The Brewers

I for one am getting real sick and tired waiting for these guys to come around.  Its not early anymore and the "slump" excuse has long passed.  The laundry list of issues is very long and from what I can tell it seems to be mostly mental.  I can only think of two reasons why 1) the players are not as talented as we think they are, or 2) the players are not giving the effort to achieve the talent they have.

Opinions?

Opinion from a Reds fan:

1) The Brewers are injured.  Gallardo being out really hurts your team.  If he isn't the ace, the he is certainly 1A., just behind Sheets.  He is very important.  Riske being added to the DL doesn't help.

2) Bullpen.  Gagne was a huge mistake.  That money should have been spent on Cordero.  Maybe the Reds over-paid for Cordero, but in this market, you have to.  When your closer isn't reliable, the rest of your bullpen suffers.  The have blown 8 saves already.  That's not going to cut it.

3) Pitching, pitching, pitching pitching.  The Brewers just don't have enough of it.  With Gallardo out, there are too many question marks after Sheets, and we all know that Sheets has trouble staying healthy.  Yes, that offense is awesome, but pitching is much more important. Right now the Brewers are 24th in all of baseball with a team ERA of 4.48.  You can't expect to stay in contention with that type of pitching.

If the Brewers don't plan on resigning Sheets, they should trade him now for two solid pitching prospects.  They simply don't have the pitching to compete this season.  Bring in some young guns to back up Gallardo next season, because he can't win a division title on his own, with a shakey bullpen.

I actually think CK's post was pretty good other than suggesting that we should have paid Cordero.  If the Brewers would have re-signed Cordero, one of the young position players would be let go in a few years due to Cordero eating up 11-12 million in payroll. 

Gagne hasn't worked out so far but signing him was not a mistake, it was a good gamble.  One year for 10 million.  He was the best closer available after Cordero and Gagne carries no long term obligation. We'll see if the Reds like the Cordero signing when Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Volquez or Cueto don't get signed in a few years.

CK,

It was a good post but I dont see how it addresses the question.  We all understand that Yo being hurt is a puch in the groin, but that really does not explain the effort of the players on the field.    Your assesment of our closer situation is dead wrong.   I appriciate the input, but unless you see the team every day, I just dont think you can address the situation.

The rotation and the pen have both been outstanding at times this year.    Its the consistancy that I question.  Why can we not get consistant performances?  Same thing with the bats.

Bernie chill your $hit dude...

You asked opinions and CK gave it.  I think his assessment is pretty dead on so far.  You dont think Gallardo going down put our young minds in the gutter? 

If we are a "win now" club, why wouldn't the signing of Cordero make sense?  LIke I said, if it's a "win now" mentality, the signing makes sense.  If we want to keep our stud youngings down the road, then Melvin made the correct decision.  You choose.  With 8 blown saves, I don't think you can say that we made the correct decision for the closer position this year.

Bernie chill your $hit dude...

Excuse me?  If you have an issue with me or what I post.......dont read it! 

I told the guy it was a good post and I think it was.  I dont think it addressed the question, but that doesnt mean it was not a good post.  CK is fun to debate with and we have gone around and around on several things.  I dont think he took it personally and if he did I apologize, was not meant to be.

The whole "somebody got hurt so we cant play anymore" excuse is BS.   These are professionals, not a preschool class.  That was the excuse last year too when Sheets went down, is it going to be the excuse next year when someone else goes down?  When does that excuse end?  When do we expect this team to compete with out blankeies and crutches?  Smoltz went down and will probably not start again, did the Braves quit.  Schilling went down, did the Sox quit.  Kazmir went down, did the Rays quit.  Lackey and Escobar went down, did the Angels quit.   The list goes on and on.

Of course this is a win now team, but we are also a team that can not sacrifice now for the future at ANY point.    This will never be a team that will blow $12 mil a season on a closer no matter what.  We have too much talent to sign to be stuck with a washed up Cordero in four years.  That is a mistake.  Gagne may not have been the best choice, but he was the ONLY choice.  We needed a closer and he was the only one on the market.  Knowing what I know right now, I would much rather know we will dump that $10 mil after this season then know Cordero will be an albatross of a contract for this team.  The Reds can barely get Cordero the ball, do you really think spending $12 Mil on him was the right choice or could they have spent that money in better places.  Keep in mind the GM that did that is no longer employed.  At least we will have the money to improve the situation after this year while the Reds are stuck with Cordero wether good or bad.

