MILWAUKEE BREWERS

Attanasio expects Year 2 of Brewers rebuild to be telling

Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Brewers owner Mark Attanasio does an interview at the team's "On Deck" fan fest Sunday afternoon at the Wisconsin Center.

PHOENIX - On Saturday morning, just as he'd done in each of the previous 12 years since buying the Milwaukee Brewers, principal owner Mark Attanasio addressed the players, coaches and staff before the team's first official full-squad workout at Maryvale Baseball Park.

This year's speech, though, was unlike any other he'd ever delivered.

The crux of his message?

"Don’t (expletive) it up," Attanasio said, laughing. "Then I had (coach) Carlos (Subero) translate it for me, and he punctuated it a little."

Such coarse language certainly hasn't been the norm for Attanasio during his tenure as owner. In fact, he said it was the first F-bomb he'd ever dropped in such a setting. But with the Brewers in Year 2 of their organizational rebuild, Attanasio changing his approach fits the circumstances perfectly.

"I try to tailor (my speech) every year," he said. "I reflected on the fact that you never quite know where you are, but you get up in that room, and one year we ended up winning 68 games and one year we ended up winning 96 games. I talked about family, community and opportunity this year. I usually talk about family and community in some way with the players. But for me this year, the opportunity is unmistakable.

"This is the youngest team we’ve ever had. So we’re really going in the right direction. There’s a group of guys who are going to be part of this next push and who are going to be part of the next playoff team, and that’s exciting.

"So they have to seize it."

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Attanasio was followed in his remarks by general manager David Stearns and finally manager Craig Counsell, who made it clear that despite the Brewers' rebuilding status and lack of overall experience that internal expectations will remain high.

"We’re going to have high standards," Counsell said. "I think we have to. And I don’t think it’s fair to put limits on any of this stuff. Why should you, man? Every season is sacred. Every season is special and new.

"I don’t feel like that group deserves that at all. There’s no limits on this."

Attanasio appreciated the delivery as well as the meaning behind Counsell's remarks.

"Craig never lacked for confidence, but he’s very comfortable now in his role leading the team," Attanasio said. "I think it was a very inspirational message, not setting limits and also how when you work together as a team you put less pressure on yourself. It was a noticeable step up.

"Not that he wasn’t always inspirational, but the calm and confidence with which he delivered the message was really cool."

The Brewers went 73-89 in 2016, a year in which they upended their 40-man roster with a flurry of trades and other moves. Including the final portion of 2015, former major contributors Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Gomez, Khris Davis, Francisco Rodriguez, Jean Segura, Jonathan Lucroy, Will Smith, Jeremy Jeffress and Tyler Thornburg were flipped for prospects and younger, controllable players to build the foundation for what is hoped to be a perennial homegrown postseason contender down the road.

Attanasio expects Year 2 of the rebuild to be a telling one.

"This year will be the year that informs us the most about where we really are," he said. "We have not only David and Craig with a year under their belts, we have an entire coaching staff with another year under their belts, a number of players who had real success and a couple of other players who maybe took a step back who had previous success. This year will inform us as to where we are on the timeline for competing.

"The team will tell us where we are and where we’re going, rather than me dictating it."

Milwaukee's 2016 opening-day payroll was $56.5 million, which ranked near the bottom in the major leagues. Expectations are for a similar figure this year.

"The team and its composition ‘informs’ the payroll. We don’t set a number," Attanasio said. "The payroll is about where it was last year. There weren’t any restrictions on David and (assistant) Matt (Arnold) this winter. They went out, right out of the box, and signed Eric Thames. They wanted to get Neftali Feliz to close. There were other things they looked at that didn’t come together, but there wasn’t any kind of restriction.

"We do have some flexibility."

Attanasio noted that the money saved on player salaries — the Brewers' payroll reached into nine digits for the first time ever in club history in 2014 and '15 — continues to be reinvested in the franchise in other areas.

"We spent upwards of $20 million revamping our food service this year to try to continue to make Miller Park a terrific destination for our fans," he said. "We’re trying to purchase a minor-league team in high (Class) A, which will aid our player development. We’re looking at improving our facilities (in Arizona) and in the Dominican Republic.

"The answer is we need to do all of that, and we will. So, we’re trying not to have money be an object in that."

Attanasio also provided an update on the Brewers' spring-training situation. The team is in the midst of a series of one-year options with the City of Phoenix to remain in their current Maryvale home, but Attanasio has been vocal since last spring about either receiving significant upgrades or potentially moving elsewhere.

"We continue to try to work on a solution here," he said. "(Executive vice president) Bob Quinn always has a solution du jour. Every year, it seems there's another one. We have another potential solution in Arizona, as well. It’s hard to handicap these things. We do have to bring these things to a conclusion at some point. Now, with the player development focus we have, we’ve got to have upgraded facilities.

"(Arizona) is our leading contender. It’s our first choice and our second choice. But, at some point, we have to have facilities that we think are best in class for development purposes. That’s going to take precedence."