David Stearns earned the respect and admiration of Brewers fans throughout the years. The reasons are pretty simple. He made a quick rebuild and brought the Brewers to a 2018 National League Championship series. This offseason was a big one for the Brewers. Could they repeat success? Milwaukee had a tough decision to make between keeping some of their veterans or letting the young guys try to figure things out. Stearns and the front office chose the latter. The results are not going well for them. Corbin Burnes is in Triple A. The team needed to make up a shoulder injury to give Freddy Peralta a break. Brandon Woodruff is the only positive thus far. If you look at those who Brewers decided to let go this offseason, they’re thriving right now. This is a bad one-two punch for Stearns.

In fairness to Stearns, the Brewers are dealing with an absolutely brutal schedule to start for the young pitchers. St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles Dodgers are three of the best offenses in the National League. For groups of young pitchers, this is a horrible way to start the season. Brewers could easily Old Takes Expose this blog post in a couple of months. But it seems so reckless to throw three young guys out there with that schedule. You do not want the teams you’re playing dictate long-term decision-making, but at the same time, you could start with a veteran then look towards the future after this rough patch.

Part of the problem might have been that 60 percent of the starting rotation were young guys. If Jimmy Nelson is healthy to start the year, this is entirely different and not as much of an issue. Hell if Chase Anderson had a better Spring Training and stopped giving up home runs like an adult handing out candy at Halloween, this changes things entirely. Brewers went with their young guns because they showed promise in Spring Training. When the bright lights came on versus the best offenses in baseball, they showed flaws and seem a bit away from being really good.

It doesn’t help Stearns’ decision that Wade Miley is doing well for Houston. Or that Jordan Lyles has an ERA under one for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both could have been options for the Brewers., and it didn’t even seem like the Brewers even thought about it. Either Miley or Lyles could have helped the team yet at the same time, there are only 25 roster spots on an Opening Day roster. Stearns’ job is really tough and mistakes happen every now and again.

It is still early, so let’s hope this is an early blip versus a trend for the entire year.

Charlie.