Offensive Woes

[adambr2]

Yep.

 

Villar, Pina/Bandy, and Arcia just aren't the answers at 2B, C, and SS. Gonna have to make some trades or figure out when some people will be ready from AA.

 

I agree Pina is a backup catcher. He'd be a fine backup, but that's it. And I've been a Pina supporter.

 

I can understand why they wanted to give Villar another crack but he just isn't very good. Mediocre offense and mediocre defense -- there's just nothing really to get excited about with the guy anymore.

 

I'm willing to give Arcia til the end of 2019, but I've felt he was a highly overrated prospect and has done nothing so far to differentiate himself from Alcides Escobar.

[JohnBriggs12]

At this point I'd give Nate Orf a shot.

[buckybrewer232]

Every game, half of the Brewers lineup is Villar, Pina/Bandy, Arcia and a pitcher. When anyone of those guys sit it's even worse plugging in Perez or Sogard.

 

The top of the order is OK. Yelich and Cain are the best hitters but they aren't huge power guys. Braun is rarely healthy and when he is, he's not what he used to be. Shaw and Santana are solid hitters but they most likely both had their career years last season, which very well could end up outliers in their careers.

 

Throw it all together and this is the offense you get.

[adambr2]

C - Vogt's return might help some but not much. They could go straight platoon at catcher but you're going to lose some defense having Vogt in that much.

Most obvious guy available is Realmuto. He's definitely obtainable and definitely not going to be cheap.

 

2B - Hiura is not getting here any time soon and isn't even playing 2nd right now anyway. Tradewise, Dozier is probably the best available but I doubt the Twins will sell anytime soon. Orioles will probably sell Schoop if he's healthy. He'll give you pop and decent defense but being only controlled through 2019 isn't someone you really want to give up a ton for. But there's not much else out there. Not a ton of teams you can really identify as sellers in April.

 

SS - Nothing really to do but ride it out with Arcia. Short term if you want to option Arcia down and give Dubon a trial at one of the middle infield spots it's not a crazy idea but realistically it's probably not going to make a huge difference.

 

Bottom line, if you want to improve one of the 3 weak lineup spots drastically it's going to have to be via trade. Hiura is too far away and Nottingham and Dubon aren't Cody Bellinger type prospects that are just going to come right in and rake, and that's about all who is on the horizon.

[coolhandluke121]

It's not Luke they're losing these games 9-0.

 

The Cubs are very lucky it's not Luke. If it was, they'd be losing 47-2 every day and all their wives would be pregnant with Luke's children. Probably all sons, too.

[wallus]

It's not Luke they're losing these games 9-0.

 

The Cubs are very lucky it's not Luke. If it was, they'd be losing 47-2 every day and all their wives would be pregnant with Luke's children. Probably all sons, too.

 

[JosephC]

What is "middle infield" and "catcher?" Give me more toolsy outfielders!

[superfly]

The cubs beat us for Quintana and Darvish.

 

That's the difference. We sign Darvish or make the better deal for Quintana... we'd be in better shape.

 

But offensive upgrades at C, 2B, and SS. Let someone else overpay for Arcia's web gems. Get me folks who can post .850 OPSs at those positions.

 

I suppose Darvish and Quintana are responsible for 0,2,0,0 runs of offense the past 4 days? Our pitching was PLENTY good during this series. I'm sick and tired of this offense either being 1927 Yankees or a A+ squad that can't hit out of a wet paper bag.

[clancyphile]

They need to work Gatewood at short more. That could get you a bat-first option.

 

Otherwise, hope that they can get someone who can move up the ladder quickly in the June draft.

[trwi7]

They need to work Gatewood at short more. That could get you a bat-first option.

 

He has a .250 OBP in Biloxi and can't play defense.

[danzig6767]

For much off the offseason, fans were focused on getting pitching.

 

Here the Brewers sit though with the 2nd best ERA in the NL and 3rd best in all of baseball.

 

With just decent hitting, the team would likely have one of the better records in the NL.

 

Bottom of the order killing the offense, along with Santana for some reason losing all of his power.

[JohnBriggs12]

We can only hope the proverbial "regression to the mean" will occur soon. Arcia got hot last May and he's a lot better hitter than he's showing. Sogard and Perez are both close to .100 points below their career numbers. Pina might not be the hitter he was last year but he's better than this. I've never been completely sold on Santana, but 2 extra base hits? Major league hitters luck into 3 times that many in a month normally.

[JosephC]

I just worry the hitter's "regression to the mean" will coincide with the bullpen's "regression to the mean." ERA: Jeffress = 0.64, Hader = 1.17, Barnes = 1.17, Albers = 1.35, Jennings = 1.38, Williams = 1.93. These guys can all have plus-years but there is no way this level of performance is going to last throughout an entire season.

[Roderick]

I just worry the hitter's "regression to the mean" will coincide with the bullpen's "regression to the mean." ERA: Jeffress = 0.64, Hader = 1.17, Barnes = 1.17, Albers = 1.35, Jennings = 1.38, Williams = 1.93. These guys can all have plus-years but there is no way this level of performance is going to last throughout an entire season.

 

Well one benefit of losing, it was done on the road. Saved an inning of bullpen pitching every night. If they can keep spreading the workload because there is no weak spot, maybe they can keep up close to this pace.

[82brewcrew82]

I just worry the hitter's "regression to the mean" will coincide with the bullpen's "regression to the mean." ERA: Jeffress = 0.64, Hader = 1.17, Barnes = 1.17, Albers = 1.35, Jennings = 1.38, Williams = 1.93. These guys can all have plus-years but there is no way this level of performance is going to last throughout an entire season.

