In June of 2002 I was a few months from turning twelve years old. I had just completed fifth grade. This was just a year and a half after I began truly following sports in any capacity. In 2000-2001 the first sport that I focused on was basketball, during the one season in the last thirty years that the Bucks actually mattered. I remember flipping through the channels on TV when a Sam Cassell to Tim Thomas alley-oop drew me in to the Bucks game. The Bucks had their great run that year, winning their division and coming painstakingly close to the NBA Finals. At the time, I remember I hated baseball. It was too slow, I didn't feel connected to any of the players. But really, the root of the problem was that the team I should have been rooting for--the Brewers--was in the midst of a terrible run with seemingly no hope on the horizon.

In June of 2002, the Brewers drafted Prince Semien Fielder with the seventh pick in the June amateur draft. People at the time called it an overdraft. His bat was prolific through high school, and his pedigree suggested that he certainly inherited talent. However, he has also always been a bit hefty and many scouts had serious reservations that he would stay in shape throughout his career. Many considered Prince to be a likely DH prospect, something the Brewers had little use for other than as trade bait.

But oh man could Fielder hit. He signed almost immediately after being drafted and was assigned to the minor leagues where he had a combined .998 OPS between rookie and A ball. He also, of course, had a bit of media attention on him during his time in the minor leagues. As I looked through the Journal-Sentinel's sports section, that caught my eye. A couple of years into Fielder's career, and my allegiances towards the Brewers grew stronger and stronger. At last, there was something to root for in Milwaukee baseball. And I changed my sporting preferences drastically - gone was my love of basketball. By 2005, the sport bored me to tears. Baseball took its rightful spot at the forefront of my heart.

Of course, Prince Fielder wasn't the only young player who instilled some optimism in the Brewers' future. No, Fielder was one of several players who came up very close to each other. Rickie Weeks was someone who had just as much, if not more, hype as Prince Fielder. Then there was also J.J. Hardy and Corey Hart. There were others, like Ben Hendrickson and Dave Krynzel who didn't quite pan out, but whom the organization and its fans hoped would be key contributors to the big league squad. A few years later, players like Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo were called up to help solidify the team.

But none of those players embodied the spirit of the new, young, talented Brewers more than Fielder. To me, a fairly new Brewer fan, he was the epitome of the future, of what the Brewers could be. It was exciting. He was going to be a superstar, I was certain. Back then, I only used the J-S and brewers.com to give me information on the team. It didn't occur to me to look for fan blogs or anything like that. Sundays were especially exciting. Those were the days that the Journal-Sentinel used to run (and probably still runs, I'm not sure anymore) the large, full page, week in review Brewers and baseball columns, with a whole bunch of little news clippings. Often, this was the best chance to get any news on the minors or the chances of a player being called up. Every other day, I would be lucky to see even a paragraph of Brewers news, outside of the game recap.

Every now and then, though, there would be news on Fielder and the other youth in the Brewers system. Even if it was just a small snippet detailing how he went 2-4 with an RBI, it was news. And it fueled my, and many other Brewers fans', hope for the future of the team. In 2005, he hit his first major league home run on the same day that Rickie Weeks hit his. Weeks had been called up for good in the middle of that season, while Prince was there only for a short spell. But that day, with both players hitting their first homers, that was a great moment. That's when the future finally became the present. When you knew the Brewers were on the verge of having something special.

The next season, his rookie year, Fielder had a successful campaign. He hit 28 home runs and had an .831 OPS. Nothing earth-shattering. In his second full season, in 2007, he hit 50 home runs. Any doubt that he might not live up to his potential vanished then and there. He gave us four more great seasons after that. He hit 230 home runs in a Brewers uniform. In six full seasons, he missed just 13 games. He finished in the top-five voting for the MVP award three times.

All the while, I grew up with Fielder. I followed his minor league outings as best I could. I grew as a Brewers fan with each passing season that Fielder was on the big league team. While Fielder's 50 HR outing solidified him as a star in this league, that year and that effort also helped solidify my allegiance to the Brewers. Since beginning to follow the Brewers, I've never had a Fielder-less team. I grew up with Fielder on my television, on my favorite team, and in Miller Park, where I have been countless times over the past six years.

I'm not sure if I really have much of an end point to this. After ten years of being in the Brewers organization, Prince Fielder is officially gone. It's not something surprising. Even years ago, we knew the Brewers wouldn't be able to afford Fielder. He found somebody who could, to the tune of the fourth largest contract in sports history. There's no way Milwaukee could have matched that.

I'm not mad. I'm quite the opposite of that. I'm extremely happy for Fielder. He deserved to get paid. And you know what, he looks really good in that Detroit uniform. I'm thrilled that we, as Brewers fans, got six years of major league service from such a fantastic player. Just like if Zack Greinke leaves for a bigger deal after 2013, I'm going to be happy that we at least got to experience him as a member of the Brewers for a short time. Who knows? Maybe with Fielder, he'll come back to the Brewers after these nine years are up. Hank Aaron did it. It's not beyond reason that Fielder could reprise his role one more time in the future.

But I am sad. An era is ending for the Milwaukee Brewers. Sure, the team could be just as good as they were last season. They still have Ryan Braun and Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart and Yovani Gallardo. They still have Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum and Nyjer Morgan. They now have Alex Gonzalez and Aramis Ramirez. They might have Mat Gamel, if he's good enough.

But the heart and soul of the Brewers team is gone. Prince Fielder, for several years, embodied the Brewers. He had fun on the field, even if certain people found it disrespectful. He was a ferocious competitor. He was a seemingly great guy who was active in the community. The only person on the team who seemed to match Fielder for personality was Nyjer Morgan. But he's an outsider, not somebody who was homegrown and brought up with several of his teammates. I'm very interested in seeing how the demeanor of the team changes next season without the big guy around.

I wish nothing but the best of luck to Prince Fielder in Detroit. I hope that he can win an MVP award or two. I hope he has many more outstanding years. I'll never forget how Prince changed me as a Brewers fan and I'll certainly never forget how much he helped in turning a laughing stock into a National League contender.

