Eulogy for 2019

[Oxy]

Stearns pulled a Kohl in 17/18.

 

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

 

Boy, that press has really gotten some run around here. Stick Hiura back in the prospect list and evaluate Grisham fairly and the system looks A LOT better. If Zack Brown and Corey Ray can finish out the year strong that would help a lot too.

[RollieTime]

I don’t buy those rankings at all. The Brewers have a lot of young pitching talent in the system, particularly below AA. They don’t get recognized for some reason in these rankings, but I would say the Brewers have a fairly strong mix of young pitchers in their minors. Hitters on the other hand, yikes... With Hiura and Grisham on the MLB roster, the next waive of hitters is probably Turang, Feliciano, and Lutz, who are all having solid, but unspectacular seasons.

[trwi7]

I don’t buy those rankings at all. The Brewers have a lot of young pitching talent in the system, particularly below AA.

 

So does every other team.

[treego14]

The Cubs sweep makes me weep!

[adambr2]

Grisham is wickedly underrated by the latest rankings but Ray is probably overrated. He's fast approaching bust status.

 

As Trwi said, every team has pitching prospects in the system that they're excited about. I remember posters from years past raving about Kyle Heckathorn, Nic Bucci, Wily Peralta, Cody Scarpetta, and others.

 

There's plenty of lottery tickets but no one close to imminently being a big needle mover. Supak might be able to step in and be a #5 at the MLB level right now and Devin Williams might be able to help out the pen, but these aren't Makenzie Gore or even Corbin Burnes type prospects.

[justwinbaby]

Until Counsell figures out that a starter who has given up 1 or 2 runs into the 5th inning does NOT have to be pulled this team is going no where. He has destroyed our bullpen with his idiotic over managing.

[timpep]

I looked back and Yost was canned at 16 games over 500 because the team was lifeless. I'm not sold on the idea that this is all CCs fault, but the team sure does look lifeless.

[wntrtxn21]

Stearns pulled a Kohl in 17/18.

 

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

 

Boy, that press has really gotten some run around here. Stick Hiura back in the prospect list and evaluate Grisham fairly and the system looks A LOT better. If Zack Brown and Corey Ray can finish out the year strong that would help a lot too.

 

I think the ship has sailed and sunk for Brown this year. In his last 15 starts: 70 IPs - 87 hits - 49 ERs - 45 BBs - 50 Ks - WHIP 1.82.... He is a huge disappointment and probably not going to be called up in Sept.

[TURBO]

In my opinion the season died when DJ left.

 

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

 

Imo, losing Woodruff was the final nail in this season's coffin. We already had issues with starting pitching, and needed to add one TOR type arm at the deadline to have a decent 1-2 punch. Losing Woodruff meant we now needed at least 2 TOR type arms, and that was never going to happen.

 

When he went down, our season went with him.

 

Yup, this is a pretty negative take, but I think it is healthier to admit that we are toast than to carry on this psychological charade that we might just be able to get back in it.

 

Not going to happen folks.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

In my opinion the season died when DJ left.

 

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

 

Imo, losing Woodruff was the final nail in this season's coffin. We already had issues with starting pitching, and needed to add one TOR type arm at the deadline to have a decent 1-2 punch. Losing Woodruff meant we now needed at least 2 TOR type arms, and that was never going to happen.

 

When he went down, our season went with him.

 

Yup, this is a pretty negative take, but I think it is healthier to admit that we are toast than to carry on this psychological charade that we might just be able to get back in it.

 

Not going to happen folks.

 

Before this weekend I would have disagreed with this. But now? Yeah.

 

The offense has given up. This was an offense built to destroy pitchers like Darvish, and he and the Cubs crappy relief staff made them look silly. These guys have checked out. Time to let the youngsters play, and see what you have going into next year.

[FVBrewerFan]

Frustration has kicked in, I get it. But to claim players have checked out is not fair, and the worst thing you can say about a player. On the field at least.

[pacopete4]

Always amazed that some fans feel as though these pro athletes are above quitting. It happens more than you think. They mentally check out when seasons end up going the way that this one is heading.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't think they outright quit, it's just that when you're down 5-0 and floating around .500 for a year, and you've seen multiple big timers get hurt, it gets really easy on a day-to-day basis to be thinking about a hot shower and video games in the 7th inning by the time August rolls around.

[RobDeer 45]

I think they still have a run in them..... but I think it will be too little too late.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I think they still have a run in them..... but I think it will be too little too late.

 

I just don't think this team has the offensive consistency to reel off the 8-10 in a row they'd need to vault themselves back into contention. Starting pitching has been decent, and relief has been really inconsistent. But the offense over the last two weeks has been trash.

[Pugger]

Frustration has kicked in, I get it. But to claim players have checked out is not fair, and the worst thing you can say about a player. On the field at least.

 

I suspect our hitters are pressing and trying too hard. These guys are better hitters historically than they've shown during this slide. Rock said something interesting. He suggested the starting pitchers are being too fine knowing they won't get much run support. All of this is resulting in the team circling the drain. It is all rather sad. Not that many weeks ago we were all excited about this team and this season and now it looks like a lost cause.

 

I'm hoping by playing a terrible Pirate squad will be the elixir to at least get the bats going again so the team will be a little more fun to watch anyway...

