Who replaces Doug Melvin in 2009?

[Invader3K]

Maybe Melvin doesn't want to be back. There are some who think Attanasio leaned hard on Melvin to fire Yost. There are some ( see Witrado in a recent Brewer Mailbag, )who thought getting Gagne was Attanasio's call. Perhaps Melvin would like to go someplace where the owner isn't involved as much in baseball decisions, if that is indeed the case.

There's no real evidence for any of that. Just speculation on the part of some.

[bucks2281]

I believe for what I have heard, is that things like this are approved by MA

 

I thought Mark A. entertained Suppan at his California home in November/December 2006. It seems like Mark really pushed hard to sign Suppan.

[Trombone482]

I though Mark A. entertained Suppan at his California home in November/December 2006. It seems like Mark really pushed hard to sign Suppan.

Exactly the big signings and trade have ultimately most likely come down to Mark A. giving the go ahead. I think Melvin is safe as well as he should.

[clancyphile]

At this juncture, I'd say the only real black marks on Melvin are the Doug Davis trade and the Gagne signing.

 

Everything else has been reasonable at the time.

[Ennder]

While I'm glad we didn't keep Doug Davis who would have been terrible with our defense, it makes me sad that we lost Eveland even though I'm not sure he would have ever turned things around without a change of scenery.

[bklynbrewcrew]

The fact that Attanasio had Suppan over for dinner with a slide show ready for him tellls me that it was he and not Melvin that wanted to sign him. I think that Mark A watched the playoffs that year and got giddy about the possibility of signing a "big game" pitcher. I hated the signing at the time and I hate it more now.

[clancyphile]

The fact that Attanasio had Suppan over for dinner with a slide show ready for him tellls me that it was he and not Melvin that wanted to sign him. I think that Mark A watched the playoffs that year and got giddy about the possibility of signing a "big game" pitcher. I hated the signing at the time and I hate it more now.

I don't hate the decision. Given the injuries to Sheets and Gallardo the last two years, it probably kept the Brewers in two playoff hunts.

 

Suppan's been about what he has been. Teams have been burned worse in the past.

 

That said, do I think the team needs a shake-up? Probably, particularly at third base, the bench (outside Rivera and Kapler) and probably the bullpen (again).

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I think Doug has had a pretty free reign and done quite well with it. He still doesn't have a $200 million payroll and even with stretching it to where it's at, it's tough to oversome the eventual mistakes. He did inherit a recovering minor league system and a great scouting dept. led by Jack Z. Overall he's been quite good. I certainly want to see him get another shot at building a winner in 2010.

[clancyphile]

I think Doug has had a pretty free reign and done quite well with it. He still doesn't have a $200 million payroll and even with stretching it to where it's at, it's tough to oversome the eventual mistakes. He did inherit a recovering minor league system and a great scouting dept. led by Jack Z. Overall he's been quite good. I certainly want to see him get another shot at building a winner in 2010.

I'd like to see what the team could do with a healthy Gallardo all year.

[BrewCrewForever]

I'd like to see what the team could do with a healthy Gallardo all year.

 

Couldn't agree with you more. I just said in another thread that even though he is coming off the knee surgery I expect big things from Gallardo in 2009. I think he can easily put out the numbers Sheets has and probably better as long as he stays healthy and makes all of his starts.

[sveumrules]

R L U Z I N S K I

 

(hopefully)

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Nobody.

[Invader3K]

I think Melvin should be back for one more season, at least. While some of the moves he made didn't quite work out, I've thought by and large all the moves he made were the right ones at the time.

 

Suppan, while extremely mediocre (and even pretty bad lately) has done about what could be expected of him. Gagne has been pretty terrible, but the one redeeming thing about signing him was that it was for only one year. I don't really get why people complain about the salary, though...I don't really see how else that money would have been spent. We had all the position players and starting pitching we needed, and I don't remember any other decent relievers being out there. So we overpaid the guy so he would sign a one year contract...I think it made sense at the time.

 

If anything, Doug Melvin should get some extra credit for signing Ryan Braun to a long term deal that could look pretty outstanding in another year or two.

[jeffy]

Assuming the Brewers continue to stumble and cede their wild-card playoff berth to either the Mets or the Phillies, look for Melvin to follow Yost out the door in Milwaukee... Though Melvin has a year to go on his contract, there has been no inclination on his part to seek an extension and sources familiar with the situation believe that Attanasio, who inherited Melvin when he bought the team in 2004, is looking to bring his own man in as GM.

http://personals.nydailyn...es_to_collapse_melvi.html

[MJLiverock]

Regarding a team with full season of Gallardo - - We just had a better pitcher in Sabathia and that still didn't make the playoffs a slam dunk and with a realtively healthy Sheets to boot the team still needs a collapse by the Mets.

[DonMoney4Mgr]

To me Doug Melvin is a lot like Mike Sherman was for the Packers. Sherman inherited a solid nucleus from Wolf, and only needed to add a few pieces to a mediocre defense. He failed in the the draft and free agency. As a result, the team never reached a level everyone thought they should have. Melvin, on the other hand, had a different set of circumstances, but in the end has had similar results. He inherited Jack Z, who was largely responsible for the young core of players that were the main contributors to this team this year. Over the last few years he has needed to put the finishing touches on a solid foundation. IMO, he has failed to do so.

