The stache

This franchise has been around a lot longer than the 2002 season, of course. We were sad a long time before that, too. But since we're talking Doug Melvin, let's look at Melvin's tenure. Melvin has been our GM for 13 seasons now. We've made the playoffs twice. We've won our division once in thirteen seasons. We've finished second twice. Third five times, unless something changes in our last few games. Fourth twice. Sixth three times. The Brewers under Melvin currently have a 1,010-1,088 record. (.481) You contend that the teams with big payrolls, and playing in the biggest markets, are winning the World Series. But three times in the last six seasons, the Brewers were only two spots behind the eventual World Series winner. In 2013, the Red Sox won the WS. They were 4th in team alary. We were 16th. In 2012, the Giants won the WS. They were 8th in team salary. We were 10th. In 2011, the Cardinals won the WS. They were 11th in team salary. We were 17th. In 2010, the Giants won the WS. They were 8th in team salary. We were 10th. In 2009, the Yankees won the WS. They were 1st in team salary. We were 17th. In 2008, the Phillies won the WS. They were 13th in team salary. We were 15th. In 2012, 2010 and 2008, the Giants and Phillies won the World Series. The Giants were 8th in team salary, and the Brewers were 10th. When the Philadelphia Phillies won in 2008, they were 13th in salary. We were 15th. So, your contention that the teams that have been winning the World Series have so much more money than us is inaccurate. The two seasons the Giants won, they spent about $20 million more than we did. A difference, but not a huge one. No matter how you slice it, the Brewers have been inept for nearly the entire time since they moved to Milwaukee. They had a 4 or 5 season period in the late 70s/early 80s where they were good. They had a few seasons in the 90s where they were pretty good. They've gone to the playoffs twice in thirteen seasons under Melvin. We have won 90 games or more four times since 1982. And winning 90 games is not a big deal. But we've done it four times in 32 seasons. In 1987, we won 91 games. In 1992, we won 92 games. In 2008, we won 90 games. In 2011, we won 96 games. I'm sorry, but this franchise has been terrible overall with a few short spurts where we had some success. And we're going nowhere now. The point is that Doug Melvin has NEVER had success as a General Manager. He's managed to be an assistant general manager, or a manager for going on three decades now. His teams have won 7 playoff games in total. How much longer are you willing to give this guy? Thirteen years. We've sniffed the World Series once, and that's the best a Doug Melvin constructed team has ever done. And since that 96 win season, we've gone backwards. How much longer are we going to just sit here treading water before people get sick of it? We could give Doug Melvin five more years. And the names would be different, but the reality would be the same. The Brewers would be one of the best power hitting teams in the Majors, and one of the best two or three in the National League, if not the top power hitting team. This team would probably steal a good deal of bases, but would get thrown out enough where the stolen bases were ultimately not helpful. We would struggle scoring for large chunks of the season when a few of our hitters would cool down. We might make the playoffs once more, but likely lose in the first round. That's just not good enough for me, and it shouldn't be for any Brewer fans.

I wouldn't mind if it were clear that there was a plan in place. If we have to trade some veteran players to make it happen, ok. I would keep Jonathan Lucroy for one thing. I would keep Scooter Gennett. It was mentioned how the Orioles had a few platoon players, and that helped them be successful. Ok, so let's find a middle infielder that compliments Scooter. A piece that can play multiple defensive positions while providing solid hitting. Scooter isn't expensive, and won't be expensive going forward. Find that complimentary piece that can play second when we're going against a left handed starter, and spell other infielders (shortstop, third base) occasionally when he's not playing second. I like players that are strong fundamentally, and have the flexibility to play multiple places. I would keep Gerardo Parra. He's a little bit better hitter than I expected he would be. He might not keep that up, but his defensive ability alone would make him worth keeping. Work with Khris Davis, too. If he can become more patient at the plate, and raise his OBP, I like him on this team long term. He's going to provide power, not only home runs, but doubles, too. And he'll score and drive in runs. I'd keep Braun, too. I'd keep him, and I'd consult at least ten different hand surgeons, the best in the world, to see if there are any other possible solutions we've not thought of. I would consider trading Khris Davis to see what we could get for him in return. I'd like to keep him if possible, but he's still got to be more selective at the plate. I've seen him do it for spurts, then he reverts back to his old form. His defense, and his base running, are excellent. I would love to see him up his OBP more, to get on the base more, and cause more pitchers to lose their concentration.

