This site provides a quick, condensed view of the Milwaukee Brewer's organization and players from the viewpoint of me, a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers. I'll be adding material as I find time to update this site throughout the rest of this year. While I strive for complete accuracy, I am only human and therefore, prone to making mistakes. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns or are just interested in having a nice, civilized conversation, please visit my blog.
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State of the Crew
| Positions
2B: Rickie Weeks
CF: Nyjer Morgan LF: Ryan Braun 3B: Aramis Ramirez RF: Corey Hart 1B: Mat Gamel SS: Alex Gonzalez C: Jonathon Lucroy (arranged by starting lineup) | Bench
OF: Carlos Gomez
OF: Norichika Aoki C: George Kottaras IF: Cesar Izturis 1B: Travis Ishikawa or IF: Brooks Conrad | Starting Rotation
Yovani Gallardo
Zack Greinke Randy Wolf Shaun Marcum Chris Narveson (Spot Starter: Marco Estrada or Wily Peralta who is in AAA) | Bullpen
CL: John Axford
SU: Francisco Rodriguez SU: Jose Veras Kameron Loe Tim Dillard Marco Estrada Manny Parra |
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Contract Length of every Brewer player. They are signed...
Ryan Braun - thru 2021
Rickie Weeks - thru 2015 Corey Hart - thru 2013 Aramis Ramirez - thru 2015 Alex Gonzalez - thru 2013 Jonathon Lucroy - thru 2016 Nyjer Morgan - thru 2012 (arb) Mat Gamel - thru 2012 (arb) | Norichika Aoki - thru 2014
Carlos Gomez - thru 2012 (arb) George Kottaras - thru 2012 (arb) Cesar Izturis - thru 2012 Brooks Conrad - thru 2012 (arb) Travis Ishikawa - thru 2012 (arb) | Yovanni Gallardo - thru 2015
Zack Greinke - thru 2012 Shaun Marcum - thru 2012 Randy Wolf - thru 2013 Chris Narveson - thru 2012 (arb) Note: players with (arb) are arbitration eligible, and may or may not be tendered contracts after this year
| John Axford - thru 2012 (arb)
Francisco Rodriguez - thru 2012 Jose Veras - thru 2012 (arb) Kameron Loe - thru 2012 Manny Parra - thru 2012 (arb) Marco Estrada - thru 2012 (arb) Tim Dillard - thru 2012 (arb) |
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4/2/2012
A Review of the Brewer's Off-Season
Losing Prince Fielder is clearly a huge loss to the Brewers. Prince Fielder's bat will be severely missed, not to mention his work ethic and leadership qualities. However, overall, I believe the Brewers have actually come out ahead of where they were last year. Here is a review of the Brewers offseason, position by position...
1st Base --- Lose Prince Fielder, Gain Mat Gamel --- --- --- 3rd Base --- Lose Casey McGehee, Gain Aramis RamirezI place these two positions together, because I believe, combined, they virtually eliminate one another. Prince was the best producer on the team, but McGehee was clearly the most dreadful. While Aramis Ramirez can never duplicate Prince's numbers and presence in the clean-up spot, the combination of Gamel and Ramirez should almost easily cover the loss of Fielder and McGehee. The key for the Brewers was to spread the loss of Prince to other positions, and the Brewer's front office managed to do just that.
Shortstop --- Lose Yuniesky Betancourt, Gain Alex Gonzalez
Gonzalez will provide similar offensive numbers to Betancourt, but provide MUCH better defense. I also believe Gonzalez will benefit from facing National League Central pitching and being in hitter friendly Miller Park. I foresee many homeruns dropping into the Brewer's bullpen in left field.
Bullpen --- Lose Takashi Saito, Latroy Hawkins, Gain Jose Veras, Manny Parra & (full year of K-Rod)
It's really a wash in the bullpen. Saito and Hawkins had their contributions, but Parra offers potential as a lefty and Veras had a strong year with the Pirates last year. Plus, it will be nice to see a full year of the K-Rod, Axford combo in the 8/9 innings. If Loe isn't overtaxed like last year, he is also a very capable reliever.
