Doug Melvin - Senior Level Executive

[Thurston Fluff]

Melvin actually wasn't responsible for the team's rise, that was Jack Z, who was hired by Taylor and retained by Melvin.

 

Because we can all see how great Jack Z is running the whole show now. Considering the high picks he was working with Jack Z did a good, not great, job drafting when he was here. Had he found any pitching to speak of to go along it I would say great. Given he has done next to nothing to improve Seattle as GM I find it hard to believe the success of the Brewers is mostly due to him. In fact I would say the decline of the Brewers has as much to do with him as anyone. If he had found a few pitchers in his entire time here maybe we wouldn't have had to trade half the farm to get some.

[trwi7]

Because we can all see how great Jack Z is running the whole show now.

 

Scouting director and GM are pretty much apples and oranges, so why even compare what Jack did as a scouting director to what he's doing as GM?

 

He got the Brewers Weeks, Hardy, Hart, Fielder, Braun, Gallardo, Odorizzi, Cain, Sheets, Brantley, Lucroy and Lawrie in the draft. That's probably close to as good as it gets.

 

The one move that I keep going back to with Melvin that just continues to baffle me is the Carlos Lee trade. At minimum we get a pick back for him and he goes and trades him and Cruz (say what you want about how long it took him to become a regular in the majors, he was the 8th best prospect in our system the year he was traded) and all he got back was Kevin Mench, Francisco Cordero and Laynce Nix.

 

That was a complete miss at the time and it looks even worse now. Any GM can trade their top prospects for pitchers like Sabathia, Marcum and Greinke as long as their prospects are good. That's not some major oh look at how smart he is kind of deal.

[The stache]

How low has this organization set the bar when two playoff appearances in thirteen years is to "be applauded".

[The stache]

 

Baseball is a different animal when it comes to the draft compared to other sports like football and basketball.

 

I understand that the draft is different in baseball than the other major sports. One really need not look beyond the length of time required to reach the "big club" in the major sports to paint a picture of just how different they are. The top pick in the NBA, or the NFL, are with the big club immediately. The top draft pick in the Majors can take multiple years to make the show, if ever.

 

Ultimately, Melvin determines who the scouts are, and who the director of scouting is. Much like a head chef picks everybody in their kitchen, Melvin assembles his team. If the man responsible for buying the groceries used in menu preparation picks rotten food, who ultimately is to blame? The man screwing up the buying, or the idiot who put him in a position of importance in the first place?

 

Regardless if it's Doug Melvin sending the names to the Commissioner, or one of his envoys, the entire direction of this franchise rests with one man. To imply that the buck stops with anybody but the GM would be disingenuous.

[The stache]

He got the Brewers Weeks, Hardy, Hart, Fielder, Braun, Gallardo, Odorizzi, Cain, Sheets, Brantley, Lucroy and Lawrie in the draft. That's probably close to as good as it gets.

 

Um, no.

 

Just to interject some facts...he did not get us Ben Sheets or Prince Fielder. Melvin became Brewers GM on September 26, 2002. Fielder was drafted by the Brewers in June of 2002 by then GM Dean Taylor. And Sheets? Sheets was drafted in 1999, before Melvin was even a fart in the wind in Milwaukee.

 

And Weeks? Yes, Melvin "got" him for us. I don't know if I'd be hoisting him up as anything too special. Don't get me wrong, I like Rickie Weeks the man. But one All Star appearance, and a 12.3 WAR in 11 Major League seasons as a Brewer is nothing to write home about. For being the #2 overall pick in the draft, he was pretty average, overall (in what was, granted, a pretty weak draft overall). He reached his potential (or came close to it) for two years, maybe slightly more. The ankle injury probably derailed his career as it was truly getting going in his late twenties. But I can't look at what might have been. I can only look at his production on the field. At times, he was great, and could carry a team on his back (and once in a while, he did). But Ryne Sandberg, or Joe Morgan, he was not. Let's be honest with ourselves.

