Where’s the beef

[brewers888]

So now that we have added Kolten Wong to the lineup as probably our biggest acquisition for the lineup I ask the question that needs to be answered and that’s where’s the beef.

 

The only two power bats projected to play every day are Yelich and Hiura. Besides that the lineup is pretty much a bunch of punchless bats unless you think we can count on Narvaez and Garcia for power and I for one don’t think we can count on them at all.

 

We have little to no power expected from second base, shortstop, third base, and center field with big concerns from catcher and right field. The lineup was terrible last season and doesn’t look to be even league average again next season.

 

Wong is a gold glove second baseman and gets on base but he is one more bat who doesn’t slug much at all. I’m not expecting us to be like Harvey’s wallbangers but we are woefully short on power.

 

Melvin was power over everything else but Stearns has gone too far in the other direction. This lineup is still pretty bad and likely won’t score enough for us to be true contenders so hopefully Stearns can add another power bat to complement Yelich and Hiura.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Couldn't agree more.

 

I don't expect Vogelbach to be even as good as Eric Thames was, Narvaez had 1 good season, Urias is overmatched, Avisail is below average, Counsell will be tempted to give Sogard 500 PAs, and Cain (who was fading anyway) may not feel like playing again.

 

Otherwise, we're great!

[MNBrew]

I don't want a team that's so HR-dependent that the inevitable HR droughts mean we have a tough time putting together rallies.

 

Besides Yelich & Hiura hopefully rebounding to anywhere close their usual norms/profiles, several others have the capability to be better hitters and thus make more regular contributions to the offense, both with some power but also just plain decent if unspectacular hitting: Cain -- who's the most obvious -- but also Wong, Narvaez & Garcia. Vogelbach is a capable hitter with plenty of power, though he's been anything but consistent in his career to date so it's hard to know what to expect.

 

That list covers 6 of the 8 non-pitcher spots in the batting order. That leaves 3B (obviously still a mystery) and Arcia (hopefully still has some growth ahead of him). If Braun returns, that also ups the overall profile of who's on hand.

 

If we can strike out less, get on base more & put more balls in play, the offense should be at least somewhat more consistent and thus regularly productive. It's a team that'll never be confused with the '27 Yankees, but they sure should be a better offense than the 2020 Brewers were.

[Thurston Fluff]

Our team has traditionally been offense oriented. It got us a total of zero championships. We got one runner up trophy in 40 plus years. Now we have a great group of pitchers and we just added someone who would make that group better. I'd rather win 2-1 than lose 5-4.

[TURBO]

Couldn't agree more.

 

I don't expect Vogelbach to be even as good as Eric Thames was, Narvaez had 1 good season, Urias is overmatched, Avisail is below average, Counsell will be tempted to give Sogard 500 PAs, and Cain (who was fading anyway) may not feel like playing again.

 

Otherwise, we're great!

 

Sogard?