The Brewers may sit in fifth place with a 22-28 record, but the principal owner of the defending National League Central champions doesn’t anticipate selling off talent at this summer’s trade deadline. Mark Attanasio told reporters that the Brewers prefer to add rather than subtract.
"We always have a buyer's mindset," Attanasio said, according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. "In seven years, we've always had a buyer's mindset."
Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum and Francisco Rodriguez are among the Brewers headed for free agency after the season. They would surely draw interest if Attanasio and president of baseball operations Doug Melvin make them available. The Brewers have had a particularly difficult time staying healthy this year. Jonathan Lucroy, Mat Gamel, Alex Gonzalez, Chris Narveson are all on the disabled list after sustaining serious injuries.
“In seven years, we’ve always had a buyer’s mindset.”
That’s because they had a chance those years, this year not so much. Too many injures.
Attanasio is the best owner in sports. He wants to win, is very sharp and knows when and when not to speak. With 2 WC this year and proof in the WC era just getting into the playoffs can be enough to win a World Series, Mark Attanasio is right in not quitting on this season. When you beat the best team in baseball 5 out of 6 tries you know you can play with anyone.
thats a stretch
He was sitting right behind home plate last night and i think/hope it was to send the message that he still believes in them. This team is still talented enough to get to 85 maybe even 90 wins so we still have a shot in the Central.
Not so sure 85-90 wins will even get that 2nd WC is the issue.. Too many teams stronger than the Brewers.
Philly still should get stronger, Nationals are not bad, Marlins ain’t bad either and nobody thinks Atlanta is going to just sit still. Can’t leave out SF either, way too much pitching and a bat will come to them somehow.
Milwaukee just does not match up well to any. They would have to make some serious short term investments, other than move the short timer they have (grienke) and try to improve down the road when they would have a better chance.
None of those teams you mentioned reside in the NL Central. The Brewers have a lot of games left against Pittsburgh (who they haven’t played yet and who they’ve destroyed in recent years), Chicago and Houston. They’ve just won 3 straight in Dodger stadium so when right they can play with anybody but after tonight they will be done with both the Giants and the Dodgers. Yes they have injuries but so does St. Louis and the Reds have holes as well. Still with all their misfortune they are only 6 games back.
Attanasio’s glass is half full and that’s the way it should be at the end of May.
You are very correct in taking the central being the only chance, but even with injuries to St. Louis? It would be a monumental effort and is it worth moving prospects to shore up weak spots, hanging onto grienke when it looks like they have no plans to resign him for the slimmest of odds to win it?
Maybe it is just me and always looking at odds and wanting to go into sell mode when chances are poor, though my favorite 2 teams generally do the opposite.. Boston does not sell and the Fish do..
Could understand some Milwaukee attempting to move prospects to make a run at it.. *if* they made another run at locking up grienke, but all has been quiet on that front since around ST. grienke right now would give them a couple of really nice pieces.
I’m not so much stating what I would do. Greinke leaving as a FA isn’t that dire. They’d make a qualifying offer then pick up draft picks. They’d free up lots of room to bid on other guys. Still its a lot less certain they’ll lose Greinke than it was they’d lose Fielder. They have the money to pay Greinke and Greinke has indicated he likes it there. They just haven’t seen eye to eye on his value yet and just because they can afford a huge contract doesn’t make it wise to do so.
The division is weak. The Brewers have been beset by injuries, and guys under performing. They haven’t reached the soft spot in their schedule (it starts tomorrow). They are 6 back, not 16. I can see them not prematurely announcing a sell-off.
They need to go get a first baseman and should have offered more to oswalt
starting pitching isnt the brewers problem. Greinke, Gallardo, Marcum, and Wolf is still one hell of a rotation. #5 is a question mark, but who knows maybe Fiers can repeat what he did in his first start a few times. I know its a stretch, but you just never know what could happen in this game. 1st base is the real issue at hand. I dont know that anyone would be a good fit o the open market right now for the brewers at the position… but I can tell you right now it wouldnt be Roy Oswalt
Rich guys always think they can buy their way out of anything.
can’t wait for them to start selling
Attanasio is not merely rich, he is savvy.
If the brewers get back to .500 in the face of these injuries, don’t think for a second this team won’t be tough to beat. That is a character builder and if you have followed baseball for more than 10 seasons, you know many teams have overcome slow starts to defy the experts and win big.
They are only 6 games out with on paper an easy June schedule so he has to think that way. They are okay at 1B with Corey Hart and Ishikawa who’s currently on the DL.
They have enough offense if Weeks starts hitting (he’s batting .156), and Ramirez puts up numbers typical of him from June through September.
The back end of the pen should be better than they’ve been to this point, and they are showing signs they will. They will need to make a move or two elsewhere in the pen either internally or externally.
The rotation is still decent and at times quite good. They’ve lost their 5th starter, but the guys who’ve filled in, Estrada and Fiers have been okay. If Fiers continues to pitch well, they can move Estrada back to the pen which will be a nice upgrade.
The injuries have resulted in some moves that actually made their bench better. Ransom was a nice pickup. Aoki is getting more playing time and showing he can be a valuable player.
Don’t understand why everybody is writing off the Brewers because of injury. The only major loss was Gonzalez at SS and now Lucroy at C. Ransom is an adequate replacement and Maldonado is even better defensively than Lucroy.
Gamel’s injury just opened up the opportunity for Aoki, who is a pure hitter perfect for the top of the lineup.
As it stands, we still have Hart, Braun, Ramirez, Weeks, Gallardo, Greinke, and Marcum to carrry the team. Everybody is picking up there game right now, except Weeks. Once he gets going with everyone else, we’ll be just fine for a run.
weeks is due to pick it up (I HOPE), and ramirez is looking like hes going to turn the corner any day now.
Weeks is the key guy, no question. He has to pick it up. If he starts playing close to an All Star level, they definitely still have a shot. A lot stranger things have happened in that division. How many times was Houston counted out of it prematurely several years ago?
Your forgetting K-Rod and Axford at the end of games. They haven’t been to the level they were at the 2nd half last year, but when both are right, it’s a 7 inning game. Dodgers are getting a taste of that this week.
The Brewers are at 62 straight wins (or close to that) when taking a lead into the eight inning. So long as we give those two a lead, they are locks for a win.