Season if the team was 35 years old and under

[NYChez]

This is being conservative:

1. Replace 5 blown saves with, say, 2. (+3 wins)

2. Replace Hawkins' meltdown in Chicago with an Estrada or Braddock inning. (+1 win)

3. Replace Davis's and Suppan's starts with ones by Narveson or Parra. (+1 win)

4. Eliminate at least 10 innings of unnecessary bullpen work from short starts or Hoffman blown saves leading to 14 inning games. (+2 wins)

4. Replace Zahn, Counsell, and Edmonds with backups or minor leaguers (net 0)

Total: 7 more wins. 1st place.

I won't even mention how much more money it costs for those 35+ year olds instead of minor league replacements, but let's just say that we could afford CC and Sheets with it.

[Invader3K]

This is pretty depressing and probably fairly accurate.

[Ennder]

This is assuming we had some sort of quality younger players to fill these spots, which isn't a given in any way.

[joepepsi]

I think the bottom line is the bullpen has blown a lot of games and it's trashing the season. There are other weaknesses too of course, but they pale in comparison.

[NYChez]

I think the bottom line is the bullpen has blown a lot of games and it's trashing the season. There are other weaknesses too of course, but they pale in comparison.

I'd narrow it down to Hoffman blowing a lot of games and Davis and Suppan averaging a little over 4 innings in their 9 starts (meaning a whopping 40+ innings being covered by the bullpen in those starts leading to overwork, in addition to another 5 being covered in that 14 inning debacle).

DM's got to start treating this like it's a young man's game.

 

[monty57]

Amazing how players age different these days than they did in the steroid era :-)

[NYChez]

Amazing how players age different these days than they did in the steroid era :-)

That would be cool for Hoffman to say, screw it, get juiced up, and start getting his fastball up there at 84 MPH.

[HOF4canrake]

Yeah, brewersmix.com had an article that showed the splits among different age ranges. Pretty telling.

[WV Brew]

Melvin is fixated with aging veterans. '71 Rangers, his last Texas club. had a rotation including Rick Helling at an old 30 with a 5.17 ERA, 30 year old Darren Oliver with a 6.02 ERA, 36 year old Kenny Rogers with a 6.19 ERA. Our old friend Dougie Davis was a 25 year old starter on that team.

 

He gave 714 PAs to roided up 36 year old Raffy Palmiero, who had a decent year, 369 to 35 year old Ruben Sierra with a .322 OBA, 334 to 38 year old Randy Velarde, who had a decent year, 271 to 40 year old Andres Galarraga with an OBA of .310 and 211 to 38 year old Ken Caminiti with an OBA of .318.

 

Melvin always seems to revert to this mentality. I don't think the Brewers can win by continual trades for and high priced signings of aging veterans. This is even more important in the post-roids era. I don't mind if he signs an occasional Counsell to fill a void but otherwise please stay away.

[yoda knows all]

The SF Giants have been the torchbearers when it comes to signing past-prime, overpaid, too much worn tread veterans. You can always see the train wreck coming.