Who's your scapegoat?

[Weirdos19]

1. Ned- I know. I wasn't supposed to include him.

 

2. Hall- What a disappointment.

 

3. Wise- Fragile physically and mentally

 

4. Turnbow- Light switch was off way too much this year.

 

5. Jenkins- No September hot streak? And, .259 versus almost all right handed pitching? He'd hit .220 this year if he had to face lefties.

[mothershipconnection]

What I'd really like to do is find some way to blame this on Sal Bando.

 

Easy. In 1998, the Brewers, under Bando, selected JM Gold with the 13th pick. A guy named Sabathia fell 7 more spots. CC's 3.19 ERA would have looked pretty darn good this year. The year before, they took Kyle Peterson over Lance Berkman.

[Mike Felder]

Perfect. I paid no attention to the drafts in the 90s...I knew we weren't going to take anybody good anyway.

[number59]

The Cubs.

 

They had the audacity to have a slightly above mediocre season in a year where we though our mediocre season would do.

 

Seriously? No blame here. The organization took another step forward. Heck, the Crew may still pull this one out. But if not, it's a HUGE step forward they took. The Packers knocked on the door (mostly Dallas) for 3 years before breaking through. Alvarez's Badgers broke alot of hearts with two straight oh-so-close-to a-bowl-game 5-6 seasons. It's a step up the mountain. Prince's 50th cemented this teams place in recent Brewer history. Sadly(?) for us, it has to go 4th, behind only 1982, 1992, and 1987.

 

But yeah. Cappy, Hall, and Yost will go down (in the record books) with this ship if it ends in 2nd place.

[BrianShouseForPrez]

Since I cant pick Ned...

 

Its a tie between Billy Hall and Chris Capuano.

[DougJones43]

I think there is a lot of merit to the vote for Doug Melvin. He's kept Yost for 5 years, knowing full well what he's all about. He assembled a starting rotation that consisted of Capuano, Bush, and Claudio Vargas. He acquired Johnny Estrada, Greg Aquino, and Claudio Vargas...all in the same trade! He decided to move Bill Hall to CF, and keep Braun at 3B. This definitely didn't help our defense this year, and that defense was certain to be important seeing how he was relying on contact pitchers like Suppan and Cappy. He paid Kevin Mench $3.4M to hit for a .754 OPS in 285 AB's. He paid Tony Graffanino and Craig Counsell a combined $6M. He didn't do much at the trade deadline to help improve the team.

 

Guys like Fielder, Braun, and Hart have turned out to be amazing hitters, but that might be more of a compliment to Jack Z. Melvin didn't put together a very good team around MVP and ROY candidates.

[RU Rah Rah]

Sheets, in a landslide. He basically was able to pitch one or two good games after the beginning of July. An immense disappointment from a number 1 starter.

 

Then Bill Hall. The guy just vanished.

[moofnelson]

First 2/3's of the season: Starting pitching (not Gallardo).

Last 1/3: The bullpen (not Cordero).

 

We went from having no starting pitcher that could make it out of the 6th, to having a bullpen that couldn't get an out after the sixth.

[davego]

I blame Ed Donatell.

[bklynbrewcrew]

Seriously besides Ned I put a lot of blame for this mess on the shoulders of Doug Melvin. I know its almost heresy to criticize Melvin but as I have pointed out several times before he has done a lousy job since last offseason. From giving mediocre pitchers huge contracts (Suppan), to keeping Mench, to trading Doug Davis for three stiffs (Estrada, Aquino, Vargas), and then giving three solid prospects including one in Thatcher that has pitched great down the stretch for Linebrink I would have to say that none of Melvin's moves have worked out very well at all. I blame him most of all for putting together a terrible bullpen that has choked away a ridiculous amount of games and keeping Yost who has done a ridiculously bad job in handling the bullpen.

[JohnBriggs12]

My scapegoat is Doug Melvin because he thought having Turnbow and Wise as cornerstones of your bullpen was enough and he didn't aggressively pursue bullpen help in the offseason. That was the fatal error of this season not related to Yost and his problems.

 

Capuano certainly deserves some blame.

 

Hall is well down my list. Everybody is not going to have great years. His year was disappointing but not devastating.

[gregmag]

This is clearly our faults. We should have stopped shaving, showering, and changing our socks at 24-10.

 

Nah, I tried this. Totally didn't work.

 

I'm with number59. Other than He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Thread -- and I'm even fairly ambivalent about him -- it's hard to slam anybody too hard. Yes, Capuano and Hall were big disappointments, but everybody has off years, and each guy in his way was hampered by defensive concerns. It isn't like either one had a failure of character or effort. I think they'll both bounce back.

