Our Current Starting Lineup Does Not Look Good

[rluzinski]

Apparently, this is what the Brewers will be rolling out for opening day (including ZiPS projections):

http://i54.tinypic.com/eprkid.gif

That's pretty ugly, actually. And considering they also have below average defense as well, I'm a little worried. Obviously Hart coming back will have a huge impact (as well as a hopefully developing Lucroy). I am worried that the Brewers could dig themselves into %@!*!% in April, though. And with as close as the NL Central will be, I don't know if they can afford to do that.

[brettac1]

The offense is my major concern right now.

[liveforoctober]

I'm assuming you've been watching this spring.... so when Hart and Lucroy went down and we were told they wouldn't be ready for opening day ... were you expecting the starting lineup to include Joe Mauer and Ichiro? I'm not trying to be sarcastic .. but we've been talking about this lineup for over a month and I'm curious because you seem legitimately surprised.

[lcbj68c]

The BA was bad last year yet they scored runs. Roenicke's approach may help. Im not worried about zips ba proj.

[cwolf2012]

Are you sure Nieves is getting the start? Kottaras helps those numbers.

[tigerbrew]

If I'm not mistaken, Nieves caught Yo's last start so I think it's very likely Nieves starts today.

[bjkrautk]

Are you sure Nieves is getting the start? Kottaras helps those numbers.

Tyler Barnes already tweeted it.

#Brewers at Reds - Weeks 4 Gomez 8 Braun 7 Fielder 3 McGehee 5 Kotsay 9 Betancourt 6 Nieves 2 Gallardo 1

[Ennder]

I'm assuming you've been watching this spring.... so when Hart and Lucroy went down and we were told they wouldn't be ready for opening day ... were you expecting the starting lineup to include Joe Mauer and Ichiro? I'm not trying to be sarcastic .. but we've been talking about this lineup for over a month and I'm curious because you seem legitimately surprised.

No, but if they started Kotteras and Morgan it would be an upgraded and if they had obtained any warm body to play SS it would look better too. This is fixable within the organization but bad choices like Reed, Kotsay, Nieves, Betancourt etc are going to sabotage the roster in April.

[crewcrazy]

The Brewers are fortunate they have 11 games against the Pirates, Nationals, and Astros this month. I'd be more worried if they were trotting this lineup out there for that brutal June stretch of Interleague games.

[The Truth]

I'm not as concerned about the bats as I am about the errors or general lack of range, between Yuniesky Bet-on-Errors and Prince Hitter we have a fairly brutal infield...

[strawbossisevil]

You do realize that Betancourt had fewer errors and a higher fielding percentage than Escobar did last season, right? His problem isn't errors, it is range. (Might need to consider changing your Betancourt nickname, it doesn't apply).

[Ennder]

Don't forget Kotsay who is actually a downgrade from Hart defensively. I'm just baffled that Kotsay made the roster much less is seeing the field.

[liveforoctober]

I'm assuming you've been watching this spring.... so when Hart and Lucroy went down and we were told they wouldn't be ready for opening day ... were you expecting the starting lineup to include Joe Mauer and Ichiro? I'm not trying to be sarcastic .. but we've been talking about this lineup for over a month and I'm curious because you seem legitimately surprised.

No, but if they started Kotteras and Morgan it would be an upgraded and if they had obtained any warm body to play SS it would look better too. This is fixable within the organization but bad choices like Reed, Kotsay, Nieves, Betancourt etc are going to sabotage the roster in April.

Not my point.

The only question for our opening day roster for the last 3 weeks was whether it would be Nieves or GK to catch Yovani. You want Morgan to start in right? Kotsay was getting that assignment ever since Hart went down and we all knew that... like it or not.

My point is this thread is like me starting a thread and saying "Yovani is pitching opening day" and that's it. We've been discussing this same thing for the last 4 weeks.

[The Truth]

You do realize that Betancourt had fewer errors and a higher fielding percentage than Escobar did last season, right? His problem isn't errors, it is range. (Might need to consider changing your Betancourt nickname, it doesn't apply).

