Uncustomed Heroes of 2022: Brewers

 

By the end of May, the Milwaukee Brewers were still one of the best teams in baseball, confidently on first, and doing a ton of things right. Then June happened.

On one hand, the Brewers don't have a ton to be disappointed about in 2022, they still finished above .500 and got great campaigns out of Corbin Burnes, Willy Adames and, in the absence of Josh Hader, Devin Williams. But...they still lost Josh Hader, they're still struggling to get late-2010s Christian Yelich back, and the Cardinals are now firmly the alpha in the NL Central. The moves they've made so far for the 2023 season have involved trading away Hunter Renfroe and Kolten Wong, and gaining Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro. The oddsmakers would say that, despite a reported reluctance to trade Burnes or Adames, they're looking at a lower-key year. However, if the Brewers are gonna lay slightly low in 2023, does that mean that the Cardinals are gonna waltz to October? I certainly hope not.

The biggest breakout, ironically as his brother was also breaking out in Baltimore, was infielder Luis Urias. Long gestating after being traded for Zach Davies back in the day, Urias finally came to full prominence with the Brewers, with 47 RBIs and 16 homers, as well as a 3.1 WAR. While the Brewers have been using efficient answers at third of late, Urias is definitely a favorite to start there in 2023, and could use this season as a ramp up to glory.

2023 Prediction: A 25-homer year. At some point, he and his brother are gonna have some sort of dramatic face-off. Maybe in the ASG, maybe in an interleague match.

Freddy Peralta, the third head of the Brewers' pitching hydra, missed a ton of time this year due to injuries. He only made 17 starts, but he finished the year with a 3.58 ERA and still managed 86 strikeouts. Even with Eric Lauer coming to prominence, Peralta is still a trusted and respected rotation choice in Milwaukee.

2023 Prediction: Fuller season, but may struggle with a high ERA. 

Jace Peterson was the Brewers' main choice at third this year. Peterson is also my pick for the single most overrated player of the season. This is a guy who would rate strongly in WAR all year without doing a single damned thing worthy of any note during the season. Look, he hit .236 with 68 hits, and that's in a full season. And people were calling this guy an integral part of this team. It's great if you're a strong corner infielder, but you've gotta have more dimensions than that these days. 

2023 Prediction: Yeah, Oakland is a much better place for this guy. He'll do alright for the A's, but eventually they're gonna develop people that erase the need for someone like him.

While Peralta missed time due to injuries, Adrian Houser also only made 21 starts, but he struggled comparatively, with a 4.73 ERA and a 6-10 record. Houser has always been a back-half guy for this rotation, but he's slipping even further from where he was.

2023 Prediction: When the big guns in this rotation get traded, as they may at some point, it will be Houser's job to lead the gang, and he'll only do a serviceable job of it.

Tyrone Taylor finally had a season that got people to notice him, after being caught in the Trent Grisham/Mark Mathias/Jonathan Davis huddle of backup outfielders for too long. Taylor hit .233, but with 51 RBIs and 17 home runs. This was his fullest season as a starting choice, and in the absence of Lorenzo Cain, and now Hunter Renfroe, he's looking to be an even bigger piece of this team.

2023 Prediction: Full breakout numbers. 

Omar Narvaez was injured for a huge chunk of this season, so the Brewers were very lucky they'd snatched Victor Caratini from San Diego during the offseason. Caratini, while a serviceable backup catcher, still made the most of a starring role, and had 34 RBIs and 9 homers, despite not doing wholly great at the plate. 

2023 Prediction: Caratini is the new Manny Pina, sad to say, and next season he'll have more acceptable backup numbers.

The Brewers are still doing what they can to make something out of Keston Hiura, despite him coming nowhere near their promise for him. At best, he's a sloppy defensive corner infielder with occasional power perks. At worst, he's listless at the plate and taking starts away from Tellez. Hiura actually hit 14 homers this season as a backup, which was as many as Yelich hit funnily enough. That said, he was also 6th in strikeouts, and that's with only 86 games. So there's still a ton of issues, but at least his power numbers can still be useful. 

2023 Prediction: I bet this is the year they give up on him.

Aaron Ashby has been the heralded pitching guy for the Brewers of late, and this is from a system that also has Jake Cousins and Ethan Small. Ashby got a ton of starting opportunities in 2022, and, despite a 2-10 record, had a 4.44 ERA and 126 strikeouts. Not brilliant, but for a rookie adjusting to consistent starts in the majors, it's a decent shake of things.

2023 Prediction: This season's gonna be the closest approximation of his stuff, and he's really gonna aid this rotation with a breakout year.

The Padres' return for Josh Hader was, well, a pretty great closer in his own right. Despite some ERA issues, Taylor Rogers had cooked up a pretty nice season for his first non-Twins effort, notching 28 saves in 42 games. Then he landed in Milwaukee, and things went south, as his ERA went to 5.48 and both control issues and the presence of Devin Williams led to him only getting 3 saves out of it. On the whole, he got 84 Ks in 2022, which is his second most, but he set a career mark with earned runs, which isn't great.

