Season Preview: Milwaukee Brewers

Well we've got 15 days left until Opening Day, which means it's season preview time. We'll be running it down team by team, with an added new wrinkle this time around: the beer of choice for fans of the team to enjoy whilst watching their team take the field! Nothing like that to help get you through a baseball season, especially if you're from Pittsburgh. Up next: the Milwaukee Brewers


Lineup: This should be the best lineup in the division. Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder make this merry-go-round move, but the speedy Carlos Gomez and (we think) ready to (finally!) break out Rickie Weeks will be superb complementary pieces. Corey Hart had a down year last season, but if he makes one simple fix (swing more! His in-the-strike-zone swing percentage dipped 8% from 2008-2009 and his overall swing percentage dipped from 54% to 46%) then he should rebound to his above-average past. Casey McGehee, despite the goofy spelling of his last name, was a good contributor last season, and should be a serviceable stopgap for prospect Mat Gamel. And speaking of prospects, SS Alcides Escobar is a wizard with the glove and should be able to hit for some decent average this season. Gregg Zaun is the only distinct negative here, but he's a catcher, and there aren't a lot of teams who can count on having a reliable hitter behind the dish, so that doesn't concern us too much.


Rotation: What does concern us is the pitching. Yovani Gallardo is a stud, and the unquestioned ace of what is, unfortunately, an extremely mediocre staff. Randy Wolf was a nice free agent signing, but right now, he looks like their second-best starter...and that's not a recipe for contention. Doug Davis and Jeff Suppan (whom we always confuse, despite their being altogether dissimilar save for a distinct tendency towards 'average') will man the 3 and 4 spots here, and the 5th spot will likely go to Manny Parra or Dave Bush. Honestly, we'd rather see them admit the mistake that was the Suppan signing and send him to the bullpen and use both Parra and Bush as full-time starters, but the likelihood of a middle-market team like the Brewers admitting a sunk cost on an investment (however ill-advised) as expensive as Suppan is extremely slim. So they've got six nominal starters, but no one to be especially excited for.


Bullpen: The same is true of the bullpen. Trevor Hoffman continues to break his own all-time saves record with every game he closes out, but he's 43. And that, if you're unclear, is never, ever a good thing for a professional athlete. LaTroy Hawkins is the setup man here, which let's just move on before we start laughing too hard to finish this; Carlos Villanueva (whom we still feel should be a starter for a team with enormous rotation deficiencies viz the Brew Crew) is a potent arm in the 'pen, and you could do worse than Todd Coffey. But David Riske and Schott Schoeneweis are has-beens, and unless Claudio Vargas proves that 2009 wasn't a fluke, there are not a lot of reliable options here. 


Overall: This team can hit with the best of them, but the pitching is lacking save for a few (ok, very few) bright spots. Yovani Gallardo, Carlos Villanueva, Claudio Vargas, and maybe Randy Wolf are the only really reliable arms here, which won't be enough to compensate for the impressive lineup that the latter-day Harvey's Wallbangers will be trotting out. 


Predicted Record: 77-85, 4th place NL Central


Beer: Miller High Life. Yeah, it's cheap and not, like, a good beer. But when it's ice cold (like the early season in Milwaukee) then it's an enormously refreshing brew (which is key come the humid Milwaukee winters). Plus, y'know, Miller sponsors their park, so there's that. And all of that was a prelude to the fact that this franchise probably won't have the money to retain the wonderfully talented - but prohibitively expensive - core of Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, and Yovani Gallardo. So...um...at least the beer is cheap!

MLB Jam: NL Edition

If you somehow managed to miss the first installation of this little feature, you can find it here. Or, you know, just scroll down. Either way. We'll wait.

Ok, now that you've memorized the AL rosters, let's jump in to the NL. Again, these teams are going to be the two individuals on each NL team who would best represent their club in a 2-on-2 basketball showdown.

NL East
 Atlanta Braves:  Tommy Hanson and Yunel Escobar

• Hanson checks in at 6'6'', 220, so he'll be the muscle on the team. Escobar has a reputation for being a bit of a firebrand that doesn't much get along with people, so he'll be the aggressive, Kobe-style player. Competitive streaks like that can mean a lot in 2-on-2. And, yes, we fully expect this team to lose in the first game.

