04/20/24
April 14, 2006
How to build a winner.: Doug Melvin, the man who signed A-Rod to the largest contract in American sports history, has been quietly building a winner in Milwaukee on the 25th largest payroll in the sport. Using the Minnesota Twins and Billy Beane's Oakland A's as models, Melvin has amassed deep talent at reasonable prices. Can they make the postseason dance this year? Some say no, but even if they don't, it's a great time to watch baseball in Milwaukee.
He's also responsible for drafting Kevin Mench, Hank Blalock, and Mark Teixeira.
posted by rocketman at 02:00 PM on April 14, 2006
Doug Melvin, the man who signed A-Rod to the largest contract in American sports history Don't blame Melvin for the A-Rod deal. Everyone around here thinks that was Tom Hicks' deal. Also, wasn't Melvin the only general manager to push the Rangers to the playoffs (before A-Rod spiraled them to the bottom again)?
posted by graymatters at 02:08 PM on April 14, 2006
It was their decided lack of pitching that "spiraled them to the bottom again", A-Rod fullfilled his end of the bargain.
posted by mjkredliner at 02:21 PM on April 14, 2006
It's amazing how a team can improve once Bud Selig is no longer tampering with it...
posted by uglatto at 02:26 PM on April 14, 2006
I agree that we can't blame Melvin for the A-Rod signing and, in his defense, that signing played a not insignificant role in the Rangers not being in a position to get good pitching on the free agent market (although the pitching problems can also be assessed by looking into whether the organization as led by Melvin did a good job drafting and developing pitching talent). As a Cardinals fan, it's difficult for me to pull for the Brewers when they will make it harder for the Cardinals to keep up their run of NL Central domination (plus the Brewers' youth movement reminds me all too much of the Cardinals' collective age), but it's a good story and it appears to be a good model of building a baseball team the right way for that kind of market. I also enjoyed driving up to Milwaukee from Chicago last year for a Brewers-Cards game (may be sacrilege to say this, but it was a much more pleasant experience than my last few Cards-Cubs games at Wrigley -- although that is largely due to the frat boy atmosphere that prevailed amongst Cubs fans, not the environs). I plan on doing it again this year. I probably got a bit carried away on the Brewers bandwagon in my NL-only fantasy league this year (I drafted Carlos Lee, J.J. Hardy and Prince Fielder -- but they were all undervalued in my opinion), but I think the team has some great young stars on the rise and I'd like to see them have a good year (just not at the Cardinals' expense).
posted by holden at 02:33 PM on April 14, 2006
It was their decided lack of pitching that "spiraled them to the bottom again", A-Rod fullfilled his end of the bargain. Yeah, but it could be argued that A-Rod's salary kept Melvin out of the market for high priced, high quality pitching. On preview: what holden said -- except he was better and more insightful.
posted by BullpenPro at 02:33 PM on April 14, 2006
Yeah, but it could be argued that A-Rod's salary kept Melvin out of the market for high priced, high quality pitching. Sadly for Rangers fans it didn't keep them out of the high-price, low-quality pitching market.
posted by grum@work at 03:28 PM on April 14, 2006
it's always interesting to watch a team compete and compete well when they have a low payroll but it's still too early to judge and I hope my beloved cubbies don't get cursed by them again this year other than that go brewers
posted by luther70 at 03:29 PM on April 14, 2006
He's also responsible for drafting Kevin Mench, Hank Blalock, and Mark Teixeira. You can thank John Harrington and Dan Duquette for purse-stringing Teixeira back into the draft.
posted by yerfatma at 03:31 PM on April 14, 2006
Sadly for Rangers fans it didn't keep them out of the high-price, low-quality pitching market. Yeah, I thought about that after the post. Still, it could be argued that A-Rod's contract gave the Rangers a significantly smaller margin of error that prevented them from overcoming that blunder with more better signings. Or, I could just not know what I'm talking about. Yeah, probably the latter.
posted by BullpenPro at 04:27 PM on April 14, 2006
Sadly for Rangers fans it didn't keep them out of the high-price, low-quality pitching market. I know it wasn't exactly the point Grum was countering (I think the comment was directed to the statement that A-Rod's contract priced Texas out of the free agent pitching market), but I think Melvin was gone by the time the Rangers signed Chan Ho Park (I believe John Hart was GM at the time). Also to consider in assessing that signing is the bizarre Tom Hicks/Scott Boras dynamic going on there for a while.
posted by holden at 04:54 PM on April 14, 2006
My girlfriend says that A-Rod is cursed and that's the reason that teams with him on the roster do so poorly. I told her that was nonsense and that the smart people over at SpoFi would rake me over the coals if I ever offered up such an asinine statement.
posted by THX-1138 at 08:25 PM on April 14, 2006
Oh crap, did just hit post?
posted by THX-1138 at 08:26 PM on April 14, 2006
From the FPP: Some say no
Hear, hear.
