J.J. Hardy in 2008. Photo Credit: The Dana Files (Flickr CC)
The Brewers’ playoff hopes took a serious hit over the weekend as Milwaukee lost three of four to the Cubs, missing opportunities to gain ground in both the National League Central and Wild Card chases. Chicago’s magic number to clinch the division is just two, and Colorado’s to eliminate the Brewers from postseason contention has dropped to five.
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Despite the narrative that he was struggling that followed him into the series, Ryan Braun had five hits in four games against the Cubs and is hitting .289 with a .372 on-base percentage and .539 slugging in the month of September while appearing in 21 of the Brewers’ 22 games. If Braun can continue to produce and lead the Brewers to the playoffs, he’ll make a little bit of franchise history.
Braun is the only player still on the Brewers’ 40-man roster who played for either the 2008 or 2011 postseason teams. If the Brewers rally late to overcome the Rockies or Cubs he’ll become the only player in franchise history to go to the playoffs in three different seasons.
Looking at the roster from the 2008 team makes it painfully clear that nine years is a long time in baseball terms. Ray Durham, Solomon Torres and Eric Gagne all made their final MLB appearances in the NLDS that year, and nearly all of the 44 players that put on a Brewers uniform that season have since followed them out of baseball. Braun is one of just nine players from that team that are still active, and the list will almost certainly diminish further by this time next year:
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J.J. Hardy
Hardy appeared in 146 games for the 2008 Brewers and was a big part of their success, posting a career-best .821 on-base plus slugging while playing an above-average defensive shortstop. Since then he’s played in 1100 more games with the Brewers, Twins and Orioles, sticking with the latter organization for seven seasons.
Hardy’s play has diminished in recent years, however, and 2017 is the final year on a disastrous three-year, $40 million contract he signed with Baltimore before the 2015 season. That will likely turn out to be his last major league contract, as Hardy is hitting just .212 with a .250 on-base and .305 slugging this season in 68 games.
CC Sabathia
Sabathia pitched in just 17 regular season games with Milwaukee in between much longer stints in Cleveland (237 starts) and New York (253 starts), but it’s hard not to fondly remember him as a former Brewer. He’s had an impressive career resurgence in his late 30’s: Baseball Reference estimates he’s been worth 5.5 wins above replacement in his age 35 and 36 seasons after posting a combined value of just 0.7 in the previous three years.
Despite his recent run of success, however, it’s hard to believe Sabathia’s MLB tenure will last a lot longer. Among active pitchers, only Bartolo Colon (3308 as compared to Sabathia’s 3305 1/3) has thrown more major league innings.
Carlos Villanueva
Villanueva pitched in 47 games and made nine starts for the Brewers in 2008 and is the first player on this list one could categorize as “technically active:” After 11 MLB seasons he crossed the Pacific Ocean and spent the 2017 season with the Korean Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles. He posted a 4.27 ERA in 105 1/3 KBP innings in 2017, which was almost three quarters of a run better than the league average (4.98) and a full run better than his team (5.29).
Villanueva is still only 33 (will be 34 in November) so he could still pitch for a few more years, but an MLB return seems unlikely after he put up an ERA just under 6 with the Padres in 2016.
Manny Parra
If Carlos Villanueva is “technically active,” then perhaps Manny Parra is “barely holding on.” After his final season with the Brewers in 2012 Parra made 150 appearances over three seasons with the Reds but hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2015.
Parra was out of baseball for the 2016 season but opened 2017 in AAA with the Cubs, where he posted a 14.09 ERA in 11 relief appearances before getting released. He then caught on with the independent Bridgeport Bluefish, where he made nine starts with a 5.87 ERA. It’s unclear if the Bluefish will even play in 2018, so Parra’s future with that organization faces multiple challenges and his recent performance is unlikely to earn him another look in affiliated ball.
Tim Dillard
Longtime Brewers organizational pitcher Tim Dillard actually pitched in the majors during the regular seasons in both 2008 and 2011 but is not on the Brewers’ 40-man roster and was not called up to the majors following a 2017 season with AAA Colorado Springs, his 15th professional campaign.
Dillard is 34 years old and faces minor league free agency again this winter. He’s previously said he’ll play as long as he has a job doing so, but it remains to be seen how much longer that will be.
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Hernan Iribarren
A Venezuelan native, Iribarren got his first taste of life in the majors in April of 2008 and had two brief stints with Milwaukee, playing 24 games over two seasons. The Brewers lost him on waivers before the 2010 campaign and he played for three organizations before returning to the majors after a seven-year hiatus with the Reds in 2016. This spring C. Trent Rosecrans wrote a fascinating story for the Cincinnati Enquirer on the role “witchcraft” played in Iribarren’s early career.
Iribarren played eight different positions for AAA Louisville in 2017 (including ten games as a pitcher), but did not receive another call to the majors. He turned 33 in June and is a veteran of 14 professional seasons.
Alcides Escobar
Escobar made his MLB debut in September of 2008 at just 21 years old, so he’s easily the youngest player on this list and perhaps the most likely to have a major league career that extends on past the short-term future. 2017 was his tenth MLB season and he’s already led all of baseball in games played three different times (including this year), but he won’t turn 31 until December.
The Royals signed Escobar to a long-term extension in 2012 that expires this winter, so he’s going to become a free agent in a couple of months. He’ll almost certainly find work but it could be interesting to see how teams value him: He’s played in an average of 157 games per year over the last seven seasons (including all 155 Royals games this season) and is a plus defender but his offense has been dreadful (a career .294 on-base percentage with very little power). For the last two years FanGraphs has rated him at just slightly above replacement level.
Yovani Gallardo
After a May injury Gallardo worked his way back from injury to make one September start for the 2008 Brewers that helped them reach the postseason, and he started Milwaukee’s first playoff game in 26 years. He’s had a nice career since, pitching nearly 1600 innings with a 3.98 ERA.
Since the Brewers traded Gallardo in January of 2015, however, his career has taken a bit of a downturn: He’s pitched for three teams over the last three seasons and posted ERAs of 5.42 and 5.72 with Baltimore and Seattle in 2016 and 2017, respectively. With the Mariners he’s been bumped from the rotation and asked to pitch in relief for the first time since 2007. Gallardo is only 31 years old but could face an uphill battle to find an opportunity to pitch in 2018 if Seattle declines his $13 million team option, which they almost certainly will.
As I mentioned above, just nine of the 44 players that appeared in a game for the 2008 Brewers are still playing. By this time a year from now this list could be much shorter.
