Brewers All-Time Home Grown Team

[RyDogg66]

As part of their 30 teams in 30 days, the MLB Network is doing an all time home grown team for each team's episode. The Brewers episode is set for March 20th. Who would be on your Brewers Franchise Home Grown Team?

 

C - Darrell Porter

1b- Prince Fielder

2b- Jim Gantner

SS- Robin Yount

3b- Paul Molitor

LF- Ryan Braun

CF- Gorman Thomas

RF- Geoff Jenkins

DH - Greg Vaughn

SP- Ben Sheets

CL- Dan Plesac

[logan82]

I would have gone with Nilsson at catcher.

[paul253]

Can we name 5 starters? I can think of Sheets and Gallardo off the top of my head, but I hadn't followed the Brewers til about '97. Who else is there? Cal Eldred?

[giffted1]

I think an argument could be made for putting Mark Loretta at 2nd.

[Baldkin]

Nilsson or Surhoff as catchers.

 

Higuera and Moose Haas would both be in there for starters. Probably Chris Bosio as well.

 

It's hard not to have a team with Cirillo on it, though. Really, Molly should be the DH and Cirillo the 3b, imo.

[mls4]

I'd go with Higuera, Sheets, Gallardo, Haas and Slaton, barely leaving out Wegman, Bosio, Eldred and Sorensen.

[MNBrew]

I loved Jim Slaton, but I'd hardly consider him among the Brewers' top 5 all-time homegrown rotation. Wegman was about the equivalent (11-yr, all-Milwaukee career). Bosio was clearly better. Sorenson (low K rate & terrible K:BB ratio) was similar to Slaton but only pitched in Milwaukee for 4 years. Outside of his first 2 years, maybe 3, Eldred was not very good.

 

Much of the Brewer Nation love for Slaton seems to come from 3 things:

 

1. longevity in Milwaukee (12 seasons)

2. decent but generally unspectacular contributor

3. he was a part of the '78-'83 Glory Years era

 

Put that together and it clearly adds up to the fact that Slaton was the pitching equivalent of Jim Gantner.

 

And Gumby, if you really look at it, actually wasn't nearly as good of a 2B as Fernando Vina. Apply modern metrics and it'd be hard to disagree that Gantner's .671 career OPS is hardly worthy of ANY all-time club status. He was a great guy, a native Cheesehead, and a huge part of the glue of the team. But again, sheer longevity combined with non-sucky play and being part of the club's Glory Years era can do wonders for how someone's remembered!

 

My list:

C - B.J. Surhoff

1B - Fielder

2B - Vina

SS - Yount

3B - Cirillo

LF - Braun

CF - Thomas

RF - Jenkins

DH - Molitor

 

Rotation:

Higuera

Sheets

Gallardo

Haas

Bosio

[Baldkin]

Vina wasn't home grown, though... also Ganter's OPS+ was 88, and Vina's as a Brewer (5 years) was only 90.

 

Not all that much different.

[jwaltz]

C - Surhoff

1B - Fielder

2B - Loretta

SS - Yount

3B -

Cirillo

LF - Braun

CF - Thomas

RF - Jenkins

DH - Molitor

 

Rotation:

Sheets

Higuera

Gallardo

Haas

Bosio

 

CL - Plesac

[JoeHova]

I'd leave Jenkins off and put Sheffield in his place. Of course, Sheffield was not that good in Milwaukee and never played RF for them but he's easily one of the best 5 players ever developed by the franchise.

[DHonks]

Jenkins clearly shouldn't be on the list. I have to believe we have someone better than his mediocrity.

[DonMoney4Mgr]

I think Higuera is the best SP we ever had, albeit a relatively short period of time. In his prime, he had stuff, command, and he knew how to pitch.

[HiAndTight]

I think Higuera is the best SP we ever had, albeit a relatively short period of time. In his prime, he had stuff, command, and he knew how to pitch.

Hard to argue against that. Of course you could also argue that Sheeter was the best if you compare the two AT their best.

 

Kinda representative of the organization for about 20 years there with Higura and Sheets both being so talented, but having such limited success due to their injuries. Throw in Nieves as well.

