Ned Yost has been manager of the Milwaukee Brewers for 4 years now and he’s never won more than 81 games. He has a career record as a major league manager of 291-356 (.450) and he’s never had a team finish higher than third in his division. If Yost has another losing season he’s as good as gone as manager of the Brewers.

The Brewers have loaded their bullpen up with really hard throwers and that should help them excel this season. 31 year old righty Francisco Cordero was fantastic last season after they acquired him in the Carlos Lee trade. He was 3-1 with 1 hold, 16 saves, a 1.69 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP in 28 games with the Brewers last season. Overall, Cordero was 10-5 with 16 holds, 22 saves, a 3.70 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP in 77 games for the Texas Rangers and Brewers in 2007. Batters hit .247 against him last season (righties .219) and he whiffed 84 batters in 75.1 innings! He did walk 32 batters and he must improve on that to be a truly dominant closer. Look for him to save 30+ games for the Brewers in 2007.

29 year old righty Greg Aquino was brought over from the Diamondbacks in the off season. He has a very good arm and he has experience pitching deep in games so he should help the Brewers out. He was 2-0 with 2 holds, a 4.47 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP in 42 games for the Diamondbacks in 2006. Batters hit .283 against Aquino and he gave up 8 homers in 48.1 innings and that’s simply too many. He whiffed 51 batters last season so he does have an outstanding arm he just needs to locate his pitches better.

38 year old lefty Brandon Shouse needs to improve a little bit to really help the Brewers this season. He was 1-3 with 14 holds, 2 saves, a 3.97 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP in 59 games for the Brewers in 2006. Batters hit .264 (righties .309) against Shouse in 2006 and he walked 17 batters in 34 innings and that’s way too many for a situational lefty. Look for him to pitch better this season as he’s the only lefty in the bullpen and they will likely only let him pitch to lefties.

26 year old righty Jose Capellan has all the tools to dominate, now he just needs to put them to use on the mound. He was 4-2 with 16 holds, a 4.40 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP in 61 games for the Brewers last season. Batters only hit .244 against him last season and he whiffed 58 batters in 71.2 innings so that shows he has talent, but, he needs to cut down on his walks (31) and he needs to keep the ball in the park as he gave up too many homers (11). Look for his stats to start to catch up to his arm in 2007 for the Brewers.

29 year old righty Derrick Turnbow lost his stopper job as he pitched horrible in 2006 for the Brewers but they still have faith that he can pitch well for them. He was 4-9 with 4 holds, 24 saves, a 6.87 ERA and a 1.69 WHIP in 64 games for the Brewers last season. Batters hit .255 against Turnbow but his big problems were with homers (8) and walks (39) in 56.1 innings. If his control returns and he keeps the ball down he will pitch well in 2007 for the Brewers….if not he might find himself in AAA ball.

31 year old righty Matt Wise missed the end of last season with a serious injury but the Brewers hope he will be able to return this season. He was 5-6 with 14 holds, a 3.86 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP in 40 games for the Brewers in 2006. Batters hit .268 (righties .310, lefties .206) against Wise last season and he gave up 6 homers in 44.1 innings last season so he has to do a better job of missing bats in 2007.

36 year old righty Elmer Dessens gives the Brewers another solid arm in their bullpen. He was 5-8 with 18 holds, 2 saves, a 4.56 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP in 62 games for the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers last season. Look for Dessens to help fill out a very deep bullpen and he will pitch well for the Brew Crew in 2007.

29 year old righty Chris Spurling will try to make the Brewers in Spring Training. He has a good arm but has been buried on talented pitching staffs. He was 0-0 with a 5.06 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP in 16 games for the Detroit Tigers and the Brewers last season. Look for him to pitch well for the Brewers if he gets the chance to in 2007.

