Don’t Blame Roenicke for the Brewers Struggles

The Milwaukee Brewers have struggled mightily this season with a disappointing 19-30 record, but you cannot blame Ron Roenicke for the teams poor performance. Doug Melvin is the one to blame. He assembled this team and Roenicke can only do so much with the little amount of talent he has. Here are three reasons why all of the blame should be placed on Melvin:

1st — Pitching wins championships and the Brewers lack the pitching to be competitive. Their starting five is filled with average pitchers who are at best middle to back end of the rotation pitchers and they have all been dreadful this season. The Brewers pitching staff holds a 4.48 ERA overall and that is mainly because Yovani Gallardo, Marco Estrada, Mike Fiers, Wily Peralta and Hiram Burgos all hold an ERA close to or well over five. The only exception is Kyle Lohse who has had a solid season as the ace of the Brewers staff. The Brewers have struggled to find any consistency from their starting rotation and it has really hurt them this season.

2nd — Doug Melvin made the decision to bring back John Axford this offseason and made him the closer before Spring Training even began. Axford has been dreadful this season posting a 6.64 ERA with ZERO saves and three blown saves in 20 1/3 innings, and has already been removed from the closer role. With the Brewers now having to use different options in the ninth inning, it has hurt the entire bullpen.

3rd — As a small market ball club, you need to have a strong farm system to be competitive year in and year out. The Brewers have a weak farm system that was ranked 29th by Keith Law of ESPN entering the season. With no pitching or hitting prospects projected to have huge upside, the present and future is not bright for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The blame has to be put completely on Doug Melvin’s shoulders for this disappointing season and he should be fired for this. He has not been able to build a consistent playoff contending team over the course of his tenure because he does not know how to build a team through the draft and develop prospects and it is finally starting to show.