Who's on first?

After a disappointing season, the Milwaukee Brewers will have many questions entering the offseason.  First base was a revolving door for the Brewers, who used seven different players at that position, and finding someone to play there consistently, will be important.  

Brewers' management will have to decide if they want to bring back Corey Hart or promote slugging prospect, Hunter Morris.  Corey Hart was suppose to be the team's everyday first baseman this season, but he never stepped foot onto the field, due to two knees surgeries.  In Hart's nine seasons with the Brewers, he has been a solid contributor, averaging 17 home runs and 54 RBI's with a .276 average in 105 games.  Ever since he became an everyday player in 2007, he has averaged 139 games per season, and has been a two time All-Star.  

The other option the Brewers have is prospect Hunter Morris.  The slugging prospect had a good season this year, while he did not hit for a high average (.247), he did possess a lot of power.  In 134 games, he hit 24 home runs and drove in 74 RBI's.  The one negative Morris presents is his strikeout to walk ratio.  He struck out a 122 times compared to only 43 walks.  While this is something he will have to improve on, he is only 25 years old and possess good upside.  

This will not be an easy decision for Melvin and Co. to make, but they need to think about the future.  Hunter Morris is the best option for the Brewers going forward.  While he is not an established big leaguer like Hart, he possesses the potential of being a good Major League player.  The Brewers will not be a competitive team next year, so why pay a veteran more money to be in the way of their future?  It is time for the Brewers to move on from Hart and give the starting first base job to Hunter Morris.  

Get ready for the struggles

Remember when the Milwaukee Brewers won the National League Central Division crown, and were two wins away from making it to the World Series?  That was only two years ago, but the Brewers have gone from one of the best teams in baseball to one of the worst.

The 2013 season has come to a close and the Brewers finished with a disappointing 74-88 record, but their record was the least of their problems.  The Brewers struggled with injuries throughout the entire season, and lost Ryan Braun to a 65 game suspension for his connection to the Biogenesis Clinic in Miami.  While all teams have to face adversity over the course of a 162 game schedule, the Brewers never found away to overcome them.  This is what sets the mediocre teams apart from the best teams in baseball.

The main reason why the Brewers were unable to overcome their difficulties was because of the lack of quality prospects in the farm system.  While Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett and Tyler Thornburg all did a good job of filling in when needed, these three players, and frankly all the prospects that are within three years of playing in the majors, have no star potential.

In order to be successful each season you have to be able to develop young players.  While not every one of them will be a star, you need to at least have a few of them with the potential to be one.  The blame for the lack of development and poor evaluation of players in the draft has to be placed on Doug Melvin.  While he is not a scout, he is the one who hired all of them and makes the final decisions on the players.

With the lack of quality prospects, it will hurt the Brewers success over the next three to five years.  While the Brewers did trade some of their best prospects away in trades, the Brewers have hardly done anything to improve their system.  This season they should have traded away numerous veteran to get pieces to build for the future, but Melvin decided not too.

This poor judgment and lack of ability to restock the farm system will cost the Brewers and should cost Melvin his job.  He has made many poor decisions over the course of his tenure, and while the Brewers did have some success, it does not balance out all of the disappointing seasons.

The Brewers have one of the worst farm systems in baseball, and with none of their prospect possessing huge upside, it will not get any better.  This will hurt the Brewers success at the major league level for the years to come, and Doug Melvin should be blamed and loose his job because of this.

It has only been two years since the Brewers came two wins away from making it to the World Series, and now they have become one of the worst teams in baseball.  Being a small market team, the Brewers need to draft well and be able to develop prospects.  This has not happened recently, and because of this, the Brewers will not be competitive for the foreseeable future.

