The Brewers have arrived....in last place

[Soul]

I'm sure they'll now go on a winning streak because I posted this, but look at how dreadful the Crew have been lately:

 

After beating STL 3/4, they are 1-5 in the past 6 games, on a 5 game losing streak. They have also dropped 9 straight on the road, a really bad indicator for the Crew because it can be argued their inability to get anything done on the road in '07 cost them the division title. They're desperate for a closer, desperate for bullpen help in general, and not really getting the solid starting performances from some of their starters like they had hoped.

 

Due some unexpected decent play by the Pirates and Reds, they are now in last place in the division. Obviously it's not the end of the world, but I was suprised to see the Crew drop all the way down to the bottom.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I dont know why the Brewers are so feared. There really not much better than the Astros.

 

Its looking more and more as though Braun may be the real deal, and Corey Hart looks like he could be good, but...

 

Prince Fielder is looking like he could ultimiately be an Adam Dunn type, hit a lot of homers, and have a low average.

 

whatever got Mike Cameron suspended made its way out of his system after the Cubs series.

 

Weeks, Hall, and Hardy look to be average major leaguers at best

 

Jason Kendall is Jason Kendall.

 

After the injured Gallardo and soon to be injured Sheets, the pitching staff is dismal at best, and they dont even have a closer.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I agree. Right now, the Brewers look to be similar to the Astros. The big difference is the Astros minor league system is devoid of talent while the Brewers have quite a few chips to use if they want to make deals to improve the team.

 

That being said, if the Cubs play as they should, I don't think there's a team in the division that can win it from us.

[ELCABALLO45]

We are playing very bad right now. Its pretty depressing. 2/5th of our rotation is out for the year and we all know Sheets will be hurt sooner or later. I still love Braun tho, you guys can hate on him all you want but the guy just "gets it". Hall is a platoon player at best. Prince is having a little hissy fit about his contract and I think its showing by his performance. Riske just went down which sucks alot. We are a mess right now and we had to play in Boston. We are playing like crap but I don't think we are a last place team... (please god.. no.)

[Little Slide Rooter]

As weird as it sounds, The Reds may be our biggest threat this season. Thers no question that they have a formidable offense, and they have finally put together a pitching staff. Harang and Volquez are a great 1-2, and Arroyo and Cueto are bound to pick up.

 

A dark horse could be the Pirates. Gorzalany, Snell, and Duke could be a great 1-2-3 in the near future, and when on their game, Bay, McClouth, Laroche, and Nady are by no means a bad heart of the lineup, weve all seen what Freddy Sanchez can do, and Doumit looks to be a qlality player as well. The saddest thing about that team, is the highest paid player on that team by far is sitting on his couch, and probably will remain to do so unless some team gets out of their mind desperate for pitching help. Im of course speaking of the great Matt Morris.

 

When all is said and done, The Cubs are the most complete team in the division, if not in the NL, if not in baseball. Great starting lineup, a very deep bench, and a solid all around pitching staff.

[ELCABALLO45]

As weird as it sounds, The Reds may be our biggest threat this season. Thers no question that they have a formidable offense, and they have finally put together a pitching staff. Harang and Volquez are a great 1-2, and Arroyo and Cueto are bound to pick up.

 

A dark horse could be the Pirates. Gorzalany, Snell, and Duke could be a great 1-2-3 in the near future, and when on their game, Bay, McClouth, Laroche, and Nady are by no means a bad heart of the lineup, weve all seen what Freddy Sanchez can do, and Doumit looks to be a qlality player as well. The saddest thing about that team, is the highest paid player on that team by far is sitting on his couch, and probably will remain to do so unless some team gets out of their mind desperate for pitching help. Im of course speaking of the great Matt Morris.

 

When all is said and done, The Cubs are the most complete team in the division, if not in the NL, if not in baseball. Great starting lineup, a very deep bench, and a solid all around pitching staff.

 

I agree with some of that. The Cubs right now are the best team in the NL Central. This is a BAD divison. And the Cubs have played 27 of their first 44 at home. I don't see the Pirates or Reds being a threat. I think the Cards are done being magical. So its basically between the Brewers, Astros and Cubs. If the Astros can some how get enough pitching they could compete and I want to say the Brewers will be there at the end. However I think the Cubs are the best team in the NL Central and if I had to bet I would put my money on them right now.

