1. FIRE NED YOST. His complacent, almost arrogant, demeanor is only effective when the squad is performing well. That natural "things will work themselves out" persona that he gives out has gotten very old and dry. The young squad is simply not rallying around it and it seems to have almost carried over into the field with bone-headed defensive errors and head-scratching base running mistakes. Also many will tell you this team just doesn't look motivated at all in the field. Yost has made his fair share of crippling moves during a game, not bunting with pitchers up to bat in certain situations and then asking your 5th hitter to lie down a bunt. He has over used many of his relievers, throwing Gagne for two consecutive innings only to have him close out the 9th the following night. But the most disheartening thing about Yost is his stubbornness. While the offense was struggling he seems completely unwilling to shake things up. It took Eric Gagne saying he didn't deserve the closer's role anymore to make Yost encouraged to make a move. I am not normally one to put blame on a manager before players, but Yost has simply made numerous mistakes and clings to his beliefs even when things aren't going right.
2. DON'T BE AFRAID TO BE SELLERS AT THE DEADLINE. This one comes under the condition that things are still going sour. After the season the pitching staff is going to need quite a bit of remodeling, which isn't debatable. The Brewers have put themselves into a good situation at the deadline to become sellers at the deadline. They have many expiring contracts of players that you assume are not coming back and could get a decent lot in the way of young pitching for them. It seems as though the harsh truth has come to Brewers fans about Ben Sheets, after the season he will not be a Brewer any longer. Plenty of large market teams that are focused on making a run could give the Brewers a prospect laden deal that would be too good to pass up. Also, the market for RPs does seem to be overpaying for them. The Brewers could get a decent return Mota and Torres, and potentially get ANYTHING of value for Gagne. The offense is going to be the bread and butter of this team in the future, so selling off pitching right now may not be the worst thing in the world. Uprighting the team next year is going to center around the remodeling of the pitching staff anyway, because the formula right now simply isn't working.
3. JIM SKAALEN NEEDS TO BE FIRED. This isn't even a question. Coming into this season this was supposed to be one of the most exciting young offenses in the league. With only one offensive Brewer performing at a typical offensive production for them, the decision is pretty clear.
4. MOTA AND GAGNE NEED TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE. Admittedly, both Gagne and Mota both have good off speed pitches, they can not rely on those pitches 80% of the time or to get them ahead in counts. Each of these relievers have built a career on overpowering hitters to get ahead and then finishing them off with those offspeed pitches. Each of these relievers has fallen in love with their off speed pitches too much. For Gagne the results have been terrible, once he opens with that changeup he can't seem to put a soul away with it, he couldn't even strike out Andruw Jones for Christ Sake despite throwing him SEVERAL changeups.
While two and these four suggestions are out there include firings, that does not dismiss the lack of production from this squad. Mindless errors, base running mistakes, lack of offensive production, and an inability to move lead off baserunners are all problems that players should have on their shoulders. I am sure these changes are far off from happening but each one should be considered, a very defining series vs. the Houston Astros is coming up then another against the struggling Diamondbacks, if the Brewers come out of the rest of this homestand with a losing record I believe changes are inevitable, you can not keep sitting back and settling for mediocracy.
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