Owner Expectations and Goals:
Play .500 Ball this season
Upgrade at Shortstop this season(
Jean Segura,
Hector Gomez)
Sign
Carlos Gomez to an extension
Keep building your team up, in order to reach the playoffs in the next four seasons
Preseason Predictions:
86-76, second NL Wild Card
Roster:
Starters:
| Name | Age | League | W-L | ERA | G | WHIP | K/9 | Status |
| Mike Fiers(R) | 29 | ML | 6-5 | 2.13 | 14G/10GS | 0.88 | 9.5 | 7 |
| Matt Garza(R) | 31 | ML | 8-8 | 3.64 | 27GS | 1.18 | 6.9 | |
| Kyle Lohse(R) | 36 | ML | 13-9 | 3.54 | 31GS | 1.15 | 6.4 | |
| Jimmy Nelson(R) | 25 | ML | 2-9 | 4.93 | 14G/12GS | 1.46 | 7.4 | |
| Wily Peralta(R) | 25 | ML | 17-11 | 3.53 | 32GS | 1.30 | 7.0 | |
| Taylor Jungmann(R) | 25 | AAA | 8-6 | 3.98 | 19G/18GS | 1.32 | 8.9 | All Stats AAA |
Looking at last years numbers, the rotation should be decent once again.
Taylor Jungmann should break into the rotation down the road but with room to grow, we will keep him in AAA to start the year.
Bullpen:
| Name | Age | League | W-L | ERA | G | WHIP | K/9 | SV | Status |
| Jonathan Broxton(R) | 30 | ML | 4-3 | 2.30 | 62G | 1.02 | 7.5 | 7 | (MIL/CIN) |
| Neal Cotts(L) | 35 | ML | 2-9 | 4.32 | 73G | 1.34 | 8.5 | 2 | (TEX) |
| Jeremy Jeffress(R) | 27 | ML | 1-1 | 2.81 | 32G | 1.41 | 8.2 | 0 | (MIL/TOR) |
| Brandon Kintzler(R) | 30 | ML | 3-3 | 3.24 | 64G | 1.34 | 4.8 | 0 | |
| Francisco Rodriguez(R) | 33 | ML | 5-5 | 3.04 | 44G | 0.99 | 9.7 | 44 | |
| Will Smith(L) | 25 | ML | 1-3 | 3.70 | 78G | 1.42 | 11.8 | 1 | |
| Tyler Thornburg(R) | 26 | ML | 3-1 | 4.25 | 27G | 1.52 | 8.5 | 0 | |
| Jim Henderson(R) | 32 | DL | 2-1 | 7.15 | 14G | 1.59 | 13.5 | 0 | DL 3-4 weeks |
| Michael Blazek(R) | 26 | AAA | 4-4 | 4.13 | 37G/17GS | 1.43 | 7.7 | 1 | All stats AAA |
| Corey Knebel(R) | 23 | AAA | 1-1 | 1.96 | 14G | 0.82 | 9.8 | 2 | All stats AAA(DET) |
| Chris Perez(R) | 29 | AAA | 1-3 | 4.29 | 49G | 1.36 | 7.6 | 1 | (LAD) |
Knebel and
Blazek may get a chance once injury happens. Surprisingly enough, Ron Roenicke announced that
Jeremy Jeffress will be his closer for 2015 with
K-Rod and
Broxton as setup man. I will look at the waiver wire and the free agent pool to add another left handed reliever for depth... we are dangerously reliant on
Neal Cotts there and have no options in AAA... We offered a couple of MFA deals to
Paul Maholm(1-5 4.84 30G/8GS LAD) and
Francisley Bueno(0-0 4.18 30G KCR) and our head scout recommended RHRP
Justin Freeman(3-1 6SV 4.25 29G AAA) aswell...
