FanHouse

Although the Mets' late-season free-fall in the standings was by far more impressive (in a bad way), the Brewers suffered a collapse of their own after leading the NL Central for much of the year. Ned Yost has drawn some criticism from upset fans, but for now GM Doug Melvin isn't holding Yost responsible. From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

"Ned did an admirable job," Melvin said. "Ned's got his strengths and weaknesses, like any individual has in his job. When it comes to game management, we're all managers. We're all the biggest second-guessers in the world.

"There are areas Ned needs to improve at. He knows that. I had dinner with him (Tuesday night) and Ned will admit to a number of places where he made mistakes with his management of the bullpen.

"This is the first legitimate year we contended to the point where we really had a shot. So Ned is experiencing this for the first time, too. You can get better. If he doesn't, sometimes you suffer the consequences."

Melvin is 100% correct: the Brewers are a young team, and an eight-game improvement from 2006 to 2007 is commendable. Next year, things should be even better, what with a full season of Ryan Braun, a likely rebound year from Rickie Weeks and young guns like Manny Parra and Yovani Gallardo pushing Ben Sheets for the title of "staff ace." Yes, they'll have to patch up their bullpen this winter, but this wasn't a veteran squad hastily thrown together to compete for one season; no, this was a contender built from the ground-up, and the foundation is here for the Brewers to have a long and successful run.