I want Paul DePodesta to be the New GM of the Brewers

[Thundercat32]

Brew Crew Nation,

I've been studying this team for about a month now and I've come to believe the M in Melvin stands for Mediocrity. From accessmylibrary.com "ARLINGTON, TEXAS _ Doug Melvin built three division championship teams as general manager of the Texas Rangers, but he was unable to develop enough good young pitching for owner Tom Hicks. That cost Melvin his job when Hicks fired him Sunday after seven years." This is his 8th year in Milwaukee he's overdue and this isn't to be critical of Doug Melvin personally. I've read many posts from supporters of Doug Melvin who cite his positives. Doug Melvin is a likeable guy there's no disputing that, but this boils down to job performance. I don't see a direction with this franchise. And due to a lack of direction he's doing patch work. Trying to patch together a starting rotation each offseason with the also rans of the free agent market. Trying to keep a nucleus together of Braun, Hart, Weeks, Fielder & his lone arm Gallardo and pray he can somehow make it work. That shows bad judgement to me. If you're the GM, you can't be a fan and get attached to players or to your own prior plan. If things dive off course you have to be savvy enough to recognize that and make the necessary adjustments.

I also question, if we can give Melvin full credit for his successes to this point. In reality, Jack Z probably deserves more of the credit for hits on Braun, Weeks, Fielder, and Gallardo. I'll give him his due he made a fantastic deal for C.C. in '08 and maximized our chances without giving up much in comparison. He's also not the worst GM imaginable. In fact, some very respected journalists and baseball insiders rate Doug very high, as high as a top 10 GM in baseball. However, the status quo in Milwaukee has to change and its the exact same thing which lead to Melvin's departure in Texas. Where is the pitching? Melvin is too conservative for my tastes, playing it safe by choosing so-so talented veterans to fill holes instead of acquiring younger talent with more upside.

The bottom line is, if there is someone else out there who's better why not go and get him? I can't come up with a reason not to and I defy you to come up with one. I don't think anyone in baseball circles will dispute the Rays GM Andrew Friedman is a far better GM than Doug Melvin. I'd be perfectly fine with going out and acquiring Friedman. Just look at what he's been able to do with that small market team in a division that boasts the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Think what he could do here in Milwaukee. Ken Rosenthal wrote an article back in May citing GMs are underpaid compared to their worth, http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Billy-Beane-other-MLB-GMs-are-underpaid-050510, and its spot on. So acquiring Friedman is simple make him a better offer. I mean, why will Dave Bush sign a better contract this offseason than any GM in baseball has when his impact on an organization is far less? Like Rosenthal says in his article the best thing you can do for your organization is hire the best available GM. And while alot of people believe thats Andrew Friedman, theres rumor a bidding war will break out for him in the offseason, I believe the best available GM on the market is with the Padres front office, Paul DePodesta.

DePodesta, of course is the famed sabermetrician guru from Moneyball, but he's more than that. DePodesta's firing after a brief stint with the Dodgers in 05 was a severe injustice. As described in this hardballtimes "the best unemployed GM in baseball" article as a surprising Steinbrenner-esque firing, http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/the-best-out-of-work-gm-in-baseball/. DePodesta is more than a stat head, although he certainly excels in data analysis. He was a baseball and football player himself at Harvard and worked as an advandced scout and special assistant to the GM with the Indians for 3 years before joining the A's. I believe DePodesta's biggest assest is his ability to make the most optimal decision without regard to emotion, tradition, or any other prejudice. He just bases his sole decision on whats the best move for the long term success of this franchise?

So whats the best move for the Brewers this offseason? For owner Mark Attanasio to extend a 3-4 year $7-$9 million contract to Paul DePodesta. Thats when this organization finally gets turned around in the right direction and starts building a championship team, with hitting and pitching.

Also, if the author of firedougmelvin.com happens to read this or you happen to know him please contact me. Thanks.

[Ennder]

So Jack Z deserves credit for the good players and Melvin the blame for the bad.

 

 

Never do understand this line of thinking. We have done poorly overall in the draft because we drafted too many poor defensive players who make developing young pitching almost impossible. I'm a firm believer that if we had even an average defense Parra would be a successful starter at this point and a lot of these patchwork type pitchers we have signed would have pitched more to their career averages rather than having the worst season of their career like they all seem to.