 

Braun has been a superstar. No doubt about it. The last few years, with the PED scandal, and a couple of injuries, slowed his career arc, and at best he was above average in left field (terrible at third, below average thus far in right). But he has hit with power, and been one of the most consistent run producers in the Majors since coming into the Majors. Without the PED scandal, he was on his way to a Hall of Fame career.

 

Gallardo? Hart? Hardy? I liked them all. I thought we gave up on Hardy way too soon (a reoccurring theme in the Melvin era). Gallardo was showing real signs of slipping (dropped velocity for one). And I wish that Corey Hart had never hurt his knee. He'd have been great at first base for us. That injury cannot be blamed on anything but fate.

 

Lucroy? Love him. Probably my favorite Brewer now. He's the face of the franchise now, and trading him would be a mistake.

 

The others, though we drafted them, we've long ago stopped benefiting from their selections.

[3and2Fastball]

Hindsight is 20/20 of course but Nick Markakis would have been a much better selection than Rickie Weeks. Markakis is somewhat an "anti" Doug Melvin player though: someone who gets on base, works the count. A professional hitter. The game passed Melvin by awhile ago, especially his predilection for free swingers with pop.

 

The Greinke trade hurt the Brewers a lot. Odorizzi, Cain & Escobar would be very valuable as Brewers right now. People who think the Brewers wouldn't have made the playoffs w/o Greinke are fooling themselves. He put up a 103 ERA+ in 2011 and was statistically horrible in the postseason that year.

 

The Brewers should have traded Hardy after the 2008 season when his value was much higher than in 2009. The Carlos Lee trade was amateurish at best. The Brewers missed big on giving contracts to Suppan, Lohse, Ramirez, Bill Hall, Corey Hart, Mark Reynolds

 

They actually replaced Alcides Escobar with Yuni Betancourt and thought Yuni B was suitable as a SS on a playoff team. That was the most laughable decision of Melvin's very laughable career

 

Honestly, to much of MLB, Doug Melvin is a joke. One of the very worst GM's in the game today

[The stache]

Agreed, 3and2. It would be easy to sit here from the comfort of my bed (<3 laptops) and be critical of past mistakes. Though it sounds like that is what I'm really doing (and maybe in a small way, I am guilty of that), I want to make it absolutely clear that is not my intention. It really isn't.

 

I love this team. I mean, I love this team. Dummy me, I learned to love the Brewers as a kid, and through all the failures, and missed opportunities, I still love this team. I'm a sucker. No, I'm loyal. And my affections are not tied to winning. I love Milwaukee, which is my home town, and before I shuffle off this mortal coil, I want to see our team win it all, at least once. I want to see them win it for me, and all the other diehard Brewer fans who have stood by this team. I feel like Pop in The Natural, in a way. He just wanted to win a pennant. He didn't care about the Series. "Win or lose, I'd have been satisfied". Well, I don't need to see us win it every year, or become a perennial power. I want to see the city of Milwaukee celebrate a Brewers championship just once. I could be satisfied with that. Okay, that's a World Series, not just a National League Championship. But the mindset is the same. I don't ask for a lot, but I don't think hoping for one moment of pure joy is asking for too much.

 

So, that being said, my frustration, and the reason I continually harp on Doug Melvin, is that we are not moving forward as a franchise. I have nothing against the man personally. Like Ron Roenicke, I rather like him as a person, too. But he has had thirteen years, and he has not advanced this franchise. Not really.

 

I understand that Major League Baseball is hard. The reference was made to the amount of time it takes to make it to the bigs once drafted. Well, there is nothing harder in professional sports than hitting a baseball. Fastball, curveball, sinker, slider, knuckler, etc. That tiny ball can move in so many directions, so fast, and it doesn't have far to go before it rests comfortably in the catcher's mitt. And, there's a hell of a lot more foul territory than fair. Plus, those pesky fielders out there.....baseball is hard, and no matter how many computers a team has, no matter how much footage, or how many scouts, even the best in the business goof occasionally. I harbor no illusions about the ease of the General Manager position for a Major League team. Could I do it? LOL, nope. I could try, but I'd fall flat on my face. I'd be the Wiley Coyote of the game, with Acme Rockets blowing up in my face left and right.