2023 Prediction: Someone's gonna take a flyer on him, though probably not with him in mind to definitely close. Maybe the Twins reunite with him. He'll be back in the ninth eventually though.

Tomorrow, some extra Cardinals from the team I swore was gonna beat the Phillies easily.

Wild Card Series' Day 3: Wrap-Ups and Intrigue

The Braves beating the Reds was an outcome I had predicted, but not so mercilessly.

This was a series of two pitching battles, with great work from Trevor Bauer, Luis Castillo, Max Fried and Luis Castillo, and while the Reds had the better starters arguably, the Braves did what the Reds couldn't- they had their offense show up. And this time, it came in the form of Adam Duvall, Marcell Ozuna and Ronald Acuna. Three members of this team's core. And it proved that the Braves are a playoff team, and are ready for just about anything.

They play the winner of the Cubs-Marlins matchup which won't be decided until tomorrow or Saturday. I think they're gonna be very tough to beat.

As for the Reds...this was a fun playoff team, and a great team as usual to root for, but...in a playoff scenario with a lot of teams better than them, this was sadly bound to happen.

I love this team, I love Castillo and Bauer, and I love the youth slowly being ingratiated into the core of the team, and I really hope they can improve for 2021, because...it's much more fun when they're competitive. 

In a series where literally whichever team won would be rooted for in a series against Houston, a surprisingly sharp Oakland team tied it in Game 2 and won Game 3 against a hydra-esque White Sox team, ensuring that no AL Central teams would make it to the next rung of the playoffs, which is kind of heartbreaking considering how tough that division looked this year.

Olson, Pinder and Canha, the usual suspects, pulled off a nice win over the Sox, and ensured a date with the Astros for the ALDS. I...really...REALLY hope the A's can beat Houston. It would make my day. Hell, maybe they can head to a World Series as well. 

The White Sox should not be ashamed of their season, they made it further than most people thought, and despite a drop from 1st in August, they hit their way into the playoffs with a phenomenal lineup. They just didn't have as much going for them as Oakland, even with Jimenez surging. I'll be hoping for an improvement next year, perhaps with a stronger bullpen.

Just when I was fearing an early exit from these guys, the Padres' bats woke up, Myers, Machado and Tatis beat down on the Cardinals' bullpen, and the series was tied. Even if the Padres are running out of suitable starters, I'm still hoping they sneak a win out of the Cardinals. Yes, this means they'll have to play the Dodgers [or the Brewers but probably the Dodgers], but it's a better outcome than the Cardinals winning yet another playoff series.

All of y'all saying Kershaw's a bad postseason pitcher can shut up now. Clayton Kershaw absolutely owned the Milwaukee Brewers, shutting them out in 8 innings with 13 strikeouts and only 3 hits, then left it to Brusdar Graterol to close it out. Yes, Austin Barnes and Mookie Betts helped, but this was Kershaw's game to own, and he cemented more of his own legend. 

The Dodgers will play either the Cardinals or Padres. Either way, a great series to be had.

As for the Brewers, the team that snuck into the playoffs and then had to face the biggest, baddest team of them all...they did what they could. But they really didn't have it this year, and I think they knew it. Next year, with Lorenzo Cain back and a full-capacity Yelich, maybe they'll top this performance. I hope they do.

Tomorrow, hopefully we put a cap on at least one more series. And then we ease our way into Division Series' and make this one even more real. 

The Brewers Aren't out of it yet

The Cardinals have won four straight, and have eclipsed the Mets, Brewers and Phillies for a chance at the second Wild Card spot. This is bad, especially for the Brewers, as I don't think they want to be on permanent 'stop the Cardinals from making the playoffs' duty for most of the last half of this decade. It's gotta be hella laborious.

The other laborious part is that the Brewers have been on the cusp of greatness for most of the year, but keep being turned away right as they're about to really chase the Cubs, or the Cards in this case. Their rotation, once again, has become the biggest problem, essentially turning into a minefield of injuries. Chase Anderson and Gio Gonzalez are the only April starters that are still with the team, and they're relying on people like Adrian Houser, Jordan Lyles and Freddy Peralta in the absence of better arms like Davies, Chacin and Woodruff. So...the sportswriters were kinda right: the rotation kinda did end up being this team's undoing.

That doesn't mean the team doesn't have a chance, though. With Keston Hiura taking over for Hernan Perez/Travis Shaw at 2nd, the lineup feels more accomplished than ever. Grandal has been a nice addition to the fold, Yelich and Cain are still hot, and Ryan Braun's having his best season in years. No more years of 'what, he's still here?' for that guy, which is nice. And then you have Mike Moustakas, who's still one of the most reliable hitters in the game.

With only Trent Grisham and Ben Gamel doing significant bench work, this isn't an especially complex team, which is partially why the slightly more nuanced Cardinals have a leg up on them. But I do think the Brewers have enough potential energy to snap into a winning streak and waltz back into the conversation. It's how they clinched the NL Central last year, so let's see if it works in 2019.

Coming Tomorrow- It's nice that he's having his best season to date, but...it's come after being dropped by two competitors, and it's for a team that won't be making the playoffs.