{"id":2331,"date":"2010-12-19T20:59:17","date_gmt":"2010-12-20T02:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=2331"},"modified":"2010-12-19T21:01:24","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T03:01:24","slug":"brew-crew-2011-pennant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2331","title":{"rendered":"Brew Crew: 2011 Pennant?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a while since I have posted anything here on The Sombrero.\u00a0 The last couple of weeks have been really busy and perpetually stressful.\u00a0 I just finished up an exam period that consisted of 12 total tests.\u00a0 It\u2019s break now, though, and I am back home where it is dumping on the mountain.\u00a0 I just got word that 15 fresh fell today, which gets the hill over 2 feet of new in the last 48, and it is supposed to pick up when the sun goes down.\u00a0 Griff<\/a>, our homeboys the Meyers, and I are headed up in the morning, and it has the potential to be the best Day 1 of my life.\u00a0 A lot has happened since the last time I posted, but the holidays are getting underway nicely already.\u00a0 My dad is home from Australia and Grandma is coming down either Thursday or Friday.<\/p>\n

As everyone rolled out of bed today, we checked our phones like we do every morning to make sure that nothing earth-shattering happened in the world of baseball overnight.\u00a0 This morning was one of those rare ones when something like that actually did (Arlo<\/a> gave me a little heads up on it last night to tell you the truth).\u00a0 At least it was earth-shattering for the rest of the N.L. Central, because they discovered that the Milwaukee Brewers will have the best rotation in the division next season.\u00a0 If you\u2019re from Milwaukee, Christmas came a little early this year in the form of former Cy Young winner, Donald Zackary Greinke.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The dude needs no introduction.\u00a0 He will immediately become one of the top 4 arms in the division alongside Adam Wainwright<\/a><\/strong>, Chris Carpenter<\/a><\/strong>, and Yovani Gallardo<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Yeah, they destroyed their farm system in the process of landing Zack Greinke<\/a><\/strong> and Shaun Marcum<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 who we will discuss later \u2013 but their farm system was nothing to envy in the first place, and they did not give up a single high ceiling guy in the process.\u00a0 When one considers the package that the Nationals were contemplating sending to Kauffman, the Brewers look like they gave up a box of AAAA-ers by comparison.\u00a0 And for Greinke?\u00a0 A 27-year old who already has the CY hardware?\u00a0 Here\u2019s the real scary part, though: in Greinke\u2019s life, he has never pitched a single out that actually made a difference in a season\u2019s outcome.\u00a0 The most important pitches of his life have come in the form of award-chasing, and I for one am psyched and a little afraid of what this guy is capable of when his pitches actually matter.\u00a0 The hitters in the Central should be terrified.<\/p>\n

Greinke will finish the year with around 220 innings pitched, 210 K\u2019s, a 3.5 K\/BB, and a .300 OBP (because the dude can rake).\u00a0 He will challenge for the Cy Young with those numbers.\u00a0 Next in the rotation is Gallardo.\u00a0 No need to discuss him really.\u00a0 We know who he is.\u00a0 He will be right around 210 IP, 220 K\u2019s, and a 3.0 K\/BB if he takes the ball every turn.\u00a0 Oh yeah, he will be 26 in 2011.\u00a0 Next is one of my favorite pitchers in the game: the great Shaun Marcum<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Shaun had quietly positioned himself as one of the top 5 arms in the AL East before departing for the safer confines of the NL Central in a trade that sent a young, high ceiling 2B named Brett Lawrie<\/a><\/strong>, to Yugoslavia.\u00a0 Maybe it was Denmark.\u00a0 It was somewhere weird, though.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Marcum posted a 1.15 WHIP with a 3.8 K\/BB in 195 innings in 2010.\u00a0 He did this in the worst division in baseball and just a year removed from Tommy John.\u00a0 Now he gets to throw to a pitcher twice a night as well as the Pirates, Cubs, and Astros!\u00a0 Now that the dude isn\u2019t playing in America\u2019s hat anymore, let\u2019s see if everyone can\u2019t fall in love with this man the way I have.<\/p>\n

The rest of the rotation consists of Randy Wolf<\/a><\/strong>, one of the best 4\u2019s in the game now, and Chris Narveson<\/a><\/strong>, who should get torched most nights\u2026but he\u2019s a 5 and he\u2019s got age and Earth\u2019s rotation on his side.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the best part for the Brewers, though, they still employ the fat vegan, Prince Fielder<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 They won\u2019t beyond this year, so now is their time considering that they also have Rickie Weeks<\/a><\/strong>, Corey Hart<\/a><\/strong>, Ryan Braun<\/a><\/strong>, and Casey McGehee<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 They can swing it.\u00a0 They all have age on their side, and even though they look like they have never taken a round of fungo, Gomez at least can play some D in center and should now receive the bulk of the AB\u2019s since Cain bounced.<\/p>\n

As of right now, I predict the Central finishes in this order: Brewers, Cardinals, Reds, Astros, Cubs, and Pirates.\u00a0 It\u2019s early, but I think Doug Melvin has had arguably the best winter of anyone including Amaro.\u00a0 And of course KT.\u00a0 As far as this site is concerned, KT is number one as long as Eat-a is in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Nothing like sweet trades to get us through the winter right?\u00a0 Sweet trades and snow.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a while since I have posted anything here on The Sombrero.\u00a0 The last couple of weeks have been really busy and perpetually stressful.\u00a0 I just finished up an exam period that consisted of 12 total tests.\u00a0 It\u2019s break now, though, and I am back home where it is dumping on the mountain.\u00a0 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,1300,6,11,13,10,14],"tags":[172,741,1547,168,1545,1546,1548,1281,193,773,1544,389,1549,57,1438,1543,171],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2331"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2334,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331\/revisions\/2334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}