Milwaukee Brewers

The first thing I think of when I hear of the Brewers is failure. They've only won the division once in their history. They've been just another small market team who can't get it straight. But over the course of spring training and preparing for my fantasy drafts, I realized that the Brewers can no longer be ignored. This is a young team that will probably make the playoffs in the next few years.

They're pitching is as deep as any team in the league. Ben Sheets, Doug Davis, and Chris Capuano are all great pitchers who can win 15+ games a season. Davis is in a contract year, which means he'll have a great season. Then theres Dave Bush and Tomo Ohka who are good too. The Brewers' old closer, Dan Kolb, who got traded to the Braves last year, is back as a setup man for Derrick Turnbow who hasn't allowed a run all season. With starting pitchers who'll take the lead deep in the ballgame, and a setup man like Kolb, Turnbow will be best closer this year, fantasy-wise. Vice-versa, with a setup man like Kolb and a closer like Turnbow, the starting pitchers will be getting alot more wins than people expect. Under pitching coach Mike Maddox, the Brewer pitchers will carry this team far.

As for batting, the team is not as great. But like the whitesox last year, they have enough to win games. They have guys that can get the job done, but no outstanding players. Carlos Lee and Overbay are good cleanup hitters, and Weeks, the future star, is a guy who can get on base and score. The Brewers are doing it all with their great farm system. They have one of the best farm systems in the league, and now after years of sucking, they are seeing it payoff, and are proving that it doesn't just take money to build a winning team.