But we didn't come around. We had a nice lead in the division and pissed it all away with poor play in an epic collapse. I can't think of many teams where a GM or manager would survive a nose dive like the one we witnessed this season. We do not play sound defensive baseball and we are undisciplined at the plate. I'm sick of watching Gomez swing at pitches in the dirt while he screws himself into the ground as his helmet falls off. I'm tired of the rest of the guys who swing at balls and watch strikes fly across the middle of the plate. Why can't we get a fly ball when we have a runner at 3rd with only one out? I'm weary of RR keeping his starter in there even when everyone and his brother can see he doesn't have it any longer. Why won't he have more than one guy up and throwing in the bullpen just in case his reliever can't find the plate? By the time it is obvious and he gets another one up we give up the lead or fall further behind. The way RR uses his pitchers drives me crazy. I agree. And another thing he does makes me nuts. He is constantly fiddling with the lineup. It's almost as if he picks names out of a hat, as if changing the sequence in which the hitters come to the plate is going to magically turn us into the 1954 Cleveland Indians (only with them winning the Series). Moving a player around occasionally might be beneficial. But he does it to an extreme, and it's disruptive.

I don't think so. Braun makes some of the games we lost closer, but Braun wasn't fixing the bullpen implosion, and the starting pitching implosion. Our starting pitchers, for about a month, had an ERA of over 6. It's amazing to me how some of you have just seemed to accept mediocrity. "Well, if this player had just an average season, this thread doesn't exist." Sure it does. Because ultimately, our season still ends short of a World Series title. Even if Braun had hit his usual 30 home runs, this team still can't play small ball. This team still make mind blowing mistakes in the field. This teams still has what I hesitate to call AAA talent at first base. I want to stop being the butt of the joke whenever baseball is being talked about, and the city Milwaukee comes up. Most of us weren't around to remember when Milwaukee actually had a parade downtown to celebrate a championship. Our last NBA Championship was in 1971. Our last Major League Baseball Championship was in 1957. I don't need this team to become the New York Yankees. It's not going to happen. But a World Series win once every 10-15 years would be nice. Hell, one win would be nice period would be nice. Just seeing us popping the champagne after winning the World Series would make me happy. Anything else would be frosting on the cake. But from some of you, it's "So, if we signed Miguel Cabrera, and Clayton Kershaw, and Mike Trout, and Jose Altuve, THEN you'd be happy!" No. What would make me happy? The have our owner, the day after we are eliminated from the playoffs, come out in front of the cameras, and say something like this.. "The city of Milwaukee, and Brewer fans everywhere deserve better. They have waited patiently, more than four decades for a championship, and more than three decades just to get back to the World Series. And my priority is winning a championship for our fans. Every year, Brewer fans fill Miller Park. Brewer fans spend their hard earned money to come and support our franchise, no matter what the economy is doing. We have the best fans in baseball, and I want more for them. Maybe they will not say that a change is needed. But I will. And I will no longer tolerate mediocrity. I will be spending this offseason interviewing candidates to fill our vacant general manager and team manager positions. I wish to thank Doug Melvin and Ron Roenicke for the years they have given to our organization. They are good men, and they have worked hard to put a winning team on the field. It is clear that changes needed to be made. We were not showing the necessary improvements that I as an owner needed to see from one year to the next. I cannot guarantee that we will win a World Series this year, or the next year, or ever. There are 29 other teams in the Major Leagues trying to accomplish the same thing we are. Winning the World Series is hard. So while I cannot guarantee we will hoist the trophy, and spray champagne in October, I want you to know that this franchise, from the owner on down, is held accountable. And we will aggressively pursue the championship that has eluded us. Every person that becomes part of this franchise, from the front office, the coaching staff, and the players, will do so with the understanding that we demand excellence. If a person cannot give 100% every day, they should not be here. We will eliminate the stigma associated with this team. We will be winners, and that fight to the top begins now." If I heard something like that, I would be happy. We are never going to get better until the entire culture of this franchise changes. We are so used to losing, and missing the playoffs completely that we have accepted mediocrity. No more.

