----- Original Message -----
From: "bar15arb" <no_reply@yahoogroups.com>
To: <milwaukeebrewersbaseball@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2004 1:58 PM
Subject: [Milwaukee Brewers Baseball] Spring Training Outlook


> Cue up John Lennon's Starting Over for the umpteenth time, and
> unpack that sunblock in Arizona. Here go the Brewers toward their
> 12th consecutive losing season. Here go more financial problems,
> which is why Richie Sexson now is with the Arizona Diamondbacks. I
> maintain that they've finally got the right people in place on the
> baseball side in GM Doug Melvin and manager Ned Yost and staff.
> Melvin did a wonderful job in getting multiple players back for
> Sexson, guys such as Junior Spivey, Chad Moeller and Lyle Overbay.
> There is hope in the farm system with kids such as Prince Fielder
> (Cecil's kid), Anthony Gwynn (Tony's kid), Rickie Weeks and J.J.
> Hardy. But you can't rush time, and Melvin simply needs more of it
> to fix what has devolved into a horrible situation.



I was with this right up until the last line. I am not sure it is a horrible
situation in Milwaukee. In fact, I think they might have improved their overall
team via the Sexson deal. They will surely miss Richie--a guy with those
offense numbers who doesn't miss even a single inning leaves a tremendous
void--but they only won 68 games with him, leading me to believe their were
plenty of holes to fill. By acquiring the guys they did, they moved to shore up
some of those deficiencies. I would not be surprised if they were able to top
the 70 win mark this season. It would be a small step, but it would keep the
forward momentum going.