The Brewers got sick of waiting around for Hendrickson to get better so they sent him to Kansas City. This could be seen as addition by subtraction as Hendrickson has pitched in 14 games (12 starts) in his career for the Brewers and he was 1-10 with a 7.41 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP. Batters have lit him up for a .326 batting average in those 14 games! Max St. Pierre played in 78 AAA games last season and he only hit .202 with a .558 OPS. Don’t expect him to play for the Brewers unless 3 or 4 catchers ahead of him all get hurt.

The Brewers traded one of their boatload of extra outfielders for pitching help. Dessens was 5-8 with 18 holds, 2 saves, a 4.56 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP in 62 games for the Royals and Dodgers last season. Look for Dessens to do a good job for the Brewers as a middle reliever. He also can start a few games if the Brewers need him to.

The Brewers have a talented rotation but they have never turned potential into results. The #1 offender of this group is 28 year old righty Ben Sheets who was 6-7 with a 3.82 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 17 starts for the Brewers in 2006. Sheets only walked 11 batters and whiffed 116 of them in 106 innings last season and those are great numbers. He will have to stay healthy as he’s only started 39 games the last two seasons and has a record of only 16-16. Sheets has potential to be an ace but he’s never won more than 12 games in a season over the first 6 years of his career. Look for 2007 to be the season that Sheets wins 15+ games with an ERA of 3.00-3.50 and whiff 200+ batters as long as he makes 30+ starts.

28 year old lefty Chris Capuano had another good season for the Brewers in 2006 as he cut down his walks and lowered his WHIP but it didn’t show in his win-loss record. He was 11-12 with a 4.03 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP in 34 starts in 2006. Look for Capuano to win 15+ games this season with a sub-4.00 ERA as long as he keeps his walks down like he did last year.

27 year old righty David Bush had a good first season for the Brewers in 2006 with a 12-11 record in 34 games (32 starts) with a 4.41 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. Look for Bush to be much better in his 2nd season for the Brewers as long as he keeps the ball in the park as he allowed 26 homers in 2006. Bush held batters to a .252 batting average against him and he only walked 38 batters in 210 innings. Look for Bush to win 14-17 games with a ERA under 4.00 in 2007.

32 year old righty Jeff Suppan was signed away from the enemy Cardinals to fill the #4 slot in the Brewers rotation. He was 12-7 with a 4.12 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP in 32 starts in 2006. Suppan was 44-26 for the Cardinals the last three seasons so this is a move that likely with strengthen the Brewers and weaken the Cardinals a little bit. Look for Suppan to win 12-14 games with an ERA in the low 4’s.

28 year old righty Claudio Vargas was added to the Brewers in the trade of Doug Davis to the Diamondbacks. Vargas was 12-10 with a 4.83 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP in 31 games (30 starts) in 2006. Vargas allowed batters to hit .274 against him with 27 homers in 167.2 innings last season. Look for Vargas to win 8-12 games with a ERA in the high 4’s if he keeps the starting job all season.

23 year old Carlos Villanueva was 2-2 with a 3.69 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP in 10 games (6 starts) for the Brewers in 2006. Major league hitters only batted .216 against him but they whacked 8 homers in 53.2 innings last season. Villanueva also had a solid minor league season as he was 11-6 with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP in 22 games (19 starts) in AA+AAA ball. He also whiffed 120 batters in 128.2 minor league innings. Whether he makes the rotation or not, Villanueva should be in the majors in 2007.

23 year old lefty Zach Jackson was 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP in 8 games (7 starts) for the Brewers in 2006. Batters hit .304 against him in 2006 and whacked 6 homers in 38.1 innings. He likely will start the season in AAA but he could help the Brewers out at some point in 2007 if he refines his craft.

21 year old righty Yovani Gallardo is a high riser in the Brewers system. He was 11-5 with a 1.86 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP in 26 starts between A+AA ball last year. He also whiffed an amazing 188 batters in 155 innings and held batters to a .192 batting average. Look for Gallardo to start the year in AAA ball, but he could get a call at some point in 2007 by the Brewers.