Bench --- The usual turnover. Might have a little more pop off the bench than last year (Wil Nieves, Craig Counsell, Mark Kotsay, Erick Almonte...yikes) with Ishikawa, Conrad, Kottaras.
2B - hopefully, Rickie is 100% with that ankle and lives up to his potential
Catcher - now that Lucroy is familiar with the pitching staff, it is time for him to grow offensively
Outfield - Braun proved his innocence and is in the lineup throughout the year, Gomez and Morgan share center field, and Hart appears to be healthy (got off to a slow start last year). Aoki is a capable outfielder with the ability to hit for a high avg, should any of the outfielders go down with injury.
Starting Rotation - There are some questions about Marcum's health, especially with last year's collapse. However, Greinke will be healthy from the get go, so look for a CY Young campaign from Grienke. The entire starting rotation returns intact this year, so we should in good position to take the division again.
Overall, this season should be just as great as the last. The Brewer's front office did a magnificent job in replacing Fielder's production with multiple upgrades around the field. Our infield defense is vastly improved, which will help the pitching staff immensely (less errors = less runs = less pitches and so on). I see no reason why the Brewers won't be a repeat winner of the National League Central division crown and a contender for the world series.
A Review of the Brewer's Off-Season
Losing Prince Fielder is clearly a huge loss to the Brewers. Prince Fielder's bat will be severely missed, not to mention his work ethic and leadership qualities. However, overall, I believe the Brewers have actually come out ahead of where they were last year. Here is a review of the Brewers offseason, position by position...
1st Base --- Lose Prince Fielder, Gain Mat Gamel --- --- --- 3rd Base --- Lose Casey McGehee, Gain Aramis RamirezI place these two positions together, because I believe, combined, they virtually eliminate one another. Prince was the best producer on the team, but McGehee was clearly the most dreadful. While Aramis Ramirez can never duplicate Prince's numbers and presence in the clean-up spot, the combination of Gamel and Ramirez should almost easily cover the loss of Fielder and McGehee. The key for the Brewers was to spread the loss of Prince to other positions, and the Brewer's front office managed to do just that.
Shortstop --- Lose Yuniesky Betancourt, Gain Alex Gonzalez
Gonzalez will provide similar offensive numbers to Betancourt, but provide MUCH better defense. I also believe Gonzalez will benefit from facing National League Central pitching and being in hitter friendly Miller Park. I foresee many homeruns dropping into the Brewer's bullpen in left field.
Bullpen --- Lose Takashi Saito, Latroy Hawkins, Gain Jose Veras, Manny Parra & (full year of K-Rod)
It's really a wash in the bullpen. Saito and Hawkins had their contributions, but Parra offers potential as a lefty and Veras had a strong year with the Pirates last year. Plus, it will be nice to see a full year of the K-Rod, Axford combo in the 8/9 innings. If Loe isn't overtaxed like last year, he is also a very capable reliever.
Bench --- The usual turnover. Might have a little more pop off the bench than last year (Wil Nieves, Craig Counsell, Mark Kotsay, Erick Almonte...yikes) with Ishikawa, Conrad, Kottaras.
2B - hopefully, Rickie is 100% with that ankle and lives up to his potential
Catcher - now that Lucroy is familiar with the pitching staff, it is time for him to grow offensively
Outfield - Braun proved his innocence and is in the lineup throughout the year, Gomez and Morgan share center field, and Hart appears to be healthy (got off to a slow start last year). Aoki is a capable outfielder with the ability to hit for a high avg, should any of the outfielders go down with injury.
Starting Rotation - There are some questions about Marcum's health, especially with last year's collapse. However, Greinke will be healthy from the get go, so look for a CY Young campaign from Grienke. The entire starting rotation returns intact this year, so we should in good position to take the division again.
Overall, this season should be just as great as the last. The Brewer's front office did a magnificent job in replacing Fielder's production with multiple upgrades around the field. Our infield defense is vastly improved, which will help the pitching staff immensely (less errors = less runs = less pitches and so on). I see no reason why the Brewers won't be a repeat winner of the National League Central division crown and a contender for the world series.
