A Roster is the Sum of its Parts, but Not All Parts Are Created Equal

This is my first official piece for Brewer Fanatic so let me tell you this upfront...

Full disclosure: I am an optimist by nature.

I believe in the best in people until proven otherwise. I give people second (and sometimes 10th) chances like they were scratch-off cards during the final series at American Family Field each season. I hope for the grandest outcome possible when presented with an unknown. If there's a sliver of doubt to your negativity, I'll wedge the business end of a crowbar into it and pry it wide and explain why you should let that light shine through.

That worldview leads to disappointment, frustration, and even anger when people repeatedly let me down or show their true colors. It's a hard lesson to learn who you can't count on. It's a more challenging lesson when it takes a few classes to sink in. It has a sobering effect when you strive to see the best in people, and they show you anything but. It's worse when they give you flashes of their good and great but continually revert to a disheartening standard. You know there's greatness in them, but it isn't on display enough.

This is a Brewers baseball site. Much can and undoubtedly will be said about the franchise's history of coming up short and failing to win a championship, but this column is dedicated to a much smaller focus. This column is being written to point out that disappointment in baseball requires context. A bad offense needs to be viewed through the right lens more succinctly.

There's no denying that the 2021 Milwaukee Brewers did not score enough. This was especially impactful during a truncated Postseason run when once again, the Crew was ousted by the eventual League Pennant winner. The Brewers have been built in this competitive cycle on the theory of run prevention. You don't need to score much at the plate if you aren't giving up much on the mound or in the field. That said, you still need to score to win.

To that end, David Stearns has built a core around a dynamic pitching staff that features arguably the best starting rotation in the league and a bullpen anchored by two of the sport's very best relievers. The offense was constructed around 2018 National League MVP (and 2019 runner-up) Christian Yelich, with capable veterans filling some roles, proven big leaguers in other spots, and some players with a shorter track record and room on both ends of the projection range.

The pitching held up its end-all of 2021. Specifics could genuinely be listed ad nauseam, but I digress for the sake of internet inches. This is about the offense, after all.

The short version of what was happening in April and most of May to the Brewers at the plate is that it was a disjointed, underwhelming, subpar mess. The Brewers scored three or fewer runs in 12 games in April 2021. When scoring three or fewer runs in 2021, they only won 24.6% of the time. They still managed, thanks in large part to the pitching and some bad opponents, to post a 16-10 April record. The month of May was not as kind, and a 13-15 record was the result.

Fans lamented the offensive struggles of the team. Christian Yelich was hurt. Lorenzo Cain didn't have his legs. Luis Urías wasn't responding well to being given the starting shortstop job. Keston Hiura's 2020 woes carried forward in the worst ways. Kolten Wong missed time with uncharacteristic injuries. Manny Piña wasn't hitting at all when he was called on. Avisaíl García limped out of the gate to a .609 OPS in April. It wasn't good almost all the way around.

One day in May has been pointed to that changed all of the Brewers' fortunes. Willy Adames Day! A new starting shortstop, rescued from the hideous hitting environment of Tropicana Field, blossomed as a Beermaker in a big way. The offense improved. Urías relaxed and settled in at the plate. García, perhaps buoyed by having a friend join the team, went on to a strong summer at the plate. Many parts of the sum began to perform better, and the Brewers rattled off four months of winning records.

Still, people loved to point to the overall team rankings that the offense was destined to fail. Many of those people felt that they were proven right in October against eventual World Series Champion Atlanta. This is where the context is needed, which will inform why 2022 could be very different from 2021 on those same leaderboards.

The horrific offensive totals attributed to the team were largely produced in an awful April and early May by players who were no longer on the team by midseason. Orlando Arcia lost his starting job and was traded. Travis Shaw didn't play for the team after June 9. Hiura, who suffered multiple demotions to Triple-A Nashville and had a surface-numbers-decent stretch in June, wasn't dragging down the team averages for very long. Daniel Vogelbach had fun moments, but he under-produced against expectations. And despite Jackie Bradley, Jr. surviving the entire campaign, he is the prime example of the next point.

They were, and nearly all are now, gone.

Addition by subtraction can be a powerful salve in sports. Cut away the frayed fringes, and the overall roster tapestry looks less disheveled. The Brewers didn't get exponentially better in 2021 simply by adding one piece in Adames. They got better because General Manager David Stearns wasn't afraid to make changes. Trading two contributing arms for a new shortstop was the marquee deal, and rightfully so, but don't miss the forest for the trees.

Bradley, Jr. was the only player to survive with poor production the entire season. (You could include Piña if you want to, and I won't argue, but his handling of the pitching staff was still providing incredible value, and he didn't hit significantly better in the second half.) Some names were laid out above, but don't forget Daniel Robertson, Tim Lopes, Derek Fisher, Billy McKinney, Jacob Nottingham, and even Vogelbach and Piña to a degree. All weren't contributing as needed in 2021. All were deemed expendable as Stearns worked to improve the team.

Whether you think that the offense ran out of gas, peaked too early, or wasn't great anyway in 2021, they didn't perform when it mattered most...October. Again, though, it is imperative to understand that the pieces in place by the Postseason were finally capable of doing so and that they didn't. There's a difference between did not and cannot. That's the most disappointing, frustrated, and anger-inducing part. Flashes of greatness only to suffer a disheartening letdown.

Stearns has a strong core on this 2022 team, but he recognized this offseason, as he did during the 2021 regular season, that there were areas in which he could and needed to improve. He removed Bradley, Jr. and replaced the departed García in one move by trading for Hunter Renfroe. They acquired Mike Brosseau in a trade to more capably fill the utility role, one that saw that litany of names fails to produce in 2021. Catcher Pedro Severino was signed to give more consistent punch to the lineup on days Omar Narváez needs a rest (and give him more days off so he'll be fresher in the second half to stay productive all season, hopefully). With the new Designated Hitter position in the National League in 2022, the team signed a veteran to bolster one of their biggest weaknesses, facing left-handed pitching. Andrew McCutchen should provide his usual excellence against southpaws and contribute against righties now that he's healthy and his mechanics will return to form following the lingering effects of a 2019 torn ACL.

Furthermore, 2021 acquisitions will hopefully be Brewers all season instead of partial seasons with Milwaukee. Rowdy Tellez, acquired during the 2021 season and performed very well down the stretch in 56 games, will be around for 162. Adames will increase his 99 games as a Brewer in 2021. Tyrone Taylor could see an increase in his opportunities, but every game he plays is one Bradley, Jr. isn't.

Finally, you can't always predict injuries, so you must project that health will be prevalent more often than not. Therefore, Lorenzo Cain (78 games played), Wong (116 games), Yelich (117), and even Renfroe (144) played more than García (135) in 2021, as the latter was slowed down by a bad back late in the year.

At the end of the day, a team is its numbers. The numbers tell the story of what happened. The story is written by the roster. The roster is a sum of its parts.

However, the sum of this roster's parts should be better than that of their 2021 counterparts. If they're not, Stearns won't hesitate to upgrade.

The positivity train is ready to begin a fresh season with a fresh outlook on the roster. There's plenty of room. You might experience some disappointment along the way. You might feel frustrated or even angry when a player or two inevitably struggles for a stretch. If you'd rather be negative because you're more likely to be correct, that's your decision. For my time, I'll continue to yearn for the best and enjoy cheering my heart out in support of those desired outcomes.