Thoughts on D-Shot: The End of the Doug Melvin Era in Milwaukee

Doug Melvin recently stepped down as the General Manager of the Brewers after 13 years. Even though it has been a rough time of late (which I do think could have been avoided if he would have actually done something this past off-season to add to the roster outside of Adam Lind) the last few seasons, his time as Brewers General Manager has been a decent one. He had his good trades and signings here and there, but he also had some really bad ones that just didn't pan out.  Melvin will be most remembered for helping the Brewers get out of being a losing team year in and year out to getting them to making them a bit of a playoff contender some years.  To me that is a big accomplishment on his part though because for a decade plus they didn't have a season at or over .500 until the 2005 season.  During five of those 13 years that Melvin was General Manager, the team managed to have a .500 or above season (2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2014).  As every general manager can say in every sport, you are going to have your good moves and your bad moves.  His best move was clearly the trade to get CC Sabathia in 2008, which helped the Brewers get to the post-season as a wild card for the first time in 26 years.  That trade paid off in the end as Sabathia was masterful in almost every start of his.  When you look at that trade, they gave up what was at that time a highly touted prospect in Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson and Michael Brantley to the Indians in the deal. Three of those guys never really panned out for the Indians and only one that did was Brantley and he became an All-Star after being the player to be named later in that deal.  His other good moves during his time as General Manager came before the 2011 season, which was trading and once again outbidding bigger markets like New York for another former CY Young Award winner in Zach Greinke and also trading for Shawn Marcum.  The 2011 season which was the best chance for the Brewers to win a championship even though they came up like two games short that year.  He had to cash in and strengthen the starting pitching that year to get the Brewers over the top and back into the post-season in Prince Fielder's last year as a Brewer.  Both trades however came at a bit of a cost, Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain went on to be big parts of last year's playoff run for the Kansas City Royals. Jake Odorizzi has sort of been a bit of a decent arm in the majors with a few teams. The Marcum deal was a big costly as well as Brett Lawrie has become a power bat with both the Blue Jays and the Oakland Athletics.  Other decent trades that Melvin made during his time as General Manager would be the Carlos Lee for Scott Podsednik trade in 2005 and the Ritchie Sexson to the Diamondbacks after the 2003 season.  With the Carlos Lee trade, it worked on both ends.  Carlos Lee ended up being a big bat for the Brewers as a cleanup hitter for about a year and a half before being traded with Nelson Cruz to the Rangers to get Francisco Cordero along with outfielder Kevin Mench. Cordero in that Rangers trade ended up being a reliable closer for them and had a 40+ save season in 2007 when they choked up a possible playoff appearance that year. But on the other side of the trade, Scott Podsednik ended up being a big footnote in the White Sox 2005 World Series run as he hit Walkoff home run that year in Game 2 of the World Series against the Astros.  The Ritchie Sexson trade was a six player deal that Brewers got Junior Spivey, Lyle Overbay, Chad Moeller, Chris Capuano, Jorge De La Rosa, and current Brewers manager Craig Counsell.  Spivey was a decent lead off hitter for them after that deal but later gave way to Rickie Weeks and wasn't heard from too much again in his career.  Lyle Overbay was a big doubles hitter after that deal for the Brewers before being traded to Toronto to make way for Prince Fielder at first. Chad Moeller was a decent backup catcher that also hit for a cycle during his time with the Brewers after that deal. Capuano became an All-Star during one of his years as a Brewers pitcher.  So that deal sort of paid off in a few ways. You could also look at the trade that involved Will Smith and Nori Aoki as a positive deal.  It gave the Brewers a reliable lefty out of the bullpen while giving the Royals yet another piece that helped them get to a World Series. Other trades you look at as positive are the J.J. Hardy for Gomez swap, and the Nyjer Morgan trade. Obviously Gomez was a Gold Glove type player during his time in Milwaukee, but both him and Tony Plush created one of the most memorable moments in Brewers history. He did end what he has done trade wise on a good note as trading Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers to the Astros, Jonathon Broxton to the Cardinals, Aramis Ramirez to the Pirates, and Gerardo Parra to the Orioles, and all of those trades have increased the depth of the Brewers minor league system and brightened the Brewers future as they are now a top 10 minor league system because of the guys they acquired in those trades.
As for Free Agent deals, he has been a bit of a hit and miss sort of guy.  I would the say two of the best free agent deals he made were signing future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman at the end of his career and signing/trading for Francisco Rodriguez countless times to solidify the bullpen.  Both helped solidify the bullpen at the closer's position.  Hoffman more in his 2009 season obviously because it took him forever to get to that milestone save 600 in 2010. Rodriguez has just kept coming back to the Brewers and been reliable both as a setup man for them.  Aramis Ramirez would also fit this as well, as it gave them a decent cleanup hitter to replace Prince Fielder after he left the Brewers. I do think Ramirez's numbers would have been a bit higher during his time in Milwaukee if it weren't for a few injuries here and there. You can look at a few signings he has made recently as half and half.  For instance, signing Kyle Lohse to a three year deal.  That deal paid off the first two years as it did strengthen their rotation those years, but just hasn't paid off this year.  You can look at the decision to sign Ryan Braun long term over Prince Fielder as a bit questionable.  Braun for a while looked like the face of the franchise, but is no longer due to him being one of the most notable players involved in the Biogenesis scandal. I do have to admit it was a tough decision to decide over either of those two, and it makes it really hard to sign another big piece here and there or just tough to trade them in general because it is hard for another team to take up that much money. In the end, it would have happened either way with Braun and Fielder, but at least they made the decision between one of those guys. Another deal I would say as questionable and sometimes I do admit it as maybe one of the biggest contract busts in Brewers history even though some other people don't is last year's signing of starting pitcher Matt Garza. When Garza signed the deal, I sort of expected at least 14 to 16 wins out of him every year of that contract.  He was just that kind of guy to me, and throughout this deal he hasn't done that at all. Maybe he can be a big piece the next year or so of his contract and anchor this rotation a bit or he'll end up being a trade piece either in the off season. As for absolute contract busts during the Doug Melvin Era, there are some really big ones.  After Francisco Cordero left for the Reds after his 40 plus save 2007 season, Doug Melvin signed former CY Young closer and holder of the longest save streak in baseball history in Eric Gagne. Gagne began the 2008 season as the closer, but just never had it and the Brewers ended up going with Salomon Torres as closer for a lot of the 2008 season. As for the biggest bust for free agency signings in the Doug Melvin Era (and you might as well say Brewers history in general), and that award goes to Jeff Suppan.  Suppan was signed to what was one of the richest contracts for a free agent pitcher in Brewers history (4 years, $42 million) after being a big part of the Cardinals 2006 run to a World Series title.  Suppan even though he was absolutely a great person in the community just never panned out in the Milwaukee.