The bags are packed and the the trucks and players are headed north. Yes boys and girls, Spring Training is finally over. Doesn't it seem to drag on at times? Yes, and I'm not even a player. Maybe it was all the injuries that plagued the Brewers through the spring,but they could not get out of Maryvale fast enough and get things started and working towards Thursday's opener with the Reds.
Good news has started to come from Brewers camp just as they were preparing to leave for Cinncy. Pitcher Shaun Marcum was sharp in his final tune-up of the spring and will start Saturday. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy has been cleared to play and will spend a few more days in Arizona to get some time in before making stops at Single-A and Double-A before joining the big-league team after a week to 10 days. Both Corey Hart and Zack Greinke are also on the positive path and shouldn't miss more than a couple weeks of the regular season.
With that, the Brewers should be able to put the injuries behind them and focus on the task at hand that is the NL Central Division race.
Outside of the injuries, the key offensively will likely be to get production out of the bottom four batters in the order. It might end up being a sad state of affairs when the pitchers hit better than Yuniesky Betancourt and Carlos Gomez. Gomez has shown signs of turning things around and had a very solid spring. With his speed, he just needs to get his on-base percentage over .300 and between .310 and .330. It's not asking a lot. Of course, GM Doug Melvin went out and got himself an insurance policy when he traded for Nyjer Morgan on Saturday. If things go south for Gomez, expect a platoon in center field. But don't look for that to come right away. Gomez's play in the spring has earned him another chance to fail. They want him to show why he was included in the Johann Santana deal with the Mets and Twins and take that step and I don't blame them. The Morgan deal also gives the team a left-handed hitter, too. Which, if the change is made in center, could set the table for the batting order to get shuffled. But we'll cross that bridge when it gets here, because at the moment, that spot belongs to Rickie Weeks and rightfully so.
With the starting rotation needs addressed and seemingly one of the strengths as one of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's top-three rotations in the NL, the focus now turns to the bullpen. Yes, John Axford was great last year. As was Kameron Loe and Zach Braddock. But do it again, please. Those guys are all young and it seems Braddock has taken a step back in the spring and was not effective. Takashi Saito is a solid back-up plan to Ax, but he's 41 years old. With the starting rotation addressed, these guys can't let leads go by the wayside or there will be a drastic overhaul like there was last year two months into the season.
The main question mark on this team has to be defense. Seemingly every baseball publication has had nothing but terrible things to say about them. It may be the Achilles heel to the Brewers during the season, but the hope is the better pitching gives them fewer chances than last year's staff did, allowing the most balls to go into play in the NL. It's an easy conclusion to make if that is what you're arguing. If you have 10,000 chances to blow something, as opposed to 5,000 (just an example) there is a bigger chance for error. Quite possibly the biggest question mark of them all is Betancourt, who has had ups and downs all spring and is a downright liability in the field at times when he gets lazy with his throws. Like I wrote early in the spring, no one is asking him to be great and lead the team. They just want him to minimize the errors in the field and be patient at the plate and just be a solid player.
So what does all this mean for the Brewers? In reading around different publications, many have the Brewers winning near 85 games. That may seem low, but if you think about it, the NL Central could be one of the best divisions in baseball, which means they might take on a few more losses than if they would in another division.
With the Wainright injury, I don't see the Cardinals being at the top and the Cubs have too many questions to be right there. That makes this really a race between the Brewers and Reds. The Reds seem to have almost every question answered to start the season. Last season, the Brewers could not find a way to beat them, obviously something they need to do if they want to back up the expectations with a run at the top of the standings.
Here are my postseason picks:
NL Central: Reds
NL East: Phillies
NL West: Rockies (Write it down!)
Wild Card: Brewers with a record of 88-74
NLCS: Phillies over Brewers
AL Central: White Sox
AL East: Red Sox
AL West: Angels
Wild Card: Yankees
ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees
World Series: Phillies over Red Sox
I'll let you digest those picks and get right into the Nussie Hunter portion of today's show. This Sucker Punch movie looks like a great action movie and it stars from pretty hot chicks. One of them that might surprise you is Vanessa Hudgens. Yes, she's out of the High School Musical. As the photo below shows... Be sure to check out more at Complex Magainze.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment