Too Early to Be Demoralized?

[Warning Track Power]

I waited a few hours to post after today's game to give myself time to write logically and not just a stream of expletives about the mismanagement, under performance and general "yuck" the Brewers have shown this season. But even after that, I have to admit to being demoralized about this season and we're only 21 games in. While it is unrealistic, especially in baseball, to assume games will or should be won, with the number of late leads blown early this season, I have already begun to lose hope in the Brewers ability to turn this season around. Hawkins against the Cubs and Nationals and now Hoffman once against the Cardinals and twice against the Pirates (not counting the McGehee game since we won) have sapped some of the early energy of the season.

 

We now stand at 9-12 and while the season is a very long way away from being over, the thought of us being 14-7 (if we held all of our late leads) or even 13-8 or 12-9 (if we had blown one or two) as we should be at this point, is pretty demoralizing as a fan. I wonder about the negative effects this has on the Brewers players on the team who have produced. I can only imagine players like Braun who have put up numbers all season, what back-to-back blown saves do to their individual attitude/performance.

 

In a situation like this, is a major shakeup necessary? And if so, do players respond better to someone the stature of Hoffman being removed from his Closer's role or the firing of a manager?

 

Weird feeling I have about this team...I've never loved rooting for a Brewers team more than the core of this one, but similarly, I've never hated rooting for a Brewers team more because of their yearly propensity, in my eyes, to underacheive.

[1992casey]

Concerned? Sure. But it's way to early to be demoralized. That's pretty extreme.

[greeg35]

Is it too early to be dispirited?

[rluzinski]

Do people have to justify how they feel? If you feel demoralized, you can't be "wrong" can you?

 

Now, if people want to suggest that the Brewers are obviously terrible and it's clear that they will win less than 70 games, I would say that it's WAY to early to make those kind of claims. Over a 162 game schedule, there are bound to be very rough patches for the majority of the teams. It sucks but that's baseball.

[AJAY]

I remember a certain baseball team that had a struggling closer and was blowing saves at an alarming rate. That team was in last place through the month of May. Guess what? That team ended up winning the 2008 NL Wild Card.

 

KEEP THE FAITH !!!

 

GO BREWERS !!!

[yfinn6]

I'm not demoralized, maybe a bit surprised at how the season has gone thus far. I expected Hoffman to be a little better, and I expected Prince maybe to have a couple more homeruns. I'm not worried about Prince, Hoffman on the other hand has me a tad concerned.

 

I'm a bit concerned with the amount of money the Brewers have invested in pitchers that they can't really count on. Not demoralized.. yet, I'll save that for the All-Star break.

[monty57]

I had this same feeling, but if the team were demoralized, they wouldn't be scoring the way they are. I think fans tend to have more emotional highs and lows than the players. The sad thing for me is that this current stretch of horrible late relief is wasting some good baseball by most of the team. Players have ups & downs, and things tend to even out, but Hoffman (or whoever our closer ends up being if this keeps up) will not be perfect for the rest of the year, so he's probably already cost us a win or two off of our final tally for the season. That could be the difference in making the playoffs or not.

Of course, for this year's Brewers team, early wins or losses could be even more important, as it may make the difference as to whether we're buyers or sellers at trade deadline. But I digress, as I don't want to turn this into another Fielder thread :-)

[1992casey]

Do people have to justify how they feel? If you feel demoralized, you can't be "wrong" can you?

 

It's kind of nice to have a topic where everyone's right while still being an interesting read. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[pebadger]

It would be easier to feel good if it seemed like there was any sort of mystery or suspense to what is going to happen in a game, making it fun to watch. Not saying there isn't, but it sure doesn't seem like it. You "know" the Brewers will give up at least 5 runs and you "know" that if they are ahead by only 1 or 2 late that it isn't enough. Until yesterday the only exception to the rules applied when the Brewers played Pittsburgh. Now, even that is gone. People would feel better if it looked like any of this were just fluky, or if there were something simple that could change in the lineup or rotation that would be a simple fix, but neither of those seems to apply. It just seems like the same games every day, and usually the same results. Add in a single play from seemingly every game that goes wrong (today's was Edmunds being thown out at the plate) that might have made all the difference and the frustration level grows.

 

Nothing is better after a long winter of starting a baseball season and being at least a little bit realistically optimistic about your team. It's something Brewer fans have gotten used to in recent seasons after literally two decades of having that sensation only very rarely. It's tough to have that feeling completely leave you before the opening month even draws to a close. I really like west coast road trips as I don't mind staying up late, sitting out late on the deck with my telescope checking out the sights in the nite sky and listening to Ueck on the call. It's going to be cloudy/rainy and now no Ueck this weekend, either. For the first time in a long time I may take a complete pass on Brewers baseball this weekend.

 

When is the last time folks in Milwaukee felt this good about the Bucks and this bad about the Brewers at the same time?

