The Brewers Bar Weekly Hangover 7/31/16

Each Sunday evening we will review our favorite and least favorite events of the previous week, and share our perspective on how the team is doing. Please enjoy responsibly.

Cheers! (Something good that happened)

Phat Homers Galore: After opening the home stand last weekend with a series loss to the Cubs, the Brewers had a great bounce back week, winning series against the Diamondbacks and Pirates.  The last week was fun to watch not just because of the wins, but because some players you wouldn’t expect hit some bigass homeruns.  On Monday, Scooter Gennett hit a bomb to center off  the bottom of the scoreboard.

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At 436 feet, I was pretty sure that was the longest homerun Gennett would ever hit.  But according to ESPN Home Run Tracker I tweeted too soon.  Apparently, this 2014 homer at Chase Field is Gennett’s career high at 441 feet, although it didn’t look as cool because it didn’t hit off a scoreboard.

On the other hand, I feel relatively certain the 458-foot homer Hernan Perez hit off the Miller Park scoreboard established a benchmark he will not be able to match again.

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Meanwhile, Kirk Nieuwenhius has been taking a break from his regularly scheduled strikeouts to hit some big flies. Nieuwenhuis has hit five of his 10 homers on this home stand, including three over 400 feet.

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None of these guys are particularly known for their home run power, so to see them launch some whoopers last week was a real treat.

Buzzkill (Something forgettable that happened)

Lucroy Trade Drama Remains Unresolved (As of This Writing): When it was announced Lucroy was being held out of the lineup on Saturday, everyone expected that he would be on his way out of town by Sunday morning.  Yet when Sunday morning rolled around, the big news in the baseball world was Lucroy exercised his no-trade clause and would not go to Cleveland.  Reports indicate the Brewers would have gotten four (!) prospects for the all-star catcher, but the deal didn’t work for Lucroy:

Lucroy, who had the Indians on his non-trade list, vetoed the trade Sunday morning when the Indians would not only decline to provide financial incentives for him to accept the deal, but also would not guarantee that he would be their everyday catcher in 2017, a person with direct knowledge of the trade told USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

“When you are dealing with life-changing, life-altering decisions like this, there are a lot of factors that come into play, mostly family,” he said. “The other half of that is your future in this league and your career. There are a lot of different things to take in. Whenever those things don’t line up, decisions have to be made that might be tough, but that’s the way it has to be.”

Brewers fans came to terms with Lucroy’s departure some time ago, so it’s painful for us that the drama is dragging out. But the deal has to work for everyone, so presumably we’ll get word of another trade (a la Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers going to Houston) in short order.

Here’s to You (Standout player(s) or play(s) of the week)

Junior Guerra is Almost Complete: It’s been over a year since the Brewers’ last complete game, so when Guerra went out for the ninth inning against the Pirates on Friday, the butterflies churned in our collective stomach.  He promptly gave up two baserunners, so when Craig Counsell went out to the mound everyone, including Guerra, thought he was coming out (at 1:27 of the video below).  BUT NO, it was a swerve!  Counsell kept him in the game and gave him a chance to finish it off.

Guerra came within one out of going the distance, but couldn’t quite get the job done (no thanks to the umpire standing in the way of that last hit). Still, helluva game.

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Back on the Wagon (Thoughts on the week ahead)

It’s August already! The dog days of summer start with a West Coast road trip to play the bottom of the NL West.  First up is San Diego, where the Brewers won series in 2015 and 2013.  Since the Brewers seem to do well there in seasons when they are underperforming, maybe those games will be worth staying up late for.  Then it’s off to Arizona, to face a team they made look pretty bad last week.  I have a feeling the Diamondbacks won’t back down so easily, but they’ll still be without Zack Greinke, who is on a rehab assignment.  That’s too bad – seeing Jean Segura and Rickie Weeks again doesn’t create the same excitement.

(Image: Dylan Buell/Getty Images)