{"id":3103,"date":"2017-05-10T14:45:21","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T19:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/?p=3103"},"modified":"2018-02-09T14:54:22","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T20:54:22","slug":"brewers-rebuild-supposed-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/brewers-rebuild-supposed-work\/","title":{"rendered":"This is how the Brewers\u2019 rebuild is supposed to work"},"content":{"rendered":"

It hasn\u2019t been easy being a Milwaukee Brewers fan the last few years. Following 2014\u2019s late-season collapse<\/a> and an awful start<\/a> to 2015, the front office commenced a rebuilding process that traded away most of the remaining pieces from the 2011 team that advanced to the National League Championship Series in exchange for prospects that were mostly a year or more away from reaching the majors.<\/p>\n

But here we sit a little over a month into the 2017 season, and the Brew Crew are just over the .500 mark, tied with the defending World Series champions and just 1\u00bd games out of the division lead. It obviously remains to be seen if they can maintain this pace all season, but there are plenty of signs that the organization\u2019s rebuilding process is working so far.<\/p>\n

The big league team<\/h3>\n

Sure, Jonathan Villar\u2019s base-running gaffes can be exasperating and it often feels that no lead is safe with a Neftali Feliz-anchored bullpen that\u2019s been charged with 10 of the team\u2019s 16 losses. But Milwaukee has been one of baseball\u2019s most potent offenses, leading the majors in home runs and ranking fourth in runs scored through May 9. A big part of those stats are fantastic starts from Ryan Braun and Eric Thames, who\u2019s arguably the best free agency find in baseball, but five of the six other regular position players were acquired in trades since 2015. That\u2019s with an ultra-low payroll with plenty of capacity to expand as the team develops, and with more help working its way through the minors.<\/p>\n

The farm system<\/h3>\n

The Brewers’ farm system has become one of the deepest in baseball, with five of the top 57 prospects<\/a> ranked by MLB.com. Triple-A affiliate Colorado Springs is off to a 19-8 start led by No. 15 overall prospect Lewis Brinson, who was acquired in last year’s Jonathan Lucroy trade<\/a> and will likely make his debut in the Milwaukee outfield sooner than later. While the major-league pitching staff has been inconsistent at best, there are also much-needed reinforcements in the pipeline on that front as well, with left-hander Josh Hader \u2014 acquired in 2015’s Carlos Gomez trade<\/a> \u2014 also expected to make his Brewers debut in 2017.<\/p>\n

What’s next?<\/h3>\n

The difficult question, of course, is identifying which players to build around and which to flip for additional prospects. There are likely to be more trades yet to come \u2014 Matt Garza is a prime candidate if he continues to pitch well \u2014 and the two most valuable trade chips the Brewers currently have are Thames and Braun, but there is no reason they can\u2019t keep both unless they encounter a blockbuster offer for elite talent. Braun is the more likely candidate<\/a> to be moved, although trading the cornerstone of the franchise would be a tough sell to fans, and his history and big contract make him difficult to move. Thames, who has been nothing short of a revelation in his first month back from his Korean sojourn, shouldn\u2019t be going anywhere. At age 30 and beginning an affordable three-year contract<\/a>, he could be the type of steady, veteran presence the Brewers will need as they complete the transition from the Braun-led era to the next core of young up-and-comers.<\/p>\n

Trading fan favorite players will never be a popular move, and not all the prospects will pan out. But the returns on the trades so far have given the Brewers a solid foundation of talent in or approaching the big leagues, with enough money and prospects still stockpiled in the system to fill in the remaining gaps when the time comes. Make no mistake, there\u2019s still a lot of work and development to do before the Brewers can realistically get back in the championship hunt, and we probably won\u2019t know for sure just how successful it is until at least 2018 or 2019. But so far, this looks to be an example of how rebuilds are supposed to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It hasn\u2019t been easy being a Milwaukee Brewers fan the last few years. Following 2014\u2019s late-season collapse and an awful start to 2015, the front office commenced a rebuilding process […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5153],"tags":[1342,969,973,972,79],"yoast_head":"\nThis is how the Brewers' rebuild is supposed to work | The Bozho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We probably won't know for sure just how successful it is until at least 2018 or 2019, but this looks to be an example of how rebuilds are supposed to work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/brewers-rebuild-supposed-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This is how the Brewers\u2019 rebuild is supposed to go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trading fan favorite players will never be a popular move, but it's working.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/brewers-rebuild-supposed-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bozho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thebozho\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-10T19:45:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-09T20:54:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Brewers.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"This is how the Brewers\u2019 rebuild is supposed to go\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Trading fan favorite players will never be a popular move, but it's working.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Brewers.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@thebozho\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@thebozho\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Derek Hagen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Bozho\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thebozho\/\",\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/thebozho\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thebozho\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/logo.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":280,\"caption\":\"The Bozho\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Bozho\",\"description\":\"Seeing things. 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