The Milwaukee Brewers finished 9-21 in their final 30 games and were ousted from the playoffs as they watched the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants grab the two wild card spots. Manager Ron Roenicke's job could be in question.
Brewers' general manager Doug Melvin is expected to determine whether or not Roenicke will remain the club's manager in the near future, but is Roenicke to blame? The team suffered a number of late-season injuries to stars Ryan Braun and Carlos Gomez as well as pitchers Matt Garza and Kyle Lohse, which significantly affected their playoff chances.
Braun batted .210 in September with just one home run and five RBIs as he dealth with a thumb issue (that now requires surgery); Gomez batted .299, but missed the first five games of the month (because of a sprained left wrist) and his power numbers disappeared when he hit only two home runs with eight RBIs; Garza had only one start in August (due to an oblique injury) and returned in September to post a 1-1 record with a 4.07 ERA; and Lohse dealt with an ankle ailment throughout August during which he compiled a 1-3 record with a 7.30 ERA. Braun's worst month by far was September, as it was for Gomez in terms of his power numbers. In April, May, June and July, Garza was 7-7 with a 3.82 ERA and Lohse was 11-5 with a 3.14 ERA. Not too much of a difference with Garza, but a drastic one for Lohse. The Brewers were 21-31 in August and September.
As a whole, the team compiled 650 runs (15th in the MLB), 1,366 hits (18th), 617 RBIs (14th), a .250 batting average (17th), and a .311 OBP (19th). For pitching stats, the Brewers posted a 3.67 ERA (17th) with 431 walks (24th), 82 wins (15th) and an opponent's batting average of .250 (15th). All of these statistics suggest that the Brewers were smack dab in the middle of the MLB. So if Doug Melvin assembled this team, shouldn't he be the one that's fired?
Melvin became GM of the Brewers on September 26, 2002. In 12 seasons with the team, Melvin has only guided them to two playoff appearances (2011 NLCS and 2008 NLDS). They have just one division title (2011) and two 2nd place finishes. The team has had five winning seasons, one .500 season, and six losing seasons under three different managers. Roenicke was manager for the NLCS appearance and three of those winning seasons, including the franchise-best 96-66 campaign.
So although Melvin is in the position to determine Roenicke's fate, maybe the Brewers' organization should consider tweaking other aspects of their baseball operations.