Florida Marlins: Josh Johnson and Sean West

• The Marlins are going to go with the Two Towers approach. Johnson (6'7'', 250) and West (6'8'', 240) are two of the biggest players in this tournament. Hard to beat that kind of size - and that's leaving off 6'8'' Chris Volstad as well.

New York Mets: Gary Matthews, Jr and Mike Pelfrey

• Sarge the younger has (had?) serious hops  and Pelfrey is 6'7''. We felt it important to go with Pelfrey here since there's a decent chance that a team with Matthews and Jose Reyes would lose by default after both players got hurt five points into the first game.

Philadelphia Phillies: Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard

•  The Flyin' Hawaiian runs the point and Howard bangs in the post. Simple enough - but we also feel like Brad Lidge should be tabbed for any and all potentially game-winning shots. 

Washington Nationals: Adam Dunn and Nyjer Morgan

• If we're going to keep up with the admittedly rather absurd notion that strong outfield defense translates to good floor skills on the hardwood, then Morgan is an obvious choice. And Dunn, of course, is the polar opposite. Hopefully for his sake this is a halfcourt game so he doesn't have to move too terribly much.

NL Central
Chicago Cubs: Carlos Zambrano and Sean Marshall

• Big Z could easily turn into a regrettable pick if he starts doing his pointing-to-the-sky thing after every good play he makes, but he's a good, hefty athlete. Marshall is 6'7'', which at this point is starting to seem like an automatic qualification, but there doesn't appear to be much in the way of guard-sized talent on this team. We're sure the Cubs would love to sign Alfonso Soriano up for this with the hope that he'd get hurt and they could void his contract.

Cincinnati Reds: Daniel Ray-Herrera and Willy Taveras

• We've got the Reds going super small here; Ray-Herrera is listed at 5'6'' which means he's probably even shorter, and Taveras is right around 6'0''. But we're hoping for some Bogues/Webb-esque magic from R-H, and Taveras' speed and defensive abilities are a clear plus. They're gonna have to be dynamite on offense, though, to keep up with the teams that are going to score at will in the paint.

Houston Astros: Michael Bourn and Evan Englebrook

• In the interest of transparency, we'd never heard of Evan Englebrook until we checked the 'Stros 40-man roster. But, well, he's 6'8'', so we're going to assume that failing any non-baseball athletic gifts, he can at least stand in the way of, say, a 5'6'' dude. Bourn is on this squad for his excellent speed, much like Willy Taveras, the man he's replaced in center field for Houston.   

Milwaukee Brewers: Carlos Gomez and Yovani Gallardo

• Gomez is fast, and Gallardo gets the nod because the tall guys don't seem like good options and I like him. Whatever. This is an awful team. You can get 1000/1 odds that Paris Hilton will be elected President in 2012 - you've got a better chance of winning that bet than riding these guys for a championship appearance.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones

• McCutchen is a phenomenal talent, and Jones came out of nowhere to shock the world (OK, maybe just the Bucco fans who noticed) last season. Can he do the same in this tournament? Well, since it'd be a shock to the world if it even happened, we say 'why not?' 

 St. Louis Cardinals: Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright

• It's just impossible for us to imagine Pujols not being dominant at something, so he's an easy choice. As for Wainwright, guess how tall he is? Did you say 6'6'' or less? Well, then you must not've been paying attention earlier.  

 NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks: Justin Upton and Dan Haren

• Upton is perhaps one of the best athletes in the entire league despite being only 22, so we kinda have to include him. The DBacks don't boast anyone that stands 6'7'' or taller, so we went with Haren, who for some reason, just looks like a guy who has some nice post moves and can hit a jumper. We wouldn't quarrel if you opted for Stephen Drew, though. We would quarrel if you chose Adam LaRoche. 

 Colorado Rockies: Dexter Fowler and Greg Reynolds

• Fowler is a great athlete with speed to burn, which is a nice plus considering that he's 6'4''. Reynolds is the magical six-feet-seven-inches tall, which not coincidentally is also how tall Adam Wainwright is. You know, in case you got it wrong last time.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Matt Kemp and Jon Broxton

• Kemp has a good blend of speed and size, and shares a surname with one of the more infamous power forwards to lace up high tops, so he's like a guaranteed star in this business. Broxton...well, we picked Broxton because we want to watch a 6'4'' 300-lb man play the post. Afford us some small such luxuries, won't you?

