Brewers Offseason Report 1/03

Latest Team Information:

Over the past few months the Brewers have been making some roster movements that I agree and disagree with. With all feelings aside, here are the signings that they have made over the last week….

*The Brewers signed RHP Mike Buddie to a Minor League Deal January 10th. He was in the Brewers bullpen last year before being let go. For some reason the Brewers went out and decided to sign him once again. If he makes the Major League Roster he will make $309,000 this season.

*The same day, the Brewers signed C Keith Osik to a Minor League Deal. If he makes the Major League Roster he will make $455,000 next season.

*January 10th, the Brewers signed 34-year old RHP Dave Mlicki

*January 14th, the Brewers signed 31-year old RHP Todd Richie to a 1-year deal. Last season he went 5-15 with a 6.06 ERA for the Chicago White Sox who aquired him in a trade from Pittsburgh. He missed more then a month of the season with Inflammation of his Right Shoulder. With Pittsburgh in 2001 he started 0-8 but, finished the season 11-15 in a career high 207 1/3 innings. He will most likely be Milwaukee’s 3rd or 4th starter.

Other Players Signed:

OF: Scott Prosodic (Waivers)
C: Robert Machado (Re-Sign)
SS: Royce Clayton (Free Agent)
LHP: Valerio de los Santos (Re-Sign)

Players Lost:

RHP: Chad Fox (Red Sox via Free Agency)
INF: Lenny Harris (Cubs via Free Agency)
OF: Matt Stairs (Pirates via Free Agency)
C: Jorge Fabregas (Free Agent)
SS: Jose Hernandez (Free Agent)
RHP: Nelson Figueroa (Pirates via Free Agency)

With all the losses and all the signings, this leads us to the question, “Who will start at each position for the Milwaukee Brewers next season? Here is how I see it.

C: Robert Machado
1B: Richie Sexson
2B: Eric Young
3B: Wes Helms
SS: Royce Clayton
LF: Geoff Jenkins
CF: Alex Sanchez
RF: Jeffrey Hammonds

SP: Ben Sheets
SP: Glendon Rusch
SP: Todd Richie
SP: Nick Neugebauer
SP: Dave Mlicki

In-Depth at each offensive position:

C: The position where right now, you will see a lot of faces. Right now, the starting job is down to three. Robert Machado, Cody McKay, and Javier Valentin are going to fight throughout Spring Training for the starting job. That’s saying that the Brewers/Expos talks about sending Michael Barrett to Milwaukee don’t start up again. Right now, of the three that the Brewers have, Robert Machado is the leading candidate. That isn’t saying much. Machado is light with the bat and doesn’t have a gun to nail base-runners with. This position may very well be a toss-up.

1B: Richie Sexson will once again be the starter at 1B for the Brewers. There were talks about the Brewers sending him to Atlanta but, they died with just about every big move that the Brewers were “supposed” to make. Expect big numbers from Richie, he will play around 155 games for the Brewers once again this season.

2B: Eric Young will return to start for the Brewers at Second Base. Eric experienced a sluggish bat at the beginning of the 2002 season. After the All-Star break he played the like the Brewers hoped he would from the beginning.

SS: All-Star Jose Hernandez was let go when the Brewers refused to sign him. In a very controversial decision, the Brewers refused to go after him because he sat out a few games in order to avoid breaking the single season strikeout record at home where fans booed whenever he put the bat on the ball. Because of this, enter in defensive wizard Royce Clayton at SS for the 2003 Milwaukee Brewers.

3B: Wes Helms should get the start at Third on Opening Day. However, over the course of the season he should be splitting time with Keith Ginter. There could easily be a third man thrown into the mix but, we will have to wait and see since there are still more then 2 months of off season left.

LF: Geoff Jenkins will make his return after his gruesome injury in a win over the Astros at Miller Park in June of last year. Geoff has missed large portions of the last two season with injuries to his thumb, shoulder, and ankle. He hopes to play a full season and avoid the freak injury which has put him on the DL each of the last two season. He is 100% and should put up the numbers that he did before he started getting hurt.

