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

Milwaukee Brewers fans are excited about the prospect of their team making the first back-to-back playoff appearance since the 1981-1982 season, and the only World Series in team history.

General Manager David Stearns has cast a wide net this off-season. It seems like every day a new rumor pops up that never ends up materializing. He has made a couple signings and trades, but fans keep watching for the “big one”.

But have you ever looked at how the 2018 playoff team was built in Milwaukee?

The Brewers can’t spend like the big market teams and aren’t a team that attracts free agents with a warm climate. Unlike basketball and football, draft picks routinely take time to make it to the major leagues and often top out in the high minor leagues. It takes a lot of skill, extreme amounts of scouting, making timely well-educated deals, and a little bit of luck.

This current team took time, a lot of time, so we take at the trades, free agent signing and amateur draft picks, that brought us the key players on the current roster.

It all started at the 2004 MLB Draft

On June 7th, 2004, the Brewers were 54 games into what would end up a 67-94 season and their third consecutive last place finish in the NL Central. Players like Ben Sheets, Geoff Jenkins, and Craig Counsell were in the final season of the worst stretch of Brewers baseball since the 1984-1986 season when the Brewers finished last or second to last in the American League East.

On that June day, Doug Melvin, then General Manager made two draft picks that would change the direction, and future of the franchise, for the better. In the 2nd round the Brewers selected 18-year-old pitcher Yovani Gallardo out of Texas and a lengthy outfielder from Georgia, Lorenzo Cain.

Drafting Ryan Braun and Jeremy Jeffress

In 2005, the Brewers would draft University of Miami power hitting righty Ryan Braun. After less than 200 games in the minor leagues, Braun made his MLB debut in 2007 and has been a cornerstone of the franchise since.

The next year the Brewers drafted Jeremy Jeffress, 16th overall from Halifax County High School. He was bound for the major leagues, and he finally got there in 2010.

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.