Milwaukee's lack of pitching proved to be too much for them to overcome in 2010.
Milwaukee ended the season third in the NL Central at 77-85. With the additions of Shaun Marcum and Zach Greinke this offseason, Milwaukee heads into this season with a ton of optimism.
Here is a quick look at the starting lineup and starting rotation for the Brewers, plus our take on where we think they will finish the year in our 2011 MLB predictions.
Starting Lineup
The Brewers offense is centered around the production of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, but there are a number of players in this lineup who can swing the stick. Rickie Weeks showed what he was capable of when healthy, posting a career-high 29 home runs hitting first for the Brewers.
Cory Hart also had a monster season with 31 home runs and 102 RBI. Casey McGehee showed that he has the talent to hold down the starting job at third base, and in a lineup full of sluggers he led the team with 104 RBI.
The Brewers added even more offense with the offseason signing of shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, but he will be a liability on defense. Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy aren't expected to do much offensively for Milwaukee, and any improvement from last year will only make this lineup that much better.
Starting Rotation
The Brewers are going for it all this year, and the additions of Greinke and Marcum give them a great shot at not only winning the division, but making a deep run in the playoffs.
Don't be fooled by Greinke's 10-14 record and 4.17 ERA in 2010, he was playing on a bad team, and should be even better pitching in the National League. We look for Greinke to be much closer to his 2009 numbers, when he won the AL Cy Young going 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA.
Marcum went just 9-7 last year, but improved both his ERA and WHIP, and those numbers only figure to get better now that he is out of the AL East. When you throw in Greinke and Marcum to the mix of Yovani Gallardo and Randy Wolf, Milwaukee now has a starting staff that can contend with most teams.
Wolf disappointed in his first season with the Brewers, but now that he is the No. 4 starter, the expectations aren't as high, and we think he will come back even better with a solid run this year.
The fifth and final spot in the rotation will be handled by Chris Narveson, who went 12-9 with a 4.99 ERA in his first full season as a starter. Depending on how much he improves from last season, the Brewers could have themselves a very underrated pitching staff even with the big additions they made.
2011 Projection: First Place NL Central
The Brewers have had the offense to be a contender in the National League the past few seasons, but they haven't had the rotation/bullpen. With the improvements to the pitching staff, we have the Brewers making it back to the postseason for just the fourth time in team history.
With the injury to Cardinals' ace Adam Wainwright, the Brewers' MLB odds to win the division are sure to go up.
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