Brewers Notes: Stearns, Rebuild, Counsell, Braun

Here’s the latest out of Milwaukee…

• Khris Davis and Jean Segura could have been building blocks for the Brewers rather than enjoying big seasons for the A’s and Diamondbacks, though GM David Stearns tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he doesn’t regret dealing the two players last winter to pick up younger talent.  “There are going to be times when you trade a player and he has a good year, and that’s OK,” Stearns said.  “These are challenging decisions but we make them with a great deal of confidence.  If we continue to follow this approach, we believe we’re going to amass the critical amount of talent at the major-league level that’s going to allow us to compete consistently.”  Both Stearns and owner Mark Attanasio said are committed to continuing the team’s rebuilding plan, and are pleased with the Brewers’ progress in 2016.
• Attanasio hinted that manager Craig Counsell will receive a contract extension this winter.  Counsell’s original three-year deal expires at the end of the 2017 season.  Counsell has a 131-162 record as Milwaukee’s skipper, though wins and losses on a rebuilding team aren’t necessarily as important as how Counsell has handled several challenges in his first full season as manager — keeping the Brewers prepared and competitive amidst a losing season, preparing younger players getting their first shot in the bigs and handling the trade rumors swirling around Jonathan Lucroy and Ryan Braun.  As it is somewhat unusual for a new GM to step into a job with a manager he didn’t originally hire, Attanasio said he has been impressed at how Counsell and Stearns have worked together.
• Today was the Brewers’ last home game of the season, and it could potentially also be Braun’s last time wearing a Milwaukee uniform at Miller Park.  The slugger told reporters (including Haudricourt, via Twitter) that he didn’t think there was “a great chance” he would be traded this offseason, though there is a “higher chance” at a deal this winter than there has been in past years.  “On a day like today, it’s impossible not to think about it [a trade] at least a little bit. You try to stay focused,” Braun said.  Several teams were rumored to be interested in Braun around the trade deadline, and the Brewers and Dodgers seemingly came rather close on a potential deal that would’ve sent Braun to Los Angeles for a trade package including Yasiel Puig.  Braun will have quite a bit of control over his future, as his contract allows him to block trades to 23 teams every season.  The Dodgers were one of three teams (along with the Angels and Marlins) who weren’t included on his no-trade list in each of the last two years.