The Milwaukee Brewers by far have one of the best (if not the best) chemistry's in the MLB. The crop of youth in Milwaukee has played years of baseball with each other- Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart, JJ Hardy, Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra, Tony Gwynn Jr. etc. These guys are all around the same ages. They have tremendous chemistry and enjoy playing with one another. Where other teams bring in new talent every year like the Yankees and Red Sox, the Brew Crew bring em' through the Minors. Talent has a lot to do with making a pennant run but it doesn't mean everything (look at Tampa Bay coming out of the woodworks last year). Guys that can play with each other and have smaller egos are going to work better with each other and have more fun playing. Talent isn't everything (look at last year's Yankees. I am going to go out on a limb, but I think it will be the same for this year's Yankees- they will make it to the playoffs but won't make it far.)
The Brewers made a big step last year as the Wild Card team, but will chemistry and a heap of talent finally take them to a Division pennant? My answer is no unless the Cubs completely fall apart. But, I love watching how much fun they have playing together. I just don't think the pitching will be strong enough to put it all together to take first place. I still give them second place and think the Brewers offense will have a break-out season. They are a legit candidate at another Wild Card birth especially if Capuano comes back around June 1.
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"Where other teams bring in new talent every year like the Yankees and Red Sox, the Brew Crew bring em' through the Minors." While I do believe teams are ditching the Steinbrener approach and starting stocking their farm systems with prospects, no other team is a perfect case in point that the BoSox. Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury, Buchholz, Lowrie, Lester, Bowden, all products of good ol' fashion drafting.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point. I was just going after the "big market teams" and Boston is able to sign big free agents if need be. But, they do a great job of drafting talent too. Cashman said that he is going to move to more of a draft type of system but that will never happen for the Yankees. They will never move away from spending ridiculous amounts of money. But, I won't get started on the Yankees because I hate everything about them and the crazy amount of money they shell out to players.
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