the brewers

[jbrach]

well they now have the best record in baseball with a payroll of 108 mill I read...how do they do this ?

[JohnnyMO]

Brewer magic.

[Red Bird Classic]

Note that the Brewers aren't afraid to move high cost but popular players for long term advantage. Their focus is on winning. Not on positive PR.

I remember the 49ers back in the 80s-90s. They had great team after great team. They were not afraid to move big name players. Not afraid to make tough choices that fans hated but paid dividends in the long term. They even traded Joe Montana.

The Brewers are like that. They've made winning long term the priority. All other considerations are secondary to building they best teams they can build in the long term.

[CorneliusWolfe]

Brewer magic.

The stole our “pixie dust”…just not enough to win the world series. While I admire what they’ve with a low payroll, they can never close the deal.

[BrockFloodMaris]

Note that the Brewers aren't afraid to move high cost but popular players for long term advantage. Their focus is on winning. Not on positive PR.

I remember the 49ers back in the 80s-90s. They had great team after great team. They were not afraid to move big name players. Not afraid to make tough choices that fans hated but paid dividends in the long term. They even traded Joe Montana.

The Brewers are like that. They've made winning long term the priority. All other considerations are secondary to building they best teams they can build in the long term.

Matt Arnold (GM) and Pat Murphy (Manager) area a couple of sharp cookies. I know, they haven't won much in the postseason. But, they have a plan for a mid market MLB team that bears fruit with their little payroll, little tv contract and little city. They are fun to watch, and they are committed to winning as much as they can with the scant resources they have to work with. A few years from now, I suspect Chaim Bloom's Cards team may look a lot like today's Brewers team. When the Cards get to where the Brewers are now, the fans will return and ownership will spend more than the Brewers can ever spend.

[cardstatman]

July 31, 2015: The Milwaukee Brewers traded Jonathan Broxton and cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for Malik "magic" Collymore (minors). Before he left, Collymore stole the Cardinals pixie dust. The Cards had changed his password but Jeff Luhnow's old password still worked.

Ever since then, the magic has been in Milwaukee instead of St Louis.

What happened after July 31, 2015?

1. Lynn was great from April trough July but his UCL gave up the ghost in August.
   He toughed out rest of the season eating innings by throwing nothing but fastballs. He had TJ surgery immediately after Cards were eliminated.
2. Wacha hit a wall and was horrible in September after a stellar April to August.
   After his horrific September, he started and lost game 3 because well, there was no one else.
3. Martinez was suddenly shut down on Sept 25 after getting only one out.
   One week before the playoffs, he suddenly was no longer an option.
4. Garcia was fine but he got very sick on the day of his game 2 playoff start.
   He pitched anyway because there were no other options and he got bombed which triggered the team's inevitable playoff collapse.
5. Wainwright could not quite get stretched out in time to be a starter in the playoffs.
6. Lackey was the Cardinals only functional starter in their playoff series against the Cubs.
   He won game 1 but lost game 4 pitching on 3 days rest because the team had no other options.

The "Curse of the Collymore" will go down in infamy in St Louis Missouri.

The Glory Is Gone (TV Series 2015–2018)

[ramfandan]

The Brewers realized they could not buy top guys in the free agent market so they needed to acquire players in the draft but also in the 'international market' . They really went big with scouting in the Caribbean areas. Two guys really stand out currently .. Jackson Chourio they signed when he was 16 years old . By the time he was 19 years old, the Brewers signed him to an 8 yr. deal before he had played a game in the MLB. He currently is one of their top 2-3 players along with Yelich and Frelich.
Another international signing is Jesus Made ...a SS from the Dominican Republic Made was also signed at age 16
at age 17 he was put in Low A Carolina
Made is the Brewers No. 1 prospect in their system . He has tremendous tools.

So looks like Brewers hit on another gem after signing Chourio .

One of the reasons why the Brewers are so good .

BTW their No.2 prospect is also an 18 year old .. dominican Rebpublic Luis Pena like Made a SS/3B type kid

Cardinals need to do a better job in the International signings. Brewers are getting some really young great kids from there.
In 2 to 3 years , the core of the Brewers will be Chourio, Made, and Pena very likely . All three will be in their early 20's

Go Cards !

[ICCFIM2]

The Brewers realized they could not buy top guys in the free agent market so they needed to acquire players in the draft but also in the 'international market' . They really went big with scouting in the Caribbean areas. Two guys really stand out currently .. Jackson Chourio they signed when he was 16 years old . By the time he was 19 years old, the Brewers signed him to an 8 yr. deal before he had played a game in the MLB. He currently is one of their top 2-3 players along with Yelich and Frelich.
Another international signing is Jesus Made ...a SS from the Dominican Republic Made was also signed at age 16
at age 17 he was put in Low A Carolina
Made is the Brewers No. 1 prospect in their system . He has tremendous tools.

So looks like Brewers hit on another gem after signing Chourio .

One of the reasons why the Brewers are so good .

BTW their No.2 prospect is also an 18 year old .. dominican Rebpublic Luis Pena like Made a SS/3B type kid

Cardinals need to do a better job in the International signings. Brewers are getting some really young great kids from there.
In 2 to 3 years , the core of the Brewers will be Chourio, Made, and Pena very likely . All three will be in their early 20's

Go Cards !

The Cardinals have probably signed 30+ Dominican players over the years, has even 1 panned out. Since Albert was living in KC when he was drafted, he doesn't count...I know they have a couple guys starting to work there way through the system. But, after 20+ years, you would think there would be 1. As of now, they have Padilla and Rodriguez in their top 10 who are both about 3 years out.

