What went right in '07?

[homer]

There's been a lot of venom spat about this site the last week which is understandable, but now that the dust has settled a bit I thought I'd try and bring a 'glass is half full' perspective to the 2007 season. Let's discuss all the things that happened that give us hope for next season. I know many of you will be tempted to post "Ned Yost showed he won't be an MLB manager for very long" or "No one on the 40 man roster died" but let's try and leave that to vent threads and other places where they are more appropriate.

 

Corey Hart: Corey had a breakout year smashing 24 home runs and stealing 23 bases. His line of .295/.353/.534 is on par with guys named El Caballo (.303/.354/.528) and Soriano (.299/.337/.559). Given that Corey has improved every time he's repeated a level, there's no reason to think he won't improve in 2008. He could potentially be a 30/30 guy. I'd take him and his defense over the other two players right now. May eternally be underrated behind bonus babies Weeks, Fielder, and Braun but he just might be more valuable.

 

Rickie Weeks (post minor league stint): On July 31, Weeks was hitting .212/.363/.330. He was sent down to Nashville where he rediscovered his confidence and his batting stroke. Upon his return on Aug 10th, Weeks hit .273/.442/ .546 to close out the season. Not only that but in those final 7 weeks or so, he stole 15 bases without being caught once. The late season power surge was so impressive it raised his OPS from below .700 to .807 by season's end - good for 6th among NL second basemen. It was no coincidence that the Brewers mid season offensive slump seemed to evaporate once Weeks started getting on base at the top of the lineup. If he can get on base at a .380+ clip he will be force at the top of the order.

 

Ryan Braun's offense: Really we can start and end with .634 - Braun's slugging pct. It was the best SLG ever by a rookie and had he had enough plate appearances, it would have been best by a 3B in the NL. Braun continued to amaze everyone with his quick bat and ridiculous power. His 34 home runs were the most ever by a Brewer rookie. Some people have God given talents. Brett Favre's is throwing an oblong object really hard, Michael Johnson's is running really, really fast, Chris Farley's was overeating, and Ryan Braun's is hitting a baseball hard. It's hard to imagine what kind of numbers he would have put up had he played a full season. Braun only 'bad' month was August were he was only able to muster a .904 OPS. He is potentially be a perennial .320 40hr 120 RBI man.

 

Prince Fielder: Youngest MLB player ever to hit 50 HR. Prince led all NL 1st basemen in SLG and inside the park home runs. He became more vocal this year and took team leadership on his shoulders at the tender age of 23. The scary thing is that he may improve his hitting. Hard to improve on 50 dingers, but the potential for a .300/.430/.600 season is there - and might not be that far away. His batting eye improved as the year progressed and will only improve with age/experience.

 

 

That's all I've got time for right now. Obviously, Yo! Villy need to be added as well.

[lukevan]

JJ Hardy stayed healthy and put up this line:

 

.277 .323 .463 .786 (good numbers for SS position)

 

Granted, he cooled off in the middle of the season, but he had some big hits late in the season. Staying healthy was the biggest thing and he somehow was more valuable offensively than Bill Hall, who many would've had starting at SS instead of JJ (granted also: had he NOT changed positions his offensive numbers might be more impressive).

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

By the end of the season, management seemed to have (finally) figured out that giving Gabe Gross AB's in the OF would help more than giving them to Tony Gwynn, Jr.

[clancyphile]

In general, the offense was what went right, followed by a large chunk of the rotation (Suppan, Gallardo, Villanueva). In essence, the depth of the rotation made 83 wins possible. Had the health been as good as the depth, we'd be talking about the first playoff team since 1982.

 

Plug Gabe Gross in right, move Hart to left, and is the Brewers' offense any worse than it was this year? I think it'll be even better.

[Thurston Fluff]

We learned that how good Villanueva was in his short time with the team last year wasn't a fluke. This guy is one of those surprises that sort of pooped oout of no where and could be a stud #4.

 

While the starting pitching struggled this year the depth was very good. We could trade Cappy, Bush or Vargas and still not worry about the depth too much going forward.

 

Tony Gwynn Jr played well enough to be worth something to a rebuilding team in trade.

