2018 Starting Rotation

[Jenkins5]

Going to be hard to compete this year with what we have. Going to need Nelson back & grooving like last, Burnes to force way up & be a stud and/go get a decent starter. Painful to see us dig 4+ holes by the 3rd or 4th inning. Bullpen at least has been stellar.

[brewmann04]

Yes the bullpen has be our shiny spot

[Ennder]

Realistically speaking Anderson is a solid #3, Davies and Chacin are hopefully #4's but may be #5's and Suter is a #6. Not sure what Woodruff is.

 

This rotation needed 2 or 3 better arms and got none, the season was over by the start of spring training.

[Boomer5]

Realistically speaking Anderson is a solid #3, Davies and Chacin are hopefully #4's but may be #5's and Suter is a #6. Not sure what Woodruff is.

 

This rotation needed 2 or 3 better arms and got none, the season was over by the start of spring training.

 

It was such an odd offseason. After going after OFers we really didn’t need, the team raised the white flag after January 25th.

 

I’m sure there was a bigger set of moves at some point?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Realistically speaking Anderson is a solid #3, Davies and Chacin are hopefully #4's but may be #5's and Suter is a #6. Not sure what Woodruff is.

 

This rotation needed 2 or 3 better arms and got none, the season was over by the start of spring training.

 

It was such an odd offseason. After going after OFers we really didn’t need, the team raised the white flag after January 25th.

 

I’m sure there was a bigger set of moves at some point?

 

I have absolutely no doubt you are right. I think at least one big move fell though, if not two. There was just too much smoke for there not to be fire. But in the end, it was just Stearns saying they were going with what they had, in the hope that Derek's Johnson's magical fairy dust would turn these guys into an above average staff. Granted it is early, and things can change, but there hasn't been much to make me think that plan will work.

[TJseven7]

Chacins velo is down and his slider has been a negative. His slider hasn't been negative since 2012. I'd chill out with Chacin so far. As well as Anderson who has been fine. And Davies who has put up 3 starts in 2016 and 4 in 2017 to start the year that were in the 9 era territory.

 

Suter working up in the zone and having garbage location is concerning for sure.

[JohnBriggs12]

Guerra was strong in his AAA debut last night. One more clunker by Suter, and another strong AAA outing by Guerra, and they should flip flop. Miley should figure in in a few weeks should Woodruff falter. I'm not that concerned about Chacin. His slider still looks good, and he did reach 92 in his last inning. Lots of guys start the year with velo off by a couple mph and he started slow last year. He needs a lot better defense behind him than he got the other night too. What concerns me is Anderson's velocity was way down in his last start. He can't get away with middle of the plate at 91-92. He needs to be 94-95.

[Fear The Chorizo]

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to have Guerra, Miley, and Burnes all in the Milwaukee rotation by Memorial Day if things continue. Brewers really need Woodruff to step up and lock down one of the rotation spots in the short term, too. It would be refreshing to have a starter with mid 90's velocity attack a lineup instead of watching a pile of soft-tossers nibble and miss badly in the zone. Really hope Anderson's next start has him back up 92-94 consistently, too.

 

None of the starters thus far have been good, but you've gotta imagine Anderson, Davies, and Chacin all get pretty long leashes - Suter may have one more shot at starting a game in Milwaukee before he either shifts to the pen or gets shipped back to CO Springs. His stuff just isn't good enough without perfect control - and while he turned in some surprisingly good starts last year, he also struggled to get through 5 IP alot and doesn't have the track record or pedigree to get the benefit of the doubt when there are other SP options with better stuff looking for a rotation spot in Milwaukee.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Yikes. We are 6 games in people. Stay calm?

 

It's possible to be calm, which I think I am, and still think Chacin blows chunks, which I do.

[FVBrewerFan]

I know it's very early, but I wanted them to go this route all along:

 

Hader

Anderson

Woodruff

Davies

Chacin

 

Nelson comes back when he's ready, Burnes steps in if someone else is ineffective or injured.

 

Nelson

Hader

Anderson

Burnes

Davies

 

I'm just sick of trotting out Suter, Chacin, Guerra, Miley, Derby and anyone else who are mediocre at best and don't even fit into the long term plan anyhow. The sooner Hader, Burnes, Peralta, etc. get added to the rotation, the sooner they are legitimately ready to compete. We could have fooled ourselves by signing Lynn or whoever but that would not have made much of a difference.

 

We all want the Brewers back in the WS. That's never going to happen with Suter, Miley, and Guerras of the world in the rotation. Stop pretending this team can win the WS this year, and continue on with the rebuild. If they would have had that focus, they could have traded Knebel among others.

[TJH123]

I know it's very early, but I wanted them to go this route all along:

 

Hader

Anderson

Woodruff

Davies

Chacin

 

Nelson comes back when he's ready, Burnes steps in if someone else is ineffective or injured.

 

Nelson

Hader

Anderson

Burnes

Davies

 

I'm just sick of trotting out Suter, Chacin, Guerra, Miley, Derby and anyone else who are mediocre at best and don't even fit into the long term plan anyhow. The sooner Hader, Burnes, Peralta, etc. get added to the rotation, the sooner they are legitimately ready to compete. We could have fooled ourselves by signing Lynn or whoever but that would not have made much of a difference.

 

We all want the Brewers back in the WS. That's never going to happen with Suter, Miley, and Guerras of the world in the rotation. Stop pretending this team can win the WS this year, and continue on with the rebuild. If they would have had that focus, they could have traded Knebel among others.