We've won one playoff series in the last 32 years, and the man principally responsible for assembling our team, in the 26 years he has been putting teams together, has won one playoff series. Not one World Series, or one Pennant. One playoff series. He's been given the keys by owners 26 times, and every season but one, the owner had absolutely nothing to show for it. And the other time, he won a single playoff series. The funny thing is the second post I made, with the breakdown of Doug Melvin's failures, was written at the beginning of last season. 2013 was still young, the imminent specter had not yet overshadowed us. Fast forward some 17 months, and nothing has changed. Do you see? It matters not when I write it, at the beginning of 2013, or during 2014's death rattle. The end results are the same. And if we have this same clown car running the show next year, guess what, the end result will be the same once again! We still don't have a first baseman. We still can't play small ball to save our lives. We still have a bullpen that chokes away far too many victories, and we still saw Ron Roenicke making the same kinds of mistakes he made last year. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. If we at least made some progress from last year, I'd feel better about things. What progress have we made this year? Our disappointment reached new highs in 2014 because the Brewers teased us for half the season, then pulled the rug out from underneath us? You're trying too hard to paint a rosy picture. It's not rosy. "We've been to a World Series". One whole World Series in 44 years. I showed you all four of the expansion teams that have come into the league. Two of them have won the World Series. Florida, who has no following, and who has their entire roster basically ripped apart and sold off, have still won two World Series. All four of them have made it to the World Series. We can't even get to one. Three decades of futility! "we had a great stretch from '77 to '82 where we would have been in the playoffs several more times in the current system." Sorry, that's an absurd statement. "We'd have made the playoffs in 1979 if only we had the playoff structure that was in place thirty years later." Really? And those 2.5 million we've been getting at Miller Park won't keep coming if they keep getting the same inept reward, I guarantee it. I'm sorry. I can't be just upset with this season alone. Because the ending is the same as every other one of the 40 + seasons that this franchise has existed. Somebody else took a big trophy home, and we got to sound like the old Brooklyn Dodger fans. "Wait 'til next year." You are accepting mediocrity. I can't do that anymore. I want to see Mark Attanasio make a splash, and sign somebody who will bring this franchise instant credibility. Somebody who will tell us "we are going to be competing for a World Series within the next three years, and here's how". I don't want sunshine blown up my arse. I don't want somebody saying "hey, look how incredibly average the Milwaukee baseball franchise has been for nearly the last half century. Why, we have lots of people that come out to the park....and have done that for like six years straight! Players want to play here now! I say that without a moment of pause, even as I subconsciously acknowledge that Prince Fielder, CC Sabathia, and Zack Greinke each took the earliest flight they could out of Milwaukee! But they really wanted to play here!!!" And actually, the middle of the night is when I am most alert.

Agreed 100%. This is something I've said repeatedly. Braun's drop in power numbers has zilch to do with taking or not taking any particular substance, or substances. Braun's power is fine. When he connects, the ball still flies a long way. His ability to make that connection...consistently...is the problem. That's why he's had to adjust his position in the batter's box. That's why he's been driving more pitches to the opposite field. That's why he's striking out more on pitch locations he used to have success with. By the way, anybody else pissed that Ryan Braun isn't healthy right now? Look at the stats he put up in 2012, and didn't win the MVP. Then, look at the stats Andrew McCutchen put up in 2013 to win, and the stats he's put up this year to likely win it again. Two of the weakest MVP seasons in recent memory. I'm sorry, but .309 AVG, 23 home runs and 75 RBI with 6 games to play is not an MVP season. Nor was .317 AVG, 21 HR and 84 RBI. Yes yes, I know, low .900 OPS, and McCutchen is all the rage. Well, he's going to have two MVP Awards, and shouldn't have any, really. I like him. He's a good player, seems like a nice fellow, and I like the Pirates. But MVPs don't hit .309 with 23 HR and 75 RBI. If that's the best they've got, give it to Kershaw, even though I loathe giving the MVP to a pitcher. Anyway, back to Braun. In Ken Burns' Baseball, I forget who said it, but one of the narrators being interviewed about baseball touched on something quite brilliantly, I think. He said that we played baseball as a child, and when we watch it on television, we think to ourselves "I could do that." On television, the ball appears slower. The stadiums seems smaller. The foul lines look shorter. We harbor this illusion, this fantasy, really, that we could play Major League Baseball, that it really isn't any harder than the game we played as children. So knowing that the game really isn't quite so hard, when a great player like Ryan Braun has a very minor injury, if this even qualifies as an injury, maybe it's more of a hindrance--he should be able to compensate, and not miss a beat. And when Ryan Braun isn't able to put up another 40 home run season, there's a nefarious reason at play. Well, Braun cheated before, and now he can't. So, Braun was really only a twenty home run a season guy. Oh, please. The truth of the matter is not quite so simple. He can't feel the bat in his right hand, or at least the lower part of it. The area between his thumb and his first finger is numb. He's overcompensating, and gripping the bat too tightly, which then causes blisters, exacerbating the problem further. When a right handed batter is in the batter's box, the right hand starts out on top of the left. As the pitcher begins to deliver the ball, a batter's right hand, together with his wrists, becomes primarily responsible for controlling the path the bat takes through the strike zone. Where his right hand was on top of his left prior to the swing, his wrists flip over, as he tries to make contact with the ball, the right hand, is now next to, but in front of the left hand. The right hand is principally responsible for determining where the barrel of the bat will travel to meet the ball. Because of the numbness in his hands, the blisters, too, and I'm sure some weakness in his grip that is not usually there, he is neither as accurate in where he is striking the ball, and I would wager that he is not generating as much bat speed as he normally does. Why? Because a hitter's power is derived from a few areas-their legs, their core (think their abdominal area and their hips. When a scout refers to a hitter's "twitch", I have always believed they referred to a hitter's ability to turn on a ball. Fast muscle fiber reaction), their arms and their hands. When any one of those areas is suffering, the others need to compensate. Easier said than done. Part of Ryan's compensation has been to move deeper into the batter's box. Pitchers can otherwise jam him, while still being close enough to the strike zone to get strikes called. By moving back, though, his plate coverage suffers slightly. Thus, a drop in his productivity. Try though Ryan Braun may, it's just impossible to plug five holes in a rowboat when you've only got four fingers. In common English, hitting Major League pitching is hard. If a hitter has a boo boo, opposing pitchers will find a way to exploit it to their advantage. I would bet money that if somehow the thumb heals itself in the offseason (thumb, heal thyself!), you would see Ryan Braun putting up numbers comparable to what he did in 2011 and 2012. People, myself included, gave Matt Kemp some crap when he wasn't able to replicate his 2011 season. He had a really hot start in 2012, then fell off a cliff. It seems he was just injured that whole time. I don't think he's all the way back yet by any means, but the signs are encouraging. He's hitting .300 with 14 HR and 45 RBI since the All Star Game, with a .941 OPS. Now, his BAbip of .331 isn't sustainable when you consider he's never hit .331 in a season. But like I said, encouraging. Let's hope that Ryan Braun is able to get healthy, and get back to playing as the elite hitter I know he still is.

