Strange Brew: Shuffling Brewers Fading Fast

Without a knight in shining armor this season in CC Sabathia , the NL Central fading Brewers might just be forced to call it a season and look ahead to next Spring. That is if they can't at least keep pace with the likes of the Cardinals and the myriad of hopeful Wild Card clubs ahead of them.

This weekend it actually won't be easy, as they will meet up with what is now an inspired, "hot" Pittsburgh Pirate ball club.

The "Brew Crew" currently sits 5 games under .500 at 61-66, as they just suffered a 3-game sweep at the hands of Dusty Baker and his ever so anemic Cincinnati Reds.

As usual, the problem has little to do with the offense, as even the early departure of Rickie Weeks hasn't chipped up their thriving bats at all. In fact, Felipe Lopez has arguably been better than the Rickie we have known to this point.

Look no further than the bump, however. The Brewers are scraping bottom in team ERA (4.90), Home runs allowed (476), team WHIP (1.46), and HR/9 (a whopping 1.40).

One might question why there weren't any viable moves made to shore up the rotation and/or the game's WORST bullpen.

Brewers GM, Doug Melvin said "he is glad he didn't go after some of the free agent arms that were available last off-season".

If that was the case, he must be ecstatic to see his club's offensive prowess go to waste day in and day out since the trade deadline.

Moves they COULD HAVE made:

-Jarrod Washburn

-Roy Halladay

-Hardy to Boston for the likes of any B+list pitcher, including Clay Buchholz who would have done considerably better for himself in the National League.

Granted, the problems are actually too severe to stop the bleeding with one band-aid, but in the end it would have at least gotten the club into contention for this coming month; instead, they are fading fast without having solved any real problems. Doug Melvin's intent is unclear, and so is the future of the ball club.

Bottom Line

Chances are, the Crew is done for this season. Their hopes now sit in the bus leagues where they hope to develop talent at a rapid pace in order to get it all up to the big club accordingly. In some ways, that process hasn't failed them "yet" (Prince, Braun, Gallardo, etc), but until it all lines up, they will always be labeled an "incomplete.