Who replaces Doug Melvin in 2009?

[brewmann04]

I think Melvin should come back and it looks like Mark wants him back also.

[billyhallfan]

melvin needs to come back, and jack z needs to stay right where he is, i don't want him going anywhere, he is perfect at what he does, and let's keep it that way

[jjfanec]

melvin needs to come back, and jack z needs to stay right where he is, i don't want him going anywhere, he is perfect at what he does, and let's keep it that way

I think part of the "give Jack Z the gm spot" sentiment comes from the belief that he will get a job very soon and it might as well be us. Most assume he wont be in his current position much longer. I agree with you though. Keep things as they are now.

[MBHA]

Thus far Melvin has shown an ineptness to assemble a playoff caliber bullpen and to acquire the needed complimentary pieces for our offense. I realize I may look like a fool if our offense gets hot but assuming we continue to tank: Who do you think can get us to our destination after some minor rebuilding over the next few years?

Would this be the same bullpen that gave up exactly 1 run in 4 post season games?

[brewerguy71]

I dont think Jack Z is the answer as GM. I'm not a big fan of Melvin, but Jack Z is part of the reason the team has such a one dimensional offense.

 

Id love to see an Ivy League MBA type like Theo Epstein or someone come in to start using a MoneyBall, patient, defense, pitching, value approach to building a team. Someone who will surround themself with good baseball people and scouts, who can realize the whole picture. Not one who just wants to hit home runs and take mammoth risks with high draft picks.

[sweepscc]

Thus far Melvin has shown an ineptness to assemble a playoff caliber bullpen and to acquire the needed complimentary pieces for our offense. I realize I may look like a fool if our offense gets hot but assuming we continue to tank: Who do you think can get us to our destination after some minor rebuilding over the next few years?

Would this be the same bullpen that gave up exactly 1 run in 4 post season games?

4 games is a good sample size now?

[nate82]

The bullpen over the whole of the year was actually rather good. In the month of September and into October the bullpen was phenomenal.

 

Month of September stats ranked by WHIP for the relievers. I kept McClungs start in September in here because it was basically a long relief appearance anyways. I also didn't include Riske's three appearances in September since he was injured. Torres had a bad month of September while Gagne, McClung, and Mota had a good month. Torres just gave up to many hits and walks in the month of September and looked to be tired going into September.

 

NAME	GP	GS	W	L	Sv	Hld	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	K/9	P/GS	WHIP	ERA
Eric Gagne	12	0	0	1	0	2	11.2	8	4	2	3	10	7.71	0.0	0.94	3.09
Seth McClung	8	1	1	1	0	0	16.1	8	2	0	9	17	9.37	1028.0	1.04	1.10
G. Mota	11	0	1	1	0	1	10.1	5	3	1	6	8	6.97	0.0	1.06	2.61
Todd Coffey†	9	0	1	0	0	1	7.1	6	0	0	2	7	8.59	0.0	1.09	0.00
C. Villanueva	10	0	0	1	0	2	15.1	13	4	1	5	16	9.39	0.0	1.17	2.35
Tim Dillard	5	0	0	0	0	0	6.0	7	2	1	1	2	3.00	0.0	1.33	3.00
Brian Shouse	7	0	1	0	0	1	5.0	6	4	1	1	1	1.80	0.0	1.40	7.20
Mark DiFelice	5	0	1	0	0	0	5.1	4	0	0	4	4	6.75	0.0	1.50	0.00
Mitch Stetter	7	0	1	0	0	2	2.2	2	2	0	3	2	6.75	0.0	1.88	6.75
S. Torres	12	0	1	2	2	0	12.2	19	12	3	7	7	4.97	0.0	2.05	8.53

I would give the bullpen a grade of a B for the whole year.

[sweepscc]

We finished tied for 7th in the NL for reliever WHIP. Behind the Dodgers, Houston, Arizona, Cubs, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.

[Ennder]

Our bullpen was slightly above average and that is with Gagne being much worse than was expected most of the year and Riske being injured and pitching very poorly. Last year the flaw with the Bullpen was Turnbow's complete collapse and the whole Wise falling apart after hitting the guy thing.

[BREWCREW5]

I love that people on here are saying that Mark A. is controlling everything and stepping on Melvin's toes. This is all talk. Lets see some evidence to back up these claims....

[sweepscc]

I love that people on here are saying that Mark A. is controlling everything and stepping on Melvin's toes. This is all talk. Lets see some evidence to back up these claims....

Are you the judge and jury? Show me evidence Attanasio hasn't stepped in on a few crucial baseball decisions.

[BREWCREW5]

I love that people on here are saying that Mark A. is controlling everything and stepping on Melvin's toes. This is all talk. Lets see some evidence to back up these claims....

Are you the judge and jury? Show me evidence Attanasio hasn't stepped in on a few crucial baseball decisions.

 

I would if I was making claims against him! There is a lot of "talk" on here about how Mark A. stepped on Melvin's toes to sign Suppan, sign Gagne and fire Yost. This sounds like a lot of internet rumors to me. Im not saying that Mark A. is hands off or hands on. We read this from people as it is truth. Im not a follower. I am asking that people provide links or at least advise where they heard the types of claims if they are going to type it on here as fact.

