The human mind works in funny ways. The slightest stimuli serve as reminders of the finer things in life. Let me hit you with an example.
Last Wednesday, with the sun warming my face instead of just burning out my eye sockets, I was out for my daily run when some delicious aroma cut through the thawing downtown air.
It had the greasy, artery-clogging characteristics of a county fair. The only things missing were the merry-go-round and the carnies. Oh, the carnies.
Anyway, it took me a couple more blocks of running and wondering what the smell could be when it hit me. Almost literally.
A hot dog vendor appeared at the corner, shifting his cart into position outside the Milwaukee Public Library, and on Feb. 16, with torrents of melting snow still rushing across the sidewalks, thoughts of summer infiltrated my head.
Chirping birds. Green grass. Leaves on trees. And, most pertinent to this column, baseball.
Since then, we’ve gotten buried with another layer of snow, but that won’t keep the picturesque shots of spring training in Arizona and Florida from surfacing in these latitudes. Pitchers and catchers have already punched their 2011 time cards, and our favorite ballplayers are teasing us pale northerners by taking batting practice under vast expanses of cerulean sky.
The anticipation is particularly prickly around these parts following a sensational offseason for the Brewers.
To see where these Brewers are going, you have to look at where they’ve been.
Last season, sluggers Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Casey McGehee propelled the offense to top-five National League rankings in runs scored, home runs, batting average and OPS (on-base plus slugging percentages).
Unfortunately, there weren’t any hurlers in Milwaukee capable of keeping opponents from lighting up the old Miller Park scoreboard.
The Brewers ranked 14th out of 16 National League teams in ERA and quality starts, allowing the second-highest number of walks and blowing the second-most saves in the league.
Home plate turned into Cape Canaveral wherever the Brewers played, a spot where moon shot after moon shot launched into sweltering summer nights.
The first casualty of this dichotomy was uninspiring manager Ken Macha, who was fired in the tunnel between the dugout and the clubhouse after game 162 last October.
General manager Doug Melvin probably felt his necktie tighten around his throat a little bit, too, following a second consecutive losing season after a playoff appearance in 2008.
It wasn’t for lack of effort on his part. The pitching staff settled at the bottom of the league in 2009 as well, and Melvin did what he could to try and improve behind staff ace Yovani Gallardo for 2010. Problem was, the pickings were slim last winter. The best guys in the Brewers’ price range were Doug Davis and Randy Wolf. They got what they paid for.
This winter, Melvin decided to go all in, knowing his job would ride on how the Brewers play this season and that this is probably the last year we’ll see Fielder’s mainsail-sized uniform with “Brewers” across the front.
Melvin’s first move was a shrewd one, trading top prospect Brett Lawrie to Toronto for Shaun Marcum. By no means is Marcum a household name, but he was good enough to start Opening Day for the Blue Jays and post a 3.64 ERA in the stacked American League East.
That move alone might’ve been enough to help the Brewers make another wild card push, but Melvin wasn’t satisfied. Instead, he ignored conventional big-market, small-market wisdom and went for the biggest prize on the trade market, 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke.
It cost Milwaukee two youngsters with big-league experience, shortstop Alcides Escobar and center fielder Lorenzo Cain, but they were expendable considering the gigantic gulf between pitching talent and hitting talent on the Brewer roster.
Now, the Brewers have three guys who pitched on Opening Day 2010. Wolf will move to the fourth spot in the rotation and instead of competing for the third spot, Dave Bush, Chris Narveson and Manny Parra will fight to be number five.
If the offense can hold its spot near the top of the league and the pitching numbers improve even slightly, Milwaukee should be in the running for the division crown.
Sure, lead-off man Carlos Gomez still treats first base like he’ll contract syphilis if he touches it and there’s still some uncertainty in the bullpen ahead of young closer John Axford, but it’s only February.
There’s a whole month of irrational hope to indulge in before the armchair managing begins earnestly in April. Try to enjoy it.
