2021-10-12 (NLDS Game #4): Brewers (Lauer) at Braves (Morton) [Brewers lose, 5-4 -- Freeman’s 8th inning HR off Hader breaks tie, and hearts]

[Pugger]

By the way Yelich has a full no trade clause so he isn't going anywhere even if the Brewers wanted him to be.

 

Then we gotta pray we can get Yelich back to being a decent hitter again. We don't need him to be the MVP but we need him to be better than a pitcher holding a bat too.

[Brewcrewin07]

I bolded the part that's actually the problem.

 

 

The Brewers are a small market team, They aren't going to suddenly spend $200 million on player payroll. It just isn't going to happen. You need to understand that at some point.

 

Never once have I believed or thought they would/could spend $200 million..but they COULD spend $150-$175 million. That would make a HUGE difference. Remember, they have gone as high as $125 mill before.

 

And you've been repeatedly asked to "show your work" to back that claim. Never once have you.

 

What kind of "work" do you want me to show?? I can tell you this...in fact I just did this this morning...Let's assume, JBJ and Avi both decline their options, and let's also assume Cain decides to retire(I think this is a strong possibility)..that frees up 38.5 million in payroll, now let's say you pursue(again these are hypotheticals), Freddie freeman and Nick Castellanos...With Castellanos, Spotrac has his Market value at 21 Million(AAV)...let's say you have to go to 25 mill(AAV to get him signed), now Freddie Freeman has a market value of 28 mill, let's say you give him 30 mill to get him signed.

 

So for $53 million(AAV) you just added to of the best bats in all of baseball...now let's remember you're subtracting the 38.5 mill from Avi, JBJ and Cain, so essentially you're adding $15 million in additional payroll so that puts them about 135 mill or so(I'm guessing) you're telling me that isn't do able??

 

Not good enough for you?? Let's say Cain doesn't retire you add back in his 17 million 135 + 17 million = 152 million...and boy do things look so much better adding those two bats, right?? Walah!

[Pugger]

The series is why it's time to trade Hader for a bat. What good is a one inning closer if you can't score?? His value has diminished now that he is 1 inning only guy. He's great and somebody will pay a heavy price. Call the Yankees and ask about Luke Voigt to dh.

 

Luke Voigt? No thanks. My friends who are Yankee fans were hoping NY would have traded him away before the deadline.

[mtrebs]

It's a big deal when that's half the payroll.

 

I bolded the part that's actually the problem.

 

Keep on throwing that spaghetti against the wall. It hasn't stuck the first 1,000 times you did it. It ain't gonna stick now.

 

The Brewers are a small market team, They aren't going to suddenly spend $200 million on player payroll. It just isn't going to happen. You need to understand that at some point.

 

Never once have I believed or thought they would/could spend $200 million..but they COULD spend $150-$175 million. That would make a HUGE difference. Remember, they have gone as high as $125 mill before.

 

They could do this if they wanted to go all in for the next few years and then cut payroll drastically after our window is done and go into a rebuilding phase. That may get us a World Series but they won’t do it because it’s much more profitable to be competitive year after year. Unfortunately that makes a World Series much more difficult. It’s the life of a small market team.

[Fear The Chorizo]

You could see this for a month now.

 

This team was not good for awhile. They weren’t going to beat anyone with a pulse

I agree with this. I was so pumped when they clinched the postseason weeks ago, but then when they had the chance over the cardinals to end them, and just faltered it all seemed off to me. I kept coming here to read, as a casual fan, that it didn’t matter, but it sure didn’t seem like a great way to enter the postseason.

 

I don't want to break my arm patting myself on the back but a couple of times in the past few weeks I expressed this concern about playing poorly going into the playoffs and some here chided me saying the guys would turn it on once the playoffs started. I'm not happy that I was right to be concerned, believe me.

 

Pat yourself on the back all you want, that still doesn't make you right. These games were all meatgrinders, and they were always going to be with how the Brewers' roster was constructed when facing teams that on paper are better offensively. Key managerial errors hurt their chances in their 2 losses in ATL, IMO - sure they could've made life easier on CC by hitting better, but the same could be said for the Braves who actually advanced in the series.

 

The pitchers that were largely rested and ramped down at the end of the regular season performed very well. Williams punched a wall, which scrambled the bullpen for a playoff series. It's tough to gauge how deflating that was for this team.