 

As for DePodesta, I'd be fine with that.

[RyDogg66]

Paul DePodesta is being played by Jonah Hill in the Moneyball movie. Maybe we can hire Hill.

[Invader3K]

Given Attanasio's comments earlier this season regarding Melvin, I would be shocked if he is fired any time soon. I think we just have to hope that he has learned from his mistakes over the past couple seasons. There is some evidence in recent comments and moves that he has.

 

Will people credit Bruce Seid when the young pitchers like Odorizzi, Jeffress, and Rivas start coming up, ignoring Melvin's GM status, if they find success?

[Ennder]

One other thing of note, our starting pitching hasn't been nearly as bad as people make them out to be under Melvin. He inherited Sheets and nothing else and the past 7 years here are our ranks in starter ERA (xFIP).

 

2010 - 15(12)

2009 - 16(13)

2008 - 2(3)

2007 - 8(6)

2006 - 11(2)

2005 - 6(9)

2004 -9(3)

 

Our starters were actually well above average from 2004-2008(4 of 5 years we had one of the top 6 rotations by xFIP) and we just kind of hit a black hole where nobody we sign seems to be able to pitch anymore. You'll also notice the xFIP rank is almost always better than the ERA rank, that is the defense and park coming into play. A lot of what makes the pitching so bad is just the bad defense that we have had for so long.

[Never Outhustled]

Why hire DePodesta when there is a dominant GM available, and he's living in the area already.

 

Terry Ryan needs to be the next GM of the Milwaukee Brewers.

[Invader3K]

Isn't he basically retired?

[Never Outhustled]

So Jack Z deserves credit for the good players and Melvin the blame for the bad.

 

 

Never do understand this line of thinking. We have done poorly overall in the draft because we drafted too many poor defensive players who make developing young pitching almost impossible. I'm a firm believer that if we had even an average defense Parra would be a successful starter at this point and a lot of these patchwork type pitchers we have signed would have pitched more to their career averages rather than having the worst season of their career like they all seem to.

 

Our drafting under Jack Z was awesome. Z drafted as much, or more, talent than anyone in those 8 years. The reason the Brewers suck is Melvin invested half his payroll in a group of players that are replacement level! Melvin's beyond abysmal record in free agency has reached historic proportions. The only thing this team has going for it is the talent Z drafted.

 

If the Brewers have too many poor defenders, wouldn't it be the GM's job to make a trade to balance the team? He didn't, which has been another colossal error by Melvin.

 

Melvin stated repeatedly that the scouting director's job is to get the most talent talent possible, so how can you possibly blame Z for following his GM's orders? To say our drafting has been poor overall is so devoid of fact its laughable. Z drafted an Ace pitcher and numerous All-Star position players. BaseballAmerica, Keith Law, Sickel's, Perfect Game are all in agreement that the Brewers have done an awesome job amassing talent since 2000. Melvin has done an epically bad job squandering it.

[Never Outhustled]

Isn't he basically retired?

 

Didn't Sandy Alderson retire once too? That's a better option than hiring guys that were fired, like Melvin and DePodesta.

[jjfanec]

So Jack Z deserves credit for the good players and Melvin the blame for the bad.

 

 

Never do understand this line of thinking. We have done poorly overall in the draft because we drafted too many poor defensive players who make developing young pitching almost impossible. I'm a firm believer that if we had even an average defense Parra would be a successful starter at this point and a lot of these patchwork type pitchers we have signed would have pitched more to their career averages rather than having the worst season of their career like they all seem to.

 

Our drafting under Jack Z was awesome. Z drafted as much, or more, talent than anyone in those 8 years. The reason the Brewers suck is Melvin invested half his payroll in a group of players that are replacement level! Melvin's beyond abysmal record in free agency has reached historic proportions. The only thing this team has going for it is the talent Z drafted.

 

If the Brewers have too many poor defenders, wouldn't it be the GM's job to make a trade to balance the team? He didn't, which has been another colossal error by Melvin.

