BrewersCubs • 2012 MLB Power Rankings

UWbrewball · by **UWbrewball** on Jan 28th, 2012, 5:00 pm

CBS Sports:

Good business: Aramis Ramirez doesn't help the righty/lefty balance, but he remains a credible middle-of-the-order bat. Bad business: Replacing Yuniesky Betancourt with Alex Gonzalez is like replacing a gently stewed diaper with a decaying ferret. Shortstop may not be the easiest position to fill nowadays, but come on. Prognosis as of 11:14 a.m. GMT on Jan. 26, 2012: It would be a lot rosier if undercover Cardinals operatives didn't frame teetotaling family man Ryan Braun by slipping all that synthetic testosterone into his soup.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/1700 ... t-in-style

adambr2 · by **adambr2** on Jan 28th, 2012, 5:22 pm

Seriously? If they're saying Gonzalez/Betancourt is a wash, then I would suggest they look at other aspects of the game besides the bat. Yuni and Alex are pretty much the same player offensively, but the real goal in signing Gonzalez was to improve our infield D up the middle which we did. The infield D should be much improved from 2011.

Also, I don't mind an article criticizing a signing, but if you're going to do it, at least offer what your alternative solution would be? Easy to say, "get somebody better than Gonzalez". Well, extending the payroll to accommodate Reyes would have been foolish, and we tried hard to get Rollins. He didn't want to play here, what are we supposed to have done about that?

If the article had suggested that going after Barmes when he was available would have been a preferable alternative to Gonzalez, I could agree with that. But that's about it.

Fan174 · by **Fan174** on Jan 28th, 2012, 5:30 pm

UWbrewball wrote:CBS Sports:

Good business: Aramis Ramirez doesn't help the righty/lefty balance, but he remains a credible middle-of-the-order bat. Bad business: Replacing Yuniesky Betancourt with Alex Gonzalez is like replacing a gently stewed diaper with a decaying ferret. Shortstop may not be the easiest position to fill nowadays, but come on. Prognosis as of 11:14 a.m. GMT on Jan. 26, 2012: It would be a lot rosier if undercover Cardinals operatives didn't frame teetotaling family man Ryan Braun by slipping all that synthetic testosterone into his soup.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/1700 ... t-in-style

These rankings look ridiculous to me.

Phillies should still be top 3-4. Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Worley ensure that, and then Papelbon at the backend.

Trying to paint Gonzalez as the same as Betancourt is like trying to paint Wolf as the same as Lee. It's ridiculous. The defensive upgrade and the near assurance that they'll be close to equal at LEAST offensively(ignoring that Gonzalez has actually had some solid seasons offensively) mean alone that he's a huge upgrade.

I just don't get how we improve our team by vastly upgrading SS, 3rd base, getting maybe the best SU man for the entire year, and bring everyone back BUT Prince. The Cards add Beltran, lose a BETTER(much) better player in Pujols and they're still ranked 8 spots higher. I get Waino is coming back, and he is or at least was as good as any right hander in the NL other than Lincecum and Halladay, but he's coming off TJ, and Carp just keeps getting older and Dave Duncan is gone. As is Edwin Jackson.

So they were World Champs. Impressive. But we also won 6 games more and upgraded aside from Prince more than they did aside from Pujols IMO. Unless they think the aging Beltran is going to continue to thrive in a non-contract year.

I'd go

Tampa-That staff is maybe better than Philly has
LAA-Pujols, Wilson added to Weaver, Haren, and Santana is a pretty damn good team.
Texas-Maybe they should be above LAA, but a lot depends on Darvish. They lost Their ace, but they might be getting another good one in place.
Philly-Maybe better, they're good.
NYY-Improved staff, but Pineda is going to get lit up I think in the Bronx in yr 2.
Boston-Still a loaded team.
Detroit-They have a big time strikeout rotation, and they've got the best 3-4 combo in baseball now. Miggy is what Pujols used to be. I think he's now the top hitter in the game.

After that, you're just guessing I think....at least off the top of my head.

