Not a single team from Wisconsin is considered a large market. The Milwaukee Bucks are the first team that will be contracted pending a new NBA labor agreement, but were successful in 2010 because of draft choices Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings panning out. The Green Bay Packers have built the most dominant 53 man roster in the NFL strictly through drafting. Plain and simple, Wisconsin teams cannot afford to "buy" elite players. They must rely on scouting and drafting in order to hang with the competition.
This years National League Central Division champions decided to break that mold, and over the past several years have acquired expensive, yet talented, players through trades.
In 2008, the Brewers put all of their chips in the middle, paying the Indians four top prospects in exchange for a 2 month rental of super star pitcher CC Sabtahia. Among the traded prospects was the prodigious power hitting Matt Laporta. While LaPorta's numbers have not been flashy to this point in his career (.2 WAR in 2011), scouts are waiting for him to find his rhythm and watch the power numbers erupt. The Brewers did not take the NL Central Crown in 2008, and Sabathia took his talents to New York.
Brewers manager Doug Melvin said at the time,"Were going for it". The Brewers won 90 games, finishing seven games behind the Cubs. The lost in the National League Divisional series in four games to the eventual World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.
What were the Brew Crew "going for"?
Upon the conclusion of a disappointing 2010 season, in which the Brewers finished third in the division with a 77-85 record, newly appointed skipper Ron Roenicke and the Brewers management decided they would "go for it again". The difference this time was that instead of trading for a superstar, they would trade for a combination of highly touted American League pitchers.
The first trade would send Blue Jays top pitcher Shawn Marcum to Milwaukee, in exchange for the Brewers number one prospect Brett Lawrie. Marcum had a successful regular season with the Crew, winning 13 games with a 3.54 ERA and an excellent 1.16 WHIP. Though ultimately he could not live up to his role of winning the Brewers the National League pennant. In three playoff starts, Marcum worked a combined 9 2/3 innings, gave up 17 hits and 16 runs. Those numbers make the Brewers management look very bad. Making them look even worse is what Lawrie did to American League pitchers. In his first month as a major league, Lawrie posted an astonishing .953 OPS. In his first 26 games as a Blue Jay, he blasted 17 extra base hits, tying an MLB record.
The second big move would send former Royals Cy Young winner Zach Greinke to the Brewers in exchange for shortstop Alcides Escobar, pitcher Jake Odorizzi, and outfielder Lorenzo Cain to Kansas City. This trade played out exactly as the Marcum transaction did. A 16 win season, combined with a sub four ERA left the Brewers sitting pretty. That is, until the playoffs began and Greinke allowed 15 runs in 16 innings over a three game span. The haul that Kansas City received has yet to pan out, as Alcides Escobar posted a disappointing .254 average over the course of 2011. The gem that the Royals received in return, Jake Odorizzi, is the most likely player to succeed, and has bolstered the Royals already stacked farm system. He likely will not make an appearance for another couple of years though.
The Brewers have "gone for it" twice in the last several years, and it has yet to pan out. While they have a talented core of players at the major league level, Milwaukee's farm system currently ranks as the worst in baseball. Combine this with the fact that Prince Fielder is on his way out of Milwaukee now that his contract is up, and the Brewers have put themselves in a tough spot. How can a small market team be successful without draft choices?
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