All have had their ups and downs, especially those three arms. But all have played key roles in Brewers uniforms over the last four years after coming to Milwaukee via waiver claims or Minor League free agent deals.
Pitching coach Mike Maddux likes to aim higher.
"Ideally, I'd like to find 12 guys like that," Maddux said, referring to the current size of the team's pitching staff. "You like to discover a foundation because a lot of guys don't really understand what their foundation is."
Meaning?
"What are your strengths?" explained Maddux, whose own 15-year Major League career ended in 2000. "How do your strengths match up against this hitter? Are your strengths better than his strengths? What's his weakness? Is your second-best pitch maybe better than his weakness? Those are the things that go into our scouting reports. Those are the things I look for."
Maddux -- "Mad Dog" in the clubhouse -- has a knack for finding those things, but his mettle as the team's pitching guru and his status as one of the game's most highly-regarded coaches has been tested this season. Even with the starting rotation back in tact and the bullpen on an upswing, the Brewers' 4.83 staff ERA ranks 15th in the 16-team National League, better only than Washington's. The bullpen has been the second-best in the league since July 28, but its 4.68 ERA still ranks last overall.
The runs are up from last season, when the Brewers ranked fifth in the NL with a 3.97 ERA, their lowest mark as a team since the 1992 Brewers went 92-70 with a 3.43 staff ERA. That also happened to be the last year Milwaukee finished with a winning record.
"But he's the same guy, with the same intensity, no matter what," said Davis, who posted a 3.39 ERA in 2004 and a staff-best 3.84 ERA in 2005. This season, Davis is tied for second on the staff with nine wins despite a 4.89 ERA.
"Mad Dog never lets the good days or the bad days get to him, and that's what makes him unique. He only gets frustrated when you execute a pitch and [the hitter] bleeds it through the infield somewhere.
"Otherwise, he doesn't change at all. He's steady. That's great, because it keeps everybody loose. You can have an 8.00 ERA, and he'll still make you laugh. A lot of pitching coaches, when you're failing, they treat you like a disease."
Added right-hander Tomo Ohka: "He's not so serious. For me, that's OK. For young guys, maybe he's more serious. In Japan, they are all serious. You can't make jokes. I like the way [Maddux] does it better because he knows how to have fun."
Injuries have played a major role in the staff's inconsistency. When the team lost right-handed starters Ben Sheets and Ohka to shoulder injuries for more than two months beginning in early May, the troubles in the starting rotation bled into the bullpen.
Young pitchers paraded through the Brewers staff with various degrees of success to the point that Francisco Cordero, acquired in a July 28 trade with Texas that has invigorated the staff, became the 25th man to throw a pitch for the Brewers this season. That tied a franchise record set in 1969 by the expansion Seattle Pilots and tied in 2002 by the 106-loss Brewers.
"We've had a lot of new faces," Maddux said. "But, hey, that's the challenge."
The Brewers are hopeful that more success stories follow. Melvin locked up Maddux with a two-year contract in 2004 that expires at the end of this season, and he won't say whether discussions have begun about an extension.
"I'd prefer to treat all of the coaches the same way," Melvin said. "We'll look at those things after the season and make our decisions then."
For now, Cordero has been a boost for Maddux and bullpen coach Bill Castro. Cordero, who lost the closer's job in Texas earlier this season, but came to Milwaukee and assumed the job in place of a struggling Turnbow, has won or saved 10 of the Brewers' 11 wins since the trade. The Brewers' bullpen ERA since his arrival is 2.04, second-best in the league to Colorado's 1.98. Take away Turnbow, and the Brewers' bullpen ERA is a league-best 1.56 over that span including a current 21-inning scoreless streak.
Maddux has a bit of a soft spot for the bullpen. He may have been slightly overshadowed by his Hall of Fame-bound younger brother, Greg, now pitching for the Dodgers, but Mike's 15-year career was solid. He appeared in 472 games, 424 out of the bullpen, and went 39-37 with a 4.05 ERA for nine teams. In a three-year span from 1991-93, Maddux averaged 57 appearances and posted a 2.77 ERA.
He did it as much with his brain as with his arm, and developed an eye for coaching during the final years of his career. In 2000, Astros manager Larry Dierker asked Maddux point-blank, "Why should I keep you on this team?"
"I said because I'll make the guys in the bullpen better," Maddux said.
Now he does the same thing, but with some better tools. The Brewers, along with about half of Major League Baseball, employ the BATS scouting system and compile data on every pitch in every big-league game. Maddux uses that information to compile the scouting reports he passes on to the pitcher and catcher each day.
"You can't argue with numbers," Davis said. "You can't argue with the fact a guy's hitting .165 on everything away. If a guy is hitting .380 on pitches inside, why pitch him inside? But in the end, we always talk about sticking with [my] strengths."
And he continues to look for those diamonds in the rough. One of Maddux's success stories this season has been 26-year-old Dave Bush, who is 9-9 in his first full season with a 4.71 ERA and secondary numbers that, as Melvin points out, compare favorably with the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter.
"I think I'm a similar pitcher to how he was, in that I'm not overpowering," Bush said. "He showed that you can be successful, so has his brother, for years. That's something I've been able to take out in the field. Bottom line is that he's a great guy to work with."