Who's on first?

After a disappointing season, the Milwaukee Brewers will have many questions entering the offseason.  First base was a revolving door for the Brewers, who used seven different players at that position, and finding someone to play there consistently, will be important.  

Brewers' management will have to decide if they want to bring back Corey Hart or promote slugging prospect, Hunter Morris.  Corey Hart was suppose to be the team's everyday first baseman this season, but he never stepped foot onto the field, due to two knees surgeries.  In Hart's nine seasons with the Brewers, he has been a solid contributor, averaging 17 home runs and 54 RBI's with a .276 average in 105 games.  Ever since he became an everyday player in 2007, he has averaged 139 games per season, and has been a two time All-Star.  

The other option the Brewers have is prospect Hunter Morris.  The slugging prospect had a good season this year, while he did not hit for a high average (.247), he did possess a lot of power.  In 134 games, he hit 24 home runs and drove in 74 RBI's.  The one negative Morris presents is his strikeout to walk ratio.  He struck out a 122 times compared to only 43 walks.  While this is something he will have to improve on, he is only 25 years old and possess good upside.  

This will not be an easy decision for Melvin and Co. to make, but they need to think about the future.  Hunter Morris is the best option for the Brewers going forward.  While he is not an established big leaguer like Hart, he possesses the potential of being a good Major League player.  The Brewers will not be a competitive team next year, so why pay a veteran more money to be in the way of their future?  It is time for the Brewers to move on from Hart and give the starting first base job to Hunter Morris.  

Get ready for the struggles

Remember when the Milwaukee Brewers won the National League Central Division crown, and were two wins away from making it to the World Series?  That was only two years ago, but the Brewers have gone from one of the best teams in baseball to one of the worst.

The 2013 season has come to a close and the Brewers finished with a disappointing 74-88 record, but their record was the least of their problems.  The Brewers struggled with injuries throughout the entire season, and lost Ryan Braun to a 65 game suspension for his connection to the Biogenesis Clinic in Miami.  While all teams have to face adversity over the course of a 162 game schedule, the Brewers never found away to overcome them.  This is what sets the mediocre teams apart from the best teams in baseball.

The main reason why the Brewers were unable to overcome their difficulties was because of the lack of quality prospects in the farm system.  While Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett and Tyler Thornburg all did a good job of filling in when needed, these three players, and frankly all the prospects that are within three years of playing in the majors, have no star potential.

In order to be successful each season you have to be able to develop young players.  While not every one of them will be a star, you need to at least have a few of them with the potential to be one.  The blame for the lack of development and poor evaluation of players in the draft has to be placed on Doug Melvin.  While he is not a scout, he is the one who hired all of them and makes the final decisions on the players.

With the lack of quality prospects, it will hurt the Brewers success over the next three to five years.  While the Brewers did trade some of their best prospects away in trades, the Brewers have hardly done anything to improve their system.  This season they should have traded away numerous veteran to get pieces to build for the future, but Melvin decided not too.

This poor judgment and lack of ability to restock the farm system will cost the Brewers and should cost Melvin his job.  He has made many poor decisions over the course of his tenure, and while the Brewers did have some success, it does not balance out all of the disappointing seasons.

The Brewers have one of the worst farm systems in baseball, and with none of their prospect possessing huge upside, it will not get any better.  This will hurt the Brewers success at the major league level for the years to come, and Doug Melvin should be blamed and loose his job because of this.

It has only been two years since the Brewers came two wins away from making it to the World Series, and now they have become one of the worst teams in baseball.  Being a small market team, the Brewers need to draft well and be able to develop prospects.  This has not happened recently, and because of this, the Brewers will not be competitive for the foreseeable future.

Don't Blame Roenicke for the Brewers Struggles

The Milwaukee Brewers have struggled mightily this season with a disappointing 19-30 record, but you cannot blame Ron Roenicke for the teams poor performance.  Doug Melvin is the one to blame.  He assembled this team and Roenicke can only do so much with the little amount of talent he has.  Here are three reasons why all of the blame should be placed on Melvin:

1st -- Pitching wins championships and the Brewers lack the pitching to be competitive.  Their starting five is filled with average pitchers who are at best middle to back end of the rotation pitchers and they have all been dreadful this season.  The Brewers pitching staff holds a 4.48 ERA overall and that is mainly because Yovani Gallardo, Marco Estrada, Mike Fiers, Wily Peralta and Hiram Burgos all hold an ERA close to or well over five.  The only exception is Kyle Lohse who has had a solid season as the ace of the Brewers staff.  The Brewers have struggled to find any consistency from their starting rotation and it has really hurt them this season.

