paulpressey25 wrote:jimmybones wrote:I believe CHL's point(correct me if I'm wrong) is that it would be beneficial to sell because of the return you'd get via trade from guys that still have value.
That was his point after it was noted that we don't have to suck like in the NBA to get good players in the MLB draft. And it is an interesting and fair point. We could theoretically have sold everyone off at the deadline for prospects, but was that really an option in 2012 and now 2014? Both years the team had a shot at making the post-season if they actually had even just one or two hot weeks at the right time (2012 earlier in the summer and 2014 we just needed a hot 6-1 type week here at the end).
The question I've got though is what would we really get in return for trading all our guys away? Gomez and some of the pitchers could have brought stuff back, but those are also the type of players we need as a talent base. To me it is much easier to simply improve the entire farm system (and that may start with a new GM).
I readily admit I'm not as half as sharp as many of you on MLB topics. But I don't see an easy fix here because despite Melvin's mistakes, he's also not run the team into the ground like prior Brewer GM's did for a two-decade period. He has kept the team interesting and relevant during his tenure. It hasn't been a bad last 5-8 years as a Brewers fan. Firing Melvin could mean things get much, much worse if you don't hit on your hire
Right now, they wouldn't get much for trading away their guys. That ship has sailed. They have to go all-in one more time next season, more so than ever. Trade Lucroy and Gomez would be foolish, and it wouldn't be enough to start a meaningful rebuild anyway. Trade them next offseason at the earliest. That's a natural time to rebuild.
Regarding the question, when should they have made a decisive move to restock, I would say the first answer would be after the 2011 season. When you look at how many players had career years and stayed completely healthy in 2011, it's astounding. To go into the season counting on Marcum and Wolf after their late-season implosions in 2011, and to count on Weeks and Hart again after all their ups and downs (both had a history entire half-seasons hovering around .220 and both had slowed down dramatically in the field and on the basepaths, in part due to injury concerns), was example the kind of thing I'm talking about when I say they don't do a good job realistically assessing their talent level. Nyjer was a flash-in-the-pan, Hairston, Saito, and Hawkins were big losses, etc. They're basically a .500 team over the last 10 years, yet every year somehow they justify adding a Kyle Lohse here and an Aramis Ramirez there and continuing to chase wild cards. Which is okay in a vacuum, but far from ideal for a small market team because it's not sustainable. It leads to the kind of barren future we're looking at now. Was it worth it? I'd say it was okay. But I'd easily rather sacrifice some marginal present success for a chance at sustained future greatness, and I believe that's the opportunity they passed up.
I forgive them for that though. They added Ramirez to replace Prince, so it wasn't completely unreasonable, though I thought it was the perfect time to hit reset. What still irks the hell out of me is how they didn't trade more guys at the 2012 deadline when they traded Greinke. I guess a lot of guys had already plummeted to newfound depths. Then, like the Fear-The-Deer run, that little 2012 wild-card chase did more harm than good because they were encouraged and tried to retool again at the end of the season. I don't know what trade options were really available, but I definitely felt it was time to rebuild.
No doubt it's all a moot point if you don't hit on any draft picks, but the prospects you trade for can mitigate that.
Wut we've got here is... faaailure... to communakate.