Maybe not and I'm sure there will be some injuries as well. Still, they have Knebel, Logan, Houser, Suter, Lopez and QTC waiting in the wings. Beyond that, they have the assets to trade for pieces as well.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The Brewers are among the league's worst in terms of runs scored offensively - no other team with at least 29 games played is ranked below them, and only Baltimore/San Fran (28 games played), KC/Miami (27 games played), and Cleveland (26 games played) are ranked below them. I don't count the Twins since they've played 6 fewer games due to weather problems.

 

Cleveland played most of its early season games in bad weather conditions for scoring runs, and the other teams are also off to putrid starts.

 

If it wasn't for the pitching and half of the games coming against MLB 2018 dregs, the Brewers' record would be putrid right now, too.

 

They are getting essentially zero production offensively from almost 1/2 their lineup (C, P, SS, 2B) - when the other positions don't hit well, this team gets shut down and makes life easy for opposing starters. If anything it's a continuation of last year's 2nd half offensive drought, and adding two good offensive players hasn't been enough to consistently bolster a lineup with too many offensive weaknesses up the middle.

[Baldkin]

They are getting below average production from 5 of their 8 positions.

 

C, 2B, SS, LF and RF.

 

It's no wonder they are struggling to score runs.

[Lathund]

One slight positive was what I found when trying to see if the feeling that we hit everything straight at the Cubs players was accurate; during this series, Brewers had a .161 BABIP (The rest of the league for this 4-day stretch was between .233 and .383) so there was an amount of bad luck there as well. Mind you, even if that number doubled to a number closer to what is normal and we thus got twice as many hits (It's not quite that simple, but illustrates the point well enough) we'd still only be tied for 20th in # of hits during this time.

 

So yeah maybe it isn't a positive after all. There's still the poor approach at the plate as well.

[Chicago Here]

our offense will b fine. Obviously it was a blow to lose thames but he only started every 3rd game.

[adambr2]

our offense will b fine. Obviously it was a blow to lose thames but he only started every 3rd game.

 

Every 3rd game? He was the LH bat in a 1B platoon. He started 75-80% of games and his production is definitely missed.

[monty57]

I think we need to note that while we took a big step forward last year and expectations are high, we are still in the process of our "rebuild/retool." Stearns is still trying to move the team from one built around home run hitters who strike out a lot and play poor defense to one built around guys who get on base and play good defense. This is not something that can be done overnight, especially on a limited budget.

 

Guys like Arcia, Perez, Pina, Bandy, and Villar are not OBP guys. Santana's better than he's showed so far, but there's a reason Stearns brought in Yelich and Cain and was trying to trade Santana. He's transforming the offensive look to the team, but as long as most of the roster is made up of guys who swing for the fences and strike out a lot, the offense will continue to be streaky.

 

As hard as it is, we have to be patient. We are ahead of schedule as far as the rebuild goes, but we're still not a finished product.

[JohnBriggs12]

I have to believe Sogard's days are numbered. I've liked the guy but the production just doesn't justify a spot on the roster much longer plus there's any number of middle infielders raking at AAA, albeit in the light air. Another tipoff is that the last couple games, Counsell double-switched out Arcia in favor of Perez at SS and not Sogard who had been seeing more action at SS than Perez up till now.

[Baldkin]

I have to believe Sogard's days are numbered. I've liked the guy but the production just doesn't justify a spot on the roster much longer plus there's any number of middle infielders raking at AAA, albeit in the light air. Another tipoff is that the last couple games, Counsell double-switched out Arcia in favor of Perez at SS and not Sogard who had been seeing more action at SS than Perez up till now.

 

He has a .158 BABIP with a 26% LD%.

He's been incredibly unlucky.

 

Compare that to Villar who has a .390 BABIP and an 18% LD%..... so, he's been as lucky as you can be.

 

Go ahead though, use his batting average as the catalyst to DFA him after less than 60 PA's.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I have to believe Sogard's days are numbered. I've liked the guy but the production just doesn't justify a spot on the roster much longer plus there's any number of middle infielders raking at AAA, albeit in the light air. Another tipoff is that the last couple games, Counsell double-switched out Arcia in favor of Perez at SS and not Sogard who had been seeing more action at SS than Perez up till now.

 

He has a .158 BABIP with a 26% LD%.

He's been incredibly unlucky.

 

Compare that to Villar who has a .390 BABIP and an 18% LD%..... so, he's been as lucky as you can be.

 

Go ahead though, use his batting average as the catalyst to DFA him after less than 60 PA's.

 

I don't think anyone is basing it on his poor batting average in a small sample this year. He's been pretty bad his whole career. Last year was probably his ceiling, and it still wasn't very good.

[pacopete4]

I have to believe Sogard's days are numbered. I've liked the guy but the production just doesn't justify a spot on the roster much longer plus there's any number of middle infielders raking at AAA, albeit in the light air. Another tipoff is that the last couple games, Counsell double-switched out Arcia in favor of Perez at SS and not Sogard who had been seeing more action at SS than Perez up till now.

 

He has a .158 BABIP with a 26% LD%.

He's been incredibly unlucky.

 

Compare that to Villar who has a .390 BABIP and an 18% LD%..... so, he's been as lucky as you can be.

 

Go ahead though, use his batting average as the catalyst to DFA him after less than 60 PA's.

 

The snark isn't justified since he has been a bad hitter his entire career outside of one hot stretch last season. Villar has superior talents and the Brewers need to continue to play him to hopefully find out if he can use them or not. No need for Sogard to ever be signed in the first place.