June is a HUGE month for the Brewers' season, at a perfect time...

[Fear The Chorizo]

With all the injuries and inconsistencies this Brewers team has dealt with through the first two months of the season, it looks like the scheduling gods have given them a great month of June to determine if they are going to be buyers or sellers approaching the all star break and trade deadline in July. Their schedule includes:

 

3 vs. PIT at home

3 vs. Cubs at home

3 vs. SD at home

 

3 at KC

3 at MIN

 

3 vs TOR at home

3 at White Sox

3 at Reds

3 vs Dbacks at home (through 7/1)

 

That's 27 games against teams with a combined record of: 206-248 (.453 win %). Only 9 games against teams with current winning records and 9 games against the 3 worst teams in baseball right now. This stretch of schedule couldn't come at a better time for this team, for a few reasons:

 

1 - if they have a solid month, it gets them right back into contention for the division and wildcard playoff spots.

 

2 - it gives the Brewers another month against weak competition to get their roster in order after dealing with all the injuries, while hopefully getting guys like Weeks going.

 

3 - if they scuffle during June against this favorable a schedule, the writing's on the wall in plenty of time that this team won't contend this season, and Melvin should have ample time before the deadline to trade some pieces to strengthen the organization. (Marcum, Greinke, Morgan, and frankly many others should be made available for the right return)

[MoreTrife]

I was just thinking this same thing. Time to make hay.

[RockCoCougars]

I hope that they go on a tear. Everything's definitely lined up for them to do so. Injuries or not, they are better than most of these teams on paper. Frankly, a May dominated by 'selling' talk was pretty depressing. Hopefully they win enough in June to squelch that.

[liveforoctober]

Ugh. You all beat me by a few minutes.. I was typing up a post (and posted it.. whoops) about this same thing while you made this. But yes, a 10-5 run against inferior competition *knock on wood* in the next 15 puts us at .500 and right back in it.

[3and2Fastball]

I see us going .500 in June but will be very pleased to be wrong about that

 

Pittsburgh is much better than in year's past. KC, the Twins and the White Sox are all starting to play better, and the Reds are for real....

 

As always, it depends on our pitching. If only our pitching staff could play at Dodger Stadium year round (!), lots of fly balls to the warning track there that would be way out in Miller Park....

[ewitkows]

I honestly dont see them trading greinke. I dont think teams are going to give up 2 1st round pick type talents for a 3 month rental. That should be the floor where Doug starts the bidding.

[RockCoCougars]

Pittsburgh is much better than in year's past.

 

Don't we hear this every year? They were in first place on July 19 last summer, and everyone jumped on the bandwagon... then they collapsed. Their offense is beyond brutal, though I hope that Randy Wolf isn't the cure for that ailment.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Since I just witnessed the Crew playing like the 2011 Brewers...I'll play along with the glass half full. One thing for sure, I'm really glad they had this run. Regardless of how it turns out, baseball is fun and people come out when there is hope. The lack of it causes apathy. Even if it's a slim chance, a nice run will get the park full and make for a fun summer.

 

They will be the favorite in just about all of the next 15 games.

The starters, especially the control pitchers, seem to be getting in a groove.

Fiers had a nice start...if he's for real we could really use Estrada in the bullpen.

The back end of the bullpen is in lockdown mode.

Some decent rest the last few games should be better for the middle relievers. Parra is pitching well and Veras & Loe seem better.

Plush, ARam and Gomez are starting to get it going. Weeks is making some baby steps as well.

Aoki has been a nice addition. Freeing up Hart for first...he's got a big hot streak in him at some point.

I'm impressed at least defensively with Ransom and Maldonado.

Lucroy is not out for the year and may actually be getting some rest to avoid a late season breakdown.

There is this guy on our team named Ryan freaking Braun...he's really good at baseball.

Few uses for suitcases when staying at home. (assuming everything got home safe last night)

 

My more modest view is while we beat the Dodgers...they really aren't the best team in the NL despite their record. They're really more of an average team, but so is the rest of the NL...so why not our average team? My voice is sore from screaming this week...now it's your turn...GO BREWERS!!!

[torts]

I see us going .500 in June but will be very pleased to be wrong about that

 

Pittsburgh is much better than in year's past. KC, the Twins and the White Sox are all starting to play better, and the Reds are for real....

 

As always, it depends on our pitching. If only our pitching staff could play at Dodger Stadium year round (!), lots of fly balls to the warning track there that would be way out in Miller Park....

