On August 11th, the Brewers announced that Doug Mevlin would be stepping down from his position, but that he would remain with the team "in an advisory role through their search for a new general manager". While nothing seems imminent, ownership has already begun the process of searching for Melvin's replacement.
#Brewers have hired executive search firm Korn Ferry to organize GM search. Will target younger candidates with knowledge of analytics.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) August 11, 2015
While Melvin wasn't anti-analytics, he clearly wasn't at the forefront of them. During a radio interview in 2013, when asked if he was old-school or new school, and his faith in new analytics, he responded,
"I'm in school, because you're always learning in this game. Any time we have an opportunity to learn something, we're willing to sit down and look at it. I believe in some of the analytics, but I have to know where the information is coming from. There's 2 or 3 different formulas for WAR, you know, Wins Against Replacement, and I'm not smart enough to figure all that out."
These couple sentences are a perfect microcosm of why the Brewers might have felt it was finally time to move on from Melvin. He was apparently willing to learn, and adapt to the changing culture of baseball, but might have had trouble doing so. Melvin incorrectly referred to WAR as "Wins Against Replacement", and by his own admission, isn't smart enough to be able to break down what the formulas mean.
With how the game is evolving, and teams like the Dodgers and Rays building hyper-analytically inclined front offices, other organizations are starting to follow suit. The first necessary move was to begin the process of replacing Melvin, which will seemingly be followed by more changes.
The #Brewers plan to do plenty of housecleaning in front office, but will certainly keep highly-regarded scouting director Zack Minasian
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 18, 2015
Melvin had been the GM of the Brewers for over 14 seasons, and as such, had undoubtedly filled the front office with people that he trusted. However now that they're ready to install a "younger candidate" with a "knowledge of analytics", it appears that they're ready for an entirely new culture. It will be interesting to see what their new GM does in his or her first offseason at the helm, and their overall strategy of rebuilding the franchise.