Team goals for rest of 2012

[Outlander]

It's nice to dream but the starting pitching is going to look pretty bad in September if Marcum/Fiers/Rogers/Estrada are no longer pitching. If Yo gets a shot at 20 wins that would be great, it wouldn't be impossible for him to be 6-1 the rest of the way.

[LouisEly]

Team goals:

 

1) No major injuries

2) (see #1)

3) Figure out who they can count on in the bullpen for next year

3a) Get Axford straight

4) Figure out who their SS is going to be for next year

5) Screw the Cardinals out of the playoffs

[owbc]

Although I am happy to see the Brewers succeed of late, with every win my frustration also builds that this team took themselves out of contention early in the season, mostly because of poor performances by the bullpen. Right now we could be witnessing an epic late season run to the playoffs, as nobody else in the Wildcard chase has been particularly impressive of late.

 

Since the starting rotation will be a joke in a few weeks, I will be surprised if they can even go .500 the rest of the way, much less get to .500.

[JohnBriggs12]

coolstandings has the Brewer with a 0.4% shot at the playoffs. Last year through 129 games the Cardinals were 10.5 back in 3rd in the WC race.

 

So I'm saying there's a chance Jim Carey.

[adambr2]

I would actually love a 3 way tie for the 2nd Wild Card, seeing as how Bud Selig and MLB did absolutely nothing to prepare for such a scenario.

[torts]

I would actually love a 3 way tie for the 2nd Wild Card, seeing as how Bud Selig and MLB did absolutely nothing to prepare for such a scenario.

 

would love this to happen!

 

we need a one playoff game to determine who plays in the one playoff game to go onto the first round of the playoffs

[adambr2]

I would actually love a 3 way tie for the 2nd Wild Card, seeing as how Bud Selig and MLB did absolutely nothing to prepare for such a scenario.

 

would love this to happen!

 

we need a one playoff game to determine who plays in the one playoff game to go onto the first round of the playoffs

 

It would be a pretty crazy scenario. Technically there would be teams that would need to win 3 straight games just to advance to the actual "playoffs".

 

With a 3 way tie for the second Wild Card, they would designate the teams "A", "B", and "C". B plays at A, and then the winner hosts C.

 

So teams A and B would need to win the initial game, and then the final tiebreaking game, and THEN the game against the 1st wild card before they even reached a playoff series.

[pogokat]

just do it like slow pitch and have the tie breaker be run differential...or paper, rock scissors...

 

i for one think it should be a baseball royal rumble with 63 defenders on the field and 24 outs per inning

[adambr2]

I'm pretty sure there is precedent for teams overcoming a 7.5 game deficit in one month, but we're pretty much gutting the rotation this month. Going to be hard to stay competitive if we're shutting down Fiers, Rogers, and maybe Estrada.

 

On the other hand, who would've thought that Mike Fiers, Mark Rogers, and Marco Estrada would be in our rotation in August and carrying respective ERA's of 2.85, 3.92, and 3.85? Probably the best thing that has come out of this season is that we now know we definitely have hope for our future rotation, something which was a major cause for concern heading into this year with certain thoughts of how we would go on without Greinke, Marcum, and Wolf after this year.

[chad25]

I had a couple of questions about the rest of the season so I just put them here:

 

Who pitches in Rogers spot in the rotation?

 

-->Peralta. He last pitched on the same day Rogers did. No pitch limits on his starts.

 

When do you shut down Fiers? and Who pitches in his spot?

 

-->I would have made today his last start but since that isn't the case, his next start, this Saturday should be his last. I think Thornburg will be in his spot and if they still have him on a pitch count, it's fine because of the extra relievers.

 

Do you shut down Estrada? If so who is in his spot?

 

-->Yes. Let him pitch 3-4 more starts, that would put him at around 130-140 innings. He hasn't pitched that many since 2009, and most of those came in the AAA. Livan can pitch in his spot (I know, everyone is groaning.....) because at that point he would only have to give us 2 starts.

 

Yes the Brewers have a "chance" to make the playoffs but I'm more concerned about taking care of our young arms. We'll still win games because of our strong lineup and our bullpen seems to be improving. I think we will finish around .500 even if we shut down 3 pitchers.

[Ennder]

I would like to see us finish around .500 which should send a message that this team really was a contender which just had a bad season. I don't think we should be playing for 2014+, we should be building a team for 2013 because we still have plenty of parts to have a playoff team in 2013.

[Spidey]

Sweep the Cards in a completely demoralizing way, so they fall apart and miss the playoffs.

 

OOOH! I REALLY like how this was worded, so I'll second this motion.

[brewmann04]

the Cards have our # but it be so nice to hurt them big time

[MNBrew]

Sweep the Cards in a completely demoralizing way, so they fall apart and miss the playoffs.