Doug Melvin-assembled teams have won one single playoff series in his 26 years as an Assistant General Manager/General Manager. He has had more than a quarter century to learn the ins and outs. The truth is that he just doesn't know what it takes to build a championship team.

H4P, which Brewer got 2,000 hits??? Rickie Weeks got his 1,000th hit. Did I miss something else? The only guy I can think of on our club close to 2,000 hits is Aramis Ramirez, and I think he passed that last season, if I'm not mistaken. I do agree we have some good young talent, and shockingly a few of them have some real defensive upside. Orlando Arcia is the one prospect I hear that scouts want to talk about the most, and I've actually heard some people say they drool when talking about his potential. The kid can hit. He won't have much power, and I think his upside is .270-.280 (maybe higher. Hard to tell when they're in low ball to see what their projectability is). But he could be the best defensive shortstop we ever have. And I've wanted our own Mark Belanger-type, only with a better bat, for a looooong time. If you look at the Orioles in the late 60s and the early to mid 70s, they had some outstanding hitters-Frank Robinson, Boog Powell, Dave Johnson was pretty good, as was Brooks Robinson. And they certainly had their fair share of pitching. Jim Palmer was the great one, but they had a bunch of other guys that spent a good chunk of time in Baltimore while ending up with 180 or 190 wins, thereabouts. Cuellar had 185, McNally had 184, Palmer had 268. Torrez won 185, but he was only in Baltimore for one year, though he won 20 that season, too. It seemed every Oriole pitcher won 20 games at least a few times. But it was their defense. They may have been the best defensive team in baseball history. Palmer won 4 Gold Gloves. Brooks Robinson (16) and Mark Belanger (8) combined for 24 Gold Gloves at third base and shortstop. Then they had Davey Johnson, followed by Bobby Grich at second base. Johnson had 3 Gold Gloves, Grich had 4. Oh yeah, and they had the spectacular Paul Blair in center. There may be others I am missing, but 4 from Palmer, 16 from Robinson, 8 from Belanger, 7 from Johnson and Grich, and 9 from Blair. 44 Gold Gloves! Nothing got through the left side of the infield. All they needed was Keith Hernandez at first, and they would have been unbeatable! Now, the Brewers will never come close to replicating the kind of defensive talent the Orioles had. But I would love to see defense become a big part of our team. Draft good pitchers. Trade for a couple more good, young pitching prospects. And develop a defense behind them, and watch this team go from being an afterthought to a perennial contender. We don't need a team full of Clayton Kershaws. A true top of the rotation guy, a good #2, and some guys that pitch well, and eat up a lot of innings would be great with a tremendous defense behind them. The Brewers have always been a hit first team. Big bats. And don't get me wrong, it can make for some really fun baseball. But when the bats are cold, like they have been for a big chunk of the second half, this team flounders. I don't know off hand what happened first-the hitting going, or the pitching going. But when it became clear that the hitting was slowing down, our pitchers lost control of the ship. And we veered so far off course that we'll never get back. We didn't even need to win the division, though that would have been nice. A simple wild card would do. And there are two of them now. You'd think a team that was 19 games over .500 could get the second wild card. It's realizations like that which tick me off to no end. We can make each other feel better by saying "well, we weren't expected to be in it this year. The great baseball that we played was a bonus, more fun that we didn't expect". Except we weren't expecting that collapse, either. The highs were really fun while they lasted. The lows were worse than any I can remember in a long, long time. Because what happened has left me feeling like my guts were torn out, and there's no way I'm going to be able to get rid of that feeling before spring training. And my worst fear is that we'll get more of the same next year. On opening day, we'll have the same manager, the same coaching staff. The same players, minus Rickie Weeks and a few others. We'll have a new stopgap first baseman until Dougie Fresh finds a solution. I can handle losing if I know that our franchise is headed in the right direction. In fact, as odd as this sounds, I can handle losing now, knowing that a definite change in direction has been made for our eventual long term success, better than I can handle winning some now knowing that at some point in the very near future, the wheels will absolutely come off. My worst fear is that the Cardinals keep drafting and developing really good players. Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, and Carlos Martinez are all going to be the real deal. Oscar Taveras is going to be our whipping boy. He's going to hit .320 with 25 home runs and 100 RBI every year, only he's going to hit .400 against the Brewers, year in, year out. And Kolten Wong is going to make us envious. And Stephen Piscotty will be the real thing. I know it. The Pirates will keep developing players. Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole are going to be their 1 and 1 a, a formidable duo of front line, top of the rotation pitchers. And then Tyler Glasnow will come up, and give them a third stud. And Josh Harrison, who came relatively out of nowhere, will keep hitting, as will McCutchen. Starling Marte will figure it out, and Gregory Polanco will be the Pirate version of Taveras. And Austin Meadow, and Reese McGuire and Alen Hanson will be studs. And Josh Bell will hit a lot of home runs. Then there are the Cubs. I'm not going to further depress myself talking about all their top 100 prospects. Ok, I lied. Javier Baez is up, and he's going to figure it out. Mike Olt is going to put it together, just because he's due. If his vision is finally corrected, look out. Jorge Soler has been lights out since coming up. Then they have Kris Bryant and his .325 AVG and 43 homers in under 500 ABs at AAA, and Addison Russell, and Albert Almora, who is going to be the team leader, the Derek Jeter of the Cubs. Arodys Vizcaino and CJ Edwards will lead a pretty good staff that gets a metric crap ton of run support. And all those years the Cubs were bad...payback is coming. At least the Reds, the Reds we can play with, right? Robert Stephenson is nasty. He's got light up the radar gun stuff, and nasty offspeed stuff. Jonathan Mayo gives his fastball AND his curve 70 grades on the 80 scale. And an average to above average changeup. They have young talent, too. They're at the Major League level, and have been. They just needed to put it together. You know Joey Votto will get healthy, and come back, and be that same .300 hitter he's always been. Only now Todd Frazier and Devin Mesoraco are hitting bombs with him and Jay Bruce. Mesoraco has a .900 OPS. He hits some of the longest home runs this side of Giancarlo Stanton. When he connects, it looks like he's swatting a ball with a tree. But the Reds should be pretty good, too. Ok, we all know not all those prospects will hit. A few on each team will whiff. But the Cubs have stockpiled so many top of the line talents, even if they miss on a few, they're going to hit on enough to really start making some noise in our division, and in our league. They will have the money needed to address the rest via trades. I really think the Cubs are headed in the right direction. They have the big hitting bats. But some of these guys have defensive tools, too. Almora is going to be very good. A few of the other guys have big arms. I really like Bryant. #1, we need to keep up with our own division. And right now, at least three of the other teams (the Cubs, Pirates and Cardinals) have much better 25 and under talent than we do. I think the Reds are close, but their talent is just a little older. Not much. Mesoraco can play behind the plate for 5 years, then rotate to first base. We need to be bold, and right this ship now. Because if we're not careful, the other four teams in the central will leave us in the dust. Jonathan Lucroy needs to work on his throwing out runners in the offseason, This division is getting much faster. Billy Hamilton has proven that he can hit Major League pitching. He doesn't have to be a .300 hitter. If he can develop some plate discipline, and get his OBP up, he's going to be a headache. The Pirates are going to steal a lot, too. Polanco will steal 30 bases a year. He's that fast, and Alen Hanson might steal 40 a year. I don't want moves made just for the sake of making moves. We know that won't happen, and I'm no asking for it to happen. I want to see a new leadership group within the franchise. There has to be an assistant coach now, in Tampa Bay, or San Francisco, or Los Angeles, that we can grab that would make a great manager. There has to be somebody who has been working as an assistant General Manager that is ready to take the training wheels off, and lead a franchise to the next level. Mark needs to talk with his people in the Majors, ask around for names, and seize the opportunity. I don't think that Doug Melvin is a terrible GM. If you are wanting a team that can compete for playoff spots, and make it every couple of years, maybe he's your guy. We don't want to be that team anymore. Brewer fans have had enough of that to last us two lifetimes. We want to experience some success now. I want the Brewers to be winners. The game has changed since the late 70s, but how teams are put together is different. It's an international game now. Let's get the best scouts we can buy, and let's get them in places we haven't hit heavily before. The Rangers are finding all kinds of young talent in Latin America. Let's get in there. Let's hit the orient some more. Find me the next Masahiro Tanaka. Or, find me the next Jose Abreu. .319 AVG, 35 HR and 104 RBI his first season. A .979 OPS, and a 173 OPS +. Tanaka, before shutting it down, was 12-4 with a 2.51 ERA, a 7.11:1 K:BB ratio. Let me just repeat that for Brewer fans who are not used to seeing this since Benny hung his cap and glove up. Masahiro Tanaka had a 7.11:1 strikeout to walk ratio. 135 strike outs to 19 walks in 129 1/3 IP. And his numbers drastically went down his last two starts, because his arm was experiencing those problems. Take out the 9 earned runs he surrendered in 13 2/3 over his last two starts, and look at his stats. 11-3 with a 2.10 ERA, 127 K in 115 2/3 IP. His WHIP was 0.9515. He was averaging 106 pitches thrown per start, but his average innings pitched per start was at about 7.25. Compare that against Gallardo's 6 innings per start. That extra inning is a big difference. That's 162 fewer innings the bullpen has to shoulder. We need guys in the Brewer office crunching numbers. Looking at things in different ways, because there are things we see, and I wonder if the Brewers are seeing them. I am not a fan of pitch count so much as I am a fan of pitch count stress. You can't just look at the number of pitches a pitcher throws, and pull them, or leave them in based on that. Somebody can throw 125 pitches in a complete game shutout where they only gave up 4 or 5 hits. And they may have fatigued their arm less than somebody who threw 97 pitches in 5 innings. Why? Stress. If a pitcher is in a tight spot, they're likely overpitching to try and get out of that jam. I've read articles on this, and I think the idea has definite merit. Pitches like a curve ball puts more stress on the elbow than a fastball. The Brewers, if they haven't already, need to start considering things like this, because it sure seems they are using old fashion methods to evaluate during the game. If so, we're at a disadvantage.

