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Milwaukee Brewers

SI Prediction: 2nd in NL Central

Gallardo has to bounce back from a knee injury and fill one of the gaps left by Sabathia and Sheets. Al Tielemans/SI FAST FACTS Manager Ken Macha First season with Brewers Team Page | 2009 Schedule THE NUMBERS LIE | DON'T LIE 557 Extra-base hits the Brewers had in 2008, the highest total in the National League. Yet the club finished seventh in the league in runs scored, a fact that can be explained by Milwaukee's pedestrian .325 on-base percentage. With Prince Fielder as their only lefthanded-hitting regular, the Brewers were particularly vulnerable against righties, getting on base at a .317 clip -- which ranked 27th in the majors. CONSIDER THIS With yet another defensively challenged slugging prospect on the doorstep in 23-year-old Mat Gamel, it's time for Milwaukee to trade Prince Fielder. Gamel batted .329 with 61 extra-base hits at Double A last season, but like Ryan Braun before him, he needs to be moved off of third base. Fielder is a prodigious power hitter (112 homers over the past three seasons) whose overall value is diminished by his lack of speed, contact rate (127 strikeouts per full season) and below-average work around first base. His perceived value will always be higher than his actual value, so the Brewers should dangle Fielder in a bid to upgrade their rotation significantly while plugging in Gamel at first base without losing much production. It's the one move they can make to quickly close the gap between them and the Cubs. BATTING ORDER POS. PLAYER B-T PVR BA HR RBI SB 2B Rickie Weeks R 94 .234 14 46 19 SS J.J. Hardy R 73 .283 24 74 2 LF Ryan Braun R 12 .285 37 106 14 1B Prince Fielder L-R 28 .276 34 102 3 RF Corey Hart R 40 .268 20 91 23 CF Mike Cameron R 69 .243 25 70 17 3B Bill Hall R 160 .225 15 55 5 C Jason Kendall R 310 .246 2 49 8 BENCH POS. PLAYER B-T PVR BA HR RBI SB IF Craig Counsell L-R 386 .226 1 14 3 OF Brad Nelson (R) L-R 235 .286 18 78 13 C Mike Rivera R 341 .306 1 14 2 ROTATION PITCHER PVR W L K/9 WHIP ERA RH Jeff Suppan 167 10 10 4.6 1.54 4.96 RH Yovani Gallardo 133 0 0 7.5 1.25 1.88 LH Manny Parra 153 10 8 8.0 1.54 4.39 RH Braden Looper 76 12 14 4.9 1.31 4.18 RH Dave Bush 112 9 10 5.3 1.14 4.16 BULLPEN PITCHER PVR W SV K/9 WHIP ERA RH Trevor Hoffman 50 3 30 9.1 1.04 3.77 RH Carlos Villanueva 219 4 1 7.7 1.31 4.07 RH Seth McClung 237 6 0 7.4 1.41 4.02

There were quite a few lean years in Milwaukee when the organization's most recognizable faces were broadcaster Bob Uecker, the suds-plunging Bernie Brewer and, more recently, the racing sausages. But that seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? Now the Brewers have "the nucleus," and everyone from Glendale to Waukesha to Hales Corners (and plenty of places outside the Wisconsin borders, really) knows who forms it: five young, homegrown position players who last season helped put the team in the playoffs for the first time since 1982, the same year the three oldest of those players were born.

Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy, Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks are "five young studs that I'll stack up against anyone," says new bench coach Willie Randolph. Only the Dodgers have a collection of 27-and-under everyday players that comes close. Braun, the cool, lean Southern Californian, and Fielder, the high-strung, squat son of former big league slugger Cecil Fielder, form the best twentysomething power-hitting duo in the game. "Those two guys could hit 90 homers between them this year," says one rival general manager. That wouldn't be a reach, considering that Fielder has already hit 50 in a season and Braun has 71 bombs in his first two big league seasons -- a total exceeded only by Joe DiMaggio, Ralph Kiner, Eddie Mathews and Albert Pujols over the same span.

The athletic Weeks -- with whom Randolph, a former All-Star second baseman, worked closely this year -- has yet to tap his potential, and the batting order still lists too heavily to the right. (Fielder is the lone lefthanded threat.) But the lineup is not the issue. Milwaukee, whose 3.85 team ERA was the fourth-best in the majors in '08, lost a pair of starters to free agency in the off-season: Ben Sheets, the National League starter in last summer's All-Star Game, and CC Sabathia, who carried the Brewers into the postseason after Sheets went down with a torn flexor tendon. (It might sideline Sheets, who remains unsigned, for all of 2009.)

Milwaukee's new front man is Yovani Gallardo, of whom Braun says, "If he's healthy, he's at least as good as Sheets." Catcher Jason Kendall takes the discussion a step further: "Barring injury, he's going to win the Cy Young."

Only 23, Gallardo throws a low-90s fastball with movement and an excellent curveball. The 6' 2", 220-pound righthander struck out nearly one batter per inning in a strong rookie season in 2007, and he appeared headed for an even better year in '08 (1.88 ERA in four starts) before suffering a torn ACL in his right knee. Beyond that, as first-year manager Ken Macha rightfully notes, depth is a big concern. Free-agent addition Braden Looper, who made a successful conversion from the bullpen to the rotation with the Cardinals, was a cost-efficient signing ($4.75 million), but he's a back-end starter, of which the Brewers have too many. The bullpen depth is similarly questionable, despite the addition of alltime saves leader Trevor Hoffman.

Still, youthful optimism pervades a clubhouse populated by the young stars plus respected veterans such as Hoffman, Kendall, Looper, Mike Cameron and Craig Counsell. Braun allows that the Cubs are the NL Central and pennant favorites, but he believes the Brew Crew will be playing games in October again this year. "That's our plan," he says. They just might have to get there like Milwaukee's '82 division champs did, Harvey Wallbanger -- style. "Score a lot of runs," says Hart. "Score as many runs as we can."

-- Jon Heyman

Issue date: April 6, 2009