Opinion Corner: Brew Crew pulls the cord

Talk about it

As a fan of professional sports teams in Milwaukee I have learned over the years when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.

Sadly enough I have folded the cards that showed a second consecutive playoff berth for the Milwaukee Brewers.

On Friday night the Crew shipped ace pitcher Zack Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels for whatever pittance they could acquire.

Any die-hard baseball fan has known over the past two weeks that Greinke has emerged as the must-have pitcher prior to Tuesday’s trade deadline. After the Phils locked up Cole Hammels for $144 million it was a mad dash for contenders to try and deal for the Zack Attack.

Just like Prince Fielder, Greinke turned down a huge contract from the small-market Brewers ($100 million over five years). Greinke however will have a chance to test the free agency waters after his rental with the Halos.

With the new player agreement in place the Brewers would not have received a compensatory draft choice for letting Greinke walk as a free agent, as was the case in years past with trades.

This greatly hurt Milwaukee’s chances for any substantial prospects on their side of the deal.

The Brewers acquired Jean Segura, the top prospect in Anaheim after some guy named after a fish, plus a pair of Double A pitchers that likely won’t amount to anything significant in the show.

So with that being said, and Milwaukee being 15 games out of first as of Tuesday, the season is essentially over.

Sure the one positive thing about baseball is that there’s always tomorrow, but the immediate future doesn’t look bright for baseball in the Beer City.

Things could be worse. Milwaukee has Ryan Braun locked up till 2050 or about, and with a stud like that in your stable there’s always something positive to build around.

Segura could also blossom into the shortstop the Crew desperately needs, but with all prospects it could take a year or two or even more.

The Brewers needed more reliable pitching and they sold the best on the market for a shortstop.

Here’s the real kicker — salt into the wound: Milwaukee sold the farm, horses, pigs, cows and the rest for a chance at being a contender when they put the pieces around Prince and Braun last year — Greinke was one of them.

Flash back to 2008 when the Crew shipped top prospects to the Tribe for the hefty lefty C.C. Sabathia. The Brewers worked him like a horse and rode into the playoffs, ending a 26-year postseason drought.

The club gambled knowing it could be another 26 years before they assemble that kind of talent on the diamond. Friday night was the end of the shortest era of competitive major league baseball Wisconsin has ever seen.

And it was exciting to watch, it’s just that I’m not a very patient fellow when I’m waiting for winners.

Yes, certain pieces are in place for the club to field a competitive team next year, but after Friday it was clear Milwaukee was heading into rebuilding mode, again.

Things could be worse, though. I could be a Cubs fan.

Ben Rodgers is a news writer at the Sun and frequent contributor to the Opinion Corner

Tags: sports, baseball, mlb