Expectations: The Brewers are coming off of their first winning season in 15 years finishing 2 games back of the Cubs in the Central division, so expectations are as high as they've been in a long time.  Fans want a playoff bid this year, preferably through winning the NL Central.  However, we'd probably settle for another winning season.  Those are nice.

New in '08

Added: CF Mike Cameron, C Jason Kendall, RP Eric Gagne, RP Solomon  Torres, RP Guillermo Mota, RP David Riske

Gone: LF Geoff Jenkins, C Johnny Estrada, RP Matt Wise

Reasons to be optimistic

• Rickie Weeks: Everyone and their mother expects Rickie to have a breakout year.  If he develops into what people think he can be, the Brewers have an awfully dangerous line-up.
• Prince Fielder: He hit 50 homers as a 23 year old.  Now he's angry that he's underpaid.  Fielder preforms when he's angry so expect another big year from Fielder in the middle of the Brewers line-up. If guys get on base for him, he'll be bringing in a ton of runners this year.
• A legit 1-2 punch?: With Yovani Gallardo up in the majors for the whole season, the Brewers have a legit 1-2 bunch with Sheets and Gallardo.  Unfortunately, Sheets is injury prone, and Gallardo had a slight knee injury this spring.  Gallardo should be fine, but who knows how long Sheets will be.
• Mike Cameron: The Brewers signed Mike Cameron this offseason to play Center Field for us.  The best part of the move is that it moves Billy Hall to 3rd Base where he's more comfortable and Braun moves to LF where he can't kill us defensively.  Even if Cameron can just be average at the plate, this will be a great move just for the defensive benefits.

Reasons to be a cynic

• Cubs have a pretty damn good line-up: They can hit... and well.  If their pitching staff is half-way decent the Cubs will be racking up some wins, so the NL Central title will hopefully be a true race this season as opposed to the slight jog that it was last year.
• Ned Yost: I can't put into family friendly words what I feel about Nedly, but this sarcastic Deadspin preview pretty much sums up how every Brewer fan feels about Ned.  If anything good would come out of missing the playoffs this year, it'd be that Ned should be gone.
• Bullpen: No clue what to expect out of the bullpen this season.  It was awful last year, partly due to Yost's horrible pitching management, but completely re-built this off-season.  If we get the Texas Rangers Eric Gagne our closer position will be alright.  Just like Gagne, the rest of our bullpen additions will probably be hit-or-miss.
• Mike Cameron: He's going to miss the first 25 games of the season, as he was part of our off-season full of HGH and steroid acquisitions.  If Ned isn't a moron, Tony Gwynn Jr will play in his place, but I'd expect Gabe Gross to be filling in instead.

Line-up

Rickie Weeks, 2B

Mike Cameron, CF

Prince Fielder, 1B

Ryan Braun, LF

Corey Hart, RF

Bill Hall, 3B

J.J. Hardy, SS

Pitcher's spot

Jason Kendall, C

Braun and Fielder could switch spots and revert to last year's 3-4 if they struggle off the bat.

Rotation/'Pen

A bit of a crap shoot right now.

Ben Sheets

Yovani Gallardo

Jeff Suppan

Carlos Vilanueva

Manny Para

Long - Chris Capuano?

           Dave Bush?

           Claudio Vargas?

Closer - Eric Gagne

Setup - Turnbow and Ned's *hot* hand

Five Bold Predictions

1. Prince hits 56 homers beating his father's career high.

2. Ryan Braun hits for .330 and 45 homers.

3. Bill Hall goes back to his old form and hits for 25 homers.

4. Ned Yost blows up on one of his players in May and gets fired the next morning.  Ted Simmons is named interim manager and goes on to lead the Brewers to the NL Central title.

5. Yovani Gallardo wins 15 games with a sub 3.25 ERA.

Official Kool-Aid Predictions

88 wins

NL Central Champs

Lose in NLCS to the Metropolitans

FanIQ Says... (216)

MLB Fan Previews: Milwaukee Brewers
(Q1 of 8) How many wins for the Brew Crew this season? 0% 0-55 0% 56-65 0% 66-75 33% 76-85 Correct-> 67% 86-95 0% 96-105 0% 105 and over	Asked by: kantwistaye
Closed 4/1/08