 

The criticisms of Melvin are reasonably stated, but I can't sign on to them:

 

Bullpen help -- if we mean guys who were obviously, clearly better than Turnbow and Wise -- was not exactly falling out of the sky last winter. Relievers are always the biggest risk on the block; the team that looks like it has the best pen almost never does. The Brewers had some guys with reasonable track records for their roles, and things didn't work out. Note also Melvin's implication in comments yesterday, discussed in another thread, that He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Thread screwed the bullpen by pulling Capuano from the rotation.

 

As for trades, the Davis trade made reasonable sense at the time, and our catching situation really was dire. I've slammed Doug as hard as anyone for the Linebrink deal, but you certainly can't argue that it hurt us this season. As for Mench, I hate watching him too, but if he's used properly (i.e., if he never sees a righthander) he can help the team. Besides, the Carlos Lee trade -- which I and many others criticized at the time -- also netted us Cordero, an indespensible piece for our pennant drive.

 

Greg.

[wisconsinfan47]

Capuano's regression this year is mightily exaggerated by the "the Brewers haven't won a game with him pitching since May" argument, which is brought up every time he comes in to pitch. He's had some bad outings, but he's also had some decent ones.

[RightFieldCoder]

?

 

And I always blame Wendy.

[sgtcluels]

Brewers defense. They have boned Cappy (He's no ace but he's no scape goat imo).

 

Hall has slumped this year, I just hope it's this year though. Perhaps next year Bill Hall wins games chant might mean something again.

 

I'm reserving judgment on DM. In DM we trust, here's to hoping he's got some master plan.

[jeffy]

I blame the fans...a subset of fans. Those who still want to celebrate losing the World Series in 1982, which led to the team forcing the players to wear retro uniforms for Friday home games.

[brew522]

He wasn't around long enough to really be the #1 scapegoat, but I can't let this thread go by without mentioning Grant Balfour. He ruined at least two great starts by Capuano. Why that went unnoticed and Cappy still got the blame for "not winning since May" has always irked me. After that point, the media really started harrassing Cappy and shot whatever confidence he had left.

[clancyphile]

My scapegoat: The training staff.

 

Capuano injured, and never really the same after the injury this year. Hall misses time with a high-ankle sprain. Graffanino gets hurt. Then Sheets goes down with injuries during critical stages TWICE in the second half.

 

Fire the trainers.

[RightFieldCoder]

I fixed the video in my first post.

[rluzinski]

Brewers defense.

 

I hadn't thought of that but I would agree. Give the pitching staff even an average defense and the entire season would have been different. Of course, you wouldn't have the same offense, though.

[clancyphile]

Brewers defense.

 

I hadn't thought of that but I would agree. Give the pitching staff even an average defense and the entire season would have been different. Of course, you wouldn't have the same offense, though.

The offense has, IMO, more than picked up the D.

 

No... the Brewers didn't fall apart until Sheets went on the DL. This was after Capuano, Hall, Weeks, and Graffanino also got hurt.

 

The best scapegoat is the training staff.

[Team Canada]

Turnbow or Hall.

 

I can't give it to Capuano because he pitched well in several of those games, but was screwed by the bullpen/defense/lack of run support.

 

That pretty much sums up my thoughts, although I can't place too much blame on Hall because I don't think our offense has really been a problem. Yes, more is always better, but there are plenty of greater deficiencies.

 

I also like the defense comment, it's been pretty bad.

 

[TheBwaz]

Keith Osik.

 

I'll say Cappy and Hall. Sure, the defense let him down, but sometimes you have to pitch around it. As for Hall, well, he just went away.

 

Oh, and thanks to the Curse of Cappy, ain't no way I am buying an Audi.

[Fear The Chorizo]

There are several:

Bill Hall - let's hope this year is the aberration to his career, not 2006

Turnbow - two straight seasons where he obviously tailed off during the 2nd half of the season

Capuano - say what you will about shoddy defense and some of his tough-luck losses, he was also spotted plenty of runs in some of his other starts that ended up being L's...for a guy who was supposed to be our second best starter, he sure did pitch like #2

Sheets - 3 years into his four year contract, and we still haven't seen a full, productive season from him. wheter he's injury prone or just had rotten luck when it comes to his health, anything that keeps him from taking the ball every 5th day is disappointing.

Menchkins - the combined 12-13 million per year platoon severely underperformed, even though it was set up for them to excel in their roles...they as players probably never were able to adjust to their roles on the team.

Pitching/infield/outfield coaches - While the defense has been putrid, so has the scouting/defensive positioning for opposing hitters. And either the relievers don't incorporate Maddux's teachings, or he's preaching the wrong message...or he's preaching to the wrong choir.

As you can see, the disappointments are all veterans on this team who were plenty quoteable at the start of the season when they dreamed of getting into the playoffs...I think that may say alot about how they as players can perform under a prolonged pressure situation like an extended pennant race (not including Sheets in that blanket statement, injuries are injuries).

[homer]

Tie between bullpen and defense.