‘We have an expectation to win this year’
Attanasio sees potential in Brewers’ young talent
PHOENIX -- Spring training is one of the best times of the year for many, including Milwaukee Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio, who was on hand at American Family Fields of Phoenix on Tuesday morning as the team officially kicked off full-squad workouts.
“I said in the car on the way over that this is one of my favorite days of the year. I still like Christmas. But this is up there,” Attanasio said, not long after making his annual address to roughly 100 players, coaches and staff members. “And one of the reasons it’s important to always try to compete is we have real hope. I haven’t had maybe just a couple of spring trainings where there wasn’t hope. We had a year as David Stearns was coming in (2016), we knew we were bringing the next wave of players but weren’t going to be that good.
“Now, we’re bringing the next wave of players and we think we’re going to be good — maybe really good. And so that’s what it’s about. It wouldn’t be much fun to not be competing.”
This season will be Attanasio’s 20th at the helm of the franchise. The Brewers are in the midst of their best, most consistent run of success in their existence with five postseason appearances in the last six years as well as a trio of National League Central Division titles over that same span.
As Attanasio noted, Milwaukee will have a different look this season with no Craig Counsell, Corbin Burnes or Brandon Woodruff (although his new twoyear deal is expected to become official any day now).
In their places will be players such as DL Hall and Joey Ortiz, who came over in the Burnes trade, big-time prospects like Jackson Chourio and younger players looking to take the next step like Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Joey Wiemer, Brice Turang and Abner Uribe.
“Look, there’s huge opportunity for guys here,” Attanasio continued. “We’ve had a significant winning tradition. We have an expectation to win this year, and we’ll have a lot of young players who have their first real opportunity to shine in the major leagues.
“We’ll see who seizes that opportunity.”
Here are some highlights of what else Attanasio had to say.
New manager Murphy is leaving a strong first impression
When asked about the message in the team-wide meeting, Attanasio first brought up the remarks made by Murphy.
“Quite impacftul,” was how he summed them up.
It wasn’t altogether surprising to hear Attanasio say that considering all the positive buzz that has been coming from players, old and new, this spring when asked about the former bench coach moving into the head chair.
Attanasio and Murphy were obviously familiar with each other with Murphy having been on Counsell’s staff for eight years. But their relationship has grown now that Murphy has taken over for his former charge.
“Yeah, it’s evolved. I’m in touch with him a little more,” he said. “He worked real hard this offseason. I flew with him to look at the Dominican Academy; I flew with him there and back, which is a pretty long flight. It’s also evolved because now he’s in charge. We used to kind of joke around a lot. Now, we joke around a little less, maybe a lot less.
“But his determination is is palpable. You can feel it. You could feel it this morning when he spoke to the players. It’s going to be fun to be working with him.”
Yelich is in a good spot
Christian Yelich reported to camp over the weekend and on Monday he told reporters “there’s a lot left” as he looks forward to this season and beyond.
That would be a good thing as far as the Brewers are concerned, considering Yelich will be on the books through the 2028 season.
“When Murph talked in the clubhouse, Yeli, Willy Adames, (William) Contreras and Rhy Hoskins are four pillar veterans that we’re going to build off of on the field,” Attanasio said. “His leadership isn’t only his performance — he was a (3.6 WAR) player last year — he also really keeps himself in condition so that at (32) years old he can be out there every day.
“That’s a really good example for the next generation of players who look up to him.”
How about the payroll?
Attanasio is asked every spring about the Brewers’ payroll and spending, and Tuesday was no different. Neither was his response. “Since (early in his tenure) we’ve evolved more to trying to manage our entire budget, because we have to do all these (other) things, right?” he said. “We have to have a great team on the field. We want to continue to develop our infrastructure. We want to continue to the human capital in the team. There’s always money in the budget to take advantage of opportunity. There always is, and there will be this year.
“Pat Murphy can certainly speak for himself. But one of the things he said in the clubhouse was he hopes they’re so good that we don’t need to add anybody in-season. Let’s not get distracted from what we’re trying to do. But sure, there’s money available if we want to add.”
It should be a competitive Central Division race
Attanasio was asked about comments made Monday by Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts, who called his team the favorite to win the division.
“You know, I hesitate to say this, so I won’t name the team. But there was a team that was widely picked to win last year that finished 21 games behind us. And, we finished nine games ahead of the Cubs last year,” Attanasio said. “So, I appreciate the friendly competition and we’re just kind of focused on what we need to do, game by game.
“I think the division is clearly better this year. The Cubs have a ton of great young players. The Cardinals are always good. They they ran into some bad luck last year, among other things. The Reds have maybe the most exciting young players on the field of anyone, including us at this point. And the Pirates got better.
“So, I think it’ll be a fun division this year. It’ll be a more competitive division this year.”
About the Burnes trade
In keeping with the topic of payroll, Attanasio noted that the Brewers didn’t have to trade Burnes and were, in fact, positioned to keep him heading into the season before the Baltimore Orioles made them the proverbial offer they couldn’t refuse.
“We are looking at always being competitive, so Matt Arnold and his team have always had to balance that (against looking toward the future),” he said. “I think the expression Matt uses is “over the line” -- a trade has to be over the line for us. And there was nothing, frankly, even from my perspective, that was close to the line until that trade came up when it did.
“Frankly, we thought we were going to be going to camp with all these guys.”