2004 At a Glance for Milwaukee
W-L: 67-94
Pythag W-L: 66-95
Runs Scored-Runs Allowed: 634-757
Offseason Moves
Lost via Free Agency: Gary Bennett, Craig Counsell
Lost via Trade: Keith Ginter, Danny Kolb, Scott Podsednik, Luis Vizcaino
Gained via Free Agency: Ricky Bottalico, Damian Miller
Gained via Trade: Jose Capellan, Carlos Lee, Justin Lehr
Possible 25 Man Roster:
C
Damian Miller
Chad Moeller
1B
Lyle Overbay
SS
Bill Hall
CF
Brady Clark
RF
Carlos Lee
Utility Infielders
J.J. Hardy
Reserve Outfielders
Dave Krynzel
Corey Hart
Starting Rotation
- Ben Sheets
- Doug Davis
- Victor Santos
- Chris Capuano
- Jose Capellan
Brooks Kieschnick
Mike Adams
Jeff Bennett
Matt Wise
Jorge De La Rosa
Ricky Bottalico
Justin Lehr
Up and Coming
Prince Fielder
Rickie Weeks
J.J. Hardy
2005 Outlook
It's pretty safe to say that a franchise is in serious trouble if their most prominent blogger is reduced to crowing all season about how well the team is doing at the gate. Despite all the sucking.
Heck the Brewer fan mentality could probably be compared to a battered wife's. Always making excuses, defending the indefensible (like Bud Selig), and putting up with far too much abuse.
If this were the typical Brewers preview this would be where I change gears and start talking about the good times ahead. But I'm not going to do that.
There will be improvement in the next few years. The Brewers have a few grade-A prospects and a couple of pretty good pitchers so improvement is inevitable. But for the Brewers to have a sustained run of excellence they'll have to draft well year in and year out. They're not going to do that. Nothing about the way this team has been run in recent years leads me to believe that they're capable of drafting well consistently.
Look no farther than their number one pick last year, where they took a high school pitcher with the fifth overall pick. A pretty bad sin in and of itself, made worse when it's pointed out that they didn't even take the highest rated high school pitcher available. BA says this about Mark Rogers:
He projects as a No. 2 or 3 starter.
The fifth overall pick in the draft and they took a guy that projects as a No. 2 or No. 3. That's criminal stupidity.
So here's what's going to happen with the Brewers. They're going to ramp up in the next few years, maybe getting over .500 for a year or two, maybe even three. If they're really lucky and they keep trading with Kenny Williams they might have a repeat of 1982, but more than likely they won't.
And then when Prince Fielder, and Sheets, and Hardy have all left as free agents they'll be mediocre again for another twenty years. Que sera, sera.
Next up: Pittsburgh