The Brewers made long-term commitments Tuesday to two faces of the franchise, extending general manager Doug Melvin’s contract through 2015 and manager Ron Roenicke’s through 2014.

Roenicke’s deal includes a club option for 2015. Both he and Melvin were in the final years of their contracts.

“In two of the past four years we reached significant milestones by advancing to the postseason, and we have reached a point where we expect to field a perennially competitive team,” Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio said in a statement. “This was one of my highest priorities when I first became involved with the Milwaukee Brewers, and we could not have accomplished it without the efforts of Doug Melvin and his baseball operations staff.”

Melvin also got a promotion. He’s now “president of baseball operations-general manager.” He was previously an executive vice president.

The talks with both Melvin and Roenicke began back in Spring Training, when the team was riding a wave of optimism after a club-record 96-win regular season and a trip to the National League Championship Series.

Discussions bore fruit Tuesday with the team in a funk, facing injury emergencies at first base and shortstop and tied with the Cubs for last place in the National League Central.

Melvin has orchestrated comebacks before. When the Brewers’ previous ownership hired him in September 2002, the team was on its way to a franchise-record 106 losses. Melvin slashed the payroll in subsequent seasons as part of a dramatic rebuilding project, which produced a .500 finish in 2005, the Brewers’ first winning season in 15 years in 2007 and its first postseason appearance in 26 years in 2008.

Melvin’s key trades have netted pitchers CC Sabathia, Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum and Francisco Rodriguez, and in recent years he has signed many of the club’s home-grown players to long-term contracts ahead of free agency, including outfielders Ryan Braun and Corey Hart, second baseman Rickie Weeks and right-hander Yovani Gallardo. All have been All-Stars.

Melvin won two executive of the year awards last winter, including one decided by a vote of fellow GMs.

“I want to thank Mark Attanasio and his ownership group for their confidence in me and my staff, and for their support year in and year out,” Melvin said in a statement.  “I believe we have built a winning culture here at the Brewers, and we embrace the higher expectations that naturally come along with that change.

“I also want to thank the fans of this team as they over-deliver in every way. Milwaukee is a very special city to me and my family, and we are proud to call it home.”

Roenicke was named the 18th manager in franchise history on November 4, 2010, inheriting a team with high expectations despite losing records in each of the previous two years. Roenicke led the Brewers to their first division title since 1982.

“Ron has been a tremendous addition to our staff and his leadership is instrumental in not only guiding a successful team, but also developing one of the best clubhouse environments in all of baseball,” Melvin said in his statement.

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Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio is with the team on this West Coast swing, meaning he has witnessed its terrible spate of injuries in person. The Brewers have lost a starting pitcher, a starting first baseman and a starting shortstop, either for the rest of the season or most of it.

Attanasio made clear on Sunday that he’s not giving up on 2012.

“You try not to be down,” Attanasio said. “Everybody has to keep their spirits up because we’re trying to win this year.”

They will have to win without left-hander Chris Narveson, out for the year after shoulder surgery. First baseman Mat Gamel needs surgery for a torn ACL in his right knee, and a teammate indicated Sunday that Gamel’s injury is much more complicated than one torn ligament. Shortstop Alex Gonzalez will undergo an MRI scan on Monday after suffering his own devastating right knee injury on Saturday.

On top of that, outfielder Carlos Gomez was placed on the DL Sunday with a left hamstring strain, and left fielder Ryan Braun is trying to play through a tight right Achilles.

Oh, and the Brewers entered Sunday at 12-15, four games behind first-place St. Louis in the National League Central. They ranked 15th of 16 NL teams in both team batting average and ERA.

“Look, plenty of other teams have injuries, too,” Attanasio said. “Not necessarily season-ending injuries, but we still have an enormously talented team that we all believe is going to start playing better. I’m still at the point where I’m looking at the lineups every day before the game, and I like our lineup better than the other team’s. We got off to a slow start last year, too.”

