2013 Brewers Whipping Boy...

[brewmann04]

Ax

[sveumrules]

Doug Melvin's plan for first base going into the year was for Corey Hart to start and for Mat Gamel to back him up. He likely considered Taylor Green and Hunter Morris to be 3rd and 4th options.

 

The Corey Hart got hurt. Then Mat Gamel got hurt. In spring training it looked like Taylor Green and Alex Gonzalez would share the job until Hart returned. Then Taylor Green got hurt. The organization thinks Morris needs time at AAA and I'll defer to them as they know the player far better than do I. Our opening day MLB lineup of Aoki, Weeks, Braun, Ramirez, Lucroy, Gonzalez, Gomez and Segura is still well above average even with Gonzalez at first base.

 

Recently Braun, Ramirez and Segura have been injured. The problem isn't Alex Gonzalez at first base or not having a plan at first base, the problem is we've lost 3 starters (including our 2 best hitters) to injury in 3 games. I'm not sure what GM of a small market team could plan for such a series of events.

[Ennder]

Doug Melvin's plan for first base going into the year was for Corey Hart to start and for Mat Gamel to back him up. He likely considered Taylor Green and Hunter Morris to be 3rd and 4th options.

 

The Corey Hart got hurt. Then Mat Gamel got hurt. In spring training it looked like Taylor Green and Alex Gonzalez would share the job until Hart returned. Then Taylor Green got hurt. The organization thinks Morris needs time at AAA and I'll defer to them as they know the player far better than do I. Our opening day MLB lineup of Aoki, Weeks, Braun, Ramirez, Lucroy, Gonzalez, Gomez and Segura is still well above average even with Gonzalez at first base.

 

Recently Braun, Ramirez and Segura have been injured. The problem isn't Alex Gonzalez at first base or not having a plan at first base, the problem is we've lost 3 starters (including our 2 best hitters) to injury in 3 games. I'm not sure what GM of a small market team could plan for such a series of events.

 

Pretty much this. You are placing the blame in like the 5th best place to blame it. The team wasn't doing cartwheels because Alex Gonzalez could probably be a short term gap at 1B while they waited to see how long Hart was going to be out but if they didn't want to bring up Morris for whatever reason it probably made as much sense as signing some really cruddy over the hill 1B who should be out of the league. Gonzalez is more than capable of playing 1B in the majors, sadly Yuni B probably isn't as we have seen from how lax he has looked at the position. Once we were on our 4th option at the position we could be pretty sure that we weren't going to get any real offense for April.

[logan82]

The problem is their plan was to go with signing a crappy backup middle infielder instead of using a guy who is already in our system. I am talking about Yuni and Morris. Is Morris a good plan? No, but he is miles better than Yuni.

[RockCoCougars]

Judging from what I've seen so far, I think there are plenty of candidates to share the burden. Unfortunately, it appears like the days of singling out a borderline starter, a reliever, or even the 23rd/24th/25th man on the team out for this role may have passed us by.

[Ennder]

The problem is their plan was to go with signing a crappy backup middle infielder instead of using a guy who is already in our system. I am talking about Yuni and Morris. Is Morris a good plan? No, but he is miles better than Yuni.

 

Yuni wasn't related to 1B when we signed him. I think maybe that is the disconnect here. Yuni was a depth move after the 4th injury kind of pushed the issue. They did not choose Yuni over Hunter Morris because they thought he was a better player.

[adambr2]

The problem with Ax is that Roenicke and Melvin are still living in their own fantasy world in which they think Axford is still an elite closer going through a tough stretch.

 

He had a negative WAR and a 4.67 ERA last year. This isn't completely unforeseen right now, he was very bad last year. He is, in all likelihood, a flash in the pan 2 year wonder, at this point. It happens. A lot. But they are still trying to force it.

[adambr2]

The problem is their plan was to go with signing a crappy backup middle infielder instead of using a guy who is already in our system. I am talking about Yuni and Morris. Is Morris a good plan? No, but he is miles better than Yuni.

 

Yuni is more of just a convenience scapegoat, and he's certainly not someone you want starting ideally, but he is not at all the reason we are 1-5. It's pitching, pitching, pitching. We are losing because our pitching has been atrocious. Plain and simple.

