The headline pretty much sums it up...I am predicting that the 2010 Milwaukee Brewers make the NLCS game.

The Brewers will win the NL Central by winning 10 more games in 2010 than they did in 2009, upping their record to 90-72.  How?  First, I think Randy Wolf will win 3-4 more games than Braden Looper did, and Yovani Gallardo will also win 2-3 more games this year than last...no, no multivariate regression analyses was done, nor Sabermetrics or any other statistics...just a pure hunch that these two guys alone should bring at least 5 more wins this season.

The other 5?  Oh, figure Rickie Weeks and Alcides Escobar will add a few more runs here and there when either Braun or Fielder homers...plus some other runs here and there, and you have it.

Oops...kid is calling...I'll try to expand more later.

Opening Day is Monday (!!), meaning rosters are now being finalized.  A lot of focus has been on the make-up of the big league roster, but Tom Haudricourt gives us an update today on the final roster in Nashville.

Overall, we don't see many of the big-name prospects we've come to expect at that level, although there are a couple -- Angel Salome will be the starting catcher there, and there's a good chance Zach Braddock will be the closer (not to mention Mat Gamel, who will play third when he gets off the DL).  What I do like, though, is the depth provided by the starting rotation.

As outlined by Haudricourt, the Sounds rotation will be Chuck Lofgren, Marco Estrada, Kameron Loe (pictured), Chris Waters, and Chase Wright.  Josh Butler will slot in somewhere once he recovers from his elbow injury. 

Even without Butler in the fold, the rotation provides the Brewers a handful of good emergency starters if injuries hit the Milwaukee rotation hard again this year.  Granted, with Parra and Narveson still with the big league club in a bullpen capacity, things would have to go extremely wrong before any of the Triple A guys would have to make a start, but this group represents a definite improvement over last year's stopgaps. 

Who would you rather see start a game for the Brewers, one of Lofgren/Estrada/Loe or Mike Burns?

Sure, there's probably no worldbeaters in that group, but like we saw last year, you need to have all the depth you can get.  It's even possible that some guys in Double A (Rivas, Periard) could be called on ahead of the Triple A guys.  All in all, I think I feel a lot better about the team's pitching depth than I have in recent years.

As the Brewers open their 2010 campaign on Monday, I thought I'd put together a "Top Ten" list of things they must do to make the playoffs, in descending order from least important to most important:

10. Carlos Gomez needs to prove he's worthy of being an every day player--Gomez only had 315 AB's for the Twins last year, and will need to show Doug Melvin and Ken Macha that he can get on base, even if he does bat 9th.  He won't be able to replace Mike Cameron's power, so he'll need to be at least as effective defensively, and build upon his .287 OBP to keep Jim Edmonds on the bench.

9. Gregg Zaun needs to prove he's an upgrade over Jason Kendall--While it is hard to determine if Zaun will be a better pitch caller, his 27 RBI's in 262 AB's last year were a better rate than Kendall's 43 over 452 AB's.  Kendall's .992 fielding percentage at the position last year was better than Zaun's .984 with the O's, which he upped with the Rays to .994.  Zaun has a slight edge in OBP as well: .345 to .331 for Kendall.  Zaun, like Gomez, needs to show he is good enough to start 5-6 games per week.

8. Doug Davis needs to prove he's more than an "innings eater"--while Davis averaged almost 6 IP/start, his 4-7, 4.40 mark outside of Chase Field last year--along with his 1.51 WHIP--are mediocre at best.  While Davis can pitch 6 innings per start, he needs to keep his runs down to 2 or 3 per 6 IP if the Brewers are to contend.

7. The bullpen needs to hold leads in innings 6 to 8--The Brewers relied heavily on their bullpen in '09, posting the 5th highest relief IP in the majors.  And while the '09 bullpen had a winning record and an ERA below 4.00, relievers Manny Parra, Carlos Villanueva, and Mitch Stetter need to bounce back from their '10 Cactus League performances in order for the pen to sustain or improve upon '09's numbers.

6. Alcides Escobar needs to prove he's an upgrade over J.J. Hardy--Escobar will hit out of the #2 spot, meaning he'll need to have an OBP at .350 or above, as well as come close to Hardy's .983 fielding percentage in '09 (Escobar committed 6 errors over 300 innings to Hardy's 8 over 949.33 innings).

5. Casey McGehee needs to prove 2009 was not a fluke--improving upon his rate of 66 RBI's in just 355 AB's may be impossible if McGehee stays an everyday player, but, as a #5 hitter, he'll get plenty of opportunities to drive in Ryan Braun and/or Prince Fielder...keeping his .360 OBP from '09 is critical.

