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New Brewers GM Doug Melvin (left) and president and CEO Ulice Payne shake hands during their first press conference. (Morry Gash/AP)

Dressed casually in a dark checkered shirt and khakis, Melvin moved in Thursday morning, a few hours after the Brewers announced him as the eighth general manager in club history. Come Monday, he hopes to hit the offseason running.

Before he does that, he talked with MLB.com about his action plan, manager Jerry Royster's future and, of course, Alex Rodriguez.

MLB.com: What's the first order of business?

Doug Melvin: It will probably be two full days dealing with the media. I'm getting the message out to the fans as to a little bit of my background, who I am and what I'm about, and my enthusiasm about coming aboard here and the challenges that are ahead of me.

Starting on Monday I'm going to begin sitting down seriously with people, getting their input on the organization from Jerry Royster on Monday to (assistant GM) Dave Wilder to (scouting director) Jack Zduriencik and (player development boss) Greg Riddoch on Tuesday. We'll talk about the personnel that they have and then talk about the player personnel and take it a step at a time. It's a big operation. A lot of people sometimes forget what's involved putting a big-league team together. Dean (Taylor, the former GM) was extremely organized and detailed so that's going to help me out dramatically.

It's my job to get a lot of input from everybody before I make decisions. I think Monday will be an important day, talking to Jerry and having him tell me about the club. I'd probably like him to express why he feels like he should remain as manager.

MLB.com: Does Royster have a chance to be back next year?

Melvin: That's hard for me to answer until I sit down with him. I think it's important to give him a chance for him to express his opinion. I was distanced from the club and don't know what has transpired.

MLB.com: What about assistant general manager David Wilder and the other department heads? Have you been given authority to clean house if that's your wish?

Melvin: They gave me the opportunity to run the baseball team. I don't anticipate major changes, but I do anticipate some changes. Some may be reassignments.

My job as a general manager is not a whole lot different than the manager down on the field. The manager down there, he has to make sure he puts people in the right position to give him the most productive lineup.

MLB.com: The three previous Brewers GMs were rookies. Is hiring an experienced guy like yourself a better move for a building club like this one?

Melvin: What comes from my experience is that I've been on the winning side and the losing side. I'm going to take from both those experiences. I'm very thankful for the second chance because a lot of people don't get a second chance.

I've been in a situation with the challenges of this organization. My first year in Baltimore as the farm director and assistant GM we had a similar organization in that the big club had struggled and the minor leagues did not get good reviews. Roland Hemond and I went in there, and through scouting and player development, we turned it around.

Texas was somewhat similar. The minor leagues didn't get great reviews but they had some core talent at the big league level. Here, I look at Richie Sexson, Ben Sheets and Geoff Jenkins as three key components to this club's future. Can we put the proper players around them? And also develop the younger players and fill the gaps until J.J. Hardy, Mike Jones, David Krynzel, Prince Fielder -- the identified prospects -- are available? I've been there before, so I'm going to have to take from my past experiences.

The other part about my experience -- and I think this is real important -- is the relationships I've built with other general managers doing this job. (Yankees GM) Brian Cashman was the first GM who called me late last night when he heard the news. Then (Expos GM) Omar Minaya called and (Cardinals GM) Walt Jocketty called. I've gotten calls from guys that I've had a lot of conversations with. You build a network with other GMs to set up and try to run your organization in hopes of making a deal.

MLB.com: It's just like you said last night about trust within the organization. Is trust equally important between organizations?

Melvin: Exactly. I know there are some GMs I have a better chance of making deals with than others. I've always been one that's up front. I would never embarrass a GM by offering something that's so unrealistic. That's not me. I always cut to the chase.

MLB.com: The name Alex Rodriguez did not come up at all during last night's press conference. Surprised?

MLB.com: In Milwaukee you could never swing a deal like A-Rod's. Does the money factor make it harder to win here?

Melvin: I think that's a mindset we have to change. We can win here. Our mindset has to be that it doesn't have to be about money; it has to be about working together and trusting each other, challenging each other.

I hope a point comes where I walk over to Ulice's (new Brewers president and CEO Ulice Payne) office, knock on his door and ask for some money to acquire one or two players to get us to the next level. I hope I can get this club to a level like Atlanta did when they went and signed Sid Bream and Terry Pendleton. The Rangers got to a point where the owners had confidence in me to get John Wetteland, who helped us for a few years.

MLB.com: The scouting report on you says your passion lies with finding and developing young talent, not making the deals like A-Rod's. Is that accurate?

Melvin: Everyone knows what Alex can do. That's easy. Nobody has to write a report on Alex Rodriguez for me. I want reports like Arizona had when they traded for Luis Gonzalez. For me, it hit the transaction column and had a story, but it wasn't a headline. Now Luis Gonzalez is a headline player. Those are the kinds of things we're going to have to do.

The message I'm going to send to the scouting people is, "Don't worry about what we don't have. Focus on what we have. While some people don't think we have a long list of prospects who are going to the big leagues, let's prove them wrong."

MLB.com: The Brewers' biggest free agent to be is Jose Hernandez, who is due for a hefty raise from the $3 million he made this year. The old regime didn't appear interested in re-signing him. Are you?

Melvin: I think the approach we'll have at this time is to let him test the market, and see where it's going. Then we can determine it later. I don't know what his market value will be. Will the new basic agreement change the market value of players? Will some of the smaller markets get involved in Jose Hernandez that didn't in the past?

He had a good year. Obviously the strikeouts are the one negative thing over his head all year, but he was an All-Star. Is he a player who will be with us three or four years from now? I don't know that. Realistically, probably not.

MLB.com: How did your kids take the news of your new job?

Melvin: Great. My daughter, Ashley, goes to Southern Methodist University in Dallas and my son Cory is a junior in high school. Baseball has been my life, and my family has been understanding of that and supportive. We're ready.

I'm back in the hot seat. My life has changed dramatically in the last week, but it changed a year ago, too, when I was running a baseball club and was relieved of my duties. Now I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com based in Milwaukee. This story was not subject to approval by Major League Baseball or its clubs.