Comments on: Milwaukee Brewers 2009 Preview

By: Derek

Derek — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:35:48 +0000

There is no way they finish that bad. They were still good without CC he just helped them at the end of the season. Then you throw in a healthy Gallardo. The Brewers can hit with the best of them and pitching is a question mark but i would still have to pick them to finish no worse than 85-77. Macha’s worst record ever is 88-74 and that is with less talent than the Brew got. You have got to be kidding me if you think that they will finish 72-90 jesus.

By: Colin

Colin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:08:15 +0000

Fair enough, I just don’t see it. Again, the Brewers were a good team before they acquired CC Sabathia – they were 49-40 on the day of the trade, third best record in the NL. Its not like Sabathia singlehandedly took them from last to first or anything. Comparing the rotations at the start of the season, you have:

Sheets
Parra
Villanueva/McClung
Suppan
Bush

Gallardo
Parra
Looper
Suppan
Bush

Sheets vs Gallardo is a wash, Looper is probably a slight improvement over Villanueva and McClung. Torres vs Hoffman really isn’t much of a difference, no more than any pitcher who only pitches one inning at most. The offense should improve simply due to natural progression/development of younger players, and a manager who won’t start Jason Kendall and Craig Counsell 150 times each. Sure, its possible that the rest of the division could improve, but unless the those improvements lead to more wins over the Milwaukee Brewers and only the Milwaukee Brewers, I can’t see any way this team is 18 wins worse than last season. We’ll see.

By: Logan

Logan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:17:03 +0000

Colin-

I would have to agree entirely with what Colin G has to say. And I would add that while the Brewers haven’t made too many significant changes to their line-up in terms of additions, the NL Central as a whole has become stronger. The Cubs will again be the class of the divison, but expect the Cardinals especially to be healthier and a much improved team from a year ago.

And remember, C.C. essentially represented two starting pitchers for the Brewers with him starting on three days rest his time with the club, making his loss just that much more significant.

By: Colin G

Colin G — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:51:45 +0000

Same team as 2008? I doubt that. No more CC. He was a MVP canidate and only pitched the 2nd half of the season in the NL. Big loss. Torres retired. Which they did replace but with a 50 year old far past his prime hoffman. And the pitching staff drops off big time after Gallardo unless Parra can get back to where he was at prior to the all-star break last year. Far different team from last year even though only a few name changes.

By: Colin

Colin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:32:47 +0000

“Unless you followed the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008, you may not be familiar with Yovani Gallardo.”

What? He pitched 24 innings in 2008. I’m not really sure how you figure that the Brewers will drop off so dramatically. Remember, they were over .500 and very much in contention when they acquired CC Sabathia last season. The 2009 Brewers is essentially the same team, only with Gallardo swapped in for Ben Sheets. Assuming a little bit of progression from the younger players who make up most of the starting lineup, I just don’t see how they could possibly fall so far.