 

Yes, Doug Melvin has improved over the performance of his predecessor. But that isn't enough. It can't be enough. I would rather reach for the stars, and fall flat on our face as a franchise, than play it safe. And by keeping somebody at the top of the mountain who has shown that he can't get it done (and not only in Milwaukee), that's exactly what we are doing. We are playing it safe. We are settling for mediocrity. And when you settle for mediocrity, that is exactly what you get. And, no, I don't think trading a boatload of our prospects for a one off chance at the Series is "reaching for the stars."

 

"It's hard to win in a small market." Oh, boo hoo. That's an excuse. There are franchises who spend ungodly amounts of money, and come no closer to winning it all then we do. And there are franchises who spend a mere pittance, comparatively, that get really close to winning it all.

 

"See? Those other small market teams aren't winning it all, either."

 

Money is nice, but it really isn't the only way to the finish line ahead of the pack. There are thirty teams in the bigs, and only one team can win the last game of the season. Before anything like talent, or coaching is considered, each team has about a 3% chance of hoisting the prize. It's hard to win no matter how good you are. Players disappoint, players get injured. It happens. The Brewers team that won 96 games was really good. They didn't win it all. It happens. Like in the NFL, the best team doesn't always win. I thought the Packers were the best team in the NFL last year. They fell apart at the end against Seattle. But that might be a catalyst towards even greater things this year. I believe that team is destined for greatness.

 

When was the last time we could really say that about the Brewers? Before 2011, it was clearly 1982. And that is...sad.

 

If we bring in somebody else, and we fail again, ok. At least we tried. But we are in the middle of the ocean, treading water. I don't want to do that anymore. Brewers fans (all of you on this forum included) deserve better than that.

[nate82]

Hindsight is 20/20 of course but Nick Markakis would have been a much better selection than Rickie Weeks. Markakis is somewhat an "anti" Doug Melvin player though: someone who gets on base, works the count. A professional hitter. The game passed Melvin by awhile ago, especially his predilection for free swingers with pop.

 

 

They are both the same players with nearly identical stats. Weeks was also a player who got on base and worked the count earlier in his career. Melvin has always targeted guys that are big on base players. Mike Cameron a free agent signing by the Brewers was signed because of his on base skills and how he worked the count. Gabe Kapler another player who was a big OBP.

 

This feels more like you are trying to make your opinion a fact here than anything else.

[The stache]

Hindsight is 20/20 of course but Nick Markakis would have been a much better selection than Rickie Weeks. Markakis is somewhat an "anti" Doug Melvin player though: someone who gets on base, works the count. A professional hitter. The game passed Melvin by awhile ago, especially his predilection for free swingers with pop.

 

 

They are both the same players with nearly identical stats. Weeks was also a player who got on base and worked the count earlier in his career. Melvin has always targeted guys that are big on base players. Mike Cameron a free agent signing by the Brewers was signed because of his on base skills and how he worked the count. Gabe Kapler another player who was a big OBP.

 

This feels more like you are trying to make your opinion a fact here than anything else.

 

Hmm. Well, their slash lines are similar (OBP/SLG/OPS). But Markakis has a career batting average that is 44 points higher. And, Weeks strikes out 81% more often than Markakis. And Markakis has two Gold Gloves to zilch for Weeks.

 

And on what planet is a .328 OBP "high"???? I don't get excited by a player's OBP unless they're over .350 at the minimum. A "high" OBP, to me, at least, would be over .375, or .400, depending on my mood.

