2018 Brewers Optimism Thread!

[JohnBriggs12]

24-10 against teams other than the Cubs! 120 games remaining, 11 vs. the Cubs and 109 vs. teams other than the Cubs.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

May 15, and guess who's in 1st place?

[fgs77]

We are winning without playing well in all phases....

 

That's one way to spin having a 25-17 record with only a +6 run differential.

 

Banking the wins is nice, but they keep relying on late comebacks and bullpen wins. If they continue to barely outscore the opposition on average, that record is going to come back down to .500 to go along with it.

 

They have been unlucky with injuries, but they've been more lucky with run sequencing to more than make up for it.

 

Basically, this record is unsustainable unless they start getting better production across the board and stop relying on winning close games. That is not a viable long-term strategy.

[tmwiese55]

We are winning without playing well in all phases....

 

That's one way to spin having a 25-17 record with only a +6 run differential.

 

Banking the wins is nice, but they keep relying on late comebacks and bullpen wins. If they continue to barely outscore the opposition on average, that record is going to come back down to .500 to go along with it.

 

They have been unlucky with injuries, but they've been more lucky with run sequencing to more than make up for it.

 

Basically, this record is unsustainable unless they start getting better production across the board and stop relying on winning close games. That is not a viable long-term strategy.

 

^ Wrong thread.

 

The response here is that we're 25-17 with only the bullpen playing well. If the other aspects round into shape they're well on the way to the playoffs and WS.

[Greenleaf1]

I honestly keep forgetting that we have Knebel in the bullpen. When they brought Hader in for the 7th inning last night, I was thinking "hmm....well they could use Jeffress in the 9th or is Hader going 3 innings?".

 

We essentially have 3 closers in Hader, Knebel, and Jeffress, plus Albers/Williams/Jennings are all doing great work, with Logan there for situational spots and Lopez is doing pretty well in long relief when we just need to eat up some innings. Plus Barnes should be back soon to give us another weapon.

 

Not only is our bullpen the best Brewers bullpen I've ever seen (2011 with Hawkins/Saito/K-Rod/Axford was pretty solid), our minor league bullpen depth has been pretty fantastic too.

 

This is the kind of bullpen that can work wonders in the postseason.

[Brewer Fever]

I think they need to change the name of 1st base to "Cain Landing" because the guy absolutely lives there.

[Jenkins5]

Best part of our bullpen..... cheap & still controllable! Depth in minors waiting as well! We have really built a nice one!

 

With bats & rotation being so hit or miss.... hard not to happy with where we are at right now. Just need bats to fully wake up, rotation to get healthy & produce now.

[brewerswinNLcentral]

perez pina santana and arcia and saladino are hot so now it just is braun who needs to step up

[torts]

I LOVE THIS TEAM!!!!!!!

[RobDeer 45]

Fun little trip out west! Let's keep it going.

[JohnBriggs12]

When both Shaw and Yelich are swinging the bat like they are now it's a thing of beauty and no RH pitcher can relax facing this lineup. Shaw might have the best HR stroke of any LH hitter to ever wear a Brewer uniform, better than Jenkins, even better than Oglivie. When you watch a game and the CF camera catches Shaw connecting, you know immediately it's gone. The Yelich and Shaw combo reminds me of the Cooper/Oglivie tandem. Add Thames back to the mix, and wow.

[Greenleaf1]

I remember just thinking "I guess Shaw will do while we wait for Erceg" but this year he is proving that last year was no fluke.

 

On pace for mid-30s homers, cut his K-rate by 5% from last year, still producing at a high level despite a career-low BABIP of .250 (well below last year's .312 despite a nearly identical hard-hit %).

 

If his luck normalizes even back to .280 or .290, that average will pop back up to the .275 range, but with a slightly higher walk rate and improved ISO he could very possibly have an even better year than last year.

 

His arby years aren't going to come cheap. Given his reasonably good defense at 3rd (not a ton of range but he makes some good places and keeps his error count low) or his ability to move to 1st as he ages, I wonder if it might be a good idea to try to extend him and maybe get an extra year or two of control.

[Roderick]

......

His arby years aren't going to come cheap. ...... I wonder if it might be a good idea to try to extend him and maybe get an extra year or two of control.

 

I think paying arby for ages 29,30,31 will be just right. I wouldn't pay now for age 32, nonetheless age 33 free agent year(s).

