Rolling Rich People Conversations - Your 2015 Milwaukee Brewers Thread

I can forgive last season. We were contenders and even favorites for like 2/3s of it. That's much better than falling out of contention in May

:(

I think you are otm with that last post, this sucks

Obviously they're really in a prolonged slump, they haven't hit home runs and everyone seems to be on a slide at once, but I dunno, the team doesn't seem all that good. Our star player is oft-injured and hasn't really been the same since his suspension. Our other star (Lucroy) is not hitting at all. They haven't drafted any real impact players in a long time; I'm a fan of Scooter, Peralta, and Davis, but they all seem like league-average 2-3 WAR guys thus far. I dunno. The season is still young.

which oft-injured star who hasn't really been the same since his suspension are you talking about? Braun or Gomez?

I'm trying to look for West Bend Silver Linings here, but I'm just not finding many. How are all our sluggers slumping at the same time? And for so long?

Like, Jean Segura is carrying the offense. And this is the worst time for a Gomez DL stint. During our darkest hour we lose the one player who seems to be having fun.

@AdamMcCalvy
Bad combo: #Brewers are last in the Majors in home runs (three) and quality starts (two).

And the home run thing doesn't make any sense. What gypsy curse made this entire team stop hitting homers?

xpost my comment looks snarky but i wasn't trying to be! i was just curious that you only mentioned two "stars" on the Brewers (Lucroy and someone else) because i think of Gomez as a star and i think Braun's still got it as well.

He was talking about Braun, who has been a shadow of his former self since he came back. If Braun had put up his usual numbers last year, we would have made the playoffs. And even though I believe his thumb explanation, and I think he'll be better this year than he was last year, his ceiling has never seemed lower.

yeah, Gomez is our other other star, but he's hurt now, so who knows

I had no idea how bad the Braun thing was until you look at his numbers post-2012 - only 2.2 WAR since then, and his 2014 numbers are really bad even though he didn't miss all that much time. I'm concerned that he's completely fallen off a cliff since getting busted for roids (barf)

I think most of the decline is age and injury related. I think that's about the extent to which the PEDs come into play; without them he's injured more.

Some terrifying perspective. The Brewers are:

30th in runs scored (30)
30th in home runs (3)
30th in RBI (28)
T-29th in stolen bases (2)
29th in BB% (5.4%)
29th in total walks (23)
30th in ISO (.086)
27th in batting average (.217)
30th in OBP (.267)
30th in SLG% (.303)
30th (naturally) in wOBA (.253)
30th in wRC+ (58)
23rd in Fangraphs' baserunning stat (-0.7)
29th in position player fWAR (-0.5)
1st at swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone (37.6%)
T-21st at swinging at pitches inside the strike zone (63.4%)
T-3rd in swingin' away -- i.e. highest percentage of pitches swung at (49.8%)
11th in swinging strikes (9.8%)
T-2nd in errors (12)
29th in fielding percentage (.973)
24th in double plays turned (16)
T-3rd in wild pitches (7)
23rd in pitcher K/9 (7.18)
9th in pitcher HR/9 (1.04)
1st in pitcher BABIP (.325)
30th in pitchers left-on-base percentage (64.1%)
3rd in ERA (4.76)
25th in pitcher fWAR (0.5)
T-2 in runs allowed (65)
30th in run differential (-35)
2nd in opponent batting average (.280)
6th in WHIP (1.38)
3rd in opponents line drive percentage (23.1%)
1st in getting opponents to swing away (50.5%), but opponents are making contact over 80% of the time
T-5th in sac bunts (4)
T-26th (last) in sac flies (1)
28th in percentage of plate appearances with a platoon advantage (37%)
23rd in pitches seen per PA (3.72)
1st in opponents extra base hit percentage (10.1%)
1st in injuries sustained while showering

http://www.brewcrewball.com/2015/4/20/8457907/brewers-mlb-rankings-stats-2015#301008158

hah, what's the story behind that last one?

