What would you consider a successful 2018 season for the Brewers?

[clancyphile]

The subject speaks volumes, but I want to add some sub-categories:

 

1. What is the one thing you want to see the Brewers do in the 2018 season?

 

To be willing to take a step back in order to be a much better team over the long haul by giving the young/youngish players the ABs and reps needed to adjust to major-league baseball.

 

2. What do you want the Brewers to do during the 2018 season with an eye towards the future (2019-2025)?

 

I want to see the Brewers give Brent Suter, Josh Hader, and Brandon Woodruff spend a full season in the starting rotation. If these three can hold down the spots behind Chase Anderson and Zach Davies, this presents a lot of very favorable options. If not, the Crew can give youngsters like Ortiz, Burnes, Perrin, and Derby a shot in 2019.

 

Developing young players like Brett Phillips, Suter, Hader, Taylor Williams, Woodruff, and Lewis Brinson to see if they can be part of the major-league team for the long haul is just as important.

 

Sign all draft picks in a given year. Even if the team has to go over cap, just get them signed.

 

Throw huge money at the farm system and scouting departments to get the best talent possible in the farm system.

[AdvantageSchneider]

God bless Brent Suter for what he did for us in 2017, but I really don't think I want to try him out as a 5th starter in 2018. He had a nice run in July and he pitched great in Sept, but he didn't go very deep in games, which is fine in Sept, but would kill our bullpen if we have to cover 4 innings every time he starts for the whole season. Seems like the perfect 6th man/long reliever. He's 28, so it's not like he is some youngster with a ton of potential.

 

Personally, I'd like to win the wild card. I know Jimmy's injury probably dampens the enthusiasm for 2018, but I really can't see any reason why we can't contend for a playoff spot next year. We've got big league talent and we've got talent in the pipeline. A lot depends on what we do in the offseason, but given the great moves Stearns has made so far no reason to think we won't keep improving.

[brewmann04]

I like to see some of the young arms take the next step

and Playoffs next year with a WS following in a few years.

[monty57]

1. What is the one thing you want to see the Brewers do in the 2018 season?

 

Make the playoffs. They almost made it this year, and with a few moves they should be more talented "on paper" going into the season. Stay on plan (continually adding young talent throughout the system), but the playoffs should be the goal going into 2018.

 

2. What do you want the Brewers to do during the 2018 season with an eye towards the future (2019-2025)?

 

Move Hader to the rotation. He was great in the pen, but he would be a lot more valuable if he can be great in the rotation.

 

Find another young-ish starter for the rotation. This could be signing someone like Chatwood (28) as a free agent, or trading for a younger starter. This will help us for several seasons and will also give Nelson time to heal and our minor leaguers time to develop.

 

Find a way to get Phillips, Brinson and Santana a lot of PAs. All three of these guys are very talented and need to get everyday at-bats, but Braun is going to be playing LF. There should be plenty of ABs to go around, so I'm not too worried, but I don't want to see one of the young guys sitting on the bench if they get off to a slow start.

 

Let Woodruff start the season in the rotation. He showed enough to earn this spot.

 

Try to extend Davies, Arcia and maybe Knebel. They're all young enough that an extension would give us some additional team control while they're still in their prime.

[Outlander]

While 2017 was fun I will probably still look more at individual players than what I want the team to do. If Brinson, Phillips, Santana, Woodruff, Arcia and Hader take steps forward I don't really care what the team does but if all six of those guys are improving then there is a decent shot that the team is good so kind of go hand in hand.

[ZBTMP]

Success in 2018:

MLB Level:

Have (2) of the top 50 assets in baseball after the season and 12 players projected for at least 2 WAR coming into the 2019 season

Future:

Have the stock increases by at least 7 of the 9 top 3 picks from the 2015 (Clark, Kirby, Ponce), 2016 (Ray, Erceg, Feliciano), and 2017 (Hiura, Lutz, Lemons)

Maintain top 10 farm system with at least 4 top 100 prospects and (1) in the top 30.

Find a longterm, more neutral AAA home

Find a longterm and state of the art spring training facility

Sign (2) of the top 30 international amateur free agents

At least (2) of the (4) full season affiliates make the postseason

[rcc]

In the playoffs with the starters having a great year with Knebel the saves leader. Improvement in the bullpen. Shaw, Santana, Arcia all having another great year. Hader in the starting rotation with a great year.

[FVBrewerFan]

What is the one thing you want to see the Brewers do in the 2018 season?

 

More than one, but bear with me.

 

1) Either Nelson returns to form late in the year or Anderson puts up similar numbers as 2017 season. Would love both, of course, want to see one.

 

2) 2/3 Woodruff, Hader, Burnes pitch very well as part of the rotation. Again, would love 3/3, but I'm being realistic.

