Open Letter from Mark Attanasio

[jjkoestler]

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/mil/fan_forum/open_letter.jsp?partnerId=as_mlb_20151217_56431616&adbid=10153331766990003&adbpl=fb&adbpr=45083850002

 

 

Dear Brewers Fans:

 

During this holiday season, I want to extend my sincere thanks to you for sticking with us through a tough, challenging and--most aptly--disappointing season. You showed your loyalty by purchasing more than 2.5 million tickets to see baseball at Miller Park, which you've done every season over the past nine years. Only seven other MLB teams have reached this attendance milestone. And over those nine seasons, the Brewers have averaged more than 35,000 fans per home game, which is among the ten highest team averages in all of Major League Baseball.

 

The commitment you've demonstrated to the Brewers, I assure you, is equaled by my own commitment to doing better. Each of you deserves that. By doing better, I mean fielding a playoff-competitive team and one day bringing a world championship to Milwaukee. To move toward accomplishing this lofty goal, I believe we need to take a step back and build more intensively from within. Our new General Manager, David Stearns, has been spearheading this approach, which requires grinding things out, prospect by prospect and trade by trade. While we look forward to using his fresh vision to getting our baseball operations to where we want them to be, we are mindful that there is a lot of hard work to do, and we will not take any shortcuts or look for quick fixes.

 

Importantly, David has a great deal of flexibility to work with, as the team has just three long-term contracts remaining: Jonathan Lucroy (two years), Matt Garza (two years) and Ryan Braun (five years). As you probably know, David recruited Matt Arnold from the Tampa Bay Rays as his Assistant GM. At this month's Winter Meetings, he and Matt started to implement their strategy, which David has articulated thematically as acquiring, developing and retaining as much young talent as we can. We do not have a rigid timetable because we believe it is vital to build a proper foundation for sustained success. I am encouraged by the level of teamwork I've been seeing in baseball operations and, most significantly, between David and Matt.

 

Even before David joined our organization, our re-evaluation effort had begun. When the start of the 2015 season told us that the first 150 days of the 2014 season had been an illusion--one ultimately supplanted by the reality of the final month of that season--we made the difficult decision to change the team's manager. In early May, we hired Craig Counsell, already a valued special assistant to our GM, to a three-year contract. This allowed Craig five months to observe our players in the field and to start training them to play in the style that had brought him two World Series rings as a player.

 

With a focus on the future at the July 31 trade deadline, we exchanged veteran players who had less than two years remaining under their contracts for seven young players, four of whom saw action with the Brewers before the end of the season. A total of twelve rookies debuted this season--a club record. The performance of our lower-level Minor League affiliates provided more evidence that the talent of our prospects is improving. Our AA affiliate, the Biloxi Shuckers, went to the Southern League Championship Series this year for the first time since 2007. Moreover, Baseball America named three Brewers among the publication's top five prospects in the Arizona Fall League.

 

Since the end of last season, we have traded for another seven young players, including three with Major League experience. Through all these trades, we have added fourteen prospects to our team, supplementing the players we selected in what was considered a rich 2015 draft. As reported on mlb.com, eleven of our top twenty prospects have been acquired in the past two years either through draft or trades. The restocking of the farm system has begun in earnest.

 

Finally, I would be remiss not to acknowledge Doug Melvin, who has transitioned from President of Baseball Operations and General Manager of the Brewers into a role as Senior Advisor. Doug's baseball acumen, work ethic and loyalty have been an asset to the team for thirteen seasons, and he remains a valuable resource to David and our baseball operations group.

 

So, as we approach 2016, I want to reiterate how much the entire Brewers organization appreciates the community's strong enthusiasm for the club. We are dedicated to building something special here in Milwaukee for you, the best fans in baseball. I thank you once again for your steadfast support.

[Invader3K]

Good letter. I just hope most fans have the patience to go through a rebuild, which I think most of us would say we've been overdue for.

[Outlander]

I thought the letter was good and honest. Not a big deal but Mike Fiers still has four year remaining and he was a big factor in why they got more prospects from the Astros.

[pacopete4]

Mark always seems seem genuine. Maybe that's the good business person in him but he comes across as a good guy.

[hawing]

This is a tangent, but hear me out.

Recently I went through some old Brewers things (we have a lot) and came across the stub I saved from our 1994 "strike refund" check. 1995 is the only season since 1992 for which we skipped season tickets; I vaguely remember getting an invoice from the Brewers for our 1995 package (then just 13 games and called the American League Sweep), with a form letter basically saying they were pretty sure there would be games played in 1995.

 

The letter, or whatever it was (I may still have that at home too, but it wasn't stored with the strike refund check stub) was vague didn't even seem to consider that we as fans might be wary about putting up $$ for a season that might not happen.

 

I'll bet that if Mark Attanasio had been in charge then, the communication from the Brewers would have been more straightforward, and might have persuaded us to put down a payment. At least he doesn't call everything "tremendous" (a habit of Wendy S-P's that made me want to pull my hair out).

[BrewCrewForever]

hawing, enjoyed your tangent. Very true on all accounts.

 

Enjoyed this letter from Mark as I do every year. He was honest and with the people he has in charge I know they can rebuild this thing and get back to being a playoff team. I have full faith in this new Baseball Operations crew and Counsell as the field Manager. I also thought it was pure class of Mark to thank Doug for all his work at the end of the letter. Looking forward to another season of Brewers baseball no matter how many losses come in 2016. Trust the process and we will see bright days again sooner than later.

[torts]

he did a tremendous job addressing the future in that letter

[reillymcshane]

Open, honest communication will get you a long leash. I think this is great - just saying this is what happened, this is how we go forward. Most people (not all) can understand that. It offers a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Now comes the follow through - create a plan, implement it, and stick to it.