https://instagram.com/p/1s_VNeCR0C/

He's going to miss a couple days

@based_ball
out-of-zone swing rate, teams:

...
26: Diamondbacks, 32%
27: Rockies, 33%
28: Royals, 33%
29: Twins, 34%
30: Brewers, 39%

Lucroy on the DL with a broken toe...I know it's early but what a frustrating season this must be for him

This is literally the bleakest article I have ever read about the team. And to add insult to injury, it's impeccably reasoned. Arg.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-untimely-collapse-of-the-milwaukee-brewers/

yeah I read that and I really can't argue with any of it. what it really boils down to is the drafting aspect - dunno if this is standard but they've whiffed on a lot of their first rounders. they've managed to get the occasional decent dude but so many have come up at 26-27 and I don't know how many of them will be in the majors five years from now (Scooter? Davis? hopefully Nelson?)

man, this game has been nuts, 7 home runs, including 3 grand slams...most by the Reds of course

Such a fun game. And even though we got slaughtered, it felt like a victory in a sense, just to see the offense return to life a little.

Jason Rodgers' fielding is a big problem though. His error cost us four runs.

Reds lucky Lucroy is not around, that guy always hit's a ton against them.

Votto also happy Gomez not there to rob him of a home run (although he would be super human to bring back that one to center last night).

Jay Bruce seems to always hit well up in Milwaukee. I'm pretty sure he has hit at least 1 other grand slam in Milwaukee.

orlando arcia is hitting .450 (with 4 strikeouts in 13 games) for double-a biloxi. 20yo shortstop with plus-everything except power

so there's that

Ryan Braun with two homers today, including a grand slam

Roenicke got the boot

really didn't think he was gonna last the season but this seems pretty damn early to fire any manager you felt comfortable to begin the year with. really wonder who's lined up to come in. hoping it's Craig Counsell :)

whoa, looks like it might be!!

seems kinda weird to fire a guy right after his team wins two in a row/its first series

misleading wins

yeah one of 'em included a real little league inside the park home run that I hope made the highlight shows

I'm guessing the Brewers had their minds made up that RR was toast, they lost 13 of their first 15 and IMO that's the time to do it. Timing is weird but I guess they wanted to get it done at the beginning of a homestand for whatever reason. Either way this is gonna fix zero of the team's problems, but I like Counsell a lot so this is good news for me at least

Craig Counsell rules; this is great

i'm guessing that they made the decision a while ago -- or at least no later than friday -- but it took that long to get counsell to agree

Yeah, Roenicke's grave was made a long time ago. I don't think a five-game winning streak this week would have saved him. Timing was terrible for him—the slow April reopened the wounds from last fall.

@robneyer
Craig Counsell running a baseball team is like young @DaveSFoley running a big-time radio station in New York. (h/t: my wife)

Clean-up hitter Carlos Gomez just cleaned all the way up.

http://www.theonion.com/article/brewers-stay-after-game-run-bases-50433

“That was so awesome—I’ve always dreamed about running all the way around the bases on a real Major League field,” smiling and visibly overjoyed center fielder Carlos Gomez told reporters moments after sprinting past home plate, adding that he imagined himself hitting a home run to win the World Series in front of thousands of cheering Brewers fans.

love it

Didn't expect to see this but I'm happy about it: They sent Scooter down to AAA

damn, -0.8 WAR already, that's crazy. between him and Gomez going down (again) I have no idea what this team even looks like anymore

I like what I'm seeing from Herrera and Hector Gomez. They're not star players, but they play hard and don't seem to slump the way our showier players do. It's reached the point where I'm happier to see those two no-name players in the lineup than some of the bigger guys.

