BruisedCrew

But my preference would have been to pick up Bush to bolster the middle relief and not make the Hader trade. The minimal improvement made to their bullpen is less than the improvements made by the Cardinals, Phillies, and Padres, the primary competition for the last playoff spots.

Not really, but I find it kind of sad. I’m an old traditionalist who enjoys classic uniform styles and I hate seeing advertisements on those uniforms. I’m not a fan of all of the alternate uniforms which seem like a thinly veiled attempt to peddle more merchandise. Hopefully any sponsor messages will be subtle enough to not detract from the style; I wouldn’t want to see the Brewers (or anyone) wearing a big “Chico’s Bail Bonds” sign on their backs.

With the Brewers trading Hader and adding no hitters while the Cardinals and Phillies bolstered their rosters and are heating up, I’ll stick with my comments from before: 86 wins and no playoffs. The next couple of weeks with series against the Rays, Cards, Dodgers, Cubs and Dodgers might tell us if the Brewers are going to be in the race in September. Stay tuned.

The MLB site shows some guy named Jimmy Yacabonis as the Rays SP in what would presumably be an opener role.

I agree that the recent slide is a true team effort involving failures from the starting pitchers, relief pitchers, defense, and hitting. I disagree with the statement that the offense has been great since the break. It was great in the first 8 games, scoring 55 runs (even with a shutout in the one loss) while going 7-1. But in the next 7 games they scored just 28 runs against some of the worst run prevention teams in the league and lost 6 of those games. In all but one of those games the only runs came across on home runs. With the games generally being close, the inability to score without home runs has been costly. Four runs per game isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great, especially considering the pitchers they were facing. I also don’t agree that the effect of the Hader trade has been purely intangible. The Brewers strength for much of the season has been getting narrow leads and having Boxberger, Williams, and Hader bring them home. I even commented on a game thread a couple of weeks ago that I was concerned that the Brewers were relying too heavily on this pattern, and that they weren’t winning enough games by building leads big enough to not need saves from the back of the bullpen. The Hader trade shook up the roles in the bullpen by throwing the new pitchers into the mix and changing the roles of the incumbents. In 3 of the losses since the break, the pitchers were used differently than they were before the trade and games were lost in the late innings. Of course, we can’t say for sure that Hader’s presence would have made a difference. But, it might have Using Sunday’s game as an example, when Burnes could only go 6 innings because of inefficiency early in the game, the score was 1-1 after 6. Before the trade, Counsell probably would have gone with Boxberger, Williams, and Hader, hoping to get 3 scoreless innings and scratch out a run somewhere in there to get the win. Without Hader he went with Bush and Rogers, who gave up the tie breaking run (in part because Renfroe failed to make the play on what looked like a playable fly ball) If Hader had been here they might have gotten the three scoreless innings and might have won in 9. There were similar situations in the last two losses to the Pirates where runs surrendered by the bullpen affected the outcome.

But that’s why, unless you really believe that Rogers is as good as, or close to as good as, Hader, the Hader trade only reduced the Brewers chances of making and advancing in the playoffs.

It’s telling that for most playoff contenders the question is whether they did enough. For the Brewers the question is whether they went forward or backward. There doesn’t seem to be any question that they lost ground relative to their main competitors, the Cardinals and Phillies.

That chart says it’s for after the ASG only, which is why I think it’s pretty meaningless, especially considering the low quality pitching the Brewers have faced. This all relates to my opinion, based in part and numbers and part on gut reaction, that the Brewers offense is not as good as some of the numbers suggest because they have played more games than anyone else against teams that are the worst in the league at preventing runs. I have also shown how the Brewers run production has been significantly higher against those poor pitching teams than it has been against better teams, and that the gap is significantly greater than it is for other playoff contending teams. In these last 6 games the Brewers scored 26 runs, an average of 4.33 per game, which is only a little below their and the league’s average runs per game. But when you factor in that the Reds and Pirates average giving up 5.16 and 4.99 RPG respectively, that 4.33 average looks worse than if it came against the Dodgers or Cardinals or any other team with both stronger starters and stronger bullpens. And that has been the point all along; that the Brewers’ home run or nothing offense is not well designed to be successful against the best pitchers on the best teams.

Unless wRC+ takes into account the quality of pitchers faced, using it for a small number of games seems to be somewhere between potentially misleading and useless. We all know that in the 15 games after the ASG the Brewers had very good offensive production (except for a shutout loss) while going 7-1 in the first 8 games and then fell pretty flat while going 1-6 in the next 7 games. But I think if we look game by game at those 15 games, the quality of pitchers the Brewers faced was quite poor, both starters and relievers. In April and early May, the Brewers fattened up their offensive numbers against pitchers from the Cubs and (especially) the Reds and Pirates. Just look at some of the games this week started by Burnes and Woodruff. Yesterday, for example, would you say the Brewers and Reds offenses were equal because they both scored 1 run in 6 innings against the SP, or was the performance of the Brewers offense more anemic because they were facing a starter with an ERA over 4? IMHO, given the quality (or lack thereof) of the pitchers the Brewers have faced since the ASG their production has been less than should have been expected. Every segment of the Brewers roster (SP, RP, hitting, and defense) shares some of the blame for the Brewers going 40-42 in their last 82 games. If they don't perform better, the next 5 series are going to kill them. Except for the Cubs (who they've had trouble beating as it is) they are going to be facing pitching and hitting significantly better than they have faced since the break,

