For the month of March I will be doing a season preview, with a new team each day, going in alphabetical order by team so I can save the Yankees for last, because I am, in fact, that devious.
As this is a Yankees' blog, the previews for AL East teams will be more detailed than those of AL Central and AL West teams, and any AL team previews will be more detailed than NL team previews, save maybe for the Mets. Each preview will involve consideration of how much 'threat' a team is to the Yankees, for fairly obvious reasons.
Up Today: The Milwaukee Brewers
Suffice it to say that last year the Brewers were first one of the great, feel-good surprises of the season...and then they were one of the great disappointments.
On paper, they should be competitive enough, especially at the corners in Ryan Braun (who put up numbers that defy, well, everything his rookie year) and Prince Fielder, who would have been treated like a king if not for A-Rod's monster season.
However, there are some major pitching questions. Ben Sheets appears to be taking lessons from Carl Pavano, Chris Capuano lost something like (at least) eighteen straight starts (okay, at that point it's luck herself doing you in) and, well, they signed Eric Gagnè, which should tell you quite a bit.
In the NL Central, they'll get some serious competition from the Cubs for the division lead, and it seems most likely that the NL Wild Card is going to come out of the West in either Colorado, San Diego or Arizona (not to mention the Dodgers), so the Brewers have quite a task ahead of them. Are they better than, say, 75% of the National League teams out there?
No question.
However, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades (and midterms that give partial credit).
Threat level to the Yankees: Green. Proceed Normally.
The two would only play each other in a World Series, and, while technically possible, it's not likely to happen. Unfortunately, however, by taking Gagnè, we may now have lost a significant anti-Boston ally....
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
A Preview A Day Keeps the Winter Away, #6
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Ryan Braun is actually going to play left field this year, do to his inability to play third. The Brewers depth chart has Bill Hall at third, but I heard something about Corey Koskie maybe making a comeback.
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