Ron's Wrecking Crew - Your 2013 MILWAUKEE BREWERS thread

Blown saves, MLB vendettas, disappearing sausages, low expectations and Yuniesky Betancourt can't stop us. The scrappiest team in baseball is going all the way this year.

Also, Andy, are you a Brewers fan? Or just an attentive observer?

Hopeless baseball junkie

That's awesome; it'll be nice to get the perspective of somebody who doesn't have fan tunnel vision

That's most of the board!

I pretty much troll my own (Detroit) threads.

Detroit is one of my (very passive) back-up teams, along with the Giants. Take care of Prince for me. I love that man.

Brewers fan here. Sad, sad, lonely Brewers fan. I think there are a total of three of us here.

It's never lonely being a Brewers fan. We can build a vibrant community here.

RYAN BRAUN. Get 'em in before you're railroaded, big shooter!

This was my first game of the year, and... woof. Our defense can't be that bad, can it?

Was it the defense that was the problem? Or was it pitching once again?

I'd pin the loss solidly on defense, and maybe some bad luck. They just weren't making some simple plays. Mike Gonzalez badly botched his inning, but Estrada actually looked really great. Throwing lots of strikes, good command, good speed.

WHO DAT WHO DAT taking that base on balls? YUNIESKY DAT'S WHO

aaaaaaaaaand now we lost. still, though.

I know it's early, but I'm worried about the team. Especially if Aramis is out for any length of time

According to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy, Brewers OF Ryan Braun (neck) "can't move his head at all."

Segura out with quad contusion. You could almost fill an entire starting rotation with all of our injured players right now.

This is getting ridiculous. Axford must be tipping his pitches or something - out of the 5 batters faced today, he gave up a double, a home run, and two really deep fly ball outs. Wondering how long his leash is going to be.

his velo disappeared, what else needs to happen

oopsy daisy

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=20142

Its not just the 13 man pitching staff that bothers me, but also the fact that they have so many pitchers yet didn't yank Ax even though his first two batters absolutely blasted the ball. If it's another park those are home runs. I love the Axman but he's in full-on meltdown mode and he's been bad now for longer than he's been good.

also, was Rickie aware that Braun was just a decoy, and that his was essentially going to be the last AB of the game? aren't you supposed to expand your strike zone in that case?

Bases loaded for Betancourt right now

A sac fly scoring third. All I could have asked for.

Anyway, today's game aside, this is really depressing. It's way too early in the season to be feeling this short staffed. Wish we were seeing some return on the expanded bullpen.

Yuni delivers!! (kind of)

Our corner outfield right now is Yuni B and Maldonado. We're in bizarroland already.

And Estrada gets in on the action too!! I get why people love the DH but theres nothing in any sport like a pitcher picking up RBIs. Maybe when the punter fakes it and throws a perfect fade for a TD. But that's so rare.

Anyway, today's game aside, this is really depressing. It's way too early in the season to be feeling this short staffed. Wish we were seeing some return on the expanded bullpen.

I tried to calm down everyone who was up in arms about the Yuni B signing by pointing out that he was probably never going to play - it really didn't take long for him to be a starter now did it? That's the one great thing about Yuni - he never gets hurt!! Still, I'd love to see Hunter Morris given a shot at 1B...

yeah, I'm all in for the Morris option.

This game has been fun, and makes some of the doomsaying seem silly in hindsight, but things really looked so dire for a while there. Partially because, in addition to a five game losing streak, so many of our problems seemed permanent. Unfortunately, I still think that's the case. Until the pitching stabilizes, this is a weak team.

okay, not so fast there, looks like the fruits of shaky relief pitching and bad infield defense may really bite us here

OK, so for those keeping score it's 5 ugly losses to 2 ugly wins for the team.

yeah but hearing Bob Uecker say "hey HEYYYY, struck him OUUUUT" makes it all worthwhile

I know it's just the Cubs but I was really impressed by the amount of swinging strikes that Henderson was able to generate. Also got kinda lucky with the weather because I think he may have hit a grand slam had that AB taken place 30 minutes ago. The wind definitely helped the Crew today!

3 more ER for Ax today...something's very wrong here

http://mlblogsbrewersbeat.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ap230099983736.jpg

Tonight is rained out, tomorrow is an off day. Good timing for that, even if it's sad that we need healing days this early in the season

franchise high 32 innings without scoring a run. awesome that they were able to snap out of it and pull one out but good lord does this team need help

4-3! It's a Milwaukee Day miracle!

Sittin' all night in a sheriff's office...

http://www.espnwisconsin.com/common/more.php?m=49&post_id=21211

Not to spread hearsay, but Gallardo is known in Milwaukee as one of the more "social" Brewers; one of the players you're more likely to find at a bar.

Also this happened to him a few years ago:

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo said he and one of the team's clubhouse attendants were grabbing a late snack when they were robbed at gunpoint early Friday.

We were "just going out and getting a bite to eat before heading home and trying to stay out of trouble," Gallardo said during a brief news conference Friday evening at Miller Park before Milwaukee's home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"Unfortunately, trouble finds us," he said.

