All of the current concerns - will we remember any of them on June 1?

[NYChez]

A bunch of issues have come up - notably Greinke's ribs, Marcum's shoulder, Lucroy's finger, and Hart's oblique. As a result, we'll have some additional stress through mid April. However, especially considering what happened in St. Louis, I don't see any of these issues even being remembered by the time we get into the meat of the season.

The national media has seemed to jump on the quantity of issues (not the magnitude) and dropped its expectations of the Brewers. Those in the know, though - if they originally thought the Brewers would win 90 games - I don't see how the current issues would change expectations much below, say, 88 wins.

[logan82]

The problems we are having now will be remembered. Quite a few people "in the know" think the Brewers were only around 86ish wins to begin with.

[berniebrewer4life]

Those in the know, though - if they originally thought the Brewers would win 90 games -

The

problems we are having now will be remembered. Quite a few people "in

the know" think the Brewers were only around 86ish wins to begin with.

If there is one thing I've learned after years of watching baseball is that people who are "in the know", have no clue what they are talking about when it comes to win projections. It's a crapshoot.

[Ennder]

We'll remember the concerns about the team depth and poor defense almost for sure. The little injuries most likely won't be a huge deal other than the fact the division will likely come down to 1 or 2 games so every small issue contributes a lot more than it should.

[JohnBriggs12]

I think all the negativity really means is this Brewer team is really, really, good and the so-called experts are looking to punch holes in them for something to talk about. How bad are they? I heard on a national talk show yesterday, a host (who albeit is a football guy), mention Greinke's injury in connection with innings pitched. His guest, a so-called baseball expert didn't bother to correct him and say Greinke's arm his fine, he got hurt playing basketball. Any one listening to the show who didn't know, got the impression that Greinke had arm trouble. People out there also believe Marcum is out indefinitely. Never mind that he had a minor stiffness issue midway through camp and he's fine now. If the Brewers weren't feared as a team, that would have been a complete non story.

 

None of these early injuries will have significant impact. If anything, those guys should be less likely to wear down late in the year. It's not as if they can't win games with the guys that are healthy. Heck, they are 17-9 this spring.

 

Bottom line is, it's much ado about nothing.

[JohnBriggs12]

We'll remember the concerns about the team depth and poor defense almost for sure. The little injuries most likely won't be a huge deal other than the fact the division will likely come down to 1 or 2 games so every small issue contributes a lot more than it should.

Unearned runs allowed this spring:

 

Brewers 12

 

Reds 14

 

Cardinals 18

 

Cubs 20

 

Not a be all end all stat of course, but interesting nonetheless. I think nothing has been more overblown than the idea of Brewer defensive deficencies. Nobody talks about the Cub defense which is awful at 3B, SS, and LF.

[Ennder]

I don't consider the Cubs serious contenders, they are more of a if everything bounces right they can be in the race type of team.

 

The Brewers regular lineup is going to have 6 below average defensive players and an above average defensive CF and then Lucroy who i don't know enough about to judge. They likely will have the weakest defense in baseball. On the plus side they have a heavy strike out staff which helps minimize the issue some and can maybe help hide how bad it is some.

[endaround]

I'd say Weeks is average so its only 5 below average defenders!

[Invader3K]

I don't consider the Cubs serious contenders, they are more of a if everything bounces right they can be in the race type of team.

I expect them to be just as bad as they were last year. I don't see how anyone can consider them a serious contender unless they somehow catch lightning in a bottle and everything breaks their way, like you said. Not realistic.

[brettac1]

I think there are issues that are going to bite the team all season, especially in the lineup... Gomez/Betancourt/Lucroy/pitcher is pretty rough. There's not the depth in the lineup that is necessary to offset a couple guys going into a couple week slump. They kind of need Weeks and Hart to perform at last season's level. The defense is obviously poor. What if Greinke puts up a 4+ ERA again (I don't think he will, but it's not exactly impossible)?

 

I'm not so much concerned with these few injuries, that's just part of the game.

[BadgerFan]

I think there are issues that are going to bite the team all season, especially in the lineup... Gomez/Betancourt/Lucroy/pitcher is pretty rough. There's not the depth in the lineup that is necessary to offset a couple guys going into a couple week slump. They kind of need Weeks and Hart to perform at last season's level. The defense is obviously poor. What if Greinke puts up a 4+ ERA again (I don't think he will, but it's not exactly impossible)?

 

I'm not so much concerned with these few injuries, that's just part of the game.

Weeks/Hart/Braun/Fielder/McGehee is as good as it gets as far as top 5 in the order in the NL Central so that offsets the bottom of the order (which I would say is slightly below average, not horrible).

 

What if Greinke puts up an ERA of 4+? He'll still be MUCH better than what he is replacing from a year ago.

[brettac1]

I understand that, re: Hart and Weeks, IF they repeat last season's production. I have faith in Weeks' ability to do so more than Hart's, but at the same time there is always the injury cloud surrounding Weeks. Granted, Braun should have a more Braun-like season than last year provided he's healthy now. The concern isn't so much that those guys aren't good, though, it's that those others are so bad. I was optimistic on Lucroy coming into ST, but missing it might set him back a good bit. He basically hit like Jason Kendall, which is pretty bad. He'll probably be better, anyhow, but I don't think to the point that he'll be a really helpful hitter. And having four hitters in your lineup who are likely to have around/below .300 OBP's is never good, no matter who hits at the top of the lineup (not to mention that Gomez could still end up hitting 2nd, which is an absolutely terrible idea. My real worry is that this is a pretty average, 82-ish win team, or so.