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After going through one of the biggest collapses in recent MLB history, the Brewers will be performing an 'extensive review' of team management and potential improvements to the team in the offseason, reports CBS Sports' Jon Heyman.
The role of manager moving forward is mentioned as one of the things that will likely be looked at closely. Ron Roenicke, whose 2015 option was picked up in spring training this year, has managed the team to a 334-312 record over the past four years after taking over the position in 2011. Also likely to be under the magnifying glass is hitting coach Johnny Narron.
The Brewers held first place in the NL Central for 150 days in 2014, but were officially knocked out of playoff contention a few days ago. The team has gone 10-24 since August 20 as the offense in particular has completely dropped off a cliff. Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy were on MVP paces in the first half of the season, but cooled down over the second half. Mark Reynolds, too, saw his production drop precipitously while Ryan Braun looked worse and worse as the season went on while he dealt with an injured thumb.
The Brewers started the season with a 21-10 record with one of the best offenses in baseball. The team had a 714 OPS in April, then a 734 OPS in May. They hit their high mark in June, when Milwaukee posted a team OPS of 768. They then took a sudden dip to a 650 OPS in July, back up to a 730 OPS in August, and finally a dreadful 631 OPS thus far in September.
It would be unlike Doug Melvin and the Brewers to make big sweeping changes suddenly. However, with such a steep decline in 2014 it makes sense to look back at what went wrong and where improvements can be made. As an organization, the Brewers have been all about winning since Mark Attanasio purchased the team. Thus, it would seem unlikely for them to blow anything up too much with 2015 still looking fairly promising. Most of the more important players will be back for next year and there may still be money to sign another key hitter to shore up the lineup a bit.
Of course, reviewing team personnel and players at the end of the season is something one would expect every team to do. It sounds like this year, however, the Brewers will take a closer look than is typical.