Brewer’s All Time Failed Expectations Team

[Thurston Fluff]

It might be easier to list who wasn't a disappointment during the Bando era.

 

I'd mention Ben McDonald via Homer's rule but someone might confuse that to mean he wasn't a failure.

[clancyphile]

RP: Eric Gagne

 

SP: Jeff Suppan

SP: Mark Rogers

SP: Nick Neugebauer

 

C: Henry Blanco

1B: Mat Gamel

2B: Junior Spivey

SS: Gary Sheffield

3B: Taylor Green

 

OF: Jeffrey Hammonds

OF: Marc Newfield

OF: Gerald Williams

 

---

 

Some folks not busts, IMO:

 

SP Taylor Jungmann - I think he had developed into a back-end of the rotation guy who deserved a shot rather than being allowed to walk to Japan. Better to spend $500K on Jungmann than $10 million on Garza/Lohse/Suppan.

 

2B Rickie Weeks - Thinking back, the only 2B I'd want other than a healthy Weeks over his career is Cano. OK, maybe move an A-Rod or healthy prime Tulo from shortstop, or maybe a Biggio or Kent (in the twilight years of their careers) in their prime over Weeks.

 

C/OF BJ Surhoff - Solid player, a disappointment for not sticking at catcher, and because he had a lot of good years away from Milwaukee

 

SS Jose Valentin - Had good years for the Crew. The team's seen much worse at shortstop, particularly on offense.

 

---

 

Why some are on:

 

Gary Sheffield - for obvious reasons. I think if they had kept him at short, moved Spiers to second, and just let Gantner go, he'd have been less unhappy - and would have done well enough for an even better return when it came time to move on..

 

Taylor Green - I had hopes for a left-handed Jeff Cirillo. He flamed out, and Michael Brantley is an All-Star for other teams.

 

Henry Blanco - Not only did he cost the Crew in that Burnitz trade, he was awful at the plate. Raul Casanova was the better catcher and deserved the PT.

[Bob Skube Snacks]

It might be easier to list who wasn't a disappointment during the Bando era.

 

I'd mention Ben McDonald via Homer's rule but someone might confuse that to mean he wasn't a failure.

 

Was Bando bad because Bando was bad? Or, because Selig was uber-cheap at the time and constrained him?

 

I honestly don’t know. Probably a little of Column A and Column B.

[MadScientist]

I don't have a full list but these really stick out:

Glen Braggs - Coming up I thought he'd hit like Wade Boggs, but with power (or in modern terms, like Braun or Huira). Instead he was league average.

 

Larry Hisle - Big ticket FA that was brilliant for 1 year then got injured and provided nothing.

 

Ben Hendrickson - Little Ben was so dominant in AAA, but was useless in the show.

[SeaBass]

I can't believe how far I had to scroll to see Ricky Bones be mentioned.

I had my own nickname for Ricky back in the day. I called him Ricky "Home Run" Bones. Because his last name was pronounced "bonus". Every hitter was a home run threat against him.

 

There wasn't even any venom in that nickname, why would I be angry or angsty about the Brewers being bad, they were always bad. It was status quo.

 

I still can't believe he made an All Star team. How bad must the Brewers have sucked that year for him to be their representative? I just looked, they were pretty bad (1994). Greg Vaughn or Kevin Seitzer would have been better choices, or if it had to be a pitcher, Mike Fetters.

 

Glanced at the final standings in 1994, Texas was leading their division despite being 10 games below .500 sheesh. The AL Central 5th place Brewers would have been in 1st place in that division by a half game.

 

Good times.

[Baldkin]

RP: Turnbow

 

SP: Cal Eldred

SP: Teddy Higuera

SP: Ben McDonald

 

C: Gregg Zaun

1B: Kevin Reimer

2B: Billy Spiers

SS: Gary Sheffield

3B: Sveum, maybe?

 

OF: Jeffrey Hammonds

OF: Crazy Joe Dillon

OF: Keon Broxton

[Thurston Fluff]

The reason I can't put Cal Eldred on the list is because he was abused so badly he didn't stand a chance. His injury was so predictable the way Garner used him it should have been considered illegal.

 

Was Bando bad because Bando was bad? Or, because Selig was uber-cheap at the time and constrained him?

 

Good question. In some ways it almost seemed like Selig wanted the Brewers to suck so he could get some amount of competitive balance. But Bando was also not very creative. He simply did it the way it was always done and never tried to find a new way to compete. Just seemed too willing to use the financial constraints excuse to cover some fairly significant flaws in his player acquisition and development strategy.

