You're never too thin, and you can never have enough quality starting pitchers. During the Winter Meetings, Melvin was openly shopping Mench and Jenkins for starting pitching. Aside from a couple of veteran backup infielders, Melvin's entire focus seems to be pitching. I think that's probably not going to be good for the Brewers.
Sure, starting pitching is rare and important. Strangely enough, the Brewers actually have a pretty solid starting rotation, all things considered. In a season that saw many games lost to injury for Sheets and Ohka, the Brewers pitching staff compiled some decent numbers.
WHIP 12th
OSLG 21st
OBA 11th
K/9 3rd
BB/9 15th
Sure, they didn't overpower the league, but they held their own. Three of their top guys are returning in Sheets, Capuano and Bush, and it sounds like Vargas is a similar pitcher to Davis. With Villanueva in the fifth spot, the starting rotation looks pretty good, and although it could always be better, you have to focus on the greater needs of the team.
The offense last year was atrocious. Even when the pitching staff turned in solid performances, the Brewers couldn't put runs across the plate. Including a half-season of Carlos Lee, the Brewers 2006 offensive performance was among the worst in baseball.
R 27th
OBP 26th
SLG 24th
AVG 27th
OPS 24th
If I were Doug Melvin, I'd be worried about 2 things:
- How do I replace the offensive output of Carlos Lee?
- Once I get that offensive output, I'm still in the bottom of the league. How do I add more offense?
There are two things that I don't like:
- Spending a lot of time looking for mediocre pitchers (Lieber, et al.)
- More veteran infielders that provide no offense.