 

I agree with this except the part at the end about rebuilding, why would they sign Cain for all that money if they are rebuilding? It just doesn’t make sense given the lack of focus on improving the rotation. Stearns didn’t seriously think Chacin was the rotation piece to put us over the top did he? I can’t wait to see Guerra or Miley get a shot in the rotation when they both had ERAs over 5 last year

[FVBrewerFan]

I agree with this except the part at the end about rebuilding, why would they sign Cain for all that money if they are rebuilding?

 

Because Cain's contract is for five years not one. They had the opportunity and money to sign a player like this, who knows if a similar opportunity would be available next off-season. Ditto for Yelich.

 

Also, I'm not suggesting Stearns looks at the season as 100% rebuild mode. Just saying that's what I would have wanted.

[pacopete4]

The rotation was built with the success of the pitchers from last year in mind and the hope that some of the guys (Chacin, Miley, Guerra, Suter, Woodruff etc..) would break out and be a formable back end of the rotation pieces. So far the top guys haven't pitched well and the bottom guys have been even worse. It's been a perfect storm of just flat out bad pitching. Even signing one of Cobb, Darvish, Arrieta doesn't save this team from how they have pitched to start this season. Everyone just needs to go out and do their jobs better.

[clancyphile]

Honestly, I never got why they signed Chacin in the first place.

 

Granted, 2017 was a great run, but for the rotation, this year really should have been a chance to see what the Crew had in Suter, Woodruff, and if Jungmann and Guerra had turned it around. Maybe even to give Bubba Derby and Angel Ventura shots if none of those four really worked out.

 

EDIT: Also, we're still in small sample sizes here. I'm not gonna really panic for another couple of weeks.

[JosephC]

I'm not much of a Suter fan, but there is way, way, way too much impatience with him. He's up to 113 1/3 MLB innings and has posted a 3.65 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 3.86 FIP, 120 ERA+ and 2.84 K/BB ratio so far. Guerra has posted a 3.72 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 4.78 FIP, 116 ERA+ and a 1.95 K/BB ratio in the majors. I think they need to stick with Suter for at least a half dozen more starts. Maybe he'll crap out, but maybe the 3.65 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, etc will stick and if so then he's a solid rotation piece when factoring in the low salary.

[FVBrewerFan]

Honestly, I never got why they signed Chacin in the first place.

 

Because Stearns has to deal with the reality of small market baseball. Ideally, they would have torn it down completely and rebuild from there. But Mark A/ Stearns figured fans wouldn't tolerate a 65 win season, especially after the unexpected success in 2017. So you get guys like Chacin to eat innings for a year or two.

 

Not saying I agree or disagree with that line of thinking, but that's why. It's a careful balance between being competitive enough to be relevant, without sacrificing the future.

[clancyphile]

I'm not much of a Suter fan, but there is way, way, way too much impatience with him. He's up to 113 1/3 MLB innings and has posted a 3.65 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 3.86 FIP, 120 ERA+ and 2.84 K/BB ratio so far. Guerra has posted a 3.72 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 4.78 FIP, 116 ERA+ and a 1.95 K/BB ratio in the majors. I think they need to stick with Suter for at least a half dozen more starts. Maybe he'll crap out, but maybe the 3.65 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, etc will stick and if so then he's a solid rotation piece when factoring in the low salary.

 

Furthermore, Suter's not been a full-time starter since 2014. In 2015-2017, he did a bullpen/rotation shuffle, and went from AA to the majors. He even shuttled back and forth in 2017.

 

Ditto with Woodruff. Give him a half dozen or so starts.

[djoctagone]

woodruff optioned. he must stay optioned at least 10 days, unless replacing a player put on the disabled, paternity, bereavement or restricted list. his turn in the rotation comes up wednesday, with an off day scheduled thursday.

[pacopete4]

So who start on Weds? Hader?!?!?

[adambr2]

Wednesday would be Freddy Peralta's regular start day, and he's already on the 40...just saying.

 

Much more likely I would guess that Houser goes back down on Wednesday and Guerra is called up, it would also be his day.

[pacopete4]

Wednesday would be Freddy Peralta's regular start day, and he's already on the 40...just saying.

They wouldn’t dare, would they? I’d love it.

[adambr2]

Wednesday would be Freddy Peralta's regular start day, and he's already on the 40...just saying.

They wouldn’t dare, would they? I’d love it.

 

Me too. But I'm betting they play it "safe" and roll with Junior.

[MrTPlush]

I keep seeing the Hader fan bus trying to drive itself into the rotation. Are people still forgetting he is a 2 pitch guy, velocity is down a lot, and he is currently averaging 20ish pitches to get three outs in a bullpen role almost every single time out?

 

If I stuck those kind of titles on anyone whose name wasn’t “Josh Hader” no one would even think about them as a rotation option.

[istanbultaye]

In regards to the 2 pitches, he does seem to be getting a little more comfortable with his changeup in the early going this year, not that he's using it much. Arguably the best home grown starting pitcher since the turn of the millenia was Ben Sheets, and he was pretty much a 2 pitch pitcher. That said, I think that they should cycle through other options before trying Hader, this year at least for sure. Why mess with something that is working for the guy, and where he is contributing greatly to the most successful group on the team?

[brooks_quichenick]

Hader is a "2 pitch pitcher" because he doesn't need to use a 3rd pitch out of the pen throwing 2-3 innings at most. He's thrown it a few times and it looks serviceable to me when compared to his nasty FB/SL combo. It doesn't have to be great. The only way it's going to develop further is if he's allowed to start.