Eulogy for 2019

[FVBrewerFan]

You can say what you want about Craig Counsell from April to the end of August about over or under management but when September 1 rolls around there is no better manger in baseball at managing expanded rosters ,no one.

 

I see this a lot, but it actually has little to do with expanded roster. In fact, he actually crunches playing time. Grandal catching every day, no rest for any of the starters really. Uses the same, top 7 or 8 relievers over and over. Hes not using 35-38 guys, he's using 25. And really, 20 as much as humanly possible.

 

September has been about the 3 pitching acquisitions, Suter and Hiura coming back, and the team as a whole putting their game face on, and that part is definitely due to CC.

[owbc]

This team sure looked dead in early-to-mid August. And usually in pro sports that means that guys start thinking about the offseason, stop listening to the manager, and the losses mount. They had just made some uninspiring deadline trades and gotten swept by the Cubs. Nobody thought that they could repeat the magic of September 2018.

[Brew crew 92]

You can say what you want about Craig Counsell from April to the end of August about over or under management but when September 1 rolls around there is no better manger in baseball at managing expanded rosters ,no one.

 

I see this a lot, but it actually has little to do with expanded roster. In fact, he actually crunches playing time. Grandal catching every day, no rest for any of the starters really. Uses the same, top 7 or 8 relievers over and over. Hes not using 35-38 guys, he's using 25. And really, 20 as much as humanly possible.

 

September has been about the 3 pitching acquisitions, Suter and Hiura coming back, and the team as a whole putting their game face on, and that part is definitely due to CC.

 

Nailed it.

Agree with every word. Counsell’s supreme confidence is palpable. I do want to say the youngins from their tremendous AAA team also added to this team’s explosive month. Well done. Next year should be more of the same, but hopefully it’s just to win their 117th game.

[homer]

I want it noted that my only post in this thread was how dumb it was. It got deleted and I got a timeout. Was 100% worth it.

 

Seriously?????

 

"What a whiny, petulant, attention seeking, "look at me" post."

[homer]

I want it noted that my only post in this thread was how dumb it was. It got deleted and I got a timeout. Was 100% worth it.

 

This^^

Brutal honesty gets you a vacation.

 

Stay out of it, Sparky.

[homer]

This team has a -17 run differential. This is not a playoff team. The fat lady hasn’t sung yet—but she is warming up backstage.

 

Too bad this guy banned himself. Seriously....asked us to delete his account.

[KeithStone53151]

You can say what you want about Craig Counsell from April to the end of August about over or under management but when September 1 rolls around there is no better manger in baseball at managing expanded rosters ,no one.

 

I see this a lot, but it actually has little to do with expanded roster. In fact, he actually crunches playing time. Grandal catching every day, no rest for any of the starters really. Uses the same, top 7 or 8 relievers over and over. Hes not using 35-38 guys, he's using 25. And really, 20 as much as humanly possible.

 

September has been about the 3 pitching acquisitions, Suter and Hiura coming back, and the team as a whole putting their game face on, and that part is definitely due to CC.

 

Lyles, anderson, davies, houser, gg, woodruff, suter, jackson, guerra, black, claudio, pomeranz, hader, peralta, albers. That's 15. All pitching a lot in september in critical spots. Also using faria and Nelson in mopup. It's hard to argue that 33-34 guys aren't getting significant use. CC got backed into a corner a bit with pina getting hurt. All the starters are pitching shorter outings on similar rest which is obviously much less taxing on their arms. Those acquisitions, suter, woodruff, hiura, grisham, braun, etc...full team effort pushed us to postseason baseball. At the end of the day, its really tough to argue CCs management wasn't one of many significant contributing factors to our september success

[ClosetBrewerFan]

What really saved the season was finally getting that bum Yelich out of the lineup. Once he was gone, the team really pulled together.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

This team has a -17 run differential. This is not a playoff team. The fat lady hasn’t sung yet—but she is warming up backstage.

 

Too bad this guy banned himself. Seriously....asked us to delete his account.

 

His only goal was to crap on this team. I don't think he could handle it when they started playing well.

[True Blue Brew Crew]

I want it noted that my only post in this thread was how dumb it was. It got deleted and I got a timeout. Was 100% worth it.

 

Seriously?????

 

"What a whiny, petulant, attention seeking, "look at me" post."

