The Sporting News recently released an MLB organization power ranking. On a bright spot, the deserving Minnesota Twinks, one of the smallest market teams in baseball, finished number one due to their strong farm system and glut of young potential. However, the Brewers were quite a different story. They finished behind every team except the Detroit Tigers and were far and away ranked as the weakest team in the national league. If I had a say in the matter, the Crew and Tigers would have tied for 29th but that is quite beside the point.
It is growing more and more difficult to compete in the majors without spending about double what the Brewers spend. If the Brewers don't spend wisely, they will lose. It's that simple. They haven't had a winning season in ten years for a reason. It's because they haphazardly spend the little money they have on players that either are injury prone, were one year wonders, are washed up, basically have no talent, or any combination of the above. No matter who they hire as manager, the teams have been destined to lose. However, that is no excuse for hiring the likes of Davey Lopes or Jerry Royster.
For the Brewers to ever be successful, they need to follow the lead of teams like the Twins. It wasn't easy watching the Twins of the late 90's just as it is not easy to watch the Brewers today. The Twins turnaround gives Brewers fans like myself hope, but the Brewers are going to need to do exactly what the Twinks have done. That is, rebuild from the bottom-up. When the Twins traded Chuck Knoblauch for Eric Milton, Christy Guzman, and Brian Buchanan, they were criticized for "trading the one good player they had." Needless to say, that trade is looking pretty good now. The Twins knew they weren't going to win anytime soon and accepted it. They developed a five year plan that has proven itself brilliant.
The Brewers' plan was to open up Miller Park with a bang and be a playoff contending team by its second year. The organization brought in third rate players and one of the worst managers in baseball history leading them to a 106 loss season. As former NFL football coach Jim Mora would say, "Playoffs, Playoffs? PLAYOFFS?! I just want to win another game." The idea of putting a winning team on the field for a new stadium was a good one, but the organization's attempts at achieving the goal were futile at best.
Now, as the Brewers sit in the cellar of the central division with a dried up farm system, a makeshift lineup, and the most rapidly dwindling fan base in sports history, it's time to cut the loses and start over again. To start off, the organization needs to avoid the trap of signing individual players to large, long contracts that will "fix everything in one year" (i.e. Jeffrey Hammonds and Eric Young). There are good players to sign and bad players to sign for the Brewers. The previously mention players are bad signings not just simply because they are bad players, really really bad players, really bad, but also because there is no reason to sign someone to a large contract when the team has no chance of winning 75 games.
For the past ten years, the Brewers have consistently focused on their upper level personnel problems. The quick fix players and revolving door of managers proves this. By failing to rebuild from the bottom-up, the organization has put itself in the position in which it is. They have unsuccessfully developed talent at the minor league level and managed to destroy the careers of the few good players they do develop. A good example here would be of Marc Newfield. He was likened to Ken Griffey Jr. a few years ago, but I'm sure very few remember him today. The team's young players are either brought up too early or are getting poor training in the minors and majors. Since both are typical causes of wasted talent, and since the Brewers certainly bring players up much earlier than would other teams, there is no saying if one in particular has caused the Brewers' rebuilding problems.
As said before, for the Brewers to have a Twinkie-like turnaround, they will need to focus their energy completely on the farm system. Rather than trading an everyday player for another everyday player of the same age, the Crew needs to trade a player for multiple younger players like the Twins did with Knoblauch. However, this is not always the case. For instance, it was a good idea to trade Jeromy Burnitz for a player of similar age because his salary needed to be dumped. It was not, however, smart to sign him to that binding of a contract in the first place (2 years, $20 million), nor was it smart to spend the extra revenue on another Burnitzy kind of player, Jeffrey Hammonds. The more attention and players that are put into the farm system, the better it will be. Spending such a sum on a run-of-the-mill outfielder certainly distracts from rebuilding.
