Brewcrew82

It's looking like a closer division race than last year, however, two of your assumptions in here may not be fair. One, I'm not sure they can expect O'Neill to come back and produce at last year's pace. Before he went on the IL last month, he was among the worst position players in baseball at a -0.6 WAR. Even his defense was below his Gold Glove level from last year. He is a guy who has always had a huge hole in his bat, consistently ranking among the league leaders in K% and Whiff%. He had a great season last year for sure, mainly because he was able to hit the ball extremely hard when he did make contact, but the same warning signs were still there as he ranked in the 4th percentile in both K% and Whiff% (i.e., Keston Hiura territory). Fast forward to this season, and his hard hit rate has completely dovetailed to the point where he is no longer able to offset his huge swing and miss propensities. So, unless he suddenly starts making contact more consistently, it is highly unlikely that he will ever be able to repeat or come close to the season he had last year. Two, while you're correct in that Gorman, Donovan, and Yepez have come up and provided them with a big boost on the offensive end to help make up for the injuries/disappointments in O'Neill, Carlson, DeJong, and Sosa, I'm not sure if they'll be able to count on them to continue to produce at the level they currently are. None of these guys were "can't miss prospects" like a Vlad Jr., Franco, or Julio Rodriguez. Gorman was the only one who ever made a top 100 prospect list, and like O'Neill, he comes with huge questions in terms of his ability to make contact. So, while Gorman currently has a .950 OPS, the more at-bats he gets this season we can expect that to decline significantly due to his 34.6 K% and pitchers adjusting how they pitch to him. As for Yepez and Donovan, who both never sniffed top 100 prospect status, Yepez's production has already begun to steadily decline after a hot start upon his initial call-up, and while Donovan's K/BB ratios are promising and he possesses an above-average hit tool, his .855 OPS is unsustainable due to his lack of power and he has below-average tools everywhere else. Now, I'm not questioning that these guys could all wind up becoming good major league players (and perhaps even something more in Gorman's case), however, I think we can say with near-certainty that they won't continue to combine for an .870 OPS over the remainder of the season.

Yeah, even Wiemer I could be convinced to part with for the right piece, meaning a controllable star-level player. Just not for a rental like Bell or Benintendi. Chourio is a hard “no way no how”. Particularly when he’s drawing comparisons to Vlad Jr. Acuna, Soto, etc….

All that being said, I totally agree that we should pursue upgrades for this offense. Guys like Bell, Benintendi, etc. would be great additions. And I'm willing to trade anyone in our farm system, save for Chourio. I just wouldn't completely empty the cupboard a la 2011.

I think the last few games may be tainting your opinion of our hitters. The only one I can say with absolute certainty is a "crap" hitter at this point is Cain, who seems headed for a DFA within the next few weeks. And guys like Hiura are only seeing playing time because of all our injuries. This is the same team that got off to a franchise record start less than a week ago, taking a series from these same Padres on the road in the process. We're very injured and very tired right now. We have to be careful not to read too much into this recent downturn. And, once again, how do you explain Pederson, Rosario, and Soler all hitting above their regular season averages and carrying a team to a World Series title? I can assure you that if guys on our team like Rowdy, Renfroe, and Adames all get hot like that we will be going very far in the postseason. There's a reason why any team winning a world series is so improbable.

Would you not have considered it a dream for Soler, Pederson, and Rosario to carry a team to a World Series? I bet you would've. It's all about getting to the playoffs, and then getting/staying hot once there. With the amount of times the Brewers have been able to get to the playoffs recently, you figure that they are due to get hot and go on a run one of these times. And these same hitters have been hot before. Just look at mid-June to mid-September last year....The reason we lost to the Braves is because literally everyone subsequently cooled off simultaneously.

Yeah, but Freeman wasn't really the reason they won the World Series, though he did play well in the postseason. Pederson, Rosario (NLCS MVP), and Soler (World Series MVP) all getting hot and hitting way above their regular season averages was. I could easily see guys like Renfroe, Adames, and Tellez going on that kind of run. And we don't need to "overpower" teams to win in the postseason. We just need to score enough runs for our elite pitching to be able to make a difference.

Counterpoint: who would’ve thought the Braves had enough last year after they lost acuna? Granted they had freeman, but guys like Rosario, Soler, and Pederson were the ones who really carried them in the postseason. We have those types of guys (tellez, renfroe, etc.). We don’t have to hit that much to win in the playoffs with our pitching. We just can’t afford a complete offensive collapse like last year.

They’re more than capable of getting to the playoffs. And, as we have seen in recent years, the playoffs are more about who is the hottest as opposed to who is the best. But I would certainly feel more confident with those pieces. Let’s not forget that this is the same team that got out to the best start in franchise history as recent as a week ago, and which won 95 games last year.

I don’t think so. But at least we would have another capable bat.

Give me Andrew Benintendi and Josh Bell, and this team would be quite capable of winning a World Series.

Andrew Benintendi would be a tremendous addition to this team. And he would cost very little as an impending free agent.

One more thing. Watching the Cubs-Cardinals game last night, I will note that both the Cubs and Cardinals closers pitched more than one inning in a tight game, with Robertson going close to 45 pitches. Ridiculous if Counsell and Hader have pigeonholed themselves into the one inning only thing, particularly when Hader just appeared in two different games on one day.

Will Sophia ask him about it?

I’m almost positive that if Hader pitches the 10th inning we win this game. Oh well, if this is going to be our worst week of the season, we’ll be all right. Still greater than 80% odds to make the playoffs. Hope they get some much needed rest tomorrow and start out fast against the Phillies when Adames and Renfroe are hopefully back in the lineup.

I didn’t say Counsell shouldn’t have pitched him in the 9th. I was talking about having him pitch the 10th in addition to the ninth.

They should make yelich do all of the “pick up the tab nights”. He sure as heck hasn’t earned that contract.

Had our chance in the 8th. Though I don’t understand how Hader can pitch in two different games on Tuesday and not in the 10th today.

Please get one more fellas. I don’t want extras today.

WONG GONE!

Well, at least we don’t have to worry about Devin Williams anymore. Dude is beyond electric.

Playoffs are still 86% probability even with this losing streak. A lot of it’s injuries, some of it’s not. But let’s be careful not to read too much into the last few games when over a 1/3 of our lineup is out.

The offense was good enough in April and May before this recent injury wave which has removed more than 1/3 of our everyday lineup. I want to see how they play when adames and renfroe return. They have been our two best hitters this season.

With the number of at bats he’s had in AAA at this point, he’s getting extremely close. And he’s never going to be a huge OPS guy anyways because of his shortage of power. His main carrying tools have been his plate discipline and defense. I can tell you that we could certainly use his defense in the infield right now.

There’s also someone named Brice Turang at AAA. So, yes, I agree.

Injuries and no days off finally taking their toll in this series. Tomorrow’s off day couldn’t come at a better time.