Milwaukee Brewers: 'It's time to start over' - Pioneer Press

Milwaukee's Francisco Rodriguez pitches to the St. Louis Cardinals during the ninth inning of their game, Wednesday, July 18, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

What is the biggest misconception about the Milwaukee Brewers in a season of illusions?

It has to be that the recently completed nine-game series against the National League Central, on which they went 4-5, somehow ended their playoff hopes.

Uh, no. Those were gone by the time they lost, in no particular order, two first basemen, two shortstops, a catcher and a No. 5 starter.

The irrational thought that they still had a chance at the postseason was further trampled by turtles when whoever was left couldn't catch the baseball or run the bases. And when, all the while, the bullpen became the cause, not the solution, for widespread arson as the all-star second baseman continued the mother of all slumps at the top of a lineup that hit with the consistency of the post-2008 stock market.

The way I saw it, the Brewers' season, for all practical purposes, ended June 24 at Chicago against the White Sox. After maybe the most inept -- Mike Fiers exempted -- 1-0 extra-inning loss in the history of baseball, a visibly angry Ron Roenicke had no public explanation for his team's inability to perform fundamentals at their most fundamental level.

Oh, the manager knew why. It's just not his style to offer bad-luck excuses for all those injuries or rip his guys to the media for playing like their spikes were fitted to clown shoes.

This season was cooked way before the overly hyped nine-game stretch began. It was just one of those years where nothing went right from the

start. The only thing left to do now is take it off the burner before it bubbles over on 2013 and beyond.

It's time to start over.

Zack Greinke has been a short-timer for a long time. The only question is whether the Brewers can get something close to what they gave up for him.

On one side of the delicate balance, teams want to win now, as the Brewers did last season and in 2008. If others determine the otherwise incredibly gifted No. 13 isn't too arm-weary or weird to get them to the World Series, the Brewers will realize a return on their investment.

Less likely, teams could also wait to sign him as a free agent at the end of the year. It's the job of Doug Melvin, who has been really good at gauging the market, to salvage something on behalf of the depleted farm system.

Aramis Ramirez has been good for the Brewers since emerging from his hitting slump, but I'd trade him, too, just to get out from under his three-year, $36 million contract. Granted, the size of his contract at his age means the Brewers won't get much in return, but they overpaid him to help prop up the post-Prince Fielder lineup. It hasn't worked out the way they hoped and it probably won't for the life of his deal.

The Brewers have no immediate replacement at third base -- Taylor Green has flopped so far -- but maybe it's time for Mat Gamel to start taking grounders at third again once his knee heals. In the meantime, it's not like the Brewers have anything to lose.

The Brewers also should move Frankie Rodriguez if they can get anything at all for him. The only way they will ever determine whether John Axford can ever get it back is to let him close again.

The season is far gone enough that the Brewers need to put him out there again, mostly to see whether they need to find a closer in the off-season.

As for the rest, you hope for a mulligan in spring training.

Shaun Marcum and Randy Wolf won't be back, which means the Brewers will have one proven starter (Yovani Gallardo) and another (Fiers) who has been their best starter of late. Maybe Chris Narveson comes back fine. Maybe Tyler Thornburg becomes reliable. Maybe the Brewers will find a pitching prospect in their upcoming yard sale.

Yet for a season that has been crispy done for a long time, the outlook has hardly been burned beyond recognition. Beyond rearranging the pitching staff and the yearly do-over with the bullpen, it's not an entirely bad thing to be coming back with Ryan Braun, Corey Hart, the good Rickie Weeks and Jonathan Lucroy as the core.

Yet none of the above is untouchable with the exception of Braun in upgrading the team for next season. That job starts now.