CF: Alex Sanchez coming off of a season ending break to his ankle should be close to 100% by the start of the season. Hopefully the doctors were right when they said his speed wouldn’t be affected by the injury. One of the few bright spots in the Brewers lineup.

RF: Jeffrey Hammonds should get the nod with the loss of Matt Stairs. I really don’t see anyone worthy of getting the starting job. But, Hammonds is the Brewers best bet right now. Hopefully his surgically repaired shoulder holds up. He missed a lot of time with it last year. I think if he can find a way to stay healthy he will put up great numbers.

Local Perspective:

Where are the Brewers going? When are the Brewers aiming to become contenders? Do they expect to contend this coming year or in 5 years? I think these questions need to be explained to the Brewers fans straight from the horses mouth. Either Doug Melvin or Ulice Payne need to inform Brewers fans what the agenda is. So far, some of the moves that the Brewers made lead us to believe that the Brewers are building for the present. Others, lead us to believe that the Brewers are building for the future. Which is it? What makes sense about saying you want to build with young players and then going the exact opposite direction by signing a pair of 30+ year old starters? Let’s put it this way, the Brewers are loaded with younger players like Jenkins, Sexson, Sanchez, Hammonds, Sheets, and Neugebauer. But, then the past two seasons the Brewers go out and sign veterans like Young, Harris, Clayton, Richie, and Mlicki. Why? What is this proving?

Let’s say next year Eric Young decides to hang them up and walk away from the game. Who is going to fill in for him? Same with Clayton. Are we sure that there is anyone in our farm system that can be called upon in a year or so to fill in for an established veteran? I am all for a mix of youngsters and veterans. That’s what keeps Major League Baseball going. But, when you talk about mixing these types of players, you have the veterans there to teach the youngsters. You have to have your eye set on a young guy that you want the veteran to mold into his replacement. Who can fill in at 2B in a year? SS? Currently, I see one or two people who “might” be able to do it. Are the Brewers risking future success on 1 or 2 prospects? At this pace I think the Brewers are on the 5 year program. Meaning that they expect to be contenders in 5 years. The problem with this is 5 years ago the Brewers were on the 5 year plan. Then, 5 years before that they were on the 5 year plan. When is it going to change? When is the club going to play by the “shut up and win” rule? I don’t think that the players have confidence that they are going to win if the Brewers are constantly saying 5 years till the playoffs. I mean, how degrading is that to a player? It is just like saying, “Thanks Sexson, you signed a 5 year deal even though we don’t expect to win until year number 5.”

How classy! I mean, make up your mind. Either build for today, or build for tomorrow. The Brewers have looked at their success (if you could call anything about the Brewers Organization over the last 10 years a success) and made several different plans to follow. So far, none have worked. Does this plan look like it will work? Over the last week the Brewers have signed Dave Mlicki and Todd Richie. Alright, they are two names that a lot of people have heard before. But, what did they do last year? Nothing. What have they done in their careers? Well, most of their seasons have been sub-par as a pitcher. Yet, Doug Melvin calls them mid-level pitchers?

Alright, who slammed the door on finding offensive players? There are plenty of offensive players who would be great to put in a Milwaukee Brewers uniform. Why are we only hearing about getting Starting Pitchers? Where is the logic in these additions that Melvin is making? I'll be damned if I can understand it. Check this out....The Brewers last season lost 28 1-run games. What does this reflect? RUN SUPPORT!!! The Brewers need RUN SUPPORT!!!

Ben Sheets lost 16 games with a 4.15 ERA. How the Hell does that work out? He only walked 70 and struck out 170, What does he need to do to get a win?

Glendon Rusch lost 16 games with a 4.70 ERA. How does that work out? He only walked 76 and struck out 140. Not quite 2-1 but, still respectable enough to NOT lose 16 games.

