2 Milwaukee Brewers

That the Brewers have made the improbable transformation from an organization stuck in financial disarray and the NL Central basement to one that last season finished at .500 for the first time in more than a decade is due primarily to two things: One, the young, relatively inexpensive minor league talent assembled by general manager Doug Melvin has come of age; two, the rotation tutored by pitching coach Mike Maddux has evolved into possibly the division's deepest. "I like what we've got going," manager Ned Yost says. "Some of the younger kids have a year under their belts. A lot of the positions are already settled, and that's a good thing. We're at the stage where we can compete for the division."

Making the leap from break-even baseball to contention will require breakout seasons from the raw but exhilarating trio of first baseman Prince Fielder, second baseman Rickie Weeks and shortstop J.J. Hardy, but no group will have as much impact on Milwaukee's fortunes as its starting pitchers. They are a mostly anonymous group behind ace righthander Ben Sheets, but they include Doug Davis, whose 208 strikeouts in 2005 were the most by any NL lefthander; lefty Chris Capuano, who blossomed into an 18-game winner; and righthander Tomo Ohka, who was stolen from the Nationals last June for second baseman Junior Spivey. As a group they ranked second in the league with 7.2 strikeouts per nine innings.

No player is more critical to the Brewers' fortunes than the 25-year-old Sheets--in the second year of a four-year, $38.5 million contract--because of the huge percentage (some 20%) of the club's payroll he consumes and because he can potentially dominate any game he starts. But Sheets missed five weeks last season with an inner-ear infection and didn't start after August because of a torn muscle in his upper back. During a March 9 exhibition start he strained another back muscle, and he'll open the season on the DL. The Brewers committed big dollars to Sheets because, as in '04 when he struck out 264, he overwhelms with one of the best curveballs in the game. But they acknowledge that allocating such a large chunk of their resources to one player is risky for a mid-market franchise. "He's a key player for us," Melvin says. "Our payroll is what it is. It means we have to continue to take chances on younger players in our system, take chances on waiver claims."

If Sheets isn't fully healthy, the burden will be on Davis and Capuano. Davis, scooped up as a minor league free agent in 2003, reinvented his career under Maddux. He adjusted his arm slot to throw more consistently over the top rather than slingshotting the pitch, added a cut fastball and began to aggressively pitch righthanders away. "You usually want to establish inside," says Maddux, "but some guys, like Doug, have already established inside just by showing up. So if you get hitters cheating inside, the outside corner's a long way away for them. When Doug's on, you'll see a lot of takes, and when the next guys start swinging away, they get cut off. That's where the high-strikeout games come from."

Capuano, obtained in the December 2003 trade that sent Richie Sexson to Arizona, broke through last year, throwing a career-high 219 innings with a 3.99 ERA. Finally healthy after undergoing Tommy John surgery in '02, and missing stretches of the '04 season with hamstring and triceps injuries, Capuano showed a complete fastball-slider-changeup palette (he's experimenting with a cutter this spring) and the devious move that allowed him to pick off a major-league-high 12 base runners. "I still see him having success because he'll make the necessary adjustments, he'll field his position, control the running game, swing the bat," Melvin says. "He helps himself in all aspects of the game, and that gets him an extra inning or two, an extra win or two."

It's bold to claim that the Brewers have the best rotation in the NL Central, but with Roger Clemens's expected retirement from Houston and the chronic shoulder troubles suffered by Kerry Wood and Mark Prior in Chicago, it's not far-fetched. If Sheets is healthy, Milwaukee could make a push for the postseason.

IN FACT
Last season the Brewers' staff ERA (3.97) was below 4.00 for the first time since 1992, which was also the last year that the team finished with a winning record (92-70).

CONSIDER THIS
a modest proposal

Corey Hart has played five positions in the Brewers' system and had a strong 2005 season with Triple A Nashville (.308 average, .377 OBP, .536 slugging). He's also one of the faster 6'6" players in the game (31 steals in 113 games last year). Milwaukee should get Hart (right) five starts a week as their version of the Angels' Chone Figgins and let him push thirtysomethings Corey Koskie and Brady Clark for time at third base and in centerfield, respectively. Unlike those veteran stopgaps, Hart, 24, is a big part of the Brewers' future, so it's important that he see a lot of playing time.

THE LINEUP
projected roster with 2005 statistics