The collapse of the Brewers — the reason why David Stearns has undertaken a deep rebuild — occurred because the farm system stopped producing talent. Virtually every top draft pick from the middle years of Doug Melvin’s tenure either flamed out or was dealt in win-now type trades. As a result, the team placed in […]
Tag: Player Analysis
The New, Improved Ryan Braun
Over the past year-ish, in keeping with the traditions of a rebuilding club, the Brewers traded away virtually every veteran with value. Carlos Gomez, Mike Fiers, Gerardo Parra, Aramis Ramirez, Jean Segura, Khris Davis, Francisco Rodriguez, and Adam Lind all headed out the door, and too many prospects to count came back in their place. […]
Scooter Gennett Takes Walks Now
Once a player has played for a couple seasons or so at the major-league level, we can conclusively say some things about their abilities, and their shortcomings. With a large enough sample, the Dennis Green Rule goes into effect: Players will be who we thought they were. Jimmy Nelson, for instance, will probably always struggle against left-handers, who […]
Nick Hagadone And Recapturing The Magic
The Brewers have brought in a boatload of starting pitching reinforcement as of late. Adrian Houser and Josh Hader came over in the Carlos Gomez trade; Zach Davies arrived in exchange for Gerardo Parra; and Jean Segura helped them acquire Chase Anderson. At the same time, the bullpen hasn’t really received many upgrades, probably because […]
Matt Garza and the Importance of Sequencing
Often times, when looking at a pitcher’s peripherals, we’ll focus on pitch outcomes. How often do they get swinging strikes, or looking strikes, or strikes overall? Metrics such as these will usually correlate with a pitcher’s strikeout and walk rates, which in turn will generally predict their production as a whole. In some cases, though, we need […]
Wily Peralta’s Last Gasp
Wily Peralta finds his career at a crossroads this year. In his first year of arbitration, Peralta will earn $2.8 million, and with his arbitration reward only set to increase in the coming years, Peralta has to prove he’s worth the cost soon. A repeat of his 2015 campaign — an injury-riddled season in which he […]
Aaron Hill’s Strange Career
On January 30th, the Milwaukee Brewers made a much-anticipated trade, one that reportedly been percolating since the end of the 2015 season. They traded shortstop Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Chase Anderson, Isan Diaz, and Aaron Hill. It’s an interesting trade because, in all probability, the Brewers primarily […]
Chase Anderson and Zach Davies: Masters of the Changeup
Among the many young faces on the Brewers, Chase Anderson is something of a veteran. At age 28, he has 267.0 major-league innings under his belt, meaning he should be able to impart some wisdom on his rotational cohorts. One of them, Zach Davies, shares some traits with Anderson — they both came to Milwaukee in […]
What Does Kirk Nieuwenhuis Offer?
The Brewers have brought in so many new faces this offseason, it’s hard to keep track of them all. On one day in December alone, they claimed three players on waivers: outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis, ostensibly-a-catcher Josmil Pinto, and first baseman Andy Wilkins. Pinto and Wilkins don’t have much experience — combined, they’ve accumulated 325 big-league […]
Sean Nolin and the Brewers’ 2016 Post-Hype Philosophy
On Monday, the Brewers claimed Sean Nolin off waivers from Oakland. Nolin was one of the pieces that the A’s acquired in the shocking Josh Donaldson deal from last offseason, and despite the fact that he was supposed to be a high-floor and low-risk addition, his 2015 season was mildly disappointing. He made six big-league […]