A new era of Milwaukee Brewers baseball has officially arrived this winter.
Pat Murphy is in, Craig Counsell out, as the Brewers not only usher in the era with new management, but the team, by all accounts, looks to be trending towards a youth movement in Milwaukee.
Just a handful of weeks ago the Brewers made history when they signed the league’s 2nd ranked prospect Jackson Chourio to a record-setting deal, even before the outfielder took a single pitch in the big leagues.
Last season the youth train began to take off with guys like Joey Wiemer, Brice Turang, Sal Frelick, and Abner Uribe seeing their major league debuts.
Exciting times, no doubt, in Milwaukee, but now the biggest question of the off-season still lurks in the shadows at American Family Field: What should this team do with star pitcher, Corbin Burnes?
As of Tuesday, Burnes made an appearance on Foul Territory, essentially saying he needs to be “blown away” for any extension, either here or in Milwaukee.
I think it’s safe to assume here in Milwaukee, that is just too far off base to ever happen, especially given what happened last off-season.
The Brewers, most notably owner Mark Attanasio, has to make the tough decision this off-season, and, in my opinion, need to make a deal happen to send off Burnes, and acquire as much young talent as possible.
I know the easy thing to do is to sell your fan base on competing and in order to do so, it’s easy to say you want Burnes in order for that to be successful, and maybe you do. Maybe you do need Burnes to compete, who knows, really, but at what point does it hurt your team for the future to keep a guy you have no chance at retaining?
I hope this organization learns from its mistakes of the past, and you don’t have to look far. Look back at not trading a guy like Prince Fielder, watching him walk for free, and what THAT trade could have looked like , and how THAT trade could have shaped this franchise years down the road.
Instead of making the tough decisions, and sending away these types of players to help shape the organization down the road, all we are left with is memories, and well, memories don’t help win championships.
