Ask yourself this: if Ben Sheets had been healthy and pitching like an ace in the summer of 2008, would Melvin still have made the Sabathia trade? Doing so would have put the Brewers in a legit spot to potentially win the World Series. I don't think that Melvin would have made that trade then... the goal being, in general, to be good enough to make the playoffs, "field a competitive team" etc, and generally get fans excited enough to come to the ballpark The moves since then reflect that ethos, being mostly concerned with "pleasing the fans" & "fielding a competitive team", no sense of rebuilding even for a year or two, thus a team now that is "stuck in neutral"