[yfinn6]

Do people have to justify how they feel? If you feel demoralized, you can't be "wrong" can you?

 

It's kind of nice to have a topic where everyone's right while still being an interesting read. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

That's also pretty boring. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[monty57]

When is the last time folks in Milwaukee felt this good about the Bucks and this bad about the Brewers at the same time?

 

Circa Glenn Robinson, Sam Cassell, Ray Allen contrasted with Wendy Selig-Prieb

[hawing]

I think it's too early for season-length demoralization, i.e. writing off the 2010 Brewers on April 28 (or earlier, seemingly, for some of us). AJAY's reminder above that the 2008 Brewers spent time in 6th place is an example of how early performance doesn't always tell the whole story.

 

I also think the Brewers (or Brewer fans, at least) have experienced an uncommon number of gut-wrenching losses in a fairly short span. I've already experienced short-term, until-the-next-game demoralization a couple of times this month. In my case, it doesn't help that I've attended three of the Miller Park gut punchers and two on the road. Tough games are harder to take when they play out in front of my face.

 

I try to keep an open mind and see how everything plays out. I really try not to assume anything. It's certainly possible that the Brewers will never fire on all (or enough) cylinders in 2010, but I'd rather just watch the season unfold than assume a playoff berth, locked-in failure for the rest of our lives, or anything in between.

 

So I would say there is cause for concern and even temporary bouts of demoralization, but no reason to give up or spend the next five months assuming things will stay like this.

 

[bobbledude25]

Is it to early to bring in Braddock to the bullpen? Lucroy maybe even...the guy is killing the ball. I'd love to see these young guys in there getting opportunities. Villanueva as closer?

[Ennder]

I figured we'd be just a tiny bit over .500 at end of month, if Hoffman pitches like he should that is about where we would be. Annoyed at the start sure, demoralized not so much.

[wishicouldhit]

bobbledude25[/b]]Is it to early to bring in Braddock to the bullpen? Lucroy maybe even...the guy is killing the ball. I'd love to see these young guys in there getting opportunities. Villanueva as closer?

Lucroy... No. MAYBE in a month if he can keep his BA around or above 300 at AAA. As for the bullpen, shouldn't they bring up stetter before they go to braddock? I wonder how many more saves Hoffman has to blow before Macha pulls the plug on him (temporarily). Will Vargas (15.8 Hits/9) and Suppan be able to keep their roster spots if they can't hold their own wieght? Both of them should be a little bit concrened considering Braddock (0.00 ERA in 9.2IP), Stetter (0.00 ERA in 6.1 IP), Smith (1.13 ERA in 8.0 IP), and Dillard (1.93ERA in 14 IP) are all pitching like they should be on the roster.

 

On the bright side, its sure nice to see Yo and Wolf pitching like they were expected to. Not to mention Naverson pitching good in his first start of the season. Soon as the bullpen stops blowing so many games the crew could be playing .600+ ball.

Demoralized... no

[DougJones43]

I'm demoralized about the general direction the team seems to have. Signing two high-priced old guys to fill out the back end of the bullpen was not really a good use of money. Decisions like starting Suppan (and now Narveson) over Parra are not going to get an organization anywhere. Teams win with good, young pitching -- and the guy with the most potential is buried in the pen so that JEFF SUPPAN could start more games. Doug Davis isn't terrible, but again, where is the organization going with somebody like him blocking Manny Parra from developing as a starter? Gamel progress seems to have been stunted by last year's debacle.

 

It's like the front office is content to tread water every year.

[The Truth]

Demoralization equates to high expectations: with Melvin spending precious money on aging pitchers and Macha at the helm, this is about where I would expect the Brewers to be... they'll get it together to maybe be 82-80 but what you see is wqhat you get, they are who I thought they were

[Fike85]

It is true that the Brewers overcame some blown games in 2008 to make the Wild Card. But let's take a stroll back to 2007 when the Brewers missed the playoffs by 2 games and the following things happened:

 

1) Loss at Texas when the Rangers were down 3 in the bottom of the 9th with 2 out and nobody on.

2) Loss vs Philadelphia when the Phillies were down 3 in the top of the 9th with 2 out and nobody on.

3) Scott Thorman.

 

If those three extremely unlikely things fail to happen then the Brewers win the Central.

 

The one reason I have not totally sworn off the Brewers (other than the actual reason: I can't) is that while they have given away 4 games and they have yet to steal any. That will happen at some point and when it does I will feel a lot better.

[logan82]

I am not demoralized at all. I thoroughly enjoy being repeatedly punched in the gut.

 

If I had come into watching the season at this point I wouldn't be bothered much. However it seems like we have lost several game we seemingly had won. I guess that is why win probability never goes to 100% until the game is over. I hate being that 5%.

