Milwaukee Brewers
 

The Brewers are moving to a new ballpark this year with hopes of starting a winning tradition in Milwaukee.  It has been almost a decade since they have posted a winning season.  With their farm system finally beginning to produce more than one decent prospect every five years, the Brewers faithful might not have to wait much longer.
 

Offense

Second baseman Ron Belliard leads things off for an offense that ranked 13th in the NL last year.  While he's not the prototypical lead-off hitter who steals a ton of bases, he gets on base and has power enough to put himself in scoring position with a hit 50 times a season.  Behind him is his double play partner Mark Loretta, who is almost identical in his offensive ability.  Together, they provide a decent number of RBI opportunities for the big boppers in the middle of the order.

The numbers 3, 4 and 5 hitters for the Brewers have 2 things in common: they can put the ball out of the park 30+ times a year, and they miss the ball completely a lot.  Right fielder Jeromy Burnitz, first baseman Richie Sexson and left fielder Geoff Jenkins combined to smack 95 homers last year, driving in 283 runs.  They also struck out 415 times.  Opposing managers pretty much know that the hit-and-run will not be employed by the Brewers when these guys are at the plate.  That's not to say that these guys are one-dimensional.  Each gets on base about 35% of the time, and Burnitz and Jenkins have both stolen as many as 10 bases in a season.

Jeffrey Hammonds and Devon White will play center and spell Burnitz and Jenkins.  Hammonds is the better offensive player by a large margin, but has been so injury prone that he's gotten as many as 400 at bats only once in his entire 8-year career.  When he's healthy, he produces, having topped .850 OPS in each of the past 2 seasons.  Offensively, White is one of the most ineffective outfielders in the majors, the center field equivalent of Rey Ordonez.

Like the guys in the middle of the order, third baseman Jose Hernandez has good power and strikes out a lot.  Unfortunately, he does not also possess their on base skills.

Henry Blanco will be the primary catcher due to his superior defensive skills.  At least, they are superior to Tyler Houston's and Raul Casanova's, his backups.  Offensively however, he gives the Brewers another obstacle to scoring runs.  Houston and Casanova are better, but only marginally.

By most accounts, the new stadium will play like a hitter's park.  But unless it also helps the Brewers lineup to distinguish balls from strikes, they will still be one of the least effective offenses in the NL.  RATING: 45
 

Defense

At one time, Devon White was one of the best centerfielders in the game with his glove.  That time has clearly passed as he ranks near the bottom in range.  Blanco is excellent backstop at throwing out runners and at least decent at calling a game and blocking balls in the dirt.  Jose Hernandez, Geoff Jenkins and Ron Belliard are above average defensively.  The rest of the team is basically average.  RATING: 50
 

Starting Pitching

It seems like every time the Brewers farm system produces a pitching prospect, he comes out smoking the league for about a year, then blows out his arm and is seen kicking around the Mexican Leagues a couple years later.  Juan Nieves, Teddy Higuera, Jaime Navarro, Cal Eldred (although he resurfaced last year with the White Sox), Scott Karl...  The latest to follow that career path are Jeff D'Amico and Steve Woodard although it's looking like neither one will follow that script exactly.  D'Amico did set the world on fire when he first came up, outdueling Roger Clemens in his first start.  And he did suffer an arm injury.  But he looks healthy again and should be at least an average contributor in the rotation.  Woodard never did go under the knife; instead he got traded to Cleveland.  Three other members of the rotation - Jamey Wright, Jimmy Haynes and Paul Rigdon - are basically castoffs from other organizations who have failed to live up to expectation.  Wright probably has the most talent, but also has the hardest time controlling his above average stuff.  The final spot in the rotation belongs to 2000 Olympic hero Ben Sheets.  Sheets shut out the Cuban National team in the gold medal game, completely dominating a team that had dominated amateur baseball for the past 30 years.  However, major league hitters are considerably more dangerous than anyone Sheets has faced.  While he will be a fine starter in years to come, this year will be a struggle.  The guy to watch is ultra-hard throwing Nick Neugebauer, who's starting the season in the minors.  If the Brewers call him up before June, with the expanded strikezone, he could have the same kind of production that Kerry Wood did in 1998, although it's highly unlikely he could carry this team to the playoffs.  RATING: 45
 

Bullpen

In 1995, Curt Leskanic was one of several Rockies relievers who pitched brilliantly during their unlikely playoff run.  That year, he threw 98 innings in 76 appearances in the thin air of the Mile High City, striking out 107 batters while walking only 33.  However, the rest of his career has been a struggle to recapture the magic.  He still strikes batters out at a high rate, but now that he's the designated closer for the Brewers, his walk rates, which reached 6 batters per 9 innings last year, are a cause for concern.  Leskanic has a solid supporting cast wit Chad Fox, who many believe will succeed Leskanic as closer in the near future, David Weathers, Will Cunnane, Brandon Kolb and Ray King.  All 5 of these guys throw in the low 90s and will give enough quality innings to allow manager Davey Lopes to only have to use his starters for 5 or 6 innings.  RATING: 60 (65 if Leskanic finds control)
 

Management

There was a time when the Brewers were one of the worst in baseball in this respect.  Their farm system rarely produced players and when it did, the GM would deal them for some pieces of string and a bottlecap.  Their manager would routinely blow out young arms and overmanage the team to a few extra losses a year, not that they needed any help.  That's not the case anymore.  By most accounts, Davey Lopes is a smart man who knows how to get the most out of his players and doesn't often feel compelled to lose a game with baroque strategy.  He might even be worth a few extra wins for the Brewers.  GM Dean Taylor learned from one of the best when he was with the Braves organization.  No, not John Schuerholz.  But the guy who preceded Schuerholz and signed most of the talent that we now associate with the Braves: Paul Snyder.  Taylor has done a nice job in his 2 years of signing some promising prospects and he's made some decent trades as well, bringing Sexson over from the Indians.  He also seems to understand the true value of a contract as he was able to get out from under 2 years of Marquis Grissom's salary for the price of one year Devon White at the same rate, which isn't bad since there's not a whole lot of difference between the two on the field.  His signing of Jeffrey Hammonds was questionable, not for the actual signing, but for the amount he signed him.  Still, not a bad debut.  RATING: 55
 

Conclusion

While they finished a surprising third last year in the Central, the Brewers will not win the division this year.  However, it's not a stretch at all to say that they will contend for this division on a regular basis by the end of this decade.  They don't have the talent yet, but they have good leadership and that's probably the most important aspect of building a winning organization.