The Milwaukee Brewers traded four-time All-Star Josh Hader earlier this week. If that were not reason enough for fans to be upset, they also designated Dinelson Lamet, one of the relievers they received in return, for assignment. He did not clear waivers and was picked up by the Colorado Rockies. To make things worse, the Brewers were swept by the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates immediately following the trade, even though they led in the sixth inning of each game.
As one might imagine, both Mark Attanasio, the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, and David Stearns, the President of Baseball Operations, were heavily criticized following the trade. Fans do not believe the team is truly trying to win a World Series. This feeling was confirmed in Josh Hader’s introductory press conference with the San Diego Padres. In his interview, Hader said it was nice to be with a team that wants to win a World Series, not just make the playoffs.
“The atmosphere here is they wanna win… and not just go to the playoffs but win a World Series.” -Josh Hader pic.twitter.com/fegCZgc2gf
— 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞🧀 (@MkeBrewMike) August 3, 2022
Expressions of this sentiment are not just coming from fans and Josh Hader. Throughout the week, Brewers players themselves have described how stunned they were/are that Hader is no longer on their team. To be sure, the trade deadline and the days immediately following it have been nothing short of a disaster.
Mark Attanasio Blames David Stearns
The Milwaukee Brewers celebrated the 40th anniversary of the 1982 team that made it all the way to the World Series. Before the game, Mark Attanasio took questions about the trade deadline and was asked what the thought of fans’ and player reaction to the trade.
Here is a long video with Mark Attanasio on the Josh Hader trade, his response to criticism that this was financially-driven, and what he thought about the clubhouse reaction. pic.twitter.com/5BMC3ZSYjG
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) August 5, 2022
David Stearns must feel really betrayed after that interview. Attanasio threw the entire blame for everything on Stearns. Fans all know that Attanasio is not going to pay top-dollar for his players. He even said signing Andrew McCutchen “broke the bank.”
Now, the Milwaukee Brewers may not have the biggest market. However, they consistently rank in the top half of baseball in attendance. Fans used their tax dollars to build the stadium! I know that there is much more that goes into revenue and expenses than just the price of tickets. However, let me leave you with this fact: when Mark Attanasio bought the Brewers in 2005, he paid $228 million. In 2022, the team was valued as being worth $1.28 billion by Forbes.
Mark Attanasio has made a lot of money off of the fans. The fans deserve better.
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1 Comment
Mark Attanasio — I can see trading Hader–but you made the biggest mistake in your life by not getting 2 players who can knock in runs —- because the lineup the brewers have now leave to many left on base and they strike out —way to many times—-Brewers fan’s are so pissed off about the trade you made and getting no players to help the team score more run’s—-The trade you made was insane–you should know better then that—come on —the brewers needed help so bad in scoring runs–you tell me you did not see that they needed help—so many times I seen the bases loaded and no runs scored with no outs–and what is wrong with Yelich he needs to get back to where he was when he came to Milwaukee and was the MVP player he was. The brewers were in first place and now they will be lucky to even make the playoff’s that trade will haunt you for the rest of your life–now what you going to do !!!!