Rock(ies) Me Gently Series Thread

On opening day last year, a guy on the fan 104.3 in Denver said the following.  
“if you want to see the Rox at .500 you better come to the park today”

I think he was right.  They are and have been terrible.

Hubris.

I feel we’re going to get swept now.

Jerk.

Not a chance of getting swept with Fastball Freddie going tonight.

Can't bitch about scoring 5 runs with 2 outs!!!!

Peralta on form too!

Sal Frelick just fouled off 5 pitches before a double to left to drive in Contreras for the 7th run.  He does not play like a rookie.

Love me some Sal.

@Maynard posted:

Peralta on form too!

7 innings    94 pitches    63 strikes     13 strike outs  ZERO  BB   

I think the only baserunner for the Rockies was the HR. I don't think they ever had a man on base.

Frelich with 15 RBIs in 16 games, two with 1 AB as a PH. It shows the value of a guy that makes a pitcher work and puts the ball in play. More BBs than Ks and a .435 OBP. I've been watching baseball for 60 years and that's as close to a perfect game as I've ever seen.

A little shake up in the batting order again tonight.  I hope the results are the same as last night.   2 nights in a row off for Adames.  If Rockies counter with a right handed reliever Frelick will come off the bench for Taylor or Wiemer.  Also Wade Miley is making his 300th career ML start.

to much relying on home runs

Canha with a 2 out double scores Anderson.   2-1 Good Guys, end of the 6th.

Peguero seems like he's throwing pitches for the Home Run Derby right now. Back to back home runs after he relieves Miley

But Monestrio homers leading off the 7th. All tied 3-3.

@"We"-Ka-Bong posted:

to much relying on home runs

still concerned

Walks.

Walks.

Walked in the lead run. Now it could really get out of hand. Uribe has always fought control problems.

Chafin comes in for the the 10th.

Walk

Bunt single

Walk on 4 pitches

New pitcher - Uribe

Walk on 4 pitches

Brewers down 2

Of course, if they could actually score some runs consistently, they wouldn't be in extra innings against a crappy Rockies team to begin with.

3 runs walked in so far, still no outs.

And that is how you score 4 runs with just a bunt single!

So are any of these trade acquisitions actually going to contribute at some point?

Canha is 4 for 25

Santana is 7 for 46

Chafin was OK until the last two appearances

Another bad loss against a garbage team. The Brewers burn up the bullpen A team and get beat. The bullpen collapsed but it's still the offense that is killing this team.

The Brewers are terrible…except forALL their N.L. Central foes who are terribiler.

ONWARD!

They can win the division with a .500 record. That’s as far they will go. And cheapskate-attanasio will stay the course. It’s up to the young guys before the big markets can buy them away.

@Blair Kiel posted:

Walks.

Walks.

I’m surprised the Rockies win this game so handily both relying on the home run and not putting the ball in play.  Some kind of anomaly.

@tsr86free posted:

They can win the division with a .500 record. That’s as far they will go. And cheapskate-attanasio will stay the course. It’s up to the young guys before the big markets can buy them away.

They can be a spoiler against a team in wild card game or even a single playoff series if they get their pitching lined up for it.

If Woodruff comes back healthy for the remainder of the year, they may have the best starting pitching in MLB (except for maybe the Braves), Burnes, Woodruff, Miley, and Peralta will keep you close in every playoff game. Williams is a top 5 closer and the short relief guys are better than average.

But, the failure to develop any star-level player on offense is what's going to doom them from making any type of deep run if they get in. Yelich is back to being a very good, but not elite, player. He's not killing them anymore like he has for 2-3 years, but he's going to end up hitting about 290 with 24 HRS and 85 RBIs. We'll take it, but the guy who hit 320 with 40 HRs and 100 RBIs is never coming back. I think they should really try to trade him this offseason because this is probably his peak for the remainder of his career and that contract is not going to look good in 2-3 years.

Once you get by Yelich, you have Contreras, who is another very good, but not elite player. Frelick has been great so far, but his minor league production suggests someone who is going to be a Contreras-type player. If we had 3 more like him, the Brewers would be in great shape, but they don't.

Once you get by those 3, the lineup is one of the worst offensive lineups in baseball. Monasterio has been OK. Caratini has been a great back-up catcher. When you get by that, the Brewers have 9 guys with at least 100 plate appearances that have OPS below 700. In 2018, when they had a realistic chance to win a title they had 8 regulars or semi-regular guys with OPS above 780.

The regression of young players like Adames and Hiura, and the failure of many of the young prospects to become respectable hitters at the big-league level (Wiemer, Miller, Turang, Perkins, and Taylor all have OPS lower than 680) and Winker, Anderson, and Tellez have ranged from beyond awful to just bad.

