NEW YORK – Basic math: subtract two pitchers who went 24-11, another who saved 28 games and two managers and what do you get?Well, besides a boost in attendance, the Brewers say they can be even better in 2009 than last year, when they went to the playoffs for the first time since 1982.
"I think we can [be as good]," veteran infielder Craig Counsell told FanHouse last week. "We have an offense that really should be better than last year – young guys in the prime of their careers."
They're going to need to be, since CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets left as free agents and closer Salomon Torres retired. The only player still on the roster who had a save for the Brewers last year is Carlos Villanueva, who had one. (David Riske, currently on the DL, had two.)
"This is a completely different pitching staff," manager Ken Macha said.
And Sabathia and Sheets are not easily replaced.
"One started the All-Star Game and the other just signed a $161 million contract," catcher Jason Kendall said of the former 1-2 rotation punch. "But you don't try to replace them. You do what you're capable of doing."
As Counsell sees it, this is basically the team the Brewers had before getting Sabathia from the Indians – with Yovani Gallardo, who was injured most of last year, taking Sheets' spot in the rotation.
"We were pretty good [49-39] before Sabathia," Counsell said. "People tend to forget that."
Free agent Braden Looper rounds out the rotation after Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush, Manny Parra and Gallardo.
"We have five starters," general manager Doug Melvin said, "where you feel you have a chance to win each time you put them out there."
Said owner Mark Attanasio: "Everybody focuses on the two [departed] starting pitchers. Doug Melvin, he focuses on the five starting pitchers."
To reach the postseason again, Parra (26) and Gallardo (23) will have to step up.
"They want to get better," Kendall said. "They're not just happy to be here."
The other good news is the Brewers bring back the entire lineup from a team that was third in the NL in homers and seventh in runs – and just two of the regulars are in their 30s (Kendall and center fielder Mike Cameron).
"How many teams do you know that have eight returning [starting] position players?" Attanasio said.
Macha likes to say he "hit the jackpot twice." For the second time, Macha comes in as a manager after a team made the playoffs; he did it with the 2003 A's as well.
Last year's run to the playoffs gave this group not only confidence but added professionalism.
"It's a good group of young guys who still enjoy playing the game and have fun doing it," Kendall said. "It's refreshing."
When Melvin took new bench coach Willie Randolph out for dinner during spring training, to pick Randolph's brain about what he had seen so far, Randolph compared the nucleus to the Bernie Williams-Derek Jeter-Jorge Posada core of the 1990s Yankees.
High praise.
"You're not going to be totally maintenance-free," Macha said. "There's going to be some maintenance. I'm looking at this group, and it's not going to take up all of your energy."
