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Season to remember, ending to forget
The Brewers’ season in review
By Mitch Gallagher
With the World Series trophy now secure in Boston, it is time for the most intriguing part of Major League Baseball, the off-season.
The Milwaukee Brewers had its most memorable season in many years despite missing the playoffs due to missed opportunities during the last few weeks of the season. The Crew finished with an 83-79 record, their first winning record since 1992. With success like that and one of the youngest teams in the majors, there’s no reason the team shouldn’t improve.
The question, however, is what does the team do to reach that next level, the level they were at early in the season when they got off to a white-hot start? The difference between the start of the season and the rest of the season for the Brewers was the pitching.
Early in the year the starting pitching was getting quality starts, going deep into games without giving the opposition much to work with. As the year wore on, however, certain areas of the staff started to deteriorate, giving the bullpen an overload of innings. That led to a worn out bullpen and a shaky starting rotation. The addition of rookie phenom Yovani Gallardo and moving Carlos Villanueva to a starting role took some of that pressure off of the bullpen. Even so, continued struggles by Chris Capuano, inconsistency by Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan and too much time on the disabled list by the oft-injured ace Ben Sheets were just too much for the pitching staff to deal with.
The team needs to add a dependable, quality pitcher to the starting rotation and consider picking up an extra arm for the bullpen. That starter could come in the form of Manny Parra. Parra got a few starts this year and performed very well. He could take the left-handed spot in the rotation in place of Chris Capuano, who had a streak of 15 games without a win.
They also need to add more offensive production at the bottom of the lineup. Their production at the bottom received a boost when Rickie Weeks came back up from the minors to play in the 8 spot, but he was then moved back to lead-off and Corey Hart moved to the middle of the lineup.
It will be interesting to see what the offensive lineup looks like now that Geoff Jenkins is no longer a Brewer. Jenkins may not have been considered a slugger by many, but he was certainly one that other pitchers had to respect at the plate and no one can deny his defensive prowess in left field. He may not be as easily replaced as many think, but there are a number of possible options to take his place. You could give Kevin Mench more playing time, and there are also possibilities with Tony Gwynn Jr., Gabe Gross, and Laynce Nix.
Bill Hall also needs to return to his form from two years ago after a down year this past season. The infield appears to be in good hands for years to come, as long as the management can keep the group together. Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, and Ryan Braun form the youngest and possibly most talented group of infielders on any team, especially if J.J. Hardy can combine his stellar defensive play with a more consistent offensive presence, and Weeks can hit the way he did in his rookie year.
The 2007 Milwaukee Brewers were young but talented. The 2008 Milwaukee Brewers still have loads of talent but now they can combine that with the experience of just missing the playoffs and knowing what needs to be done to get to the post season. Next season will be a season to remember if everything goes as it should.
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