The Brewers have certainly done a poor job at identifying talent at the top of the draft. However, passing on a better talent to save money for later picks is not what is needed at this time. That is not necessarily what they did though.
Less on the better spot in the draft. I am glad we developed talent but wish we could have had a few more runs land in a few different games. Our run distribution was a little lucky.
They went 5-2 in one run games in September alone. There are 5 games right there where losing every single one would have very little effect on individual numbers. 5 wins without really digging. Heck include the two games in October and they are 6-2. One less hit here and there and we are easily 68 or fewer wins and little impact to individual stats.
Honestly, I probably still make all those moves. Now we are in a position with more talent and depth so when we start winning gain it will be more than a flash in the pan.
He wasn't. He had the same season for us one year. No reason to question it unless he is great again next year which is probably unlikely. But if you want a simple answer, likely a sophomore slump followed by his son dying and messing him up. He wasn't really all that good even in the second half of the first year. He was pretty horrific for us from July of 2013 until we traded him other than an odd month here and there. The defensive metrics also have him around average at best. I also think this trade worked out great for everyone involved. Segura was a fairly redundant piece for us. We had Arcia heading to AAA to start this year with the possibility of a June call up. The trade opened up an opportunity and Villar stepped in and impressed. We also got a few players for the future. Segura had a great year. Hopefully his career has a better arc than Gomez and he continues to hit from here out.
Sheets could spot a fastball pretty well but when you took away his CB he wasn't anywhere near as good. You can talk about spotting your fastball but it's more than that. CS is going to make good pitchers look bad.
Being within 12 games of the Wild Card is having the playoffs right there for you? If we had both those guys we could have totally been with 8-10 games instead. What a waste to trade both of them.
One thing to consider is that many of the guys who would decline were so bad they retired before their mid 30's so the argument looking at past players is already skewed.