But last year, the Brewers were getting healthy at this time, with right fielder Corey Hart getting back to form after a rib-cage strain and Zack Greinke returning from a cracked rib. This year is a little different.

Attanasio left open the door to some major midseason acquisitions, going as far as referencing the Brewers’ July 2008 trade for starter CC Sabathia. He pointed to the Cardinals, who won the World Series last year partly on the strength of a bullpen bolstered by a big July trade.

“Everything” is on the table, Attanasio said.

“We’re only [27] games in,” he said. “It’s going to depend where were at, at that point in time. Look at where we were when we added CC. We were over .500 but we were several games back.”

Complicating things for Attanasio and general manager Doug Melvin is the fact that three key pitchers — Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum and Francisco Rodriguez — are due to reach free agency after the season. The team’s performance over the next month or two will determine whether the Brewers are in position to add talent ahead of the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline.

“There’s a lot of enormously talented guys in here,” Attanasio said, looking around the clubhouse.

The Brewers had an 11:35 a.m. PT team meeting on Sunday to discuss a travel issue. Manager Ron Roenicke planned to say a few words to players about keeping their spirits up.

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Before their game against the Giants on Sunday, the Brewers will place outfielder Carlos Gomez (left hamstring) and shortstop Alex Gonzalez (right knee) on the 15-day disabled list. They’ll recall third baseman Taylor Green from Triple-A Nashville and will purchase shortstop Edwin Maysonet’s contract. To make room for Maysonet on the 40-man roster, the team will shift Mat Gamel to the 60-day DL.

Gonzalez’s injury is bad. He was using crutches in the clubhouse and will undergo an MRI scan on Monday back in Milwaukee. Check Brewers.com tonight for comments from all parties after a trying Saturday.

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The Brewers’ very painful road trip continued Saturday when shortstop Alex Gonzalez appeared to seriously injure his right knee on a slide into second base.

Television replays showed Gonzalez’s right leg buckle when he reached the bag after a second-inning steal. He immediately slammed his helmet and called for head athletic trainer Dan Wright, who, with manager Ron Roenicke, helped Gonzalez off the field.

The Brewers announced only that Gonzalez had a knee injury. He was to undergo an MRI scan.

Gonzalez became the fourth Brewers player to exit with an injury in as many games. First baseman Mat Gamel suffered a serious knee injury on Tuesday, left fielder Ryan Braun left Wednesday with a stiff Achilles and outfielder Carlos Gomez exited Friday night with a strained hamstring.

Gamel is already on the disabled list and Gomez was expected to join him Saturday night. Braun was back in the lineup on Saturday.

The Brewers signed Gonzalez in December to be their starting shortstop, and he has been a bright spot so far. Before he was hurt, he’d just delivered an RBI single for a 1-0 lead, Gonzalez’s 15th RBI.

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It was Carlos Gomez Sr. who taught his boy to play at full speed or don’t play at all, good advice that sometimes comes with a price.

The Brewers were making plans Saturday to place Gomez on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring he suffered hustling to first base on a routine fly out Friday night. The team feels set in the outfield even without the speedy Gomez, so an infielder is expected to arrive from Triple-A Nashville in time for Sunday’s series finale at AT&T Park.

A dejected Gomez was feeling “much better” by Saturday morning, but said he’d need about a week of rest to avoid further hamstring damage. Gomez’s best asset is speed.

“It’s hard for a guy like me to take a chance if it is torn a little bit,” he said. “You don’t want to go to the field and tear it completely, because then you are going to lose a lot of time.”

If it were a different player, and a different situation, the Brewers might have resisted a DL move. But left fielder Ryan Braun has been dealing with a tight right Achilles (he was back in the lineup Saturday) and the Brewers did not want to risk playing a man short for a full week.

Then there’s Gomez’s all-out style, which has made him a valuable bench player and occasional Brewers starter but has also sent him to the DL every year since he was traded from Minnesota to Milwaukee. In May 2010, he hurt his left shoulder diving into second base. Last July, he fractured his left collarbone making a terrific diving catch at Arizona.