Thank you Prince, we'll miss you.

Last night, I was at work when I received a text message. It was from a friend and said simply, "Your boys on roids". I originally thought he meant the "your boy" part facetiously and perhaps someone I disliked had tested positive. I asked my friend who he was referring to but, when he didn't get back to me for a bit I checked ESPN really quick on my phone.

And that's when I saw the headline. "Breaking: Ryan Braun Tests Positive for PEDs, Could Face 50 Game Suspension" in that big red bar that signifies only the most important sports news.

If someone had looked over at me in that instant, I'm pretty sure they would have assumed that I had a family member pass away. I could feel the blood rush from my face, and I became a little lightheaded. Since I was bartending, I didn't really have any chance to look for more information. Not being able to find out what was happening was extremely frustrating. The man whom the Brewers had tagged as the face of the franchise was on the verge of potentially having his entire reputation destroyed, and I still had another six hours left in a shift that afforded me no possibility of checking the news.

Once I was finally done, I tried to get as much information on the news as I could. Reading through everything, I started to feel sick. What's funny, though, is that despite trying to find as much information as possible, and despite reading through everything that was posted in this morning's impromptu mug, I still feel just as in the dark as I was when I first found out and was stuck at work.

We know that the MLB has been looking into this since October. We know that Braun demanded a second test after testing positive in his first. We know that the results came back negative in the second test. We know that other players have tested positive only to successfully fight a conviction/suspension, however those players had never had their names released to the media. Outside of all that, is there anything else important that we need to know, though? Two important things are how long synthetic testosterone stays in one's body. I believe that has been answered to be around 4-5 weeks.

With that information, knowing how far apart the two tests were taken would be extremely important. If it's within those 4-5 weeks, Braun's case is looking fairly good. Braun appears to be very confident in his innocence, even reaching out to Brewers beat reporter Tom Haudricourt to proclaim his innocence. Numerous people close to the situation seem to think that Braun will be absolved of any wrongdoing. Braun himself can't speak out with his side of the story while he is appealing the first test, though he seems eager to discuss the matter.

It's agonizing not being able to know more information than we do, and it will probably continue to be frustrating as I'm not sure that we'll ever learn the full story to any degree of certainty. That may also make things difficult, as I have no idea what I'm going to think of Ryan Braun, whether he's innocent or guilty. If he's guilty, I don't know if I'm going to hate the guy for tarnishing the team like this, if my level of respect for him will just drop, or if my feelings won't really change at all.

If Braun is found innocent, my feelings might actually be even more conflicted. I wish that I could honestly say right now that, if Ryan Braun is indeed found innocent by the MLB, my feelings towards him won't change at all. But the truth is that I'm not sure. I can't say how I'll feel until I have to start showing some reaction towards him. There might always be that shred of doubt in my mind that maybe Ryan Braun isn't actually clean. I want to say that I won't think that, but the truth is that I just won't know until we get to that point.

And if I feel that way, I can only imagine how people who aren't fans of the Brewers will look at him. We, as Brewers fans, will be devouring any information we can get about the situation. Most fans of other teams won't. Well we may eventually see information showing that Ryan Braun is, without question, innocent, many other baseball fans might not see that information. Instead, they will only remember that he tested positive. Some might say that he cheated the system by being found innocent. And if Braun is actually suspended...well, let's just remember how most people felt about Barry Bonds.

If Ryan Braun is innocent, we could have gone this whole time without knowing he had a positive test at all. Instead, a journalist eager to break a big story decided to leak that Braun had tested positive before any decisions from the MLB had been handed down. That's bad journalism during a bad situation. Ryan Braun isn't the first player to be put in this spot, and other players have successfully defended themselves without their names getting out to the public. Ryan Braun hasn't been afforded that luxury, unfortunately. We can only hope that he is found innocent, and that his innocence is as widely reported as his positive test.

Maybe it was a mistake, and Ryan Zachary Braun was the one who tested positive.

Alex Gonzalez isn't really that great. For just about every Major League Baseball team, he would be a mediocre option. For many teams, he would be a downgrade from their current shortstop. But for the Milwaukee Brewers, who just signed Alex Gonzalez to a one year deal with a vesting option, Gonzalez is like an angel sent from heaven.

Alex Gonzalez hit .241/.270/.372 in 2010. He's certainly not a good hitter. He does have some power in his bat though, and hit 24 homeruns just two seasons ago, in 2010. That year, he had a .250/.294/.447 line, good for a .319 wOBA. Gonzalez isn't going to come in and push the Brewers to another level. He won't fill a hole in the middle of the order.

But Gonzalez isn't Yuniesky Betancourt. Sure, they both profile as similar hitters. Both are free-swingers who don't get on base very much. The main offensive talent of both is a little bit of power and decent contact rates. Gonzalez is a little better than Betancourt. Gonzalez has hit over 20 home runs in a season, something Betancourt has never done. Gonzalez has been over a .310 OBP three times in his career, something that Betancourt has never done. Are these pretty low benchmarks? Yes. But Betancourt was truly so bad that Alex Gonzalez is better than him.

And that's just hitting. The Brewers aren't going to be paying Alex Gonzalez to be a hitter. It would be nice, but the big reason the Brewers are signing Alex Gonzalez is because he can actually play defense. And he plays defense pretty well, too. Gonzalez has played shortstop his entire nine-year career, with five different teams. His UZR/150 in that time is 6.3. Here are his UZR/150s since 2006:

A single season represents a small sample size. Several seasons give you a pretty good idea of how good Gonzalez can be at defense. It looked like he was worse in 2011 and it may be true that he has lost a step over the years.The guy is 34 years old now. But that looks like an outlier and the bigger picture still shows him at or near elite status as a defensive shortstop.

