NL Central: High Expectations Brewing in Milwaukee

Prince Fielder is now a vegetarian.

Does this scare any other Brewer fans out there?

If it doesn’t, it should.  The Milwaukee Brewers’ MVP candidate drastically changing his diet is just one of many red flags that have me tempering my expectations for the Crew this season.

Also, the man hitting behind Fielder—left fielder Ryan Braun—is a candidate to suffer the dreaded “sophomore slump”.  With the entire National League now having a season’s worth of film to study Braun’s weaknesses at the plate, the 2007 Rookie of the Year will not have the luxury of sneaking up on opposing pitching like he did last year.

And how will Braun adapt to playing outfield?  After being just short of a defensive disaster at third base last year, Braun moves to a position he has never played at any level.  For that matter, how will Milwaukee’s super utility man Bill Hall respond to replacing Braun at third?  After all, it’s Hall’s third position in as many years, and we saw how mightily he struggled last year when switching from shortstop to center field.

Milwaukee chose to replace Hall with the inconsistent and injury-prone free agent Mike Cameron.  And from the Not-Making-The-New-Boss-Happy Department, Cameron is already suspended for the first 25 games this season for violating Major League Baseball’s steroid policy.

All these problems aside, another challenge that faces Milwaukee is getting strong production from their schizophrenic pitching staff.  Currently the Brewers are relying on Ben Sheets—whose entire body is made of glass—and Yovani Gallardo—who is recovering from preseason knee surgery—to be the backbone of their rotation.

As far as the rest of the pitching staff goes, Jeff Suppan has done little to merit his exorbitant free agent contract that he signed before last season.  If you ask any Brewer fan, Carlos Villanueva has all of the talent in the world.  But with that said, why then has it taken him so long to finally secure a rotation spot?  And while current #5 starter Manny Parra has shown flashes of brilliance over the last year, he has battled the injury bug for most of his minor league career.

Perhaps the biggest question mark for the 2008 Brewers is their revamped bullpen.  Newly-anointed closer Eric Gagne simply has not been the same since his elbow injury a few years ago.  Yet Brewers’ GM Doug Melvin still felt that Gagne was worth $10 million per year despite rampant steroid accusations and poor performance over the last two seasons.

I hope that many of these questions will be answered with strong pitching production, timely hitting, and clutch defense.  With the Cubs and even the Reds contending with Milwaukee for the Central Division crown this year, the Brewers’ margin for error will be razor-thin.

And as far as Prince goes, I’ll be sure to send him a case of Omaha steaks if his batting average dips below .250.