[Pugger]

I think they still have a run in them..... but I think it will be too little too late.

 

I just don't think this team has the offensive consistency to reel off the 8-10 in a row they'd need to vault themselves back into contention. Starting pitching has been decent, and relief has been really inconsistent. But the offense over the last two weeks has been trash.

 

Yes, we can get guys on base but can't seem to move them along and drive in runs. It is hard to win when you can't score.

[homer]

I find it hard to believe a guy would check out while at bat. Defense? Base running? Yeah maybe.

[thebruce44]

Frustration has kicked in, I get it. But to claim players have checked out is not fair, and the worst thing you can say about a player. On the field at least.

 

I agree. Isn't it more likely that their recent record and performance has something to do with playing a more difficult schedule, injuries to key pitchers, and being on the road?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Again I don't think guys quit consciously. They don't go out there and give up ABs and say "I'm going to swing and miss on purpose." But you can get sloppy in your preparation and let bad habits slip into your routines. Maybe BP feels less important, maybe you tie a few more often the night before, running out that grounder doesn't feel as important, etc. I definitely think those things happen even at the highest levels of sport. There are guys on record in any sport saying that sorts of things can happen in a locker room. IDK that the Brewers are there though.

[Underachiever]

I looked back and Yost was canned at 16 games over 500 because the team was lifeless. I'm not sold on the idea that this is all CCs fault, but the team sure does look lifeless.

I went to the game on Saturday, and "lifeless" was the exact word I used. I felt that the whole stadium was pretty quiet as well, for what it's worth. Don't think Cub fans are that excited about how the season has been going to this point, either.

[vetter]

Again I don't think guys quit consciously. They don't go out there and give up ABs and say "I'm going to swing and miss on purpose." But you can get sloppy in your preparation and let bad habits slip into your routines. Maybe BP feels less important, maybe you tie a few more often the night before, running out that grounder doesn't feel as important, etc. I definitely think those things happen even at the highest levels of sport. There are guys on record in any sport saying that sorts of things can happen in a locker room. IDK that the Brewers are there though.

 

This.

 

It's ridiculous to think that guys like Moose or Grandal have no reason to play hard, even if they're on a sinking ship. They will most likely decline options and be free agents next year. Their future income is dependent on how well they perform every day. Guys like Shaw and Arcia are going into arbitration and so it's similar for them.

[NievesNoNO]

I'm not sure about the players checking out. Bottom line is that in comparison, they've given up 100 more runs than last season. Yes, the offense has maybe been a bit disappointing and slumping but that's not the problem.

 

The problem is: Davies, Anderson, Gio, Houser, and Lyles is what you're trying to rely on with a not very good bullpen. That might get you by with peak form, Hader, Knebel, and Jeffress but not with their current production.

 

It does feel like a lost season at this point. They really banked hard on Woodruff, Burnes and Peralta. Hindsight says they overplayed that hand a bit. Nothing about their season is indicating any sort of resurgence so I'm not super hopeful. Guess I'm just hoping they hang around and at least play better. I am interested to see if Houser can develop.

[bill hAll Star]

Stearns pulled a Kohl in 17/18.

 

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

 

I think the ideal route would be to do what Cleveland is doing (but maybe not so cheap in certain aspects). That has some risk in itself, but they've built a good organization through tanking and always thinking ahead. I don't mind what we've seen, though.

 

Outside of that, you cannot compare Kohl to Attanasio.

 

The trades at this deadline are on par with trading the 10th man on your NBA roster for a different 10th man that has a different skillset for next year and a change of scenery could help this year. Trading Dubon is like dealing the bench scorer that all of the fans like but he's so bad at defense that he actually isn't very valuable. Kohl used to use his last remaining resources to cap out his team with no chance to win more than 45 games and to actually have it affect the future.

 

One could compare Cain to some of Kohl's moves but Cain nearly won the Brewers a World Series because baseball is different. Also, Cain didn't cap the Brewers out at, "hey, we're almost certainly gonna finish .500 this year and have no logical way to improve beyond this." The odds feel smaller this year but there is a universe where Cain is a .5 WAR player making $16 million in 2020 and they win the World Series or they go all-in in 2021 and win it with Cain being a shell of his former self. The Bucks did not have any sort of imaginable chance with some of those rosters they put out in 2011 or 2009 or whichever years Kohl went all-in for the 8 seed.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

IMO they played the deadline right. It's one of few things they did right this year. The team isn't good enough where adding a real piece seals up the cracks. And it might still be good enough next year to compete with some changes. It was not the year to trade anything substantial in July. I think those that regret they didn't sell are really exaggerating what they'd get for Moose and Grandal. Nobody has wanted Moose in FA for years. This year probably won't be different. He may get signed, but it's not going to be some monster contract. The contenders basically all have catchers.

 

They had a shot to make the playoffs and that was probably their best play, to just sit still and hope things turned out ok. They would've been creating another hole just to fill some other one.

 

There are injuries and regression and things and some really bad decisions like DJ and Miley, but I don't fault the decision to really do nothing at the deadline. I mean, who knows. Faria may be in the rotation next year. I think there was a price Stearns was going to ship Moose/Grandal for and it probably never even got close.