Fantasy Baseball Preview: The Brewers

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Team who could easily end up with the best offense in the National League. The potential firepower of this lineup is mind-boggling. They are going to need it, because the pitching staff has a chance to embarrass itself on a regular basis. They weren't good to begin with, but now Ben Sheets and CC Sabathia have departed.

The Breakout
Did I say something negative about the pitching staff? Allow me to toss out one incredibly giant exception. His name is Yovani Gallardo, and he's going to be an absolute stud. He'll easily shoulder the load of anchoring the rotation.

Gallardo missed all but four starts last season after tearing his ACL. He's had plenty of time to recuperate from the knee injury, and it won't affect his pitching. Before the injury, he was lighting the league on fire, sporting a sparkling 1.88 ERA in 24 innings. His strikeout rate hovers just below one per inning, and he has good command. He'll continue to improve as he learns to pitch as a big-leaguer, as he's only 23 years old. Remember, he won't be hurting for run support, either.

You can expect Gallardo to be drafted somewhere in the 30-40 range for pitchers, and that's nowhere near his ceiling. He's a good bet to end up in the top-20, providing serious help to your team in all four starting pitching categories.

The Bust
There aren't many guys who will be going too high on this team in fantasy drafts. Several actually had down seasons last year, believe it or not, and could be underrated. I do want to offer up some caution when it comes to Rickie Weeks, though. He turns 27 in September, but he's had plenty of opportunities to bust through as a good fantasy player at this point in his career. He's never been able to stay on the field, whether it's ineffectiveness or injury, and he actually regressed last season.

He has the type of power/speed combination that could make him a very valuable fantasy commodity as soon as this season, so I doubt people will just dismiss him. I'd just be worried to take him too high, because he hasn't shown us enough to this point. His career OPS, in over 1,800 plate appearances, is below average.

One item of interest here is the possible emergence of phenom Alcides Escobar. He plays shortstop, so either he or J.J. Hardy would have to move to second base, but it's possible the Brewers finally get fed up with Weeks' inability to adjust to major league pitching and move onto the 22 year-old Venezuelan. I'm sure they could find pitching depth by moving Weeks before the deadline.

The Lineup
1. Rickie Weeks, 2B
2. J.J. Hardy, SS
3. Ryan Braun, LF
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Corey Hart, RF
6. Mike Cameron, CF
7. Bill Hall, 3B
8. Jason Kendall, C

The Rotation
1. Yovani Gallardo
2. Manny Parra
3. Dave Bush
4. Braden Looper
5. Jeff Suppan


The Bullpen
CL - Trevor Hoffman
SU - Jorge Julio
SU - David Riske

The Skinny
As I said, lots of offense here, and not much pitching. Hoffman will be a serviceable closer, and I could see Parra emerging as a decent play by midseason, but that's about it for the pitching -- after my boy, Gallardo, of course.

• Hardy's shown us what he's going to give as a minimum: 20 bombs, 70 RBI, 75 runs, and a .270 average. Considering this will be his third full season in the majors, he should gain a bit more consistency and continue mastering the strike zone. Projecting .285 with 30 home runs and 85 RBI is realistic.

• Hart, too, has shown a baseline, is 27, and is entering his third full season. He tailed off with a miserable second half last season, but still provided a 20-20 season. He's another good candidate for a decent uptick in numbers.

• Braun is an absolute beast. I'd rank him as the number two outfielder behind Grady Sizemore.

• Fielder is a power stick, but he screwed over his fantasy owners royally last season -- by dropping down to 34 home runs from 50. We'll see if that power regression was him normalizing to form, or just a bad season. I'd expect 40 home runs when approaching the draft. Anything above that is gravy.

• Cameron will still be a nice power/speed combo guy, as long as you get take the massive batting average hit.