 

Also, this is America where you are innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around sweepscc.

[bjkrautk]

Looking at Nate's chart....I think McClung needs to be on more of a pitch count when he starts. That's Dusty Baker bad. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[TheCrew07]

I haven't seen anyone say Mark A is meddling as a fact, we've just guessed that it may be the case based on some Melvin's comments.

[Hate those Rodents]

If his meddling was the only reason Yost was canned (and subsequently the only reason we were even in the playoffs) than I hope he continues doing so when his GM is "too patient".

[BREWCREW5]

I haven't seen anyone say Mark A is meddling as a fact, we've just guessed that it may be the case based on some Melvin's comments.

OK then.

[Patrick425]

I kind of skimmed through all the posts in here. I know a majority of the posts were made before the Brewers clinched the wild card spot, so I'm not certain if this has already been brought up. Maybe this is a bit over-simplistic, but if your payroll ranks 15th and you finish in the top 8 teams, you must be doing something right. Of the 7 other teams in the playoffs, only TB had a lower payroll. Sure, in hindsight, Melvin has made some bad signings (Gagne, Suppan). However, I'm sure you could say that for just about every GM in the league.

[Diskono]

Would this be the same bullpen that gave up exactly 1 run in 4 post season games?

4 games is a good sample size now?

I'm pretty sure every MLB team's fans think their bullpen sucks.

[BrewCrewForever]

I have to give Melvin a lot of props for the Todd Coffey signing. He pitched some stellar innings down the stretch and showed he has good stuff to be a big bullpen staple in 2009.

[joepepsi]

The main (only?) reason this team didn't win 96 games is a surprisingly dysfunctional offense that was terrible at getting on base. Since they finished 11th in the league in 2007 in batting average and obp, I suppose you can argue Doug should have seen this coming. On the other hand, one thing you can expect from talented young hitters is they will improve their on base skills with experience. Instead everyone of the young core of hitters regressed except for JJ.

 

The offense scored 51 fewer runs comared to last year while the pitching allowed 87 fewer runs. Had the offense merely scored as many runs as in 2007 the Brewers would have theorectically speaking, won 5 more games.

[Ennder]

The main (only?) reason this team didn't win 96 games is a surprisingly dysfunctional offense that was terrible at getting on base. Since they finished 11th in the league in 2007 in batting average and obp, I suppose you can argue Doug should have seen this coming. On the other hand, one thing you can expect from talented young hitters is they will improve their on base skills with experience. Instead everyone of the young core of hitters regressed except for JJ.

 

The offense scored 51 fewer runs comared to last year while the pitching allowed 87 fewer runs. Had the offense merely scored as many runs as in 2007 the Brewers would have theorectically speaking, won 5 more games.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he knew OBP was a problem. We dumped Estrada, Mench, Graffanino, Jenkins, Miller who were all low OBP players in 2007. Just turns out our regulars all regressed in OBP and offset the changes.

 

I'm actually pretty shocked that we won 90 games considering I think overall the roster underproduced expectations. We'll lose some key players next year but I still think next year's team is looking at around 90 wins again barring major injury and assuming we pick up a decent SP.

[OglivieHomePerm]

Found this little blurb in the Hudson Star-Observer, of all places:

 

"Milwaukee Brewers' General Manager Doug Melvin has one year left on his contract and he talked on the phone Tuesday with team owner Mark Attanasio about a possible extension. Attanasio says he definitely wants Melvin to stay around, and a deal may have to come quickly. "

 

I will be very interested to see how this plays out over the next few days. It will be a very interesting offseason, to be sure, if we are finding a replacement GM as well as manager.

[Boy Jeenius]

Thought you all might like to see how DM is perceived by his peers.

 

From a Dallas Morning news interview with GM Jon Daniels:

 

MJH: Is there a GM -- past or present other than the guy who brought you along, John Hart -- who you see as your role model and if so, what have you learned from him and how has that influenced you in this job?

 

JD: I can think of four guys right away: Pat Gillick, Doug Melvin, Mark Shapiro and Theo [Epstein]. With Pat, obviously you have to admire the way he builds an organization. He's a big proponent of continuity. He knows his people. Pat's a guy who knows where all of his scouts are on any given day. He knows their wives first names. He knows their kids. He makes sure that everyone in the organization knows that they are valuable and that's been a key to his success wherever he goes.

 

Doug: the way he carries himself. He's probably about the most respected GM in the game. His honesty. He's direct. Straight shooter.

 

I hope to be similar to those guys.

 

 

http://rangersblog.dallas...ngers-gm-jon-daniels.html

 

I resurrected this because IMO I was just amazed that this was even a topic. Some of the sentiments along the lines that we need a clean house and a new start amazed me. Like that darn 90 win season and playoff appearence should trigger a fan uprising.

 

 

Edit spelling

[Invader3K]

There's no doubt in my mind that if Melvin had been let go for some reason after the '08 season, teams would have been stumbling over each other to try and get him.

[TooLiveBrew]

Thanks for sharing that, Boy Jeenius. It's cool to hear that our perception (or at least, mine) of Melvin -- honest, down-to-earth, direct -- is shared by others outside of a biased, Brewers-supporting base.