Each year, David Stearns waits 45 games into a season before assessing his team. It’s a strategy that helps separate perception from reality, and prevents overreactions to the early peaks and valleys. And it’s how the Brewers’ president of baseball operations and general manager navigated through a tumultuous bullpen situation to open the season – he kicked the tires on possible moves, but ultimately decided to rely upon in-house candidates to make things work.



Now 75 games into the season, Stearns can make more concrete evaluations of the Brewers’ roster. The bullpen has leveled out. But the recent trends paint an unflattering picture: the club has lost seven of its last nine games to slip behind the Cubs, and the defense and starting pitching have wavered between brilliant and then poor performances.



“There is probably a level of consistency that needs to grow within our run prevention as an entire unit,” Stearns said.