I want to repost an analysis I did of Doug Melvin's teams. This originally appeared in logan82's excellent thread General Thoughts on the Franchise, which was posted on May 23, 2013. Doug Melvin has now been an Assistant General Manager, or a General Manager for 27 seasons. In those 27 years, his teams have won one playoff series. Here's what I posted last May:

Before anybody feels inclined to throw things at me, understand that I love the Brewers, and I have since I was 8 or 9 years old. I will be 43 years old in three days, and when I am on my deathbed, God willing many years from now, I will still love them. My affinity for, and my loyalty to this team has never wavered. But at some point we need to be honest with ourselves. Our franchise is pathetic. The Brewers came to Milwaukee in 1970, the year before I was born. Since then, this team has been to one World Series, and lost it. Teams that did not exist in 1982, or even in 1992, have been to the World Series, and won. The Florida Marlins were established in 1993. They've won two World Series. The Tampa Bay Rays were established in 1998. They haven't won the World Series yet, but they made it there in 2008. The Arizona Diamondbacks were established in 1998. Three years later, they won the World Series. The Colorado Rockies were established in 1993, and in 2007, they made it to, and lost the World Series. The Milwaukee Brewers franchise was established in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots. They moved to Milwaukee. The team made it to the World Series in 1982. That is going on 32 years ago. Hell, until 2007, it had been forever since we even made it to the playoffs. Adambr2 made a post last night that sums this franchise's entire pathetic history up: And that, my friends, in a nutshell, is what people think of our team. They think the Brewers are a loser franchise. And though it pains me to say it, they're right. Ya, it's been a really long time since the Chicago Cubs have won a World Series. It will be 106 years when the 2014 World Champs are crowned. But at least they have won a World Series. Two, actually. And when I look at the young talent the Cubs have, and compare it to the young talent we have, I'd bet good money the Cubs will win it all again before we win one. I would bet a lot of money. We say we don't like losing. But we have come to accept it. And I don't see a lot from the top that the loser mentality this franchise has is going to change anytime soon. I believe Mark Attanasio wants to win deep down. I do. I think he is a good man. I thank him for buying this franchise, and for increasing the payroll so we can be competitive. But if there is one thing we have learned in the past few years, a team doesn't guarantee itself a World Series by spending a lot of money. I believe that great teams are built through the draft. The core of great teams "grow up" together, if you will. Those players get drafted by, and climb through the minors, and make it to their Major League Team, together. We had a nice core that got close. We knew that core wasn't going to stick together, and we took our shot, and missed. But when I look at this team now, and the organizational talent as a whole, I don't know what we have from top to bottom. We have what I think will be some nice pieces on the way. I think, too, some of those pieces are going to be nicer than those who do talent evaluations and prognostications will admit to. But for the most part, the talent we've developed have been hitters that could generate power. Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, JJ Hardy, Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks could all hit the ball a country mile. They've never had trouble hitting the ball out of the park when they've been healthy. But there are times when a team's offense has to do other things besides hit the ball a country mile. There are times a team needs to manufacture runs, and protect the runs they do have, in order to win. And here we are at the end of the 2014 season, and I don't think we've improved at all at doing the things that we need to do to be successful long term as a franchise. We went 32 years without having a single Gold Glove winner! Now, Gold Glove Awards are usually given to players who are very good defensively. Occasionally, they get into the hands of people who really aren't that great with the glove. Derek Jeter comes to mind. I've never seen him as anything more than average at best defensively. Dependable, not flashy, and lacking in range. Yet he has five Gold Gloves at short. Dr. Michael Hoban, PhD, a professor of mathematics that has applied advanced metrics to fielding, determined in his research that in 2002, Derek Jeter was the worst defensive shortstop in baseball. That was 12 years ago, and two years before Jeter would go on a run of winning five Gold Gloves in an eight year span. But the lack of Gold Glove Awards over that three decade plus span is indicative of a great problem with the Brewers. Generally speaking, the Brewers are not a good defensive baseball team. Generally speaking, the Brewers, year in and year out, are not a fundamentally sound baseball team. This isn't directed at any one man. This is a failure on many different levels. It is a failure on Doug Melvin's part. The players he drafts do not generally profile well defensively. And when we get these players, we certainly are not "coaching them up". If you look at the top 20 Brewer prospects on MLB.com, and go back season by season for the last decade, there might be two players that have average, or above average defensive upside from that whole lot. Typically, we have drafted players with a lot of power, and hitting ability. There have been few guys that wowed you with their athleticism, or speed, or sheer defensive instincts. Strong defense helps teams protect leads. Fundamentals like hit and run, and