 

 

maybe the pirates pitching is better than years past, but that offense is the worst in such a long time. its not like they're a team of rickie weeks under performing... its a bunch of AAAA and McCutchen. 3 batters over a .250 AVG, 3 batters of an OBP over .300 and only 2 batters of an OPS over .700. they have a team slash of .218/.272/.618... their staff wont be able to keep the team afloat much longer, regression is due to hit them soon.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I see us going .500 in June but will be very pleased to be wrong about that

 

Pittsburgh is much better than in year's past. KC, the Twins and the White Sox are all starting to play better, and the Reds are for real....

 

Games against the White Sox and Reds (good teams) during this month are more than offset by playing the Cubs, Padres, and Twins. If the Brewers can't make hay this month, they won't be making hay anytime this year. If you want to argue current records based on who's starting to play better, the Brewers just completed a 4-game sweep against the team with the league's best record.

 

As for the Pirates, they've been "much better than in year's past" for about the last 4 seasons. That hasn't stopped them from being a below average team each of those years. Until they get an offense, they aren't going to keep their heads above water anytime soon.

[MJLiverock]

It is good to have a few games against the Reds mixed in there. If the team has any hope of contending they need to translate a good streak beyond just beating the mediocre teams and make up ground on the head to head match ups with the Reds. If they struggle in this stretch and get swept by the Reds they will seriously have to consider becoming sellers.

[TooLiveBrew]

You could also argue the Pirates won't be hitting that anemically the rest of the way, too.

[pebadger]

Just in terms of 'momentum', at least from a fan's point of view, tonight is a big game. Keep the train rolling in the right direction. Put the team in position to win another series. Do both of those things in spite of the tough turnaround.

 

If they hit like they did in LA it would be astonishing if they didn't win the series (with a good shot at another sweep). I don't think they can count on that kind of offensive output, but anything they can do to keep things moving in a positive direction helps. If they don't hit and still win a game or two like they have so often against the Pirates in recent years, that may be an even bigger help. Long season, opportunities remain, but some opportunities are better than others and these next few weeks qualify.

[brewtank34]

While I will be rooting for the Crew to win as many games as possible, my only fear is that we take care of the teams we need to (Cubs, Pirates, KC, SD etc) and we end up being in the midst of a playoff push come the end of June...

Melvin and Co will feel that there isn't need to be sellers and we won't get anything for Greinke. The realistic side of me says that while the Crew still has good pitching, we are not a team that is as good as the likes of Atl, Wash, Philly, STl, Cincy, Miami and we will miss the playoffs because of it. Result: No Greinke, No prospects, and no playoffs.... All because a good June against inferior teams (kinda like the Milwaukee Bucks syndrome: Being the best of the worst teams).

[RockCoCougars]

I honestly get the feeling that some people would be disappointed if the Brewers went on a June run to pull within a few games of first. It seems like these folks have been getting their hopes up about a bunch of trades and a rebuilding process. Seriously, were you guys too young to 'enjoy' the 1993-2003 era? What I don't get is the concept that just because a few fringe starters are hurt and some key guys have underperformed, the season is lost. Bottom line, the Brewers are still not a bad team on paper, especially with Braun and that starting rotation. To be honest, I don't see one team in the N.L. that doesn't have some warts. If you do trade guys...even before the new compensation rules, teams were not getting much for deadline deals. When is the last time that a team has made out like a bandit on one? The last one that I can think of was the Texiera deal five years ago. Non-star players also have seemed to bring very little back in recent years, most of these guys are flipped for little or nothing, Dean Taylor style.

 

Bottom line, I'd rather win games, have an entertaining summer, and risk losing guys for nothing, than to watch bad baseball and trade guys for close to nothing.

[ninja33]

I honestly get the feeling that some people would be disappointed if the Brewers went on a June run to pull within a few games of first. It seems like these folks have been getting their hopes up about a bunch of trades and a rebuilding process. Seriously, were you guys too young to 'enjoy' the 1993-2003 era? What I don't get is the concept that just because a few fringe starters are hurt and some key guys have underperformed, the season is lost. Bottom line, the Brewers are still not a bad team on paper, especially with Braun and that starting rotation. To be honest, I don't see one team in the N.L. that doesn't have some warts. If you do trade guys...even before the new compensation rules, teams were not getting much for deadline deals. When is the last time that a team has made out like a bandit on one? The last one that I can think of was the Texiera deal five years ago. Non-star players also have seemed to bring very little back in recent years, most of these guys are flipped for little or nothing, Dean Taylor style.

 

Bottom line, I'd rather win games, have an entertaining summer, and risk losing guys for nothing, than to watch bad baseball and trade guys for close to nothing.

