For those that missed the guidelines I am using for this series of posts, you can find them here.
Team #25: Milwaukee Brewers
General Managers(since 1994)
Sal Bando (1994-1999): 424-481
Dean Taylor (2000-2002): 197-289
Doug Melvin (2003-Current): 544-589
Team Performance
| Playoffs | Division Finish | ||||||
| WC | League | Playoff App | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th or 6th |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
The Brewers have had a bit of stability in the front office, with the same scouting director for many years until leaving after the 2008 season and only 3 general managers in the last 16 seasons. Unfortunately, they are in the NL Central, the domain of the Astros, Cardinals, and Cubs. All information is drawn from Baseball Reference.
| Position | Name | Acquired | Years with Org. |
Stats with Organization |
Left? |
| C | Angel Salome | 2004 – 5th Rd | 6 | 3 gm, 0-3 | Currently with Org. |
| 1B | Prince Fielder | 2002 – 1st Rd (7) | 8 | 2 All Star Appearances, 1 Silver Slugger 741 gm, .281/.382/.541, 173 HR, 479 RBI, 15 SB, 423 R |
Currently with Org. |
| 2B | Rickie Weeks | 2003 – 1st Rd (2) | 7 | 547 gm, .248/.352/.416, 70 HR, 216 RBI, 84 SB, 375 R | Currently with Org. |
| 3B | Ronnie Belliard | 1994 – 8th Rd | 8 | 489 gm, .263/.341/.396, 30 HR, 174 RBI, 18 SB, 243 R | Free Agency – 12/21/02 |
| SS | Alcides Escobar | Int’l FA – 2003 | 7 | 108 gm, .271/.314/.357, 3 HR, 29 RBI, 8 SB, 48 R | Currently with Org. |
| LF | Ryan Braun | 2005 – 1st Rd (5) | 5 | 2007 Rookie of the Year, 2 All Star Appearances, 2 Silver Sluggers 486 gm, .307/.363/.564, 113 HR, 362 RBI, 60 SB, 340 R |
Currently with Org. |
| CF | Tony Gwynn | 2003 – 2nd Rd | 5 | 130 gm, .248/.300/.298, 4 HR, 50 RBI, 34 SB, 98 R | Traded to SD – 5/21/09 |
| RF | Corey Hart | 2000 – 11th Rd | 10 | 1 All Star Appearance 579 gm, .272/.327/.481, 84 HR, 307 RBI, 67 SB, 297 R |
Currently with Org. |
| SP | Yovani Gallardo | 2004 – 2nd Rd | 6 | 28-20, 3.38 ERA, 419 K, 182 BB, 408 IP, 1.297 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| SP | Ben Sheets | 1999 – 1st Rd (10) | 9 | 4 All Star Appearances 86-83, 3.72 ERA, 1206 K, 313 BB, 1428 IP, 1.201 WHIP |
Free Agency – 10/30/08 |
| SP | Dana Eveland | 2002 – 16th Rd | 4 | 1-4, 6.98 ERA, 55 K, 34 BB, 59.1 IP, 1.904 WHIP | Traded to ARI – 11/25/06 |
| SP | Manny Parra | 2001 – 26th Rd | 9 | 22-24, 5.04 ERA, 334 K, 186 BB, 374.2 IP, 1.652 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| SP | |||||
| RP | Craig Breslow | 2002 – 26th Rd | 2 | No Major League Appearances with Organization | Released – 7/6/04 |
| RP | Mitch Stetter | 2003 – 16th Rd | 7 | 8-2, 3.99 ERA, 82 K, 51 BB, 79 IP, 1.405 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| RP | Zach Braddock | 2005 – 18th Rd | 5 | 1-0, 5.40 ERA, 12 K, 3 BB, 8.1 IP, 1.920 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| RP | Mike Adams | Amateur FA – 2001 | 5 | 2-4, 3.54 ERA, 54 K, 26 BB, 68.2 IP, 1.340 WHIP | Traded to NYM – 5/26/06 |
| RP | Dennis Sarfate | 2001 – 9th Rd | 6 | 0-0, 4.32 ERA, 11 K, 4 BB, 8.1 IP, 1.560 WHIP | Purchased by HOU – 9/11/07 |
| CL | |||||
| BN | J.J. Hardy (SS) | 2001 – 2nd Rd | 8 | 571 gm, .262/.323/.428, 75 HR, 265 RBI, 5 SB, 279 R | Traded to MIN – 11/6/09 |
| BN | Matt LaPorta (OF) | 2007 – 1st Rd (7) | 1 | No Major League Appearances with Organization | Traded to CLE – 7/7/08 |
| BN | Mat Gamel (3B) | 2005 – 4th Rd | 5 | 63 gm, .246/.340/.431, 5 HR, 20 RBI, SB, 11 R | Currently with Org. |
| BN | Cole Gillespie (OF) | 2006 – 3rd Rd | 3 | No Major League Appearances with Organization | Traded to ARI – 7/19/09 |
| BN | Jonathan Lucroy (C) | 2007 – 3rd Rd | 3 | 9 gm, .314/.314/.314, 2 SB, 4 R | Currently with Org. |
| BN | Bill Hall (UT) | 1998 – 6th Rd | 11 | 831 gm, .253/.312/.446, 102 HR, 367 RBI, 49 SB, 370 R | Traded to SEA – 8/19/09 |
June Amateur Draft
Looking at their drafting results, they have had only 20 first round picks in the last 15 drafts (not including 2010). They haven’t had a ton of success at the Major League level, which has led the Brewers to have 8 top-10 draft picks. Part of the reason that they are higher than some of the previous teams, in spite of being unable to field a full pitching staff, is because of the success already of some of their draft picks. First rounders Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun are pretty easily considered to be in the top 5 players at their position in the Major Leagues, with both likely to be All-Stars for the considerable future. Easily the top pitcher on this staff was 1st rounder Ben Sheets, who made 4 All-Star appearances for the team. Even some of the other first round picks who haven’t been amazing, but solid include Rickie Weeks, and they were able to trade fellow first rounder Matt LaPorta to get C.C. Sabathia for their playoff run in 2008. The Brewers have also done well getting value out of later picks, with Corey Hart out of the 11th round, and Manny Parra out of the 26th round.
International Free Agency
The Brewers don’t appear to have been particularly active to this point in the international market . SS Alcides Escobar was so widely viewed as a top tier prospect coming into the 2010 season that the Twins were able to move previous SS and power hitter J.J. Hardy to the Twins for other needs. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a single player beyond Escobar that the Brewers had found in any of the international markets.
Overall Grade
I think that they have to get a C- also. The high-end talent on this team is clearly better than all of the other teams I’ve reviewed so far. But the problem lies in the fact that I couldn’t even come up with 11 pitchers to fill out a pitching staff that were still active. Throw in that some positions are extremely shallow (catcher comes to mind first), and I think that overall this team is a bit incomplete. There are some top prospects on their way, with 2B Brett Lawrie leading the way. But they’re not there yet, and this team kind of shows it.
