Braun and Fielder used to be the 3-4 bunch for the Brewers combining for 231 RBI's, 71 home runs, a .406 on base percentage, and an OPS+ of 165, which is phenomenal. Now The Brewers have to play 50 games without Braun, the 2011 NL MVP and 162 games without Fielder. The Brewers didn't sign Carlos Pena as a replacement and don't seem to be in the bidding for any of the other remaining possible free agents. A trade might be brewing, but it doesn't seem likely.The rotation for The Brewers seems pretty stable with Zack Grienke anchoring it. Grienke won 16 games with a 3.86 ERA over 171 innings. The other notable starters are Yovani Gallardo, Shaun Marcum, and Randy Wolf. These three starters combined for 619 innings and a 3.58 ERA. The Brewers have four starters with decent ERA's and can provide a sufficient amount of innings. If they do fail to pitch a decent amount of innings The Brewers have good bullpen. With Axford and Rodriguez in the back end the 8th and 9th innings are almost a given.
Although the middle of the lineup is significantly weaker, The Brew Crew still has Rickie Weeks and they signed Aramis Ramairez. Weeks hit 20 home runs, had a .350 on base percentage and an OPS+ of 121. Rmairez hit 26 home runs, had a 361 on base percentage, and 136 OPS+. Also Corey Hart hit 26 home runs for The Brewers, but any combination of these three players will not make up for the combination of Braun and Fielder.
When Braun returns after his 50 game suspension, The Brewers may be able to compete with The Reds, but they will already be in a hole. with The NL West looking stronger than ever, a wild card also looks out of the equation.
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