Being that good of a defender brings immense value to the Milwaukee Brewers. For a team that looks like it might be relying heavily on their starting staff, the Brewers needed to solidify their defense. Gonzalez could very well ease the minds of the starting rotation, who had to be frustrated with Yuniesky Betancourt last season. Zack Greinke has shown an awareness of his defense, and it could have something to do with why he struggled with giving up the long ball last season. Instead of pitching to contact, Greinke decided to go for strikeouts. While he struck out hitters at a better rate than ever before in his career, that strategy may have also caused Greinke to throw more mistake pitches which increased his HR/9 to his highest rate since 2006.

Now, the Brewers have a player who can reach grounders that are headed up the middle. A shortstop who looks like he actually cares and takes pride in his defense. Alex Gonzalez won't let this ball get by him. Alex Gonzalez probably gets to this ball, too. If you didn't look at those links, you could probably guess that they demonstrate the sterling defensive play of Yuniesky Betancourt.

Alex Gonzalez signing with the Brewers isn't a flashy move, nor is it a move that, in and of itself, will win the Brewers many games in 2012. But putting Alex Gonzalez into the context of replacing Yuniesky Betancourt turns this from a blah move to a very good move. Just on defense alone, Gonzalez might be worth well over 1.0 fWAR more than Yuniesky Betancourt.

But Gonzalez really might be worth even more than that. Yuniesky Betancourt potentially lost the Brewers several games with shoddy defense, including at least one playoff game. While Alex Gonzalez won't exactly win games for the Brewers, he also isn't going to lose them, either. Gonzalez is not going to let ground balls go right past him. He won't show absolutely no effort getting to balls that are more than a couple meters away from him.

Even better, Alex Gonzalez is going to come fairly cheap. For the cash-strapped Milwaukee Brewers, that's nothing but a good thing. It could even afford them the flexibility of still searching out a decent bat to help negate the loss of Prince Fielder. That all depends on what Brewers owner Mark Attanasio signs off on, of course, but the Brewers are showing they still want to win.

Alex Gonzalez isn't exactly going to be a run scorer. But he is going to be a run saver. It's what he does. And that's very good news for the Brewers.

The MLB Winter Meetings are one of my favorite times of the year for baseball. I love all the speculation and rumors going around, and enjoy seeing the moves that different teams make to improve their teams. Often, the meetings are the first time we really start seeing the shape that teams will take the next season as many of the big free agents are signed during this time, along with many trades.

During his career with the Brewers, GM Doug Melvin has been fairly active during the meetings. Here is a look at his Winter Meetings history since the Brewers hired Melvin as GM.

2002

Doug Melvin was hired as the Brewers general manager in September of 2002. He inherited a last place, 106-loss team whose best pitcher had a 4.15 ERA. The team had Richie Sexson and Geoff Jenkins, but not a whole lot of firepower after that. Melvin had been aggressive his first two months in acquiring new talent. Some of his more notable moves include picking Scott Podsednik up off waivers, signing Brooks Kieschnick and Royce Clayton, and trading for Javier Valentin and Matt Kinney. That year, Melvin was also active during the Winter Meeting.

During the meetings, Melvin signed several players including Matt Ford, who would pitch in 23 games for the Brewers the next year. He also acquired Enrique Cruz in the Rule 5 draft. Cruz would end up hitting .085/.145/.099 in 73 plate appearances for Milwaukee in 2003. Melvin's biggest move during the 2002 meetings was trading left handed relief pitcher Ray King to the Atlanta Braves for Wes Helms and John Foster. Helms had not received consistent playing time before, but earned the Brewers starting third base job the next season. That year, he hit 23 home runs while hitting .261/.330/.450. Helms was the first Brewers third baseman since the team's first year in Milwaukee to hit 20 homers in a season. Tommy Harper was the first to do it, hitting 31 home runs in 1970. Foster pitched in 23 games for the Brewers in 2003 with a 4.71 ERA.

2003

Melvin was not quite as active in 2003. In fact, he only made two small moves. The bigger of the two was likely selecting hard throwing reliever Jeff Bennett in the Rule 5 draft. Unlike many rule five picks, Bennett received a very good amount of playing time, pitching in 60 games and throwing over 71 innings in 2004. Still, he had a poor 4.79 ERA and 5.15 FIP and wouldn't pitch in the Brewers organization again. Melvin also signed relief pitcher Brian Bowles, though he wouldn't pitch in a game for the Brewers.

2004-2010 are after the jump.

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We've nearly exhausted our list of 2011 Brewers but still have a few remaining, including Zach Braddock.

Braddock came up in 2010 and really helped light a fire under a bullpen that was a nightmare through much of the year. He would end up pitching in 46 games and, along with freshly called up John Axford, gave the Brewers a lot of hope for their bullpen going forward. That year, Braddock had a K/9 just a tick below 11 and a lovely 2.94 ERA to match a 2.90 FIP. He did have a bit of a walk problem, as his control seemed to take a siesta every now and then, but that's almost to be expected with a high strikeout pitcher.

He started off great in 2011, too. Through May 1, he had a 1.93 ERA. An earned run the next day would bring that up to 2.73, but it seemed like he was off to a great start. His fastball was lively and batters looked almost as though they were napping when they faced him. On May 3, though, it was announced that Zach Braddock was placed on the DL to make way for the returning Nyjer Morgan. The reason was a sleep disorder. I think, at the time, many of us believed that it was just an excuse, a fake injury, to move somebody so Morgan would fit on the roster. It did seem strange that the Brewers would do that with one of their best relievers, though. At the very least, it would have been nice if Doug Melvin and co. had slept on the decision.

After a month, Braddock returned to the active roster and picked up right where he left off. He had a 1.93 ERA throughout the month of June. The weird thing, though, was that he only pitched in seven games and 4.2 total innings. He pitched a full inning in only three outings, including one that during a total snoozefest against the Mets on June 7. That may have been his best outing of the year, though, as he struck out the side in the eighth inning of a 2-1 Brewers loss. He was so good, the Mets just seemed to be sleep-walking against him that day.