 

If they do these two things, we have at least 3 young/ relatively young pitchers in the rotation headed into 2019. And really, a 4th is handled by Davies or whoever. That means either Peralta/Ortiz can be the 5th, or go out and get a FA or trade. This is where it starts. A realistic starting rotation that can compete.

 

3) Trade Knebel if possible if you can get a big haul. Trade Braun for anything. Not expecting either.

 

4) Move Braun or Santana to 1B. Ideally Santana.

 

5) Improvement, even 25 OPS points from Santana and Arcia.

 

6) Want to see Shaw repeat his 2017 season.

 

7) Phillips and Brinson showing they at least belong. Not even expecting jaw dropping numbers, just enough to see they can be part of the future.

 

8) 2/4 A+ bats come to life. Erceg, Diaz, Ray, Clark.

 

9) Peralta get walk rate down, go deeper into games more consistently and show he is ready to be the old TOR type starter in the very near future. Back-up plan, Ortiz figures out how to miss more bats and show he is stud.

 

10) Two pitchers emerge in the system as top prospects. Bickford, Houser, Ponce, Yamamoto, Supak, Herrera, etc.

 

Would I love to see them in the playoffs? Of course. But the 10 things above are more important to me than that.

[brewcrewdue80]

What would you consider a successfule 2018 season for the Brewers?

 

82 or more wins simply. Maybe more when the offseason turns to Spring Training

 

1. What is the one thing you want to see the Brewers do in the 2018 season?

 

Get Josh Hader some starts.

 

 

2. What do you want the Brewers to do during the 2018 season with an eye towards the future (2019-2025)?

 

Extend Orlando Arcia.

[rickh150]

ZBTMP said it well..... agree with about all of it.

I'd add that I would like to have the rotation figured out much better. We would have our guys, whether that means by trade or development.

[3and2Fastball]

1). Invest significant money in the international market. Sign two of the top available international players,whether that from Japan or the DR

 

Do not trade away any top prospects, unless it is for upgraded pitching

 

Don't give on Villar.

[wildcat2237]

1. What is the one thing you want to see the Brewers do in the 2018 season?

 

Make the playoffs.

 

2. What do you want the Brewers to do during the 2018 season with an eye towards the future (2019-2025)?

 

a. Sell high on Korey Knebel for prospects to replenish the system.

 

b. Insert Josh Hader into 8th inning or closers role. (I know I am in the minority on this).

 

c. Not make a dumb move and sign an aging veteran like Arrieta.

 

d. Not make a dumb move and trade away the farm for a #1 or #2 like the Marcum or Grienke deals.

[NYChez]

At least 82 wins, have several of the young guys progress, and have at least one minor league hitter and pitcher emerge with superstar potential.

[CheezWizHed]

#1: Beat the Cubs

#2: Beat the Cardinals.

[WurstTo1st]

Allow myself to reintroduce myself. I joined in April last year but fell very ill later that month (2 weeks in ICU, another 3 weeks hospitalized) after which I was just recovering and spending lost time with family so posting on a message board took a back seat. So, now I'm back.

 

I guess a successful 2018 to me would be continuing an eye toward the future even if that means a regression win/loss-wise. It seem that last year's team really seem to gel as a unit. You'll have some subtractions, some additions, so to expect that they "take the next step" and make the playoffs may be a bit much to ask. Guys like Shaw, Thames, and Santana had career years and to expect a repeat might be a little much. (See the expectations for Villar from 2016 to 2017). Braun and his contract are a weight on this franchise. Love Braun for his place in franchise history despite his off field issues, but somehow if they can dump him and at least a portion of his contract I think is the biggest step forward they can take in the next 3 years. If they can unload half his salary for a couple of prospects, I'd be happy. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-85 wins with an eye toward a .500 finish is what I expect. The Cubs will be good. The Cards are going to spend and get better. We might not be quite there yet.

 

Go Brewers!

[rcc]

I don't agree that some players had such a good year in 2017 that we shouldn't expect it to happen again.

 

Why can't we accept that Stearns made good deals with those players and they like hitting in Miller Park and like being a member of the Brewers. Sometimes high priced free agents go somewhere and don't hit like they are expected to. They then just take the paycheck and ride the contract out. But give me a young player who finally feels comfortable to hit to his strengths and has a good year. That is what the Brewers found in a few players last year and I am happy Stearns brought them over.

[Warning Track Power]

I don't agree that some players had such a good year in 2017 that we shouldn't expect it to happen again.

