Brewers Eye Rebuilding Year
Roberto Ruiz
If you are a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers and you love watching young players develop, this is the season for you. From Yadiel Rivera to Ramon Flores, and from Domingo Santana to Jeremy Jeffress, this squad is loaded with players in their early twenties who are looking to prove that they belong in the big leagues.
When David Stearns was hired by the Brewers to be their general manager a rebuilding period went from expected to a certainty. Stearns helped lead the turnaround in Houston, which directly led the 30 year old being offered the position in Milwaukee, but the turnaround did not come without some very painful losing seasons prior to the success. Houston lost more than 106 games for three years in a row from 2011-2013, but just last year made the playoffs with an 86-76 record. The Brewers, for comparisons sake, have lost more than 100 games only once in franchise history (2002).
Many baseball pundits predict another 100 loss season for the Brew Crew this year, a prediction that I certainly agree with. Attendance is sure to drop at Miller Park this year, because most fans simply do not enjoy watching the slow progression of emerging players, but there are plenty of fans who are excited to see if the Brewers can defy the odds and keep pace with the Cubs and the Cardinals into the fall months. Perhaps if Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy can re-discover their all-star qualities that notably disappeared last season, and the group of young pitchers take a collective step forward, this team can surprise and remove itself from the bottom of MLB’s barrel.
A far more likely scenario is that Braun and Lucroy get traded (if any team would even be willing to take on Braun) before the deadline to acquire even more prospects for this prospect-laden squad. Sacrificing two players who are already on the downslope of their careers for players who haven’t yet hit their stride will be much more beneficial to this organization than letting the aging players play out their contracts.
In a very short period of time the Brewers have went from one of the worst minor league farm systems in the major leagues to the best, and that trend is expected to continue this season. How many players will prove to be deserving of a major league roster spot has yet to be discovered but with so many blue chip players there will certainly be more than a few hits. Scooter Gennett, Keon Broxton, Jonathan Villar, Tyler Jungmann, Jimmy Nelson, and Wily Peralta are just a few more young players that could have big impacts on the 2016 team and beyond.
While “beyond” seems much more likely than anything else, I know I will be keeping my fingers on the pulse of this team because you never know. You play the games for a reason.
