The 2012 Milwaukee Brewers offense is the aspect of the team that people are the most concerned about for many reasons. And two of those reasons don't really even have to do with the offense. For the first time in as long as I can remember (if not ever) the same 5 Starting Pitchers from 2011 are returning, erasing a lot of doubts that people had about our pitching this year. That's because the 2011 starting pitching was so good that we won a franchise record 96 games last year. That and with a pretty good bullpen (with K-Rod for an entire year) eases the usual "Who follows Gallardo" question that seemingly came up every year before recently. If the starting 5 has the same year as they did last year we should easily win 81+ games even if the offense struggles. But I'm counting on Grienke to improve and Marcum to not fade down the stretch, which should be good for at least 10 wins alone. And even though they lost Saito and Hawkins who were huge in the 6th and 7th innings, they will have Francisco Rodriguez for an entire year as well as a couple guys coming back from injury, like Manny Parra and Zach Braddock, that should give them a solid bullpen and the lefties that they missed last year. Say what you want, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over this pitching staff. As a whole I'd put them in the Top 5 of the National League. So no worries there.
So if there aren't any questions about the pitching, that means the offense must be littered with those quizzical punctuation marks. And all of this is because of the loss of the big slugger Prince Fielder to free agency. I really didn't want to talk about Prince but it is inevitable. So look for his name to pop up periodically throughout these posts because he was undoubtedly their biggest offensive weapon over the last 6 years. So where does that leave the rest of the team? Don't listen to everyone else. They're going to be just fine. They have made some moves to fill in the holes and Manager Ron Roenicke seems to understand what kind of team he has. This is a team that will rely more on speed, manufacturing runs and playing small ball. They lost some homerun power but hopefully Aramis Ramirez and Mat Gamel will combine to replace what was lost when Fielder left the building. I also expect catcher Jonathon Lucroy to improve so generally speaking the team should be pretty balanced from the top to the bottom of the lineup.
One of my favorite things about this "25 Brewers in 25 Days" segment is making all of my preseason predictions so that I can go back at the end of the year and see how well I know my team. I claim to be a fairly confident expert when it comes to the Brewers because I watch them day in and day out, read articles nightly and listen to a ton of sports talk radio to gauge the opinions of the media as well as other fans. From all of that information I'm able to form my own opinions that are more times than not pretty accurate which stems from plenty of observation. So now on to some 2012 overall predictions:
- The Brewers will finish with a 90-72 record, once again winning the NL Central and returning to the Playoffs for the 2nd year in a row
- Cincinnati Reds will finish 2nd, St. Louis Cardinals 3rd, Chicago Cubs 4th, Pittsburgh Pirates 5th and in their last year in the NL Central the Houston Astros will once again finish dead last
- The Brewers will once again easily draw over 3 million fans and flirt with the all-time attendance record
- The Brewers will send 3 players to the All-Star game in Kansas City - Ryan Braun, Zack Greinke and either Corey Hart or John Axford
- Brewers fans will have completely forgotten about Prince Fielder because they will finally come to the realization that pitching and defense win games (not Bill Hall). They will also become more educated on the small ball aspects of the game such as bunting runners over and using the hit and run due to the lack of spectacle of the long ball
I think it's a stretch that they will win 90 games but I'm being overly optimistic because I think that our defense will improve leading to winning more close games. I don't really believe in Cincinnati even though most people are picking them to win the division. Sure they have a good pitching staff but Dusty Baker usually only has one good year with a team (the Reds won the NL Central in 2010) and then they fade. I don't believe in St. Louis even though they won the World Series last year. Losing Albert Pujols will hurt them but not as much as losing Tony LaRussa who most definitely got his team to play above their heads. He's one of the best managers to ever coach the game. And even though they get Adam Wainright back, it now looks like Chris Carpenter will start the season on the DL with no timetable on when he can start pitching again. So they're hurting on offense and pitching. Not a good combo. Chicago is in semi-rebuilding mode under new GM Theo Epstein and new Manager Dale Sveum so they shouldn't really be a threat. Plus they're the Cubs. Pittsburgh always shows some promise but always fades during the 2nd half of the year which kind of sucks. I don't want them to win the division (obviously) but I'd like to see the Pirates have a winning season and end the current 19-year consecutive losing season streak, the longest all time in American professional sports history. At some point you just kind of feel bad for the guys. Houston bottomed out last year with a 56-106 record and I don't see them doing much better in their final year in the NL Central before they move to the AL West in 2013. So that's how I see that shaking out.
As for me? I'll be joining 3 million other Brewers fans but I'll be in my usual spot in the leftfield bleachers wearing a sombrero until they kick me out. I don't know how many games I will make it to this year as a fan but I will certainly try to get to my fair share in an effort to enjoy this season. I will once again be up on the club level working as an In-Seat Waitstaff for my 10th season. Hard to believe that it has been a decade now. Where does all the time go? It sure has been a fun 10 years with the ups (the 2008 season and seeing Postseason baseball for the first time as I was only 1 year old in 1982) and the downs (losing 106 games in 2002). But nothing compared to winning the NLDS in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 5 last October. That was the best moment I ever witnessed in person and even though we lost in to the St. Louis Cardinals in 6 games of the NLCS, it still was an overwhelmingly successful season. I look forward to another one with hopefully better results. I would love to be at a World Series sometime in my life and can't even imagine how sweet it would be to see my team win one. Here's hoping that 2012 will turn out better than 2011 in more ways than just on the baseball field.
So that's the overall picture for the 2012 Milwaukee Brewers as I see it. Of course things can change due to injury and mid-season trades but this is how I call it 2 weeks before Opening Day, which is Friday April 6th. This season better be fun because I could use a little distraction from my life even if things are becoming easier to deal with as the days go by. But one thing for sure is that you can always catch me hanging out in the leftfield bleachers or in the parking lot wearing a sombrero. I can't promise much else than that because everything else is out of my control. But I do hope that everything does go according to plan because last year was such a fun ride, especially in the months of August-October. To be able to experience that every year would be a dream come true. That's certainly something that we're not used to here in Milwaukee but I'd be ok with that changing. Some change is good and I would welcome that one with open arms and a hot steaming casserole. You know, just a little "friendly welcome to the neighborhood, hope you like it here and stay a while" gesture. One can dream, right? But I won't have to dream to realize that kind of thing happening to the Milwaukee Brewers because it is now a reality. So wake up people! Fully embrace every game of this season because it's going to be a whole lot of fun. Best buy in now before the price of admission increases. You can't afford that shit to take advantage of the preseason deal they got going on. All that the Brewers ask is your loyalty and commitment. Sign on the dotted line right next to my name and we can all be friends. And sombrero hermanos. You know that you want to.
- pookon -
email: pookondotcom@gmail.com
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