bunting, and stealing bases efficiently--we have lacked these basic baseball fundamentals. Year in, and year out, we have not been able to get a bunt down when we needed to. Look at our offense now. We have a bunch of hitters who will go up there swinging at pitches that are in the dirt. Over and over again. Hitters swinging for the fences when a single would work wonders, and move the runners up. Pitchers don't have to work hard when they face us because we will often get ourselves out. Why should they throw strikes when we will swing--and miss--at balls? We haven't played defense well. We haven't developed pitchers well. Without pitching and defense, we cannot beat the best teams in baseball. We're at the point where Mark Attanasio needs to do a complete overhaul of the franchise. This current group has had its chance, and they have not gotten it done. Nobody has confidence in Ron Roenicke. Our coaches are even worse. Rick Kranitz, Ed Sedar and Johnny Narron, have been awful this year. And Doug Melvin has been this team's GM since 2002. We've won one playoff series in all those years. I know there are those among you who will say "well, before Melvin came along, we hadn't won any since 1982". This is true. But is winning one playoff series (not World Series, mind you, a single playoff series) in twelve years your definition of success? Remember last year when I looked at Doug Melvin's complete career as a Major League General Manager. Since then, he's just added one more year to his resume with no World Series title, no World Series trips. Our general manager constantly leaves too many holes in out roster. Our manager makes one questionable decision after another. He is a poor decision maker on the fly, and is too reluctant to break from his patterns. I could go on, but I think the point has been made. I don't know who yet will be available, and who would be interested in coming to Milwaukee. But Mark Attanasio cannot sit on his hands anymore. Doug Melvin and Ron Roenicke might be the nicest guys in baseball. I like Roenicke as a human being, no doubt about it. But I want nice guys in positions of authority, and decision making, that will help this team win. And they are not it. I am tired of people hearing the Milwaukee Brewers name, and immediately thinking "losers", or "chokers". But they are right. Enough is enough. What's the Sean Connery line from The Rock? "Losers always whine about doing their best. Winners go home, and ____ the prom queen." I want a well-constructed team that is schooled in the fundamentals of the game. I want a team that can not only hit the long ball, but play small ball when that approach is indicated. I am tired of seeing our starters hitting 100 pitches thrown in the 5th inning, while opposing starters get through the 3,4 and 5 hitters throwing 4 pitches like last night. We need hitters that can work a count. Hitters good enough to foul pitches off until they find something they like, and drive to the opposite field, or hit into the gap. I want my base stealers to be efficient. I don't want my base stealers getting thrown out one time in every three attempts. I want relievers who don't walk batters. I don't want a "seventh inning guy, and an eighth inning guy". I want a manager who is able to determine which bullpen pitcher is indicated to face the guys coming up to bat. If the three hitters are ____ hitters, then I want ____ on the mound, and I want ____ warming up in the bullpen to back him up. And since we are going to stress balanced players in the draft, not just home run hitters, in a few years, the guys that will make it to Milwaukee will be stronger defensively, too. This franchise that I love needs an overhaul. We need a GM that is better at identifying talent, and who realizes there is much more to the game than hitting home runs. That GM should be able to spot pitching talent, too. I want a GM that, when the trade deadline approaches, is able to accurately assess what our needs are, and makes a move to address those needs. I want a General manager who realizes that our young talent is the key to our future, and our top prospects are not to be given away lightly. Some of those guys have not reached their potential. Some, like Michael Brantley, who has 186 hits and is 4th in the American League with a .321 AVG, with 40 doubles, 19 home runs and 94 RBI, and a sweet 6.6 WAR, could really help this team right now. If we'd been able to keep Sabathia for longer than a half season, I'd have been ok with the deal. But we gave him away for a half season rental. Yes, we don't make the playoffs without him in 2007. But would we have made the playoffs with him in our lineup this season? We need a major shake up. The same old same old is not working. Fortune favors the bold. Are we going to be bold, or accept more of the same? Be bold this offseason, Mark. Be bold. Refuse to accept mediocrity any longer. Pull out your checkbook, find a manager and a general manager that you respect, and acquire their services. Do whatever it takes within the laws the league has set forth. Find us a real manager. Somebody with some gravitas. Somebody with some balls. Somebody with vision. Find us a general manager that thinks outside the box when needed. Find us a general manager who can identify where the problems lie, and identify how to fix those problems. Make the Brewers a contender, not just for one season, but for the long term. You can do this. Use the same instincts you employed to make your millions to turn this franchise around. We have filled the seats at Miller Park year in, year out. Those of us who cannot travel have supported the Brewers from afar. I buy the MLB.tv every year to see Brewer games. I will continue to do so. But now it's time for you to impress me. Making the playoffs every couple of years was the bar. Now it's no longer enough. Now it is no longer enough.