By the end of June, Braddock had a 2.51 ERA on the season. It seemed almost like a dream to have both him and Axford leading a dominant bullpen for the next few years. Unfortunately, in July Braddock just wasn't his usual lights out self. He gave up earned runs in four of six appearances that month, including multiple runs in three of those contests. He had a 30.00 ERA in July and his season ERA ballooned to 7.27. His season was put to bed on July 14, after giving up four earned runs without securing an out in the seventh inning against the Rockies. The next day, Braddock was optioned.

Braddock wouldn't appear for any Brewers minor league team's the rest of the season, though. On July 22, Tom Haudricourt reported that Braddock was shut down again due to his sleep disorder. His first DL stint hadn't been enough for him to work through his issues, and he would take the rest of the year off to deal with this problem. Since then, there hasn't been a whole lot of information on Braddock.

In all seriousness, I hope that Zach can find a cure for whatever ails him soon. I'm sure many fans feel cheated out of having potentially one of team's best relievers in a very important year for the Brewers. But much more importantly, whatever this issue is, it's having a clearly negative effect on Zach personally. Whether it's debilitating to his physical health, his mental health, or is just an extremely frustrating nuisance, it can't be much fun to go through. For either a fan or a player, one's personal life should certainly come first. Baseball is just a game, and it will still be around as soon as Zach is feeling better. Hopefully, he'll be ready in time for spring training. The team could use a good reliever in 2012 with the potential departures of Francisco Rodriguez, Takashi Saito, and LaTroy Hawkins.

If we're talking about 2011 Zach Braddock, it's important to look past his alarmingly high ERA. For nearly twenty outings, he pitched great. A bad few outings in July, when his sleep disorder seemed to be getting to him, brought his numbers up. He's still an extremely talented pitcher, and will still hopefully continue to pitch well for Milwaukee in the years to come.

Back when the Brewers first signed Mark Kotsay, there was a whole slew of comments basically saying it was a dumb move but that it wasn't that big of a deal. He was 35 years old and was coming off a season during which he hit just .239/.306/.376. In addition, he had been worth a grand total of -1.8 fWAR from 2005-2010. He was a veteran guy to bring into camp and, unless he lit the world on fire in spring training, could be cut with little consequence.

Well, Kotsay did hit .340/.386/.440 in spring and earned a bench spot to begin the year. He would be one of the first bats off the bench and an occasional spot starter in the corner outfield. With Corey Hart being injured to start the season, Milwaukee needed a player who could take his place for a few weeks. Kotsay maintained a decent to good on base percentage for much of the year, though his power stroke was virtually non-existent. In fact, Kotsay's OPS was above .700 for only two days in 2011. He hit .702 on May 18 and .703 on September 26 to close his regular season. Comparatively, he had 15 days where he was under a .600 OPS. In particular, there was a rough month and a half long stretch between June 13 and July 31 where he hit .206/.214/.324--and still started 14 games.

On May 11, one of the more frustrating lineup decisions we have seen happened for the first time. That day, Mark Kotsay started in center field. While Nyjer Morgan was injured at the time, Milwaukee had a more than capable center fielder in Carlos Gomez. Brandon Boggs was also on the roster at that point, as well. That may have been the moment where one started feeling uneasy about the role of Mark Kotsay. It didn't help that he then started two more games in a row in center field a week later. And then two more in a row four games after that. Overall, Kotsay played ten regular season games in Center Field, with nine starts. It felt like even more, but that was ten games too many.

Mark Kotsay hadn't played an inning in center field since 2009, when he was center field for just five games. Mark Kotsay has not had a positive UZR/150 in center field since 2004. Mark Kotsay has not even had a center field UZR/150 in single digit negative numbers since 2005. In fact, the only two positions Kotsay has had a positive UZR in during the last three years are left field and first base, probably the two easiest positions in the game.

It's probably not Kotsay's fault that he was playing a position he couldn't handle for significant innings in 2011. Ron Roenicke is the one who put him out there, despite having Carlos Gomez and Nyjer Morgan on the roster. Or having at least one of those two when the other was injured. Still, though, it's hard not to dislike Kotsay for being in such a significant spot. Especially when it seemed like every game saw him make an absolutely boneheaded play that Morgan or Gomez would have made easily.

Even more frustrating was his one post-season start in center field, against the Cardinals in game three of the NLCS. That game, Kotsay had a base-running gaffe in the first inning that helped prematurely end a Brewers rally. Then, even worse, there were at least two different defensive plays that either Gomez or Morgan likely could have made that Kotsay didn't in the bottom of the first. The Cardinals scored four runs that inning en route to winning 4-3. Kotsay did hit a home run in that game, and reached base in three of four plate appearances, but I still struggle not to blame Kotsay for the Brewers losing that game. And had the Brewers won that game, maybe they would have built on that momentum and won the series.

Here are two lovely videos from that game:

Mark Kotsay had just a one year deal with the Brewers and signed with the Padres in the offseason for more money than he probably deserves. So I guess at least we don't get to see him replace Prince Fielder at first base next year.

Last year wasn't the best way for Craig Counsell to, potentially, end his career. For him, 2011 will always be marked by his tying the (at the time) record streak for hitless at-bats as he went 0-45 for a stretch in the middle of the season. That awful streak is somewhat indicative of his play the rest of the year, as well.  Counsell struggled through the worst hitting season of his career, batting just .178/.280/.223. That's good for a .234 wOBA with his previous career low .248 coming when we were still working about Y2K.

Counsell has always been known first and foremost as a defensive player, though, and he shined yet again last season. He rarely makes plays that make you jump out of your seat, but he gets to a number of balls and makes many plays that should be difficult seem easy.  He was worth a whole lot at 3B, 2B, and SS defensively in 2011 according to UZR, just as he has been his whole career. He even played a couple of innings in the outfield for the first time in his major league career, though he didn't have any chances.