 

Paul Goldschmidt has a .470 OBP this year. Bryce Harper has a .465 OBP. Miguel Cabrera has a .457 OBP. Prince Fielder has a .415 OBP.

 

Those are high OBPs, not .328. In 2013, Jean Segura hit .294 and walked 25 times in 623 plate appearances, good for a .329 OBP. Does anybody here think that was a "high" OBP?

[3and2Fastball]

Hindsight is 20/20 of course but Nick Markakis would have been a much better selection than Rickie Weeks. Markakis is somewhat an "anti" Doug Melvin player though: someone who gets on base, works the count. A professional hitter. The game passed Melvin by awhile ago, especially his predilection for free swingers with pop.

 

 

They are both the same players with nearly identical stats. Weeks was also a player who got on base and worked the count earlier in his career.

 

You are right. Weeks had a higher walk rate than Markakis and at least could play middle infield. Poor example by me. I stand by my opinions on Melvin's other personnel decisions though

 

 

Melvin has always targeted guys that are big on base players.

 

I have really not seen that. The Brewers as a team have been filled with way too many free swingers year after year after year. Pointing out exceptions like Cameron and Kapler, with Fielder being another very notable one doesn't make it fact as a whole

[MrTPlush]

I am sorry but some of the hindsight being used in this thread is pathetic. What was Doug Melvin suppose to have a crystal ball to tell him unpredictable situations?

 

Should have traded Hardy in 2008 instead of 2009 when his value was higher:

 

Darn should have known our 25 year old shortstop was going to get worse. Seriously? Not to mention he traded him for a gold glove CFer who has been amazing. Darn you Melvin really dropped the ball there.

 

Should have taken Markakis instead of Weeks:

 

Who had Markakis higher than Weeks on their draft board? Anyone? Nope, end of story.

[WV Brew]

Part of me would like Gord Ash promoted to GM just to see the explosion.

[3and2Fastball]

Should have traded Hardy in 2008 instead of 2009 when his value was higher:

 

Darn should have known our 25 year old shortstop was going to get worse. Seriously? Not to mention he traded him for a gold glove CFer who has been amazing. Darn you Melvin really dropped the ball there.

.

 

They had Escobar waiting in the wings. Could have gotten a great return for Hardy after the 2008 season. Couple that with no need to trade 3 top prospects for Greinke who put up a pedestrian 103 ERA+ in 2011 and those 2 moves alone could have really changed the Brewers for the better. No need to overpay for Lohse & Garza when a now 25 year old Odorizzi is out pitching the entire Brewers roster.

[Thurston Fluff]

Should have traded Hardy in 2008 instead of 2009 when his value was higher:

 

Darn should have known our 25 year old shortstop was going to get worse. Seriously? Not to mention he traded him for a gold glove CFer who has been amazing. Darn you Melvin really dropped the ball there.

.

 

They had Escobar waiting in the wings. Could have gotten a great return for Hardy after the 2008 season. Couple that with no need to trade 3 top prospects for Greinke who put up a pedestrian 103 ERA+ in 2011 and those 2 moves alone could have really changed the Brewers for the better. No need to overpay for Lohse & Garza when a now 25 year old Odorizzi is out pitching the entire Brewers roster.

 

Escobar wasn't waiting in the wings. He was in AA and not nearly ready to play in the majors a year earlier. You don't just trade players who are productive because you have another more than a year away from being ready. Not on a team that was coming off it's first playoff appearance in 20 years and had legitimate hope of getting back anyway.

As far as the return we got for Hardy; while we may have been able to get a deal that looked better at the time, trying to argue we could have ended up with more than 6 years of a legitimate 5 tool all star caliber, gold glove center fielder for three years of JJ Hardy is pretty far fetched. It wouldn't have mattered if they traded him a year earlier it would have been tough to end up with a better result. He was never going ot net us a young ace pitcher under team control for five or six years.