[SomewhereInTime]

Weeks is a 12 WAR player for his career, made an all-star team (should have made at least two), notched 1k hits and lasted in the majors for a decade. He was a cog on two Brewers playoff teams. I personally never liked him all that much as a player and found him maddening to watch at the plate. But 66% of first-round picks never play in the majors. If that is the bar then our whole franchise history could be on this team besides like 10 guys.

 

100% agree, this is a good idea, but wow that first list is terrible.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I don't have a full list but these really stick out:

Glen Braggs - Coming up I thought he'd hit like Wade Boggs, but with power (or in modern terms, like Braun or Huira). Instead he was league average.

 

Larry Hisle - Big ticket FA that was brilliant for 1 year then got injured and provided nothing.

 

Ben Hendrickson - Little Ben was so dominant in AAA, but was useless in the show.

 

 

I had thought about adding Hisle as well. He was a stud free agent signing that was never the same after a torn up shoulder (I think)

[Bob Skube Snacks]

To me, injury-related problems aren’t busts, it’s just bad luck.

[SomewhereInTime]

I can't really speak for all time, but this is what I'd have over the last few decades

 

Reliever: Turnbow

 

SP: Jeff Suppan

SP: Ben Hendrickson

SP: Wily Peralta

 

C: Chad Moeller (not that a ton was expected of him, he was just really terrible)

1B: Brad Nelson

2B: Ronnie Belliard

SS: Royce Clayton

3B: Wes Helms

 

OF: Jeffrey Hammonds

OF: Tony Gwynn Jr

OF: Kevin Mench

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I can't really speak for all time, but this is what I'd have over the last few decades

 

Reliever: Turnbow

 

SP: Jeff Suppan

SP: Ben Hendrickson

SP: Wily Peralta

 

C: Chad Moeller (not that a ton was expected of him, he was just really terrible)

1B: Brad Nelson

2B: Ronnie Belliard

SS: Royce Clayton

3B: Wes Helms

 

OF: Jeffrey Hammonds

OF: Tony Gwynn Jr

OF: Kevin Mench

 

I'd be curious of your expectations of Derrick Turnbow sine he was picked up off waivers.

[baybeachbum1]

Danny 'The Sundown Kid' Thomas.

https://shepherdexpress.com/sports/brew-crew-confidential/strange-story-sundown-kid-troubled-milwaukee-phenom-danny-thomas/

 

Lenny Sakata - who may have had the quickest turn at second base in baseball history . . . according to my memory of Brewers' radio announcers back in the day!

https://www.brewcrewball.com/2009/8/24/999690/happy-lenn-sakata-day

 

Danny Frisella

https://tht.fangraphs.com/card-corner-plus-the-death-of-danny-frisella/

 

Pedro Garcia - I don't know if Pedro called HRs 'Taters' because of George Scott, or vice versa.

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=garcipe01

[SomewhereInTime]

I can't really speak for all time, but this is what I'd have over the last few decades

 

Reliever: Turnbow

 

SP: Jeff Suppan

SP: Ben Hendrickson

SP: Wily Peralta

 

C: Chad Moeller (not that a ton was expected of him, he was just really terrible)

1B: Brad Nelson

2B: Ronnie Belliard

SS: Royce Clayton

3B: Wes Helms

 

OF: Jeffrey Hammonds

OF: Tony Gwynn Jr

OF: Kevin Mench

 

I'd be curious of your expectations of Derrick Turnbow sine he was picked up off waivers.

 

It's the expectations after his breakout season in 2005. It was disappointing to say the least to see him completely flame out a year later and arguably cost the Brewers a chance to win a very weak Central division in 2006.

[Invader3K]

I'll throw out a name: Jose Capellan. The Brewers traded a very solid All-Star closer in Dan Kolb, to the Atlanta Braves, for him. Capellan seemed to have great potential and peripherals, but never ended up doing anything of note for the team, and actually threatened to retire after a minor league demotion. Sadly, he died a young death in his mid 30s, due to prescription drug issues.

[nate82]

Going to put Mike Jones on this list it just sucked that he got injured and just never made it to the majors.

[Dollarbill13]

C: WOAH SOLVDD

[Invader3K]

Ah yes, Lou Palmisamo. Don't believe he ever made the majors.

 

Another catcher, only briefly mentioned in this thread, was Angel Salome. He was fairly well regarded, and certainly touted by many people on this board. He ended up having personal issues, tried to convert into an outfielder, and was eventually surpassed by Jonathan Lucroy as our catcher of the future (and he was).

[DuWayne Steurer]

Ah yes, Lou Palmisamo. Don't believe he ever made the majors.

