The first trade for Shaun Marcum was one I really liked. We gave up our best prospect in Brett Lawrie but he was still a couple years from being major league ready and the Brewers needed to make a move to make themselves ready now. As praised as Lawrie was there was no guarantee that his success in the minors would mean he would be a great major league player and to be able to trade just him for a pitcher who has posted good stats pitching in the toughest division in baseball (AL East) and was the Blue Jays opening day starter is a great trade in my mind. Pitchers usually see an increase in wins and a decrease in ERA when switching to the NL because they don't have to face the DH and especially those from the AL East because he won't be facing the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays 3-4 times each per year. The Marcum deal was a step in the right direction but the next move was what made the most waves.
The Brewers trade for Zack Greinke was a complete shock for me. The Brewers were apparently on Greinke's no-trade list but it was reported after the trade that he liked the city of Milwaukee and waived the no-trade clause to complete the trade, and when people talked about it, it seemed as if the Brewers weren't even in the running, but they somehow pulled off the trade.
When looking at what the Brewers gave up for Greinke you don't seem so sure. As a Brewer fan it was always, "save the prospects because they are the future" mentality. So as hesitant as we as fans have become to trade prospects we haven't given up as much as people may think. Alcides Escobar was a great defender but struggled with hitting and continues to struggle even in winter ball right now. Lorenzo Cain was the one I was most sad to see go as he looked real good playing center field last year and he could be a great player but it was such a small sample size of major league playing time its hard to tell. Jake Odorizzi was the highest ranked pitching prospect we had but was still down in A ball last year, so he still had some time till he was ready and who knows how the rest of his career turns out. And the last player included was Jeremy Jeffress, who although very talented, is one drug violation away from being kicked out of the league. So although its tough to see these prospects go as they could all have successful major league careers, the Brewers needed to make a move that says, "we are looking to win now," and thats exactly what they did.
Now where does that leave the Brewers for the upcoming 2011 season? The rotation looks stellar, Gallardo, Greinke, Marcum, Wolf, Narveson. Wolf looked great near the end of last season and I have a feeling that Narveson is just on the verge of figuring everything out and becoming a very reliable starter, and Gallardo is still as good as ever and could possibly get even better. The offense will remain mostly as it was, as it appears the Brewers are going to keep Fielder and look to resign him instead of trade him. If Fielder, Braun, Hart, Mcgehee all have good offensive seasons, combined with the new rotation we could be very dangerous. The bullpen still has some questions around it but the big contributers in Loe and Axford will still be there and will hopefully be as effective as they were last year. Also Hawkins will look to rebound from a bad year, and he looked good early last year but fell off after his injury. Braddock will hopefully improve on his good year and the young Mark Rodgers, who actually started last year could be a big help.
These moves mean the Brewers are looking to win now and I can't help but think that we have a very good team now and could make some serious noise. It will be an exciting year for Brewers fans thats for sure. I'm already counting down the days till the season starts.
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