30 Teams in 30 Days

Milwaukee Brewers: Grab A Cold One, This Could Be a Long Year
(Over the next 30 days, BERNing on Sports will be previewing every team in the Majors, yes, even the Royals. Only one a day, every day, so try not to get too hooked.)
Big Ben and C.C. You Later
The two reasons why the Brewers made the playoffs for the first time in 25 years are gone. C.C. Sabathia left for a boat load of cash in the Big Apple and Ben Sheets is hurt (shocking!). Sheets would have been signed by Texas had he not failed a physical this off-season, so even if he were healthy he's likely not coming back to 'Sconsin. Without the dynamic duo that was amazing for the second half of last season, say goodbye to the Brewers as playoff contenders. Unless Manny Parra and Yovani Gallardo can fill the giant footsteps left by those two men, the Brewers likely finish near the bottom of the N.L. Central. And that's not to say those two guys couldn't be good, because both seem to have promise, but you can't expect either to be even half of what Sabathia and Sheets were. As it was last year, the Brewers needed a B-list Cubs group (they had already clinched the division so they were playing the 40-man roster the last week) in game 162 to propel them into the post season, and C.C. had to pitch basically every other day down the stretch.

The New Texas Rangers
Now that the pitching won't be the strength of the 2009 outfit of the Brew Crew, they'll become the newest version of the late 90s-early 21st-Century Texas Rangers: they can hit, but they can't pitch. This lineup has plenty of thunder to earn that dubious nickname, as they have one of the best 3-4 hitter combinations in baseball with the Jewish Babe Ruth Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. As good as those two are, however, the lineup thunder does not end there. Corey Hart and J.J. Hardy are very good hitters in their own right, as Hart made the All-Star team last year, and Mike Cameron and Bill Hall also pack some home run pop. Last year the Brewers hit the 5th most home runs in baseball, and they'll likely be able to eclipse that number this year, now that Fielder has had a year to adjust to his new vegan diet.

Does Trevor Hoffman Have Anything Left?
That is a big question the Brewers will await the answer to as the season approaches. If the answer is yes, this team may be able to hang around until September. If not, the rest of the bullpen doesn't figure to have someone equipped to fill his role. The Brewers needed Hoffman, because their bullpen was a disaster last year, as Guillermo Mota was unable to do the job as closer and Hoffman at least gives them a stable presence in the pen. Problem is, Hoffman has proven not to be able to earn the clutch save when need be, so if the Crew is in a tight race down the stretch I'd like my chances against them. The rest of the pen is still very suspect, as Jorge Julio, Todd Coffey and David Riske are just three of the names that could be on the bump in the late innings. Considering it's most likely those guys will stink, it's imperative that Hoffman is good.

Rickie Weeks Is Bad
The sooner the Brewers realize this fact, the sooner they can find another option at second base. I don't care what he was projected to be. Weeks has not yet proven that he's anything more than a low average hitter at the top of the lineup. He had a good 95 games in 2006 in which he hit .279. But over the last two years, he has hit .235 ande .234 respectively. That's just not going to cut it for any lead off man, and all he's done the last couple of years is hamper what is a good lineup. (as mentioned above) Get this dude out of here, unless he can finally prove he's worth giving 400 at-bats a year to. Otherwise, he's going to continue to hinder the Brewers ability to succeed in a competitve NL Central.

Bold Predictions

1. Gallardo and Parra will combine for 23 wins this season They'll both show signs of future success, but they won't be able to carry the Brewers by themselves.
2. Tony Gwynn Jr. will eventually replace the strikeout machine Mike Cameron in the lineup.
3. The Brewers bullpen will stink, still, even with Hoffman. One of the bottom five in the National League, which will send Milwaukee to a 3rd or 4th place finish in the division.

Up next...Wednesday, Royals.