Eulogy for 2019

[phnxcrew]

Has this team met exceptions?

 

If one's expectations were based on preseason projections, they have played within that range to this point...

 

BPro: 88 wins

Vegas: 86.5 wins

538: 86 wins

ZIPS: 85 wins

Current Pace: 84 wins

OOTP: 83 wins

 

Expecting 90+ wins & an easy cruise to the postseason was always an unlikely outcome in an increasingly competitive NL.

 

I expected a back & forth dog fight for the NL Central title/possible Wild Card that would need 162 games (or maybe even more, again) to settle & that is exactly what we've gotten.

 

You must really love baseball to get all excited about the cubs cardinals back and forth dogfight for the nl central

 

If anyone

Considers this a “dogfight” for the division instead

Of “who sucks the least” you need to watch a real

Division race. The fact that we’re losing

To two mediocre teams in the standings confirms the daily eye test. Suckville confirmed.

[benji]

Yep suckville! But just get in. 83 win Cardinal team became world champs. 116 or whatever win Mariner team couldnt win a round in the playoffs.

 

All hope is not lost. Remember the rocky road to playoffs in 2008. That was brutal.

 

 

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[willie key]

Yep suckville! But just get in. 83 win Cardinal team became world champs. 116 or whatever win Mariner team couldnt win a round in the playoffs.

 

All hope is not lost. Remember the rocky road to playoffs in 2008. That was brutal.

 

 

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2008 was an all time emotional roller coaster. Especially when the wait was like 26 years for a playoff game. Braun homer on that last day was one of the all time great exhilarating moments as a brewer fan

[JohnBriggs12]

Travis Shaw is hitting. 155 . This is virtually impossible for a mlb player to do. He started a huge game today. To me this is RIP brewers.

 

Very similar to Chris Davis, but it's understandable for why he continued to play. He had a huge contract and team was going nowhere. There's no excuse for Brewers to continue to play him.

[superfly]

Sure am glad we didn’t get a starter for about the 5th time. Sooner or later if we aspire to be anything better than the Twins organization you gotta get the guy that can carry the rest of your staff. You cannot continue to throw Zach Davies out there as your default #1 starter and expect anything other than .500 or worse ball.

 

I’m not ready to write the season off yet, but why did we even bother going after Cain if we weren’t gonna play with the big boys?

[willie key]

So the starters next year will be

 

Braun/Grisham Cain Yelich Braun/Thames hiura Arcia Shaw Pina.

 

That could be ugly

[Boomer5]

In my opinion the season died when DJ left.

 

This is where I am too. The pitching staff and in particular the bullpen overachieved to the point of absurdity last year. It wasn’t reasonable to expect that and losing our best pitching coach in memory wasn’t going to be a good thing.

[Boomer5]

Yep suckville! But just get in. 83 win Cardinal team became world champs. 116 or whatever win Mariner team couldnt win a round in the playoffs.

 

All hope is not lost. Remember the rocky road to playoffs in 2008. That was brutal.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The good news is the central stinks and a 5 game winning strike will have people looking for playoff tickets even with all this years warts.

[rickh150]

Everyone knows it looks really bad right now. We have no starters that can get a quality start! And if we can, it is a gamble in the pen. Stranger things have happened, I guess, but no one expects the playoffs anymore. Huge let down at the deadline too. Worst farm system in baseball before Dubon trade. Terrible lineup against lefties, couldn't even help at the deadline with this.... pretty much over barring s miraculous turnaround.... which can happen I baseball. The offense needs to be a top 5 in all of baseball.

[3and2Fastball]

Oh the pessimism is running deep now!!!

 

They'll get hot and stay in it through the end of the season. I'm actually finding this season fun to watch lately. Hiura & Yelich are tremendous talents, the types you can build around. Braun has been better than I thought he would be. Arcia seems like he's figured a few things out with his swing.

 

I think the future is still bright. They've had some pitching disappointments & pitching injuries. It happens. They'll figure it out. If not this year then in 2020...

[brewmann04]

Starters struggling and so is Hader but the hitters have struggled

[clancyphile]

Oh the pessimism is running deep now!!!

 

They'll get hot and stay in it through the end of the season. I'm actually finding this season fun to watch lately. Hiura & Yelich are tremendous talents, the types you can build around. Braun has been better than I thought he would be. Arcia seems like he's figured a few things out with his swing.

 

I think the future is still bright. They've had some pitching disappointments & pitching injuries. It happens. They'll figure it out. If not this year then in 2020...

 

I agree.

 

If they can bring back Moose and Grandal, they have the core to make a good run at 2020 if 2019 doesn't turn around.

 

Burnes has to revert to the mean. Maybe Nelson can become a relief option in 2020 (I think that has become his future). Knebel and Wahl won't be out for the season. And that might let Jeffress and Hader rebound. Plus, there's Faria for the whole year, and Pomeranz may be an upgrade over Claudio.

[wntrtxn21]

Oh the pessimism is running deep now!!!

 

They'll get hot and stay in it through the end of the season. I'm actually finding this season fun to watch lately. Hiura & Yelich are tremendous talents, the types you can build around. Braun has been better than I thought he would be. Arcia seems like he's figured a few things out with his swing.

 

I think the future is still bright. They've had some pitching disappointments & pitching injuries. It happens. They'll figure it out. If not this year then in 2020...

 

I agree.

 

If they can bring back Moose and Grandal, they have the core to make a good run at 2020 if 2019 doesn't turn around.

 

Burnes has to revert to the mean. Maybe Nelson can become a relief option in 2020 (I think that has become his future). Knebel and Wahl won't be out for the season. And that might let Jeffress and Hader rebound. Plus, there's Faria for the whole year, and Pomeranz may be an upgrade over Claudio.