Gallardo and attendant Alex Sanchez were robbed about 2:35 a.m. in the 1000 block of S. Cesar Chavez Drive.

http://cdn0.sbnation.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/11663031/20130415_mje_bs5_791.0_standard_709.0.jpg

what the

One more, because this one is great. Yuni after his grand slam

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/11688651/20130415_mje_bs5_625.0_standard_500.0.jpg

he looks as surprised as I was

wow this was a classic go-go-gomez game

YUNIESKY BETANCOURT WITH THE INTENTIONAL BASE ON BALLS TONIGHT TOO

That was a wonderful game last night. I forget how much fun this team can be when they aren't losing egregiously.

Gomez alone ups the entertainment factor a couple notches. Even when he's snapping bats over his knee.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18l0pklc5etiqjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

Wow! Great shot!

[Today's game is looking good... team is 5-0 after two innings on a Brauny homer, and a solid Yo-Run.]

lol if Gallardo has one of those crazy games where he hits a home run and goes 8 innings a couple days after getting his DUI

boom

He really understood how to tell the fans what they wanted to believe.

that's sweet, cause literally no one else in the world believed him

and wrt the trade, o's fans are pissed! nicky delmonico was like a breakout prospect, which says a lot about the state of our minor league hitting. he can hit homers and he walks. and generally i think ppl believe k-rod's 2012 ERA a lot more than his 2013 ERA

I totally agree that K-Rod ain't worth much, just did a cursory look at this guy's numbers and he just looks like a lot of middling half-prospects we already have. But I'm definitely willing to believe he's much better than that (our farm sucks)

welp, apparently he's already our number 3 prospect

I guess I'm feeling pretty good about this. We have nothing at third base in our system, and Melvin is usually good at these kinds of trades. Apparently six teams were interested, so I'm hoping he got the best offer available. I totally disagree that K-Rod wasn't worth much: The guy is having an insane year, and has playoff experience, so there's reason to believe he can continue pitching well deep into the season. He's a really valuable acquisition, especially for a team with an uneven bullpen.

"As he continues to climb the ladder, Delmonico will face arms capable of exploiting his holes, making the next 15 months a particularly important developmental span. The ceiling is an everyday corner infielder capable of hitting out of the six spot for average or better power and around a .250-260 average. The gulf between that and his present profile, however, remains large."

— BP's Nick Faleris

If you're a good team w/ a weak bullpen (like say the Cards) I can see wanting him around, but generally relievers don't fetch a lot this late into the season, especially one that all 30 teams passed on the year before. That said his 2012 actually wasn't as bad as I remembered it being so I can see why some teams trust he can make a difference.

also no one in the world could be particularly excited to have francisco rodriguez on their team

Every time I hear "playoff experience" as a player asset I'm tempted to go into the vaudeville "Slowly I turn..." shtick.

Ha; I get that. All sorts of crap players technically have "playoff experience." But it does matter more with pitchers, who are more apt to break down or crack that deep into the season.

I'm pretty sure the studies have shown that postseason exp is a nonfactor in predicting postseason performance, as far as we can tell, across the board.

yeah baseball is definitely the sport where that's got to matter the least

http://i.minus.com/ibsRSuN3M1EDt6.gif

Segura!

I'm surprised that fangraphs doesn't seem to think much of his defense.

Went to a Lakeshore Chinooks game tonight, and I think I was expecting way, way too much from "top college players" because it was sloppy. Like, field full of Juan Francisco sloppy.

Last night Manny Parra was hitting 95 on a handful of pitches, did he ever throw that hard when he was with the Brewers? I just don't remember this guy having that much get up on his fastball. I thought he was a change speeds change up kind of pitcher when he was with the Brewers.

Really liking what I'm seeing from Khris Davis lately. Great diving catch last night, and a couple of great hits, including a homer

Parra always threw pretty hard! He always struck me as a kitchen sink pitcher who was never really that good at anything in particular.

Good pitching this weekend. To celebrate:

http://i.minus.com/ibd0SaKLwINIgA.gif

Fun stats about Khris Davis, from Brew Crew Ball:

With just a handful more at-bats to qualify him for the title, Khris Davis would lead all National League hitters with his .984 OPS.
At his current pace, if Khris Davis received 600 plate appearances, he would hit 54 home runs! Wow!
At his current pace, if Khris Davis received 600 plate appearances, he would score 134 runs on the season! You have no concept!
At his current pace, if Khris Davis received 600 plate appearances, he would drive in 116 runs on the season! Whoa nelly!
Khris Davis will almost certainly hit more home runs than Ryan Braun this season. Khris Davis has not tested positive for any performance enhancing supplements and never will. Ergo, Khris Davis is on a Hall of Fame path!
So far, Khris Davis has hit six home runs. That is the most of a Brewers rookie since Norichika Aoki hit 10 in 2012!
If Khris Davis starts 30 of the Brewers remaining 38 games and received four plate appearances in each game, he could be expected to hit another 11 home runs, giving him 17 on the season! Yasiel Puig has hit eleven home runs all year long! Puig is on pace to finish with around 15 home runs! Khris Davis is better than Yasiel Puig!
Khris Davis is on pace to be the first Brewers rookie to finish with equal to or more home runs than Ryan Braun since the first time Ryan Braun matched Ryan Braun as a rookie in 2007!

