Recently, I had the opportunity to engage the head of the Milwaukee Brewer Organization, Shashank Misra in spirited dialog. Misra has been spearheading the Brewer's rebuilding plans for about 11 months. The team he inherited was in apocalyptic chaos, and under his guidance has been upgraded to merely bad. The denizens of Milwaukee have an eery affection for him that some have suggested stems from mass hypnosis at Miller Park. What follows are the candid responses from the Milwaukee GM.
OOBL Insider (OI):What is your (baseball) philosopy as GM?
Shashank Misra (SM):The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before
you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in
tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and
daughters.
OI(afraid): ummmmmmmm....
SM: Wait... you said baseball philosophy. I like players who don't depend on
BA for either OBP or SLG, and command-type pitchers. However, you can't be
too dependant on either of these two types- you need a contact guy or two
(they tend to be more streaky, but that's good!), as well as stuff
pitchers to take some stress off the defense. As an organization, the goal
should be to develop a .500 team that has the salary flexibility, and
enough talent in the minors, to be able to maintain this level ad
infinitum. You use your extra resources (prospects and money) to add guys
in years where you either have players overachieve, or a good player turn
into a superstar. In my market, this means having a statistically average
team on a below average budget- finding guys that are good deals. It'll
take longer to develop this team than become a contender, but I think it's
worth it in the long haul.
OI: What is your biggest success in the OOBL?
SM: Realistically, given the situation I inherited, the answer to both this
question and the next one has to be moves I made, not on-field
performances. I had to dump about $20-30 million in salary this offseason,
and after doing so, Commish picked me to win 51 games. However, I
managed to pick up enough useful guys in these salary dumps (guys who're
cheap, not too old, and near MLB average) to probably field a 65 win
team. That might not sound like much, but it's a 15 game improvement! Next
year, I'll probably win about as many games as my predecessor on about 1/3
of his payroll! Even if I don't have much talent, I don't have an
embarrassingly bad team, and I'll have salary flexibility in the future to
keep my young guys, and maybe add a FA or two.
OI: You know my next question?!?!? Who are you Nostradamus, Ms. Cleo, Kreskin?
SM: (evil laugh...followed by blank, piercing stare)
OI: ...ummm moving right along....What is your biggest disappointment?
SM: Not being able to pick up enough prospects in the trades to speed along my
recovery. I did pick up a few good prospects (Garland, Borchard) who could
be part of a future core, but not enough to field a healthy team in
anything less than 3-4 seasons! A close second would be running a shoddy
spring training. I discounted having my pitchers concentrate on stuff
(K's), instead focusing on command (giving up extra base hits). My
pitchers really don't strike out enough guys to be effective; I have the
worst non-Coors ERA in the NL, and my abysmal strikeout rate suggests that
this isn't going to change anytime soon. Doh!
OI: Where do you see your team in 5 years?
SM: In 5 years I should actually be a healthy franchise! My minors are bare
cupboards right now (exactly 0 of the top 100 prospects), but 5 years is
enough for the guys I draft this year to have made it through the system.
My young players in the majors now (borchard, garland) should be in their
primes, and my few good minor leaguers (williams, ulacia, krausse) should
be coming into their own. I'd have to say, I'm really hoping the next five
years bring one or two winning seasons, and a healthy minor league system.
OI: What prospects are you anxious to develop?
SM: Perhaps more than anyone else, Joe Borchard. He still has to develop the
power I need from a corner OF spot, but in his 1st full year in the
majors, he's shown he gets the bat on the ball, and he has a good eye. If
I'm supposed to be picking a minor leaguer, I'd have to say Dennis Ulacia.
He doesn't rate out too well, but he's got 1K/IP and a 3:1 K:BB ratio in
AA at age 22- good signs that he'll be a useful pitcher by about age 24!
OI: What do you like to do in your free time?
SM: My non-baseball free time is spent helping out in my co-op,
or fragging people in Quake and Counterstike. I also like long romantic
walks in the park <slaps self> Sorry....)
OI: ummm ok...that is all I have..Thanks for your time. Your OOBL Insider mug and vintage 1963 OOBL fruitcake are in the mail!
Team: Milwaukee Brewers
Age: 26
Hometown: Urbana, IL
OOBL Exp: 11 months
Moonlights as: Physics Grad Student