 

With Sherman, it was the signing of Joe Johnson, drafting of Jamal Reynolds and B.J. Sanders, or the releasing of Hunter Hilimeyer. Melvin, one could argue, only needed a bullpen and a player or two to balance out a potent young lineup.

 

I realize these few deficiencies plague many teams in the major leagues today. But considering what this team spent this year, and the prospects they had to deal, the bottom line is he couldn't get it done.

 

This year if the Brewers fail to make the playoffs, it will leave a lot of fans feeling as though the organization has taken a step backwards. The pitching doesn't look promising for the immediate future, and soon decisions will need to made with several of the young core of players that got us this far. I don't know if Mark A. can trust Melvin to "try again" to make this a playoff team.

 

Having said that, Sherman was a horrible GM, Mevin is not. But in the end he added the wrong pieces to get us to the next level.

[crewcrazy]

Personally, I'm terrified that "looking to bring in his own man" means that Attanasio would let Jack Z walk out the door, too. But maybe that's the irrational Brewer fan in me that's just expecting everything to turn out for the worst. He has to at least give him an interview if he's letting Melvin go, doesn't he?

[splitterpfj]

I won't go back through his entire tenure, although it would only help his case if I did - just looking at Melvin's player moves prior to this season, you can see why he'd be hired somewhere in 48 hours if the Brewers made a change.

 

Jason Kendall, Mike Cameron, Gabe Kapler, Salomon Torres and Guillermo Mota for Johnny Estrada and a couple of kids for Pittsburgh.

 

Every one of those players has made this team better, without question. Mota had a horrible stretch, I thought he was about to be released in early July....but if you look at his overall numbers, he has been a positive addition - the others are all obvious upgrades.

 

Eric Gagne, and David Riske - Gagne is helping right now, but that was a horrible use of ten million dollars, and Riske didn't stay healthy - the combination of the two both failing in the bullpen could have ruined the season....but through 160 games, it hasn't.

 

I'll give credit for Sabathia too, but any GM would have made a move like that, given the chance. Ray Durham has been what they'd hoped he would be, and he has helped this team - more points for Doug.

 

Russell Branyan wasn't able to help the whole way, but he absolutely gave the team a lift when he first came up, he's got to be mentioned.

 

If you're going to cheer the diving catch by Cameron, the double and run scored by Durham, and the four scoreless from McClung....you'd better remember who brought them all here.

 

Thank you, Doug Melvin, Jack Z and Mark Attanasio - it's a lot more fun around here than it used to be!

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

If Melvin does indeed go and it sounds like it's a decent possibility, one possible replacement could be Pat Gillick. He seems all but gone from the Phillies organizations. Melvin was interviewed by Homer True earlier this week and he stated how he loves rebuilidng teams and getting them to playoff position and he said he would love to come back but it was up to Mark. It sure seems like Melvin might want to move on but we will find out very soon. If I had to choose between Gillick and Jack Z, my vote would be for Jack Z.

[Postseason2006]

I really, really do not want to see Melvin back. He was still in love with his bad coach and made some horrific offseason moves that bit this team. Having 6 free swinging righties with one LH bat was a bad mistake along with trading your only LH bat off the bench in Gross.

[dadofandrew]

If Doug does not return, that's his choice, MA said that yesterday.

[jjfanec]

I dont know if people saw this in the jsonline article about Braun hoping CC would stay, but toward the end Attanasio say one of the top priorities is extending Melvin's deal. Link

[BrewCrewForever]

I'm fine with Melvin coming back. He has made good and bad choices. No GM is perfect, if he does go though I would give the job to Jack Z. He has earned that and I'm not sure there is a better GM out there anyway. I think I'm more concerned to what they do with Manager, I wouldn't curse the move if Sveum was given the job but I hope they search for a guy who has a proven record and who they feel might be able to get the absolute most out of young players.

[molitor fan]

I really, really do not want to see Melvin back. He was still in love with his bad coach and made some horrific offseason moves that bit this team. Having 6 free swinging righties with one LH bat was a bad mistake along with trading your only LH bat off the bench in Gross.

 

 

Man, I cannot disagree with this more...Melvin has been incredible for this franchise, and crafted some essential parts for this team from squadoosh.....I love Jack Z, and would be fine with him as GM next year, but to throw Melvin on the scrapheap and deride his decisions as consistantly poor is a huge leap of logic

[jjfanec]

I really like Melvin as well. The contract to Gagne was bad but who else was out there. I know we looked at Percival but he went to Tampa. The under the radar trade for Torres really helped the team. What were the other horrific moves this off-season? Kendall was a better all-around catcher than a good amount of catchers in the league. Cameron was a decent signing but definitely not horrific. The trade for CC was great. The trade of Gross was bad. Kapler was a great pickup. Mota for Estrada was a definite win for the Crew even with Mota's rough stretch. Late season pickups of Lamb and Coffey were nice moves. The trade for Ray Durham was a nice trade as well. And one of the least talked about but best moves was locking up Ryan Braun who is going to hit big pay days in arbitration.

That is a pretty good year in my book. I would have liked a left-handed bat and a better contact guy, so I would downgrade him there.