San Diego Padres: David Eckstein and Kyle Blanks

• Kyle Blanks is 6'6'', weighs nearly 300 pounds, and rocks a mean afro. It seems unfair to the other teams to pair him with anyone but The Grand Poohbah of Grit. 

San Francisco Giants: Tim Lincecum and Pablo Sandoval

• Lincecum's manic energy and hair bring hopes that he can be a latter-day Steve Nash Which then raises the question - can someone be the latter-day version of another person who's still active? Sandoval is the only real bat on this team, so he's the muscle to back up Lincecum's small frame. Who cares if he's only 5'11' 240 or so? You can't leave off the Panda. 

So there you have it. We've got all the rosters, so clearly soon it's time for the games to begin.

We really need Spring Training to start soon.
 

Season in Haiku: Milwaukee Brewers

Prince needs to get gone.

Hardy, we hardly knew ye.

But hey, Yovani!

Yesterday's Players of Note

Nick Adenhart: For obvious reasons.  But also, he was pretty excellent in his start, going 6 strong with  7 hits, 3 walks, and 5 K's.  Sad that that's the last line we'll be writing for an excellent young pitcher.

Yovani Gallardo: Gallardo made us look good on our prediction yesterday by allowing 2 ER off of 6 H and 2 BB in 6.2 IP.  He also K'd 6 and ohbytheway also hit a 3-run moonshot off lean mean lefty-throwing machine Randy Johnson.  Which, ohbytheway, is the first home run Johnson has ever surrendered to an opposing pitcher.

Kosuke Fukudome: Fukudome must love the month of April.  He was superb last April, and he's off to a great start this year, going 4-5 yesterday with a homer, a double, and a pair of singles, scoring 4 times to go along with a walk and a steal.  Monster night for him.

Blaine Boyer: Someone's gotta take the fall for that embarrasing Braves' bullpen collapse.  Might as well be Boyer, who got tagged with the loss, and is one of two (2) Braves relievers to limp out of the fiasco with an ERA of...infinity.  Hurrah!  Shades of 2005, boys.

Koji Uehara: The Orioles' Toyota (Japanese import...get it??) was decent in 5 innings against the vaunted Yankees.  He went 5, allowing 5 hits and a walk with only 1 ER.  Didn't K anybody, but the Orioles must be just thrilled by the fact that he didn't, oh, we don't know, act like an Orioles pitcher.  By which we could mean punching a judge (Sir Sidney!), walking more batters than anyone in the majors not once but twice (Daniel Cabrera!), having the gall to appear in a real live MLB rotation after being booed during your former team's ring ceremony (Adam Eaton!), or coming to baseball only after being facialed on the basketball court by Michael Jordan (Mark Hendrickson!).

Game of the Day: 4/8/09

Full slate today, as all 30 teams are in action.  Unfortunately, there's not much in the way of compelling matchups today; we would recommend seeing Kazmir and Lester go at it in Boston, but we picked those teams yesterday.  This isn't series of the day, folks.  There are a couple of interesting individual storylines, such as whether or not Franklin Morales can follow in Ubaldo Jimenez's seemingly rejuvenated footsteps, whether Fausto Carmona can revert to Cy Young form, how Chien-Ming Wang will do in his return from injury, or how Koji Uehara and Javy Vazquez will fare with their new teams.  But today we're recommending...

Milwaukee Brewers (0-1) vs. San Francisco Giants (1-0)

It's Yovani Gallardo (0-0, 0.00) going against Randy Johnson (0-0, 0.00).  It's young against old; it's new staff ace against former staff ace; it's...a guy named Yovani against a guy named Randy.  Gallardo's got the stuff to be an ace, and if it weren't for a freak ACL tear that cost him most of last season, we like to think he'd have proven it then.  Randy Johnson's got nothing left to prove; the 45-year old has pitched effectively later in his career than most have even dreamed of doing.  Having led the league in strikeouts 9 times, and with a career average of almost 11 per 9, he's got a total of 4,789; with two more seasons, he should easily hit 5,000.  We love strikeouts from our pitchers, and few have ever been better at it than Johnson.  

Our prediction is that Gallardo makes a big impression in his first start of the year, and evens this series at 1-1.  Not through any fault of Johnson's, though; we think he'll pitch well, but that the San Fran 'pen will blow it. 

KCSD GOTD Record: 2-1.  We shook off those Opening Day jitters and rebounded well!