by Aaron Smith - 3/7/2012

A couple months ago the Milwaukee Brewers expected to be without Ryan Braun at the beginning of the season. Fans were preparing for a disappointing season without Prince Fielder and Braun for the first 50 games. Fast forward to today and the fan base is rejoicing after Braun stunningly won the appeal of his 50-game suspension. Major League Baseball is up in arms regarding the overturned suspension, but it gives the Brewers new life.

While it was the St. Louis Cardinals who won the World Series, the Brewers actually coasted to a NL Central Division title last year with 96 wins. Losing Fielder from the middle of the order definitely hurts this team a lot, but this is not a team that should be counted out. There is still plenty of pop in this lineup, and the Brewers have a nice combination of solid starting pitching as well as relief pitching.

Milwaukee did take a big step by winning a playoff series for the first time since joining the National League in 1998. The Brewers posted a ridiculous 57-24 record at Miller Park last season. It’s hard to imagine them winning that many at home again this year, but many of the pieces to the puzzle from last year are still intact.

Here are Doc’s Sports 2012 Milwaukee Brewers predictions and MLB futures odds:

2011 Record: 96-66

2012 Wins Over/Under: 84.5

Odds to Win 2012 NL Central: +240

Odds to Win 2012 NL Pennant: +1500

2012 Milwaukee Brewers Odds to Win World Series: +2800

Pitching

Zack Grienke was tremendous in his first season with Milwaukee last year. Greinke led the league by averaging 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings of work. He went 16-6 with a 3.89 ERA. Yovani Gallardo has terrific stuff, and he started putting it all together last year. Gallardo went 17-10 with a 3.52 ERA in 2011. Not many clubs can boast of a one-two punch as good as Greinke and Gallardo.

The rest of the Brewers rotation is pretty good as well. Shaun Marcum performed terribly in the postseason, but he went 13-7 with a 3.54 ERA overall in 2012. Randy Wolf continues to defy experts that think he is done. Wolf went 13-10 with an impressive 3.69 ERA. Chris Narveson will likely be slated in the fifth spot in the rotation and he showed signs of maturing late last year. Besides the Phillies and Giants, no other team in baseball has a better starting rotation than the Brewers.

The bullpen is another area of real strength for the Brewers. John Axford nailed down the closer spot with a tremendous season last year. He tied for the National League lead with 46 saves. Francisco Rodriguez is as good of a setup man as you will find in baseball; the team just needs to hope he stays happy in this role. The issue for Milwaukee may be middle relief, where they lost key guys like Saito and Hawkins during the offseason.

Hitting

Braun is the reigning National League MVP and one of the best hitters in baseball right now. He hit .332 and knocked in 111 runs last year. Nyjer Morgan got a ton of publicity for his wild antics last year, but he had a very good season for the Brewers. Morgan batted .304 as he sparked the offense on multiple occasions.

Corey Hart isn’t your typical speedy leadoff hitter, but he had an impressive .356 on-base-percentage. Hart is one of the more underrated leadoff hitters in baseball. Rickie Weeks is one of the best hitting infielders in baseball, when he stays healthy, and the team will need another big year from him.

The team’s biggest acquisition in the offseason was Aramis Ramirez. Ramirez has proven himself to be a terrific guy to drive in runs in the middle of the order. He won’t replace Fielder’s missed production, but he should do very well for this team. Mat Gamel will get his chance at first base with Fielder gone. Gamel doesn’t have tons of power, but I think he can be a solid average hitter. The weak spots in the lineup are catcher Jonathan Lucroy and shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

2012 Milwaukee Brewers Predictions

The NL Central is up in the air this year. Albert Pujols is no longer a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, but Adam Wainwright should give their rotation a boost. The Cincinnati Reds are a popular pick to win the division as well. Milwaukee seems to be flying under the radar a bit, but I like this team quite a bit.

Milwaukee has the best pitching in the division by a significant margin, and the lineup should still be very good. I believe at +240, there is quite a bit of value on the Brewers to win the NL Central.

2012 Milwaukee Brewers MLB Season Win Totals Predictions

Take ‘over’ 84.5 wins.

This team isn’t going to run away with the division as they did last year, but I definitely think they are far better than average. The top of the rotation will win a ton of games for them, and the back of the bullpen is tremendous.

As long as the lineup stays fairly healthy, the Brewers should be in the top half of the league in runs as well. I think the Brewers win 88-90 games this year. I definitely believe the value is on the over 84.5 wins.
 

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