Milwaukee Brewers: Knee jerk reactions from Opening Day loss

The Milwaukee Brewers dropped an ugly 7-5 opener to the Colorado Rockies. One down, and 161 more to go. 

The 2017 season opened about as badly as it possibly could have for the Milwaukee Brewers. Defensively they were awful, and Junior Guerra went down with an injury.

Even though there are 161 more of these games to be played, here’s some knee jerk reactions from day 1.

The pitching staff will be a revolving door

We saw Junior Guerra go down during his first at-bat, which led to a Tommy Milone sighting. Milone started what was a long day for the bullpen.

Outside of Milone, the bullpen was pretty solid. Milone gave up two runs over two innings. The rest of the bullpen was taxed for one earned, and two unearned runs thanks to Jonathan Villar and Jett Bandy errors.

Guerra is going to the DL with a lower leg injury which means someone will be moving up from the bullpen or AAA. Matt Garza is already on the DL, so it seems either Chase Anderson or Taylor Jungmann will be in line for a start.

As for the bullpen, it was pleasantly surprising to see them pitch so well. It will be interesting to see if the pen can keep it up all season. There are so many other relievers in the Brewers system the regular guys are going to have short leashes. Rob Scahill, Tyler Cravy, and Damien Magnifico are all at AAA, and all could be called up with the snap of a finger.

Jonathan Villar will see the bench

There is no questioning that Jonathan Villar is one of the most important pieces in the Brewers lineup, but he will see the bench this year because of his mental mistakes.

I’m not saying he’s going to be benched for extended periods of time, but he will catch pine for his mental errors. He cost the Brewers multiple different times today.

First, he dropped a double play turn from Arcia, then had a throwing error, and was arguably out of position on Bandy’s throwing error. He was out of position because he missed a sign. Villar needs to be consistent at second base.

He led the league in errors in 2016. There’s no arguing that he’s a difference maker on offense, but until his defense catches up with his offense, Counsell will need to hold him accountable.

Villar was benched last season, and don’t be surprised when Counsell has to do it again this season.

Defensive miscues and strikeouts are still problems

Milwaukee led the Majors in errors with 136 in 2016. Milwaukee also led the majors with 1543 strikeouts in 2016. It’s hard to win when, as a team, you lead the majors in both of these statistics.

David Stearns and Craig Counsell have made it clear that the team approach at the plate is patience. This is quite evident as the Brewers were third overall in walks taken lat year. The walks don’t make up for all the strikeouts, though.

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Even if a batter grounds out, or pops out, they are putting the ball in play. Putting a ball in play puts pressure on the defense. Striking out doesn’t put the ball in play, and puts absolutely no pressure on the defense.

The Crew struck out 14 times today, which is way too much. They need to be more aggressive earlier in the count. Walks are obviously an excellent way to get guys on base, but being too patient is costing the Brewers way too much at the plate.

The Defensive effort from Milwaukee today was atrocious. Three errors, which should have been four had Villar’s drop been counted an error.

Villar was obviously a big part of them, but Bandy did have two throws off of the mark. Throwing the ball, and fielding grounders are simple, day one things. Errors happen, but as in the Brewer’s case, they keep repeating over and over.

If the Brewers can’t field the ball and keep giving the teams extra outs it’s going to be a long season. It’s only day one, but it’s discouraging to see these problems from last year plaguing the Brewers yet again.