Milwaukee Brewers

On Wednesday evening I had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing current Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher, Seth McClung .

Now before I begin, I’d just like to express my well wishes to him, not only for doing the interview but also for his speedy responses.

For the past few weeks all the buzz around baseball has been focused on Hot Stove talk. So I figured why not change things up a bit and talk to a player about baseball in general.

Ryan Braun or Tommy Harper? Prince Fielder or Cecil Cooper? Power or speed? The past or the present?

It all points to one question with hundreds of possibilities: Which Brewer had the greatest offensive season at his position?

Major League baseball has been asking fans this same question in an effort to choose each team's best-ever collection of stars.

They are calling it MLB 9s.

After a very disappointing 2009 season, fans of the Milwaukee Brewers are anticipating GM Doug Melvin to make several moves this winter involving the pitching staff to bring the team back to prominence in 2010. Regardless of the pitching acquisitions, the Brewers will need some luck as well as several players having career seasons to achieve the success they did in 2008.

When the Brewers traded JJ Hardy for Carlos Gomez, they sealed their fate as to how they will acquire starting pitching this winter.

Other than John Lackey, the free agent class for pitchers is rather underwhelming, but Brewers' GM Doug Melvin is determined to find two starters on the market.

The Arizona Brewers, the Brewers Rookie affiliate Minor League team, had it's best season since 2002, when they went 26-30.

When looking at low Minor League affiliated teams, the record doesn't always indicate the success of a team. Since the Arizona Brewers are the first step in a Minor League players progression through the Brewers organization, it is very common to have players get called up to progress quicker.

Do you think Jeff Suppan wakes up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night thinking "I am why the Brewers cannot win..."?  I doubt it.  If he does lose sleep at night though, he shouldn't.  It's not his fault... it's GM Doug Melvin's.  Melvin is the man who gave the then 31 year old Suppan a 4 year $42 million dollar deal, and it will be a crushing blow to the Brewers this season as they will be forced to pay Suppan almost $13 million for sub par pitching.  His stats for last season?

Rumors have surfaced in recent days that Milwaukee Brewers' GM Doug Melvin has talked with Tigers' GM Dave Dombrowski over the possibility of acquiring starting pitcher Edwin Jackson. Jackson is being shopped in a cost-cutting move by the Tigers.

Jackson is coming off the best statistical season of his career, and he is under team control for two more years. He made $2.2 million in 2009.

It was a tale of two seasons for the young righty. He was named to his first All-Star team in July with a 7-4 record and a 2.52 ERA.

One of the most important attributes in building a pitching rotation is the durability of the pitchers. When a team can rely on a starter to go out every fifth day to make his start, they have the foundation for a very good rotation.

When Brewers' GM Doug Melvin looks over a list of available starting pitchers this winter he'll find few pitchers that are more reliable and durable than Jon Garland. The Dodgers have declined their option on Garland, making him one of the more attractive options on the open market.

Although the offseason has barely begun, the Milwaukee Brewers are already making their plans for this time next year. Rebuilding, retooling, or reloading; call it whatever you like but that's what the Brewers are using the 2010 season to do.

While this may be hard for fans to swallow only a year after making the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, it's a harsh reality of being a small or mid-market team in the current baseball economy. The Brewers simply cannot hope to compete for the playoffs year in and year out.