Yes, I never feared the Dodgers when they had GMs from Malone to Colletti (DePodesta was never given a real chance). Hiring Friedman was the worst thing for 29 teams as it gave the Dodgers with their vast resources an Excellent head of operations.
The Brewers shouldn't be trying to compete with the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees or even the free-spending/dim-witted Padres/Phillies. They need to be positioning themselves to be competitive against the vast majority of the teams that make up the next tier, middle and bottom. They are within striking distance of those teams and having the 3rd or 4th best team in the NL makes it much easier to get past the early rounds of the playoffs and closer to the promised land. There's no reason the Brewers can't compete monetarily with the Cardinals and for now, the Cubs. Stop making mistakes like the 2nd Braun contract and the Yelich contract.
I know there's a lot of hesitancy of going that route, but the Braves and Astros both did a tear down rebuild and both of those organizations are in much, much better situations than the Brewers are today and probably for several years. Where the Brewers made the mistake was to try to field a decent team while building up a bottom of the league minor league system leading to mid to late round draft picks and really never adding assets to the organization, just churning of vets and FA signings. Sure we got a few winning seasons and a playoff streak, but up and down this organization there are only 2 or 3 "stars" (all pitchers) and they are headed to free agency in 2ish years. They may have hit HR on Chourio and Quero, and Frelick could be, but he isn't there yet and neither is Weimer. By the time those guys are performing at a level needed to lift this team, both Burnes and Woodruff will be gone. I was always high on them when they were youngsters and I don't see anyone that will likely take their place currently in the Brewers system.