"Why aren't we the Brewers?"

[MeleMouth]

Interesting article in the Athletic today about how the Reds fail to compete year after year.

Summary: under guidelines set by ownership, they don't trade their veterans for prospects, actually do trade prospects for so-so players when they think they have a chance at making the playoffs, and sign Tier 3 and Tier 4 free agents. Further, when they do break from their patterns, they make mistakes, such as misses in free agency and the players they got in return for Sonny Gray and Luis Castillo. Hiring is often insular. Sound familiar?

A couple of quotes.

 

"In addition, the Brewers maintain an elite farm system while consistently rebuilding on the fly and ignoring criticism for trading players such as Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta."

"For more than a decade, Castellini has mostly refused to entertain those kinds of trades, even when his baseball people advised him it was the only way for small-market teams to prosper."

 

"The Reds execs would dust off their presentation, update it and make their annual case to retool.

“'Bob would hear it,' the official said. 'But he would never let us do it.'”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7622943/2026/09/24/cincinnati-reds-castellini-ownership-front-office/

[Vanimal46]

Not even Tito Francona, a manager that I would guess a lot of fans have in their top 3 managers over the last 20 years, can overcome poor ownership. 

[Mike Sixel]

10 minutes ago, MeleMouth said:

Interesting article in the Athletic today about how the Reds fail to compete year after year.

Summary: under guidelines set by ownership, they don't trade their veterans for prospects, actually do trade prospects for so-so players when they think they have a chance at making the playoffs, and sign Tier 3 and Tier 4 free agents. Further, when they do break from their patterns, they make mistakes, such as misses in free agency and the players they got in return for Sonny Gray and Luis Castillo. Hiring is often insular. Sound familiar?

A couple of quotes.

 

"In addition, the Brewers maintain an elite farm system while consistently rebuilding on the fly and ignoring criticism for trading players such as Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta."

"For more than a decade, Castellini has mostly refused to entertain those kinds of trades, even when his baseball people advised him it was the only way for small-market teams to prosper."

 

"The Reds execs would dust off their presentation, update it and make their annual case to retool.

“'Bob would hear it,' the official said. 'But he would never let us do it.'”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7622943/2026/09/24/cincinnati-reds-castellini-ownership-front-office/

Replace "Reds" with Twins....I assume is your point? Which is correct.

[MeleMouth]

Just now, Mike Sixel said:

Replace "Reds" with Twins....I assume is your point? Which is correct.

Looking at an independent third party can take a lot of the emotion out of a discussion, so that it's easier to focus on what's works and doesn't work instead of what you like and dislike.  

[Vanimal46]

Every team should strive to be like the Brewers' development program. It's pretty incredible they can produce good young talent annually. Even the Rays take steps back from time to time, but the Brewers are a well oiled machine over the last decade.

[Cory Engelhardt]

6 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Every team should strive to be like the Brewers' development program. It's pretty incredible they can produce good young talent annually. Even the Rays take steps back from time to time, but the Brewers are a well oiled machine over the last decade.

The Rays even make deals like trading Joe Ryan for Nelson Cruz. That's something the Brewers haven't LOST in a while.

The Brewers do trade their veterans a year or two away from free agency. The Brewers most likely would have traded Joe Ryan in the last year, among others.

Just one example, but if we want to be like the Brewers, generally our front office has to be more forward thinking. 

But the bigger thing is within player development. They have models for players, and the right people within development, to get guys ready to perform at high levels when they are called up. They also pinpoint the right players who aren't performing for other teams and highlight them for deals coming back. Kyle Harrison certainly had a resurgence this year with Milwaukee, as an example. 

[Road trip]

16 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

 

But the bigger thing is within player development. They have models for players, and the right people within development, to get guys ready to perform at high levels when they are called up. They also pinpoint the right players who aren't performing for other teams and highlight them for deals coming back. Kyle Harrison certainly had a resurgence this year with Milwaukee, as an example. 

This.  X 1000.  

In the last few years the Brewers minor league system has graduated Churio, Turang, Mitchell,  Misiorowski, and Henderson among others.  That's about 25 WAR this year just for those five guys, all of whom are or may soon be All Stars.

[Vanimal46]

5 minutes ago, Road trip said:

This.  X 1000.  

In the last few years the Brewers minor league system has graduated Churio, Turang, Mitchell,  Misiorowski, and Henderson among others.  That's about 25 WAR this year just for those five guys, all of whom are or may soon be All Stars.

It's pretty easy to trade away elite talent when you can produce elite rookie talent the same year you're trading a Corbin Burnes away. 

[Cory Engelhardt]

2 minutes ago, Road trip said:

This.  X 1000.  

In the last few years the Brewers minor league system has graduated Churio, Turang, Mitchell,  Misiorowski, and Henderson among others.  That's about 25 WAR this year just for those five guys, all of whom are or may soon be All Stars.

Agreed completely. And man, I know Misiorowski looks like Nolan Ryan in his prime, but even Henderson comes up and knows HOW to pitch right away. It feels like he wasn't brought up to be a thrower, but a pitcher who can change speeds and hit spots right away.

I want to be part of a team that can show THAT.