2017-04-03: Opening Day! Rockies (Gray) at Brewers (Guerra) 1:10 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 7-5; lose Guerra to 3rd inning injury]

[adambr2]

Well, that game pretty well deflated my Opening Day excitement.

[trwi7]

Hell of a play by Arenado.

[MrTPlush]

Are we all really after 1 game giving up on Villar at 2nd? Really?

 

Sigh

 

First time seeing an in-game thread early in the season I see.

[fondybrewfan]

Some bad defense and a couple bad breaks. Perez was about a 1 foot away from a 2 run double in the 8th.

 

Game played out a little like I expect the whole season to. I think we will score runs but pitching and defense probably will frustrate at times.

[owbc]

We all know where this team is headed but it's always a downer to open with a loss. Especially since it means they might not see .500 at all this year.

[Boomer5]

Well, that game pretty well deflated my Opening Day excitement.

 

It's only one game. Though we do need to see how long Junior will be out, the Brewers can not afford to lose any pitching. This is a bad rotation as it is.

[adambr2]

So if Villar can't play SS,3rd or 2nd .....he is running out of places to play

 

When it's brought up that the Brewers had the worst defense in the league last year, it was almost all on Villar. Has all the tools but his mental game is completely lacking.

 

Villar played more 2nd toward the end of last year, logged a total of 69 innings in 2016, and played quite well there by all accounts after the switch and did not commit an error at 2nd.

 

Perhaps we can give him more than just the first game of 2017 before declaring that he can't play 2nd.

[JohnBriggs12]

Are we all really after 1 game giving up on Villar at 2nd? Really?

 

Sigh

 

It's the same kind of poor play he showed at SS and 3B last year and they just gave away the incumbent 2B for the past 3 1/2 years to open the spot for him so when he is directly responseble for giving away 3 runs in a game lost by two, people aren't going to be too happy.

[3and2Fastball]

Villar was just unbelievably horrible today. I coach 14 year olds with better fundamentals. Yes of course, he'll get a long leash in a rebuilding year but man oh man was that terrible.

[adambr2]

Are we all really after 1 game giving up on Villar at 2nd? Really?

 

Sigh

 

It's the same kind of poor play he showed at SS and 3B last year and they just gave away the incumbent 2B for the past 3 1/2 years to open the spot for him so when he is directly responseble for giving away 3 runs in a game lost by two, people aren't going to be too happy.

 

Probably because the incumbent 2B was a replacement level player last year.

[3and2Fastball]

So if Villar can't play SS,3rd or 2nd .....he is running out of places to play

 

LF maybe if they trade Braun

[JohnBriggs12]

Villar is a baseball version of Jay Cutler who over his time in Chicago cost 2 GMs their jobs.

[MrTPlush]

Villar is a baseball version of Jay Cutler who over his time in Chicago cost 2 GMs their jobs.

 

...what.

[adambr2]

Villar is a baseball version of Jay Cutler who over his time in Chicago cost 2 GMs their jobs.

 

...what.

 

Cutler was entrusted as the franchise AB, the most important position on the team, cost franchise QB money, and the team gave up multiple high picks to acquire him.

 

Villar is a 2nd baseman in a much more team oriented sport, makes league minimum salary, and the Brewers gave up Cy Sneed for him. But yeah, other than that, they're the same, though I doubt Stearns is going to be fired on the basis of acquiring Villar for Snead.

 

The hatred for Villar is so over the top. Yes, he can be a frustrating player. Yes, he needs to work on the fundamentals of his game. He's also a very good player that missed being the first 20/60 player since Rickey Henderson by 1 HR, and put up a 3 WAR, all at the young age of 25. There is a good reason we offered him a 20M extension. He was 24 on opening day last year. A 24 year old MLB infielder that puts up a 3 WAR and we want to run him out of town for his mental mistakes.

 

Or maybe, I don't know, seeing as how he's really young and talented and started playing at a high level at a young age, and we're a rebuilding club, we could maybe work with him on the things he does need to work on and have some patience with him.

 

My goodness. Its. The. First. Game.

[dacbrewers]

Yea that call surprised me too. I thought Pina was Guerra's catcher.

[brewcrewdue80]

Nevermind his 2run double, or a working mans walk vs their closer. Doing everything you want for a leadoff batter.

 

Now on the end, his defense cost a run I know of, i missed the early part of game, but Mr. Arcia runners on 2nd, 3rd 1out and swings at 1st two pitches and strikes out 2 pitches later. First 2 batters walk, Bandy Ks, and you have that AB needing to only put the ball somewhere in play.