 

I would hope and assume, that Stearns would have a min.wage replacement ready by the time we lose control of Shaw. I'm not convinced it will be Erceg, but if it is, his timeline would be such that we could trade Shaw for some prospects before we lose control.

[torts]

Lets not worry about the future of shaw when the present is oh so good!

[tmwiese55]

When both Shaw and Yelich are swinging the bat like they are now it's a thing of beauty and no RH pitcher can relax facing this lineup. Shaw might have the best HR stroke of any LH hitter to ever wear a Brewer uniform, better than Jenkins, even better than Oglivie. When you watch a game and the CF camera catches Shaw connecting, you know immediately it's gone. The Yelich and Shaw combo reminds me of the Cooper/Oglivie tandem. Add Thames back to the mix, and wow.

 

Agree with your theme, but Prince.

[TooLiveBrew]

When both Shaw and Yelich are swinging the bat like they are now it's a thing of beauty and no RH pitcher can relax facing this lineup. Shaw might have the best HR stroke of any LH hitter to ever wear a Brewer uniform, better than Jenkins, even better than Oglivie. When you watch a game and the CF camera catches Shaw connecting, you know immediately it's gone. The Yelich and Shaw combo reminds me of the Cooper/Oglivie tandem. Add Thames back to the mix, and wow.

 

Agree with your theme, but Prince.

I miss prime Prince Fielder...

 

 

My optimistic spin for this post is... I hope we have another 50 HR hitter in our farm system soon!

[liveforoctober]

Lorenzo Cain leads the NL in WAR this season.

[istanbultaye]

Prince's swing was never pretty. It was monstrous. Monstrously awesome!

[JohnBriggs12]

Didn't mean to slight Prince. But he took vicious swings, whereas Shaw has a very balanced short swing that when times it up is a thing of beauty.

[SeaBass]

I love this bullpen. Enjoy this guys, this is special. I've seen some good Brewers bullpens over the years but this one is unreal.

[fgs77]

Lorenzo Cain leads the NL in WAR this season.

 

He was 15th in NL fwar going into tonight.

 

This start is extremely flukey. The banked wins are nice, but relying on 1 run wins in not a recipe for success. They have played mediocre baseball and continue to be rewarded by sequencing and unsustainable late "magic". Eventually the bad pitchers who are inexplicably performing well will come back to earth, and it's going to be a struggle. The injuries negate some of the good luck they've had, but it's still been insane to watch the other teams constantly let the Brewers win games like these. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess.

 

Fangraphs still only has them projected to 83 wins.

[BuckyBrewer61]

Hader for Cy Young!!!!

 

No, seriously. Hader for Cy Young.

[BuckyBrewer61]

Lorenzo Cain leads the NL in WAR this season.

 

He was 15th in NL fwar going into tonight.

 

This start is extremely flukey. The banked wins are nice, but relying on 1 run wins in not a recipe for success. They have played mediocre baseball and continue to be rewarded by sequencing and unsustainable late "magic". Eventually the bad pitchers who are inexplicably performing well will come back to earth, and it's going to be a struggle. The injuries negate some of the good luck they've had, but it's still been insane to watch the other teams constantly let the Brewers win games like these. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess.

 

Fangraphs still only has them projected to 83 wins.

 

Get out of this thread! I have the Brewers projected for only 103 wins!

[Underachiever]

Lorenzo Cain leads the NL in WAR this season.

 

He was 15th in NL fwar going into tonight.

 

This start is extremely flukey. The banked wins are nice, but relying on 1 run wins in not a recipe for success. They have played mediocre baseball and continue to be rewarded by sequencing and unsustainable late "magic". Eventually the bad pitchers who are inexplicably performing well will come back to earth, and it's going to be a struggle. The injuries negate some of the good luck they've had, but it's still been insane to watch the other teams constantly let the Brewers win games like these. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess.

 

Fangraphs still only has them projected to 83 wins.

 

Dude, look up the definition of optimism.

 

Seriously, guys who come in immediately after wins to piss in everybody’s Cheerios kind of suck. Enjoy the win. We get it, you’re the smartest guy in the room.

[cesser000]

...it's still been insane to watch the other teams constantly let the Brewers win games like these.

Yeah, that Hader guy isn't any good - those last 6 Twins' hitters just LET him strike them out - how nice of them!