pacopete4

Having a pinch hitter in the 4th but then watching your piggyback partner cost you a scoring chance later in the game? No thank you.

If it makes you feel better, Jimmy posted a mid 5's ERA with a whip of 1.535 in March/April last season (5 starts or 1/4 of his starts).

More than likely you weren't going to replace Nelson's 2017 innings with Nelson's 2018 innings anyways (I believe he pitched over his head). And if there is such a dearth of starting pitching then they better hold off on wasting money on Cobb/Arrieta because it wouldn't make much of a difference then anyways. I still see a strong chance they get Cobb. I'm just arguing back that this roster is not in shambles as many try to make it out to be. We are in a very good place as an organization. It is a great time to be a Brewers fan which cannot always be said. Just the fact that the biggest arguments are whether to sign another talent pitcher to add to a talented rotation, or how we are going to clear the roster of too many talented players for the positions available is a wonderful position to be in. Not too many years ago, guys like Rafael Roque were making Opening Day starts for this team. It's come a long long way, and the future looks bright. But we are all baseball fans, and this is the kind of crap that baseball fans argue about in March Cheers to that!

More than likely you weren't going to replace Nelson's 2017 innings with Nelson's 2018 innings anyways (I believe he pitched over his head). And if there is such a dearth of starting pitching then they better hold off on wasting money on Cobb/Arrieta because it wouldn't make much of a difference then anyways. I still see a strong chance they get Cobb. I'm just arguing back that this roster is not in shambles as many try to make it out to be. We are in a very good place as an organization. It is a great time to be a Brewers fan which cannot always be said.I agree with you that the roster is deep and strong in certain areas and it truly is a wonderful time to be a Brewer fan, as I believe the window is just opening. The issue remains that I would bet the Brewers are more likely to win 80 games than 90 and that is mostly due to the pitching staff. I worry the 2018 Brewers will look eerily similar to the 2010 Brewers, where the lineup had some absolute studs but still won 77 games due to the pitching staff. Yes, I believe this could very well be true. They will need to catch some breaks with some players to reach that 90 wins but I'm not sure adding Cobb really pushed us much further towards that 90 win marker. Does it make it more probable, sure it does. But I'm not sure it makes it a heck of a lot more likely. That's the problem I have with spending on a free agent right now. I think standing pat, seeing what you have out of the mix of guys and Nelson when he returns and then possibly younger guys like a Burnes might be the best route. And if this isn't the mix, then trades and signings must occur for next years team. I don't want to close that window faster than it has to just because we are impatient with the process.

More than likely you weren't going to replace Nelson's 2017 innings with Nelson's 2018 innings anyways (I believe he pitched over his head). And if there is such a dearth of starting pitching then they better hold off on wasting money on Cobb/Arrieta because it wouldn't make much of a difference then anyways. I still see a strong chance they get Cobb. I'm just arguing back that this roster is not in shambles as many try to make it out to be. We are in a very good place as an organization. It is a great time to be a Brewers fan which cannot always be said.

What are some peoples favorite shows out there? I just finished the first season of Sneaky Pete and I am very excited to see the second season drop this Friday.

What did you say a year ago when they entered the 2017 season with: 1. Guerra 2. Peralta 3. Nelson 4. Davies 5. Anderson DL- Garza I understand your point but the Brewers in 2017 hadn't just traded 3 top ten prospects for Christian Yelich, nor had they invested $80 million in Lorenzo Cain. Those moves, combined with the success of 2017, have drastically changed fans expectations and smart fans recognize a glut of talented OF and a dearth of talented SP. This roster is oddly constructed and while I trust Stearns and think he has done an amazing job as GM, I think he may have misplayed his hand in regard to the OF and SP. Fans expectations may have changed but Stearns and Co probably have a very different idea of what those expectations are. It is why we are fans, and they are in the positions that they are in. Do we have a glut in the OF? Sure. But that isn't a bad thing. It keeps being written as if it is such a bad thing to have too many good players. And a "dearth" of SP is not how Stearns and co. would describe it either. Again, that is a fan's take because we haven't signed a big free agent this offseason.

