The Milwaukee Brewers have a couple of good pieces and a lot of problems. Catcher, William Contreras is the anchor. Brice Turang at second could be a number three hitter for a long time or a number five. He’s the only protection Contreras has if Yelich goes down. Jackson Chourio is almost exactly what you want from a leadoff hitter: good bat control and above-average speed. Problem is his on-base percentage is as bad as Gary Sanchez’s.  .309 is not good. Sanchez is where he should be as a guy who barely walks and barely hits .200: backup catcher and part-time DH. Problem for Milwaukee is the other first baseman, Jake Bauers, is almost his clone. Bauers has stayed in the big leagues with 58 homers in six years because he can play just about every position (a .991 fielding percentage) and has become one of the best mop-up pitchers among fielders who are called on to save the bullpen (4.00 ERA in nine appearances). 

Centerfielder Garrett Mitchell has all of 390 career at bats. Hard to tell how he’s going to fare once the league adjusts to him. Same story goes for leftfielder Brandon Lockridge. Sal Frelick is the kind of guy you like to have to be a fourth outfielder and give the big three a rest  every fourth day. He’s not incredible, but he gives you a chance to win because he can handle the bat decently. Christian Yelich is not the threat he was. At least he was able to play 150 games last year. Hard to believe he just turned 34. Seems like just yesterday. He was the new kid on the block. 

 If holes on the left side of the diamond in Luis Rengifo and Joey Ortiz. 

They’ll need to pitch their way to the playoffs because they certainly aren’t going to hit their way there. 

Jacob Misiorowski showed flashes of brilliance as a rookie (4.36 ERA, 87 strikeouts in 66 innings. He has the tools to be an ace. Last year 31 pitches topped 100 mph. I question whether he needs to throw that hard and if he’s going to break down as a result. He’s 6’7”, so maybe he’s the second coming of Randy Johnson and not Noah Syndergaard. Chad Patrick was even better (3.53 ERA) his first year. Brandon Sproat (4.79 ERA, 17 K’s in 20 ip) was not nearly as impressive with the Mets.  Brandon Woodruff is a solid number three. Kyle Harrison spent most of last year in the minors. He looks like a fourth or fifth starter. He was probably brought up too early. He’s only 24. 

There is no one who looks like they can hid the bullpen together for any length of time, so quality starts will be at a premium. Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby have been solid out of the pen. Their lefty depth looks like a weakness with Jared Koenig going on the IL. 

Forecast: The starters get them 65 percent of the way there. The bullpen holds on as best as it can. The offense struggles. Lots of one-run games here. The Brew Crew win 83 of them.