 

When opponents are OPS'ing .918 off your pitching staff, it's not going to make a difference if you've got your A, B, or C lineup in, you're not going to win consistently.

[logan82]

The problem is their plan was to go with signing a crappy backup middle infielder instead of using a guy who is already in our system. I am talking about Yuni and Morris. Is Morris a good plan? No, but he is miles better than Yuni.

 

Yuni wasn't related to 1B when we signed him. I think maybe that is the disconnect here. Yuni was a depth move after the 4th injury kind of pushed the issue. They did not choose Yuni over Hunter Morris because they thought he was a better player.

Of course he was related to 1B when they signed him.

 

The disconnect is with the management. Morris should have been on the roster as depth with Gonzalez moving over in an emergency. Either that or an actual 1B. That is a huge oversight on their part. They should never have signed a backup middle infielder in the first place let alone Yuni.

 

If they did not think Yuni was a better player why is he still on the team? Why was he signed in the first place? I have given a good example of how they didn't need him. Get a 1B. Gonzalez still starts at 1B and can slide over if there is an injury. Melvin put our manager in this terrible position. Of course our manager still thought it was a good idea to get Yuni out at 1B even before Ramirez went down.

[endaround]

The problem is their plan was to go with signing a crappy backup middle infielder instead of using a guy who is already in our system. I am talking about Yuni and Morris. Is Morris a good plan? No, but he is miles better than Yuni.

 

 

The difference between Gonzalez and Morris over a month is basically zero. Why Yuni over Morris? Because Yuni can play other positions and will not tie down a 40 man spot for the year to fill in for a month.

[hawing]

Doug Melvin's plan for first base going into the year was for Corey Hart to start and for Mat Gamel to back him up. He likely considered Taylor Green and Hunter Morris to be 3rd and 4th options.

 

The Corey Hart got hurt. Then Mat Gamel got hurt. In spring training it looked like Taylor Green and Alex Gonzalez would share the job until Hart returned. Then Taylor Green got hurt. The organization thinks Morris needs time at AAA and I'll defer to them as they know the player far better than do I. Our opening day MLB lineup of Aoki, Weeks, Braun, Ramirez, Lucroy, Gonzalez, Gomez and Segura is still well above average even with Gonzalez at first base.

 

Recently Braun, Ramirez and Segura have been injured. The problem isn't Alex Gonzalez at first base or not having a plan at first base, the problem is we've lost 3 starters (including our 2 best hitters) to injury in 3 games. I'm not sure what GM of a small market team could plan for such a series of events.

(bold added by me)

I'm with sveumrules. What an insanely perfect storm of injuries. Four of the eight originally-pencilled-in opening day position starters are down at present, plus two intended backups.

 

Just about everything the Brewers were hoping would go right has gone wrong early on. I get the original point of the thread, but I don't think the current situation lends itself to a lone whipping boy.

[adambr2]

Agreed with the last post. Its not like there are a bunch of quality first basemen on the scrap heap available better than what we have. At this point we are just trying to tread water til Hart returns, nothing more. Until then we are going to have a big hole at 1st no matter what we do, just how it is right now.

 

Deficiencies like this get a lot of attention when we're playing this badly, but we're 1-5 because of poor pitching, not our lack of options at 1B.

[Roderick]

Agreed with the last post. Its not like there are a bunch of quality first basemen on the scrap heap available better than what we have. At this point we are just trying to tread water til Hart returns, nothing more. Until then we are going to have a big hole at 1st no matter what we do, just how it is right now.

 

Deficiencies like this get a lot of attention when we're playing this badly, but we're 1-5 because of poor pitching, not our lack of options at 1B.

 

I agree that our record is because of pitching, but I don't have any big problem with how DM put it together. It is what it is and I am still expecting a decent season of pitching.

 

But I do think he should have been able to put together a better plan when Gamel went down for the season. He had time. By acquiring Yuni that cements that Gonzalez has to play the corners and will be starting for approx six weeks at 1B. If you acquire a corner infielder, then Gonzalez is the backup middle fielder. You can cut a corner infielder just as easily as Yuni when Hart comes off the DL.