4. Yovani Gallardo needs to pitch well the entire season--'09 saw Gallardo's only season of three where he started 20 games or more, and YoGa delivered with a 13-12, 3.73 mark, including 204 K's; not only does Gallardo need to stay healthy throughout 2010 for the Brewers to contend, he needs to pitch better on the road, improving upon his 5-6, 4.38 numbers outside of Miller Park in '09.

3. Randy Wolf needs to pitch well at Miller Park--Wolf was 7-4, 2.78 outside of pitcher friendly Dodger Stadium in 2009, but 4-3, 3.63 at home.  If Wolf can at least duplicate his home ERA for the half of his starts at homer friendly Miller Park, his acquisition will improve the Brewers' chances of making the postseason.

2. Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder need to stay healthy and productive--Let's be honest--both these guys staying healthy and productive are critical to making the playoffs.  Even one 15-day stint on the DL could be enough to test the confidence of the other players.  Fielder batting .234 in April helped contribute to the Crew not reaching the .500 mark until they were 10-10 on April 28th.  While no one can quantify the impact his "slump" had on they psyche of some of the other players and fans, a longer slump by either Braun or Fielder in 2010 could eat at some players' confidence.

1. Rickie Weeks needs to become a great leadoff hitter (as well as stay healthy)--I put Weeks' role as the leadoff hitter as the most critical, because home runs by Braun and Fielder mean considerably less if there is no one on base at the time.  Weeks' .340 OBP in the 37 games he played before his injury was his lowest since '05, 5th among Brewers' starters (behind Fielder, Braun, McGehee and Cameron), and well below his replacement, Felipe Lopez, who posted a .383 OBP for the Crew last season.  If Weeks' struggles out of the gate, either Escobar or Lopez are ready to step in as the leadoff hitter...but Weeks needs to finally establish himself as the first-round draft pick and veteran and team leader for this team to win.

That's what I think.  Are their any that you'd add or rank differently?

April 1, 1970 is generally regarded as the day the Milwaukee Brewers were born, making this the Brewers' unofficial 40th birthday.  Multiple promotions have been announced to commemerate the anniversary of the club's founding, and to help celebrate, I thought I would quickly summarize the team's first 39 years.  After the first few years, click "Read More" below to continue.

1970 - The Milwaukee Brewers play their first game, and Lew Krausse becomes the first starting pitcher in franchise history.  Krausse and battery mate Jerry McNertney will re-create the franchise's first pitch on Opening Day this year.  Nice way to kick off the 40th anniversary, if you ask me.

1971 - Despite a 5-game improvement over their inauguaral season, the Brewers finish in last place for the first time, ending the year 32 games behind AL West-winning Oakland.  They were the only 90-loss team in the AL West.

1972 - Dave Bristol becomes the first Brewers manager to get fired, as the team struggles to a 10-20 start.  The team uses a total of 3 managers during the season.

1973 - A pair of firsts: Dave May is the first Brewers regular to hit .300 in a season, putting up a .303/.352/.473 line.  Jim Colborn is the first Brewers starter to win 20 games, going 20-12 with a 3.18 ERA.

1974 - An 18-year old kid named Robin Yount debuts.  A 20-year career begins with Yount struggling at the plate, hitting .250/.276/.346.

Today, things in Arizona are scheduled to finish up for the Brewers.  Spring Training coming to a close means a whole bunch of writers weighing in on what we saw in the past month, and trying to figure out which trends will continue and which were simply meaningless.

This probably shouldn't be a surprise, but comments from Doug Melvin and Ken Macha in the past couple days have led quite a few people to include Corey Hart's dismal spring performance in their postings.  Among them:

- Jon Paul Morosi, who recently picked the Brewers to finish first in the NL Central, cites the recent reports of Hart potentially not being the Opening Day right fielder, and notes that his production at the plate has taken a nosedive since being named an All-Star in 2008.

- USA Today's Bob Nightengale includes Hart in his column telling us that Spring Training results actually do matter (h/t Brew Crew Ball).  Nightengale says Hart was called into Macha's office for a pep talk on Wednesday.

- Steve Garczynski at Bernie's Crew manages to nest a crack at Jeff Suppan into a crack at Corey Hart: "I'm surprised that Corey Hart doesn't have neck pain with the way old man Edmonds has flown past him on the depth chart."  Well played.

- Bill Bender at The Sporting News' Fantasy Source Fastball blog does a "Pulse Check" on Corey Hart.  The verdict? "There's only so many ways to say Hart's lost his mojo, right?"  Ouch.  Bender stops short of telling fantasy players to steer clear of Hart completely (at least those playing in NL-only leagues), but I'd be surprised if he'd be more than roster filler for anyone's fantasy team at this point.

The good news -- for Hart, at least -- is that he managed to beat the March 31st deadline for teams to cut a player with a non-guaranteed without having to pay his full 2010 salary.  As an arbitration-eligible player, Hart could have been cut at any point and would have only been owed a fraction of the $4.8 million he was awarded in his arby case.