Bet-on-Baseballs-Getting-Through_The_Infield doesn't have much of a ring to it... this does precisely explain why I think Fielding Percentage is a fairly useless stat. Fielder doesn't get to many balls that the average college 1B scoops up easily, thus his error total is down too

 

 

[bjkrautk]

You do realize that Betancourt had fewer errors and a higher fielding percentage than Escobar did last season, right? His problem isn't errors, it is range. (Might need to consider changing your Betancourt nickname, it doesn't apply).

 

Even if that's true (and it is), I applaud the effort inherent in "Bet-on-Errors," as it reminds me of my favorite derisive player nickname: JosE-6 Hernandez.

[strawbossisevil]

The point is, Betancourt turned a higher percentage of the balls he got to into out than Escobar last season. He isn't a player who will have a ton of errors (he only had 18 last year). His problem is range.

 

How about leave the corny nicknames out if they don't actually describe the player. Ryan "Best Range" Braun, might sound catchy, but it doesn't actually describe him as a player at all.

Edit: At least JosE-6 Hernandez' nickname had some factual basis to go on.

[monty57]

I know Kotsay's been set in stone in RF for quite a, but I'd certainly rather see Morgan in the lineup batting at the top of the order with Gomez batting further down the lineup. At least Morgan has shown some aprtitude for getting on base. Wil Nieves would probably be outhit by Juan Nieves, so hopefully Lucroy will be back soon, and hopefully when he's back Kottaras stays with the team and Nieves is sent packing.

[The Truth]

How about leave the corny nicknames out if they don't actually describe the player.

OK, no problem, you got it. But "Prince Hitter" is a keeper

[lcbj68c]

Seriously? We are making up nicknames for players before they even play a game for the Brewers? Nanny Nanny Poo Poo! I pity elementary school teachers. It's like second grade in here for all our moderators. Can't just call a guy by his name? Brewerfan.net gets a darn good rep for its intelligent conversation, but sometimes the dialogue reminds me of a second grade classroom.

[brettac1]

I know Kotsay's been set in stone in RF for quite a, but I'd certainly rather see Morgan in the lineup batting at the top of the order with Gomez batting further down the lineup. At least Morgan has shown some aprtitude for getting on base. Wil Nieves would probably be outhit by Juan Nieves, so hopefully Lucroy will be back soon, and hopefully when he's back Kottaras stays with the team and Nieves is sent packing.

Most definitely agreed here, across the board. I hope Kottaras doesn't get hosed.

[RockCoCougars]

Even if that's true (and it is), I applaud the effort inherent in "Bet-on-Errors," as it reminds me of my favorite derisive player nickname: JosE-6 Hernandez.

FYI. Jose K had a positive defensive 'WAR' every year he was in Milwaukee. If that doesn't give one pause when considering the validity of defensive statistics, I don't know what does.

[The Truth]

It would be a surprise if Nieves is kept over Kottaras once Lucroy gets back. I'm a little surprised that Kottaras isn't starting today's game

[rluzinski]

I'm assuming you've been watching this spring.... so when Hart and Lucroy went down and we were told they wouldn't be ready for opening day ... were you expecting the starting lineup to include Joe Mauer and Ichiro? I'm not trying to be sarcastic .. but we've been talking about this lineup for over a month and I'm curious because you seem legitimately surprised.

The catcher situation was clear when Lucroy got hurt, so it is what it is. When all was said and done, I did not think Gomez and Bentancourt would be starting almost every day. I also thought Melvin would find a replacement for Hart that wouldn't project to have a sub .700 OPS! I didn't think Melvin would pull a star out of his posterior but I also didn't think he would be satisfied with Kotsay starting in right and Gomez apparently our everyday #2 hitter.

 

[Ennder]

We traded for Morgan all of 3 days ago, no reason to think that Kotsay was set in stone at that point.

 

Morgan has a .361 OBP vs RHP in his career and is probably the best fielder on the team, he should be out there every day he can against RHP.

[logan82]

Kotsay starting is definitely a really bad move. I have no idea what is going on there. Kotsay has literally shown nothing over the last 3 years that would make me think he should be on our team as a backup let alone starting.

 

YunE-6 just sounds good.