Milwaukee announced substantial changes to their leadership on Wednesday. Commissioner Bud Selig's daughter Wendy Selig-Prieb stepped away from her position as President and CEO of the Brewers for personal reasons, taking a new position as chairperson of the Brewers' board of directors. The board hired Ulice Payne as her replacement. He is a Milwaukee attorney from the same firm as Baseball COO Bob DuPuy, who was a prominent member of management's labor negotiating committee. Payne has a strong background in business and some knowledge of baseball through his former position as a member of the Miller Park stadium board.

Whether she was competent in her job or not, Wendy made a good decision for her organization in stepping aside. The Brewers are mired in a horrible slump of increasingly poor seasons and need the appearance of a clean slate. Milwaukee also needs to distance itself from Commissioner Selig and the ever-present conflict of interest questions, which was close to impossible with his daughter "running" the team. I'm sure she's thankful to be free of a portion of the negative press that has followed her this season.

In addition to the change in presidents, the Brewers fired General Manager Dean Taylor and hired former Texas GM Doug Melvin to fill the position. While the condition of the organization isn't entirely Taylor's fault, the Brewers still needed to make a distinct break with the old regime, which meant Taylor had to go. He'll forever be associated with the Brewer teams that broke the major league record for strikeouts and lost 100 plus games.

Melvin lost his job because the Rangers didn't win after signing Alex Rodriguez to the most expensive contract in history. However, they shouldn't have expected to win. Texas will have a strong crop of young talented players emerging from their minor league system over the next few years, which was one of the things that attracted ARod to the team. Melvin assembled that farm system, and he would have been foolish to sign a number of high profile studs to block the paths of the prospects. His primary failing was in the construction of his bullpen.

Despite their horrible record, Milwaukee's holes are fillable. Under Taylor, the Brewers have accumulated some talent in their system. He was particularly adept in taking advantage of the new trading environment after the new labor deal to trade many of their pending free agents for players who will be under their control for several years. Nevertheless Melvin can't wait for the farm teams to produce players; he'll need to make additions to the major league team through free agency and trades. He might also want to invest in bubble wrap to protect Geoff Jenkins.

Even if he'd shown more promise as a manager, I wouldn't give Jerry Royster good odds on removing the interim from his title since the team wants a fresh start. Many baseball people feel that Texas manager Jerry Narron will be sacrificed this off-season as Melvin was in 2001,and since Melvin hired Narron to replace Johnny Oates, I wouldn't be surprised if Narron took a trip north to Milwaukee. The Rangers were the victim of injuries this season and not poor on-field management.

We should receive an early indication of the strength of the new leadership in how they treat the dual dilemmas presented by Jose Hernandez. Hernandez has received significant press recently due to his 188 strikeouts this year, leaving him one strikeout short of the major league single-season record set by Bobby Bonds in 1970. There's been a lot of discussion of sitting him to prevent him from the "embarrassment" of breaking the record, and his playing time already has been reduced.

Sitting Hernandez because of his strikeouts is ridiculous and an insult to baseball fans. He's second only to Richie Sexson on the Brewers in OPS, with a .356 OBP and .478 SLG, making him a vital member of their offense. The shortstop is maintaining a .288 BA and has walked 52 times in 525 AB this season. His strikeouts are simply another aspect of his skill set, like his 24 HR. In benching Hernandez, they are failing to make their best attempt at winning the remainder of their games. As manager, the primary decision falls with Jerry Royster, but Doug Melvin would make a strong point if he ordered Royster to leave Hernandez in the lineup for the remainder of the season.

The second question facing the Brewers regarding Hernandez is whether or not to re-sign the pending free agent. Now if they didn't intend to re-sign him, the former front office should have dealt Hernandez, as he would have fetched a handsome package even last week. Hernandez deserved his spot on the All-Star team and will be one of the premium offensive free agents this season, as well as the best available shortstop. While he doesn't need to be a part of the Brewers' long term plans, the organization should bring him back next season, as they'll otherwise be downgrading at least one position when they need to focus on improving wherever possible.

I prefer not to lay out a complicated rebuilding plan, as the team could choose many paths to success. However, I will offer Payne one piece of advice if he wishes to improve the value of the franchise: Fix the Miller Park roof. Right now the leaky rook is the ultimate symbol of the failures of the team and a metaphor for their poor performance, not to mention annoying for the fans who attend the endless losses. If he's looking to improve the quality of the trip to the park, he might also want to look into finding some national anthem singers who know the words to the song.