 

I can only find 4 games plus yesterday where Pomeranz was a reliever, but he was dynamite in those five games. Very small

sample, but very encouraging for next year if they re-sign him. Jeffress is scheduled to make $4.3M next year and the way he's pitched, I think Stearns lets him walk. Faria, Black, D. Williams and maybe Nelson could easily take his place if Wahl and Knebel come back healthy.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'm not so sure they shouldn't consider Pomeranz as a starter in 2020. He's never been an "innings eater" as a starter but he's just 2 years removed from a 17-6 record with 3.32 ERA in the AL East. In 5 of his last 7 starts with SF, he allowed a grand total of 2 earned runs over 20 innings with 34 K's. I'd give him a mulligan for an awful May. This is a quality arm starting or relieving.

[Lathund]

I can only find 4 games plus yesterday where Pomeranz was a reliever, but he was dynamite in those five games. Very small

sample, but very encouraging for next year if they re-sign him.

 

93 career innings as a reliever with a 2.80 ERA/3.20 FIP. Not all of it recent, but still.

[Pugger]

In my opinion the season died when DJ left.

 

Losing Woody all this time hasn't helped either...

[Pugger]

Oh the pessimism is running deep now!!!

 

They'll get hot and stay in it through the end of the season. I'm actually finding this season fun to watch lately. Hiura & Yelich are tremendous talents, the types you can build around. Braun has been better than I thought he would be. Arcia seems like he's figured a few things out with his swing.

 

I think the future is still bright. They've had some pitching disappointments & pitching injuries. It happens. They'll figure it out. If not this year then in 2020...

 

I'm with you. Losing Woody and Knebel were killers to be sure. Hell, we could still turn it around. But I too think 2020 should be interesting.

[clancyphile]

I agree.

 

If they can bring back Moose and Grandal, they have the core to make a good run at 2020 if 2019 doesn't turn around.

 

Burnes has to revert to the mean. Maybe Nelson can become a relief option in 2020 (I think that has become his future). Knebel and Wahl won't be out for the season. And that might let Jeffress and Hader rebound. Plus, there's Faria for the whole year, and Pomeranz may be an upgrade over Claudio.

 

I can only find 4 games plus yesterday where Pomeranz was a reliever, but he was dynamite in those five games. Very small

sample, but very encouraging for next year if they re-sign him. Jeffress is scheduled to make $4.3M next year and the way he's pitched, I think Stearns lets him walk. Faria, Black, D. Williams and maybe Nelson could easily take his place if Wahl and Knebel come back healthy.

 

Jeffress was hurt earlier this year... and by the time he was back, Knebel and Wahl were on the DL for the season.

 

I'd give him a mulligan for the year - given his past performance, especially with the Crew. I'd be more inclined to non-tender Nelson on a major-league deal, but bring him back with a minor-league deal with a NRI if I had to choose. The Crew really should have optioned Nelson and kept him in AAA all year.

[thebruce44]

So the starters next year will be

 

Braun/Grisham Cain Yelich Braun/Thames hiura Arcia Shaw Pina.

 

That could be ugly

 

Do you actually believe this will be the starters?

[superfly]

They'll figure it out. If not this year then in 2020...

 

Hope selling quote of all time for every mediocre sports franchise in existence right there! NEXT YEAR!!!

[rickh150]

I agree.

 

If they can bring back Moose and Grandal, they have the core to make a good run at 2020 if 2019 doesn't turn around.

 

Burnes has to revert to the mean. Maybe Nelson can become a relief option in 2020 (I think that has become his future). Knebel and Wahl won't be out for the season. And that might let Jeffress and Hader rebound. Plus, there's Faria for the whole year, and Pomeranz may be an upgrade over Claudio.

 

I can only find 4 games plus yesterday where Pomeranz was a reliever, but he was dynamite in those five games. Very small

sample, but very encouraging for next year if they re-sign him. Jeffress is scheduled to make $4.3M next year and the way he's pitched, I think Stearns lets him walk. Faria, Black, D. Williams and maybe Nelson could easily take his place if Wahl and Knebel come back healthy.

 

Jeffress was hurt earlier this year... and by the time he was back, Knebel and Wahl were on the DL for the season.

 

I'd give him a mulligan for the year - given his past performance, especially with the Crew. I'd be more inclined to non-tender Nelson on a major-league deal, but bring him back with a minor-league deal with a NRI if I had to choose. The Crew really should have optioned Nelson and kept him in AAA all year.

 

No way you can blame them for trying to bring him up when they did.... we would be up in arms if they didn't knowing how seemingly every pitcher on our staff has struggled.

[Oxy]

No way you can blame them for trying to bring him up when they did.... we would be up in arms if they didn't knowing how seemingly every pitcher on our staff has struggled.

 

Depends how he performed. He wasn't stellar in his rehab assignment...there was no hurry to bring him up at the time.

 

I hope they decline the option for JJ and then bring him back in the Spring on some kind of smaller contract.

[owbc]

Part of me thinks this team needs a rebuild...a small market team with the worst minor league system in MLB...not a good look. Similar to the 2018 Mariners there are plenty of valuable assets on the ML club, they could try and do a quick rebuild for the 2021-22 seasons. By selling an 89-win team the Mariners might be a model if they can start winning games next year.

 

The other part of me says not to sell low and try again in 2020 with a healthier version of this roster.

[PinaMadness]

Can we all finally stop lying to ourselves?

[Boomer5]

Stearns pulled a Kohl in 17/18.

 

Rebuilding with a league worst farm system will take some doing going forward.