Now, if Melvin wants to go out and pick up sub-par pitchers because he thinks they are the Brewers' answer, that's fine. Who cares? But, to call pitchers like Mlicki "mid-level pitchers" is just wrong. Where is the fact in that? Look at Mlicki's career numbers and you will see what I mean.

Now, why are we so quick to pull the trigger when we say we need starting pitchers anyways? We do have Ben Sheets, Glendon Rusch, and youngsters like Nick Neugebauer. Look at The Diamondbacks, they have Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling and then three up and down pitchers behind them. (I am not putting Sheets, Rusch, and Neugebauer in the same category with Johnson and Schilling so, don't think that I am.) But, it is all to prove a point. Ben Sheets is an all-star, Glendon Rusch is a good pitcher WITH run support. It isn't like the Brewers starters are giving up 9-10 runs left and right. They are losing too many games because of a pitiful Brewers offense that only Sexson contributes to on a daily basis.

Now, let's go over a "quality" start for a starting pitcher. Pitching to the 7th inning giving up 3 runs or less. Another number for the Brewers in the 2002 season is that their offense scored 3 runs or less in 78 games! That means in 78 games the Brewers' pitching staff needed to throw above "quality" starts to even get the game into extra innings! Where is the logic in trying to add starting pitchers? The Brewers offense can't even match up to their pitchers quality starts. Doesn't this reflect that we need to get the pitchers we already have run support? First work with what we have then add rotation men. There is no logic in bringing in pitchers to fail in the Brewers system because they don't get the wins in "quality" starts. My point being, look on adding offense other then people like Helms or Clayton. We need runs, geez.

Look for another pitiful Brewers' season UNLESS Melvin gets the clue that we need to fix one thing in order to fix the other.

Rumor Mill:

With all that is going on this off season, what is left to do? I think there is a TON that can and should be done to ensure Brewers fans at least the hope of a bright future. But, it seems that the Brewers Front Office is signing veterans to give the prospects time to glow. It is a very risky thing to do because, if those prospects never do reach their potential then the Brewers are stuck with rebuilding again.

Now, who’s left that the Brewers can both afford and could talk into coming to Milwaukee?

OF Reggie Sanders - 35 years old - 2002 Salary: $1.75 Million

Reggie Sanders could be a good pick-up for the Brewers. He is among the best left out there and he is affordable. He has pop and drove in 85 runs last season, although he did have Barry Bonds to drive in all season. He isn’t looking for a long term deal, bring him in for a couple seasons. Sign him so he will be around until Jeffrey Hammonds deal runs out and the Brewers have 7.5 million dollars to play around with. Who would it hurt? It would help attendance and would bring some excitement. The Brewers have done a good job on at least cutting down the strikeouts with the parting ways between them and Jose Hernandez, Jeromy Burnitz, and Ronnie Belliard. Sanders does wiff often but, give him a shot.

OF Jose Cruz Jr. - 28 years old - 2002 Salary: $3.95 Million

Alright, he would want pretty much in order to sign him. He has been injury prone including missing 33 games last season. But, he does have some pop and can be a productive player. Again, why not sign him? He is young enough for a long term deal and could produce more then a recent Mistake. Anyone smell HAM-monds? The Brewers like hoping that a player will turn around after past failures. Cruz is the Brewers fit for that.

3B Tyler Houston - 32 years old - 2002 Salary: $1.63 Million

He did play with the Brewers for more then half of last season. We did pick up Helms and Ginter so I guess the Brewers feel they are done with 3B. It’s sure that 3B will be a productive position right? WRONG! Again, we are gambling that Helms and Ginter are successful this season. Tyler has some pop and we know he can have a good bat. If you don’t sign him for Third why not sign him as a catcher? He did play catcher before. He would definitely give the Brewers a better bat at Catcher then Machado will provide.