Divisional rivalries aside, great FPP rocketman. posted by redsnare at 09:07 PM on April 14, 2006
Maybe it has been since Doug Melvin, but it has been a long time since there has been anybody here in Texas who has the knowledge of how to put together a winning baseball team, Sure, Hart did it in Cleveland but Tom Hicks didn't own that franchise. And, Hart never had control here in Texas regarding the direction that the team needed to go. Too much Hicks involvement, maybe. Pitching? The Rangers should have never needed to "buy" pitching if they would have had the personnel capable of developing the young talent that they have had over the years, or that they have now. They have done well at developing at essentially every other position.
posted by Bud Lang at 10:53 PM on April 14, 2006
Now that's baseball!!!
posted by zane71 at 07:54 AM on April 15, 2006
I also enjoyed driving up to Milwaukee from Chicago last year for a Brewers-Cards game (may be sacrilege to say this, but it was a much more pleasant experience than my last few Cards-Cubs games at Wrigley -- although that is largely due to the frat boy atmosphere that prevailed amongst Cubs fans, not the environs). You only enjoyed the Brewers game more because you didn't have to deal with Chicago. OVER-RATED!
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:05 AM on April 15, 2006
After suffering the past ten seasons without even a glimpse at .500, I'm glad to see that my Brewers are getting as much press as they are. Then again, most of the years that we were lackluster, Bud Selig wasn't in charge of the team, his daughter was. And it's hard to keep a team in contention when you use your money for makeup and not to keep talented players...if she was still running the team, I can guarantee that we wouldn't have Lee (cuz we wouldn't have spent the money to resign him) and the minute Fielder and Weeks' contracts were up, they would offer the league minimum and they'd bolt to a different team. But I digress. While I was alive during the Brewers' glory years, I don't recall much of them. I just hope that Lee, Fielder, and Weeks end up bringing the memories to our young fans that Gantner, Molitor, and Yount bring to me. Oh, Holder, you been to the new Busch yet? How is it? I went to one game at the old Busch, and even though I was in the nose bleeds, it was still one of the nicest stadiums I'd been in. (Then again, compair anything to old County Stadium, and it'd be beautiful...XD)
posted by Lissa at 12:10 AM on April 17, 2006
This is pretty strange seeing the brewers thought of as contenders and up and comers. I must say I'm enjoying it. I just hope that Lee, Fielder, and Weeks end up bringing the memories to our young fans that Gantner, Molitor, and Yount bring to me. I liked gumby.
posted by tron7 at 11:17 AM on April 17, 2006
In other Brewer news, Prince Fielder stole a base on Sunday, leaving him just one shy of his dad's career mark.
posted by BullpenPro at 02:13 PM on April 17, 2006
Prince Fielder Thats just an awsome baseball name.
posted by Folkways at 02:55 PM on April 17, 2006
I liked gumby. I LOVED Gumby...he was probably my favorite Brewer growing up. And YAAH for Prince almost beating his dad's career stolen base record before the first month of the season's over. Somehow, I think he isn't gonna get much more than that, though. He's built too much like his daddy.
posted by Lissa at 12:10 AM on April 18, 2006
Oh, Holder, you been to the new Busch yet? How is it? I went to one game at the old Busch, and even though I was in the nose bleeds, it was still one of the nicest stadiums I'd been in. (Then again, compair anything to old County Stadium, and it'd be beautiful...XD) I haven't been yet, but will be making the trip down I-55 in the coming weeks to catch a homestand. I agree with you, though, that the old Busch was not a bad place to see a ball game, and I was firmly in the camp that a new stadium was unnecessary.
posted by holden at 01:56 PM on April 18, 2006
Ahh, a wonderful post. It has been a long, long wait for us dedicated Brewers fans, but last year gave us a hint of the year to come, and this year will give us a hint of the magic of the future. It's a great time to be a fan of the Brew Crew. And hats off to Ned Yost for all he has done for the team -- he's had the magic touch, and he's also had some great guys to work with. Hooray for baseball!
posted by evixir at 09:35 PM on April 18, 2006
As a Rangers fan, I didn't expect to see "how to build a winner" followed by Melvin's name. But I guess he is the only GM to ever lead Texas to the postseason.