The 30 Team/30 Day Report Cards: Day 10- Milwaukee Brewers

We're still sticking with the NL Central, as we will begin Day 10 by issuing our report card to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Milwaukee Brewers

Record: 77-85 (Third place in NL Central, 14 games behind Cincinnati)

Batting Leaders

Batting Average: Ryan Braun (.304)

Home Runs: Prince Fielder (32)

RBIs: Casey McGehee (104)

On-base Percentage: Prince Fielder (.401)

Pitching Leaders

Wins: Yovani Gallardo (14)

Strikeouts: Yovani Gallardo (201)

Innings Pitched: Randy Wolf (215.2)

ERA: Yovani Gallardo (3.84). Bullpen- John Axford (2.48)

WHIP: Yovani Gallardo (1.37). Bullpen- Kameron Loe (1.18)

Saves: John Axford (24)

Highlight of the Season: In one of the more epic destructions of a team in baseball history, the Brewers annihilated the Pirates in Pittsburgh 20-0 on April 22. The victory closed out a three-game sweep of the Bucs, a series in which the Brew Crew outscored Pittsburgh 36-1.

Lowlight of the Season: Virtually every game against the Cincinnati Reds in 2010, as the Brewers finished a dismal 3-11 against them. Their worst loss against the Reds came on July 27, when they suffered a 12-4 rout at home.

The Lowdown:

Milwaukee in 2010 was a study in extremes. The Brewers could certainly mash with the best in baseball offensively, but much like in 2009, their pitching was their Achilles’ heel. The team has unfortunately been stuck in gear since making the postseason in 2008, and they have not been able to weather the loss of C.C. Sabathia to free agency. A staff ace has emerged in Yovani Gallardo, but even he cannot keep the team’s entire staff afloat. Despite this, the Brew Crew still has one of the more intimidating lineups assembled in the National League today, with Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder anchoring the offense. This tandem’s days might be numbered though, as Fielder has been the subject of considerable amounts of trade talk during this offseason.

Offense:

Milwaukee featured one of the best lineups in the National League and in MLB this year, finishing fifth in home runs with 188, sixth in slugging at .424, ninth in on-base percentage at .335 and 12^th in runs with 750. Once again, the Brew Crew was bolstered by the efforts of outfielder Ryan Braun and first baseman Prince Fielder, the two-man wrecking crew that terrorizes NL pitching year in and year out. Braun hit .304 this year, with 25 home runs and 103 RBIs, while Fielder hit .261 with 32 home runs and 83 driven in. These two weren’t the only ones putting runs on the board however, as Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Casey McGehee all formed the elements that made up the Milwaukee Lumber Company this year. Hart featured numbers that were very comparable to Fielder and Braun, hitting .283 with 31 home runs and 102 RBIs, while Rickie Weeks finally put on the power display people were expecting from him, hitting 29 home runs and driving in 83. McGehee was a solid compliment to these aforementioned four, hitting .285, with 23 home runs and 104 RBIs.

Make no mistake about it; this lineup is an updated version of “Harvey’s Wallbangers,” the nickname of the heavy hitting 1982 Brewers team that reached the World Series. When you have five players who hit at least 20 home runs like this year’s team, you’re going to scare the hell out of a lot of pitching staffs.

Final Grade: A+

Pitching:

Mentioned earlier, the Brewers’ biggest weakness in 2010 was their pitching by far. They surrendered the sixth most home runs in the game with 173, along with finishing 26^th in ERA (4.58) and 25^th in “batting average against” (.267). The staff was led by the 25-year-old righty Yovani Gallardo, who went 14-7 with a 3.84 ERA in 185 innings, but outside of him, the staff was largely mediocre or worse. Randy Wolf did an admirable job as an innings-eater, throwing 215.2 of them while finishing with a 13-12 record and a 4.17 ERA. Behind those two were Dave Bush and Chris Narveson, both of which featured ERAs north of 4.50.

Their bullpen wasn’t much better, as they would finish with the fifth-worst ERA in the game at 4.48. Despite this, the Brew Crew still featured some strong arms out of the ‘pen in Kameron Loe, John Axford and Zach Braddock, all of which recorded ERAs under three in at least 45 or more appearances. Axford also did a great job in closing out games, replacing the aging Trevor Hoffman in that role once it became apparent that Hoffman just didn’t have the same Hall of Fame touch. Axford and his blazing fastball recorded 24 saves, while striking out 76 batters in just 58 innings. Barring something unforeseen, he will definitely be the Brewers closer next year.

Even though the Brewers had some good individual performances on their pitching staff, it does not come close to being passable as a whole.

Final Grade: D

Wild Card: Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder

Once again, this dynamic duo came through huge for the Brewers. They combined for 57 home runs, while driving in 186. Not too shabby, I’d say. Enjoy it while you can Brewers fans.

Final Grade: A

Overall:

Well, as you already know, this team had a glaring pitching deficiency this past season. What did they do to address it? They simply traded for the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke, along with acquiring Shawn Marcum from Toronto in a trade. Milwaukee won 77 games without those two, and now they are adding 23 wins to their rotation (the total amount of combined wins from Greinke and Marcum this season). While I’m not saying they will win 100 games, they will definitely be a factor in the NL Central race in 2011. Nonetheless, I’m grading them on how they finished 2010, and not how they will potentially do in 2011.

Final Grade: C

Check back soon for the report card on the New York Mets!