Brewers Hypothetical Picks for the 2024 MLB Draft According to Joe Doyle
Jamie and Jeremy put Future Star Series Senior Analyst on the spot asking him who he believes is the best draft prospect to fall into the Brewers' first pick for the 2024 MLB this upcoming July. Watch his answer and analysis of his choice of player here.
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I get why the Cubs aren’t particularly liked. Yes, their fans traveled up to Miller Park/American Family Field. But the dollars a Cubs fan spends at American Family Field are just as good as those of a Brewers fan when it comes to hiring scouts, investing in facilities for training, paying for the analytics guys who give the data that make Brewers players and coaches better, or even helping to cover the contracts signed by Ryan Braun, Christian Yelich, or Jackson Chourio. The Cubs (and their fans) may be annoying in the best of circumstances, but they have some redeeming qualities.
The same cannot be said for the St. Louis Cardinals. We owe that team for the heartbreak they inflicted on Milwaukee… with almost 42 years of interest having accrued just for the 1982 World Series. That alone is something to keep in mind. It was the one appearance legends like Paul Molitor and Robin Yount had in the Fall Classic… and the Cardinals ruined it for our Crew.
In addition to that World Series, with 40+ years of interest compounding, there was the 2011 NLCS, the closest Rickie Weeks got to the Fall Classic alongside Prince Fielder. So the Cardinals have spoiled the postseasons for the best Brewers to have played at all four infield positions (Molitor and Yount in 1982, Rickie and Prince in 2011).
Contrast that to the Cubs. In 2018, in Game 163, with the National League Central on the line, the Crew came away with that title (and a bye from the Wild Card game). A decade earlier, with the playoffs on the line in Game 162, it was again the Crew over the Cubs in a gem pitched by CC Sabathia.
The Cubs can also be very thoughtful. In player terms, Brooks Kieschnick, Casey McGehee, Tyler Houston, Jose Hernandez, and Jason Kendall are among the players who made their way to Milwaukee and did reasonably well after the Cubs couldn’t figure them out. They also gave some Brewers players like Jeromy Burnitz and Jonathan Lucroy a bit more time in MLB near the end of their distinguished careers.
The thoughtfulness of the Cubs even extends to social media, with a September 2017 tweet that had their fans in mind but was also extremely considerate to the Brewers' social media team.
Hope your Saturday was better than ours. https://t.co/t6GtE6KxQV pic.twitter.com/8IZpPQRuIJ
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 9, 2017
Contrast that to the Cardinals. We can talk about the Cardinals' classlessness and pettiness all we want. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Albert Pujols, and your comments about Prince Fielder. Signing Lance Berkman for the 2011 season, a guy who benefited from a balk call in 2004 that was about as clueless (albeit far less costly) as the Aaron Judge interference non-call that derailed a weekend series against the Yankees, was the typical speed of St. Louis.
Plus, the Cardinals are the definition of entitlement in the NL Central, with 11 World Series titles, two of which came through our Crew, and 23 NL pennants (one of which came through the Crew).
Look at the cash they drop for veteran players to fill holes in free agency. Look at the trades they make to bring in players like Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt or the money they dropped for Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn this offseason.
On the other hand, the Cubs haven’t been too much trouble since their 2016 World Series win – okay, they did get to the NLCS in 2017, but again, they didn’t go through the Crew to get there. The team that beat us out by one game for that last wild card slot… well, the Brewers settled the account with the Rockies in the 2018 NLDS with the brooms.
Look, I get why the Cubs might be annoying. But think of it this way… the only way they could have any smidgen of hope to avoid an early hibernation for the next five years was to hire the best manager Milwaukee ever had, and they had to break the bank to do it. Even then, the Crew still has momentum, and they’re just playing catch-up.
On the flip side, the Cardinals are, when it comes right down to it, the team that really represents the heartache Brewers fans have suffered for so many years. For that heartbreak, a reckoning is long overdue. So, when it comes down to it, day in and day out, I root for two teams to win: the Brewers and whoever plays the Cardinals, even if it means cheering for the Cubs.