 

Why can't we accept that Stearns made good deals with those players and they like hitting in Miller Park and like being a member of the Brewers. Sometimes high priced free agents go somewhere and don't hit like they are expected to. They then just take the paycheck and ride the contract out. But give me a young player who finally feels comfortable to hit to his strengths and has a good year. That is what the Brewers found in a few players last year and I am happy Stearns brought them over.

I agree that this is the pessimistic viewpoint but it is not the reason I want to bring in certain players to hedge the possibility that they were career years. While Pina's D will play regardless, the idea of an Avila or Lucroy is solely to protect against Pina's O falling off. Anderson & Nelson never consistently pitched like they did last year, so the idea of them falling back to mid-rotation starters is not out of the question. Bringing in talent to protect against that, provided you don't raid the prospect depth, is just good roster building.

[KeithStone53151]

I don't agree that some players had such a good year in 2017 that we shouldn't expect it to happen again.

 

Why can't we accept that Stearns made good deals with those players and they like hitting in Miller Park and like being a member of the Brewers. Sometimes high priced free agents go somewhere and don't hit like they are expected to. They then just take the paycheck and ride the contract out. But give me a young player who finally feels comfortable to hit to his strengths and has a good year. That is what the Brewers found in a few players last year and I am happy Stearns brought them over.

I agree that this is the pessimistic viewpoint but it is not the reason I want to bring in certain players to hedge the possibility that they were career years. While Pina's D will play regardless, the idea of an Avila or Lucroy is solely to protect against Pina's O falling off. Anderson & Nelson never consistently pitched like they did last year, so the idea of them falling back to mid-rotation starters is not out of the question. Bringing in talent to protect against that, provided you don't raid the prospect depth, is just good roster building.

 

I tend to agree here. Pina and Anderson are prime regression candidates. Anderson found over 2 mph in his fastball this year, hopefully that sticks but if it doesn't he probably falls back to a back end arm. Those 2 ticks helped everything play up that much more. Pina also wasn't as good in the 2nd half, he's 30, career minor leaguer. Hedging a veteran with him would be a wise move. We can't hedge at every position, but catcher makes sense.

[MadThinker88]

I would not be surprised if the Brewers "suffer" a setback in 2018 like the Twins did in 2016.

 

The Twins it can be argued over achieved in 2015, finishing 2nd in the AL Central behind defending AL Champs (& eventual) WS Champs KC Royals.

In 2016 the Twins struggled out of the gate and eventually ended up with the worst record in baseball for the season. In 2017 the Twins rallied/ rebounded to finish in 2nd place again & this time get 1 of the Wild Card slots.

 

Most places/ writers/ experts will say that the Brewers overachieved in 2017. That is not a bad thing. Thinking the achievements as an indication that the rebuild is completely over and the Brewers are in position to challenge for the division title and post-season each season moving forward is a mistake. I do not believe the Brewers will end up with the worst record in the division (or league) for 2018, but having a sub .500 season would not surprise me. If the setback is used as an opportunity to get more answers about current players and find out if certain guys are better for a starting or bullpen roles (ie Hader) then the year can be a spring board for consistent winning and playoff contention starting in 2019 & moving forward.

[clancyphile]

I would not be surprised if the Brewers "suffer" a setback in 2018 like the Twins did in 2016.

 

The Twins it can be argued over achieved in 2015, finishing 2nd in the AL Central behind defending AL Champs (& eventual) WS Champs KC Royals.

In 2016 the Twins struggled out of the gate and eventually ended up with the worst record in baseball for the season. In 2017 the Twins rallied/ rebounded to finish in 2nd place again & this time get 1 of the Wild Card slots.

 

Most places/ writers/ experts will say that the Brewers overachieved in 2017. That is not a bad thing. Thinking the achievements as an indication that the rebuild is completely over and the Brewers are in position to challenge for the division title and post-season each season moving forward is a mistake. I do not believe the Brewers will end up with the worst record in the division (or league) for 2018, but having a sub .500 season would not surprise me. If the setback is used as an opportunity to get more answers about current players and find out if certain guys are better for a starting or bullpen roles (ie Hader) then the year can be a spring board for consistent winning and playoff contention starting in 2019 & moving forward.

 

My thinking has been along this line.

 

With Nelson's injury, use 2018 to give Suter and Woodruff long looks as starters. If they falter, bring up Ortiz/Burnes/Derby to give them a look. Or, if the Crew can pull off getting Otani via posting, throw him in the mix.

 

If Suter/Woodruff hold up, and Burnes/Ortiz are also ready, the Crew will have a big problem in 2019 - figuring out how to choose only five of Nelson/Anderson/Davies/Sabathia/Woodruff/Suter/Ortiz/Burnes/Derby to fill out a rotation, and deciding who to trade.

 

It means being will to take a step back in terms of won-loss record, but to get a clear picture of the state of the rotation would be worth it.