As far as Odorizzi out pitching the entire Brewers roster he sure as hell didn't do it the past couple years. Basing your argument on one half a season while ignoring two whole years is tenuous at best.

[MrTPlush]

Should have traded Hardy in 2008 instead of 2009 when his value was higher:

 

Darn should have known our 25 year old shortstop was going to get worse. Seriously? Not to mention he traded him for a gold glove CFer who has been amazing. Darn you Melvin really dropped the ball there.

.

 

They had Escobar waiting in the wings. Could have gotten a great return for Hardy after the 2008 season. Couple that with no need to trade 3 top prospects for Greinke who put up a pedestrian 103 ERA+ in 2011 and those 2 moves alone could have really changed the Brewers for the better. No need to overpay for Lohse & Garza when a now 25 year old Odorizzi is out pitching the entire Brewers roster.

 

So we should have traded Prince Fielder to open up a spot for Matt LaPorta?

[3and2Fastball]

So we should have traded Prince Fielder to open up a spot for Matt LaPorta?

 

LaPorta was already gone. Trading Fielder after the 2010 season would have brought back a big return. Considering his true greatness, I can understand keeping him through to free agency, but such a move should have been the rare exception not the rule. JJ Hardy was pretty good. Hardly a superstar. Big difference

[trwi7]

He got the Brewers Weeks, Hardy, Hart, Fielder, Braun, Gallardo, Odorizzi, Cain, Sheets, Brantley, Lucroy and Lawrie in the draft. That's probably close to as good as it gets.

 

Um, no.

 

Just to interject some facts...he did not get us Ben Sheets or Prince Fielder. Melvin became Brewers GM on September 26, 2002. Fielder was drafted by the Brewers in June of 2002 by then GM Dean Taylor. And Sheets? Sheets was drafted in 1999, before Melvin was even a fart in the wind in Milwaukee.

 

I was talking about Jack Z. I know GM's have little to do with the draft.

[Invader3K]

I find it hard to swallow the idea that the team should have traded Hardy after 2008. Escobar wasn't really ready at that point...I believe he was still in AA for most of the 2008 season. Anyway, Doug Melvin did trade Hardy eventually, and got a more than good return in Gomez, so I'm not sure why JJ Hardy is a point of contention anyway.

 

Also, after 2008, the team was coming off it's first playoff apperance in 26 years and the future looked bright. The team should have focused on somehow acquiring another starting pitcher, rather than trying to make Gallardo and Manny Parra carry the load, but that's neither here nor there.

 

re: Prince Fielder, it's obvious Melvin tried to trade him multiple times and wasn't able to work out a deal that made sense. You can argue he was trying to get too much for him, or whatever, but none of us really truly know what was presented in any of those trade talks.

 

I stand by my earlier statements that the team should have gone into rebuild mode after 2012. I don't fault them for trading for Greinke/Marcum and "going for it" in 2011/2012. The timing was right, in my view. Since then, though, this team hasn't seemed to have any real direction. We're just patching holes while Braun, Lucroy, etc. get older and more injury prone.

[MrTPlush]

What I am getting is that through 2012 what Melvin did was acceptable. The following three years with no clear direction not so much. That in my opinion is something to blame Attanasio for. He is the guy who insists on competing every year and having late signings(Lohse/Garza/K-Rod).

 

If you want my opinion it is not Melvin who has dug this team into a hole. It is Attanasio who has done that in the last 2 years.

[Invader3K]

If you want my opinion it is not Melvin who has dug this team into a hole. It is Attanasio who has done that in the last 2 years.

 

That might well be, and if so, it's a lot more troubling...because there's really nothing that can be done to correct the situation. It will be like the last 13 or so years of Herb Kohl's ownership of the Bucks. It doesn't matter how many times you change the head coach or the GM. If the owner is going to meddle that deeply with the team, then you generally aren't going to be a successful franchise.