 

So which is worse? Someone needs to get Arcia to take that 1st pitch twice every game even if its a strike. He's so loaded up, like Gomez, that you throw a ball and watch them make it a swinging strike. Especially when the pitcher has walked 2 in the inning. I'll never get how batter #3 or 4 swing at 1st pitch after that.

 

Regardless, there's better days ahead, and Baseball is Back! 6 months of this great time.

[jerichoholicninja]

Villar is a baseball version of Jay Cutler who over his time in Chicago cost 2 GMs their jobs.

 

...what.

 

Cutler was entrusted as the franchise AB, the most important position on the team, cost franchise QB money, and the team gave up multiple high picks to acquire him.

 

Villar is a 2nd baseman in a much more team oriented sport, makes league minimum salary, and the Brewers gave up Cy Sneed for him. But yeah, other than that, they're the same, though I doubt Stearns is going to be fired on the basis of acquiring Villar for Snead.

 

The hatred for Villar is so over the top. Yes, he can be a frustrating player. Yes, he needs to work on the fundamentals of his game. He's also a very good player that missed being the first 20/60 player since Rickey Henderson by 1 HR, and put up a 3 WAR, all at the young age of 25. There is a good reason we offered him a 20M extension. He was 24 on opening day last year. A 24 year old MLB infielder that puts up a 3 WAR and we want to run him out of town for his mental mistakes.

 

Or maybe, I don't know, seeing as how he's really young and talented and started playing at a high level at a young age, and we're a rebuilding club, we could maybe work with him on the things he does need to work on and have some patience with him.

 

My goodness. Its. The. First. Game.

 

It's Briggs, would you expect anything else?

[MillerParkSouth]

They waived the wrong 2nd baseman. Villar can't be hid anywhere. If they'd kept Gennett as a bench bat, they could have used him in the 8th.

I mean Villar had a bad game today but this is a little over the top, even for you!

[pacopete4]

They waived the wrong 2nd baseman. Villar can't be hid anywhere. If they'd kept Gennett as a bench bat, they could have used him in the 8th.

I mean Villar had a bad game today but this is a little over the top, even for you!

 

 

Well Scooter did hit a two run bomb today so yeah, we [sarcasm]definitely[/sarcasm] made the wrong decision and we should've DFA'd Villar. We'd be 1-0 right now!

[MillerParkSouth]

I didn't see that about Scooter, maybe Briggs was on to something!

 

There are going to be a lot of games like this with bad defense and bad situational hitting, that's to be expected with such a young team. Just have to hope that it improves as the season goes along.

 

My only real concern with the game today is Guerra's leg. That's about the last thing we need from multiple angles.

[superfly]

LMAO at the sillyness.

[Ennder]

I've been on this site for a good 15 years and I can't say I've agreed with anything JB has said in that entire time, I don't agree with this either. Villar was a net positive this game even if his defensive play was very poor that inning. Bandy should have never tried to catch the guy stealing 2B so that is on the catcher. The failed double play was just a bobbled ball, that happens all the time in the IF.

[DHonks]

Love that they moved the camera right behind the mound. Much more enjoyable.

 

I really hate this. I know people will cite that website that ranked the angles in stadiums, but I never have liked CF cameras.

 

I actually agree. Of course I always have gameday up so I don't need a CF camera angle to see if the pitch is a strike. Ours isn't even centered either. It's slightly to right field.

 

I noticed that it's offset slightly. Plus the camera angle isn't high enough, so the entire plate is blocked during the pitch. Why not just stick with the traditional view and just show Foxtrax on every pitch? I hate how they selectively show it, so I always wind up needing some device with me to show me the strike zone

[3and2Fastball]

The failed double play was just a bobbled ball, that happens all the time in the IF.

 

It was so much more than that. It was a complete break down in fundamentals. A 2B doesn't try to catch the ball on the move like that. You get to the bag and make the the turn. It was an epic failure on the level of Yuni B, or worse. Possibly worse because Yuni B was relatively fundamentally sound, he just had the range of a Grandpa.

 

If Stearns & Counsell are aware that Villar is that fundamentally flawed at 2B then they are just buying time, hoping he figures it out.

 

I get that.

[owbc]

Who cares if Villar is terrible at 2B right now? If Villar is ever going to appear in a playoff game with the Brewers, it's going to be at 2B, in 2018 or later.

 

I'm willing to try this 'experiment' for the entire year, even if it costs us wins.

 

Prediction--Ryan Braun will cost us more wins in the field than Villar this year.