 

 

[Ennder]

Jenkins clearly shouldn't be on the list. I have to believe we have someone better than his mediocrity.

 

Jenkins was a well above average player over his career and was a 3-5 WAR range player before his injuries. I can't think of another OF we've grown that was better that wasn't already on the list. We need Weeks to get healthy and stay a Brewer because our list of 2B is just horrible.

[logan82]

I wouldn't mind seeing Weeks signed to a 3-4 year contract. I don't think he would be to expensive. Yeah he could easily be our best 2B of all time if he plays for us for a few more years.

[RyDogg66]

I completely forgot about Gary Sheffield. Yeah, he should definitely be on the list, and since a majority of his games were played in RF in his career I would put him there in place of Jenkins. Otherwise you could shift Molitor to DH and slide Sheffield to 3b since he did play 6 seasons there. Also, the comments about Gantner are duly noted, although I am not sure Loretta should be the guy to replace him - Gantner is on Loretta's list of most similar batters on baseball-reference.com. Someone else mentioned Vina, but he came up in a different system.

[1992casey]

RyDogg, are looking for a home grown team based on how players did with the Brewers, or are you looking for a home grown team based on how players' entire careers worked out?

[RyDogg66]

I guess how their careers played out, but to each their own.

[whizkid]

It's hard for me to think of Higuera as home grown, especially in the classic sense. Milwaukee was his 1st MLB organization but he was 25 when signed, having played pro ball many years in the Mexican leagues. He was advanced enough to go 15-8, 3.90 with the Brewers in his 2nd year in the organization.

[RockCoCougars]

Outside of one season, Sheffield was garbage while with the Brewers. Therefore, if this list is based on performance while with the team Sheffield doesn't belong. I'd go with the list below. I will say that the dearth of pitching that this franchise has produced in over 40 years is pretty scary, especially in the bullpen.... more specifically, Plesac seems to be the only decent homegrown left handed reliever:

 

C: B.J. Surhoff

1B: Prince Fielder

2B: Jim Gantner

SS: Robin Yount

3B: Paul Molitor

LF: Greg Vaughn

CF: Gorman Thomas

RF: Geoff Jenkins

DH: Ryan Braun

 

Bench

Darrell Porter C

John Jaha IB

Mark Loretta 2B/SS

Jeff Cirillo 3B

Sixto Lezcano OF

Charlie Moore C/OF

 

SP1: Ben Sheets

SP2: Ted Higuera

SP3: Moose Haas

SP4: Chris Bosio

SP5: Bill Wegman

Closer: Dan Plesac

Setup: Chuck Crim

BP: Doug Henry

BP: Bill Castro

BP: Jim Slaton

[MNBrew]

Vina wasn't home grown, though... also Ganter's OPS+ was 88, and Vina's as a Brewer (5 years) was only 90.

 

Not all that much different.

Whoops. Then I put Loretta there. I like Gantner a lot, but I think Loretta was the better 2B over the course of his Brewers career.

[JohnBriggs12]

MNBrew,

 

I can't disagree with you more about Slaton. The guy won a 117 games in a Brewer uniform and was a pillar on some bad teams, logging tons of innings. He also had 19 complete game shutouts as a Brewer. Compare that to Bosio's 9, Sorenson's 7 and Wegman's 4. He was at least on par with Bosio and well ahead of Sorenson and Wegman. Sorenson had one really good year in 1978 and one good year in 1979. In 1980, he got hit hard to the tune of a .311 BAA. That may have been the most misleading 3.68 ERA of all time.

 

Some of you guys remember the Jim Slaton of the 1980's when he was converted into mostly a reliever. Why do I say that? Because none of you guys has given Bill Travers a mention either and he belongs in the discussion too.

 

My team:

 

1B Fielder

2B Gantner

SS Yount

3B Cirillo

RF Jenkins

CF Thomas

LF Braun

C Surhoff

DH Molitor

 

SP Higuera

SP Slaton

SP Sheets

SP Bosio

SP Haas

 

RP Plesac

RP Castro

RP Crim

RP Henry

RP Eddie Rodriguez