On Friday night, he was hustling to first base on a fly out to center field. When Gomez rounded first and put on the brakes, he felt his left hamstring “grab.”

“It’s really bad and frustrating that … you’re hurt when you play the game right and do exactly what you’re supposed to do,” Gomez said.

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With Ryan Braun on the bench resting a sore Achilles, the injury bug bit another Brewers outfielder on Friday night.

Carlos Gomez left the Brewers’ 6-4 win over the Giants in the fourth inning after tweaking his left hamstring. He was hurt sprinting down the first base line on a fly out, and after the game manager Ron Roenicke characterized the injury as troubling.

“We’ll wait and see how he is [Saturday] and then make a decision on what we need to do,” Roenicke said. “It looks like it’s more than a day, but I don’t think it’s real bad.”

Asked whether he expected Gomez to need a stint on the 15-day disabled list, Roenicke said, “That’s what we’ll decide [Saturday].”

Braun is also questionable for Saturday. The Brewers and Giants play an afternoon game at 3:05 p.m. CT.

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Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun had improved in the two days since exiting a game in San Diego with a tight right Achilles, but not enough to make it into the starting lineup Friday night against the Giants.

Braun did not take part in batting practice on the field but did some work in the batting cages, manager Ron Roenicke said. Braun was also expected to try some limited running drills to see if he could pinch-hit.

“It’s still just tight in the Achilles, and we’ll try to give it another day,” Roenicke said.

Roenicke could not say whether Braun would be available to start Saturday’s afternoon game.

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Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo felt particular sympathy when he saw the now-viral video of Yankees closer Mariano Rivera tearing his ACL during batting practice. Gallardo suffered the same injury in May 2008.

“That’s tough for any ballplayer to go down the way he did,” Gallardo said. “It stinks.”

The Yankees expect Rivera to miss the rest of this season but he vowed Friday that he would pitch again. Gallardo actually pitched later the same year, making one start in the final week of the regular season and two appearances in the National League Championship Series against the Phillies, including a Game 1 start.

Here’s the difference: Gallardo was 22 when he was hurt. Rivera is 42. Will that make a big difference?

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Gallardo said. “Obviously, it depends on everybody’s body. There’s some guys that heal, no matter what age, a lot quicker. He’s a good overall athlete.”

What does Rivera face in the coming weeks?

“It’s tough. It’s a lot of hard work,” Gallardo said. “When I had to go through it, it was non-stop, everyday, rehabbing every day for 2-3 hours or whatever it might be. For myself, I had the opportunity to come back and pitch that same year, which was unbelievable. I never thought that [would happen]. Honestly, I didn’t. I thought I was going to be done for that whole year.

“To have the opportunity to come back and have a start before the year was over and then start in the postseason, that was pretty good.”

As for the way in which Rivera was hurt, during batting practice instead of a game, Gallardo said, “It’s one of those weird injuries, out of nowhere. It’s one of those awkward things. There’s a lot of guys out there, running after fly balls, passing time, having a good time. You see something like that happens, it’s just crazy, overall.”

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As expected, the Brewers placed first baseman Mat Gamel on the 15-day disabled list Friday with a torn ACL in his right knee and summoned utility man Brooks Conrad from Triple-A.

What wasn’t expected was the corresponding move to free a 40-man roster spot for Conrad. The Brewers released Zach Braddock, the 24-year-old, talented but troubled left-handed reliever once considered a key piece of the club’s bullpen puzzle, perhaps even a future closer.

Braddock has not pitched since Spring Training because of personal issues which Brewers officials say they cannot disclose. Last year, Braddock spent time on the disabled list to get treatment for a sleep disorder, then missed most of the second half with that and other undisclosed matters.

After missing the cut with the Brewers this spring, he had been on the inactive list at Triple-A Nashville but was not with the team.

“We needed the roster spot, and we felt with Zach that a change of scenery was the best situation. We had to make some decisions,” general manager Doug Melvin said. “This gives him an opportunity to hook on with somebody else.”

