There are a number of advantages to being a public figure. Money. Power (thanks to the money). Freedom (thanks to the money). The misconception that you're a lot more interesting than you actually are.

There's a downside, though, which is that everything you say publicly is recorded by some pesky reporter. Case in point, here's what Jason Giambi said after signing a three-year contract extension in April of 1998: "I'm fixed for life, and that's great. But for me, baseball is about more than the money. I want to be part of the [rebuilding] process here. I want to think back on the process when we're sipping champagne."

Am I a bad person for hoping that it's Giambi's old teammates who get to sip champagne next month? Wouldn't that be justice at its most poetic?

More Mess In Milwaukee

Jerry Royster makes me sick, and I can only hope that in a few days he'll follow Dean Taylor out the door. Thursday, Royster said of Jose Hernandez, "To be honest with you, I don't care if he played another game. I can tell you one thing -- there's no need for him to play." Well, how about this need ... "He's the best player on the team, and you're supposed to at least try to win." Hernandez didn't play last weekend against the Giants because Royster was mad at the fans in Milwaukee. He might not play this weekend because Royster ... well, it's hard to know what Royster's thinking. Assuming, of course, that he's thinking at all. I could understand if Royster were trying to protect Hernandez, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Thursday, Hernandez said, "I don't think I've got to show anybody anything. I'm having a great season." Which he is. And he should be allowed to continue having his great season this weekend. -- Rob Neyer

Well, no. Not quite. Because Giambi did want to stay in Oakland, and if ownership had approved a no-trade clause, he might be in Oakland still. Of course, if Giambi were still in Oakland, Billy Beane might have had less money to spend on other players, and it might have been harder to trade Jeremy Giambi, and ... well, let's just say that while it's likely that the A's would be in first place today with Jason, it's certain that they're in first place today without him.

Here's another quote from a few years ago, John Schuerholz on the hiring of Dean Taylor as general manager of the Brewers: "Dean Taylor is the best man for the job. Their chances have improved tremendously with this hire. I think Dean has a plan. You'll see him move forward with consistency. He'll do what is needed."

Taylor worked under Schuerholz for many years, and so we couldn't have expected Schuerholz to say anything else. Looking back, though, it's hard to think that Taylor really was the best man for the job, considering what's happened since.

When he arrived, the Brewers were certainly a mess. They'd lost 83 games in 1997, 88 games in 1998, and, when Taylor got hired, they were finishing up a season that included 87 losses.

And under Taylor? The Brewers lost 89 games in 2000, 94 games in 2001, and 104 games (so far) in 2002.

When the Brewers were looking for a new general manager three years ago, they interviewed a number of candidates, including Dave Stewart, Dan O'Dowd, Dan Evans and Omar Minaya. (Other than Stewart, all of those men have since been hired as general managers. Minaya and Evans have both found success in their new jobs, while O'Dowd is still trying, without much success, to solve the puzzle of Coors Field.)

At the time of his hiring, Taylor said, "It's going to take a year to get this organization moving in whatever direction we want it to go."

Well, it's been three years, and it would be hard to argue that the organization is moving in the right direction at the major-league level. But what about the minor leagues? Does new general manager Doug Melvin take over an organization that's moving in the right direction at any level?

The Brewers have four full-season minor-league teams. Baseball America recently published their annual prospect lists for each minor league. Twenty prospects per league.

The Brewers' Triple-A affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians, plays in the International League. How many Indians are ranked among the International League's top 20 prospects?

Zero.

The Brewers' Double-A affiliate, the Huntsville Stars, plays in the Southern League. How many Stars are ranked among the Southern League's top 20 prospects?

One. Right-handed pitcher Ben Hendrickson. He's a good-looking prospect -- No. 9 in the league, according to BA's Mark McCarter -- but his strikeout-to-walk ratio needs some work.

The Brewers' full-season Class A affiliate, the High Desert Mavericks, plays in the California League. How many Mavericks are ranked among the Cal League's top 20 prospects?

Four. One of them is Hendrickson (who started 14 games for High Desert before earning his promotion to Huntsville), but that still leaves three: shortstop J.J. Hardy (No. 10), outfielder Dave Krynzel (13), and first baseman Corey Hart (15).

The Brewers' other full-season Class A team is the Beloit Snappers, of the Midwest League. How many Snappers ranked among the Midwest League's top 20 prospects?

Two. First baseman Brad Nelson (No. 5), who led the minors with 49 doubles and 116 RBIs, and right-handed pitcher Mike Jones (No. 10), the Brewers' first-round pick in 2001.

I also checked with ESPN.com's own John Sickels. He sends out an electronic newsletter to subscribers (and freeloaders like me), and the most recent issue contained John's list of the top 120 prospects in the game. John's list is a good balance to Baseball America's, because John tends to focus a bit more on performance than BA does.

 77. RHP Mike Jones
 85. 1B Brad Nelson
101. RHP Ben Hendrickson

Now, three prospects among the top 120 isn't terrible. If every team were the same, they'd all get four among the top 120, and three's not so different from four. The problem here is the quality of the prospects. It's safe to say that, at least according to Sickels, the Brewers don't have a single high-impact prospect in the minor leagues.

Folks, that's pretty awful. When you run a franchise that operates with limited financial resources, you simply must keep talent flowing through the pipeline. Dean Taylor has, by most objective measures, utterly failed in this end of the operation. So while he's undoubtedly a good baseball man with plenty to offer, it's also pretty clear that he deserved to be fired.

And that goes double for Wendy Selig-Prieb. Look, I can't honestly say that I have any idea whether she did a good job or not, given whatever restrictions she might have been operating under. But you know, I always assume the worst when the operating orders appear to include nepotism. When the President and CEO is the owner's daughter, and the Vice President-Marketing is the owner's daughter's husband, what are we supposed to think? That they really picked the best people for the jobs? Or that love and marriage were considered more important than ability?

It's a lousy way to run a franchise. And unless the new people are miracle workers, it's going to take at least a few years to dig the Brewers out of this hole.