More to the point about banning the shift and, I think Travis Shaw would have had 3 hits last night if the shift were banned, as the shift allowed the 2B to be 30 feet into RF. I mean he hit three hard hit balls and was thrown out each time from short RF. When even baseball purists and baseball enthusiasts are getting bored and tired of the game, there certainly is a problem. Banning the shift and mandating two IF on each side of 2B is a start for the creation of more action.

Maybe he should suit up and hit in the two hole later this week? Oh he will soon. Except the name on the jersey will be Perez. Mark my words.

Add to my last post. Can’t wait for Counsell’s ridiculous spin about needing better offense in his postgame. Yeah no crap there guy. It’s your job to figure out how to get that and you have ZERO answers for it. Your seat should be warm.

Legitimately the most underachieving Brewer team I can remember. Supposed pitching and D team can’t pitch or play D. Let alone, you know, hit the baseball. If Counsell weren’t from Whitefish Bay, there would be a lot more calls for his head.

When do Counsell and Haines get fired?

Yelich should also deliver when he’s getting paid so much money to be a singles hitter now.

I am getting to the point where I think the entire organization needs a reset. This is way to ugly to watch night in and night out with the type of starting pitching they have. Literally my least favorite Brewer team I’ve had the pleasure (?) of rooting for.

It’s really not. Counsell has sucked for a season +. He’s part of the problem now unfortunately.

This team is terrible to root for as a fan. I hope Attanasio understands how poorly run it is right now and decides to clean house

Hopefully Counsell is paying attention. His team is built to win games this way and he acts like he has Braun and Fielder in their primes in the middle of his lineup.

And go with who? Counsell is now Generic Manager so he's not going to use Hader. Williams isn't good and neither is anybody else. Amen on this. Oh look a sac bunt attempt. What a smart decision. Counsell doesn’t do this anymore.

Literally game over. Brewers win this and it will be a miracle. This team just isn’t good

Kind of an odd statement, and I'm not sure what you're implying. In the end, the team's results rest on Stearns and CC. This year's results are still very much up in the air. As others have noted, it's worth seeing if it's a small sample size problem or indicative of a larger issue. Right now, I maintain that it's astoundingly unlikely that 8-10 players were acquired and suddenly performed as if they hadn't hit a baseball before. Hyperbole, of course, but still. Small sample is very, very possible, which means no one is to blame, but that's not what the 'fans' want to hear. If it's indicative of a larger problem, my point is that it is far more likely that the approach that the Brewers are preaching offensively is the issue rather than a sudden inability to evaluate talent by a front office that has shown immense skill in that area. I have been a very strong supporter of both Craig Counsell and David Stearns since they arrived in the mid-2010s. However, for those of you that are also Packer fans, I am starting to get a similar sense to what happened with the Packers as it relates to the Brewers with Mike McCarthy (Counsell), Ted Thompson (Stearns) and Dom Capers (Haines). Counsell, who was once so innovative, has appeared to grow similarly stale, ala McCarthy, in the past few years as the Brewers no longer mix and match pitchers, have set Williams and Hader as the 8th and 9th inning only guys, and no longer uses the hit and run or steals to press the issue. McCarthy never adjusted to the McVay-type offenses and the game appeared to have passed him by. The larger issue I am seeing is with Stearns and Haines, similar to Thompson and Capers. Every year between 2012-2019, the Packers drafted consensus 1st round defensive talent. The picks were not "reaches" based on pre-draft rankings and Capers literally did nothing with their talent to make them close to a top 10 D except put square pegs in round holes (Nick Perry and Datone Jones come to mind). Is that a miscalculation in talent by ALL NFL evaluators, Thompson included, or was this an indictment of Capers coaching abilities? I tend to think it was the coaching. Similarly, whereas Stearns may have not given Haines 1st round picks, he has given him established, average offensive baseball players (JBJ, Narvaez, Garcia, Cain) who should at worst be able to give the Brewers a league-average offense when combined with a superstar (Yelich) and one that was budding (Hiura). Instead, they are amongst the worst and don't have answers in the past 100 games (60 in 2020 and 40 in 2021). So is it Stearns or Haines fault? I tend to think it is coaching. Like I said, I see a lot of parallels between the two situations and I think it is really about faulting one or the other but not both. In the case of the Packers, they should have been at worst a top 12 D with the amount of 1st round talent provided. With the Brewers, they should be the 14-18th best O in the sport when you look at the talent and track record of the players in the everyday lineup, but they are one of the worst.

Here is the issue I have with anyone coming to the Brewers, in the past few years, once they get to Milwaukee, they stink. Examples of Career OPS vs. Milwaukee OPS -Narvaez: Career .772, Milwaukee .738 -Garcia: Career .751, Milwaukee .696 -JBJ: Career .732, Milwaukee .506 -Vogelbach: Career .719, Milwaukee .793 -Smoak: Career .744, Milwaukee .642 -Sogard: Career .658, Milwaukee .643 -Holt: Career .715, Milwaukee .322 There is something not right in the water in the clubhouse. This is an issue that is becoming unique to Milwaukee. Aguilar, Holt and Sogard have all become serviceable or more since they left. The organizational approach needs some serious attention both in the clubhouse and the front office.

In a lot of ways, this team reminds me of a Bizarro 2009 Brewers. That team could score at will but couldn't pitch to save their life. Look at 4/5 of the rotation: -34 starts from Braden Looper (5.22 ERA) -30 starts from Jeff Suppan (5.29 ERA) -27 starts from Manny Parra (6.26 ERA) -21 starts from Dave Bush (6.38 ERA) I will say though, I am not sure what is more frustrating. Watching this version of the Brewers losing games where the pitching staff gives up 3 runs and lose 3-1 or watching the 2009 Brewers score 6 runs and lose 8-6.

Literally one of the worst hires I have ever seen in sports. That White Sox team is filled with fun and exuberant players and to hire this (insert expletive here) is just a slap in the face to the fanbase. It would have been like hiring this guy when Braun, Fielder, Weeks, Hart and Hardy were coming up. Sure he WAS a great manager, but he's such an insufferable human that it makes rooting for Ken Macha easy.

I get that offense is down in baseball but I will continue to harp on that being the result of the launch angle revolution. Narvaez took one of the biggest uppercut swings I have ever seen in the 8th and missed. The next pitch he flattened the swing and got a nice single. Watching Cain and Wong also use the uppercut swing, with a deadened ball, just seems like they are wasting PAs for lazy fly balls. If guys like me can see that the approach needs to be adjusted to stop uppercutting everything and get back to the basics of baseball that we all learned as 7-10 year olds, then I think guys like Haines should be able to help players adjust. It's not old school to hit the ball where it is pitched and for faster players, like Cain and Wong, put the ball on the ground and use their speed. If the players aren't listening or making the adjustments necessary at the plate, then a new voice needs to be put into place.

I do not disagree with anything you are saying in your post. In fact, I believe the Brewers likely made a push for Arenado. My only point is that I would have done whatever is possible to beat the Cardinal's offer, especially given the organizational hole that is 3B. Now the Rockies may have just said they liked whatever the Cardinals were offering better than anything the Brewers could offer. Nothing you can do there but I doubt the Brewers couldn't have swayed their opinion by offering a package including one of Turang, Small or Ashby or even including Mitchell, who I believe individually is better than any prospect the Rockies received. Now if the Brewers are saving their pennies to extend Burnes and/or Woodruff then I completely understand not dealing for Arenado.