[monty57]

It stinks that all the injuries happened at once, but when the plan is to rely on a team full of 30-somethings, you should expect more injuries than if you have a team full of 20-somethings. This is compounded by the fact that the 30-somethings cost more, so all the payroll is tied up into a few players leaving less money for the other positions (like pitching). If those aging, expensive players get hurt or underperform, you're screwed.

 

It's early, but the pitching so far is showing why some of us were willing to make some trades and sacrifice a few wins this year in order to restock for the near future. There were just too many question marks to think we had a good shot at making the playoffs this year, so it was a perfect year to "restock" and let the pitchers get some MLB time to see who sinks and who swims. We didn't and here we are.

 

We go on and on arguing the "micro" issues. Melvin (or whoever made the decision) deserves blame for the "macro" decision to play for a "window" where we would be as good as possible for a few years, as opposed to trying to build a sustainably good team. He decided to emulate the Cubs of the 2000's instead of emulating the Cardinals, Rangers, Rays models of today. So yes, we should've called up Morris or Halton instead of naming Gonzalez the 1B and signing Yuni. But, we should've traded Hart last season, so this shouldn't have have been a knee-jerk reaction move. Our pitching stinks and we have an injured third baseman. Well, we had the opportunity to trade the aging Ramirez for MLB-ready pitching from the Dodgers last year and didn't. There are lots and lots of "micro" issues that have been debated ad nauseum on this site, but the main issue is that in aggregate, these micro issues add up to the fact that we have an aging, expensive group at the MLB level and a bottom-tier farm system. That rests solely on the shoulders of the general manager, who is charged with putting the system together.

[logan82]

I think we are back to the manager now. Melvin gave him a clear option other than Yuni at 1B and guess who starts at 1B.

[adambr2]

Axford is really, really bad.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I'm starting to lean toward Roenicke after tonight. Just a horrible decision sending out Axford for the 8th.

[The stache]

They're both equally bad. Two inept clowns that are flushing our season down the toilet before we're out of April.

[Ennder]

Just 2 weeks ago people thought the bullpen would be fine, last year they thought it was a strength. The bullpen stinks and it was a bad bullpen going into last year. None of this is a surprise, we haven't been able to develop any pitching for years now and it has really taken the toll on the bullpen which is where you generally do build from within. Stop trying to blame it on nonsense like starting a MI at 1B after 5 guys got hurt.

[DuWayne Steurer]

http://memecrunch.com/meme/712E/i-put-a-john-axford-poster-on-my-door/image.png

[TheCrew07]

Stop trying to blame it on nonsense like starting a MI at 1B after 5 guys got hurt.

 

Your right it doesn't matter to give runs away and make bad defensive plays that ultimately cause another player injury... it's all Axford and the rest of the pen.

 

Who exactly assembled the bullpen? Who constructed the roster and the organizational depth? Your right though, it's all on the pitchers in the bullpen and RR... Melvin is blameless even though he assembled the bullpen, signed the veteran bench players, and hired the manager.

 

The season is far from over but at some point it would be nice if you would at least acknowledge the reality of the situation and quit making excuses for Melvin. It didn't have to be this way... none of this was written in stone and there are other options available to help remedy the nightmare we find ourselves in. We aren't going to win many games over the next 6 weeks starting 3 SS, 2 of which don't hit, and 1 of which can't even field at 1B on the IF. If Ramirez is actually back in 2 weeks great but I'm not going to hold my breath hoping for that to happen. His knee never fully healed after the first injury and if he continues to play on it without letting it fully heal then all season they are going to be rolling the dice on another DL stint and possibly a more severe injury. It would be so great for Ramirez to blow out his knee and miss an entire season, especially his most expensive season...

 

Then again the Brewers have one of the best medical staffs in MLB and they don't have a history of letting guys play hurt which ultimately negatively impacts the team and player do they? You know, because they won some meaningless award for having the least DL time when they had one of the youngest teams in baseball... it wasn't the players being young and healthy, it was because the medical staff which couldn't repair/rehab a simple ACL tear was that good. Never mind the litany of misdiagnosis and poor treatment practices over the years at all levels of the organization... it's the coaches, it's the players, it's the posters overreacting... it's anyone but Melvin and his staff.

