How many of the Brewers personnel decisions has Attanasio been behind?

[adambr2]

You know, I was a little bit baffled when Attanasio vehemently defended Melvin a couple of weeks ago and assured everyone that he was proven and that his job was more than safe. It just didn't make any sense to me. I tried to look at it from Mark's perspective. The Brewers are an investment to him, but even beyond that, he's a big fan. Now you've got your handpicked GM, on the heels of a terrible Suppan contract, continuing to spend money on ineffective pitching. You're watching your prized 1st baseman slip ever closer to not being signed OR traded, and leaving for nearly nothing. You're a franchise that has to spend wisely, and your GM takes your $85M and puts together a 5th/6th place team.

How would I feel? Well, I'd be pretty ticked, quite frankly. Granted, I'm sure that Attanasio is and has to be more level-headed than the average casual fan. The way I see it, Mark's words about Melvin mean one of four things:

1 - He's bluffing, and Melvin is on the hot seat.

2 - He really genuinely believes that this franchise is headed in the right direction.

3 - His friendship with Melvin is clouding his judgment.

4 - He has been pulling the strings on a lot of the Brewer moves. I really do think this is possible. The Suppan deal? Pretty strong evidence that Attanasio was strongly behind that one. I've heard he ordered the Gagne deal as well. Is it possible that Wolf, Davis, Hawkins....anything like that, Melvin may have been told to get something done? Is it possible that Melvin thought trading Prince may have been in the best interests of the franchise this last offseason, and Mark A. quickly put an axe into that idea? Attanasio is a very hands on owner....I guess in a way, can you really blame him? Look at all the ideas that we come up with on a daily basis. Now imagine being able to actually implement your own ideas. If this IS the case, I would only ask Mark to be the owner, and be a fan, and leave it at that. Mark Attanasio is a great owner. But he's not, and should not be, a GM.

[markedman5]

I'm sure he approved of the Suppan deal but I'm sure Melvin made the initial call on going after him.

 

I think the only thing we can say with a reasonable amount of confidence is that MA made the call to fire Yost.

 

Everything else is just conjecture.

[dadofandrew]

Little doubt he fired Yost, and he added a 4th year to Suppan's offer. Everything else is just guessing.

[nate82]

I'm sure he approved of the Suppan deal but I'm sure Melvin made the initial call on going after him.

Incorrect. Mark A was the one who wanted Suppan and they overpaid for getting him also. There were plenty of other players who were just as good or better than Suppan who were available for the Brewers to pick up Meche, Lilly, and Padilla come to mind. I'm not sure if the Brewers could have gotten Padilla but Lilly and Meche would have been strong probables. The contracts would have been about the same for both Meche and Lilly that Suppan got.

 

The Suppan deal was hey look at me I am the new owner and I am signing an expensive free agent signing. Although the Brewers did need another pitcher who could stay healthy and give them about 200 IP and Suppan did that in his first two years with the Brewers.

 

As for the Hawkins deal that was a good deal and I still believe it was a solid pick up by Melvin this off season it just hasn't panned out. I still believe Hawkins is one of the better relief pitchers the Brewers have right now.

[drezdn]

I wonder this as well. The Gagne deal seemed like it might have been influenced by Mark A. as well, but we might never know.

[1992casey]

Now you've got your handpicked GM...

 

Melvin was actually Ulice Payne's handpicked GM.

[bullox]

A lot of people bring up Meche, but even more people were laughing at how terrible the Meche signing was at the time. Hindsight is great.

[jjkoestler]

Obviously Mark A needs to sign off on all contracts, but there is no evidence that he is "pulling the strings on a lot of the Brewer moves" (Soup, Gagne, etc).

[brewmann04]

I would guess the Bottom Line falls on Mark but if he really concerned about winning no body should be safe.

[nate82]

A lot of people bring up Meche, but even more people were laughing at how terrible the Meche signing was at the time. Hindsight is great.

This is true but talent level Meche and Suppan were about the same maybe an edge to Meche in his stuff is a little bit better than Suppans. The option was out there though and Suppan definitely was the more safer pick in regards to getting someone who would give you about 200 IP every year. I just wish the Brewers would have given Suppan a 3-year deal with an option for a 4th year instead of the 4-year and the option for a 5th year. Though I don't think the Brewers wouldn't have been able to sign anyone for less than 4-years or 5-years that year.

[TheCrew07]

Then maybe instead of signing someone maybe a trade would have made more sense possibly perhaps?