 

Melvin stated repeatedly that the scouting director's job is to get the most talent talent possible, so how can you possibly blame Z for following his GM's orders? To say our drafting has been poor overall is so devoid of fact its laughable. Z drafted an Ace pitcher and numerous All-Star position players. BaseballAmerica, Keith Law, Sickel's, Perfect Game are all in agreement that the Brewers have done an awesome job amassing talent since 2000. Melvin has done an epically bad job squandering it.

Sorry only our drafting of impact bats was awesome. His drafting of pitchers was very poor. One impact pitcher and really no other guy who has had success in the bigs as a pitcher. Parra has be below average, outside of him who am I missing. Sure he drafted great bats, but when you do a poor job with pitching and fielding that is not a good thing. Don't get me wrong Jack Z was a good scout but people here seem to have rose-colored glasses on looking back at his drafts. Was it 9 drafts with one quality pitcher? That leaves your gm filling 4 starting spots through FA (almost impossible in this era of FA) or trades (which means you have to move one of those cherished impact bats). Melvin could have made a trade here or there, but we never know the offers we just assume to know. Now guys like Jefferies, Rogers and Scarpetta still have chances to succeed, but I actually think Seid has done a better job in just a couple drafts giving us legitimate prospects - Odorizzi, Heckathorn. On top of that our other good pitching prospects were either not drafted - Peralta and Rivas or traded for Butler.

[Gobias Industries]

Isn't he basically retired?

 

Didn't Sandy Alderson retire once too? That's a better option than hiring guys that were fired, like Melvin and DePodesta.

There has never been a clear reason why DePodesta was canned from his gig in LA. For all I know, Bill Plaschke was the driving force behind it.

 

I like your thinking thundercat. I've been throwing DePo's name around here for a couple years for future DM replacements.

[RockCoCougars]

No Moneyball disciples, unless they can bring Hudson, Mulder and Zito in their primes with them. In my opinion, they were the key to Moneyball's success, and the mighty Billy Beane has put together a Bando-esque team ever since they have been gone.

 

Terry Ryan would be a great choice, but he would be very hard to pull out of retirement and/or away from the Twins organization. Perhaps if Mark A. threw a boatload of money at him, he would reconsider.

[MNBrew]

When Melvin makes plays for big-time FA pitchers but they don't want to come here, is it Melvin's fault? Or is it Melvin's fault that his budget doesn't allow him to add $60M to his offer to Sabathia?

 

I give plenty of credit to Melvin for hiring such a huge-thinking pitching coach with a whole system in mind. Why was this such a good fit & logical choice? Because I think Melvin realized the system was failing to develop quality big-league pitchers and the routes he'd been routinely trying up 'til now to supplement that talent haven't panned out very well at all, so he HAD to look at the whole thing differently.

 

I hold Jack Z. highly accountable for drafting so many pitchers who either blew out, flamed out, or got hurt. Yeah, he drafted lots of great bats. But he drafted a lot of great hitting poor defenders and too many pitchers who could never get things straight and have enough success in the minors, let alone the majors.

 

The trade thing? It takes two to tango. You don't accept other teams' roster dung to move your junk, and you don't offer give away everyone in exchange for each above average SP who might be available.

 

I'm 10 pages from finishing Moneyball. I like many of the theories therein. But re: DePodesta, realize the book is made to highlight mainly the guys & his perspectives that succeeded, not those who failed. I am surprised DePodesta has only had one shot at being a GM. However, I hardly think he'd do any better in the Milwaukee market & with the Brewers than Doug Melvin.

 

(And since when can you figure throwing a bigger contract offer at Andrew Friedman is all it'd take to get him to Milwaukee from Tampa? There's SO much more involved! Why would a smart GM like that want to leave a successful organization challenging the might Yankees for the top of its division and the whole AL for a team in the Brewers that so many of its fans feel has such a hard time ever getting far out of neutral?)

[logan82]

I actually think Seid has done a better job in just a couple drafts giving us legitimate prospects - Odorizzi, Heckathorn.

 

Odorizzi was drafted by Jack Z. 2008 was when we saw a big shift in drafting philosophy. That was Jack Z's last year with us.

[dadofandrew]

I love Doug, but I would like to see DePo when Melvin leaves.

[jjfanec]

I actually think Seid has done a better job in just a couple drafts giving us legitimate prospects - Odorizzi, Heckathorn.