 

I really don't think anyone would be disappointed if the Brewers went on a run....the majority of those talks about trading were with the caveat that the team was out of it towards the end of June. And I think they picked up quite a bit of steam because no one wanted to talk about the current team losing a series to the Twins, so they found something else to talk about. People are just worried (and rightly so) that the team could just tread water for the next month (go like 14-14 or something) and still be within like 7 games of the playoffs. It may be preferable to some for the Brewers to crash this month and sell as opposed to always just hanging on the fringe of the playoffs (and never really playing that well). But if they go on an actual run (such as a very conceivable 10-5 stretch to start off), no one will be disappointed.

 

I agree with your bottom line and have been saying for quite some time that the June schedule is very inviting, and the team should be able to pull to .500 about halfway through it.

[3and2Fastball]

I'd never root for the Brewers to lose, especially just so I can be right. I don't care about that, I'd rather be wrong and have the Brewers go 17-3 in 20 games and be in first place.

 

On paper, it would seem like the Brewers should compete with anyone: if this happens and if that happens and if this guy plays to his potential etc etc

 

But for whatever reason, or more like a myriad of reasons, this year's Brewers team just plain isn't very good. A lot of it is the pitching (I really think Wolf is just about done unless he can pitch for the Dodgers or Padres or some other team with a huge ballpark) and the injuries and a whole bunch of intagibles and Roenicke giving away outs with bunts and the bullpen being kind of "meh" and where's Weeks (!?) and Braun getting banged up/playing hurt etc etc

 

I'll continue to hope I'm wrong...

[torts]

You could also argue the Pirates won't be hitting that anemically the rest of the way, too.

 

leave it to randy wolf...

[Fear The Chorizo]

10-11 so far this June with 3 road games against the 1st place Reds. If the Brewers had taken care of business earlier this month, they'd really be in the mix. Unfortunately the dreadful series in KC and continued inconsistency took the wind out their sails in the middle of the month.

 

Unless the Brewers get swept I think it's hard for Melvin to throw in the towel after this series because of just how average the NL Central appears to be this year. Problem is the Brewers aren't good enough to warrant becoming buyers either. Their bullpen and inconsistent offense has turned them into a mediocre at best club this year that absolutely should be looking to sell as the trade deadline approaches. Too bad Marcum's on the DL, because he would have netted good value via trade before his injury.

[RockCoCougars]

Huge series to say the least. Before it started, my goal was a 3-3 road trip, taking 2 of 3 in Cincy (though I have to say that I'm disappointed that the Brewers couldn't get one of the weekend games. The Reds are really floundering right now, so winning the series isn't a stretch.

[adamds22]

Honestly the best possible situation right now for the Brewers future is to get swept, that would hopefully be the nail in the coffin as we would be 9.5 games out and hopefully go into sell mode. If we stand pat or try to buy we are likely going to be pretty bad next year and maybe the year after.

 

I hate to say that and I actually think this team is kind of close to being decent again, especially with Lucroy coming back, Marcum and Estrada will be back. We've lost like 3/4 of our June games by 1 run thanks to our bullpen. We're close but definitely not doing much this year so we need to start looking to next year and beyond. Let's get this club a contender again NEXT year instead of running practically the same team out there minus a good portion of our rotation and expect better results.

[logan82]

We may at this point be a better team than the Reds but the hole we have dug is very deep. Even if we win the series we would still be 5.5 games back unless we sweep.

[Funketown]

Well they're certainly still in it if they sweep the series.

 

I'm just concerned that Attanasio is not the type of guy that will ever sacrifice a season before opening day. With the value of trade chips (particularly Greinke and Marcum) being a bit lower due to the new rule about draft compensation, I feel like it's even less likely for the Brewers to sell at the trade deadline.

[fondybrewfan]

The Brewers have given no indication that they can sweep anyone; let alone the 1st place Reds. If they win 2/3 it will be a minor miracle. If they get swept I think that is probably the final nail in the coffin. June has been terribly dissappointing; if they didn't make up any ground this month they sure as heck aren't going to get any better when they start playing good teams. Just punt the season and be gone with it. Just look at the roster Doug; even if they have a good stretch you have to look at the makeup of the team and realize that this team cannot win in the long run. Way to many holes.

[RockCoCougars]

With Gallardo and Greinke both going, and Arroyo pitching on the other day, I don't think that 2/3 would be a miracle- I actually expect it. The Reds are playing poorly and the Brewers have been in every game for the past two weeks right until the end.