Milwaukee Brewers

Catchers & Infielders:

• C – Jonathan Lucroy
• C – Dave Nilsson (1B/LF/RF)
• 1B – Cecil Cooper
• 2B – Don Money (SS/3B)
• SS – Robin Yount (CF)
• 3B – Paul Molitor (1B/2B)
• CI – Prince Fielder (1B)
• 3B – Ryan Braun (LF/RF)

Outfielders:

• LF – Sixto Lezcano (RF)
• CF – Christian Yelich (LF/RF)
• RF – Jeromy Burnitz (LF/CF)
• OF – Geoff Jenkins (LF/RF)
• OF – Richie Sexson (LF/1B)
• CF – Gorman Thomas (RF)

Starting Pitchers:

• SP – Brandon Woodruff
• SP – Chris Bosio
• SP – Teddy Higuera
• SP – Corbin Burnes
• SP – Pete Vuckovich
• SP – Freddy Peralta

With every team, we started building their all-time 25-man and 40-man rosters by using the Hall of Fame as a starting point, figuring that a player enshrined in baseball’s immortal Hall would certainly qualify to make his team’s all-time roster.

Almost all the Hall of Fame members are easily identifiable with one team so it’s a simple way to start every roster with near-inarguable selections. There are a few brilliant players who made significant contributions to multiple teams, and it’s our job to decide where they made the biggest impact.

Christian Yelich is a good example – in his career so far, his five years as a Marlin outweigh his two years in Milwaukee. For now, Yelich is still a Marlin, but that should change in a couple years.

As with every team, we are trying to build an active roster with 13 position players and 12 pitchers, and then a 15-player inactive roster of guys who just missed the cut, but remain valuable as callups in case of slumps or injuries.

The 13 active position players are usually two catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders. The stats are built around the average of the player’s best three consecutive seasons.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame delivers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor to Milwaukee. That gives us two of our 40-man roster, and WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a great stat for looking at the all-around contribution to a team for both hitters and pitchers, can help us with the rest.

We get lots of help here, as in order we find: Ryan Braun, Cecil Cooper, Don Money, Jeff Cirillo, George Scott, Jim Gantner, Geoff Jenkins, Ben Oglivie, Carlos Gomez, Sixto Lezcano, Gorman Thomas, Jonathan Lucroy, Prince Fielder, Jeromy Burnitz, Corey Hart, B.J. Surhoff, Greg Vaughn, John Briggs, Rickie Weeks, Dave May, Jose Valentin, and Richie Sexson.

Once plugged into the simulation software, we looked at their OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) and their defensive rankings and they break down like this:

CATCHER: Jonathan Lucroy, B.J. Surhoff
FIRST BASE: Cecil Cooper, Prince Fielder
SECOND BASE: Don Money, Paul Molitor (sometimes)
SHORTSTOP: Robin Yount, Don Money (sometimes)
THIRD BASE: Paul Molitor, Ryan Braun (sometimes)
LEFT FIELD: Ryan Braun, Richie Sexson, Geoff Jenkins
CENTER FIELD: Carlos Gomez, Robin Yount (sometimes)
RIGHT FIELD: Jeromy Burnitz, Greg Vaughn, Geoff Jenkins

Remember that Milwaukee has moved back to the A.L. in Eternal Baseball, so they will be using a designated hitter in most games – Prince Fielder, Richie Sexson, Jeromy Burnitz, Greg Vaughn, and Geoff Jenkins will get some at-bats at DH as well.

That leaves inactive roster options for George Scott, Gorman Thomas, Jeff Cirillo, Jim Gantner, Corey Hart, Sixto Lezcano, Ben Oglivie, and Rickie Weeks.

For the pitching staff we’re looking for six starters and six relievers. Bear in mind that across the whole game you will see dynamic, outstanding starting pitchers that can’t crack an all-time rotation but are better served as relievers on a team than sitting inactive. With 21 players on the total roster we have room for 19 more pitchers.

Once we dug into the career WAR rankings (as Brewers) we came up with: Teddy Higuera, Ben Sheets, Chris Bosio, Bill Wegman, Mike Caldwell, Moose Haas, Jim Slaton, Yovani Gallardo, Cal Eldred, Jim Colborn, Lary Sorensen, Dan Plesac, Doug Davis, Scott Karl, Bill Travers, Ricky Bones, and Chase Anderson.

Talented relievers Mike Fetters, Ken Sanders, and Josh Hader are candidates as well.

We looked at their overall numbers in the simulation software and leaned heavily on ERA to come up with these designations:

STARTING ROTATION: Chris Bosio, Teddy Higuera, Yovani Gallardo, Mike Caldwell, Ben Sheets, Jim Colborn
RELIEVERS: Jim Slaton, Bill Travers, Mike Fetters, Ken Sanders
SET-UP: Dan Plesac
CLOSER: Josh Hader

Hader has only spent one season as Milwaukee’s closer but his numbers are too dominant to ignore.

The inactive pitcher options are Lary Sorensen, Scott Karl, Cal Eldred, Ricky Bones, Moose Haas, Chase Anderson, and Bill Wegman.

So how did we do?

Would you use Dan Plesac as your closer over Josh Hader?

Is Ryan Braun a third baseman or a left fielder?

What batting order would you suggest versus lefties and righties?

Let us know in the forums below and if you make a compelling case we will adapt it in-game. We want every squad to be the best they possibly can be and appreciate your help fine-tuning the Brewers for Eternal Baseball.

Photo Credits:

• Miller Park by Bryce Edwards
• Bernie Brewer by Charles Edward Miller
• Milwaukee Brewers Pitchers by slgckgc
  
• Brewers Player by theaudioslave