Barring a big comeback, it looks like the Brewers are about to drop their third in a row. Down 4-1 in the 8th.
I'm not sure how much longer they can continue hitting Yelich third in the lineup. His OPS is now lower than it was in 2020 or 2021. It's like they keep hoping he's going to recapture what he was in 2018-19. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to ever happen. He hit for the cycle on May 11th but has had only 2 extra base hits since.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
The offense isn’t in a good spot now. McCutchen is 0 for his last 30 and he’s in the leaf off spot? Huira has K’d n over half his ABs now. Not good.
Lol - right on cue Huira and McCutchen are big parts of a 4-run 9th inning rally! You’re welcome.
Tuned out.
I suck.
Brewers don’t suck.
@MichiganPacker posted:Barring a big comeback, it looks like the Brewers are about to drop their third in a row.
I’m making progress in getting you to believe that things aren’t over until, you know, they’re over. 😀
Great win. Cards lost too. 
@Blair Kiel posted:I’m making progress in getting you to believe that things aren’t over until, you know, they’re over. 😀
Yes you are. Baby steps.
The pitching on this team (and the ability to maximize the strengths of pitchers reclaimed from other organizations) makes this team a legit title contender. The offense is what will hold them back.
They just need a guy to emerge on offense that scares opposing pitching staffs. They have a lot of decent players, but no all-star level position player. Maybe it's Adames when he comes back healthy, but right now the lineup is the equivalent of having a bunch of Don Money types (to show my age). They are mostly solid contributors, but they max out as the guys that hit about 275 with 20 HRS and 75 RBIs. What they really need is some version of Yelich that is even 75% of what he was in 2018-19, but we are almost 3 years past him being that at this point.
One final thought on last night's game. One guy that deserves some credit for the win last night is a guy that didn't even play. That's Jason Alexander. The fact he gave them 7 great innings the night before (the day after a doubleheader) was huge for resting the bullpen.
I’m not a “go back and watch a reply” guy, but I have MLB ticket and I thoroughly enjoyed going back and watching the 9th, especially knowing the outcome.😀
Adrian Houser vs. Brent Suter, Mechanics. pic.twitter.com/CwJy6uvF9i
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 3, 2022
I turned this one on in the 9th just as the 2nd runner reached base. Guess I didn't miss a whole lot. 
Brewers down 6-0 in the second game. Burnes gets chased after Machado hits a 3 run HR.
Bigger problem is Urias had to leave with a thumb injury.
Oh, and they are being no-hit through 4 innings
Wong breaks up the no-hitter with 2 outs in the 8th.
Can we hire Ted Williams head as our new hitting coach?
He ahead of his time.
Last two games. 7 for 61 from the plate. 1 extra base hit.
Do they have enough offense to win a playoff series against a good team? It may depend on how Adames looks when he returns.
Today the Brewers finish 18 games in 17 days with no off days, no Willy Adames, IL moves for Peralta, Woodruff, Renfroe, Narváez, Perdomo and Brosseau, no Hader or Urías for stretches, four pitchers making MLB debuts and one catcher called up from A ball.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) June 5, 2022
They are 9-8.
@"We"-Ka-Bong posted:Today the Brewers finish 18 games in 17 days with no off days, no Willy Adames, IL moves for Peralta, Woodruff, Renfroe, Narváez, Perdomo and Brosseau, no Hader or Urías for stretches, four pitchers making MLB debuts and one catcher called up from A ball.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) June 5, 2022
They are 9-8.
McCalvy's points are well taken. For the most part, the pitching has held up. Guys like Tellez, Peterson, Taylor, and many of their pitchers have kept them afloat for now.
But it's their high-priced position players that are the ones that appeared to be gassed.
Wong is 6 for his last 39
Cain is 0 for his last 19
Yelich is 7 for his last 53
McCutcheon is 1 for his last 38
Those 4 guys account for 60 million of their 135 million dollar payroll. That's a lot of money for a small-market team to invest in guys who need to turn things around pretty quickly.
@MichiganPacker posted:Last two games. 7 for 61 from the plate. 1 extra base hit.
Do they have enough offense to win a playoff series against a good team? It may depend on how Adames looks when he returns.
Now at 10 for 85 in the last 25 innings.
Wong with a 2 run HR in the 8th to tie it up. Would be a great way to end this long stretch with a win if they can get across another run this inning and then get to a rested Hader in the top of the 9th.
Hader dominates in the top of the 9th. 2 strikeouts on 15 pitches.
Brewers can't take advantage of a leadoff runner in the bottom of the 9th, so now Hader is out for the top of the 10th.
With a day off tomorrow and Hader having not pitched in several days, why not give him two innings of run today? Seems like a no-brainer, especially after 15 pitches. If you were willing to pitch him twice for the two games of a doubleheader earlier in the week, why not two innings now?
And, on cue, the Padres strike for three runs in the top of the 10th off of Gott.
Why the hell was Hader not back out there? Unless he's hurt, that's just an idiotic move.