 

I wouldn't say the Cubs are the most complete team in the league however. Maybe im saying this because we just got done playing Boston but after going there its like a whole differnt animal over there. The Red Sox line up from top to bottom is so damn good. And I also like Arizona a little more then the Cubs right now (and yes I know you guys swept them earlier). But Webb(best pitcher in baseball in my opinion),Haren,Johnson,Scherzer,Owings and Davis when he comes back it sick. But the Cubs look like they are starting to click. Soriano is white hot right now, Lilly looks like he is coming back to 07' form. Zambrano looks like he is finally putting it together for more then a couple starts. Marmol is sick. Derrek Lee just needs to start hitting again (even tho you don't need him right now it seems). I think you guys do have a black hole in center tho, Edmonds and Johnson really don't excite me if im a Cubs fan so maybe if you guys do win the divison you might want to let the Brewers or Astros hang around for a while so your GM will get a new CF at the deadline?

 

Anyways if the Brewers want to keep playing crapy and decide they want to play for 2009 insead of 2008 good luck the rest of the year.

[SouthSideRyan]

The Brewers without Gallardo are the 2nd most talented team in the division.

[ELCABALLO45]

The Brewers without Gallardo are the 2nd most talented team in the division.

 

I really miss him.

[SouthSideRyan]

The Astros have no pieces to acquire any help at the deadline. That and they have about 3 starting pitching spots to fill. The Astros are no damn good.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Astros have no pieces to acquire any help at the deadline. That and they have about 3 starting pitching spots to fill. The Astros are no damn good.

 

The Astros, no question have one of the best hearts of the lineup in baeball, but theres nothing else on that team the set them apart from the rest of the pack. They threw too much money at Roger Clemens in '05 and '06 that they could have been using the build a better team, and now they're paying the price.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The Astros used what little trading chips they had to get Valverde and Tejeda. They would have been better off using some of those to improve the starting rotation.

[radarluv1]

oswalt may miss his next start. their rotation can't afford him to miss much time.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=3191

[SouthSideRyan]

The Astros have no pieces to acquire any help at the deadline. That and they have about 3 starting pitching spots to fill. The Astros are no damn good.

 

The Astros, no question have one of the best hearts of the lineup in baeball, but theres nothing else on that team the set them apart from the rest of the pack. They threw too much money at Roger Clemens in '05 and '06 that they could have been using the build a better team, and now they're paying the price.

 

I might question that they have one of the best 3-4-5s in baseball.

 

Without thinking it over too much you've got Utley-Howard-Burrell, Chipper-Tex-McCann, Braun-Fielder-Hart, Holliday-Helton-Atkins, and dare I say Lee-Ramirez-Fukudome are all at least comparable.

 

And that's NL only.

[Outshined_One]

Once Berkman cools off, the Astros should come back down to Earth.

 

The Cardinals and Brewers still concern me. The Cardinals, for all their crazy luck, have pulled this kind of thing off before. They won't win the WS, but they still can do their share of damage. The Brewers have some very good young players and plenty of trading chips to get a big deal done. They need help in the rotation and bullpen, plus their manager is a doofus. However, with a well-timed firing and a good trade or two will get them back in contention.

[SouthSideRyan]

Once Berkman cools off, the Astros should come back down to Earth.

 

The Cardinals and Brewers still concern me. The Cardinals, for all their crazy luck, have pulled this kind of thing off before. They won't win the WS, but they still can do their share of damage. The Brewers have some very good young players and plenty of trading chips to get a big deal done. They need help in the rotation and bullpen, plus their manager is a doofus. However, with a well-timed firing and a good trade or two will get them back in contention.

 

The Cardinals were way better when they've pulled this before. There's no Scott Rolen or non-decrepit Jim Edmonds on this team. There's no healthy Chris Carpenter ready to put up a cy young season.

[TruffleShuffle]

There's no Scott Rolen or non-decrepit Jim Edmonds on this team.

 

yeah but they do have ryan ludwick, who's better than both of those guys in their primes.

[Priorknowledge]

They threw too much money at Roger Clemens in '05 and '06 that they could have been using the build a better team, and now they're paying the price.

Yeah, they cried all the way to the World Series.

[BCVM22]

Yeah, they cried all the way to the World Series.

 

And on their respective ways home after getting swept...

[Outshined_One]

I would like to point out that, while the Cubs have had a relatively mediocre draft history over the past few years, the Astros have been absolutely atrocious and cheap. They only spent $536,000 total on their first ten picks in the 2007 MLB draft for heaven's sake! That was 30th in all of baseball!