 

Even the New York Yankees, with all their money and resources, didn't become a great franchise again until George Steinbrenner finally took his hands off the wheel and let Brian Cashman run the show. I think that is what this team needs...we need a young GM with new ideas, who Attanasio will give full control to. What we've been doing the past three years sure hasn't worked out.

[3and2Fastball]

I stand by my earlier statements that the team should have gone into rebuild mode after 2012. I don't fault them for trading for Greinke/Marcum and "going for it" in 2011/2012. The timing was right, in my view. Since then, though, this team hasn't seemed to have any real direction. We're just patching holes while Braun, Lucroy, etc. get older and more injury prone.

 

Fair enough. I can understand that point of view. I suppose then if you are truly "going for it" in 2011 you have enough brains to not have Yuni B as your SS and the hiring of Roenicke (again in retrospect) was really questionable. The hiring of Macha was clearly questionable. I can accept the point of view that continuing to go for it through 2012 made sense, but there were several blunders that Melvin made from 2009-2012 that really hurt the franchise's chances in those "go for it" years

 

 

What I am getting is that through 2012 what Melvin did was acceptable. The following three years with no clear direction not so much. That in my opinion is something to blame Attanasio for. He is the guy who insists on competing every year and having late signings(Lohse/Garza/K-Rod).

 

If you want my opinion it is not Melvin who has dug this team into a hole. It is Attanasio who has done that in the last 2 years.

 

Probably true.

[nate82]

Well lets see what Jack Z has done since taking over the Mariners as GM in 2008 the Mariners have had an OBP of .303. OK maybe this isn't a great starting point for Jack Z lets say 4 years in the future start at 2012 well it gets worse for the Mariners if you do that it goes down to .299.

 

If you go from 2008-2015 with the Brewers their OBP is .323 which ranks them 13th in baseball. Even if you do the 2012-2015 it is at .313. The myth of Melvin only wanting low OBP players is that a myth. The Brewers have actually drafted really well in terms of players who are big OBP players. While the results haven't been what you would expect the players have been targeted for their advanced plate discipline.

 

Adam Lind is another player Melvin has got that is a guy that fits the OBP mold.

 

The problem with the Brewers has not been Melvin's inability to get good OBP players. The problem with the Brewers has been drafting and evaluating pitching. This has been a problem since Jack Z got here and has been a problem since he has left. The only pitcher that had an even a chance to become a great pitcher was Mike Jones but he fell apart in terms of injuries. The only other player who again profiles as a #2 best case and is probably going to be your typical #3 pitcher is Odorizzi if he can stay healthy that is.

 

Montgomery is going to be the guy that takes over for Melvin. I believe Montgomery is going to be a great GM for the Brewers and hopefully he is able to fix the real problem which has eluded the Brewers over the past 10+ years which is evaluating and developing pitching. The offense has not been the problem since Melvin has taken over it has been the pitching that has been the problem. I am not sure why this is even a topic as the Brewers have been fairly good offensively and have been fairly bad in terms of pitching since Melvin has taken over.

[Thurston Fluff]

So we should have traded Prince Fielder to open up a spot for Matt LaPorta?

 

LaPorta was already gone. Trading Fielder after the 2010 season would have brought back a big return. Considering his true greatness, I can understand keeping him through to free agency, but such a move should have been the rare exception not the rule. JJ Hardy was pretty good. Hardly a superstar. Big difference

 

I think you are overestimating the return we would have got for Fielder. If you recall they looked into what they could get for him and decided to keep him and trade prospects for pitching. That was at least in part because the return just wasn't enough.

[danzig6767]

 

Baseball is a different animal when it comes to the draft compared to other sports like football and basketball.

I understand that the draft is different in baseball than the other major sports. One really need not look beyond the length of time required to reach the "big club" in the major sports to paint a picture of just how different they are. The top pick in the NBA, or the NFL, are with the big club immediately. The top draft pick in the Majors can take multiple years to make the show, if ever.

