pebadger

It's really not all that hard to see this team going 50-70 the rest of the way. That would put them at right around .400 on the season. Even with some of the talent on this club, it's just hard to see where the wins are going to come from. Maybe that will change, but until it does, I just have a hard time seeing it. Barring a very surprising weekend in the Cities, if they can't turn it around at home against Houston and the Mets things look bleak month of June.

For the most part, yes, but I think opinions would diverge rather quickly when you put an upper limit on just exactly what this team is. Right now this team is probably no better than .400. They certainly have the potential to be better, but I see nothing that indicates that this team will be better. They are a punching bag right now, and it almost seems like other clubs smell the blood in the water when they face the Brewers. There seems to be little or no synergy between between any of the moving parts with this collection of players. In 2008 I would have used word 'team'. Not this season.

I'll worry about it the next time the Brewers actually get through 6, 7 and 8 without making the question somewhat irrelevant. Axford was mentioned on last night's boradcasr.

Milwaukee Brewers 2010 - Rounding Third and Heading for Second

I used to envy you guys with season tix packages. Now I feel only sympathy. Keep fighting the good fight, boys.

I was mistaken earlier. Well-coached junior high girls basketball is better.

My thoughs exactly. Glad the Crew isn't the only team with poor baseball IQ.

You know, I'm not even sweating these late innings situations anymore. Kind of like watching my daughter's junior high hoops game. Anything good will only be a welcome surprise, and no loss is crushing as it is now expected. Kind of nice once you let go of expectation.

But don't you have to take the division into consideration in building the team? Unless your goal is to have the best record in all of baseball every season, you only have to beat who you have to beat. One approach to building a team is to state that the objective is to win/consistently compete for the division and take your chances after that. The Twins have done exactly that. The other approach, to simply stockpile an arsenal that is focused on the postseason and which sort of takes a playoff appearance for granted, is simply beyond the means of all but a few franchises. Tampa Bay is a nice story. We'll see how they do in the long run. I like the Rays as currently constructed, but to my eyes there is a heck of a lot of "lightning-in-a-bottle" there. We'll see if the organization can prove itself over the longer term. Hope they can, but just don't know if it's possible given the economics and the division they play in.

If we're going to say the the players that are scuffling because they are "unlucky", shouldn't that mitigate all the blame that is being piled at Melvin's doorstep in the various threads around here? All Melvin has to go on are either the currently reviled 'gut-feelings' about a player or the in-vogue objective statistical metrics. If players are failing to live up to ther reasonable mathematical projections, how can that be put on Melvin if he did in fact rely on such projections in constructing the club? Don't the players have to live up to their own failure to post numbers in line with the predictive model to a greater degree than does the guy who relies on that model? After all, the players alone possess a far greater degree of control over those metrics than the GM ever could.

Nats Fans - Team at .500 and happy the organizaion is getting rid of guys that might disrupt a team that dreams of maybe being wildcard relevant late into August Brewers fans - Team with second worst record in NL and virtually no pitching debating the merits of signing the Nats OF refuse. Chew on that for a while. How long ago was 2008?

I don't know if this is a form of endorsement or an argument for full-scale roster liquidation.

Other than Ryan Braun batting 3rd and playing left field and Gallardo being one of the top 2 starting pitchers, there is absolutely nothing on this team that should be immune from being changed in terms of the longer term. Casey may be the only one approaching that status, but he may be better dealt now while hot than anything. At this point anyone not seeing huge changes ahead needs to be examined.

http://www.fangraphs.com/lgraphs/20100518_Brewers_Reds_0_83_lbig_.png

Where did this game go, Brian? Same place most of them have gone? Why act surprised?

That liner probably saved at least 10 pitches.

My wife has been bugging me since Opening Day about finding a game when the whole extended family can go down. She'd prefer it to be one of the promotional dates. She pays attention to sports, but isn't all that plugged in. Tonight she told me to hold off on buying anything. "Doesn't seem like much fun down there." I'm not the kind of guy who is demonstrative while watching games, don't really talk sports with her and I didn't push her in that that direction in any way. She was just pseudo-watching the game tonight while sewing and got the same vibe I'm sure a lot of folks did.

Maybe teh Brewers can't but a break, but the Phillies are so good that they aren't going to give any back, either. Too much of the timeof the time the Brewers don't make BOTH of those plays to get out of an inning.. The might make one, but most times not both. This particular game aside, that is the difference between being a good team and not over the long haul.

This is not unlike televising a one-on-one game between an 18-year-old D1 college hoops recruit and his 12-year old brother.

The prosecution rests, your Honor.

At this point I'd settle for a streak of games that provides some kind of entertainment value. There is a winning streak out there, but if it's just another three day stretch of 30 runs produced . . . well, I've seen that show already.

I think the real question is, "Is 2008 the best that we can expect from this franchise on a once-in-a-decade (or longer) basis?" If the answer is "Yes", is the reason for that answer rooted in very large part on the simple structure of how MLB works as a business? If the answer is "No", what are the reasons the Brewers have not done better? Are they front-office personnel based reasons? Are there bigger issues, apart from the business end of things that put Milwaukee at a competitive disadvantage with other franchises? Is it an organizational philosophy/culturel issue that has not been overcome due to front-office personnel/ownership issues? And, once those reasons are identified, what, if anything, can be done to address them in the most efficient way possible. I tend to think the answer is "No", but I also tend to think that there isn't (as there usually isn't) a magic bullet to fix this. With respect to the usual point of comparision, the Twins organizational philosophy has been pretty much the same, and the people in charge of the on-the-field baseball stuff have been of a like mind and philosophy, for roughly 25 years now. I think that is a big part of their success. (Along with the fact that they play in a division that is more winnable on a regular basis than is the NL Central. I like NL ball, but I think the Crew would have done 'better', from a purely season-by-season results-oriented perspective, in the current AL Central). Doing what the Twins have done is very hard, as has taken a very long-term commitment to get right. Even then they, and most of the smaller-market franchises, still have to catch lightining-in-a-bottle every now and then to generate successfuul individual seasons. The bonus the Twins have is that they have positioned themselves, on the basis or thier organizational philosophy, to catch that lightning more often than "luck" allows. We'll see how long that continues, and we'll see if maybe the Brewers can eventually build themselves an identity which puts them in a similar position.

Well, I'm out until the road trip. A couple of college graduations to go to this weekend starting will be a nice diversion from this mess. I know it's just coincidence, but given what it seems usually happens with the Crew on national TV I'm guessing the diversion will be a welcome one.

I'm not worried. At some point in the near future this team will score 32 runs in 3 days and all will be well (for 3 days).

I blame Macha.