The Milwaukee Brewers season ended in disappointment on Wednesday, as Craig Counsell's bunch fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second of two games at home. Fans at American Family Field left unhappy, even booing Counsell at one point in time for a pinch-hit decision (more on that later).
Milwaukee received some disappointing news prior to the series, as Brandon Woodruff was forced out of the majority of the postseason with a shoulder injury. Woodruff had suffered a similar injury in 2022, so he has a long road to recovery ahead.
The Brewers offseason starts now, and the first order of business is to figure out if Counsell will be back After the game, he wouldn't entertain the discussion, though star Christian Yelich made it clear the team wants him back.
"Couns' been a huge part of why this place is the way it is now," said Yelich. "We haven't been able to take it the whole way and win a championship, but being in a small market and being a consistent winner and having a good, competitive team every year that's either in the playoffs or missed it by one game, it's tough to do."
While Counsell's value to the Brewers' recent run is unquestioned, he's not blameless for Milwaukee's defeat in this specific series.
Craig Counsell deserves some blame for Brewers defeat
Counsell was faced with several tough tasks in just two games this series. First, he had to remake the rotation on the fly, replacing Brandon Woodruff with Freddy Peralta. Second, he received plenty of flack for his decision to pinch hit Jesse Winker in Game 2.
Per Matt Carroll of Reviewing the Brew, Counsell's confusing choice to go to Winker immediately backfired:
"So then why would Counsell go with someone like Winker, who had a season to forget as he slashed .199/.320/.247 in 61 games? Sure, he looked good in some rehab starts down at Triple-A toward the end of the season, but that's way different than an MLB playoff game...In what probably wasn't much of a surprise to many Brewers fans, Winker struck out on three straight pitches. To add injury to insult, Winker had to have the athletic trainer come out and check in on him after the second of the three pitches after he winced following a swing and miss."
Counsell was booed when Winker was forced out of the game, which spoke to the frustration of Brewers fans in the moment.
Corbin Burnes didn't pitch like an ace in Brewers Game 1 loss
Corbin Burnes wants to be paid like an ace in Milwaukee. He certainly had a problem with how he was treated during his arbitration hearing prior to last season, and let the media know about it. The Brewers saved under $1 million by essentially arguing against their starting pitcher in a courtroom.
"There's no denying that the relationship was definitely hurt from what (transpired) over the last couple weeks. There's really no way to get around that," Burnes said. "When some of the things that are said … they basically put me in the forefront of the reason why we didn't make the postseason last year. That's something that probably didn't need to be said."
Burnes was gifted an opportunity in Game 1 to back up his words, but he fell flat on his face. The 28-year-old lasted only four innings and gave up five hits and four runs, good for a postseason ERA of nine. Yikes, indeed.
Milwaukee may shop Burnes this offseason, especially given his comments prior to spring training. His playoff performance won't help his value.
Freddy Peralta did not step up for Brandon Woodruff, Brewers
Freddy Peralta was forced to step in earlier than expected against Arizona in Game 2, but did not perform up to his regular-season standard. Peralta had a sub-4 ERA in 2023, and is one of the better young pitchers in all of baseball.
The sixth inning got away from Peralta, as Milwaukee held the lead up until that point. In his final stat line, he gave up four runs in less than six innings of work. Counsell's choice to leave his young pitcher in until that point did not go unnoticed, and may have led to his unraveling.
It is tough to put too much blame on Peralta, though, as he was thrust in a tough spot. His offense didn't do him too many favors in terms of run support, either, scoring just twice in nine innings of play.