 

As for the hitting - Tellez was on a rehab assignment right up until the end of the season with a knee issue that kept him out most of September. Brewers were fortunate to just get him back healthy for the playoffs. It was obvious Avi was laboring with a number of nagging injuries down the stretch. Adames was on the IL for part of August and most of September and I'd imagine he still wasn't anywhere near 100% physically. Same for Vogelbach and Taylor. Yelich scuffled across September but still played plenty - his struggles are much more than coasting the last two weeks of the regular season. Hitters like Urias, Escobar, and most notably Narvaez actually did pretty well in the NLDS - Narvaez was on fumes at the end of the season after catching 15 more games than any other season in his career, so I'd argue the rest really benefitted him. Wong had a terrible NLDS and frankly slumped most of the 2nd half of the season - it's a shame there wasn't a better option to put in the leadoff spot. Bradley was a major, major disappointment offensively and frankly had to play way too much down the stretch to alleviate injury/wear and tear issues on the other outfielders.

 

The Brewers definitely didn't play well in the last couple weeks of the regular season and frankly most of September - that's not solely because they were coasting, in hindsight it's because their roster was burnt out and was scrambled dealing with a bunch of injuries in key spots (Adames, Garcia, Tellez) and extended end of season slumps (Yelich, Wong). That carried over into the postseason, unfortunately. Others pointed out previous Septembers where the Brewers' depth at roster spots 27-40 came through and contributed in a major way down the stretch - leading to what appeared to be an end of season surge towards the postseason. The roster rule change negated that in part, but I also think that part of the Brewers' roster wasn't as solid this year as in year's past anyways.

 

The biggest difference between this team and the 2018 team that was a couple pitches away from going to the World Series is Yelich not being the middle of the order stud that he was in 2018 and is now paid to be in 2020. Even with all the other offensive shortcomings and slumps this team saw, if Yelich was anywhere near the player he was in 2018-2019 this team goes much farther.

[Brewcrewin07]

Keep on throwing that spaghetti against the wall. It hasn't stuck the first 1,000 times you did it. It ain't gonna stick now.

 

The Brewers are a small market team, They aren't going to suddenly spend $200 million on player payroll. It just isn't going to happen. You need to understand that at some point.

 

Never once have I believed or thought they would/could spend $200 million..but they COULD spend $150-$175 million. That would make a HUGE difference. Remember, they have gone as high as $125 mill before.

 

They could do this if they wanted to go all in for the next few years and then cut payroll drastically after our window is done and go into a rebuilding phase. That may get us a World Series but they won’t do it because it’s much more profitable to be competitive year after year. Unfortunately that makes a World Series much more difficult. It’s the life of a small market team.

 

Winner winner chicken dinner! This is EXACTLY the approach they should be taking while the young arms are still controllable. This is exactly what I have been pining for.

[rickh150]

It's been fun watching these games with all of you. We'll believe together again next year.

 

The good news is: these pitchers are very good.

And finding good pitching is the hard part. Finding bats is (relatively) easier.

 

We saw this coming from before the season. They built the team on run prevention, not run scoring.

 

Plus nobody could foresee both Huira and Yelich imploding like they did.

 

The best pitchers didn't pitch enough. That's the theme. Burnes, Peralta, and Hader each should or could have been pitched more. Winning yesterday would have allowed Woodruff/Peralta to pitch game 5.

[Baldkin]

 

[mtrebs]

Winner winner chicken dinner! This is EXACTLY the approach they should be taking while the young arms are still controllable. This is exactly what I have been pining for.

 

I wouldn’t be opposed to the all-in strategy and then go to complete rebuild mode as I feel it’s our best bet to win a World Series. I’m seen enough crappy Brewers teams in my 42 years that I could easily handle a bunch more, especially if they won a World Series. Would absolutely stink to not win one going that route though.

 

The Brewers won’t do this though since they can fill the seats more as long as the team is competitive. People in the seats equals more profit. Going into full rebuild mode will result in low attendance and lower profits.

[adambr2]

 

 

I demand based on this that we show this to MLB and overturn our 5-4 loss to a 5.04 to 5 win.

 

In all seriousness, it's pretty gross how much impact bad MLB umpires have on a game outcome.

[Pugger]

Does MLB grade umps like the NFL do with their officials?