The idea that we lost the games in Pittsburgh solely because we didn't have Hader is a fallacy. Do you not remember how Hader had been pitching before the trade? Williams has been significantly better than Hader this year and he gave up the game-winning home run to Reynolds on Wednesday night. Simply put, we lost those games because the entire team crapped the bed by not taking advantage of scoring opportunities, playing awful defense, and putting far too many opposing runners on base.
And how can you possibly call Bush and Rogers (not Rodgers) a bust when they've combined for less than 5 innings between them? The stats show that they are good pitchers, and we will likely start to see that going forward.
The Brewers, like the Rays, will always have to make moves like this to remain consistently competitive in an environment that is geared so heavily towards large-market teams. Do you remember when Melvin and Attanasio decided to go "all in" in 2008 and 2011? How did that turn out for us? We had good seasons, but no World Series and nothing better than what Stearns has accomplished. And, in doing so, we completely gutted our farm system by trading players like Brantley, Cain, Escobar, etc., setting ourselves up for even more down seasons and an eventual rebuild.