I think you have to attend a few games in person to appreciate how boring this team is to watch. I have always loved attending games, going all the way back to the Braves days when my Dad getting his company’s tickets for a Sunday afternoon game or doubleheader was a source of excitement. I went to 30-35 Brewers games a year from 1978-1982 after I got out of school, moved back to the area, and had money of my own. There were a lot fewer games once the kids came along in the 80’s but once they got old enough we went to a few every year, and when the team got competitive in 2007 we got the 10 pack that we still hold today. Thjs might be the last year for that. For all of the reasons you gave, the entertainment value of the games has plummeted. Yesterday’s was a prime example. It took an hour to complete two scoreless innings. Some people might point to being able to see a Cy Young award winning pitcher in action, but watching him labor through 40 pitches against a lineup made up largely of AAA caliber hitters was no treat. When you watch on TV the time in between pitches and between innings is less noticeable because you can be doing something else while you wait for something to happen.

Another exciting day at the ballpark for the holders of the Weekend 10 Pack. Under my daughters’ 3 hour rule, we left after the 8th inning so we missed seeing the last 50 minutes or so of the game, including the tying HR and the game losing throwing error. Watching the Brewers manage pound out 1 run on 4 hits in 8 innings (and 3 hours) against a succession of pitchers with ERA’s over 4, 5, and 6 is more excitement than my old heart can take. Other than losing 5 of 6 games against teams that have given up on the season, plus one against the struggling Red Sox, the most astonishing stat of the week to me is this one: Not counting a run scored on Thursday in extra innings with a free runner, in only one of those 7 games did the Brewers score a run not on a home run. And this is against pitchers who aren’t close to the best in the league. As they discussed on last night’s regional Fox telecast, against better pitchers (like ones that pitch in the playoffs) HRs are harder to come by and a team has to be able to score in other ways. The Brewers proved that last year. As the Cardinals complete their sweep over the Yankees to push the Brewers 2 games out of playoff position, it’s hard to see how the Brewers are going to turn things around against the teams they are facing in the next two weeks to remain within hailing distance of a playoff spot. Even playing at Wrigley Field looks like an insurmountable task. What a difference a week can make. Can I blame this on the person who suggested the Brewers were playing so well that they were on the verge of making a playoff spot a given?

I think that would lose its charm quickly when the Brewers got brushed out of the playoffs by the Cardinals.

I’m not a jersey buyer or wearer so it won’t make any difference to me one way or the other. But I would definitely not buy one with a sponsor logo on it.

What the Brewers really need today is for their Cy Young pitcher to have a dominating performance. I’m talking about something like 7 shutout innings like Scherzer was able to do against the Braves last night. A mere quality start of 3 runs in 6 innings might not be good enough.

Unintended duplicate

The argument was that the Cardinals didn’t help themselves that much because they didn’t get a top of the rotation starter like Castillo. What that missed is that, while Quintana and Montgomery are not Cy Young candidates or All Stars, they are much better than what they were using behind Mikolas and Wainwright. By sliding them into the rotation and moving the guys that were starting into the bullpen, if they want, they significantly strengthen their overall pitching. And all they gave up from their major league roster was Bader, who is out until September anyway. Compared to the Brewers, who weakened their active roster with the Hader trade, and made a minor addition with Bush, the Cardinals won the deadline and are now, in my opinion, the favorites to win the division.

Cardinals win 1-0 to take over first place. If the season ended today the Brewers would be home watching the wild card round.

These teams keep bringing in relievers with ERA’s over 5 and the Brewers can’t score against them.

The Brewers “revamped” bullpen isn’t too impressive.

That’s even better than Montgomery’s line against the Yankees. IP 5.0 IP, 2H, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 R. The Cardinals are going for their 6th straight win. They’ve given up 8 runs in those 5+ games.

Hiura can’t hit lefties.

Like I said in another thread, if they couldn’t get a true impact bat because the price was too high, they could have at least gotten a right handed hitter who could hit lefties and can actually PLAY first base, not just stand there. Hiura can do neither of those things and that leaves him with no role. The Cardinals, Phillies, Braves, and Mets all went out and got some players to fill specific weaknesses they had, not with All Stars but with guys who have specific skills.

Getting cuffed around by the Cubs, Pirates, and Reds is not the sign of a playoff contender.

After getting 6 innings with 1 hit ( a HR) from Quintana on Thursday, the Cards have their second deadline acquisition on the mound today as Montgomery faces his old team. A Goldschmidt double followed by an Arenado single stake him to an early 1-0 lead. Meanwhile the Phillies continue to score runs in bunches as they lead the Nats 9-0 in the second.

That’s a perfect example of a play that for 100 years the runner would have been safe because he beat the throw easily, and nobody would have complained about it.