The Brewers

I for one am getting real sick and tired waiting for these guys to come around.  Its not early anymore and the "slump" excuse has long passed.  The laundry list of issues is very long and from what I can tell it seems to be mostly mental.  I can only think of two reasons why 1) the players are not as talented as we think they are, or 2) the players are not giving the effort to achieve the talent they have.

Opinions?

Opinion from a Reds fan:

1) The Brewers are injured.  Gallardo being out really hurts your team.  If he isn't the ace, the he is certainly 1A., just behind Sheets.  He is very important.  Riske being added to the DL doesn't help.

2) Bullpen.  Gagne was a huge mistake.  That money should have been spent on Cordero.  Maybe the Reds over-paid for Cordero, but in this market, you have to.  When your closer isn't reliable, the rest of your bullpen suffers.  The have blown 8 saves already.  That's not going to cut it.

3) Pitching, pitching, pitching pitching.  The Brewers just don't have enough of it.  With Gallardo out, there are too many question marks after Sheets, and we all know that Sheets has trouble staying healthy.  Yes, that offense is awesome, but pitching is much more important. Right now the Brewers are 24th in all of baseball with a team ERA of 4.48.  You can't expect to stay in contention with that type of pitching.

If the Brewers don't plan on resigning Sheets, they should trade him now for two solid pitching prospects.  They simply don't have the pitching to compete this season.  Bring in some young guns to back up Gallardo next season, because he can't win a division title on his own, with a shakey bullpen.

I actually think CK's post was pretty good other than suggesting that we should have paid Cordero.  If the Brewers would have re-signed Cordero, one of the young position players would be let go in a few years due to Cordero eating up 11-12 million in payroll. 

Gagne hasn't worked out so far but signing him was not a mistake, it was a good gamble.  One year for 10 million.  He was the best closer available after Cordero and Gagne carries no long term obligation. We'll see if the Reds like the Cordero signing when Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Volquez or Cueto don't get signed in a few years.

CK,

It was a good post but I dont see how it addresses the question.  We all understand that Yo being hurt is a puch in the groin, but that really does not explain the effort of the players on the field.    Your assesment of our closer situation is dead wrong.   I appriciate the input, but unless you see the team every day, I just dont think you can address the situation.

The rotation and the pen have both been outstanding at times this year.    Its the consistancy that I question.  Why can we not get consistant performances?  Same thing with the bats.

Bernie chill your $hit dude...

You asked opinions and CK gave it.  I think his assessment is pretty dead on so far.  You dont think Gallardo going down put our young minds in the gutter? 

If we are a "win now" club, why wouldn't the signing of Cordero make sense?  LIke I said, if it's a "win now" mentality, the signing makes sense.  If we want to keep our stud youngings down the road, then Melvin made the correct decision.  You choose.  With 8 blown saves, I don't think you can say that we made the correct decision for the closer position this year.

Bernie chill your $hit dude...

Excuse me?  If you have an issue with me or what I post.......dont read it! 

I told the guy it was a good post and I think it was.  I dont think it addressed the question, but that doesnt mean it was not a good post.  CK is fun to debate with and we have gone around and around on several things.  I dont think he took it personally and if he did I apologize, was not meant to be.

The whole "somebody got hurt so we cant play anymore" excuse is BS.   These are professionals, not a preschool class.  That was the excuse last year too when Sheets went down, is it going to be the excuse next year when someone else goes down?  When does that excuse end?  When do we expect this team to compete with out blankeies and crutches?  Smoltz went down and will probably not start again, did the Braves quit.  Schilling went down, did the Sox quit.  Kazmir went down, did the Rays quit.  Lackey and Escobar went down, did the Angels quit.   The list goes on and on.

Of course this is a win now team, but we are also a team that can not sacrifice now for the future at ANY point.    This will never be a team that will blow $12 mil a season on a closer no matter what.  We have too much talent to sign to be stuck with a washed up Cordero in four years.  That is a mistake.  Gagne may not have been the best choice, but he was the ONLY choice.  We needed a closer and he was the only one on the market.  Knowing what I know right now, I would much rather know we will dump that $10 mil after this season then know Cordero will be an albatross of a contract for this team.  The Reds can barely get Cordero the ball, do you really think spending $12 Mil on him was the right choice or could they have spent that money in better places.  Keep in mind the GM that did that is no longer employed.  At least we will have the money to improve the situation after this year while the Reds are stuck with Cordero wether good or bad.