What did you say a year ago when they entered the 2017 season with: 1. Guerra 2. Peralta 3. Nelson 4. Davies 5. Anderson DL- Garza

You wouldn't have said that about Nelson a year ago most likely. Nelson's career numbers are very close to what Chacin's numbers are for his career as well. We most likely won't have an "ace" pitcher on our team (and we wouldn't with signing Cobb or Arrieta either) but we can have a bunch of guys pitch pretty well and we can be successful. I expect guys like Anderson, Davies, Chacin to have an ERA below 4 and I think the Brewers do as well. If they can do that, we will have similar output from our starters that we did a year ago. With adding Jimmy back in the mix as well towards June-July and possibly getting more out of Guerra, Woodruff, Miley, etc... it is not all doom and gloom to me. Me too. I really like the pitching staff they've manage to assemble. Getting Anderson from the D-Backs and Davies from the Orioles was genius. I think Chacin is likely to have an ERA below 4 as well. I mean, if he could do it in Colorado, he should be able to do it in Miller Park. He may end up being the shrewdest move Stearns made this offseason. I also really like Woodruff as a potential "lite" version of Nelson. What worries me is that the rotation's success is just based on too many "ifs" right now to feel super comfortable. I'm not advocating to blow the budget out of the water to fortify it, but I truly believe at this point that Cobb can be signed to a deal that wouldn't do that. Yes, our success this year is depending on a lot of variables in that rotation as well as bullpen (maybe to a lesser degree) but that is not very uncommon for most franchises. I also think we make this conclusion too early as there still are FA's out there as well as roster cutdown time may leave us another Stearns move that has us all applauding midseason. (The Davies oblique scares me too but maybe it triggers a move to be made?)

You wouldn't have said that about Nelson a year ago most likely. Nelson's career numbers are very close to what Chacin's numbers are for his career as well. We most likely won't have an "ace" pitcher on our team (and we wouldn't with signing Cobb or Arrieta either) but we can have a bunch of guys pitch pretty well and we can be successful. I expect guys like Anderson, Davies, Chacin to have an ERA below 4 and I think the Brewers do as well. If they can do that, we will have similar output from our starters that we did a year ago. With adding Jimmy back in the mix as well towards June-July and possibly getting more out of Guerra, Woodruff, Miley, etc... it is not all doom and gloom to me.

Jhoulys Chacin was added.

How did the Brewers get to that first place standing through the all start break again? Oh yeah, by the crafty moves Stearns made in a two-year rebuild that most said would take five. "Deity" status? No, it's about the realization that his job is tough and that so far, he has put us in a good position to compete for a playoff spot. Can/will he make a move to push us over the top at some point, we will have to wait to find out but the rest of this complaining is just that.

I like this idea. Anyone know a thing about his defense? I mean it can't be worse than Vogt and the fact that he's a lefty could be a cheaper option than Vogt.

Last year they were the 8th youngest team in all of baseball at 27.9 years of age. That will tick up a bit this season with the additions of Cain and Chacin, as well as everyone getting a year older but it still probably puts us right around the middle of the pack. Either way, it feels as though Stearns has done a good job of mixing veterans with younger players. You can't have too many of either or it doesn't work.

Fans complained about a lack of consistency from our offense last year. Stearns goes out and plugs in two of the more consistent bats in the game and he's overrated. Also, he signed a free agent pitcher in Chacin who has been extremely consistent throughout his career on a very nice contract. Yet because he won't pony up money for the top three, he's overrated. Can't make this stuff up sometimes.

At this point, Cobb turning down the Cubs' reported 3 year/$42 million deal looks like a bad decision. I wonder if that deal would get it done for the Brewers now? My guess is that if 3/$42 got the job done, he'd be in camp with someone right now, including the Cubs.

If the Brewers win 80 games this year, it won't be the end of the world as the window is wide open and this team is ready to compete for a few years.

Piggybacking pitchers is not a new idea. It might be somewhat new if actually tried but it is not some innovated idea.

Are we overrating David Stearns? You gotta be kidding me. In his short time as our GM he has flipped the script on this franchise from rebuilding to being in the mix. I remember many, many people saying that we wouldn't compete for 4-5 years and after his second year was complete, we finished one game from the playoffs. Now we go into an offseason where we add a Yelich and Cain to our lineup and people want to call him overrated because he hasn't buckled and really put this franchise in a corner with a possibly bad contract? Completely ridiculous. Stearns has whiffs like all GM's but to call him overrated is simply pooh-pooh.

Yes. I believe Stearns overshot himself here. Probably due to Counsell and his love for his mini-me.

He gave up 3 runs in the 4th and got pulled with two down. He's been impressive regardless, but I still think his ultimate upside is replacement-level. Probably more of a stamina thing than anything plus an error(s) on Arcia that led to runs.

If we pay $3M for Sogard, when we could've been paying $5M for Walker. Man oh man what a whiff that'll be.

I love that Miley is dealing. Again it only shifts our depth and at $2.5M, if he pitches well it is a steal. I have no idea if the stat tracker is correct but it says 19 pitches, 19 strikes!

Miley tossing the ball well again today.

I was surprised too when someone said it a few weeks ago here. I just googled to make sure I wasn't remembering wrong and it seems I was correct. https://www.mlb.com/news/eric-sogard-signs-1-year-contract-with-brewers/c-259781940 I didn't see anything in there about it being a guaranteed contract. They could still cut him before opening day rosters and save the $2+ million, right?