 

Ultimately, Melvin determines who the scouts are, and who the director of scouting is. Much like a head chef picks everybody in their kitchen, Melvin assembles his team. If the man responsible for buying the groceries used in menu preparation picks rotten food, who ultimately is to blame? The man screwing up the buying, or the idiot who put him in a position of importance in the first place?

 

Regardless if it's Doug Melvin sending the names to the Commissioner, or one of his envoys, the entire direction of this franchise rests with one man. To imply that the buck stops with anybody but the GM would be disingenuous.

I didn't say anything disingenuous if you actually had read what i said

 

"Simply to much for a baseball GM to do along with running a big league club, which is why scouting directors in baseball are so incredibly important. Make a bad hire as happened with Seid and the impact to a farm system can be devastating. It was arguably the biggest mistake Melvin made in his whole tenure as GM and it not only badly hurt the team, it hurt him as a general manager when the minor league talent pipeline mostly dried up."

 

As you should have seen, i said that hiring Seid was arguably the biggest mistake Melvin made in his whole tenure as GM. That hire did serious damage to the farm system as Seid made to many mistakes in the draft compared to good picks.

[danzig6767]

Well lets see what Jack Z has done since taking over the Mariners as GM in 2008 the Mariners have had an OBP of .303. OK maybe this isn't a great starting point for Jack Z lets say 4 years in the future start at 2012 well it gets worse for the Mariners if you do that it goes down to .299.

 

If you go from 2008-2015 with the Brewers their OBP is .323 which ranks them 13th in baseball. Even if you do the 2012-2015 it is at .313. The myth of Melvin only wanting low OBP players is that a myth. The Brewers have actually drafted really well in terms of players who are big OBP players. While the results haven't been what you would expect the players have been targeted for their advanced plate discipline.

 

Adam Lind is another player Melvin has got that is a guy that fits the OBP mold.

 

The problem with the Brewers has not been Melvin's inability to get good OBP players. The problem with the Brewers has been drafting and evaluating pitching. This has been a problem since Jack Z got here and has been a problem since he has left. The only pitcher that had an even a chance to become a great pitcher was Mike Jones but he fell apart in terms of injuries. The only other player who again profiles as a #2 best case and is probably going to be your typical #3 pitcher is Odorizzi if he can stay healthy that is.

 

Montgomery is going to be the guy that takes over for Melvin. I believe Montgomery is going to be a great GM for the Brewers and hopefully he is able to fix the real problem which has eluded the Brewers over the past 10+ years which is evaluating and developing pitching. The offense has not been the problem since Melvin has taken over it has been the pitching that has been the problem. I am not sure why this is even a topic as the Brewers have been fairly good offensively and have been fairly bad in terms of pitching since Melvin has taken over.

Yep

 

The Brewers haven't been able to draft and develop pitching all the way back till Bando was allowed to be GM for way to long under the Selig's. Then he was followed by Taylor, Zduriencik, and Seid. None of whom could do a good job either at drafting/developing pitching compared to other organizations.

 

It's truly amazing when you think about it. Just consider the countless amount of pitchers that those four guys drafted and how few actually became not only quality starters, also how few simply just became quality relief pitchers. By simple odds, it almost defies statistical logic that so few pitchers panned out. Had those scouting directors threw darts while blindfolded at available pitchers on their draft boards, they probably would have had more pan out than picking pitchers as they did.

 

I get that the team has seemed to have some bad luck with injuries to drafted pitchers in the early rounds, but many other teams managed to land good pitchers in rounds outside say the first two. Overall though, it's been a complete train wreck for decades now when it comes to drafting/developing pitching. This has to eventually change. Pitching is such a valuable and expensive commodity that small market teams who have to regularly buy pitching in free agency because they can't manage to draft their own pitching, it's so hard overcome. Sure you can acquire quality young pitching at times via trades and other avenues, but in general, small market teams have to draft/develop their own and the Brewers have been abysmal at this for a really long time.