2nd -- Doug Melvin made the decision to bring back John Axford this offseason and made him the closer before Spring Training even began.  Axford has been dreadful this season posting a 6.64 ERA with ZERO saves and three blown saves in 20 1/3 innings, and has already been removed from the closer role.  With the Brewers now having to use different options in the ninth inning, it has hurt the entire bullpen.

3rd -- As a small market ball club, you need to have a strong farm system to be competitive year in and year out.  The Brewers have a weak farm system that was ranked 29th by Keith Law of ESPN entering the season.  With no pitching or hitting prospects projected to have huge upside, the present and future is not bright for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The blame has to be put completely on Doug Melvin's shoulders for this disappointing season and he should be fired for this.  He has not been able to build a consistent playoff contending team over the course of his tenure because he does not know how to build a team through the draft and develop prospects and it is finally starting to show.

2013 Milwaukee Brewers: 3 Bold Predictions

1. Yovani Gallardo Will Win 20 Games

Ever since Yovani Gallardo became the Brewers' ace in 2009, he has been the most underrated pitcher in baseball.  Since 2009 he has averaged almost 32 starts a season with 15 wins, 203 strike-outs, and an ERA ranging from 3.52-3.84.  He has also been able to remain healthy throughout his young six year career besides a freak ACL injury in 2008.  Yovani Gallardo is just entering the prime of his career and in order for the Brewers to be successful this season, he has to be a consistent pitcher a top the Brewers rotation.  This will finally be Gallardo's break out season, and expect him to win 20 games for the very competitive Milwaukee Brewers.  

2. Ryan Braun Will Win the N.L. MVP Award

Ryan Braun has been the best player in baseball over the last two seasons, and this season he will continue to produce at a high level.  Over the past two seasons he has destroyed the ball, averaging 37 home runs, 112 RBIs, and an average well over .300.  If it was not for all of the off the field drama, that happened before last season, Ryan Braun would have been the MVP for the second consecutive season.  Ryan Braun will have another outstanding season for the Brewers, and if he is able to repeat the success he has had over the past two seasons, he will be the National League MVP.

3. Milwaukee Brewers Will Make the Playoffs

Throughout the last decade the Brewers have struggled to develop young pitching besides, Ben Sheets and Yovani Gallardo.  This season the Brewers have decided to go with a younger and inexperience pitching rotation behind Gallardo, and this decision by Doug Melvin, has led to a lot of criticism from baseball fans.  This is one of the smartest decisions Melvin has made in his tenure as Brewers GM because instead of over paying for veteran hurlers, they are allowing their highly touted pitching prospects to develop.

Instead of over paying for starting pitching, the Brewers have used the money to revamp their awful bullpen from last season, with the acquisitions of Burke Badenhop, Michael Gonzalez, and Tom Gorzelanny.  Their bullpen was so bad last season, that they had 29 blown saves in 73 opportunities, with a 4.66 ERA, which was the worst in the majors.  If the Brewers bullpen would have converted half of those blown saves, they would have made the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

With a young, but talented starting rotation, a revamped bullpen, and the best offense in the National League expect the Brewers to surprise everyone and win one of the National League Wild Cards.

The Milwaukee Brewers Should be Sellers at the Trade Deadline

The Brewers main focus should be trading Zack Greinke because the Brewers have no chance of resigning him at the end of the year, and they need to get prospects back that are close to the same quality they traded to acquire him last off season.  The Brewers need to acquire pitching prospects and a shortstop prospect since those are two of the weakest areas for the Brewers this year and in their farm system.  Teams will be willing to give up a top prospect and 2 above average to average prospects to acquire a former CY award winner in Zack Greinke, even if it is just a two month rental.....just like the Brewers did a few years ago when they traded for CC Sabathia.  Doug Melvin better be smart for once and look at the future and not the present.  If he doesn't pull the trigger and trade Zack Greinke to help the future he should be relived of his duties as GM.  The Douger has ruined the farm system grabbing for the "brass ring", and has basically fallen off the merry-go-round horse.  He really missed on giving the Brewers a realistic shot at making the playoffs this year.  I have difficulty buying the injury excuse.....please refer to Uncle Teddy up in Green Bay 2 seasons ago when he won a Super Title with a bunch of second and third stringers.  Doug Melvin has to realize that the Brewers are a small market team and should be built through the draft and not by over paying for veteran players, just like what Ted Thompson has done with the Green Bay Packers.  If Greinke and some other players aren't traded the Brewers won't be competitive for the next four years.