 

Yeah that's the one, lol. Thanks for resuscitating it!

[Eye Black]

I want it noted that my only post in this thread was how dumb it was. It got deleted and I got a timeout. Was 100% worth it.

 

This^^

Brutal honesty gets you a vacation.

[long ball]

If the Brewers are able to make it into September within a 3 games of a playoff spot (and not 4 teams between them and the 2nd wc) I like their chances.

 

Really tough schedule coming up though after this weekend. Mid-late September is rather soft and expanded rosters is when CC really shines.

 

So they were exactly 3 GB of the second wild card at the end of play on 9/1.

 

I was expecting this the whole time.

[MadScientist]

You can say what you want about Craig Counsell from April to the end of August about over or under management but when September 1 rolls around there is no better manger in baseball at managing expanded rosters ,no one.

 

I see this a lot, but it actually has little to do with expanded roster. In fact, he actually crunches playing time. Grandal catching every day, no rest for any of the starters really. Uses the same, top 7 or 8 relievers over and over. Hes not using 35-38 guys, he's using 25. And really, 20 as much as humanly possible.

 

September has been about the 3 pitching acquisitions, Suter and Hiura coming back, and the team as a whole putting their game face on, and that part is definitely due to CC.

But Suter's availability (8 games, 17.1 innings) was in addition to the other arms that had been in the pen. Same with Woodruff's 4 innings. Plus the "unused" pitchers of Williams, Williams Faria, Burnes and Nelson add up to 15+ innings. Even if most of them are mop-up situations, it still saves the other arms for higher leverage situations. So saying CC does well with extra arms available is accurate. However it is also reasonable to say CC gets the most out of the staff during the regular season. It is also true that the whole staff is doing vastly better this month, but it is impossible to know how much was just from player improvement and how much increased rest helped.

[walleye]

You can say what you want about Craig Counsell from April to the end of August about over or under management but when September 1 rolls around there is no better manger in baseball at managing expanded rosters ,no one.

 

I see this a lot, but it actually has little to do with expanded roster. In fact, he actually crunches playing time. Grandal catching every day, no rest for any of the starters really. Uses the same, top 7 or 8 relievers over and over. Hes not using 35-38 guys, he's using 25. And really, 20 as much as humanly possible.

 

September has been about the 3 pitching acquisitions, Suter and Hiura coming back, and the team as a whole putting their game face on, and that part is definitely due to CC.

To your point on Grandal CC really has had little opinion but to play him everyday there is little depth behind the plate right now. And with Yelich out Granddals bat has been a must as for the starters they have taken there normal starts however CC has gone to the bull pen even more then he had in the past and the pen is still be fresh . I n the end i could find stats to support my post you could find stats to support your post but instead let’s just enjoy the ride and agree to disagree.

[bigredrobbo]

Awesome! Usually it's the "game over" posts in the 3rd inning of the IGT. Now it's the "season over" post with 2 months left. Oy...

 

 

Re-reading this thread in the light of the subsequent 7 weeks of baseball, and tonight's playoff-clinching win, has been enlightening. To paraphrase one poster, so many in this thread posted opinions as facts. I'm glad I never attended the "funeral", makes this run all the sweeter. Go Crew!

[AKCheesehead]

I believe yoshii8 wins this thread.

 

I expect everything to turn around once Brent Suter is back.

[BrewFan130]

The last 2 seasons the Brewers have one of the lowest run differentials among playoff teams. Lowest for 2019 and 3rd lowest of 2018 within playoff teams. I think this is a great indicator of how great of a manager CC is.

For the Brewers to make the playoffs in back to back years while playing in so many close games is a testament to the job CC is doing. I really think he deserves to be at the top of the list for manager of the year. 88 wins as of today with 4 games left and all of the pitching injuries the team’s endured this season. And no pitchers the MLB would consider true aces.

 

Although I couldn’t argue the moy award going to Brian Snitker of the Braves, but if it goes to Dave Roberts(Dodgers) it’ll be upsetting. After all the Dodgers have elite starters and a payroll in excess of $200 million. They should be winning 95+ games a year regardless of the manager.

[MrTPlush]

I believe yoshii8 wins this thread.

 

I expect everything to turn around once Brent Suter is back.

 

Haha this was my personal favorite. Though my one post probably wins if they become world champs.

