ESPN's Page Two Summarizes Our Pitiful Brewer Experience

[Mass Haas]

I would cry except that they nailed it -- I'm 45 years old, and until I read this, thought I had lived a nice life...

[secondsith]

Wow, that does hit it pretty hard. I tend to forget all the things that have gone wrong with this team over the years, I didn't remember it being that bad. But when you are faced with mediocrity from year to year, the bad situations seem almost common place. The brewers and their fans need a playoff run to put these bad things behind.

 

GO CREW!!!

[Loopee]

2003: Glendon Rusch starts 19 games. He wins once. Once. Let us repeat that: One win in 19 starts. One.

[dadofandrew]

You know, pretty much every team has a player that doesn't hit all that much every season. Picking on role players who were stopgaps, like Gerald Williams and Franklin Stubbs, as if they were once stars? Sorta weak.

[hawing]

I don't know whether to be depressed, or amazed that anyone at ESPN spent this much time thinking about the Brewers.

[PlayerHader]

Not every team has guys like that getting 500 at-bats, though. Some of those numbers were atrocious.

[Paulus88]

I think you could go through the roster of every team and do this, I don't find it particularly depressing because of the cherry picking nature. Some of those teams in the 80's were pretty good just never won the division (not because of any incompetance just becasue of not being as good as other teams). The depressing part is the crash and burn that happened in the mid 90's.

[Diskono]

2003: Glendon Rusch starts 19 games. He wins once. Once. Let us repeat that: One win in 19 starts. One.

He was pretty good after he got called back up from AAA!

 

[I Heart Brewers]

I think you could go through the roster of every team and do this, I don't find it particularly depressing because of the cherry picking nature. Some of those teams in the 80's were pretty good just never won the division (not because of any incompetance just becasue of not being as good as other teams). The depressing part is the crash and burn that happened in the mid 90's.

The problem is most teams had good stats that balanced out the bad. The Brewers in the late 80s through the early 00s were mostly all bad. Page 2 just seemed to pick the worst of the worst.

[Invader3K]

"2004: The Brewers finished last in the NL with a .248 average. Pitcher Doug Davis went 1-for-64 (.016) to lead the way, but only Lyle Overbay hit above. 280. Pitchers Wes Obermueller (.385) and Brooks Kieschnick (.270) outhit nearly every position player."

 

That last line made me laugh.

 

Surprised they didn't mention the low ball offer to Paul Molitor after 1992, although I realize the focus of the article was more on the on-the-field stuff. Worst moment in franchise history, though, IMO.

[TooLiveBrew]

The whole premise of the article is the 'disaster' of letting Gagne still close? Not sure what to make of that.

 

According to Schoenfield, Eric is in a "career crisis" http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eyes.gif

[MickeyDavis]

Invader3K wrote:

Surprised they didn't mention the low ball offer to Paul Molitor after 1992, although I realize the focus of the article was more on the on-the-field stuff. Worst moment in franchise history, though, IMO.

Well, as Bando said, Molitor was "just a DH". http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

[RyDogg66]

Actually the Brewers of the late 80s and early 90s were pretty good. It was mid 90s to present that they have really stunk up the place.

[TooLiveBrew]

Actually the Brewers of the late 80s and early 90s were pretty good.

 

I have very fond memories of that era. I was too young for the magic of the early 80s, but that core of players RyDogg points to just makes me close my eyes & return to County Stadium... with a smile.

[PlayerHader]

What was the Brewers low-ball offer to Molitor?

[Invader3K]

Actually the Brewers of the late 80s and early 90s were pretty good. It was mid 90s to present that they have really stunk up the place.

Yep, definitely. Like the article points out, the team barely missed the playoffs in '92. It went pretty much downhill after that, unfortunately.

[crewcrazy]

What was the Brewers low-ball offer to Molitor?

I don't know what the official offer was, but it was less than Molitor was making with the Brewers at that time -- Bando was actually demanding Molitor take a pay cut because he was "just a DH." The Jays ended up giving him something like $13 million over 3 years, which was still a pretty big deal back then.

 

[MadisonBrewerBlue]

bando offered molitor a $1.5 million pay cut as I recall. can you imagine offering that to future hof'er

[Invader3K]

Yeah, like I've said before, it was pretty much a big middle finger to Brewers fans. I don't want to turn this thread into a Paul Molitor debate, but I don't think a team should disrespect a franchise player like that and let him walk. The Brewers didn't gain anything by letting him go, and he went on to get a World Series ring and was also the MVP of that series.

[BrewCrewForever]

I am impressed that people at ESPN actually spent that much time digging into Brewers history. But my God, it sure is awfully true what they were proclaiming in that article. Makes me even more depressed during this current losing streak. But I do agree with RyDogg that the late 80's early 90's teams were not that bad really. Of course the late 70's early 80's are still the franchises best years.

[BrewCrewForever]

Well, as Bando said, Molitor was "just a DH". http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

 

I still get very angry every time I think of or hear that stupid quite by Bando. Yeah Sal, just a DH a future Hall of Fame DH who still had a lot of good years left in him.

[Tbadder]

I've often thought about this. How bad of an organization are the Brewers. We like to make fun of the Cubs and their tradition, but it just seems to me that taken as a whole the Brewers might be one of a handful of truly poor organizations. Very St. Louis Brownish maybe.

[MickeyDavis]

This laundry list of failures also highlights just how crappy baseballs economic system is. The Yankees and Red Sox have had their share of blunders too. But when they do a signing that doesn't work out (Hammonds), they just go out and sign some more guys to take his place. We could never do that. We had to live with our mistakes.

[Tbadder]

yeah, I agree with you Mickey D. We get derailed by injuries, bad contracts, skin flint management, and we have to live with the results on and on and on and on. If the last will be first in Heaven there's gonna be a lotta Brewers laughing at the Yankees.

[Thurston Fluff]

If memory serves Garners first year when they finished 2nd to Toronto was the last year without a wildcard. They finished with the second best record in the AL and the Twins, who ended up winning the WS, would have finished fourth in the AL East. As far as Molitor goes Bando should have offered him more but to be fair Molitor spent quite a few years on the DL as much as on the field. If Sheets injury history is too risky to pay the money he's worth now then there certainly was an arguement to be made that Molly was to injury prone to be worth the gamble as well. Molitor's first injury free year in a while also coincided with his contract year. He also had a little coke problem early in his career so there was some questions about him overall. The real problem I had with Bando that season wasn't letting Molitor go as much as letting all the others go. Chris Bosio, Scott Fletcher and a couple guys I can't think of off the top of my head at the moment. So maybe an arguement could have been made not to resign Molitor but that wasn't the only bad move he made that season.