[Point Beer Is Best]

At least he doesn't call everything "tremendous" (a habit of Wendy S-P's that made me want to pull my hair out).

 

he did a tremendous job addressing the future in that letter

 

I see what you did there.

[3and2Fastball]

Great letter from a thoughtful owner.

 

I just hope he sticks to the plan and keeps himself on an extremely short leash: "we will not take any shortcuts or look for quick fixes." Yes, please!

[Thurston Fluff]

Meh, what was he going to say? All he really said was the usual "our fans are the greatest ever," and "I am committed to getting this right." Which is what everyone says in this situation. I just don't see what is so open and honest about it considering the state the team is in now.

[3and2Fastball]

Meh, what was he going to say? All he really said was the usual "our fans are the greatest ever," and "I am committed to getting this right." Which is what everyone says in this situation. I just don't see what is so open and honest about it considering the state the team is in now.

 

 

Well it is better than signing the likes of Mark Reynolds, Jeff Suppan, Matt Garza, Aramis Ramirez etc and saying "we are excited about the way we've built a perennial playoff contender."

[CheezWizHed]

Not a big deal but Mike Fiers still has four year remaining

 

Technically Mark was right. Four years of control is because of arbitration. His current contract wasn't that long. Same thing about the current roster's commitments. Many guys can be controlled longer, but none have a long term contracts.

[Invader3K]

Meh, what was he going to say? All he really said was the usual "our fans are the greatest ever," and "I am committed to getting this right." Which is what everyone says in this situation. I just don't see what is so open and honest about it considering the state the team is in now.

 

I think at least Mark Attanasio comes off as a true fan of the club who is passionate about where the club is heading and understands fans may get frustrated by a non-contending team. That's a lot better than a lot of the generic corporate cheerleading that you get from many sports owners. Citing Baseball America, etc. shows that he is at least fairly in tune with the makeup of the franchise.

[torts]

At least he doesn't call everything "tremendous" (a habit of Wendy S-P's that made me want to pull my hair out).

 

he did a tremendous job addressing the future in that letter

 

I see what you did there.

 

in the infamous words of Carlos Gomez twitter/instagram...

 

"jajajajajajajajaja"

[Thurston Fluff]

Meh, what was he going to say? All he really said was the usual "our fans are the greatest ever," and "I am committed to getting this right." Which is what everyone says in this situation. I just don't see what is so open and honest about it considering the state the team is in now.

 

I think at least Mark Attanasio comes off as a true fan of the club who is passionate about where the club is heading and understands fans may get frustrated by a non-contending team. That's a lot better than a lot of the generic corporate cheerleading that you get from many sports owners. Citing Baseball America, etc. shows that he is at least fairly in tune with the makeup of the franchise.

 

Citing a public site dedicated to fans of baseball is supposed to make me feel he is in tune with the makeup of the franchise? Why wasn't he in tune with that last off season? Sorry but I just don't see that open letter as anything special. I like him and I do believe he wants to win but the same can be said of virtually any owner and the ones who don't sure as hell don't say so. Hell the ones who aren't probably pay more lip service to the fans and thier commitment to winning than the ones who do. It's cheaper to get fans to think you're a good guy dedicated to winning than to actually be a good guy dedicated to winning.

I am not usually pessimistic but an open letter like that is what every owner who just had a disappointing season and is about to go on a massive rebuild does. Make some public appeals to patience and the desire to do what it takes to bring us a championship and telling us how great of fans we are. That isn't being open and honest as much as it is being a smart businessman. Seems more like pandering to bleed as much money out of a bad product than anything. I am for it though. He should be doing such things. Just don't try to portray it as something special that our owner does than none others do.

 

Well it is better than signing the likes of Mark Reynolds, Jeff Suppan, Matt Garza, Aramis Ramirez etc and saying "we are excited about the way we've built a perennial playoff contender."

 

Sure it is. So am I supposed to be happy he finally admitted what has been pretty evident for a while now? I might be more interested in what he said if he hasn't also been trying to sell us on being a team that will not have to go through this sort of rebuild every decade or so. Had he come out and said a team like ours has to go through these things once in a while I might give him more credit for being open and honest. But he isn't is he? He's selling it like this is the last time we'll have to deal with it because he's going to do something no other team in our situation has ever done before. That is far from open and honest. If it is it's delusional.

 

I am not trying to bash him as much as I am saying this is hardly anything special that deserves praise. He should be saying what he is. But we don't have to act like he's a great owner for doing so.

[CheezWizHed]

But we don't have to act like he's a great owner for doing so.

 

Wendy left the bar pretty low.

[bjkrautk]

Importantly, David has a great deal of flexibility to work with, as the team has just three long-term contracts remaining: Jonathan Lucroy (two years), Matt Garza (two years) and Ryan Braun (five years).

 

Why am I supposed to be happy that only two good players are signed to long-term deals? It sticks out as an odd thing to point out: those players you've gone to the ballpark to see in recent years....we're not stuck with most of them beyond this year! Woo hoo!

 

Flexibility is only a good thing if you make good use of it. It comes with the assumption that some of that money will be spent improving the other parts of the talent pipeline, but it could just as easily lead to the kind of payroll the team had when WS-P ran the team....and that is setting the bar pretty low.

[MrTPlush]

A little too much reading into a generic letter he probably didn't even write himself. Seriously this is nothing special as stated by someone above. This is just an attempt to get fans on the rebuilding bandwagon and to sell tickets.

[jerichoholicninja]

A little too much reading into a generic letter he probably didn't even write himself. Seriously this is nothing special as stated by someone above. This is just an attempt to get fans on the rebuilding bandwagon and to sell tickets.

 

Exactly. The whole point of this was to stay in the news while the Packers are gearing up for the playoffs and the Bucks/Badgers season is in full swing.