 

Odorizzi was drafted by Jack Z. 2008 was when we saw a big shift in drafting philosophy. That was Jack Z's last year with us.

I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing that out. I still think Jack Z's history for drafting pitching is poor.

 

How is responsible for guys like Peralta and Rivas? Considering they are two of our best prospects pitching-wise who gets the credit for them?

[Never Outhustled]

Was it 9 drafts with one quality pitcher?

No, I don't think you can say that, because I'm not sure you can say recent drafts should already have supplied top quality MLB pitching. Rogers and Jeffress could make their MLB debuts this Septemember. Jones was the only highly drafted pitcher Z selected that didn't turn out so far, and that was in large part because of Melvins hand picked development team didn't help a pitcher with a sound delivery avoid injury.

 

Also, lets not forget that Z outdrafted his counterparts despite the fact that he had fewer draft picks because of selections given away to sign Jose Hernandez, Damian Miller, and Jeff Suppan.

[Invader3K]

I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing that out. I still think Jack Z's history for drafting pitching is poor.

 

How is responsible for guys like Peralta and Rivas? Considering they are two of our best prospects pitching-wise who gets the credit for them?

I'm guessing Doug Melvin won't. That was my point earlier.

[Never Outhustled]

How is responsible for guys like Peralta and Rivas? Considering they are two of our best prospects pitching-wise who gets the credit for them?

The Scouting Director is also in charge of international signings. The Brewers have done poor in this area, in large part because of Melvins descision to close the Brewers DR academy to save money so it could be shifted to Major League payroll.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

There has never been a clear reason why DePodesta was canned from his gig in LA.

There was never a clear reason why Dan Evans was fired from the Dodgers. Except DePods was famous for being in a book.

[Invader3K]

Well, from what I've read, the previous academy was pretty lousy; so I don't think that was such a huge loss. They've recently re-established a presence in the Dominican Republic as well.

[Flood Pants]

Paul DePodesta is being played by Jonah Hill in the Moneyball movie. Maybe we can hire Hill.

Awesome. Then we could have a GM who's not just bad, but Superbad.

[jackalope02ca]

Never have understood how people can just jump off and on the bandwagon depending on how the team performs. What many people forget is Melvin didn't inherit much of a team or much of a minor league system when he took over. We now have a very respectible minor league system that is producing several players a year for the major league club consistently. Sure we could have and probably should have developed more pitching. And occassionally you make a bad pick (Jeffress/Arnett). That's all part of the game and no different than any other system out there. The bottom line is Melvin took us to the playoffs. That hadn't happened in a generation of fans. We have several of the most exciting batters and one of the most exciting pitchers in the game. We have multiple all stars and not just a token pick to have a representative. People seem to quickly forget that at one time we had Bill Hall and no one else as basicaly the only prospect in the system to look forward to. We'd be fools to fire Melvin at this point and it won't happen. This team has underacheived this year. It happens. Without making any moves at all we should be somewhere between 5-10 wins better next year. We had Paul Molitor and Robin Yount in the 80's and now this generation has Fielder, Gallardo, Braun, etc. Who exactly did we have in the 90's again? Sure we had some good players who got traded out of town at the deadline every year but no one that will be remembered as one of the Brewers all time greats.

[dadofandrew]

The system Doug took over was probably worse than an expansion team, as they get extra picks and such, and are expected to be awful. He built it from the ground up, and also had success in TEX, where they never have (until now, after going broke).

[Never Outhustled]

 

What many people forget is Melvin didn't inherit much of a team or much of a minor league system when he took over.

The system had Bill Hall, Cory Hart, JJ Hardy, and Prince Fielder. It wasn't barren.The big league team was awful, but the re-build was off to a good start before Melvin took over. Lets not forget that Melvin minimized the impact of Hardy by rushing him to the majors while he was recovering from shoulder surgery, and then later dealt him early in the off-season for a terrible player.

 

 

 

And occassionally you make a bad pick (Jeffress/Arnett).

Jeffress wasn't a bad pick, despite your opinions of him. You would have released him already, which will likely prove to be a disasterous descision, as he's close to becoming a dominant MLB late inning pitcher.