 

Another catcher, only briefly mentioned in this thread, was Angel Salome. He was fairly well regarded, and certainly touted by many people on this board. He ended up having personal issues, tried to convert into an outfielder, and was eventually surpassed by Jonathan Lucroy as our catcher of the future (and he was).

 

 

Jeesh. You spelled it wrong. It's Lou Palsmo.

[willie key]

Jason Kendall. Just because they would never pinch hit for him and he played like every game. And was bad

[HiAndTight]

It might be easier to list who wasn't a disappointment during the Bando era.

 

I'd mention Ben McDonald via Homer's rule but someone might confuse that to mean he wasn't a failure.

 

Was Bando bad because Bando was bad? Or, because Selig was uber-cheap at the time and constrained him?

 

I honestly don’t know. Probably a little of Column A and Column B.

 

 

No, Bando was bad because Bando was BAD. Selig wasn't cheap. It wasn't until they turned the team over completely that they got extremely cheap.

 

But Bando was absolutely terrible. If you went by how he handled the Molitor situation alone he was a disgrace, but there were soooo many more examples. And they went from a team that paid for elite talent to one that didn't when Wendy and Bando were running the team.

[Baldkin]

It might be easier to list who wasn't a disappointment during the Bando era.

 

I'd mention Ben McDonald via Homer's rule but someone might confuse that to mean he wasn't a failure.

 

Was Bando bad because Bando was bad? Or, because Selig was uber-cheap at the time and constrained him?

 

I honestly don’t know. Probably a little of Column A and Column B.

 

 

No, Bando was bad because Bando was BAD. Selig wasn't cheap. It wasn't until they turned the team over completely that they got extremely cheap.

 

But Bando was absolutely terrible. If you went by how he handled the Molitor situation alone he was a disgrace, but there were soooo many more examples. And they went from a team that paid for elite talent to one that didn't when Wendy and Bando were running the team.

 

It's funny, if you look back at it now, without knowing what Molitor would do over the next 6 seasons, you would've been run out of BF.net for signing him to the deal he signed for -- 3 years, 12 million - which would've been ~13% of the teams salary - for an oft injured single-position playing 36 year old.

[Jopal78]

No, Bando was bad because Bando was BAD. Selig wasn't cheap. It wasn't until they turned the team over completely that they got extremely cheap.

 

But Bando was absolutely terrible. If you went by how he handled the Molitor situation alone he was a disgrace, but there were soooo many more examples. And they went from a team that paid for elite talent to one that didn't when Wendy and Bando were running the team.

 

It's funny, if you look back at it now, without knowing what Molitor would do over the next 6 seasons, you would've been run out of BF.net for signing him to the deal he signed for -- 3 years, 12 million - which would've been ~13% of the teams salary - for an oft injured single-position playing 36 year old.

 

You realize the Brewers didn't offer Molitor or Chris Bosio arbitration after the 1992 season? Meaning even if Bosio and Molitor were willing to play for Milwaukee on one year deals, they didn't want them back, and were willing to let their two best players from 1992 (and their highest paid and 4th highest paid) walk without even receiving draft compensation. It wasn't a bad decision from a poor baseball man; it was an edict from a bad owner to cut payroll.

[thebruce44]

It might be easier to list who wasn't a disappointment during the Bando era.

 

I'd mention Ben McDonald via Homer's rule but someone might confuse that to mean he wasn't a failure.

 

Was Bando bad because Bando was bad? Or, because Selig was uber-cheap at the time and constrained him?

 

I honestly don’t know. Probably a little of Column A and Column B.

 

 

No, Bando was bad because Bando was BAD. Selig wasn't cheap. It wasn't until they turned the team over completely that they got extremely cheap.

 

But Bando was absolutely terrible. If you went by how he handled the Molitor situation alone he was a disgrace, but there were soooo many more examples. And they went from a team that paid for elite talent to one that didn't when Wendy and Bando were running the team.

 

You spelled ruining wrong.

[DuWayne Steurer]

"

It's funny, if you look back at it now, without knowing what Molitor would do over the next 6 seasons, you would've been run out of BF.net for signing him to the deal he signed for -- 3 years, 12 million - which would've been ~13% of the teams salary - for an oft injured single-position playing 36 year old."

 

Almost all of that is fair, but 4 of the previous 5 seasons, including 92, Molitor played in 154+ games. It seems like to that point in his career, Molitor had put the "oft injured" tag behind him. He was (no question) 36, and should have been hitting the decline phase of his career, and nobody could have known that he was peaking at 36, but the injury bug really seemed to be behind him at that point.