The Milwaukee Brewers Should be Sellers at the Trade Deadline

The Brewers main focus should be trading Zack Greinke because the Brewers have no chance of resigning him at the end of the year, and they need to get prospects back that are close to the same quality they traded to acquire him last off season.  The Brewers need to acquire pitching prospects and a shortstop prospect since those are two of the weakest areas for the Brewers this year and in their farm system.  Teams will be willing to give up a top prospect and 2 above average to average prospects to acquire a former CY award winner in Zack Greinke, even if it is just a two month rental.....just like the Brewers did a few years ago when they traded for CC Sabathia.  Doug Melvin better be smart for once and look at the future and not the present.  If he doesn't pull the trigger and trade Zack Greinke to help the future he should be relived of his duties as GM.  The Douger has ruined the farm system grabbing for the "brass ring", and has basically fallen off the merry-go-round horse.  He really missed on giving the Brewers a realistic shot at making the playoffs this year.  I have difficulty buying the injury excuse.....please refer to Uncle Teddy up in Green Bay 2 seasons ago when he won a Super Title with a bunch of second and third stringers.  Doug Melvin has to realize that the Brewers are a small market team and should be built through the draft and not by over paying for veteran players, just like what Ted Thompson has done with the Green Bay Packers.  If Greinke and some other players aren't traded the Brewers won't be competitive for the next four years.

Brewers Struggle Out of the Gate

The Milwaukee Brewers have gotten off to a slow start this season.  Through their first ten games the Brewers have a team average of only .228, which is 26^th overall in the MLB, and an on base percentage of .299, which is 23^rd overall in the MLB.  Aramis Ramirez, who was signed to help replace the lost production from Prince Fielder, has gotten off to a very slow start, and hasn’t done anything.  He is only averaging .114 to start the season.  Aramis Ramirez throughout his career has averaged only .255 in April/March and .271 in May.  The first two months of the season, Aramis Ramirez always starts slow and then he heats up in June where he is averaging .301.  Throughout the rest of the season he is always averaging at least .280.  The Brewers have faced some good teams to start, and their hitting will come around.  Ryan Braun, the raining N.L. MVP, has picked up where he left of last year, and all the Brewers need is for Aramis Ramirez to heat up. 

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National League Preview

National League East

There will be four teams that will be competitive in the N.L. East, but I think the Phillies should win the division.  I believe the Phillies have the best rotation and one of the top closers in baseball.  The Phillies also have a pretty good lineup, that should be able to score at least three or four runs a game.  I think the Braves, Marlins and Nationals should all do well, but I feel that they are not as deep as the Phillies.

National League Central

The Brewers, Cardinals and Reds are all good enough to win the N.L. Central.  The Brewers have the best starting pitching and relief pitching to win another division crown.  Both the Reds and Cardinals will struggle because the Reds pitching staff doesn’t have a true number one pitcher and an inexperience closer, and the Cardinals offense will struggle without Albert Pujols’ power in the middle of their lineup.   Even with the Brewers losing Prince Fielder I feel the Brewers lineup can still produce at a high level.  The Brewers will win the division because of  their great starting and relief pitching.

National League West

This division will be the closest division in the National League. Each team is capable of winning the division.  I think the Arizona Diamondbacks are the most complete team in the division because of their great young pitching staff and great young power hitters.  I feel the Dodgers can compete because they have Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, but I think their relief pitching and starting pitching after Kershaw will struggle.  I also think the Giants can do well because they have a great pitching staff, and the Rockies can do well because of their offense.  The Padres can win but I think they might struggle because they are so young and inexperienced.  The Arizona Diamondbacks will win the N.L. West because they are the most complete and experienced team.

National League Wild Card

The Marlins and Braves will win the N.L Wild Cards because they have good pitching and offense.  The key for both these teams will be staying healthy because these teams are very talented, but if one of their stars get hurt, I think they will struggle.  I think the Nationals have a good shot at winning a wild card spot, but they will be too young and inexperienced and fall out of contention towards the end of the season. You could also see the Cardinals, Reds, Dodgers and Giants all compete for the wild card, but each of those teams have either a weak offense or pitching staff that will hold them back from winning.

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