[DonMoney4Mgr]

I may not be demoralized yet but extremely frustrated at the way the situation sets up for the Brewers. The exorbitant amount of money committed to some aging, worthless pitchers is essentially blocking some younger, better pitchers from being on the team. It is maddening when you know they are not putting the best team possible out there.

[cnycerveceros]

Demoralized? No. That distant feeling about the Brewers that I usually don't have until August? Yes. What I mean by that is that now I'll have every game on, but I won't be paying that much attention. I hate the feeling of investing the time and energy (no money because I live too far away) into a 3 hour game to watch them lose in the last 3 outs. It's something that happens, I know that, but it sure feels like it happens more to us than to other teams (teams I don't watch that closely and so don't know, and I'm sure I could look it up). This whole season so far reminds me of that game in Arizona a few years ago when they lost after entering the 9th up 5-0 and gave up 6. You just keep watching wishing you could make it stop. And yet, they're just a few games below .500 and the reasons they're losing are easy to identify. Just stay above the Astros!

[FVBrewerFan]

Demoralized? Yes. For the past several seasons, I entered each year with at lest some level of optimism that the Brewers could be playing in the post-season. This year is no different, and maybe I had unrealistic hope. While it's too early to say that's impossible, I simply "feel" there's no way the Brewers can top the Cards with their Carpenter/Wainright/Penny rotation. Nor can they compete with a WC coming out of the West.

 

The only way I see the Brewers making the post-eason is banking on the Cards having a rash of injuries, and even at that they have to beat the Cubs. Way too early to say the season is done, I just don't see a reason to be optimistic.

[Invader3K]

I wouldn't say I'm demoralized, but my enthusiasm has waned quite a bit. It just doesn't look too good when your team goes 1-5 on a home stand, against division opponents. The one saving grace is that other than the Cards, the rest of the division isn't playing well either.

 

On the plus side (if you can call it that), if the team is out of contention, this summer's trade deadline could be extremely interesting.

[TheCrew07]

I've been pondering this question since it was posed.

 

I'm become progressively more frustrated the last 2-3 seasons as my own opinions on the direction of the franchise began to change. Macha certainly hasn't helped but I thought had bottom out after this off season which was miserable for me personally, how could get it get worse than ultimately trading the player I wanted as the focus of a pitching deal to be traded for an extremely undisciplined CF? Well the obvious answer would have been to see Macha regress and go back to defined bullpen roles, Suppan to the rotation, Parra pitching once in the first of the week of season, blowing 4-6 very winnable games, Gomez batting 2nd, and so on... it's become a never ending litany of frustration.

 

I guess because I was so vehemently against resigning Hoffman, signing Hawkins, signing Wolf/Davis, and trading for Gomez this first month of the season has been my worst fears coming true. I'm not rooting against those guys, I desperately want them to succeed now that they are here, but there was a reason I didn't want to spend money on aging pitching. Wolf has been pretty decent, hopefully Davis can build off his last start, I have to believe Hoffman will turn it around, I think Hawkins is going to be up and down all season... I wanted to get younger as an organization, and we just ended up getting older, and the idea that we might just get a single playoff appearance out of the first wave has been eating away at me for a long time.

 

I guess I am demoralized, but not solely from the start of the season, from the direction of the franchise as a whole.

[MessiahRp]

It's easy and probably very fair to be depressed about the start to the season though I would really be waiting until the halfway point to let any "give up the season" thoughts creep in.

 

I think a lot of us weren't very psyched about signing Davis or Wolf and keeping Suppan on the roster has been pretty universally panned. Hoffman had a pretty good year last year so I had no problem with bringing him back (let's check these past few years to see how difficult it is to win without a solid closer).

 

I am still not sold that Gomez will be a great player but thusfar it's not as if he's been all that bad.

 

I just think that the part of the team Melvin claimed to improve in the offseason was spending a bunch on some very average pitchers who have at some point had an above average year or two that made us feel we needed to overpay for them. Randy Wolf might be a #3 at this point of his career. We gave him #2 or better money. Doug Davis had a nice little run in AZ but he's backend of the rotation material now and he's really always been a slightly better Jeff Suppan who gives up a lot of walks. Suppan should have been let go last year. He adds zero value to this roster and I doubt a single team in baseball would touch him with a 10 foot pole even if we ate his entire salary. Well, maybe his entire salary.

 

That leaves you with Gallardo... Bush who is decent when healthy but not consistent.... Manny Parra who you have to pray could turn it around finally as he's starting to get up there age-wise (no longer a prospect at this point).. and Chris Narveson? Yikes.

 

Now you have to bank on Wolf being healthy all year (not always something you can count on) or Davis playing like he did in AZ, which is probably not likely.

 

I just think this rotation is probably not good enough for a playoff run and we're ultimately going to have to look for a better #2 in the offseason again.