Brewcrew82

Halls velo down.

First pitch quiets the crowd lol

I thought we didn’t have pitching anymore! Seriously, it’s great to have baseball back, and it’s even greater to have the Brewers. Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, this will be a fun young team to follow.

I’d be shocked if it wasn’t Uribe. They still would’ve gone to him earlier if it wasn’t.

With this rotation, I think you try to get Freddy through 6 every chance you get. Even today.

Yeli!

Don’t hit it at that guy.

Frelick sitting automatically against LHP with his minor league splits is one thing, but sitting him in favor of Perkins is another thing all together. Fire Murphy!

Feel sorry for him because he's a great pitcher, but not for Cubs fans. Looks like a very major injury.

Projections are also notoriously conservative on rookies.... I've already granted that his rookie floor is probably lower than Bobby Witt Jr's, but there isn't much to suggest we're looking at Joey Wiemer type struggles when he's never struggled that bad anywhere and has been K'ing less than 20% of the time in the minors and 70 ABs of big league ST.

I think the evidence points to his floor being somewhere around there, maybe a bit lower I'll grant you. Even when he was "struggling" in AA last year his wRC+ hovered around 90. And that's as bad as he's struggled anywhere professionally. I get the big leagues is a totally different monster, but he hasn't been K'ing at the 30% rate that would suggest significantly below that level of struggle to like Wiemer territory.

I agree he'll probably start out relatively slow as he did in AA last year, but dude still put up only the 5th 20/40 season for a teenager of the modern era. Also, the 112 wRC+ with the half-season tacked ball is still better than what Giancarlo Stanton, for example, put up in AA at age 19 and he went on to have a big rookie year. Thing that matters most to me by far about his ST (and ST stats in general) is his K%, which was at 19%. That's exceptional, especially compared to other top prospects who had big springs like Langford (24%) or Holliday (31%), and a major sign he's not going to get overwhelmed by big league pitching out of the gates. I still think he's going to start out slow because despite the superb BTB he's still learning to only go after pitches he can do damage with and thereby minimize some of the weak contact you saw, but once he figures that out he should take off. I think a reasonable floor is Bobby Witt Jr's rookie season with a reasonable ceiling being Julio Rodriguez's rookie season. Split the difference and you've got somewhere right where he was last year and then this year in spring training with a 105-120 wRC+. I'm personally on the higher end combined with his baserunning value. Hence my ROTY prediction.

If that's how it plays out with Chourio, you're going to have really depressed fanbase.

I have the Brewers starting slow but reaching their stride in August/September. So, I don't think they'll be in a position where they'll rebuff all offers for Adames, who I have putting up MVP numbers and being in high demand. Plus, I think Ortiz and Wilken are going to really be pushing to take over at SS and 3B. Would simply be more of the counterbuilding they've engaged in this offseason and when they traded Hader obviously. They'll be able to recoup more value than just a comp pick.

I know we have a win thread already, but why not have a thread encompassing all of our predictions for the upcoming season? I'll start with mine. Feel free to add other categories if you wish. Record: 84-78 (2nd NL Central) MVP: Adames (first half-traded at deadline), Chourio (entire season) Cy Young: Peralta ROY: Chourio Top Newcomer: Hoskins All Star(s): Adames, Contreras Breakout Player(s): Frelick, Ortiz, Hall, Wilken (called up in 2nd half) Disappointment(s): Mitchell, Turang, Ross, Payamps Bold Prediction(s): Chourio starts relatively slow but has a white hot finish to the season to edge out Yamamoto for NL ROY. Adames places in the top 10 of NL MVP voting as he pairs his best offensive season since 2021 with his elite defense of the last two years, yet doesn't finish the season with the Brewers.

I think people/national media have really been overstating some of our losses.... Counsell is just a manager. The processes behind the on-field decisions of the last 8 years remain. They'll simply be executed by a different person. Woodruff barely pitched last year. Burnes and Peralta all had ERAs over 4 until July. We were reliant on Julio Teheran and co. holding the fort down for a huge chunk of the year. Williams is dominant and hard to replace, but we also have perhaps the most bullpen depth of any team in the NL. I think a committee approach could work very well. Meanwhile, our position player group is significantly improved and has a ton of upside. Hoskins gives us some serious thump that we sorely lacked last year. Adames looks primed for a huge contract year. Chourio and Frelick are electric, with more to come from AAA/AA. Defense should continue to be stellar and help our pitchers to outperform their peripherals. The two main things I worry about are innings coverage and the bullpen wearing down. We're going to have to win in a different way this year. Starting pitchers aren't going to be going as long which is going to put increased pressure on the bullpen, which will be lacking Devin for the first few months. Will our starting pitchers be able to cover enough innings to prevent the bullpen from wearing down too soon? If Peralta ever goes down for a significant chunk of time, we're in real trouble... I was pretty spot on last year as they just surpassed my prediction of 90 wins. This year, I'm going to predict 84-78, with the team being in contention until the final week of the season. I'm not expecting the postseason, but I really think they'll surprise a lot of people with how fun they are to watch. Kind of similar to the 2017 team. Except I think the coming years will be even better than the stretch we're just coming out of due to the improved hitting talent we're churning out of our farm system.

Doubt it. Frelick, Chourio, Yelich, Perkins is still solid coverage. Bauers can play in the corners ina pinch, too.

This probably puts Frelick at 3B on hold for a while. Yelich in LF, Frelick in CF, and Chourio in RF is going to cover almost all of the innings. Ortiz at 3B and DH rotated between Sanchez/Bauers with a sprinkling of Contreras.

Mitchell just can't stay healthy to save his life.

Ross looking really good today. I'm intrigued.

I think the kid will be just fine in the long run.

Something tells me this isn't even the beginning of this story.

Contract made this totally unsurprising.

Bubble wrap Yeli. On Chourio, I think the contract really incentivizes you to let him work everything out in the majors. Unless he’s absolutely getting overwhelmed with major league pitching, which he hasn’t been (20% k rate), you let him figure things out in the big leagues.