Heartbreak: Brewers greatest player of all time has finally announce his leaving due comeback of…

I won’t tell you that your emotions of rage or sadness at how this season ended are inappropriate. Since I’m pretty openly a little heartbroken myself, that would be really hypocritical of me. The Brewers seemed like formidable wild card candidates going into this season. I then had greater expectations after that scorching start. Six games separating the two NL Wild Card clubs, the Brewers ultimately ended 82-80.

 

The Brewers will conduct an organization-wide review to determine where improvements may be made following a significant collapse in the second half of 2014.
It’s been a hot topic lately, both inside and outside the company, what went wrong. To some, Ron Roenicke and the coaching staff are just targets. Some contend the squad was just not very good. Neither response seems right to me, and I believe the real solution is really straightforward.

It rotated rather well. Although not outstanding, it was often somewhat better than average. The bullpen was rather good all year long, despite a mid-season slump. They had periods of absolute dominance. Given the offense I anticipated, that most likely would have been sufficient.

Three factors, in my opinion, can be examined as the reasons for the disappointment: Ryan Braun, Jean Segura, and Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay working together at first base all gave significantly less than was anticipated or hoped for performances.

Ryan Braun’s thumb affected his season far more than I believe anyone could have fairly predicted. The season of Jean Segura was likewise a little surprising. I believe that everyone of us anticipated something similar to his entire 2013 season stats. Rather, we witnessed one of the third-worst offensive performances by a major league regular. At first base, Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay paired for an awful offense and a fantastic defense.

The irony is that I’m more upbeat about next season for the same three reasons the Brewers missed the playoffs. This week, Ryan Braun will have surgery, hopefully restoring him to his productive self. Jean Segura worked on a new hitting posture and strategy and started to have considerable success by the end of the year. Next year, the Brewers will most likely go elsewhere for their first baseman.

That helps explain in part why I believe the Brewers can field nearly the same squad and yet have success. There will be some adjustments, but I don’t think they have to completely overhaul the squad or shake things up.

Other things that transpired this season have me hopeful and looking forward to the future. It won’t be comforting to some, not at all, but the future matters. More than just the major league team makes up a major league franchise. Kind of an amorphous glob with a lot of moving elements. Though the big league team lost, the beast grew stronger overall.

It began even before 2013 was over. Initially, in November, Doug Melvin claimed Elian Herrera off waiver. Knowing is one thing. That seems insignificant. By itself, it’s not a huge concern. Just keep this in mind for my later discussion. 2013 was more noteworthy for the acquisition of Wei-Chung Wang in the Rule 5 draft.

The little time Wei-Chung Wang was given to pitch as a reliever for the Brewers was wasted. To see people evaluating him based on that performance astounded and disgusted me greatly. He was going to stink, of course. After a strong spring training, I mean, yeah even I had some hope he could function as a LOOGY in limited playing time, but the Brewers never signed him because of his bullpen success.