Milwaukee Brewers: How the Brewers Offense Is Thriving Without Prince Fielder

When the Milwaukee Brewers lost Prince Fielder to free agency, many critics, including me, thought their offense would be less explosive and not as dynamic. I—and the rest of the doubters—were wrong.

Dead wrong.

The Brewers signed Aramis Ramirez to fill the void left by Fielder. Ramirez's stats are almost identical to Fielder's.

Here is a breakdown of Prince Fielder's and Aramis Ramirez's 2012 statistics as of September 26.

	AVG	HR	RBI	SLG
Prince Fielder	.308	28	104	.519
Aramis Ramirez	.298	26	99	.540

Hitting at Comerica Park proves to be stunningly more difficult than at Miller Park so you have to figure in that equation when comparing their numbers.

Stll, there is definitely no drop off in production in the cleanup spot for the Brewers. Plus, Ramirez was a much cheaper option than it would have been to re-sign Fielder. Ramirez was signed to a three-year, $36 million deal, while Fielder is making $214 million in a nine-year deal.

Ramirez is second on the Brewers in home runs and RBI, and leads all of MLB in doubles with 50.

The former Cub is making the Brewers look smart.

To go along with Ramirez being a top-tier replacement for Fielder, Milwaukee's offense has more boom than it did a year ago. Through 154 games, Ron Roenicke's wrecking crew has launched 190 home runs—five more than they did in 2011. Contribute this to the emergence of Carlos Gomez's power and Ryan Braun belting a career-high 40 home runs.

They've also managed to drive in more runs without Fielder in the lineup. As of September 26, Milwaukee has collected 703 RBI, with Braun and Ramirez leading the way, versus 693 in 2011.

Letting Prince Fielder go seems to be the right move—for now, anyway. Ramirez, 34, might see his production falter as his years rise, but he's proved he can still play at a exceedingly high-level.