 

OOOH! I REALLY like how this was worded, so I'll second this motion.

 

I'm not normally the vindictive sort, but . . . even if the rest of the season were to go totally down the toilet, I'd still be thrilled with this idea. I call the question and submit my "aye" vote.

[adambr2]

Devil's advocate question, but on the long shot that the Brewers made the playoffs, what's your playoff rotation? Have to be Gallardo and Marcum for sure, but then what? Thornburg and Peralta wouldn't be eligible. You don't really want to restart Rogers, Fiers, or Estrada after you shut them down. I'm sure they'd fine a way, but I'd be curious to see how they would piece together a playoff rotation.

[Baldkin]

I'd imagine they would DL Rodgers, Fires and Estrada if they are truly unavailable (there's no real difference, right?).

 

So they could replace them, then.

[jjfanec]

I want to catch the Pirates so then sportswriters cannot vote for McCutchen over Braun for MVP on the reasoning that the Pirates won more. We would probably have to somehow catch the Giants too so Posey couldnt get it.

[torts]

I want to catch the Pirates so then sportswriters cannot vote for McCutchen over Braun for MVP on the reasoning that the Pirates won more. We would probably have to somehow catch the Giants too so Posey couldnt get it.

 

it would be incredible if the brewres and pirates ended the season within 3-5 games of each other in terms of MVP race... also, some media members in Pittsburgh are already saying that if the Pirates miss the playoffs, that McCutchen wont get the MVP because of the "slump" he has gotten into in August and in September.

[rluzinski]

Devil's advocate question, but on the long shot that the Brewers made the playoffs, what's your playoff rotation? Have to be Gallardo and Marcum for sure, but then what? Thornburg and Peralta wouldn't be eligible. You don't really want to restart Rogers, Fiers, or Estrada after you shut them down. I'm sure they'd fine a way, but I'd be curious to see how they would piece together a playoff rotation.

 

That is a very interesting question. Right now, they have about a 1 in 200 shot of making the playoffs. If they are going to get that into double digits any time soon, they'll probably need to win their next 4 (finishing up the Marlins and sweeping the Cardinals). If they do that and the Pirates and Dodgers went 1-2, that might result in the Brewers having close to a 1 in 10 shot:

 

Teams GB

St. Louis -

Pittsburgh 0.5

LA Dodgers 0.5

Milwaukee 3.0

 

Now, there is less than a 5% chance of that happening but my point is, if it did, the Brewers would have to reconsider shutting down Fiers and Estrada (at least right away). I doubt Melvin would announce a decision on either before that series anyway. Also, they could probably get away with a 4 man rotation.

 

Of course, all this is just for the opportunity to play a game playoff to enter the playoffs but hey.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I'd imagine they would DL Rodgers, Fires and Estrada if they are truly unavailable (there's no real difference, right?).

 

So they could replace them, then.

 

 

I don't know that they can DL someone who's not technically 'hurt'. And at this point, when they've publicly shut them down, suddenly coming up with a mystery 'injury' would look pretty fishy.

[Baldkin]

Guys have been DL'd before for a "dead arm", I guess I can't see how this would be different from that.

[reillymcshane]

Goals for the rest of the year are as follows:

 

Priority 1

- Win about 80% of the rest of the games and make the playoffs

 

Okay, that being unlikely, here you go:

 

- Get a feel if Bianchi or Segura can handle SS next year. If you're not sold by end of the year, they should bring in an insurance policy player (perhaps Gonzalez, assuming you can get him at a reasonable price and he appears healthy).

 

- Get a look at potential starters and bullpen arms, including Henderson, Kintzler, Peralta, Thornburg.

 

- Take a look at Veras, Loe and Parra and determine if you want to keep them another year. Each will probably cost $2-3 million.

 

- Let Axford try and workout issues so he comes back in 2013 a better pitcher.

 

- Evaluate Marcum and determine if he's worth investing in for 2013. I'm not talking about a $13 million qualifying offer, but a one year deal that's more in the $6-10 million range. I think the club will go with a veteran starter to round out the rotation next year (along with Gallardo, Fiers, Estrada, and one of Peralta/Thornburg/Rogers). A healthy Marcum would be welcome on a reasonable one year deal.

 

- Give Logan Schafer some playing time to help evaluate him for 2013 (as a replacement for Nyjer).

 

At this point, the team will want to play well and win games (as stupid as that sounds, I think it's important to the club that we win - the players, management and ownership want to end the year on a positive note. If we do well, it will help them believe we are only a few steps from contending next year.) We have a pretty potent offense - with SS the only major question. That means overhauling the bullpen and figuring out 2/5 of the rotation. Use the last four weeks to help determine who has a chance to be a part of the team in 2013, and who you are going to cut loose.