Counsell's bat had just fallen off so much, however, that his glove hardly seemed worth it. The Brewers must have seen it the same way, as he slowly began losing more and more playing time as the season progressed. Counsell ended up with the fewest at-bats he has had since 2000 and was relegated to the late-inning defensive replacement role for much of the season. The Brewers trading for Jerry Hairston, Jr. was just about the final nail in the coffin as far as playing time for Counsell goes.

Counsell is now a free agent and has expressed interest in playing at least one more season. Whether that is in the 41-year old's best interest is debatable, though he could find a suiter who needs a strong glove off the bench. Doug Melvin has said recently that he wasn't going to pursue Counsell, though I'm sure if worst comes to worst we could find Counsell on the bench for the 2012 Brewers. There seems to be legitimate interest in having Counsell become a coach, too. The Brewers have shown some interest in that possibility as they would like to keep the Whitefish Bay native around. In addition, Dale Sveum has mentioned that he could look into bringing Counsell on as a part of his new coaching staff in Chicago. Whatever happens, I'm sure that Counsell, by all accounts one of the league's "good guys", will be able to find a job somewhere.

Or, "Other Brewer With Some Value, Technically, but Really is Utterly Worthless: Yuniesky Betancourt".

When the Brewers traded for Zack Greinke, I think the general sentiment was that it was a good pickup. Sure, the Brewers gave up a number of good prospects, but a team needs to pay well for a pitcher of Greinke's caliber. Unfortunately, the Brewers traded away their only decent shortstop, Alcides Escobar, in that deal. But they received a replacement in that same trade! Yuniesky Betancourt!

Most people realized that Betancourt was a suboptimal option at a key position in the field. He had a good defensive reputation coming up in the Seattle Mariners system, but never showed any ability to move laterally in the majors. But at least he had one discernible talent: He hit 16 home runs for Kansas City in 2010 and seemed like he could build off that towards, potentially, a 20 HR season.

Little did we know that Betancourt would have the second worst offensive season of his career in 2011. After a .300 wOBA in 2010, he dropped all the way down to .278 in 2011. The only season he was worse was in 2009 when he had a .271 wOBA. Betancourt has shown pretty much no desire to improve. His hitting numbers have fluctuated from bad to "No, seriously, I really do think I could play better than this guy". His walk rate in 2011 was tied for the worst of his career as he had just a 2.7 BB%. Of course, Betancourt not showing a desire to improve is nothing new. He had these problems back when he was with the Mariners, and he has them now.

But, hey, at least the Yuni era could be over. Betancourt is a free agent after the Brewers declined a team option on him. Of course, the Brewers now need a shortstop with nobody in their system even close to being able to play the position in the majors. Clint Barmes is off the market, and the contract Barmes' was given might have inflated the market enough that the Brewers won't be able to afford options like Rafael Furcal, much less Jimmy Rollins and Jose Reyes. There are other shortstop options. Alex Gonzalez and Ronny Cedeno come to mind. They would almost certainly be an improvement over Yuni, but how much so really?

My prediction: Doug Melvin signs Betancourt to a two year, $7.5 million contract and I become a Mariners fan full time.

Two .gifs illustrating Useless Yuni's worthlessness after the jump.

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When it was first announced that the Brewers signed LaTroy Hawkins two years ago, reactions ranged from apathetic to upset. People weren't upset because Hawkins was a bad pitcher, but because he didn't seem that great for the money (two years, $7.5 million) he was signed to. It didn't help that Hawkins was then injured for much of 2010 and only pitched in 18 games. It doubly didn't help that, in those 18 games, he had an 8.44 ERA. And it triply didn't help that he was injured at the beginning of 2011, as well.

But Hawkins returned and had a hell of a season, with arguably his best performance since 2003, when he was a member of the Twins. His strikeouts were down from his prime, but Hawkins kept to form as far as not walking many batters. And that home run rate! That sexy, sexy home run rate! Hawkins allowed just 0.19 HR per nine innings en route to a 2.76 FIP and an even better 2.42 ERA. Once he returned from injury, Hawkins pitched in a total of 52 games for the Brewers and was a huge part of the outstanding front of the bullpen that contained Hawkins, John Axford, Takashi Saito and, later, Francisco Rodriguez.

In fact, of National League relievers with at least 40 innings pitched, Hawkins was 15th in FIP--just behind Rodriguez, and several spots behind Axford. Hawkins was also 18th in ERA and had the fifth best GB%.

By WPA, Hawkins' best game came on July 17 against the Rockies in a game Hawkins narrowly missed out on being the MVP of.  After Shaun Marcum allowed a home run to Jason Giambi, he walked Troy Tulowitski with the Brewers leading 4-2. Marcum was pulled in favor of Hawkins and Hawkins promptly forced Seth Smith to ground out. Hawkins was actually the one to field the ball and made a great heads up play to get the lead out at second base. Hawkins then forced a flyout before allowing a single Eliezer Alfonso that put runners on the corners. It would be no matter, though, as Hawkins forced another ground ball (this one by Jonathan Herrera) that Rickie Weeks snagged and tossed to first to secure the final out of the inning.

Hawkins may have cost a pretty penny for a relief pitcher, but with the results he put up and his ability to solidify a bullpen it turned out to be a pretty good deal. At least, it did when he actually played. Hawkins contract has run out, though, and he is now officially a free agent. He made $4 million in 2011 and the Brewers don't have a whole lot of payroll to play around with. The odds don't appear to be in favor of Hawkins returning to the Brewers in 2012, but at least he will have left us with fond memories in 2011.

Fond Memories like this, in the playoffs:

The Brewers definitely need a shortstop. Third base and first base are kind of mysteries, sure. The bench is going to need some help, absolutely. But what about the bullpen? It's talked about every now and then, but the Brewers 2012 relief seems like the forgotten problem.

Right now, Brewers.com has the Brewers bullpen as John Axford, Kameron Loe, Marco Estrada, Brandon Kintzler, Manny Parra, and Tim Dillard. Six players currently listed at a spot where the Brewers carried seven. Also on the 40 man roster are Zack Braddock, Frankie De La Cruz, and Mike McClendon along with players the Brewers might want to keep starting in the minors like Michael Fiers, Cody Scarpetta and Wily Peralta.

