What We Learned: Proper rebuilding of the rotation is important

Brewers News & Notes

• The MVBrewers profiles continued yesterday, as Kyle took a look back at the 2015 season for Carlos Gomez. Meanwhile, Will Smith finished up as the lead vote getter for the #9 spot.
• Despite Kyle Lohse's rough season in 2015, he remained good at one thing. Ryan Romano of BP Milwaukee looked at the strike rate of Kyle Lohse in 2015 and how he was able to keep it at the same level.
• With Lohse expected to be gone in free agency, the Brewers will only return one starting pitcher over the age of 27 next year: Matt Garza. Seth Victor of BP Milwaukee asks if having only one "mentor" in the rotation will hurt the young pitchers at all.
• As the Brewers continued to rebuild their rotation, how should they approach replacement pitchers? Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker uses recent trends from postseason teams to find an answer, suggesting that the Brewers should not be afraid to have a revolving door in the rotation if starters are not working out. He further backs this point up by breaking down where the "middle rotation" starting pitchers around the league came from this season.
• This year, the Brewers were on the better end of avoiding Tommy John surgery for their players, but they still had a few propsects with lost seasons due to it. Julien Assouline of BP Milwaukee analyzed the recent Tommy John trends to find some meaningful data in when the surgeries occur.
• Reviewing the Brew continued their series of offseason grades with a review of the season for Elian Herrera (though there wasn't a grade).
• Here's a minor change you can expect to see at Miller Park next season. The Brewers Twitter account posted a picture of a new welcome sign on the front of the press box.
• If you haven't heard about this yet, the future predicted in Back to the Future II did not happen as the Cubs were eliminated from the postseason yesterday. Over in the FanPosts, great198 discusses the ramifications for the future since it was altered with the Cubs not winning the World Series.

Minor League Update

• Travis' look back at the BCB top prospects entering the year continued with reviews of the seasons for #8 Tyler Wagner and #7 Devin Williams.
• The Brevard County website has an interview with LHP Stephen Peterson, who discusses his offseason plans and reflects on the Brevard County 2015 season.
• In his Minor Details blog, Jeff Levering has two updates for Brewers players in offseason leagues. His first update looks at recent performances of AZL players as well as some of the Brewers winter ball players, and the second looks at some strong performances in Wednesday's AZL game.
• The rosters for the Premier12 event taking place in Asia this November were announced yesterday, and a few Brewers prospects made the USA and Canada teams. Marcus Young of Miller Park Prospects looks at what Brewers will be participating in the event.
• The Rattler Radio blog has a list of former Timber Rattlers who played for teams in the NL East and AL East in 2015.

Postseason Update

Yesterday's Games

AL Championship Series
Game 5: Blue Jays 7, Royals 1
Royals Lead Series 3-2

NL Championship Series
Game 4: Mets 8, Cubs 3
Mets Win Series 4-0

Today's Games

No games today. Next game is on Friday when the ALCS continues with Game 6.

Around Baseball

• Daniel Murphy was named NLCS MVP after a historic set of four games. He hit a home run in every game of the NLCS, as well as six straight postseason games overall.
• The Mets almost jinxed their postseason run during game four of the NLCS. Chris Cwik of Big League Stew notes that the Mets website accidentally posted NL Championship apparel on the site before the Mets had won the game.
• Don Mattingly appears to be out in Los Angeles. Reports came out this morning that Mattingly and the Dodgers have mutually agreed to part ways, cancelling the last year of Mattingly's deal with the Dodgers.
• The Dodgers claimed RHP Lisalverto Bonilla off waivers from the Rangers.
• With nine free agents projected to receive $100 million contracts, MLB Trade Rumors looks at the biggest contract each franchise has given out in their history.
• Zack Greinke is expected to receive one of those $100 million contracts, but it may not come from a team you would suspect. Mike Bates of MLB Daily Dish notes that it won't just be the big spenders that look at signing Greinke this offseason.