 

By comparison, the Brewers placed 25th by spending $3,177,700. That's just insane.

 

How can you build a competitive team without even an average farm system? They have no one they can trade for better talent and no one they can call up if any of their starters go down.

[sneakypower]

The Brewers without Gallardo are the 2nd most talented team in the division.

i don't know why everyone is overlooking the Reds. despite Dusty, they're the only team I have any concern about keeping the division race close. they have a ton of talent, which will only improve once they replace Griffey with Bruce and Belisle with Bailey.

[XZero771679666304]

The Brewers without Gallardo are the 2nd most talented team in the division.

i don't know why everyone is overlooking the Reds. despite Dusty, they're the only team I have any concern about keeping the division race close. they have a ton of talent, which will only improve once they replace Griffey with Bruce and Belisle with Bailey.

 

I don't think too many are overlooking the Reds. Everyone was looking at them as a dark horse prior to the season.

 

But Cueto has not been what we expected out of ST. Volquez has been stellar and Harang is Harang, but the rest of that staff sucks. Their bullpen is terrible. Bailey will help, but not enough, and it may well be too late by the time he arrives.

 

I expect they may finish second, but only because their staff may end up being less terrible than that of the Brewers and Astros.

 

That team will hit, though.

[Outshined_One]

While the Reds have the potential to play spoiler down the line, I don't think it would be wise to count on Homer Bailey to give them the boost in the rotation they need to be a serious threat pitching-wise. His numbers in AAA and the majors the past two seasons haven't been all that great. The guy has a world of potential, but he's not striking out guys like he should be.

 

I also think Cueto will improve, but Volquez will regress back to his mean. How much of a correction each will have is anyone's guess.

[XZero771679666304]

We are playing very bad right now. Its pretty depressing. 2/5th of our rotation is out for the year and we all know Sheets will be hurt sooner or later. I still love Braun tho, you guys can hate on him all you want but the guy just "gets it". Hall is a platoon player at best. Prince is having a little hissy fit about his contract and I think its showing by his performance. Riske just went down which sucks alot. We are a mess right now and we had to play in Boston. We are playing like crap but I don't think we are a last place team... (please god.. no.)

 

I think that what you saw in Boston is a microcosm for the rest of your season. No, every team is not the Sox and the Crew won't get swept every series. But w/o Gallardo and with that pen you are going to be a team that will hit a ton and win a lot of 10-8 games, but won't pitch enough to do much else (barring big time breakout or acquisition).

 

At this point, the Brewers = Astros, except the Astros have a closer who can consistently close well (relatively speaking). Both teams will rake, but both have an ace who is an injury waiting to happen, with four mediocre (or worse) starters following. And the pens, well the bottom three teams with regard to bullpen ERA are Cincinnati, Milwaukee and St. Louis. Milwaukee also allows the most baserunners of any NL pen, and by a fairly wide margin. Sure, you can attribute some of that to Turnbow, but I don't see Zach Jackson or DeFelice being great firemen, either. Plus you have Stetter, who had been your best reliever, suddenly losing his command and returning to the minors, not to mention the Riske injury. Say what you will about the revamped pen, but it isn't looking too good.

 

The Gallardo injury really changed the complexion of the race (to this point).

[TruffleShuffle]

At this point, the Brewers = Astros, except the Astros have a closer who can consistently close well (relatively speaking). Both teams will rake...

 

PECOTA-projected EqA this season:

 

#1 hitter: Ryan Braun, .326 vs Lance Berkman, .306

#2 hitter: Prince Fielder, .308 vs Carlos Lee, .288

#3 hitter: Corey Hart, .295 vs Hunter Pence, .284

#4 hitter: Mike Cameron, .286 vs Ty Wigginton, .274

#5 hitter: Rickie Weeks, .284 vs Miguel Tejada, .273

#6 hitter: Bill Hall, .274 vs J.R. Towles (.265) or Brad Ausmus (.212)

#7 hitter: J.J. Hardy, .260 vs Michael Bourn (.255)

#8 hitter: Jason Kendall, .228 vs Kaz Matsui, .243

 

Even though PECOTA looks to have predicted the demise of Miguel Tejada too early, it's also looking considerably too optimistic on Bourn, Towles and perhaps Pence. I think the Astros' offense is pretty average, and I'd expect the Brewers to score about half a run more per game than the Astros this season.

[CubbieBum]

I couldn't be happier. When something bad happens in my life I just think "hey the Brewers are in last" and then start to giggle.