[WestSideWillie]

Mr. Attanasio is behind more moves than you think. Regarding Soup, Doug had him traded to another team, lock and stock, full rack rate and
MA vetoed the trade. I heard this through another team's pipeline. Gagne? Of course. He was Cy Young in Los Angeles!
Firing Yost? Either Ned went or both Doug and Ned. He was behind the Bill Castro firing too, under "We gotta do something" heading.
I'm sure he calls Doug five times a day for updates and sharing his ideas. One more thing, I read about the ownership worried about losing
money this year, small market when it comes to signing free agents and signing Prince, sounds tremendously like the previous ownership. Except
we get "He's a great owner" from others on this website when it was "whining" with previous group. Same-old, same-old. Amazing, attendance is record highs, marketing is all time high, sponsorship is 100 plus companies, and the team cannot sign Prince and is losing money. Right. BTW, ownership did not want to
pay Mike Maddux and look what he has done with an average staff in Texas. Wish he was still here.

[Ennder]

BTW, ownership did not want to

pay Mike Maddux and look what he has done with an average staff in Texas

 

You mean look what happens when your team brings up a bunch of young upside starters? Btw the Rangers are an average rotation so far this year even with that talent. They have the 10th best rotation in the AL and a 4.58 ERA from their starters.

[TheCrew07]

If, and that's a big IF, but if that's all true then that would be pretty much be my worst fears realized. I don't want the owner making any baseball decisions, period. That also leads me to believe that we wouldn't get the type of GM I think this team should have.

[sweepscc]

I think Melvin has too much pride to be Mark Attanasio's puppet. Then again as long as he's receiving a check each week..........

Somebody has to be accountable for the inability of putting solid pitching together for the past five years.

Ultimately Melvin is accountable(mark a. isn't going to get axed).

Melvin's track record has never been good in assembling good pitching, so it's not like under Attanasio this is suddenly a problem.

[Invader3K]

Regarding Soup, Doug had him traded to another team, lock and stock, full rack rate and MA vetoed the trade.

 

Willie, I don't know what your source is on this, but I'd be fairly shocked if this was accurate. When was this, supposedly?

 

As far as signing Prince long term, as much as part of me would like to see it, I don't think it would be for the best long term if it's similar or more than a Ryan Howard type contract.

[1e Corbeau]

Incorrect. Mark A was the one who wanted Suppan and they overpaid for getting him also.

Evidence? Or just more conjecture?

[crewcrazy]

I think Melvin has too much pride to be Mark Attanasio's puppet. Then again as long as he's receiving a check each week..........

....he doesn't have much choice (to complete that sentence). I don't know how accurate a lot of the rumors in this thread are, but it wouldn't be the first time Melvin had his wishes overruled by his owner (Tom Hicks and Alex Rodriguez).

[MJLiverock]

The only evidence anyone has ever shown that Attanasio made Melvin sign Suppan is that Suppan is from L.A. and Attanasio went to dinner with him before the contract was signed. That is so weak that I would hesitate even calling it evidence. I suppose the new theory will be that Attanasio forced Melvin to sign Wolf as well since he is also from L.A. What about Ryan Braun, he is from L.A. as is Jim Edmonds.

 

I don't get why it is so important to exonerate Melvin of the Suppan deal and grasp at straws to place the blame elsewhere. Offsetting the weak evidence of living in LA and going to dinner is a whole track record of Melvin being bad as signing free agent pitchers, developing pitchers and in general building a pitching staff. It seems to me that the evidence falls more on the side of Melvin just making another bad pitching decision. Suppan signed a market rate deal considering what Lilly and Meche got. The Brewers, being the Brewers, may have had to add a 4th year or pay a bit more than the Cubs or some other team to get him. Melvin may have had to ask Attanasio for permission to go that far but I seriously doubt any of these assumptions that Melvin unwillingly signed Suppan because Attanasio made him.

 

As far as giving Melvin the vote of confidence being some acknowledgement that Attanasio knows he made Melvin make some bad choices I ask; When has an owner ever come out in May/June and said this GM has to work a miracle because his butt is on the line, I am ready to pull the trigger and fire him very soon. Pretty much never, unless Steinbrenner blew up some time in the past. Every owner or GM stands by the GM or manager in the media right up until the day they get fired. There is a reason why it is a "dreaded vote of confidence."

[nate82]

Incorrect. Mark A was the one who wanted Suppan and they overpaid for getting him also.

Evidence? Or just more conjecture?

