MLB Rumors: Milwaukee Brewers Wasting Time with Japanese Star Norichika Aoki

The Milwaukee Brewers have posted the winning bid to negotiate with Japanese star Norichika Aoki; but the team is wasting its time because the NL Central champs already have good depth in the outfield.

Aoki is a good center fielder, but the Brewers already have Nyjer Morgan and Carlos Gomez on their roster; and both very capable of playing that position or sharing it during the 162-game season.

Despite NL MVP Ryan Braun testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs this month and facing a possible 50-game suspension, the Brewers' most pressing need is not in the outfield.

First base is an area they must address. All-Star slugger Prince Fielder is a free agent, and it would be foolish for the Brewers to overpay to keep him in the organization for the future. Fielder wants too much money, and the team would be smart to spend that money on his replacement as well as on some pitching, both in the starting rotation and bullpen.

Aoki is a three-time Central League batting champion and batted .292 with four home runs and 44 RBIs with the Yakult Swallows last season. Those are not very good stats for someone that the Brewers paid $2.5 million just to negotiate with.

Milwaukee needs to focus their efforts on either paying the big bucks and re-signing Fielder to keep his offense and run production in town, or search for his replacement. Replacing Fielder's production may even require two new players to be brought into the team's lineup.

Aoki just isn't worth the Brewers time, and besides, for every Ichiro and Hideki Matsui that come over from Japan and play well, there are players like Kosuke Fukudome who don't make it in the MLB.

Milwaukee should shift its focus away from Aoki and address Fielder's future and upgrade their pitching, too.