Who’s left that the Brewers can’t afford…

C Ivan Rodriguez - 31 years old - 2002 Salary: $9.6 Million

Why wont discussion about him coming to Milwaukee go away? Sure if he does lower his asking price he will produce, and he will put more people in the seats. But, what long-term effect can he possibly have? He would sign for 1-year, try to establish himself once again as a great, productive, injury free catcher so he can go for however much $$$ that he wants. Leave him to Baltimore or Japan!

Brewers Bright Players:

Offense

1B Richie Sexson:
2002 Stats- 157 Games Played, 86 Runs, 29 Home-Runs, 102 RBI’s, .279 Batting Average

Richie Sexson is surely establishing himself as one of the premiere players in the game. Of course his name doesn’t come up in the discussion of top players very often because he is on the Milwaukee Brewers. That may hurt him but, I think that the Brewers are more then happy to have him whether the league thinks about him or not. The only thing that the Brewers care about is when opposing teams are put into the position to face him, that they think about him at that point in time. Sexson can hurt any team with his power and hitting skills. He also flashes a pretty good glove over at First. The Brewers have him locked up for 3 more years so they should try to build a winner around him soon. If they don’t he will most likely want to be a free agent when the time comes to test the market.

CF Alex Sanchez:
2002 Stats- 112 Games Played, 55 Runs, 1 Home-Run, 33 RBI’s, 37 Stolen Bases, .289 Batting Average

Alex Sanchez was probably the Brewers surprise of the year. Everyone knew that he had blazing speed but as last year showed, he wasn’t to good on the base pads with decisions. Eventually his unknowing run style caught up with him when he broke his ankle in Cincinnati. He is a bright spot because he is still learning basic fundamentals. Even without a lot of knowledge, he is performing at a high level. The injury he suffered shouldn’t affect his running, although it should affect his mindset.

LF Geoff Jenkins:
2002 Stats- 67 Games Played, 35 Runs, 10 Home-Runs, 29 RBI’s, .243 Batting Average

Not eye-popping numbers but, the injury that ended his season sure was. After a hustle infield hit his ankle snapped getting back to third after a Tyler Houston single. He hasn’t had a healthy season since he broke into the big leagues. When he did first suit up in a Brewers uniform expectations were high, as they still are. Geoff has the talent to be a superstar in this league. He just needs to find a way to avoid freak injuries. Luck hasn’t been on his side. Give him a chance, he will pull through and have a breakout season IF he stays healthy.

Pitching

RHP Ben Sheets:
2002 Stats- 34 Games Started, 11-16, 216.2 IP, 4.15 ERA, 70 BB, 170 SO

Ben is an all-star but, he is an all-star that hasn’t gotten any run support. I find it amazing that he was 11-16 last season, simply amazing. He performed very well, I don’t understand what he needs to do to get a few more wins. His talent is being wasted with no offense. It is unfair for him to go out there and try to pitch the best of his ability when a sub-par offense is trying to give him runs. Note to Doug Melvin: WE NEED OFFENSE!

LHP Glendon Rusch:
2002 Stats- 34 Games Started, 10-16, 210.2 IP, 4.70 ERA, 76 BB, 140 SO

Another decent pitcher that doesn’t get any run support. It happened in New York and now the same is happening in Milwaukee. He can win some games with offensive production on his side. If your ERA is under 5.00, you should NOT lose 16 games.

RHP Luis Vizcaino:
2002 Stats- 76 Games Pitched, 5-3, 81.1 IP, 2.63 ERA, 30 BB, 79 SO

Arguably one of the best set-up men in the game. A possible future closer for a club, it may be the Brewers. He comes in and it is lights out most of the time.

LHP Valerio de los Santos:
2002 Stats- 51 IP, 2-3, 57.2 IP, 3.12 ERA, 26 BB, 38 SO

Coming off of shoulder surgery, he had a great year. This guy has really tough stuff. He is tough against both righties and lefties. He is one of the many bright spots in the bullpen, which is the only solid part of the Brewers team.