Herrera I've liked a lot. I think guys that can play nearly every position like that are more useful than teams give 'em credit for. And I'm definitely with ya, I think if there's any silver lining here it's getting to see more players, I just wish we didn't have so many 28-year old minor leaguers on the team.

khris davis missed home plate after hitting a homer, called out

That call was eventually overturned, though the replay process took forever. Great moment where, in his next at bat, Davis crushed another homer, and pointedly stomped on the plate as he came home

Looks like the narrative has shifted from "Can the Brewers trade Braun?" to "would the Brewers trade Braun?"

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2015/5/26/8657623/ryan-braun-milwaukee-brewers-stats

Here's the "fuck you" stomp

https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wC4CZaCVRQ2PR2uQ2A6hy87_KDI=/1000x0/filters:no_upscale%28%29/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3726424/Screen_Shot_2015-05-25_at_5.05.25_PM.0.png

I'd be okay with them trading him, trading Lohse (if anyone will take him? he's not been good thus far), maybe even trading Lucroy if the haul is right, punting this year and next year and trying again in 2017. I actually agree with Melvin's strategy of sorta "going for it" every year but you can't do that if you've been drafting as badly as the Crew's been.

So I guess Roenicke wasn't the problem

of course not, has there ever been a situation where the manager really was the problem? I didn't get it when they fired Yost (who deserved to be fired but not with 12 games left in the middle of a playoff run ffs) and I don't get it now. I love Counsell and all but he's IBB'ing people in the 3rd inning so he's already starting to lose me.

so light em up up up / light em up up up / it's mike fi-yyyyyahs!

Rolling Daily Roster Moves Thread

I picked him up in fantasy because he does rack up the K's, so there's that

The Cards haven't figured him out yet. I don't doubt they will, probably soon, but in the meantime I'm enjoying those starts

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-trade-deadline-houston-astros-milwaukee-brewers-carlos-gomez-mike-fiers

Yeah I don't see them going full bottom-out rebuild like the Astros or the Nationals did, Melvin doesn't seem like that kind of GM (for better ot worse) and I think they'll have pieces to compete in 2 years. Glad we got these deals done, hopefully Lind is next. It seems like it's been forever since we had more than like one or two players in the minors to look forward to seeing.

Really excited the team is actually rebuilding, but the weight of this is starting to sink in. They've just traded 20% of their 25-man roster.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/projecting-the-prospects-in-the-carlos-gomez-trade

:)

melvin moving to 'advisory role'

was expecting him to be canned at the end of the season so this is no real surprise, still, who's on the GM market?

congrats Braun! 252! most in franchise history.

nah, fuck that guy

I feel like we should have sold Lucroy. Especially watching him the last few weeks. His values was never going to be higher.

Nice story:

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/148128306/nevin-ashley-promoted-by-milwaukee-brewers

Ken Rosenthal ✔ @Ken_Rosenthal
Sources: #Brewers receive permission to interview #Athletics asst GM Dan Kantrovitz for their GM opening, sources tell me and @jonmorosi.

this is very very good news for the brewers

@BillKristol
Good move by Brewers!
Brewers make Astros' David Stearns, 30, MLB's youngest GM.
es.pn/1KEeldI

rip

weirdly optimistic about this

I landed opening day tickets this year. Never been before. Excited. What should I expect?

a bad ballclub playing in a great ballpark

haha, well that I knew. I go to lots of games, I've just never been to opening day.

I've only had standing room tickets to Opening Day. Opening Day anything is a lot of fun though

Awesome. I'm gonna take off from work and do it right, I think. I managed to get four seats together which feels like a coup.

so..Hank the dog died and they tried to replace him without telling anyone? this season getting off to a rocky start already...

@BrewCrewBall
#Brewers present a notarized letter from vet saying that microchip was scanned and confirmed during a visit on March 3rd, 2016.

@BrewCrewBall
#Brewers vet: "this is definitely the real Hank." #HankGate #Hank1

@AdamMcCalvy
The COO of a multimillion dollar company is presenting proof of evidence of a dog's identity.