82bernie,

You are correct, I don't see the team everyday, so I am no expert, but the stats tell part of the story.  Unless they get the team ERA down, the Brewers win not be successful (the same is true for the Reds by the way).

orangemenhoops,

As someone else pointed out, Cordero was necessary for your team to be successful THIS SEASON.  The NL Central is a weak division right now, but it isn't always going to be that way.  You never know when the Astros, Reds, or Cardinals might become very good teams.  The point is, the Brewers should have done everything possible to make a winning team for this season.  They should have kept their best bullpen pitcher in order to secure the 9th inning.  Gagne was a gamble, and a very bad gamble.

As for the Reds no being able to sign their young players because of Cordero, it's just not true.  Both Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. should be gone after this season.  That is about $25 million a year the Reds will have to spend per year.  Considering that all of those guys you mentioned are either rookie, or very young players, the Reds have control of them for 4-5 years before arbitration.  With the extra money and control due to their rookie status, those players will be Reds for years to come, unless of course we trade them. 

And I am interested what Brewers fans think about Sheets... Do you want the Brewers to resign him to a long-term deal? Do you think they will?

Bernie...

1) You didn't have much of a question.  Not even sure what is supposed to be answered from your first post.  Not sure why you keep saying someone's post isn't answering the question.

2) I think that the thing about our young guys is the pressure is on THEM to step it up when a stud goes down ie: Sheets / Gallardo.  Added pressure is not going to suit well for a young team.  Studs or not, you can't carried the load the whole time.  In my opinion, the team thrives off of relaxing at the plate.  They can't do this unless our pitchers are having quality outings consistently.  If they don't the rest of the team relies on Fielder and Braun to carry momentum.  It all equates to extra pressure on the young kids.  I don't like it, I just think its logical at this point in their big league development.

Of course this is a win now team, but we are also a team that can not sacrifice now for the future at ANY point.

3) If we were playoff material last year, meaning we made it and had a good push, you don't think that we would have re-signed Cordero?  The Brewers record holder for saves and a vital part of our bullpen, and we would let him walk all in the name of 5 years down the road? Really?  All what if talk, but I am just saying the Brewers would if we were REAL contenders..

In a nutshell, here's why this team struggles from a fan who watches/listens to the Brewers 95 % of the time:

I always like to include stats, but I realize stats aren't everything and some of it is attitude and confidence.  The first thing that comes to mind is that they don't do a very good job of getting to the other team's starter.  When this is the case, you're either going to be in a close game or losing all the time.  Since the Brewers started out 5-1, they have been 15-20.  In those 35 games, there 8 where the opposing team's starter did not at start the 6th.  In 4 of those 8, the opposing team's starter gave up one earned run or less.  So, offensively they've hung 4 bad starts on the opposition's starting pitchers in the last 35 games...FOUR.

What kind of confidence does it give a starting pitching staff if they have to go out there and give a quality start 90% of the time in order to get a win?  That has to affect the starters.  As far as the bullpen is concerned, how about giving them a little slack, so that one or two runs doesn't cost them the game 90% of the time.

If the starters can produce this time through like they did last time through, there really aren't any other issues on this team right now.  The pitching is not going to be perfect 90% of the time - and the offense is putting them in a position where they have to be.  The pitching (for all of its struggles) has still held the opposing teams to 5 or less in 21 of the 35 games (60%) during that same stretch - which is why I think the pitching has been good and is not the major issue.  I'm a big believer in the theory that if offensively you don't score more than 5 runs you aren't going to win the majority of your games.  Add in the 3 games where the Brewers outslugged their opponent this year and realistically if the offense was clicking they COULD (not that they should) have 24 wins in that 35 game stretch. 

IT'S NOT THE MANAGER, OR THE HITTING COACH, OR THE STARTERS, OR THE BULLPEN - IT'S THE OFFENSE.

IT'S NOT THE MANAGER, OR THE HITTING COACH, OR THE STARTERS, OR THE BULLPEN - IT'S THE OFFENSE.

I didn' t think that this statement was true, so I looked up some stats, and you know what... He's right.

The Brewers are 26th in all of baseball in terms of OBP, at .316.  The best offensive teams are always the teams with the highest OBP.

Perhaps the Brewers hitters need to take more walks???  I can't say for sure, but that might be part of the problem.