Once you go thru Boxberger, Williams and Hader, you can't count on anybody else getting 3 outs without some runs scoring.
@MichiganPacker posted:And, on cue, the Padres strike for three runs in the top of the 10th off of Gott.
Why the hell was Hader not back out there? Unless he's hurt, that's just an idiotic move.
I would have thrown Williams for 2 innings before I'd ask Hader to throw 2.
Yup! Flawed team.
Against good teams the Brewers will not be able to get enough offense and hits and runs as we are seeing against SD.
Yes I know they have injuries to the starting pitching, but against good to decent pitching this team cannot hit.
Question is if Stearns and Mark A will actually do what it takes to make a bold move to add offense. Taking flyers or guys off the scrap heap for peanuts is great and no one does that better than Milwaukee. But it may not be enough.
@ammo posted:I would have thrown Williams for 2 innings before I'd ask Hader to throw 2.
I would have been fine with that as well. They have a day off tomorrow.
What baffles me is that if you were willing to pitch Hader in both games of a doubleheader earlier in the week, why you wouldn't have him go two innings today after not throwing for 5 days?
Hey. Yelich moved a guy over to third down 3 runs in the bottom of the 10th. He just pounds the ball into the ground most of the time these days.
Boxberger threw 11 pitches today, Williams threw 17, Hader 15.
They could have extended any single one of them for an additional inning with the day off coming.
In my opinion, Christian Yelich should just play like he did in 2018
— Sam RaimYi Jianlian (@EasyYiJianlian) June 5, 2022
@"We"-Ka-Bong posted:In my opinion, Christian Yelich should just play like he did in 2018
— Sam RaimYi Jianlian (@EasyYiJianlian) June 5, 2022
When they signed Yelich to that extension, I was elated. It didn't seem that it could get any better than having Giannis, Rodgers, and Yelich as the three faces of the state's franchises. In the last two years, Rodgers has won 2 MVPs. Giannis became a top 25 NBA player all-time and won an NBA title. And Yelich became Jim Gantner. Yelich seemed like a nice guy, a great teammate, and someone even fans of opposing teams like to watch play just to see that level of greatness he displayed in 2018-19.
It's debatable whether he's playable at all at this point, but you certainly can't hit him 3rd. It has to be that they feel they have to justify the 26 million a year (and 180 million guaranteed) they have invested in him, but it's sunk costs at this point.
There's not one thing that sticks out. For example, at least if he was struggling against lefties he'd still have value. But he has been almost equally bad against righties and lefties, at home and away, at night vs. day games. He's just consistently bad. And he's been that way for almost 3 years and close to 1,000 plate appearances. His slugging percentages in 2021 and so far in 2022 are 373 and 368. That was a typical season for Jim Gantner.
The end of juicing?
Maybe they can trade him off if they include some top prospects, simply to get that ridiculous deal off of the books. He is a replacement level player at best, making franchise money.
At least Yelich is batting better than Cain, so he has that going for him. Cain has been exceptionally bad at the plate this year.
Cain is on career fumes.
You had to figure Cain would slow down given his age.
This is the state of MLB contracts. They are awful. Yelich is worth nothing and who in their right mind would take on that obligation?
Cain's situation is a lot different than Yelich's. When you sign a guy to a long-term contract that takes him into his mid-30s, you expect to get diminishing returns as he ages. A team like the Brewers has to do something to get a guy like Cain to come to Milwaukee after he finished 7th the MVP voting in 2018 as a Royal.
Cain was elite in Year 1, and still more than worth his contract in Year 2 (if nothing else for elite-level defense). He sat out 2020 for COVID-related reasons (basically losing 10 million dollars of his ~16 million he was due that year). Year 4 (2021) involved a lot of lost games to injuries, but when he played he was serviceable (about half the games). He's lost at the plate this year, but his defense still provides value.
He was signed for 5 years and 80 million. Instead of looking at it as 16 million a year for 5 years, it's not a bad deal if you look at it for what the real expected value was - something like 25 million (Year 1), 25 million (Year 2), 15 million (Year 3), 10 million (Year 4), and 5 million (Year 5) is the production you would have hoped for at his age 31-36 seasons. Would you sign him to the same contract again? You'd at least have to consider it. He outperformed his contract in Year 1 and was worth it in Year 2.
Yelich tanked before he even started his contract extension. He was playing at a Hall of Fame level for two years when they extended him after his age 27 season. He should have been at least a borderline all-star for the next 5 years. He became a utility outfielder level player at age 28. Maybe it was the fractured kneecap? Maybe it's his back? Maybe something else was going on (juicing or stealing signs)? Whatever the reason, this is now looking like the worst contract in Brewers history (and probably in Wisconsin sports history). Unlike Cain, he's not a particularly great defensive player, either.
Cain was signed for 5 years and you could grade out the 5 years as A, B+, inc., C, and D this year. Yelich's first three years after the extension have been D, D, and D- and he's signed for 6 MORE YEARS at 26 million a year and will get another 6.5 million in 2029 to buy out the final year of his contract. This contract is trending into Chris Davis with the Orioles territory.
