Doug Melvin steps down as GM; moves into advisory role

[monty57]

There are a few around here that very vocally (writtenly?) pine for the cycling of talent and trading away players once they near free agency/cross the 30-year-old threshold/etc. The Brewers did exactly this with Grienke... and the prospects didn't work out. That happens. Look at what the A's got when they traded Holliday to the Cardinals - two recent first round picks (Brett Wallace, Clayton Mortensen) and a recent 2nd round pick (Shane Peterson), and not one of them worked out for the A's. Yes, even Billy Beane fails on trades. This is why I don't believe in the "continually cycle talent" theory - a certain % of prospects will not pan out, and eventually the well will run dry.

 

And they didn't trade Ramirez in his first year when he was playing well, the Brewers had barely paid him anything, and the Dodgers were willing to give up young pitching (Eovaldi and another if I recall correctly) to get him. Sometimes holding on to veterans doesn't work out either. The point is that if you trade one guy nearing the end of his contract for multiple prospects, all it takes is for one of the prospects to become an MLB player and you get 6 years for 1 year. If more than one of the prospects pan out, it's a home run. There are certainly circumstances where you hold a guy until free agency, but that should be the exception and not the norm.

[3and2Fastball]

Do we know any of the confirmed offers for Prince Fielder prior to the deadline in his free agency year? It'd be interesting to look back at those offers to use our 20/20 Hindsight on decisions made

 

(I'm glad they didn't trade Fielder, they were a Roenicke/Kotsay/Yuni B away from the World Series that year)

 

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1226299-why-the-milwaukee-brewers-will-regret-not-trading-prince-fielder-in-2011

 

 

(edited for spelling)

[Thurston Fluff]

How was Yuni's .875 OPS against the Cardinals part of the reason we missed the World Series?

[Baldkin]

How was Yuni's .875 OPS against the Cardinals part of the reason we missed the World Series?

 

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/896484/Yuni1B.gif.opt.gif

http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/896487/YB.gif

[Point Beer Is Best]

Girsch seems like a great choice based on his body of work. The brewers have hired a search firm that i would assume could find out if there could be an issue with him and the scandal. It's why you pay someone to help your search. To say that hiring any cardinal employee is too toxic may be a little too much at this point. Brewers just need to get the right guy

 

I believe that firm is Korn-Ferry, and I had just read an article on HardballTalk last week that the same firm is also providing services to minority/female candidates to help prepare them for front office gigs. As a result, they may connect Attanasio with potential candidates that stand out to them who otherwise might go unnoticed.

[Thurston Fluff]

How was Yuni's .875 OPS against the Cardinals part of the reason we missed the World Series?

 

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/896484/Yuni1B.gif.opt.gif

http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/896487/YB.gif

 

 

You can blame him for a lot of things that season. The playoffs are not among them. In the Cardinals series he didn't allow five runs to score. He did help score five runs. He didn't allow 8 hits to get through. He did get 8 hits. He didn't allow 13 total bases by his bad defense. He did hit for 13 total bases. All in all I get he wasn't a great defender. I also agree he was horrible for us overall. Except the playoffs. In that single series I think it is pretty safe to say his offense more than offset his defense. If you disagree fine, we'll leave it at that. Don't want to hijack the thread any further.

[markedman5]

No mention of Montgomery? Hard to believe he wouldn't be staying.

 

@BNightengale: The #Brewers plan to do plenty of housecleaning in front office, but will certainly keep highly-regarded scouting director Zack Minasian

[logan82]

Not sure we really need a house cleaning unless the new GM wants to hire his own guys. The franchise is moving in a positive direction for the first time since 2012 and has for a little over a year now.

[Jenkins5]

Ben Cherington has to be target #1 right now....young, Ivey League analytic mindset, theos former right hand man, and World Series Champ....isn't that exactly who Mark is looking for?

[markedman5]

@BNightengale: Tyrone Brooks, the highly respected #Pirates director of player personnel, will interview this weekend with the #Brewers for their GM job.

[MNBrew]

Ben Cherington has to be target #1 right now....young, Ivey League analytic mindset, theos former right hand man, and World Series Champ....isn't that exactly who Mark is looking for?

I never got this line of thinking (it popped up in many other places, too). I'm not interested in him b/c of the results of his guiding the Red Sox over the years since Theo left. The longer Theo's been gone, the worse they've gotten.

 

The basic bio profiles well (theoretically, anyway), but it ignores the obvious aspect of results . . . not to mention results in a mega-market with a ridiculous payroll. If he doesn't get good results with relatively unlimited money, why on Earth should we think he'd do any better with much more limited financial resources?

[3and2Fastball]

Brewers receive permission to interview Athletics asst GM Dan Kantrovitz for their GM opening

 

[3and2Fastball]

Kantrovitz is the former Director of Scouting for St Louis

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/26408504/

[markedman5]

@Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: #Brewers expected to ask permission to interview #Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom for GM vacancy.

[Invader3K]

@Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: #Brewers expected to ask permission to interview #Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom for GM vacancy.

I read about this earlier. Anyone know much about him? I know the Rays seem to be a franchise some on this board would like to see Milwaukee emulate.

[brewmann04]

very curious guys from the A"s and Rays teams that are teams that alot what us to be like.

[And That]

Brewers receive permission to interview Athletics asst GM Dan Kantrovitz for their GM opening

 

 

Really good Q&A with Kantrovitz at Fangraphs.

[WV Brew]

Ruben Amaro out

 

Brewers should move quickly. Phillies job would be considered "better" by most of these guys, I would think. Richly deserved by the way.

[brewmann04]

wow seems like there a few good jobs out there for the choosing

[And That]

There are probably still more good candidates than there are job openings. I don't think this will impact the Brewers' hiring time frame much, if at all.

[tmwiese55]

How was Yuni's .875 OPS against the Cardinals part of the reason we missed the World Series?

 

 

 

You can blame him for a lot of things that season. The playoffs are not among them. In the Cardinals series he didn't allow five runs to score. He did help score five runs. He didn't allow 8 hits to get through. He did get 8 hits. He didn't allow 13 total bases by his bad defense. He did hit for 13 total bases. All in all I get he wasn't a great defender. I also agree he was horrible for us overall. Except the playoffs. In that single series I think it is pretty safe to say his offense more than offset his defense. If you disagree fine, we'll leave it at that. Don't want to hijack the thread any further.

 

If we win one more game heads-up vs STL in the regular season they don't make the playoffs and we probably cruise to the WS. That was my one big regret from building that team, would've preferred just a good fielding weak hitter at SS. That team had plenty of power. I'm sure whatever slick fielder they grabbed could've matched Yuni's obp, just without the power.

[molitor fan]

Interesting piece on a guy being mentioned in a few circles...with A's...seen as Beans successor, was with Cards as scouting director before that

 

http://thecardinalnationblog.com/2014/11/25/how-did-the-cardinals-fare-with-kantrovitz-as-top-scout/

[danzig6767]

[splitterpfj]

I see the Brewers will be interviewing Tyrone Brooks, who is with the Pirates.

 

I know Tyrone personally - this is a good man. Prior to his work with Pittsburgh, he cut his teeth with the Braves, under the tutelage of scouting legend Roy Clark, before working for the Indians for a few years.

 

He certainly knows his stuff, and at age 41, he fits the profile of the younger, new generation type the Brewers reportedly want.

[patrickgpe]

I like the candidates that are being mentioned. Seems like they are focusing on younger guys who worked for quality organizations. This is really all i wanted.