Reality that the season is coming to a close dawned on me at last night's game. I wish I could go to every game in September. Yeah we got no Braun Hart Weeks but Gomez Segura Luc Aoki and Davis still make this a very fun team to watch

I will say that I've been excited to see Davis play for a while now.

Still kinda bizarre to watch the games on TV and see that the team's 'core' right now is mostly guys who either weren't there 2 years ago or only played minor roles (like Gomez or Lucroy). Most of those middling prospects that BCB talked about are up now, for better or worse. It is nice to see Scooter get some playing time!!

on the other hand, watching Rickie Weeks basically turn into Bill Hall after his injury has not been fun

Rickie Weeks' trajectory has been devastating. Watching a good guy like that give it his all and get nothing in return. Ouch. And the worst part is fans hate him.

It's bittersweet that Gennet is turning out to be an adequate replacement. Glad the team isn't forever fucked at second base, but man, we used to have an All Star there.

yuni isn't even a good-fielding first baseman, is he

he looks like even he's surprised he has a starting job

beautiful play by scooter just now

Alright, I am coming around to Scooter. He's looking great. And Khris Davis, damn. Still think Davis looks like the better long-term hope.

Is Gomez still limping around? Caught a quick clip of the game tonight and his gait on the bases still didn't seem quite right.

Axford to St. Louis. Fuck everything.

noooo way

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BTBHaUvCYAEnbeV.jpg:large

Illuminati?

Always brutal losing to the Cards, but Peralta looked incredible tonight

For those not paying attention anymore, there's some wonderful starting pitching going on: consecutive five-inning no-hit bids from Peralta then Estrada in St. Louis, on the heels of a wonderful Gallardo start and followed by an impressive Thornburg start.

Ryan Braun is callin' my house
My house

the end of the season is always like this, its so frustrating. Milwaukee excels in September!!

it is really nice to see Thornburg get r done

Really, all I can ask for from the end of a season like this is that it gives me hope for next season. Our rotation is looking much more solid and certain going into 2014 than it was going into this year, and if you pair that starting pitching with an actual offense, things could be good.

Will also be interesting to compare how many home runs this team hit this year versus the last couple. With Braun/Hart/Ramis/Weeks out or ineffective for the whole season I imagine that number is way, way down

Actually I just figured out a way to do that. They've hit 140 so far this year, versus 202 last year. So that's a solid drop. They may finish this season with the fewest homers since the dreaded 2004 season, when they hit a sad 135

Another great Thornburg start. It's just quality start after quality start right now; really impressive

I will say I'm feeling much better about the 2013 rotation than I thought I would. There was a moment a few years back (when I was still hoping that Manny Parra could become something) where I how Milwaukee was gonna get another starter that wasn't either some unpolished AAA guy or some overpaid mid-30's dude (I had no idea they'd pull off the Greinke trade, that was a total shock)

Gomez! Gold Glove! My man!

Would the Brewers ever consider putting Weeks on first? I'd obviously rather see the team land a real 1B on a short or team-friendly contract, but the odds of the look slim right now. So instead of overpaying somebody or committing to a mediocre player for potentially three years, why not just burn off the rest of Weeks' salary at first?

Even in his dreadful 2013 season, Weeks was still better than the Brewers' composite first basemen, and arguably better than Ike Davis:

Ike Davis in 2013
9 HR, .205 BA, 33 RBI

Weeks in 2013 (injury-shortened season)
10 HR, .209 BA, 24 RBI

So why not just use the guy that we're already playing? And best case scenario, dude actually rebounds a bit; then the team has a viable lead-off hitter.

I'd think considering some of Weeks issues in the field, moving him to first would perhaps be a defensive plus.

I wish weeks' sheffield like swing would generate sheffield like results, but no, hes terrible

I don't think anybody is holding out hopes of him returning to his prime this year. But my thought is the Brewers have a clear opportunity to rebuild here, and they could save some real cash, and actually put a very expensive player they have no clear role for to good use by moving him to first.

I think it's official now that Henderson and Gennett are each getting bobbleheads: Estrada is the most underrated Brewer

so they really re-signed K-Rod. thought I just imagined that. given the team's status I'm all for them just signing the entertaining guy at this point :)

Estrada is the most underrated Brewer WORD EM UP ON THE LEVEL

K-Rod worked out beautifully for the Brewers the last two times around. He pitched great and then we traded him for a prospect when the season was shot. And I think we got him at a good, low-commitment price.

Re-reading this thread is making me excited for the season. I forgot just how good our starting rotation was at the end of the season.

didn't K-Rod shock everyone by picking up some ungodly expensive option at the end of his first season here? can't remember if there was any fallout from that. most memorable K-Rod Brewers moment was 2 years ago (if I recall correctly) when nobody on the team could pitch a scoreless 9th and as such they were blowing saves left and right. K-Rod comes in an immediately loads the bases without getting an out and then gets out of it in the most ridiculous way imaginable. and suddenly he's a hero in Milwaukee.