Will we have the BEST team when it comes to September?

[sheetswannabe]

Think of it this way... We have MANY young players who are great. Maybe we will slump in August, but come September our team could be nasty. Addition of Sheets, Gwynn, Weeks (hopefully better), and all the rest of the young guys. Anyone think we will pull a VERY strong September?

[trwi7]

The only truely good addition at that time will be Sheets. Which will be partially offset by Gallardo going back to the bullpen so I'm going to have to say no.

[Brian the Automator]

Having Gwynn back purely as a pinch runner and defensive replacement will be nice.

[PeaveyFury]

You'd have to figure that for once they'll probably put almost everyone on the 40-man in Milwaukee. Adding Rivera back to the 40-man and adding him as a third catcher will give us a lot more flexibility in later innings as well.

[Fatter than Joey]

I don't see guys like Weeks, Hardy, Gwynn, Villy, helping us in Sep. Sheets coming back will be good -- however, Yo and Parra are going to get shut down.

 

This is why I am less than optimistic

[Ennder]

Hardy seems to be coming out of his slump and finally driving the ball some. Hall is hitting the ball better lately. Hart is getting hot again. The rotation has pitched better lately except for that Vargas explosion of course. I think it really comes down to the bullpen, they have caused this team to lose at least 5 or 6 games in the past 2 months and if they can't get it done we are in trouble.

[drezdn]

Come September, it'll be easier to rest members of the bullpen as there will be more pitchers to choose from. Also, getting sent down as seemed to help Gross, as he's batting .342 in AAA with a game winning home run last night. Ideally, it'll help Weeks too.

[zingsheim]

I hope it elps Weeksand he bounces back strong.

[bigbrewkahuna]

I don't know if the Brewers will gain anything on the Cubs with Sheets coming back.

They are countering with Kerry Wood.

[BrewCrewForever]

I don't know if the Brewers will gain anything on the Cubs with Sheets coming back.

They are countering with Kerry Wood.

I think we are gaining something. Sheets is a starter and Wood is a reliever now. And come on Sheets is a way better pitcher then Wood any which way.

 

I also think if Braun, Hart and Fielder stay hot and Jenkins gets hot which he does in Sept and is already heating up a bit the offense will be fine. Couple that with the fact that Weeks could come back and maybe hit as well as if Hall finds his stroke, we could score some runs. I just hope the pitching holds up. Maybe Cappy and Suppan find it and well be in great shape.

 

[Diskono]

I don't know if the Brewers will gain anything on the Cubs with Sheets coming back.

They are countering with Kerry Wood.

 

I don't think you can compare Sheets to a reliever whos arm will probably fall off before the season is finished.

[princeginterhallhelms04]

Yeah Chicago radio is getting all hyped about having Kerry Wood back you would think that after going year after year of getting there hopes up and then having some arm injury or shoulder injury happen to wood they would learn to sit back and wait. I just don't see Kerry Wood adding that much to the cubs. Now come back to me in september and could be eating my words.

As for the brewers i think having the sept. call ups is going to help the most with rest. What is killing us right now is that are pitchers are going only 5 innings which is just eating up the innings in the pen. If we could just get a CG by one of our pitchers you would see an improvement in the pen.

[EinhornIsFinkle]

It will take Sheets at least a couple of starts before he is off a severe pitch count (if he even comes back at all) so I don't think he will help much at all unless we somehow sneak into the playoffs.

[PioneerPete]

We are far from being a top half team right now. The idea that we could have the best team in the division is laugable. Since the end of May we are 7 games below 500! The reality is that as of today we are closer to being Cincy than the Cubs.

[theavrock]

I don't think you can compare Sheets to a reliever whos arm will probably fall off before the season is finished.

 

I think he was joking guys. Well at least I hope so. Its Kerry Wood for god's sake.

[igor67]

Ah yes but Doug has yet to unveil or super secret counter strategy to Kerry Wood. Chad Fox!

[drezdn]

Ah yes but Doug has yet to unveil or super secret counter strategy to Kerry Wood. Chad Fox!

I think Teddy Higuera is actually returning from the DL.

 

[nikegolf6]

We are far from being a top half team right now. The idea that we could have the best team in the division is laugable. Since the end of May we are 7 games below 500! The reality is that as of today we are closer to being Cincy than the Cubs.

 

But in that same span the Cubs are 35-20. Meaning apparently they're closer to the Red Sox than the Brewers. On June 1, the Cubs were 22-30 so they just had their cold streak earlier than we did. We started hot and cooled. They started cold and heated up.

 

Look, if you think the cubs are a .636 team, then I won't bother trying to talk you down, but this is going to be a race to the end.

[Fatter than Joey]

They started cold and heated up.

 

It's really not as simple as that -- The Cubs have made some roster moves and players like Soriano and Zambrano were uncharacteristically bad in April.

Ramirez was hurt. etc.,

[Ennder]

They started cold and heated up.

 

It's really not as simple as that -- The Cubs have made some roster moves and players like Soriano and Zambrano were uncharacteristically bad in April.

Ramirez was hurt. etc.,

Their offense this last month has been worse than any other month of the season, the pitching hasn't been any better. If you base your opinion on the actual numbers they put up it sure does not look like they are a better team now than they were in April/May. They couldn't get a hit with RISP in April/May, in July especially they drove in way more than the expected number with RISP. They lost every close game the first two months and won every close game the next two months. The reality is somewhere in between those two extremes.

 

Also splits taken over just part of the season are largely useless as well. The Brewers played 18-10 baseball between June 13th and July 17th, if you just grab samples at random they are going to be all over the place. Since June 1st we are 28-27 as an example and that includes going 1-6 in our last 7 games. Its not like this team has played terrible all season except for April, they have had ups and downs all year.