It is no secret we are in part defined by our environment, and in some cases, like any Colorado Rockies pitcher in their entire franchises history, completely engulfed by it. In the case of Miller Park, the Milwaukee Brewers’ home since 2001, it too has created its own environment and effect on the Brewers and […]
Tag: 2016 Brewers
Craig Counsell and Pinch Running
If you were to ask someone how many times the Brewers pinch ran in 2016, you could win an awful lot of bar bets. You would also get a lot of strange looks, but it’s January and you’re thinking about baseball. Glancing through The Bill James Handbook 2017, the number really stands out: Craig Counsell called […]
Matt Garza’s Value
For an MLB player, value has two elements: Production: A player can be considered valuable based on how well they perform on the field. Alternately, as advanced statistics and analytical tools emerge, a player can be considered valuable based on their underlying elements — stuff, mechanics, plate approach, command, etc. Both of these metrics, traditional […]
Starting Susac in 2017
On July 31, 2016, the Brewers dealt reliever Will Smith for catcher Andrew Susac and pitcher Phil Bickford. While Bickford has been the focus of the trade for many, it’s Susac who is mostly likely to make the greatest impact in 2017. In December, The Brewers shipped away fellow catcher Martin Maldonado, in effect declaring […]
Villar and Baserunning Havoc
Brewers shortstop Jonathan Villar has always been the backup plan. In Houston, he couldn’t escape the foreshadowed megastar Carlos Correa, and when he was shipped to Milwaukee for lanky right hander Cy Sneed prior to 2016, he was viewed as the bridge for top prospect Orlando Arcia. That reality inspired a certain fire inside Villar, […]
Youth Movement on Hold
To Brewers fans’ disappointment, the oft-controversial and seemingly replacement-level veteran right-handed starting pitcher Matt Garza will likely open the 2017 season in the Milwaukee Brewers starting rotation at the expense of sexier, younger options in Josh Hader, Jorge Lopez, and Brandon Woodruff. The idea isn’t that Garza is likely to be a big piece on […]
Eric Thames and Defensive Value
It’s time we addressed the question of the winter on the minds of Brewer fans. The question that’s keeping us up at night, refreshing our favorite projection system in our web browser, just hoping for some new information that will finally allow us to just get some sleep and put our minds at ease, knowing […]
August 19, 2016: Keon Broxton Keeps it 100
On the evening of August 19th, 2016, the Milwaukee Brewers rolled into a sweltering Safeco Field for a three-game interleague set with the Seattle Mariners. Also hot that night: rookie center fielder Keon Broxton. Related Reading: Can Keon Broxton Make Enough Contact? Carter-Broxton Plate Discipline The Mariners, pushing for their first postseason appearance in fifteen […]
Assessing Roster Moves IV: Prospect Value
In the previous installment of this series, a reader comment provided an excellent point about judging prospects: monetizing prospect value appears to inflate their potential value, compared to MLB players. That this should not be surprising does not diminish the salience of the point — analysts have much, much more information available about MLB players. Moreover, […]
Why Free Agent Relievers Make So Much Sense for Milwaukee
Milwaukee’s hot stove season has been popping already, but most of that action has come on the trade market. The Brewers have signed just one free agent thus far, Eric Thames, at a bargain-bin tab of $16.5 million. That may not be the case for long, as the club is rumored to be on the […]