The Old Milwaukees

Veteran Leadership: Sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn’t

For the acquisitions of Craig Counsell (2004, 2007) and Jeff Suppan (2007), the talking point from the Brewers front office on both of them was experience.

Suppan — and I don’t need to remind you — was the 2006 NLCS MVP. He owns the postseason. He also owns a restaurant, loves Jesus and hates science. Guys in any clubhouse adore the player who will stand up against the use of human embryos.

Counsell won the World Series in 2001 for Arizona. He was a dominant front end of the rotation, pitching Game 1 with his right arm, Game 2 with his left arm. As a lefty, he stood 6-foot-10. And who could forget his single off of Mariano Rivera in Game 7 to bring home the winning run?

These were two huge pickups for the Brewers. Maybe more importantly, it gave beat writers the chance to do the “Young players caught sight of their World Series rings in the clubhouse and creamed their jeans” routine. What they lacked in talent was made up for in ring flashiness.

Well, that matters no more.

Veteran leadership was that absent element. With the exception of a few playoff-calloused guys like Craig Counsell and Jeff Suppan, the Brewers did not have that ever-important component.

Yeah, just those two. We weren’t serious about them bringing anything to the squad. Here’s the new breed of veterans, as appointed by Anthony Witrado, with bulletproof playoff credentials provided by baseball-reference.com. (These numbers are so impressive, they cannot be contained by one column.)

 Year   Round Tm  Opp WLser  G   GS   ERA   W  L SV CG   IP   H   ER  BB  SO

+——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+——+–+–+–+–+—–+—+—+—+—+

 2006   NLDS  NYM LAD     W   2   0   6.75  1  0  0  0   4     6   3   0   5

        NLCS  NYM STL     L   5   0   4.15  0  0  0  0   4.1   4   2   2   2

 Year   Round Tm  Opp WLser  G   AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   SB CS  SH  SF HBP

+——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+—+—+–+–+–+—+—+—+—–+—–+—–+—+–+—+—+—+

 2000   ALDS  SEA CHW     W   3  12   2   3  0  0  0   2   0   0  .250  .308  .250   1  0   1   0   1

        ALCS  SEA NYY     L   6  18   3   2  0  0  0   1   2   7  .111  .200  .111   1  0   1   0   0

 2001   ALDS  SEA CLE     W   5  18   2   4  3  0  1   3   2   7  .222  .333  .556   0  1   0   0   1

        ALCS  SEA NYY     L   5  17   3   3  2  0  0   0   4   4  .176  .364  .294   0  0   0   0   1

 2006   NLDS  SDP STL     L   4  14   1   2  1  0  0   1   3   7  .143  .294  .214   1  0             

 Year   Round Tm  Opp WLser  G   GS   ERA   W  L SV CG   IP   H   ER  BB  SO

+——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+——+–+–+–+–+—–+—+—+—+—+

 2004   NLDS  LAD STL     L   2   0   0.00  0  0  0  0   3     1   0   1   3

 2007   ALDS  BOS LAA     W   1   0   9.00  0  0  0  0   1     1   1   0   1

        ALCS  BOS CLE     W   3   0   7.71  0  1  0  0   2.1   3   2   2   4

        WS    BOS COL     W   1   0   0.00  0  0  0  0   1     0   0   0   1 

 Year   Round Tm  Opp WLser  G   AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   SB CS  SH  SF HBP

+——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+—+—+–+–+–+—+—+—+—–+—–+—–+—+–+—+—+—+

 2003   ALDS  BOS OAK     W   4   9   0   0  0  0  0   0   0   3  .000  .000  .000   0  0   0   0   0

        ALCS  BOS NYY     L   3   8   0   1  0  0  0   0   0   3  .125  .125  .125   0  1   0   0   0

 2004   ALDS  BOS ANA     W   2   5   2   1  0  0  0   0   0   0  .200  .200  .200   0  0   0   0   0

        ALCS  BOS NYY     W   2   3   0   1  0  0  0   0   0   0  .333  .333  .333   0  0   0   0   0

        WS    BOS STL     W   4   2   0   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000   0  0   0   0   0 

 Year   Round Tm  Opp WLser  G   AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   SB CS  SH  SF HBP

+——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+—+—+–+–+–+—+—+—+—–+—–+—–+—+–+—+—+—+

 2006   ALDS  OAK MIN     W   3  14   1   3  1  0  0   1   0   4  .214  .214  .286   0  0

        ALCS  OAK DET     L   4  17   0   5  0  0  0   0   2   2  .294  .368  .294   0  0

 2007   NLDS  CHC ARI     L   1   4   0   1  0  0  0   1   0   1  .250  .250  .250   0  0   0   0   0

And to think, of all the newcomers, the one who interested me most was David Riske.

Major holiday passes without news from Doug Melvin

It was almost a trend. Doug Melvin’s last three major off-season moves had come on major holidays, which had me thinking something would happen around Christmas.

• Thanksgiving 2006: The Doug Davis, Johnny Estrada, Claudio Vargas trade.
• Christmas 2006: The Jeff Suppan free agent signing.
• Thanksgiving 2007: The Jason Kendall signing.

I started to notice this because I was never at home when I first heard about the deals. I was always away with family.

So, does Doug have some motivation? Does he want to capitalize on the buzz and get people talking about the Brewers at all of their get-togethers? Or does he think the holidays are a time when people are away from their computers and newspapers, and maybe he can slide some unpopular announcements by without anyone seeing? As a Canadian, does he even recognize Thanksgiving and Christmas?

(And no, Gabe Kapler doesn’t count as news.)