Fan174 · by **Fan174** on Jan 28th, 2012, 5:35 pm

adambr2 wrote:Seriously? If they're saying Gonzalez/Betancourt is a wash, then I would suggest they look at other aspects of the game besides the bat. Yuni and Alex are pretty much the same player offensively, but the real goal in signing Gonzalez was to improve our infield D up the middle which we did. The infield D should be much improved from 2011.

Also, I don't mind an article criticizing a signing, but if you're going to do it, at least offer what your alternative solution would be? Easy to say, "get somebody better than Gonzalez". Well, extending the payroll to accommodate Reyes would have been foolish, and we tried hard to get Rollins. He didn't want to play here, what are we supposed to have done about that?

If the article had suggested that going after Barmes when he was available would have been a preferable alternative to Gonzalez, I could agree with that. But that's about it.

Agreed. WE ONLY lose Prince, and we'll wait and see with regard to Braun.

But this has us pegged as a 80 win team or worse. I think the upgrade on the left side, plus the bench(Aoki namely) should help make up for the loss of Prince.

Then there are the upgrades the hardcore fans of a team hope for. The Parra coming back healthy, Aoki being a legit big leaguer. I've heard Fukudome with less power....which is ideal atop our order quite frankly(Fukudome always posted OBP's around.370, and Aoki has speed). Braddock, Green, Gamel, etc..etc...

I think it's a little slap in the face though to fall that far down just because we lost Prince despite addidng what we added and what we have coming back.

dusters · by **dusters** on Jan 28th, 2012, 5:37 pm

Below the Royals? Really?

brewerfanx1 · by **brewerfanx1** on Jan 28th, 2012, 6:07 pm

Fan174 wrote:
UWbrewball wrote:CBS Sports:

Good business: Aramis Ramirez doesn't help the righty/lefty balance, but he remains a credible middle-of-the-order bat. Bad business: Replacing Yuniesky Betancourt with Alex Gonzalez is like replacing a gently stewed diaper with a decaying ferret. Shortstop may not be the easiest position to fill nowadays, but come on. Prognosis as of 11:14 a.m. GMT on Jan. 26, 2012: It would be a lot rosier if undercover Cardinals operatives didn't frame teetotaling family man Ryan Braun by slipping all that synthetic testosterone into his soup.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/1700 ... t-in-style

These rankings look ridiculous to me.

It's because they are ridiculous.

UWbrewball · by **UWbrewball** on Feb 1st, 2012, 7:26 pm

SI:

17. Milwaukee Brewers
Notable additions: 3B Aramis Ramirez, SS Alex Gonzalez, OF Norichika Aoki, RP Jose Veras
Notable subtractions: 1B Prince Fielder, RP LaTroy Hawins, RP Takashi Saito, UT Jerry Hairston Jr., 3B Casey McGehee

The starting rotation, led by Yovani Gallardo, Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, returns intact, but the heart of the lineup needs reinforcement. The addition of Ramirez helps mitigate the large offensive void left by Fielder's departure, but Ryan Braun's status remains uncertain (he's appealing a 50-game ban for a failed drug test). Francisco Rodriguez is badly overpaid as a set-up man ($8 million) but is an especially important piece in that bullpen following the free-agent exits of Hawkins and Saito.

http://cnnsi.com/2012/writers/joe_lemir ... =hp_t13_a2

adambr2 · by **adambr2** on Feb 1st, 2012, 11:51 pm

You know, we shouldn't even be surprised by these, but come on. These just seem lazy and indicate lack of research.

Yup, Prince is gone, and Braun may miss 50 games. We were also missing our All-Star rightfielder and ace starter for the first month of the season last year and still won 96.

And now we're not even in the top half of MLB? C'mon.

On WAR alone, Prince gone and Braun gone for 50 (which most rankings acting like it's a foregone conclusion that he'll be suspended) costs us 8 games and makes us an 88 game winner. Problem is, that's with the 2011 Betancourt and McGehee back, which they aren't, and we also now have K-Rod for the whole season.

Saito and Hawkins were solid relievers, but cripes, we got 75 innings between the two last year. We'll get that from K-Rod this year. And Veras is an adequate replacement. Our bullpen should be better than we started with last year.

