[BirdWatcher]

(Experimenting with this feature, perhaps for at the beginning and in the middle of each month during the regular season.)

Who's Hot:

In the Brewers starting rotation clearly Sekien Hamasaki is off to the best start (not to take anything away from Sadahige Kawasaki and his usual brilliance). Hamasaki is 6-0 with a 2.12 ERA and an 0.86 WHIP. Granted, his BABIP is an un-sustainably low .221 (career average= .273). And certainly his 0.2 HR/9 will likely be higher by season's end. On the other hand, he has a FIP of 2.29 and a FIP- of 55 and his groundball out rate of 49% is fairly well below his career average (he is known as a groundball pitcher.) So it should not be expected for his performance to crater, just to return to somewhat more mortal levels eventually.
Closer Tim Shore is also off to a great start, having saved 6 games in 7 chances (and that one was coming off an injury shortened outing a few days prior) and has a 2.25 ERA and 0.88 WHIP.
First baseman Brett Taranto has cooled off a bit since very early in the season but he still has a slash line of .355/.388/.565, has hit 6 home runs, driven in 23 runs and scored 24, has 3 doubles and 4 triples, and leads all position players on the team with 1.8 WAR.
And let's give some love to third baseman Jake DiCesare, who since returning to the team from AAA Chester on April 21st, has hit .316/.365/.386, with a double and a home run and 6 runs driven in while also walking 5 times while striking out just twice. He has also solidified the hot corner a bit, with his +0.1 ZR and 2.74 RF perhaps not looking that impressive (he has had limited action so far) but when compared to erstwhile starter RodRod's -0.6 ZR and 2.22 RF, DiCesare has already been a pretty significant upgrade.

Who's Not:

It is already pretty well established that after a disappointing 1977 season, in which his advanced metrics indicated that he pitched better than his traditional stats would lead one to believe, Steve Green is again struggling. Green is 1-4 with a 6.80 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP in 1978. His BABIP against is insanely high at .363, so trusting this isn't a trend (his 1977 BABIP was .312, with a career BABIP of .284), things should straighten out. But then again, we said that most of 1977 too and it never really quite did work out. (Though let's not forget that he gave us a great start in the KCS.) His FIP is a respectable 3.80 for a FIP- of 92, so it probably isn't time to push the panic button yet. Still, at age 31 and with next year the last on his contract and the team having the option to buy that out, he might want to start proving soon that he still has it.
Ben Flynn provides one of the best bats off the bench- as a relief pitcher! But after finally having the kind of season on the mound that had long been forecast for him in 1977, he has backslid a bit in 1978. Flynn has pitched 18 1/3rds innings, by far the most of any Brewer reliever, and has a 6.38 ERA and 1.85 WHIP with an 0-1 record and 2 saves. Okay, that .474 BABIP against probably explains it. Small sample size still, Flynn is bound to turn it around.
For a team with a nearly .700 winning percentage, there are a surprising number of Brewers hitters who could be considered cold thus far.
But let's just talk about Val Guzman right now. It's not that the sophomore left fielder hasn't been valuable this year- his 0.5 WAR still ranks in the top 5 among Brewers batters- but his slash line of .224/.303/.402 is somewhat concerning. He does still lead the team in doubles with 8 and is tied for third in stolen bases (with Joe McPhillips) with 4 and he's hit 3 home runs, driven in 17 runs while scoring 18, and his BABIP of .228 is bound to come up so likely he's had some hard hit balls that didn't fall in.

Dollars and Sense (and some nonsense):

The end of the season is still far away but the front office is already starting to plan for it, given that a number of tough decisions await them.
First off, 10 players are arbitration eligible at the end of the year, and one of them- Josh Schaeffer- for the last time. Among these 10 players are some of the Brewers key players(estimated arbitration amount at this point): the aforementioned Schaeffer (314K), Sekien Hamasaki (90K), Rich White (96K), Ben Flynn (41K), and Kirk Patnode (39K).
And a few players who are arbitration eligible likely won't be on the team next year. Third baseman RodRod, as has been mentioned previously, might be moved in trade soon with Jake DiCesare having earned the starting job and Jose Figueroa not far behind. And 4th outfielder John Flores is the weak link defensively among Brewers outfielders and while he does provide a potent right-handed bat he is expected to command at least 160K next season and we have plenty of less expensive options as potentially good as him.

In addition, the Brewers have team options to buy out 4 players at the end of the season if they wish: Matt Helm, Steve Green, Jason Gottula, and Bobby Erbakan. Now obviously Bobby isn't going anywhere, and likely Green and Gottula aren't either, but captain Matty Helm is a tough decision. He has pitched exclusively, and sparingly, in the bullpen this year and while he has fared quite well, he is a career-ending injury waiting to happen.

And finally, there is veteran closer Tim Shore, who is on the final year of his contract. Rumors are that the team and Shore are already well into negotiations on a contract that will keep the 32-year old right hander, currently considered among the best in the league at his position, in the fold for 3 to 4 more years.

Down on the Farm:

Let's take a quick look at our minor league affiliates:
AAA, Chester Big Stick: 21-11, 2nd place, 2 games behind.
The Brewers top pitching prospect not yet on the big league club is Chester right-hander Bryant Cox. Cox is heading towards having his finest season as a professional ballplayer yet with a 4-1 record and a 1.25 ERA. Third base prospect Jose Figueroa has cooled off a bit lately but is still on pace for a 3.7 WAR season and has a slash line of .306/.333/.358.

AA, Nashville Red Wings: 12-20, 9th place, 13 games behind.
Oscar Medrano (4-2, 2.03) still leads the not very good starting rotation. Right fielder Eric Hammock still profiles as a future WPK outfielder, whose bat could even make him a star someday, but his .276/.343/.439 isn't anything to get too excited about.

A, Bainbridge Brawlers: 11-21, 8th place, 13 games behind.
Left-handed starting pitcher Eric Seidel may yet someday be a useful member of the Brewers rotation, but age 19 he looks outmatched at the single A level. Seidel is 1-4 with a 5.75 ERA and 1.82 WHIP thus far in 1978. Young center fielder Matt Catlett, considered by many WPK experts to be the Brewers best position player prospect, isn't tearing up single A but his .262/.336/.393 slash line isn't too concerning and with his great work habits, game-changing speed, and developing tools the front office is still pretty excited to watch his progress.

Injury Report:

Recently the team doctors cleared veteran left-handed starting pitcher Erik Sloan to start pitching in games again and he has joined the AAA Chester rotation for a rehab stint prior to returning to action as a Brewer. Bobby Erbakan is nearly ready to resume play as well as his sore elbow is healing nicely and he should need just a few more days before he can play again at which point he will also be given a short rehab stint.
The Brewers system is pretty injury free at this stage but they did suffer a big loss when veteran left-handed starting pitcher Nick Baldwin, who was signed to a minor league contract to provide depth in case of injuries to the big league rotation, suffered a torn rotator cuff and won't pitch again this season. Relief pitcher Ryan Muilenburg, part of the group of AAA relievers with experience in the Brewers bullpen and good potential, is out for 3 more weeks with shoulder bursitis which started bothering him towards the end of April.
And outfielder Billy Ferguson, the Brewers 2nd round pick in 1975, is expected to be out for a few more weeks as he deals with chronic back soreness which has currently sidelined him since the second day of May. The irony is that Ferguson himself is considered a pain in the backside to his Nashville teammates (Disruptive) and they are in no hurry to have him back. (Likely his time in the organization is coming to an end soon. If he wasn't a pretty darn good hitter it probably already would have, but with his toxic personality, poor defense, and complete lack of any foot speed, he is surely not a keeper.)