Milwaukee Brewers Team Update at MLB Trade Deadline

The Brewers are heading into the Trade Deadline at second in the NL Central, and first in the NL Wild Card. They've been playing postseason type baseball as of late (minus this current home stand), and are giving Brewers fans something to look forward to in the second half for the second straight year.

But some fans are still on the fence and are questioning whether or not the Brewers are good enough for a run to the playoffs. Here's what I think.

Question One: Who has the better schedule down the stretch, the Brewers or the Cubs?

Answer: Brewers. The Cubs have a tough schedule during the last two months, with a lot of those games coming on the road. The Brewers have a very favorable schedule coming up in August, as the majority of their games are against teams under .500. While most of them are on the road, they have only two series against teams .500 or better (Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals—both on the road).

Question Two: How will the bullpen hold up?

Answer: The bullpen is full of veterans, but not many have playoff experience. I'm sure a few of them can handle the next two (hopefully three) months, but I'm sure everyone would feel a lot safer if we traded for a decent arm to throw in there as well. For more on that, see question four.

Question Three: Will Eric Gagne be put back into the closers' role?

Answer: The bullpen hasn't been too bad as of late, and yes, Salomon Torres has been a bit shaky since Gagne has come back, but not bad enough to give the ball back to him in the ninth. I'm not sure he can handle the pressure. He looks perfect for the current set-up role he's in now, and hasn't done too bad, so, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Question Four: Will the Brewers make another move to acquire either another starter or reliever?

Answer: Everyone would be thrilled if the Brewers could trade for an arm in the 'pen, such as Huston Street or Brian Fuentes, but it'd probably take another couple of our top prospects.

Question Five: Will the Brewers trade guys who are struggling like Weeks, Hall, Cameron, Mota, Suppan, etc.?

Answer: A lot of us are getting a bit frustrated with the play of Rickie Weeks lately, but I can't see him being moved. If he does, it'll be to Nashville, our AAA team. We sent him down last year, too, and when he came back up, he started performing well, again. If they plan on moving him, it should be soon, as they don't want him to miss that much time.

Another hole we have is at 3B, but Bill Hall has been OK as of late. Also, the back of our rotation has become killer. Jeff Suppan is not performing well, but we can't move him, so we're stuck. We have three solid SPs in Ben Sheets, CC Sabathia, and Manny Parra, and Dave Bush has been pitching pretty lights out lately, too.

There are only two SPs that are rumored to be heading elsewhere, and they are: Greg Maddux (who wants to stay on the West Coast) and Jarrod Washburn (who is probably headed to the Yankees).

Also, the Brewers won't be trading any of those guys, I can assure you, as most teams probably won't have any interest, and because it's not good to trade players while they're struggling. Teams who do have some interest won't be willing to give up quality talent in return.

If you're set on trading a player, or if the player wants out, it's key to trade them when they're at the top of their game. Nobody's going to want someone who's washed up, or just flat out not having a good season, because chances are they aren't going to change once they've been dealt.

So, that's about it for now. It certainly will be interesting to see what happens the rest of today and tomorrow.