The Brew Crew

In late August last season the Brewers and Nats wrapped up a series in DC with a late afternoon "get-away" game. Milwaukee was sending staff ace Yovani Gallardo to the mound, so, with my afternoon free, I went to the game. The Nationals took an early one-zip lead on a double by Willie Harris, a wild pitch, and a fielder's choice RBI groundout in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Gallardo was wild (4 walks and a wild pitch in 5 innings) but he struck out 8, including Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham twice each with men on base.

Nats pitching held the Brewers mighty offense under wraps for 5 glorious innings. In the fading late afternoon light, my hopes glowed that I would witness a visually pleasing 1-0 pitchers duel. But not so. in the top of the 6th, Frank Catalanotto led off with a double and, with a quick wave of his bat, Ryan Braun gave the Brew Crew a 2-1 lead with a rocket homerun into our section in the left field stands. Then the wheels came off for the home team. By the time Braun whiffed to end the inning almost 20 minutes later, the Brewers had sent 11 men to the plate, banged out 6 hits and plated 6 runs. A Jody Gerut solo home run in the 8th inning gave the visitors a 7-1 edge, their final margin of victory as three Milwaukee relievers tossed the game's final four innings without allowing a single Washingtonian past second base.

Why mention this game between two teams that missed last season's playoffs? Well, I'd argue that it illustrates nicely two things that defined 2009 for the Brewers: Bursts of ridiculously efficient offense and wild but effective mound-work from Yovani Gallardo. The Fielder-Braun-McGehee-led offense produced 4.9 runs per game last year, the 3rd best output in the National League. The team finished 80-82 because, other than Gallardo, the pitching staff left the Brewer faithful with a season-long bitter beer face, allowing 5.1 runs per contest, 15th in the 16 team National League. Only the hapless Nationals (see the above-mentioned 6th inning implosion for a nice case study) allowed more scoreboard damage. All offense and no pitching made Bernie Brewer a dull boy by October.


Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

General Manager Doug Melvin promised the Brewer faithful that he would not stand idly by this offseason and start 2010 with the same sorry stock of pitchers. He pledged to toss two new established starting pitchers into the Brewers vat, and did so, inking Randy Wolf and Doug Davis to contracts. These veteran mid-rotation lefty arms should fill the 2nd and 3rd slots in the Milwaukee rotation.

The Brewers said farewell to Jason Kendall, who exerts such a Rasuptin-like influence over baseball front offices that despite having scarcely enough power in his bat to reach an outfield fence on 2 hops (he's hit a grand total of 11 long balls since 2005 as a full-time catcher), he has landed on his feet in Kansas City. Into the void behind home plate, the Brewers will throw offseason additions George Kottarras, picked up from the Red Sox, and Gregg Zaun, who split last season between caddying for Matt Weiters in Baltimore and filling in for Dioner Navarro in Tampa, and spent his spare time designing a line of colorful custom golf pants. Zaun looks like a catcher ought to look and at age 39 he still holds his own as a semi-regular backstop.

To bolster the back end of a bullpen which features the aging but still effective Trevor Hoffman, the Brewers added LaTroy Hawkins, who has regained his status as one of the game's better setup men following a couple of solid seasons throwing almost exclusively fastballs in Houston. To placate anyone still living in 1999, the Brewers signed long-time Cardinals and Angels stalwart Jim Edmonds to a minor league deal and extended the former perennial gold-glover an invitation to Spring Training to compete for the role of 4th outfielder. Should he make the club, Edmonds will likely back up Carlos Gomez, who Melvin acquired from the Twins this offseason in exchange for fallen shortstop JJ Hardy.


Pitching

The addition of Wolf and Davis gives the Brewers two competent inning eaters to pitch behind the smoke-tossing Gallardo in the starting rotation. However, to round out the final two spots in the rotation, the Brewers will look to some combination of hurlers whose 2009 efforts were so putrid that the stench is still hanging suspended in space somewhere over Lake Michigan. Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan, and Manny Parra (5-9 6.38 ERA, 7-12 5.29 ERA, and 11-11 6.36 respectively) may have reached "shape up or ship out" time this season, but some combination of the trio will break camp in April as major league starting pitchers.

Trevor Hoffman was said to be too old to prove a good signing but, silenced naysayers with 37 saves, a sub-2.00 ERA and a sub-1.00 WHIP in 2009. The Brewers will count on the 42 year old to repeat that performance as their 2010 closer. Hawkins will join Todd Coffey, who consistently hits 95 mph on most radar guns, as primary setup guys. Mitch Stetter (3.60 ERA) has the inside track on the lead situational-lefty job in the 'pen. Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva, and the returning-from-injury David Riske should vie for relief innings as the season rolls on.


Hitting

Memo to Brewers fans: Enjoy the Ryan Braun-Prince Fielder power duo while you can. While Braun is locked up through 2015, Fielder is approaching his walk year. They combined for 78 homeruns and 255 RBI last year, Fielder himself drove in 141 runners, 95 of whom were not named Prince Fielder. They are special talents.

Casey McGehee will try to reprise his 16 HR .301 BA effort from a season ago while batting behind Braun and Fielder and holding down 3rd base. Rickie Weeks and Alcides Escobar, whom Baseball Prospectus describes as Orlando Cabrera with more speed and a higher batting average, will form the double play combo in Milwaukee this summer. Craig Counsell and top prospect Mat Gamel (can someone get that boy an extra "t" so he can spell his name properly?) will likely push Weeks and McGehee for playing time in the infield.

Carlos Gomez, acquired from Minnesota, is slated to patrol centerfield. He has plenty of speed, plays better-than-average defense, but hit a paltry .229 last year and posted an abysmal .287 on-base percentage. Though Gomez can fly on the bases and in the field, his offensive numbers simply will not fly as a major league leadoff man. Braun will patrol leftfield and terrorize pitchers and Corey Hart, fresh off of a disappointing 2009, will man rightfield. Edmonds and Jody Gerut figure to be the primary outfield reserves.


2010 Possibilities

The Brewers come to Washington over the second weekend of the season in April. By the time they arrive in our Nation's Capital and I have the chance to see them in person, the team will almost certainly still be in the process of finding out the answer to the multi-million dollar question of the season: The pitchers can't be THAT BAD again, can they?!?! Any lineup with Braun and Fielder and average talent around them will score enough runs to stay competitive, but, the moundsmen must get enough hitters out to allow their offense to "do that voodoo that you do soooo well." If the pitchers keep the team afloat, a winning season is possible in Milwaukee. If not, the Brew Crew may keep the hapless Pirates, confused Astros, and ever rebuilding Reds company in the bottom half of the NL Central.