Axford is fantastic, no doubt. Loe has been a very solid pitcher for the Brewers. Everyone else has had their share of ups and downs with the Brewers. Unfortunately, there have been a few too many downs than ups. Many of these players, like Kintzler and De La Cruz, we haven't seen enough of to really get a gauge on what kinds of players they can be.

I just don't feel at all comfortable with that bullpen. Maybe we were just spoiled with last year's bullpen having Axford, Rodriguez, Saito and Hawkins. Four players with significant closing experience at the top of a bullpen is fantastic. Milwaukee will no longer have that luxury, but it would be nice if they could take measures to improve their current situation.

We've talked ad nauseum about the Brewers' likely having roughly $10 million in salary to spend for 2012. A good chunk of that is going to end up being given to a shortstop. I doubt the Brewers feel comfortable with slotting Mat Gamel as the first baseman of the future, at least without competition, so give another chunk to a first baseman. The team has a couple of bench spots open. They'll need an outfielder and potentially an infielder. They could re-sign Jerry Hairston, Jr, who was excellent for the team last year and can play just about anywhere. Overall, dependant on the quality of shortstop the team signs, they are looking at roughly $7-8 million dollars amongst all those spots, if they go cheap for 1B competition and non-Hairston bench spots.

So, with maybe $2-3 million left over, is there really much Milwaukee can do to improve their bullpen? They couldn't re-sign LaTroy Hawkins, unless he takes a significant pay cut. Hawkins made over $4 million last year. They certainly can't re-sign K-Rod. I think there is a good possibility Milwaukee will re-sign Takashi Saito, who made $1.75 million in 2011. However, Saito was showing his age some last year. Despite the second best ERA of his career, he also dropped significantly in his K/9 rate. His FIP was also the second worst of his career (though that's somewhat misleading as he still had a very good 3.40 FIP).

There are plenty of free-agent relief pitchers, but likely none the Brewers can afford that will help turn the bullpen back into a team strength. They could potentially afford a guy coming off injury like David Aardsma, but I'd be willing to bet some team would be willing to pay more for a "proven" closer. Heath Bell, Francisco Cordero, Jonathan Broxton, etc. will all be too expensive. 

The free agent market is chock full of Miguel Batistas and Manny Delcarmens. But guys like that are probably only marginally better than what the Brewers already have and likely wouldn't be worth the cost. Milwaukee has been tied to Frank Francisco, but at $4 million last year he is another guy who would have to take a pay cut to join the team.

The Brewers have their share of holes to fill this winter. It's pretty clear that the main concern is and should be finding a shortstop. But I'm concerned that the focus on offensive players will preclude the team strengthening the bullpen. I know that overpaying for a bullpen arm is a terrible idea. Nobody in their right minds would think the Phillies signing Jonathan Papelbon to the contract they did is a good idea. But the current arms the Brewers have are underwhelming at best. Axford is outstanding and Loe will be fine. Everyone else is enigmatic, though. Milwaukee's starting pitchers aren't known for pitching deep into ball games, and had just one complete game last year. With plenty of innings available, it would be nice to have a strong bullpen again. Unfortunately, with the financial constraints, that looks like a near impossibility.

Some things to read while bridging the generation gap.

It's not the busiest news day, so the lead story for the Brewers today is something that shouldn't come as a big surprise: The team has asked their entire coaching staff to return for the 2012 season. (Fanshot) I don't think anyone would have expected anything different from a team that just won 96 games and went to the league championship series.

Of course, one coach still might not return. Dale Sveum interviewed for the Cubs vacant manager position yesterday and remains a strong candidate for Boston's manager position as well.  Tom Haudricourt wonders if Sveum becoming the Cubs new manager would open up the door for Prince Fielder to sign with Chicago.

Speaking of Fielder, here are today's notes on the big fellow:

• Josh Weinstock at fangraphs took a look at how Fielder improved his approach at the plate in 2011.
• Jeff Sullivan at Lookout Landing wrote on how the Mariners might be interested in Fielder and how he might not be interested in them

In other free agent news, people just keep on seeming to think the Brewers can actually sign Jose Reyes, so let's talk about him for a bit:

• Tom Haudricourt would be "very surprised" if the Brewers managed to sign Reyes.
• The Marlins, who have been making a splash just by indicating they want to sign a top free agent, might offer Reyes a three year deal with a very high annual salary.
• If the Brewers do go after Reyes, we are unlikely to hear about it unless the two sides actually agree to a contract. Doug Melvin says that he is going to play his cards close to the vest and I'm sure that comes as a surprise to everyone.

Another popular target among fans is the Marlins' Logan Morrison, who might make sense as the new first baseman. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen as the Marlins are apparently set on keeping him unless he is involved in a trade for James Shields.

The Brewers announced their spring training schedule today. They will open up spring games on March 4 against San Francisco in the first of what will be 34 games for Milwaukee.

Matthew Leach at MLB.com thinks that Arizona's Kirk Gibson will win the NL Manager of the Year, but that Ron Roenicke and Tony Larussa are strong runners-up. The actual award winner will be announced November 16.

Lance Berkman says that the Astros potentially moving to the American League is a "travesty" and that the Brewers should be the ones forced to make the move. Berkman says the Astros are a National League franchise while Milwaukee is "historically an American League franchise".

In former Brewers news, current Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey has written a book and it is now available for pre-order.

Around the MLB:
Diamondbacks: Signed right hander Chris Jakubauskas to a minor league deal.
Marlins: Signed left-handed pitcher Beau Jones
Phillies: Have come to an agreement with closer Ryan Madson for a four year, $44 million deal
White Sox: Re-signed third baseman Dallas McPherson

The Cardinals search for a new manager led them to interview former Red Sox manager Terry Francona for the job yesterday.

In things I hope every team adopts soon, Safeco Park--home of the Mariners--has installed electric car charging stations available for public use. The chargers will be available 24 hours a day, regardless of whether the Mariners are playing or not.

