The Milwaukee Brewers have always been that team that has had talent but has never done much with it, but in 2011 could things be different? Will the Brewers be the new team to beat in the National League Central? Will the Cardinals and Reds have something to worry about? My guess is as good as yours.
PITCHING:
In the offseason the Brewers have showed that they will not back down in the NL Central after trading for big pitcher Zach Greinke and picking up pitcher Shaun Marcum. The Brewers now have a good 1, 2, and 3 on their pitching staff along with young ace Yovani Gallardo. After that they still have a pretty good 4 and 5 in Randy Wolf and Chris Narveson. The Brewers have started thinking with their heads if they want to get respect their going to need pitching to win them ball games. Now there might be a debate on who will be their ace of this team come opening day, will it be the new comer Greinke or the kid who has been on this team his whole career Gallardo? If it were up me I would go with Gallardo only because this is his pitching staff, he has earned his spot on the field after winning 14 games with an ERA of 3.84, not to bad for a losing team.
Greinke on the other hand has never pitched in the NL before and has only had one good season in 2009 when he won the AL CY Young award. Greinke last year had another down year casting an ERA over 4.00 and only had 10 wins, where in 2009 it was a different story. In 2009 his ERA was his lowest in his career with a 2.16 and 16 wins with a losing club. None the less Grenike is still the fit for the Brewers playing in a small market and small media. Now let’s not forget about Shaun Marcum who will be their number three starting pitcher, with the Blue Jays he pitched very well and he helped his team finish in fourth place but the team did play a lot better and that was without Roy Halladay as their ace. Marcum's ERA was a 3.64 with 13 wins. So the Brewers have at least three good starting pitchers on their team to relay on and not a bad number four in Wolf.
INFIELD and OUTFIELD:
Let’s now talk about the Brewers infield and outfield starting with first baseman Prince Fielder. Fielder is their power house hitter and is always a threat to go yard. He's not the best defense of player but he is a nice player to have one your team. Fielder in 2010 had a normal type year for a guy who has never hit over .300 in his career, he hit .261, 32 home runs, and drove in 83 RBI's. Now over at second base, Ricky Weeks is a great young player and is still coming into his own, he has finally given the Brewers something good over at second base. He has speed, power, and a great arm. Weeks has been part this team for 7 years and is still somewhat young at the age of 28 year old. I think Weeks is starting to understand and learn the game as he gets older. Weeks in 2010 had by far one of his best seasons in his career. His average may have dropped somewhat but he still hit .264, 29 home runs, and drove in 83 RBI's.
Last on this infield is third baseman Casey McGehee and boy what a year he had. He is one of three Brewers to hit over 100 RBI's in 2010. McGehee is a good young player, been in the majors for only 3 years and looks like he has been in the league for 10 years. He is one of the premier third baseman in the National League. McGehee hit .285, 23 home runs (career high), and drove in 102 RBI's (career high) as well. When you think of the Brewers outfield you automatically think of Ryan Braun. Well why shouldn't you? He has been one of the best outfielders the Brewers have ever had. Last year he might have had a down year but he is the second player on this Brewers team to hit over 100 RBl's and his average was over .300 in 2010. So I don't know how you can call that a down year, any team would love to have a guy hit over .300 and hit over 100 RBI's. Maybe his home run total went down, but Braun to me isn't a home run guy, he is a doubles/triples type of player. He covers left field very nicely and it amazing that he doesn't have a gold glove, Braun in 2010 hit .304, 25 home runs, and drove in 103 RBI's.
Last on this list is right fielder Corey Heart. Heart a few years ago was a guy that wasn't really a good well known player, but he has proven that he is one the best right handed outfielders in the game along with Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth. If anything Heart might even be a little bit better then Werth only because Heart has hit over 100 RBI's on a losing team and Werth has never done that even when he was on a winning team. Heart also has fewer strikeouts with 510 and Werth has 727 strikeouts, but that might only be because Werth has been in the league longer but still that's a lot of strikeouts. Heart is the final guy on this team who hit over 100 RBI's with 102, hit 31 home runs, and his average was .283 in 2010. At the end of the day when you put this pitching staff and line-up together they could be a very good team. Do I think they have a shot at winning the division, sure they do they just have to play hard through 162 games. The NL Central division could come down to the wire in 2011 and in baseball anything can happen.
ISSUES:
The first issue is with this Brewers team is their bullpen. The Brewers bullpen in 2010 and right now might be one of the worst in the majors. They really don't have that guy who can come in the game and shut down the opposing teams bats. Now they do have a young kid in John Axford who might be their closer but who will come before him? They could use David Bush but I don't think he could get the job done. If the Brewers want to win their first NL Division title their going to need a stronger bullpen.
Now next issue is something that has been talked about since last year’s trade deadline, what will happen with Prince Fielder or Ricky Weeks? The Brewers have been trying to move one of these players for some good prospects but nothing has happened yet. Fielder did avoid arbitration by signing and agreeing to a contract for $15.5 million dollars. Now with Weeks we don't know if they Brewers would want to give him up only because they feel they could get more for Fielder. Come trade deadline be sure a lot of teams will be shopping for a first baseman with power.
THE BREWERS THEN and NOW:
The Milwaukee Brewers first came into major league baseball back in 1969 and they were in the American League East along with the Yankees and Red Sox. The Brewers were a joke team but they did have one great moment back in 1982 were they made the playoffs by winning it's teams first AL East Division title and then went on to win their only American League Pennant. The Brewers made it to the World Series in 1982 but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals and after that they never won anything ever again. In 1998 they were moved to the National League Central were in 2008 they did make the playoffs as the Wild Card team but lost to the Phillies. The Brewers in 2011 look to be ready to make a shot at winning it's first NL Division title and going into the playoffs and if they do they could be one of those teams that gets hot at the right moment. All depends on how they play and if everything goes their way in 2011.
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