So what did we accomplish this season?

[LUKE232323]

Outside of eating our young offensive studs arby clocks?

 

We're going to win 83 games max. 2 more games than 2005, where we had considerably less talent.

 

We blew a 8 game division lead.

 

Yost continued to show no improvement as a manager in his areas of deficiency.

 

Defense was just as bad as last year if not worse.

 

Turnbow regressed. Bullpen and rotation well below expectations.

 

I guess I don't buy the whole, "they'll learn from being in a pennant race" line. Winning a pennant race, maybe, just being close in the worst pennant race in baseball? Nope. We didn't accomplish anything this year, in my opinion, and showed regression or remained stable in several key areas. So disappointing I can't even think straight.

[AJAY]

It doesn't even feel like we will win 82 this year. That season when we won 81 games, I think the Cardinals and Astros both had over 90 wins. The division was so much tougher back then, and we still performed better despite less talent than this team.

[TheBwaz]

Well, at least we didn't blow a 7 game lead in 17 days. We strung it out nice at long, and made us suffer.

 

Kind of like every year of being a Brewers fan.

 

But booting this to the CUBS? Boooooooo!

[PeaveyFury]

They found out what they need to do to win- not just via the 'being in a pennant race' stuff that has some merit, but also:

 

That they can't piece together a bullpen that relies heavily on the likes of Chris Spurling, Greg Aquino, Elmer Dessens, etc and expect to be successful, and this needs to be fixed this offseason.

 

That Ryan Braun has a legitimately awesome bat, but his defense simply has to improve for the team to work.

 

That Derrick Turnbow can't be a significant part of the back end of our bullpen, and that Matt Wise might not be either.

 

That Ned Yost might not be the guy to get us where we need to go.

 

That while talent is there at a lot of positions, that there are still upgrades that can and need to be made.

 

That Prince Fielder is a legitimate stud and will have had an MVP season shortly.

 

And Ryan Braun will be ROTY soon as well.

 

And Rickie Weeks IS who we thought he would be, as long as his wrist is ok.

 

That the fans ARE excited about the future of this team and WILL come out to support them in record numbers.

 

That Mark A WILL do what it takes to win during a season by adding payroll.

 

That if we win one of our last two games, that this team finally has a winning season after 15 very, very long years.

 

 

 

So in all, I'd say exciting, meaningful baseball for 99% of the season including a long run in first, plus an MVP and ROTY, plus valuable experience for a young team, plus finding out and (hopefully) learning from your problems/weaknesses should make this team a WS contender next year without a doubt. So, if you can't see positives or this season as a success in some way, you're not really trying.

[pitchleague]

I guess we'll find out next year, huh? If we stink next year, yeah, then I think the point can be made that nothing was accomplished this year.

 

If we do very well and win the division, I think it was a very important 2007 campaign.

 

I do know that I will NOT be celebrating when/if we start out to a big lead again, though.

[sweepscc]

Put a record amount of coin in Mark A's pocket? We better improve quite a bit this off season, otherwise Prince really won't like what he's hearing.

[bklynbrewcrew]

If we get rid of Yost we will have accomplished something. If we dont this season is a complete and utter failure. 81-83 wins in the NL Central is like winning 75-78 in any of the other divisions. In other words we have to be considered a below average NL team. With the amount of talent on this team that in my opinion is completely unacceptable.

[adamb100]

I look at the season now how we had an 8.5 gmae lead and how it all went away and I just wanna punch the entire team in the face. It's disgusting we couldnt win this division when it was up for grabs.

[LUKE232323]

If we get rid of Yost we will have accomplished something. If we dont this season is a complete and utter failure. 81-83 wins in the NL Central is like winning 75-78 in any of the other divisions. In other words we have to be considered a below average NL team. With the amount of talent on this team that in my opinion is completely unacceptable.

Couldn't agree more. However, I do think Yost is back, we hear the same hype next year going into the season. Doesn't have me excited about 2008 at all.

 

[PeaveyFury]

There are already threads dedicated to Yost and also to venting. Let's not make this thread an additional one.

[crewcrazy]

160 games of meaningful baseball, which is more than this team has seen since 1992. This year is hardly a failure.

[sweepscc]

I'm not mad at the lineup, I just want to punch the bullpen in the face. I'll step aside and let you get the lineup (I won't take you to the ER though. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif)

[watertown28]

Im to mad right now to type a full answer but I have to say this team has done nothing to show improvement at all

[PeaveyFury]

Im to mad right now to type a full answer but I have to say this team has done nothing to show improvement at all

 

They were 75-87 last year. They've already improved by 6 games with 2 to play if nothing else.

[LUKE232323]

Im to mad right now to type a full answer but I have to say this team has done nothing to show improvement at all

 

They were 75-87 last year. They've already improved by 6 games with 2 to play if nothing else.

Come on Peavey, that team had MASSIVE injury issues to end the season. This team had one major injury all year. This years team, relative to the rest of major league baseball, was probably above average health wise. They didn't really improve much, if at all, in the last two seasons. That is what has me and should have other Brewers fans concerned.

 

[jlau20]

I somewhat disagree with saying the team has done nothing to show improvement, we won atleast six more games than last year. That's an improvement. We were in the playoff hunt until September 28th. That's an improvement. In 2006 our 'best' player was Bill Hall with 35 HR and 85 RBI. This year Ryan Braun has atleast 34 HR and 95 RBI, and he wasn't our best player, we have this guy named Prince who threw on atleast a measly 50 HR and 119 RBI. That's an improvement.