I think in addition to the points you hit on, the other big difference is the Brewers drafted pitchers with swing and miss stuff, while the Cards went after pitch to contact pitchers. The difference in results is staggering. The Brewers over the last 10 years have produced about 4-5 #1 and #2 type pitchers. The Cards have produced 0 in that category. Brewers, Byrnes, Woodruff, Peralta, Misiorowski, etc. The only pitcher the Cards had during this time frame that were close was Wainwright in the years he was good. But not once did they have a rookie/young pitcher like the Brewers had. If you look at the starting 8 the Brewers have put on the field, the Cards have generally been competitive with them. But, the starting pitching staffs were distinctly better for the Brewers. Now as you point out, they are also developing good position players as well. The Cards will need at least 2-3 years to catch up to the Brewers in pitching and that assumes the Cards draft well.

[12xu]

Their pitching staff has allowed the 2nd least runs in MLB. They are 2nd in the NL in ERA, and 4th in strikeouts. They lead the league in run differential. The Brewers have 121 infield hits this year. No team has more. Only two other teams are in triple digits. They lead the NL in stolen bases and OBP. They are 21-13 in one run games.

[RamFan08NY]

The Brewers are having a rare season. We've seen this before with the Rays. A low payroll team that just keeps winning. They're a well constructed team. They pitch, hit the ball hard, put the ball in play, and run bases. We saw that from the Cards for about a month, early in the season. The Brewers have maintained that kind of play. Totally jealous of the way they play. Very fun baseball. Would live to see them go the distance and stick it to the 350 million dollar teams.

The Cardinals as we know, have no consistent pitching, dont put the ball aggressively in play often enough, and cant run the bases. Maybe Bloom can use the Brewers as a model. We hope!

[reson8]

That Rays/Brewers small market model is what the Cardinals need to be emulating. Obviously there is more payroll flexibility here than in either of those places but nowhere near the Dodger/Yankee/Mets/Red Sox neighborhood. When a guy gets to year 5 or 6 dangle his name out there quietly and see if somebody with some really good prospects bites. If so don't be afraid to pull the trigger. Trading a guy you know you can't/don't want to afford for 2-3 prospects is almost always going to be more productive than that extra draft pick. Especially if it's not John Mozeliak making the decisions.

[Talkin' Baseball]

The Brewers realized they could not buy top guys in the free agent market so they needed to acquire players in the draft but also in the 'international market' . They really went big with scouting in the Caribbean areas. Two guys really stand out currently .. Jackson Chourio they signed when he was 16 years old . By the time he was 19 years old, the Brewers signed him to an 8 yr. deal before he had played a game in the MLB. He currently is one of their top 2-3 players along with Yelich and Frelich.
Another international signing is Jesus Made ...a SS from the Dominican Republic Made was also signed at age 16
at age 17 he was put in Low A Carolina
Made is the Brewers No. 1 prospect in their system . He has tremendous tools.

So looks like Brewers hit on another gem after signing Chourio .

One of the reasons why the Brewers are so good .

BTW their No.2 prospect is also an 18 year old .. dominican Rebpublic Luis Pena like Made a SS/3B type kid

Cardinals need to do a better job in the International signings. Brewers are getting some really young great kids from there.
In 2 to 3 years , the core of the Brewers will be Chourio, Made, and Pena very likely . All three will be in their early 20's

Go Cards !

The Cardinals have probably signed 30+ Dominican players over the years, has even 1 panned out. Since Albert was living in KC when he was drafted, he doesn't count...I know they have a couple guys starting to work there way through the system. But, after 20+ years, you would think there would be 1. As of now, they have Padilla and Rodriguez in their top 10 who are both about 3 years out.

I think in addition to the points you hit on, the other big difference is the Brewers drafted pitchers with swing and miss stuff, while the Cards went after pitch to contact pitchers. The difference in results is staggering. The Brewers over the last 10 years have produced about 4-5 #1 and #2 type pitchers. The Cards have produced 0 in that category. Brewers, Byrnes, Woodruff, Peralta, Misiorowski, etc. The only pitcher the Cards had during this time frame that were close was Wainwright in the years he was good. But not once did they have a rookie/young pitcher like the Brewers had. If you look at the starting 8 the Brewers have put on the field, the Cards have generally been competitive with them. But, the starting pitching staffs were distinctly better for the Brewers. Now as you point out, they are also developing good position players as well. The Cards will need at least 2-3 years to catch up to the Brewers in pitching and that assumes the Cards draft well.

Carlos Martinez and Ivan Herrera.

[jbrach]

since only one team can win the WS each year there are 29 disappointed teams including many with huge payrolls...to have the best record in baseball this far into a season with a payroll hundreds of millions below other teams and to compete year after year under this restriction is quite an accomplishment

[blueboys69]

As a current Wisconsin native since 2017 and one that married into a big Brewers family, it does feel like we've essentially switched places with them.

The only difference between them and the 2000-2015 Cardinals teams, is they have an inability to retain.

But, perhaps thats part of their eval/strategy.

It just feels like they don't miss.

[Goldfan]

“But But But But those Large Market Bully’s….they give all those fat FA contracts……no one can compete”
Says a certain poster just about every retort…..

[Goldfan]

Their pitching staff has allowed the 2nd least runs in MLB. They are 2nd in the NL in ERA, and 4th in strikeouts. They lead the league in run differential. The Brewers have 121 infield hits this year. No team has more. Only two other teams are in triple digits. They lead the NL in stolen bases and OBP. They are 21-13 in one run games.

BDW gutted the development system and hired Oli/Dusty to manage and pitch coach