Over at fangraphs, Jim Breen says that a hard-slotting system would be bad for baseball as it would deter players from focusing on the sport and, instead, would cause them to focus more on other sports, like football.

That's all I've got for you, unless you need some fishing tips.

Quick! Which player led all National League second basemen in fWAR? Did you say Rickie Weeks? You're wrong, it was Brandon Phillips. But Weeks was second! And if Weeks had remained healthy throughout the year, he would have had more wins above replacement over the last two seasons!

Okay, Weeks might not be first in fWAR but that doesn't preclude him from being a fantastic player. It seemed as though we, as fans, had been waiting forever for Weeks to break out and he did in a big way in 2010. That success carried over into 2011, when Weeks got on base 35% of the time and hit 20 HR.

Unfortunately, his injury bug bit him again in the form of an ankle sprain that kept him out for nearly a month and a half. That injury likely prevented him from placing higher on this list. It didn't help that, after coming back, Weeks had lost his power stroke, hitting for a measly .351 SLG% and just one home run in September.

About that one home run, though. It wasn't exactly a lucky break, as he was tasked with following a big shot from his good friend Prince Fielder:

You have to believe Pirates' pitcher Ross Ohlendorf wasn't feeling too great after those two.

Weeks has always been one of favorite players in part because it is evident just how hard he works to get better. Case in point, his defense. Throughout his time in the minors, and in his first few years in the majors, all we heard about was that he had a great bat but couldn't play defense and would need to be moved off second. There were very few who even thought he could be mediocre defensively. And he was awful when he reached the majors, bringing a -13 and -10 UZRs to the table in his first two seasons.

To his credit, though, much of what we heard about him was how hard he worked to get better. He was one of those players who are said to be "the first to arrive and the last to leave". We heard about how, even on days he wasn't required to show up, he came in and forced Brewers coaches to hit fungoes or throw grounders to him. By all accounts, Weeks worked extremely hard on his defense. It showed, too, as after those initial two-year struggles he worked his way up to -2 and -3 UZRs in 2007 and 2008, respectively. And we kept hearing about how he was trying to improve. Finally, in 2009 (though he only played in 37 games) he hit a positive UZR. And according to UZR, he has been an above average defensive second baseman since then.

The turnaround in his defense is amazing, and really shows what a strong ambition and hard work can do for a player. I would be surprised if he wasn't still working hard on becoming a better defender. Through all his struggles defensively, through not hitting all that well for several years and everyone waiting for him to finally live up to his potential, Rickie Weeks has shown one of the strongest characters I, personally, have seen from an athlete. Not once did we hear about him complaining. We didn't hear about him giving up. We certainly never heard anything about a lack of heart.

Character may not go a very long way when you judge an MVP (Or MVB), but had Rickie Weeks been a weaker individual, I don't think we ever would have seen his breakout 2010 or, with that, his great 2011 season, either.

Weeks made $3.5MM in 2011, but he's about to make a big jump as he will be owed $10MM in 2012. He's under contract through 2014, but he does have a 2015 option that vests if Weeks is healthy at the end 0f 2014 and had 600 PAs that year, or if he has 1,200 PAs between 2013 and 2014.

Also aiding Rickie in his MVBrewers status: His ability to have "Hey Mickey" parodies made about him.

When thinking about most valuable players, Zack Greinke brings up an interesting question. Is a more valuable player, in retrospect, still the player who "pitched the best" i.e. had the better advanced statistics like FIP, xFIP, etc? Or is a more valuable player the one who managed to create the better results, i.e. a lower ERA?

Zack Greinke was certainly one of the best in the former category. Greinke's 2.56 xFIP was the best in the majors in 2011. Better than Cliff Lee, better than Roy Halladay, better than CC Sabathia, better than Justin Verlander, better than everyone.  Greinke's 2.98 FIP was the best on the Brewers. Greinke's peripheral stats were absolutely incredible. And despite missing a month of the season, Greinke still outpaced every other pitcher in fWAR.

Unfortunately, that translated into just the fourth best ERA on the team (not that a 3.83 ERA is bad, of course--that's just  a testament to how good the entire pitching staff was). Even Randy Wolf had better results. Greinke's problem all season long was the long ball and giving up home runs at seemingly the worst possible times. Often, it seemed as though Greinke was dominating an opposing lineup only to lose focus after a few innings and let runners on base before throwing a meatball down the middle of the plate.Those tendencies got to be very frustrating at times.

Still, home runs aside, Greinke was an excellent pitcher all year long. With a better defense behind him, he could potentially have garnered some attention for the NL Cy Young. The only thing that Zack seemingly couldn't do was pitch deep into games. He pitched into the eighth inning just twice, and couldn't make it out of the inning either time. That's probably at least somewhat in part to him trying to strikeout more hitters due to an awful defense behind him, which we know he was cognizant of.

His best game, according to WPA, was one of those two games, though.  On August 28, against the Cubs, Greinke went 7.2 innings and allowed just one run on four hits and two walks, with seven strikeouts.  He possibly could have made it the full eight innings, but after allowing a runner to reach second, Greinke was pulled in favor of Francisco Rodriguez.  If you're curious, you can read our recap of the game here or check out video highlights here:

Greinke is still under contract for one more year and $13.5MM, the most the Brewers will owe to a player in 2012 as it stands right now.

Prince Fielder, one of the more beloved players the Milwaukee Brewers have ever had, is leaving. Sure, there is still that very slim chance that he will return, but given the financial situations the Brewers face, a lot would need to change for that to even be a decent possibility. Instead of focusing on re-signing Fielder, the Brewers will have to turn their attention towards finding his replacement at first base and finding production that will help keep the Brewers competitive in 2012, when they can potentially make another run towards the playoffs.

It's always hard to keep in mind that the Brewers don't have to replace all of Prince Fielder's production at first base, though.  They don't need to find a forty home run, .400 OBP player for their cleanup spot.  If they did, their only options would be Fielder and Albert Pujols. Somewhat fortuitously for Milwaukee, they actually have a number of positions where they could desperately use improvement at, which could make replacing Prince relatively easy. 