[Pugger]

You can say what you want about Craig Counsell from April to the end of August about over or under management but when September 1 rolls around there is no better manger in baseball at managing expanded rosters ,no one.

 

You are right. I have groused about some of his moves this year in numerous threads. I am happy to say I didn't know what was really going on in that locker room/clubhouse.

[Pugger]

You can say what you want about Craig Counsell from April to the end of August about over or under management but when September 1 rolls around there is no better manger in baseball at managing expanded rosters ,no one.

 

I see this a lot, but it actually has little to do with expanded roster. In fact, he actually crunches playing time. Grandal catching every day, no rest for any of the starters really. Uses the same, top 7 or 8 relievers over and over. Hes not using 35-38 guys, he's using 25. And really, 20 as much as humanly possible.

 

September has been about the 3 pitching acquisitions, Suter and Hiura coming back, and the team as a whole putting their game face on, and that part is definitely due to CC.

 

Having Woody back for the post season will also be huge if we can get into the divisional round (I'm assuming Lyles will start in any tiebreaker/WC game).

[Pugger]

What really saved the season was finally getting that bum Yelich out of the lineup. Once he was gone, the team really pulled together.

 

I know you were jesting but the second sentence of your post has some truth to it. They lost their leader and rallied around each other so this is a part of why they had the success this month that they did.

[MillerParkSouth]

I gave up on this team no less than 3 times (Woodruff, Hiura, and Yelich injuries) and I don’t know that I’ve ever been so happy to be totally wrong.

[StearnsFTW]

Awesome! Usually it's the "game over" posts in the 3rd inning of the IGT. Now it's the "season over" post with 2 months left. Oy...

 

 

Re-reading this thread in the light of the subsequent 7 weeks of baseball, and tonight's playoff-clinching win, has been enlightening. To paraphrase one poster, so many in this thread posted opinions as facts. I'm glad I never attended the "funeral", makes this run all the sweeter. Go Crew!

 

I was amused to learn that there is at least one person who misses Ned Yost as manager. Which is absolutely hilarious.

[Thurston Fluff]

Awesome! Usually it's the "game over" posts in the 3rd inning of the IGT. Now it's the "season over" post with 2 months left. Oy...

 

 

Re-reading this thread in the light of the subsequent 7 weeks of baseball, and tonight's playoff-clinching win, has been enlightening. To paraphrase one poster, so many in this thread posted opinions as facts. I'm glad I never attended the "funeral", makes this run all the sweeter. Go Crew!

 

I was amused to learn that there is at least one person who misses Ned Yost as manager. Which is absolutely hilarious.

 

To be fair Ned Yost has one of the highest post season winning percentages of all time and has the most wins in KC history. That said even I, an unapologetic Yost fan, prefer Counsell. Especially in late and post season. It seems to me the post season is more like September baseball than it is the rest of the regular season. The most games in a row they play is three. That means less starters are needed which adds to the bullpen depth that's already more rested due to the off days.

[Jopal78]

Awesome! Usually it's the "game over" posts in the 3rd inning of the IGT. Now it's the "season over" post with 2 months left. Oy...

 

 

Re-reading this thread in the light of the subsequent 7 weeks of baseball, and tonight's playoff-clinching win, has been enlightening. To paraphrase one poster, so many in this thread posted opinions as facts. I'm glad I never attended the "funeral", makes this run all the sweeter. Go Crew!

 

I was amused to learn that there is at least one person who misses Ned Yost as manager. Which is absolutely hilarious.

 

I also posted that Yost was a good manager, not necessarily that he was 'missed'. Whatever bullpen decisions he made that irked folks here, he won two pennants and a world series. Which places him in pretty exclusive company with three likely hall of fame managers: Bruce Bochy, Joe Maddon, and Terry Francona all having won multiple pennants and a title. Managers that have survived in the industry as long as Yost is also limited: Bochy (25), Francona (19), Hurdle (17) and Bob Melvin (16). If both success and longevity don't equate with being a good manager I don't know what else would.

 

As for the Eulogy, I knew if I was wrong I would get grief, big deal. It was my opinion at the time based on what I saw. It was like the people that posted about projections, nobody knew this team had a miracle run in them, but I'm glad they did as it has made the last month of the season the most fun to follow.

 

Also a big shout out to BrewCrew 92 not only was he a devout believer the team had a September run in them and specifically cited many of the players who have got the job done for Milwaukee.