With Major League Baseball handing out their Most Valuable Player awards this week and the beginning of off-season relocations, it is hard not to have America's game still on the mind. That said, seriously, what on earth is going on with the Milwaukee Brewers organization?
During a time when the team should be looking to add depth and experience to the gritty 2003 Brewers squad, the board of directors began the winter by recommending the organization take a 25-percent payroll cut and trim the team's payroll to around $30 million. It may still seem like a lot of cash, but in a day and age in which many ball players alone make $15-20 million a year, it is completely uneconomical for a team to compete in free agency and vie for the playoffs, let alone the World Series with such a serious depletion.
The Brewers are an organization that needs a revival and a single player can do such a thing. But by putting such a control on spending, it's hard to not only attain the services of such a quality player, but it is also difficult to keep the players that are productive on the team already, like Geoff Jenkins and Richie Sexson.
How disheartening to not only the team but to the city of Milwaukee. Suffering through 11 losing seasons is one thing, but not even giving the fans a reason to come to the ballpark is a completely different story.
With all the effort and finances demanded from the people to create that monstrosity that is Miller Park, what a slap in the face to say that they won't keep up their end of the bargain and put a quality baseball club on the field.
In addition, with the recent call by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for the Brewers to open their books to state auditors, there are serious doubts with the future of the team in Milwaukee. Now more than ever, it is evident that the state has an obvious interest in the team's financial direction, but the question is: Does the organization have interest in the fans' direction?
In all, maybe it is time to stop pointing the finger at the general manager and the clubhouse manager and maybe start at the top of the food chain.
Brewer fans, I apologize, but if you think for any reason that we will be keeping both Sexson and Jenkins, or even one of them, you are sorely mistaken. With the way we are going, there is absolutely no way we can afford to pay both of these star players, even if their market value is not that high. Also with the way we are going and the $100 million debt that has been created, it is hard not to start thinking about losing our beloved Brewers from the city of Milwaukee.
Arvind Gopalratnam is a senior majoring in journalism. He can be reached for comment at agopalratnam@wisc.edu.