 

There was quite a bit of venom directed at those of us who wanted to flip Axford after 2011, now the dude can't get a kind word from anyone, funny how 170 games will completely flip the opinion of people about the value of a player. I still maintain his issues are mostly with pitch selection and occasionally with his arm slot. The higher his arm slot the better he locates but regardless that curveball is not a plus pitch, he really needs to quit throwing it so much and start mixing in his slider which is a plus pitch more often. Maybe the slider stresses his arm too much or something along those lines but then he better get to work on a change because even though his curve has marginally improved, it's a very average pitch and obviously hasn't been working for him.

[PrinceFielderx1]

I'm sorry, but the reason why Axford shouldn't be the closer is simple. He's a 2 pitch pitcher that has no movement on his fastball, he throws his curveball up and down the middle of the plate, and pitch selection. I agree with thecrew on that part. Axford shouldn't be throwing his fastball on a 2 strike count for his out pitch when his curveball is locating well, it should be his curveball that he throws, but he needs to keep it low and in front of the batter. Axford has shown no history of consistently locating both pitches for the majority of a season.

 

The home runs are happening this season, because he's giving the batters his straight fastball when they know it's coming on 2 strikes, and believe me they are trying to hit it out. I have also seen home runs on his curveball like the last one he gave up, because it was up and over the plate, instead of down and in front of the batter.

 

He's a mess and I'm in total favor of releasing him. I think these problems can't be fixed and if they could have been they already would have been. Jim Henderson in my opinion could be a very good closer, because he has movement on all his pitches and he can throw strike after strike after strike. He also has a history of closing games in the minors I believe, so the mentality is there. Also, right now I'd make Figaro the 8th inning man. I don't like Mike Gonzalez and blame Melvin for that one. We need 2 hard throwers who keep the ball down and throw strikes regularly added to this bullpen. It would be nice if Michael Olmsted rebounded from his horrible first outing and made his case for Milwaukee ASAP. He's needed very much.

[adamb100]

This is accurate for the current situation:

 

http://i.imgur.com/gjehFzr.jpg

[TURBO]

http://losersbracket.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/kid-with-Brewers-sign-FIRE.jpg

[danzig6767]

I'm sorry, but the reason why Axford shouldn't be the closer is simple. He's a 2 pitch pitcher that has no movement on his fastball, he throws his curveball up and down the middle of the plate, and pitch selection. I agree with thecrew on that part. Axford shouldn't be throwing his fastball on a 2 strike count for his out pitch when his curveball is locating well, it should be his curveball that he throws, but he needs to keep it low and in front of the batter. Axford has shown no history of consistently locating both pitches for the majority of a season.

 

The home runs are happening this season, because he's giving the batters his straight fastball when they know it's coming on 2 strikes, and believe me they are trying to hit it out. I have also seen home runs on his curveball like the last one he gave up, because it was up and over the plate, instead of down and in front of the batter.

 

Most relief pitchers that throw 95-99 don't have movement on their fastballs either, it's instead a straight four seamer. Hell, lots of hard throwing starters also throw a very straight four seam fastball. Ben Sheets for example had a fine career throwing mostly just a straight four seam fastball and a great curve.

 

The lack of movement on his fastball isn't his problem at all, Axford has in the past has been successful with his stuff. His current problem is only one thing, lack of command of both pitches.

 

This has resulted in him getting behind in the count a lot and/or walking hitters, both being very dangerous things for any late inning relief pitcher trying to hold on to small leads. Just as bad, to often when even ahead in the count, he's leaving pitches right over the plate.

 

A good number of big league hitters can catch up to a high heat fastball if they first know it's coming and then next the pitch catches a lot of the middle of the plate vs staying on the corners. Mix in that he's also lost the consistent command of his curveball compared to his great season two years ago, it's not hard to see why he's getting jacked around.

 

What we can't know is to what degree this is in his head. Few athletes will admit in public that failures on the field have messed with their head and thus contributed to say their pitching mechanics getting messed up as nerves get to them. Closers could be extra prone to that as their failures are extra devastating to the team, especially when blowing multiple wins in a row over a pretty small stretch of time. It has to be crushing to these guys, even ones who are generally mentally strong to walk off that field after blowing multiple close games. They care way more than fans do and just think how devastated many baseball fans feel after a closer is imploding. It's gotta be a very very lonely feeling walking back into the clubhouse.