Gonzalez is nothing special, but he's the same at Yuni offensively and a significant defensive upgrade which in turn will help the pitching. And I hope McGehee improves in Pittsburgh, but Ramirez is a big upgrade from the 2011 version of Casey.

Could we be a middle of the pack team in 2012? Sure, but it would require everything going wrong, it's not the most likely scenario, if any of these folks pumping out power rankings would look a little deeper than losing Prince. Let's not anoint the Reds just yet.

Macha Man · by **Macha Man** on Feb 2nd, 2012, 8:55 am

Yeah it sucks, but let's be honest, a LOT of the pre-season and early power rankings will be based on hype more than anything. If you lost a big free agent, or signed a big one, a lot of people will overreact to how much that will change things.

shirt · by **shirt** on Feb 2nd, 2012, 12:51 pm

I'm shocked the Philadelphia Eagles aren't even in the top 5. This is an outrage!

Fan174 · by **Fan174** on Feb 2nd, 2012, 4:22 pm

adambr2 wrote:On WAR alone, Prince gone and Braun gone for 50 (which most rankings acting like it's a foregone conclusion that he'll be suspended) costs us 8 games and makes us an 88 game winner. Problem is, that's with the 2011 Betancourt and McGehee back, which they aren't, and we also now have K-Rod for the whole season.

i don't disagree with you, but you REALLY have to get away from this, "WAR has us losing 8 wins, so that makes us a 88 win team."

That's not how WAR works and it's not how it was intended. WAR was intended to measure one players value to another playrs value. THAT'S IT. It's not a literal translation to how many wins a player adds. There's no plausible way you could accurately measure that.

You think that losing Ryan Braun for 50 games REALLY costs us 1.7 cames with the ripple effect? Of course not. In the real world it's going to account for more losses.

Just a pet peeve. WAR is suppose to compare players to players and see if you are improving by including defense, or if a player is over or underrated.

shirt · by **shirt** on Feb 2nd, 2012, 4:43 pm

horsechukk314 wrote:It's painful to watch you morons year-after-year. What don't you guys get? The brewers essentially had everything going for them in the playoffs last year, struggled with the D-backs and got euchred by TLR in the NLCS. Now, losing prince, and losing braun for 50, this team is somehow some sort of powerhouse? Top half? I sincerely wish a lot of you rubes would get out of wisconsin for 10 days so you could see how the brewers rate in other markets. The who? Brewers? Doesn't Ryan Braun have herpes? *crickets and all of that*

I don't live in WI. The fact of the matter is you're just a really shitty baseball fan and your opinions are idiotic.

In other words, nobody gives a shit what you think.

horsechukk314 · by **horsechukk314** on Feb 2nd, 2012, 4:48 pm

shirt wrote:
horsechukk314 wrote:It's painful to watch you morons year-after-year. What don't you guys get? The brewers essentially had everything going for them in the playoffs last year, struggled with the D-backs and got euchred by TLR in the NLCS. Now, losing prince, and losing braun for 50, this team is somehow some sort of powerhouse? Top half? I sincerely wish a lot of you rubes would get out of wisconsin for 10 days so you could see how the brewers rate in other markets. The who? Brewers? Doesn't Ryan Braun have herpes? *crickets and all of that*

I don't live in WI. The fact of the matter is you're just a really shitty baseball fan and your opinions are idiotic.

In other words, nobody gives a shit what you think.

OK, chief. 1. Chicago is soooooo far from wisconsin. 2. I bet you get a lot of respect from Cubs and White sox fans. In fact, I bet a STRONG MAJORITY of them think the brewers are in the top half of MLB teams. hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Fuck. Nothing better than getting drunk and coming on this site and reading what the morons have to say.

shirt · by **shirt** on Feb 2nd, 2012, 5:02 pm

horsechukk314 wrote:
2. I bet you get a lot of respect from Cubs and White sox fans. In fact, I bet a STRONG MAJORITY of them think the brewers are in the top half of MLB teams.