So, what does this mean the Brewers should do? Rebuilding the farm system is easier said than done. Well, step one was to avoid signing big, useless players. The second step is to trade everyone of any value who is either old, overpaid, or not signed to a long term deal. There are teams that will trade good young players for washed up and overpriced players (Mets, Yankees, Rangers, etc.). Next, the Brewers need to stop bringing up their prospects too early to fill the voids left on their roster. Bringing a player up too early messes with that players confidence and development. When the Brewers called up Nick Neugebauer, he was said to have Cy Young potential. Although he had a great game to start, he and the organization soon found out he was not ready to pitch in the majors. He had never developed control, proper pitch selection, flawless mechanics, dominating off-speed pitches, nor the ability to battle good hitters. Since his premature call up, he has battled multiple arm injuries, constant walks, and a problem with the long ball. Because of the call up, the Brewers may have spoiled the career of a guy who could throw 96 mph coming out of high school.
As nice as it would be to not have the Brewers play again until they have talent, that's just not going to happen. They have to play the 2003 season like it or not. So, if the Brewers are supposed to trade everyone and not bring up their prospects, who is supposed to fill their roster? Obviously, the team will have to bring in outside players to fill the spots. Many people confuse this with signing players like Hammonds. But, there is a huge difference between a one year, $500,000 contract and a three year, $21 million contract. For the most part, the organization has done a respectable job this winter. They have brought in crafty veterans like John Van der Wal, Todd Ritchie, Dave Mlicki and several more. Sure, they may not be stars, but with minor league contracts they can't hurt the team. These players have been good before, thus, they have some potential to be good again. If they do perform well early, other teams will certainly want those players come time to make a push for the postseason. Small contracts make a player tradable. Furthermore, hiring veteran players gives the clubhouse quality leadership and instruction that has been absent from the team in the previous years.
Again, the Brewers must bring in more prospects and let them fully develop. What's really hurt is that teams have recently realized the value of prospects and been hesitant to part with anyone of sure future value. Last year's fire sale of everyday players for younger prospects was a good start but also proved how little teams were willing to trade. The Brewers got younger and helped out their minor league system a bit, but none of the players they picked up are predicted to be anything special in the future. The Brewers did not have enough to trade to get anything certain in return. Since the system is not loaded with raw talent, for the young players to be of any worth they must buy into the philosophy of smart fundamental baseball. A small market team can't compete by outslugging the big market franchises because big sluggers carry far too high of a price tag. The Twins didn't make it to the ALCS in 2002 by outslugging opponents. Rather, they developed a team centered around great defense and pitching, line drive hitting, and speed.
Anyone who is familiar knows that good fundamental baseball was the absolute furthest thing from the 2002 Brewers' philosophy. If he could have, Alex Sanchez would have found a way to make three outs in one at bat with no one on base. Everything they did was shoddy at best. They struck out too much, walked far too little, ran the bases like blind children, and walked far too many opposing batters. Hiring a new manager and a collection of one-year band-aids was a good start, but a few band-aids can stop what is figuratively speaking the equivalent of 100 stab wounds in the chest. The Crew needs to sign more players to help fill the holes and teach the younger players how to play the game. The perfect player to sign still remaining on the open market is Rickey Henderson. If there is one player who epitomizes exactly what the Brewers need to be like, he is the one. Sure he has lost more than just a step, but he is still perhaps the most patient hitter in the game and certainly the most knowledgeable about base stealing. Furthermore, Henderson would work for peanuts. Literally, he would. He would be a low risk pickup that could only benefit the team development. Signing players like Henderson and more progressive front office moves to revitalize the farm system are the Brewers only hope.
Whether the Brewers' current problems are the result of signing bad players, bad managers, or mismanagement of the farm system, the fact is that they need to do something to deviate from their previous fiasco called 1992-2002. They are off to a respectable start this off-season, but without an entirely new approach to player development and rebuilding, the team is destined to flutter below mediocrity for some time to come.