They're not striking out. They're hitting weak ground balls to the shortstop, which I will refer to as the "Jean Segura special" from now on.

Forget surgery. Sometimes the old ways are the best. Call upon Theodoric of York, medieval barber. Braun can get a haircut and a blood letting at the same time.

Christian Yelich was one of the ten best pure hitting prospects in the minor leagues before this season. If Clark reminds us of Yelich at all next year, I'd be really happy. I don't see it, though. We're just excited to have somebody who's not pushing 40 who's not completely inept at first base. I hope Clark gets a fair look in spring training next year, because we need an improvement there. We can't go three seasons and not have that position at least tied down for the next few years. Bring in somebody who we know can play first, and provide some good offense. No more Lyle Overbays please. That signing smacked of desperation. If Clark gets the chance next year, have a real contingency plan in place if he gets hurt, or if he's ineffective.

Let's hope so!

Come on, KRod. Throw some bleeping strikes. Don't you let this game get away from you.

God, Stanton got hit right in the face. If his nose and orbital bone aren't broken, it will be a miracle. I hate to see that, especially to one of the best in the game. It was clearly unintentional. Fiers should have been taken out, he was obviously flustered. I don't know why he wasn't taken out immediately. God, I hope he will be ok somehow.

Amazingly enough, yes, we did.

Thank God. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7f/Candy-Clark-Bar-Wrapper-Small.jpg

We do NOT want two on with Christian Yelich at the plate.

Not nice

I don't understand the logic. "New guy, and possible first baseman of at least the near future. Good job in hitting your first career home run. We're going to take you out in favor of the guy that's not hitting worth a lick." Two outs. One more. Please.

I knew very little about Clark coming in to tonight. Career .865 OPS in the minors with 128 HR. Some definite swing and miss to his game, but he's hit .292, .290 and .304 the last three seasons. Reynolds strikes out. Stop me if you've heard that before. Oh no, it's going to be K Rod. Why, God why?

Ok, can we please pick up Parra at third? Wait, it's Reynolds. Nevermind. Why is he in there now? WHy take Clark out of the lineup? It's sure not for defensive purposes.

Thank God.

I don't want to see K Rod anywhere near the mound in the ninth.