Milwaukee Brewers: Building A Winner Takes Time, Let’s Enjoy The Ride

The mixed 2007-2011 seasons

It took 15 seasons, but the Brewers had their first winning season since 1992 when rookie Ryan Braun and the Brewers finished 2nd in the National League Central. General Manager Doug Melvin had put together a young, exciting team that was ready to compete. The 2008 version of the Brewers didn’t wait long as they won 90 games and captured the National league Wild Card and first trip to the postseason in 26 seasons.

He also had a young and exciting farm system with Jeffress, Cain, Alcides Escobar, and Brett Lawrie. They were poised for long term success. However, two 3rd place finishes in 2009 and 2010 lead to younger players coming up to the majors. Cain and Jeffress each found their way to the roster in 2010, gaining valuable playing time.

In the 2010 draft, the team signed two righty pitchers in consecutive rounds with Jimmy Nelson and Tyler Thornburg. In October 2010, they also signed 16-year-old Venezuelan shortstop Orlando Arcia.

When you are a team that has a young nucleus, that is built for the playoffs, teams take chances and make big trades. On Dec. 19, 2010, the Brewers snagged ace pitcher Zack Greinke and infielder Yuniesky Betancourt from the Kansas City Royals for Cain, Jeffress, Escobar and pitcher Jake Odorizzi. The move paid off as the Brewers set a franchise record for wins with 96 and would make it to the 2011 National League Championship Series.

The beginning of the rebuild

The Brewers had reason to be optimistic going into 2012, since they returned most of the NL Central Championship Team minus one big piece, Prince Fielder. The Brewers would finish 83-79, missing the playoffs. Greinke was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for three players including infielder Jean Segura. The team made no major signings except Kyle Lohse in the off-season and limped through 2013 with a 74-88, 4th place finish.

At the start of the 2014 season the Brewers brought back Jeffress, who was looking for a fresh start. He had a great run with the Crew, pitching in 29 games, with a 1.88 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. That June, the team drafted a big righty out of Mississippi State University, Brandon Woodruff in the 11th Round.

After an epic collapse in August and September leading to a 82-80 season in 2014, the team was set for a long off-season. On Nov. 1st, 2014, they traded pitcher Marco Estrada for power-hitting first baseman Adam Lind.

In January they traded a struggling ace pitcher Yovani Gallardo to the Rangers for Marcos Diplan, Corey Knebel and Luis Sardinas. The team looked for former All-Stars to fill gaps, but after starting the season 17-33, the team knew it was time to rebuild and trade away any value they had.

The 2015 rebuild

In June, the team selected Hernan Perez off waivers from the Detroit Tigers.

On July 30th, they traded Pitcher Mike Fiers and outfielder Carlos Gomez to the Houston Astros for prospects Brett Phillips, Adrian Houser, Domingo Santana and Josh Hader. Houston’s assistant General Manager David Stearns played a large part of making the deal happen.

The next day, the Brewers sent outfielder Gerardo Parra to Baltimore for 22-year-old starting pitcher Zach Davies.

Then, on August 11th, General Manager Doug Melvin announced his retirement and it didn’t take long for Stearns to rise to the top of the candidate pool and was named GM on Sept. 21, 2015.

His first official pick up for his vision of the Brewers, 30-year-old starting pitcher Junior Guerra off waivers from the White Sox.

A month later, Stearns began to clean up the roster, trading veteran closer Francisco Rodriguez to the Tigers for Javier Betancourt and a player to be named later. That player to be named was Brewers catcher Manny Pina.

In December 2015, he sent Lind to Seattle for three prospects, Carlos Herrera, Daniel Missaki and starting pitcher Freddy Peralta. Two weeks later, he sent Jason Rogers, a career .258 hitter who hasn’t played in the majors since 2016, to Pittsburgh for prospects Trey Supak and outfielder Keon Broxton.

January 30th, 2016, he sent starting shortstop Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Isan Diaz, starting pitcher Chase Anderson and infielder Aaron Hill. Before Spring Training kicked off, he sent outfielder Khris Davis to Oakland for pitcher Bubba Derby and catcher Jacob Nottingham.

The 2016 Brewers, led by now-Manager Craig Counsell, still finished 16 games under .500, but the rebuild was in full swing. In June, they drafted Corbin Burnes in the 4th round of the amateur draft. On July 7, 2016 they traded Hill to the Boston Red Sox for Wendell Rijo and Aaron Wilkerson. In August, Jeffress was packaged with Jonathan Lucroy in a trade with the Rangers for three prospects, including outfielder Lewis Brinson.

More from Brewers News

• Brewers: 4 Players Who Must Step Up for the Crew to Make the Playoffs
• Brewers: Yet Another Huge Promotion For Top Prospect Jackson Chourio
• Brewers Making Colossal Mistake With Corbin Burnes’ Contract
• Which Players May Be In The Final Month Of Their Brewers Careers?
• Brewers: Where Does Devin Williams Stand In NL Reliever Of The Year Race?

The 2016 off-season was just as busy leading into the 2017 season. Stearns signed power hitter Eric Thames from the Korean Professional Baseball League at the end of November, traded Thornburg to the Red Sox for middle infielder Mauricio Dubon, third baseman Travis Shaw, and two other prospects in December. In February 2017, he snagged first baseman Jesus Aguilar off waivers from the Cleveland Indians.

The 2017 surprise

No one expected the Brewers to win 86 games in 2017, and no one expected them to be in the hunt for the wild card spot up until the last week of the season. No one, except themselves.

As the team was leading the NL Central at the All-Star break, they looked for bullpen help and made a deal with the Rangers to bring back Jeffress for his third stint with the Brewers. After the season, he was rewarded with a multi-year deal which could keep him with the team through the 2020 season.

After the disappointment of missing the postseason, Stearns didn’t officially say the rebuild was over, but signed pitcher Jhoulys Chacin, brought Cain back to the team that drafted him in 2004, and made the blockbuster trade of the winter.

On January 25th, 2018, the Brewers flipped top prospect Brinson, infielder Diaz and two others for All-Star outfielder Christian Yelich.

Fans know the rest of the story. 96 wins, NL Central Champions, one game away from the World Series and hope that Milwaukee Brewers baseball will be competitive for years to come with a young team that has talent waiting in the wings.

Building a playoff team takes time, it’s not easy and not all trades work out in the end. With every rumor comes what ifs and who should we trade, and not every prospect will pan out but keep the faith. These have been the best two years of baseball in Milwaukee since the 1982-1983 seasons, ( 1982-83 seasons – 182-142, 2017-18 seasons – 182-143) with more to come.

Patience is a virtue not all fans possess, but it’s one that the front office does, and that is something that we need to be grateful for.