Bryn Upton

I think it is funny for those saying to send him "Back to AAA" because he only had 6 games and 24 plate appearances at AAA, it is the place he played the least. That said, these are the ups and downs that were expected and he has not looked lost at the plate or in the field. He has some similar numbers to Joey Wiemer from last year with regard to hard hit rate and strikeout rate, but Wiemer's mechanics looked way off at times last year and so far Churio looks more comfortable in his mechanics. It is a smaller sample size but I do not see a need to panic with Churio. Churio appears to hit to the opposite field a little better than Wiemer but so many of the numbers look similar so far. Wiemer struggled last season, especially as teams got to know him, we will see if that will be the case for Churio. The real test will be if Churio can make adjustments throughout the season.

I was looking at the standings this morning and I noticed that so far, the Brewers have played nine series, and as of today three of those were against below .500 teams. They have won or split seven of those series. NYM 14-13, MIN 14-13, SEA 15-13, CIN 15-13, BAL 17-10, SD 14-17, STL 13-15, PIT 14-15, NYY 19-10 for a total of 135-119 (.531) The Brewers' next ten series include five opponents that are currently in last place. They have two series against the Cubs, and a series each against Boston and KC, for a total of 13 games between now and June 2. The other 20 games in that stretch are against teams that are currently a combined 61-110 (.357). Two road trips stand out in May; the first road trip to CHC and KC, both are good teams sitting in second place in their divisions and have good home records. Both will challenge the Brewers in different ways, KC has better pitching and CHC has a strong offense. The next road trip after that will go to HOU and MIA, two of the worst teams in the MLB so far this season. MIA is 2-14 at home and has a team ERA of 5.01 while opponents are batting .260 against HOU. Given the level of competition, the Brewers cold be positioned well to stay at or near the top of the NL Central into June.

Absolutely not Donaldson. He has almost become Adam Dunn, more XBH than singles and twice as many Ks and hits. He can still make some plays in the field, I agree, but it is not worth a season of his poor hitting. Power is nice but he does not really bring the power. He had about 70 PA and hit 3 HR, at that rate he would need over 450 PA to get to 20HR next season. The Crew only had one 20HR guy so that might seem attractive, but that is not enough overall production to justify signing Donaldson (who made over $20 million last year). Remember at a key moment in the first playoff game, a tie score, with one out and runners at second and third, Donaldson needed to put the ball in play. Any base hit or sac fly gives the Brewers the lead and he popped out weakly. He came up three times with men on in that game and ended up with 0 RBI. The 2015 Dondalson has left the building. Of all the things the Brewers did well last year - pitching, defense, and picking up Santana, Canha, and Donaldson, and bringing back Miley - they were awful with projecting power bats. Tellez tried to play hurt for too long and his power suffered. The laundry list of DH/1Bs who were supposed to provide pop was historically bad; Winker, Ruf, Voit, Singleton, and Jones combined for 1HR this year. This might have to be a semi-rebuild for the Brewers given the contract situations and injuries they face. Keeping a veteran like Santana who is a good clubhouse guy (much better reputation that Donaldson), who came in and helped several of the younger players develop patience at the plate (look at the number of pitches guys were seeing after Canha and Santana arrived, I believe they led the league), and as the original post mentioned, he will likely cost less than what the Crew paid Winker for this season. The pitching is a whole situation to itself but on the hitting side the Brewers have lots of options in the OF, I'd like to see Taylor in LF, Mitchell in CF, Frelick in RF with Yelich primarily at DH but able to play in the field at times when you want to play match ups. You can have Perkins as a back up at all three positions and you can mix those guys a lot of ways. This gives you very good defense, excellent speed, and room for growth with the bats. With Wiemer and Churio at AAA to start there are options in case of injury. On the INF, you have one of the best young catchers in the game, and you can bring Caratini back for arounf $3 million. Re-sign Adames at SS, Turang at 2B (if he can hit like he did in August he'd be about a 4.0 WAR), and re-sign Santana on a 1-yr deal at 1B. Then you need to go get a 3B, there is no in-house anser right now. Black might be the future but the Brewers need a proven commodity at 3B. I like Monasterio, he really stepped up all season, but he does not produce enough to be a starter at 3B, he could be the utility guy because he can play three positions and puts the ball in play. This leaves the pitching and the pen looks like it could be good with Williams, Payamps, Uribe, Milner all solid returners. The starters are a concern, Peralta, maybe Ashby if he's ready to return, maybe they bring back Miley as a solid veteran presence. Houser and Rea provided some rotation depth and could again but neither seems like a must-have. I think they need to trade Burnes, it will be hard to get as much in return any other time and you cannot afford to let him walk for nothing after the season. After last year's arbitration hearing I think he will not sign a long term deal. You go in on Woodruff and hope he is the same guy he has been when 2025 rolls around. The Crew needs a 3B and likely to new SP to combine with the pieces they have from last year, then they will need a manager that can guide them back to the post-season.

I am happy that Willy seems to be more locked in at the plate lately, .266/.349/.553 with 6HR and 25RBI in the last 30 days, but is he really the primary reason for the recent success? Contreras and Yelich were on fire in July, the new guys picked it up in August as Yelich cooled off significantly. Mark Canha taking ABs that were going to Joey Weimer for the last month might be a bigger reason. In the last 30 days Canha is .353/.434/.541 with 4HR and 17 RBI. Carlos Santana has been an upgrade at first with 5HR and 17RBI in the last 30 days. Those pick-ups have helped the offense, taking some pressure off guys like Willy who might try to do too much in some situations. Guys are looking more relaxed, being more patient, taking a few more pitches. Taylor looks like a major leaguer again after a horrible start. Frelick gave the team a boost when he arrived, now Turang is starting to put together better ABs. Montesario has had ups and down but has been able to put the ball in play with consistency and play above average defense basically making Anderson irrelevant. The only real knock against Montesario is power (enter Donaldson). Let's not forget that Burnes was NL Pitcher of the Month in July, Peralta was NL Pitcher of the Month in August, and now Woodruff has a 0.00 ERA in September. There is a tendency to look for one guy to be the start, to be the "straw that stirs the drink," and on some teams there is that guy. But not every team has that one guy, and there is something to having a squad where everyone knows their role, knows how to contribute, and where no one feels like they have to carry too much of the load alone. During the most recent winning streak we saw basically every player take ABs like they trusted the guy behind him. They were taking pitches, putting balls in play, moving the line, and they put together several 3, 4,, and 5 run innings. All of this is to say, it is a team effort game after game.