Look at it this way: Fielder was worth 5.5 fWAR in 2011. The Brewers will be looking to find better production at both third base and shortstop in 2012, as well. Milwaukee third baseman accounted for a grand total of 0.1 fWAR in 2011, including 0.3 by primary starter Casey McGehee.  Brewers shortstops accounted for a grand total of 1 fWAR, with half a win coming from both Yuniesky Betancourt and Craig Counsell. Added up, that is a grand total of 6.6 fWAR that the Brewers will be looking to replace.  An average of 2.2 fWAR from each spot would give Milwaukee the exact same number of wins above replacement in 2012 at those positions as they received in 2011. 

A popular free agent target among Brewers fans is Houston Astros' shortstop Clint Barmes.  Barmes, last season, was worth 3.1 wins above replacement, and that's in just roughly 3/4 of a full season. If the budget is there, Jimmy Rollins was worth 3.8 wins above replacement, and the potential is there for him to regain his old form and put up another near-MVP season.  Alex Gonzalez, Nick Punto, Rafael Furcal and Marco Scutaro--all potential free-agents--might approach or exceed that 2.2 fWAR benchmark.

Unfortunately, it's not the best year for third baseman on the free-agent market. Aramis Ramirez is the clear-cut best of the bunch, but will cost too much for the Brewers to even consider him.  Edwin Encarnacion is a decent hitter, but can't field.  Same with Wilson Betemit.  Casey Blake is an intriguing option, and the financially strapped Dodgers have already declined his $6MM option for 2012. If he will take a paycut, Blake could make a lot of sense for the Brewers. Of course, the Brewers still have Casey McGehee, whom they may hope can have a resurgence next year, and Taylor Green, whom the team seems to be warming up to.  It would be hard for McGehee to be any worse than he was in 2011 and, even if he regains the starting job and is playing terribly, the Brewers will almost certainly have him on a very short leash. 

Then, you finally get to first base options, where the choices are underwhelming. Jorge Cantu, Brad Hawpe, Derrek Lee, Xavier Nady are all guys who have had good to great seasons in the past but who would be among the worst starters at first in the majors next year. Carlos Pena is a name that has been thrown around as someone the Brewers should have interest in, but he is fresh off a $10MM contract with the Cubs and probably wouldn't take a significant pay cut. With the Brewers having roughly $10MM of salary room to work with barring any trades, Pena is not a viable option.  A pair of Twins outfielders, Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer, would be interesting moves to first, but both will also be looking for a fairly large contract. In house, Milwaukee has Mat Gamel, but it remains to be seen whether the team actually has any confidence in him. Gamel will get a look in spring training, but it would be shocking if GM Doug Melvin didn't bring in an outside candidate to compete for a job. Unfortunately, Mark Kotsay will also probably be resigned and given a shot in spring training.

Still, the Brewers don't need to sign a star player at all three positions. Depending on how Milwaukee thinks about Green and Gamel, they might see shortstop as the only real necessity. It's not beyond reach that both those players could reach two wins above replacement. It's certainly possible that Gamel and Green could both exceed that. Plugging in a player like Clint Barmes at shortstop would, at the very least, bring the team close to the same number of wins above replacement in the starting lineup as they had in 2011.  If Barmes can replicate his 3.1 fWAR year of 2011, it would require the Brewers to only find a grand total of 3.6 more wins above replacement between first and third base. That's absolutely do-able.

Of course, fWAR doesn't tell anywhere close to the full story. It is one of the best and quickest ways we have right now to judge the worth of a player, but there's still no telling how it might effect, say, Ryan Braun that he won't have the slugging Prince Fielder protecting him in the lineup. Without Fielder, the entire Brewers lineup changes. They may quite possibly no longer be known as the home-run hitting team that they have been the last several seasons. We won't know for sure until next year exactly how losing Fielder will effect the Brewers, but even if they recreate his fWAR they will be losing plenty of immeasurable intangibles.  We'll have to wait and see what that means for the Brewers in 2012.

I'll be honest, I'm kind of surprised that John Axford came up this early in MVP rankings. With Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks, Yuniesky Betancourt, Yovani Gallardo, and Zack Greinke still on the board, I would have expected Axford, a reliever, to go a little bit later. That's not to say he didn't have a great year or doesn't deserve it, though.

After astronomical K/9 and BB/9 rates with the Yankees, Axford latched on with the Brewers back in 2008 and began pitching in the lower rungs of the minors. He couldn't get rid of those pesky control problems, though, and put up BB/9 rates of 6.92 and 5.20 in 2008 and 2009, respectively, while pitching in high A ball.  In 2009, he finally got his first chance in the majors and promptly gave up a 7.04 BB/9 in seven games. He did net his first save though!

At that point, I don't think anyone would have been wrong for writing off Axford as someone who would never quite make it in the big leagues.  Until 2010, that is, when he razzled and dazzled opposing offenses after taking over the closer role from the struggling Trevor Hoffman.

Finally, Axford came into 2011 as the incumbent closer. Many Brewers fans were, understandably, concerned that he might revert back to his old wild ways and blow up in a big way, and in an all-in year for the Brewers, too. Those fears were first verified as Axford blew a save the very first game of the season, then those fears were assuaged as Axford proceeded to not blow a save again during the regular season.  Forty-six straight saves. A 1.95 ERA and a 2.41 FIP.  A 10.51 K/9 and, better yet, just a 3.05 BB/9.  73.2 innings and the NL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year.  The outstanding facial hair.  The fan interaction on twitter. Axford was nothing short of abso-fricken-lutely outstanding in 2011. 

And the best part is Axford is still under team control through 2016, and doesn't reach arbitration until 2013, so he will hopefully be the Brewers dominant closer for a long, long time.

This thread is new and fresh.  The Brewers losing is old and worn-out.  They should change that.