 

Our leadoff hitter struggled mightily for portions of the season, went to Triple A, but came back mashing and getting on base, probably due to an almost fully healed wrist. He'll be here next year and if I had to guess I would say he'll resemble more of the guy from August 10th on than the guy who got sent down to Triple A. We seem to have ourselves an all around player in Corey Hart, near .300, 20 HR +, 25 SB +, etc. and really hasn't shown me that those numbers are a fluke.

 

Just to name a few.

[brewcrewkid14]

Well off the top of my head I think they accomplished the realization that they need basically a whole new bullpen this offseason. And there's still that winning season I wouldn't mind them getting...

 

Wouldn't you think that that 2005 team could have arguably had better pitching than this team? That's just off a whim of my head (if that makes sense), but i think that is the year we had Sheets the whole year (I may be wrong on that one) and Cappy won 18 games. I'm pretty sure Davis was decent that year too. And we didn't blow five run leads all the time.

 

Yeah, but we definitely need a bullpen.

[Ennder]

Well first off the 2005 team massively overachieved so I wouldn't use them as an example of how much we improved, just because that team won 10 games more than they should have doesn't mean a whole lot.

 

We stretched our young starters out so they are ready to play full seasons next year.

 

All of our young guys improved over last year and stayed healthy and showed their potential.

 

We proved that Yost is not the manager for this team (hopefully)

 

We set an attendence record which stabalizes the payroll.

 

We played meaningful games until the 2nd to last game of the season and that will help somewhat next year.

 

We hopefully cut the fat on the team a bit with some players we don't need like Jenkins finishing out their contracts.

[pebadger]

As of tonight's standings, the Brewers went from 13th place in the National League last year to 8th place in the National League this year in terms of raw record.

 

That does not account, however, for the fact that not a single team in the division has a winning record outside the division and every team in the NL West other than the Giants has a winning record against both East and Central foes. As such, I'd probably rate the Dodgers (80 wins) ahead of the Brewers (81 wins) in terms of "who's better". They're a middle of the pack team in the lesser of two qualitatively so-so leagues. That it took a huge spending spree by the Cubs to eke out a title in teh worst division in baseball this year is telling, on a lot of points.

 

I guess I'd say the Brewers managed to make mediocrity exciting this season, which is an accomplishment of a sort.

[LS Brewer]

To start out a What did we accomplish this season? thread with so much negativity is almost incomprehensible. For the first time in 13 years, the Brewers played competitive baseball almost into October. The recency of the disappointment of losing the division in the third to last day of the season shouldn't cloud the fact that the Brewers brought true excitement to the State of Wisconsin (and to us out of staters as well). For a while there, the Brewers even eclipsed the Packers in generating interest.

 

What did they accomplish?

 

Well, their best player and potential MVP hit over 50 home runs in a season where only three or four people int he NL even hit 40. We saw the offensive emergence of Corey Hart and Ryan Braun. Furthermore, by the end of the season, it seems like Rickie finally began to understand his role with the team and grasp what his strengths are, including a very good comprehension of the strike zone. Additionally, the pitching accomplished a number of things as well. Yo and Villy became true major league pitchers this year without blowing out their arms. We saw a glimmer of promise from Manny Parra and a nearly complete season from him. (His injury suffered at the end of the year was not a shoulder or elbow injury and, according to him, he recovered withing a few weeks.) The Brewers had setbacks from Capuano and, at times, Sheets and most of the relievers were suspect at best, but the team won a lot of games and gave us reason to hope for better things to come this year. Th

 

The Brewers accomplished a lot this year. Unlike previous years where our only solace was the hope that the team would be better "next year", with this years' team the object of our hopes and expectations was this year. Yeah, they did not make the playoffs this year, but, for once, playoffs was something we could realistically discuss. It shocks and saddens me that with the season essentially behind us, some people can't yet let go of the nervous hate that developed as the season went on. I know on Sunday when the team is announced and comes charging onto the field, I will undoubtedly rise to my feet and cheer as loud as possible for this team and all that it accomplished.

[LUKE232323]

I'm not asking for individual accomplishments, I'm talking about the team as a whole.

 

We have a legitimate shot to be .500. We were .500 in 2005. The manager is still making the same mistakes and will likely be back next year. Both the pitching and the defense regressed.

 

I'm sorry, I just can't find the positives. Playing "meaningful baseball in September" is relative, because the team you're chasing is also mediocre and you're playing in by far the worst division in baseball. We will win probably 82 games in a terrible division.

[Ennder]

We were not a .500 team in 2005, we ended up .500, there is a big difference. The team way overachieved that season and it has little to do with last year or this year.

[gypcasino]

For a while there, the Brewers even eclipsed the Packers in generating interest.

During the summer, maybe. Once the Packers season started, no.

[LS Brewer]

For a while there, the Brewers even eclipsed the Packers in generating interest.

During the summer, maybe. Once the Packers season started, no.

 

That is still an accomplishment in its own right.

[pebadger]

I think many will probably make that argument this 2007 team isn't a .500 team either, but they ended up there. It's only that the direction of the variance is not as positive.