Melvin said the Brewers had discussions with Braddock’s agent, Jeff Berry, before putting Braddock on release waivers. Major League Baseball has rules regarding the release of injured players, and the Brewers wanted to be sure they took all the proper steps.

“He’s got a good arm,” Melvin said. “Someone might claim him. They might not. Sometimes it gets to a point where you decide, ‘Is he going to be a part of your ballclub?’ We didn’t think he would be a part of our ballclub for the present or the foreseeable future. We didn’t see that happening. When you make decisions on players, that’s what you look at.”

Conrad is a switch-hitter who will probably play mostly off the bench. For now, Travis Ishikawa stands to be the regular starter at first base in Gamel’s extended absence.

I asked assistant GM Gord Ash whether there was any significance to Gamel going first to the 15-day DL instead of straight to the 60, and he said no. Gamel will need surgery for his torn ACL, but for now the joint is too swollen to set a schedule. Gamel will visit Dr. William Raasch again on Wednesday, Ash said.

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Here’s a sneak peak at a story that will appear on Brewers.com this afternoon. It’ll include Travis Ishikawa and Marco Estrada talking about stepping up, Corey Hart talking about the challenges ahead and a great Randy Wolf’s description of what it’s like for a player felled by an injury.

This has been the sort of very bad week the Brewers avoided last season on the way to the National League Championship Series. Left-hander Chris Narveson underwent surgery Tuesday morning for a torn rotator cuff, a formal end to his season. Hours later, first baseman Mat Gamel tore the ACL in his right knee chasing a foul pop-up. He’ll need surgery, too, and if Gamel does not miss the rest of the regular season, he will miss most of it.

“We don’t have the luxury of being disappointed,” said left fielder Ryan Braun, who left Wednesday’s loss to the Padres with his own medical issue — a sore right Achilles. “We feel for both of the guys, two guys we were excited about, but nobody is going to feel bad for us.”

Just like the Brewers didn’t feel bad for other teams last season when they encountered injuries. Think of the Cardinals, who won the World Series without ace right-hander Adam Wainwright throwing a single pitch.

Brewers starter Randy Wolf called injuries “part of life” in the Major Leagues, and he would know. He had Tommy John elbow surgery in July 2005 and was sidelined a year. Then he had shoulder surgery in July 2007 and missed the rest of that season.

“I know how it is,” Wolf said. “When you’re playing, you’re in this river, and you’re going along in your little floatie. When you get hurt, you’re stuck on the shore and the season rushes by you.

“That’s how the game is; it has to keep on going. Players have to keep their minds on winning. It’s not like we’re insensitive to something that happens, but we understand that [injuries] do happen, and we have to move on. From this point on, there’s nothing we can do but get over it.”

Leave the worrying to general manager Doug Melvin, who expressed alarm at the number of star Major League players already struck by devastating injuries this season.

Among them: Boston’s Carl Crawford is out indefinitely with a torn ligament in his elbow, the same injury that cost Reds closer Ryan Madson and Royals closer Joakim Soria their seasons. Rays All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria could miss two months with a hamstring injury. Phillies mainstays Ryan Howard (Achilles) and Chase Utley (knees) have yet to play this season.

“I’m worried about our game and the number of injuries in our industry,” Melvin said. “When you have top-quality players going down and missing the whole season, it’s scary.

“You’re talking about star talent missing time, and we have more injuries in baseball than we ever have. I think it’s scary. You can’t plan for it.”

That uncertainty is the stuff that drives GMs crazy.

“We always say, to win you have to have a lot of things go right,” Melvin said. “You have to get big years out of somebody you didn’t count on. You have to stay free of injuries. But, it gives other opportunities to other people too, and it keeps your scouting people working, keeps their minds going.”

A number of Brewers players insisted that the team’s aim — defend the division crown, return to the postseason — will not change.

The river will keep flowing.

“The goal for this team can’t change,” Wolf said. “Not on May 2.”

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