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

[brewcrewdue80]

Yikes, looking at the Box score, 1 hit total in 5IP off of Rockies Relievers. A group that I'd consider about equal in regard with the Brewers at this point....Though, Milone and Marinez giving up 2Runs fit exactly to what I fear about them. Milone just being bad, and Marinez outpitched himself last year and won't produce like he did for the Brewers last year.

[Boomer5]

Yikes, looking at the Box score, 1 hit total in 5IP off of Rockies Relievers. A group that I'd consider about equal in regard with the Brewers at this point....Though, Milone and Marinez giving up 2Runs fit exactly to what I fear about them. Milone just being bad, and Marinez outpitched himself last year and won't produce like he did for the Brewers last year.

 

Martinez was really bad yesterday. Braun and Arcia bailed him out or it would have been a lot worse.

[rwa12]

The Rockies bullpen may not be good, but they all seemed to throw high 90s...

[RobDeer 45]

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.

 

I'm just throwing it out there, but I think that was the old way of doing it and now there are situations where you run through the bag, plant and throw, to avoid the base runner. I could be wrong, but I think it's much more situational and not just do the same thing every time. Either way, he rushed it. He seemed to have a lot more time and could have maybe setup, but might not have been there in time because it was hit so hard to short. It happens. This team is a work in progress. We have to take the ups with the downs.

[topper09er]

Villar was a net positive this game even if his defensive play was very poor that inning.

 

Im not so sure about this. His batting WPA was +.212. Before the failed DP, we had a 51% chance of winning given the score/inning/situation. If you assume the DP, looks like entering the bottom of the 7th, home team +1 wins 83% of the time. So that DP would have been the biggest play of the entire game worth .32 WPA.

[StearnsFTW]

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.

 

I mean, right? Good God. The Villar-related stuff in this thread is flat out embarrassing.

[Dragonbait]

 

I mean, right? Good God. The Villar-related stuff in this thread is flat out embarrassing.

 

Somebody has the be the new Bill Hall, Yuni B, etc. (pick your scapegoat)

[Brewerswillsurprise]

The sample size for Villar is much larger than just this first game. As a long time Astros fan I have watched Villar in disappointment. His erratic inconsistent play is also the reason he was traded by them. There does come a point when a player just does not fit. I mean no disrespect to Villar and like any player he very well may rise again but the Brewers have better options right now and Villar is blocking them.

[StearnsFTW]

The sample size for Villar is much larger than just this first game. As a long time Astros fan I have watched Villar in disappointment. His erratic inconsistent play is also the reason he was traded by them. There does come a point when a player just does not fit. I mean no disrespect to Villar and like any player he very well may rise again but the Brewers have better options right now and Villar is blocking them.

 

Ummm........who would that be?

[adambr2]

The sample size for Villar is much larger than just this first game. As a long time Astros fan I have watched Villar in disappointment. His erratic inconsistent play is also the reason he was traded by them. There does come a point when a player just does not fit. I mean no disrespect to Villar and like any player he very well may rise again but the Brewers have better options right now and Villar is blocking them.

 

Ummm........who would that be?

 

No kidding. Isan Diaz of Single A ball?

 

The angst over a 3 WAR young switch hitter is remarkable. Villar is 25. 25. Perhaps we should consider that not all players are fully developed and mature at 25.

 

We went through this same nonsense when Gomez was 25. Only difference being Villar is quite a bit better than Gomez was at 25, and we were contending then.

[Brewerswillsurprise]

I actually spoke out of turn on the Villar "blocking" as I was also lumping Santana into the mix and he is the one really blocking the AAA OF (at least for now, by early May this will change) But you can still ask the question who would be better defensively at 2nd base Villar or Yadiel Rivera?

[pacopete4]

IBut you can still ask the question who would be better defensively at 2nd base Villar or Yadiel Rivera?

 

 

You can ask it but it certainly doesn't matter. Villar is the superior player and only one year older.

[adambr2]

Michael Reed would be better defensively in LF than Ryan Braun. Doesn't mean he should be starting there.

[trwi7]

But you can still ask the question who would be better defensively at 2nd base Villar or Yadiel Rivera?

 

Rivera would be. I don't think anyone would argue that. Rivera might not OPS .600 though.