Even though the team had just come off their first series victory of 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers announced manager Ron Roenicke has been relieved of his duties.
#Brewers have fired manager Ron Roenicke. His replacement will be named tomorrow.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) May 4, 2015
After a historic late-season collapse in 2014, and a 7-18 start to this season, Brewers general manager Doug Melvin had clearly seen enough. Roenicke’s replacement will be named in a press conference Monday morning.
But where do the Brewers go from here? Do they wipe the slate clean and rebuild, or do they truly believe the team has enough talent to compete? Unfortunately, I think it’s the latter.
Owner Mark Attanasio has repeatedly said this team has what it takes to make the playoffs, which is why Milwaukee didn’t make any major moves this past offseason. They traded their No.1 starter Yovani Gallardo, acquired a hitter in Adam Lind and added a few bullpen pieces. Other than that, the Brewers stayed quiet on all fronts. They refused to make an offer to James Shields, despite the money that will free up in 2016, because Attanasio and Melvin believed — and probably still believe — that the team can compete.
The sad truth is, the Brewers’ roster isn’t built to be a contender. Their starting pitching staff lacks quality arms and the offense has zero depth. The Brewers needed absolutely everything to go right in order to have at least a small chance to compete. But with almost every player performing under their norm, Milwaukee’s season was quickly lost. This isn’t the fault of Roenicke; it’s the fault of the owner and general manager. They put this team together with unrealistic expectations, and those expectations cost a decent manager his job.
If I had to guess, the Brewers will hire one of the coaches already on the staff, which makes it even more pointless to fire Roenicke now. Why fire a guy 25 games into the season to just replace him with one of Roenicke’s guys? The Brewers might have well just stuck it out with him for the rest of season.
An interesting choice for manager would be Craig Counsell. Counsell, who is currently serving as special assistant to the GM, does a lot of behind-the-scenes work in areas like scouting and player development. The Brewers may want a young face who is knowledgeable about advanced statistics to lead the charge. It would be a risky move, but the Brewers are in the need of a bold play.
2015 is most likely a lost season for the Milwaukee Brewers, but the future doesn’t have to be. They do need to make a decision, however. Can they really compete with the roster they currently have? Or should they start entertaining the idea of trading stars like Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy?