[brewcrewkid14]

I think the teams offense at the end of the season (arguably the best in the NL) represents the type of offense we're going to see the next couple years. A line up of Weeks/Gross (RHP) or Hardy (LHP)/Braun/Fielder/Hart/Hardy (RHP) or Gross (LHP)/Hall/Catcher aquisition or Estrada will a very scary offense. I personally would not mind seeing somehow a "professional" type hitter that Doug was talking about in his press conference in that two spot instead of Gross, who could then split time with Hall as a lefty/righty platoon.

 

This is going to be a very good offense.

[clancyphile]

I think the teams offense at the end of the season (arguably the best in the NL) represents the type of offense we're going to see the next couple years. A line up of Weeks/Gross (RHP) or Hardy (LHP)/Braun/Fielder/Hart/Hardy (RHP) or Gross (LHP)/Hall/Catcher aquisition or Estrada will a very scary offense. I personally would not mind seeing somehow a "professional" type hitter that Doug was talking about in his press conference in that two spot instead of Gross, who could then split time with Hall as a lefty/righty platoon.

 

This is going to be a very good offense.

Give Gross full-time PAs in RF, and I bet he'll do at least as good as Jenkins has over the last three years. He's got great OBP skills.

[TooLiveBrew]

Corey Hart is not moving from RF.

[Fatter than Joey]

I was incredibly impressed with Villy after his stint in Nash.

[brettac1]

Weeks being the best offensive player in the league for almost two months was pretty awesome.

Fielder taking his game to superstar levels.

Braun's bat.

[Oldcity]

I think everyone's number one has to be Prince emerging as an all-out superstar. After that, for me it's Weeks' power reappearing. It seems like he'll still has a chance to reach that great offensive ceiling after all.

[logan82]

Corey Hart is not moving from RF.

 

I have to agree with that. I think Gross is a pretty solid defender, but not as good as Hart.

[ILuvDaBush]

I think it needs to be said that one of the best surprises for this team this year was the true depth of our staff. Sheets/Cappy/Bush v. Yo/Villy/Parra, with Soup v. Claudio....the depth of our starting pitching was groovy. And something must be said of CoCo and his follow-up to last year. If he does leave, I could see Gagne mirroring his ascension back to prominence.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

How about Yovani Gallardo? I mean we all expected him to be good, but did we expect him to be our stopper down the stretch? I didn't think 21 year olds could have the poise that Yo has had this year. Not to mention that he added a couple home runs to help his own cause.

[JohnBriggs12]

Weeks' finish to the season was the most significant development going forward. Unfortunately, his struggles from May through July contributed heavily to the team's losing it's grip on first.

 

I had always thought that of all the young guys, Weeks could be the best of all. I based this on my belief that Weeks is more capable of producing against the top of the line pitchers than the other young Brewers. But by the end of July, my faith in him was nearly gone.

 

He went a long way in restoring my faith in him in September.

[clancyphile]

Weeks' finish to the season was the most significant development going forward. Unfortunately, his struggles from May through July contributed heavily to the team's losing it's grip on first.

 

I had always thought that of all the young guys, Weeks could be the best of all. I based this on my belief that Weeks is more capable of producing against the top of the line pitchers than the other young Brewers. But by the end of July, my faith in him was nearly gone.

 

He went a long way in restoring my faith in him in September.

From May on, the Brewers had injuries. It wasn't just Rickie's wrist flaring up. It was Capuano's groin pull, Ben's finger injury, Bill Hall's high-ankle sprain, and Graffanino's knee injury. There was plenty of DL time to go around.

 

Just as important as his power coming back was the jump in his walk rate. We knew the wrist was going to gie him some trouble. But the walk rate... any time a lengthy season slump with a .235 average leads to a .374 OBP. Had the same differential (OBP-BA) appeared in 2006, Rickie's OBP would have been .418. This means that when he does "slump", he'll still get on base at a decent clip - and his 25-for-27 track record on the basepaths (59-for-68 career) tells me he will still do a lot of damage.

 

Offer both him and Prince 10-year, $90 million contracts. They'd be bargains.