Correct.

shirt · by **shirt** on Feb 3rd, 2012, 12:08 am

shirt wrote:
horsechukk314 wrote:
2. I bet you get a lot of respect from Cubs and White sox fans. In fact, I bet a STRONG MAJORITY of them think the brewers are in the top half of MLB teams.

Correct.

I can just picture Chukk sitting in his own filth on a Thursday night, 6 deep but out of booze, begging his wife to take him to the liquor store so he doesn't have to ride his bike there and back, and coming to the realization of how idiotic his previous statement was.

I could see saying that the strong majority of them don't think the Brewers will win the division. Thats certainly up for debate, but its a very strong majority around here that expect them to win more than 81 games.

Fan174 · by **Fan174** on Feb 3rd, 2012, 1:40 am

shirt wrote:
shirt wrote:
horsechukk314 wrote:
2. I bet you get a lot of respect from Cubs and White sox fans. In fact, I bet a STRONG MAJORITY of them think the brewers are in the top half of MLB teams.

Correct.

I can just picture Chukk sitting in his own filth on a Thursday night, 6 deep but out of booze, begging his wife to take him to the liquor store so he doesn't have to ride his bike there and back, and coming to the realization of how idiotic his previous statement was.

I could see saying that the strong majority of them don't think the Brewers will win the division. Thats certainly up for debate, but its a very strong majority around here that expect them to win more than 81 games.

I certainly argue, but chukk just seems like he leads an unhappy life. Bitching about "today's youth," of which he's a part of by the way, talking about people going to school on the Gov't dime and taking out loans and then not working in that professon...liiike...running a Gyro shop and managing wifey's Daddies appartments.

So....really putting that law degree to GREAT use! Which by the way his wife paid for.

So how the fuck exactly does he get to look down on everyone?

horsechukk314 · by **horsechukk314** on Feb 3rd, 2012, 9:04 am

Fan174 wrote:
shirt wrote:
shirt wrote:
horsechukk314 wrote:
2. I bet you get a lot of respect from Cubs and White sox fans. In fact, I bet a STRONG MAJORITY of them think the brewers are in the top half of MLB teams.

Correct.

I can just picture Chukk sitting in his own filth on a Thursday night, 6 deep but out of booze, begging his wife to take him to the liquor store so he doesn't have to ride his bike there and back, and coming to the realization of how idiotic his previous statement was.

I could see saying that the strong majority of them don't think the Brewers will win the division. Thats certainly up for debate, but its a very strong majority around here that expect them to win more than 81 games.

I certainly argue, but chukk just seems like he leads an unhappy life. Bitching about "today's youth," of which he's a part of by the way, talking about people going to school on the Gov't dime and taking out loans and then not working in that professon...liiike...running a Gyro shop and managing wifey's Daddies appartments.

So....really putting that law degree to GREAT use! Which by the way his wife paid for.

So how the fuck exactly does he get to look down on everyone?

Because I'm that fucking based, bitch.

Fan174 · by **Fan174** on Feb 6th, 2012, 3:31 pm

horsechukk314 wrote:
Because I'm that fucking based, bitch.

Huh....

UWbrewball · by **UWbrewball** on Feb 20th, 2012, 7:49 pm

So this version of MLB Power Rankings is based on every team's likelihood of being the mystery team. Think of it as a guide when the some future mystery-team light is shining in the night sky.

5. Brewers
They're just a small-market, humble Midwestern team. No one suspects them. They just lost one homegrown superstar they couldn't afford to keep, and they leveraged themselves to keep the other one.

But think about this as if it's a movie. What would the twist be? What would be the third-act tweak that shocked you the most? It would be if the mystery went all the way to the top. Imagine our intrepid protagonist figuring out that Bud Selig was the mystery team the entire time. You might think it would be more believable if the twist was that Selig was dead the whole time, but y …

No, wait, you'd be right. That would be a more believable twist.

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/2/20/28070 ... -preseason

UWbrewball · by **UWbrewball** on Mar 22nd, 2012, 10:10 pm

CBS Sports:

9. Brewers
My NL Cy Young pick? Zack Greinke. Laugh, and then note I picked Ryan Braun for MVP last season. The Brewers may just be my lucky charm.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/1797 ... ne-to-draw

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