Catcher:
| Name | Age | League | Avg-HR-RBI | OPS | G | WAR | R | SB | Status |
| Jonathan Lucroy(R) | 28 | ML | .301-13-69 | .837 | 153G | 4.8 | 73 | 4/8 | |
| Martin Maldonado(R) | 28 | ML | .234-4-16 | .707 | 52G | 0.4 | 14 | 0/0 | |
| Juan Centeno(L) | 25 | AAA | .200-0-2 | .473 | 10G | -0.1 | 1 | 0/0 | (NYM) |
Lucroy should be our catcher at least until his contract expires after 2017 and
Maldonado is the perfect backup catcher, not a great bat but a great defender and a bench leader.
Infield:
| Name | Age | League | Avg-HR-RBI | OPS | G | WAR | R | SB | Status |
| 1B Adam Lind(L) | 31 | ML | .321-6-40 | .860 | 96G | 2.4 | 38 | 0/0 | (TOR) |
| 2B Scooter Gennett(L) | 24 | ML | .289-9-54 | .754 | 137G | 1.9 | 55 | 6/9 | |
| 3B Luis Jimenez(R) | 27 | ML | .162-0-2 | .421 | 18GS | -0.3 | 3 | 0/0 | (LAA) |
| 3B Aramis Ramirez(R) | 36 | ML | .285-15-66 | .757 | 133G | 2.8 | 47 | 3/3 | |
| SS Hector Gomez(R) | 27 | ML | .282-15-49 | .808 | 121G | 1.9 | 59 | 5/8 | All stats AAA |
| 3B Jean Segura(R) | 25 | ML | .246-5-31 | .614 | 146G | 0.0 | 61 | 20/29 | |
| 2B/SS Luis Sardinas(S) | 21 | AAA | .261-0-8 | .616 | 43G | 0.0 | 12 | 5/6 | (TEX) |
There is alot of uncertainty in this infield, starting with
Ramirez' age 36 season,
Adam Lind's injury history,
Jean Segura's production and with a couple of 27-year old backups... that are rather inexperienced at the MLB level. There could be some changes with highly talented
Luis Sardinas developing in AAA and if things go down the drain, we could unload some of those guys.
Outfield:
| Name | Age | League | Avg-HR-RBI | OPS | G | WAR | R | SB | Status |
| LF/RF Ryan Braun(R) | 31 | ML | .266-19-81 | .777 | 135G | 3.2 | 68 | 11/16 | |
| LF Khris Davis(R) | 27 | ML | .244-22-69 | .756 | 144G | 2.7 | 70 | 4/5 | |
| CF Carlos Gomez(R) | 29 | ML | .284-23-73 | .833 | 148 | 5.3 | 95 | 34/46 | |
| OF Gerardo Parra(R) | 27 | ML | .261-9-40 | .677 | 150 | 1.0 | 64 | 9/16 | (MIL/ARI) |
| OF Logan Schafer(L) | 28 | ML | .181-0-8 | .554 | 65 | -0.3 | 13 | 2/3 | |
We have a lot of depth in the majors, but in the end our season will depend on how
Ryan Braun will rebound from his 2014 and if
Carlos Gomez can once again do the heavy lifting. The truth is that
Braun's 10y/$142.5M retirement contract till 2020 with a team option for 2021 may end up as a burden instead of a help for the Brew Crew. Our ourfield depth in AAA is sparse... so we dished out a MFA offer to OF
Ryan Kalish(.248-0-5 57G CHC).
Lineups:
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Questions for the 2015 Season:
Can
Ryan Braun bounce back to the MvP/Silver Slugger form and lift the team back into the postseason for the first time since 2011? Will his thump continue to hinder him?
If the team is not looking great come July, will GM K.C. Martin consider to deal away veterans like
Adam Lind,
Matt Garza,
Kyle Lohse and the expiring contract of
Aramis Ramirez to fill the sparse minor league system?
How will the bullpen fare with a inexperienced closer in
Jeremy Jeffress and how will
K-Rod deal with that?
Will their unranked but highly talented AA prospect gang already make waves at the MLB level late in the year?