It has to be something systemic in their approach to developing hitters that is going on. They seem to turn even many of their good players into strikeout machines.

I agree from a pitching standpoint this team can hang with anyone.  The issue is when you get into the playoffs everyone can hit and most teams have competent pitching.  

When you build your roster around guys like Tellez and Adames it’s a complete crapshoot and relying on rookies to really contribute is a lot to ask.  

I’m not sure if Ohtani was actually available but the Brewers need to quit fucking around and decide what type of team they want to be.   Are they a contender, or are they OK being in the discussion?

With Woody, Burnes, Peralta and Williams (and Hader last year) their window is or was 2022, this year, and next year.  The prospects are great and all but this team needed a bat last year and did nothing.  This year, it’s more of the same bullshit.  

I know we all get enamored with the up and comers but as we’ve seen with Hiura there aren’t guarantees with any of them.   If dealing one or two of these guys for a legit bat - even as a rental is an option - you have to do it because you have the pitching to win now.

The whole “bites at the apple” feels like the NBA 7 or 8 seed that really has no shot at the title.  You are either contending or tearing it down to eventually rebuild to contend.  I’ll gladly take one or two years of a team in the NLCS or Series versus every other year of playoffs with no real shot of advancing.  

@Tschmack posted:

With Woody, Burnes, Peralta and Williams (and Hader last year) their window is or was 2022, this year, and next year.  The prospects are great and all but this team needed a bat last year and did nothing.  This year, it’s more of the same bullshit.  

I know we all get enamored with the up and comers but as we’ve seen with Hiura there aren’t guarantees with any of them.   If dealing one or two of these guys for a legit bat - even as a rental is an option - you have to do it because you have the pitching to win now.

The whole “bites at the apple” feels like the NBA 7 or 8 seed that really has no shot at the title.  You are either contending or tearing it down to eventually rebuild to contend.  I’ll gladly take one or two years of a team in the NLCS or Series versus every other year of playoffs with no real shot of advancing.  

I think they window closes after this year. They have a puncher's chance in the playoffs for the same reasons that the 2001 Diamondbacks won a title. Burnes and Woodruff are guys that can win games on their own. They aren't Randy Johnson-level, but they aren't that far off.

There is no way Attanasio pays them the raises they'll get in arbitration next year and, they are likely to be traded before they lose them for nothing anyway as there is no way the Brewers shell out two 100 million dollar plus contracts next year in terms of extensions.

When those two are gone, the Brewers have no shot at all until they develop the next set of starting pitchers, and it took the entire existence of the franchise to develop two starting pitchers of that quality at the same time.

Those two are easily within the top 5 starting pitchers the Brewers have ever developed through their own farm system. The only other guys in the discussion are Ben Sheets and Teddy Higuera. Almost every other starting pitcher worth anything was acquired in free agency or via trade or free agency (Caldwell, Vuckovich, Sutton, Greinke, Sabathia) and the economics of baseball don't work for the Brewers to get those types of guys that route any more.

It’s my frustration with this team and specifically with Attanasio.

You have a team that’s mostly ready to win now but needs another bat or two.  You have acquired or developed assets in prospects to go out and get those type of guys.   Yet they don’t do it.

I realize there’s zero chance they extend Woodruff or Burnes but like Hader the cost of arbitration is still fairly reasonable.

In the end, you are probably em right in that both guys will be dealt in the offseason.  Even more reason they should have gone all in last year and this year.  

Houser getting rocked today. Already down 4-0.

The Brewers have managed to be shutout over the first three innings by a starting pitcher with an ERA of over 7.00 coming in.

Brewers get 3 runs back in the 4th. Now down only 4-3.

Adames now goes deep in the 5th and the game is tied.

+1

Nice job by Taylor.  After popping up with bases loaded and 1 out in the 2nd he comes back with a 2rbi double in the 4th to get them on the board.

5 apiece into the 8th.

I don't get their choices on how to use Williams. He pitches a clean night with only 9 pitches. They have a day off tomorrow, so why not let him pitch the 10th? Instead, they bring in Bryce Wilson. So far, it's worked out as the Rockies sac bunted the runner to third and then runner got thrown out trying to score on an infield grounder.

But, why not extend Williams another inning? 9 pitches is not going to tax him that much.

And then, on cue, he gives up a run scoring double.

Why the hell did you not use Williams another inning?

I've often thought at home I'd rather see Williams in the 10th.  The ghost runner rule makes a strikeout pitcher like him more valuable in the 10th instead of the 9th where you don't start with that runner on 2nd.

Down 1 going to the bottom of the 10th.   It won't happen but it would be nice to see a bunt to get the runner to 3rd with one out.