The evidence you will never find but Mark A definitely had a strong hand in signing Suppan. Per the reason of the Suppan deal was a hey look at me I am the new owner and I am

signing an expensive free agent signing. You know the signing that says I am going to be spending money on the team even though this is foolish spending for a pitcher who is a career #5 pitcher.

[Diskono]

I thought I remember Attanasio making some strong comments about Suppan being a proven winner after the World Series. I don't think there will ever be any shut-up-camera type evidence to confirm it, but it did look like MA had a big role in the signing.

[Invader3K]

Ugh...people forget how desperately the Brewers needed a reliable starting pitcher that off-season. The team had just come off a disappointing '06 due to not having enough reliable starting pitchers. Sheets and Ohka had both gotten hurt. We were throwing guys like Wes Obermueller into the rotation hoping to get some decent starts (sound familiar?). This after a promising 2005 where it looked like the team had turned a corner. Yes, it ended up being a bad decision based on this season and last, but at the time it wasn't a completely illogical move. I buy MJLive's assesment more than the assertions that signing Suppan was a gigantic ego stroke by Mark Attanasio. It's really not out of line for a team owner to meet with a free agent to talk up the team. I'd rather have an owner taking an interest in the team than one who is completely absentee, anyway.

[Funketown]

Could someone post some links to articles that indicate Mark A. is behind any of these moves? Of course Mark A. wouldn't want people to know he had been tinkering, but you'd think some credible source would find out eventually.

 

I'm not trying to be condescending, but I just haven't seen much credible evidence of Attanasio calling the shots, outside of Suppan, and even that's pretty hazy.

[logan82]

The only evidence anyone has ever shown that Attanasio made Melvin sign Suppan is that Suppan is from L.A. and Attanasio went to dinner with him before the contract was signed.

 

They didn't "go to dinner." Mark A. invited Suppan over for dinner at his house.

 

Of course we will never know for sure while Melvin works for the Brewers. We might find out after Melvin leaves, might. There are strong indications that Mark A. wants a winner every year. If he is melding, we can expect to be the Astros and that sucks.

[nate82]

Ugh...people forget how desperately the Brewers needed a reliable starting pitcher that off-season. The team had just come off a disappointing '06 due to not having enough reliable starting pitchers. Sheets and Ohka had both gotten hurt. We were throwing guys like Wes Obermueller into the rotation hoping to get some decent starts (sound familiar?). This after a promising 2005 where it looked like the team had turned a corner. Yes, it ended up being a bad decision based on this season and last, but at the time it wasn't a completely illogical move. I buy MJLive's assesment more than the assertions that signing Suppan was a gigantic ego stroke by Mark Attanasio. It's really not out of line for a team owner to meet with a free agent to talk up the team. I'd rather have an owner taking an interest in the team than one who is completely absentee, anyway.

Yes I know the Brewers needed pitching after the 06 season but there were other options available and better ones than Suppan. Ted Lilly comes to mind and would have been a great pickup by the Brewers at that time along with Meche who would have been a great pick up also.

 

Just going by the stats here for each players 2006 season.

 

Suppan

Season	Team	W	L	SV	G	GS	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	LOB%	GB%	HR/FB	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WAR
2006	Cardinals	12	7	0	32	32	190.0	4.93	3.27	0.99	.301	72.3 %	46.8 %	10.8 %	4.12	4.70	4.66	1.6

Lilly

Season	Team	W	L	SV	G	GS	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	LOB%	GB%	HR/FB	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WAR
2006	Blue Jays	15	13	0	32	32	181.2	7.93	4.01	1.39	.300	73.8 %	37.7 %	12.1 %	4.31	4.79	4.52	2.3

Meche

Season	Team	W	L	SV	G	GS	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	LOB%	GB%	HR/FB	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WAR
2006	Mariners	11	8	0	32	32	186.2	7.52	4.05	1.16	.300	70.0 %	43.1 %	11.3 %	4.48	4.63	4.50	2.2

All three had very close IP that year. All three got very similar contracts though Lilly and Suppan are more close than Meche. If it came down to it I would still have taken Lilly over Suppan and it would have been a push in taking Suppan or Meche. All three of these players also had very similar stats in 2006. I know looking at just 1-year is not a good statistical analysis of the situation this is just the easiest and non clutter way to put it on here. Meche and Suppan really do match up really well though if you were just looking at IP Suppan would have been the best player to pick from. Looking at the whole picture Lilly should have been the #1 target followed by Meche and Suppan.