40-year old lefty swinging outfielder Jim Edmonds is looking like he will retire after this season. At least he will be going out on his own terms as he didn’t play in 2009 as no one signed him as a free agent. He signed a minor league deal with the Brewers over the winter and earned a spot on the team in spring training. It has proved to be a good signing for the Brewers as Edmonds has played pretty well for them this year. Edmonds has played in 64 games this year for the Brewers and he is 56 of 196 (.286 avg, .845 OPS) with 34 runs scored, 7 homers, 19 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. If the Brewers continue to fall much further out of the playoff race in August then they might consider trading him to a contender.

I don’t think the Brewers are going anywhere this season so I would just start dealing if I were running the show because the pitching staff is in shambles and they aren’t going to re-sign Corey Hart after this season or Prince Fielder after 2011. With that in mind I would take the best offer for each of them in the next couple of weeks. Not many teams would touch Prince Fielder because of how much money he will make next year but the Yankees are not one of them. With that in mind I would trade them Prince Fielder, Dave Bush and Craig Counsell for catcher Jesus Montero, 2B/3B David Adams, 1B Juan Miranda and righty starting pitchers Zach McAllister and Ivan Nova. Then I would flip Corey Hart to the White Sox for 1B/3B Dayan Viciedo, righty starting pitcher Carlos Torres and outfielder Jose Martinez. After that I would make a couple of minor deals. I would trade righty reliever Carlos Villanueva to the Mets for 2B/SS Jordany Valdespin and infielder Justin Turner. Then I would flip reliever Todd Coffey to the Dodgers for shortstop Chin-Ling Hu. Trading Fielder, Hart, Counsell, Bush, Coffey and Villanueva would set up the future pretty well for the Brewers. Montero, Adams, McAlister, Nova, Viciedo, Martinez and Valdespin are all highly thought of prospects. Chin-Ling Hu, Juan Miranda, Carlos Torres and Justin Turner would give the big league help right away. I just can’t see the Brewers letting Hart and Fielder go in the next couple of years for draft picks when they can get quality prospects much closer to the big leagues.

24-year old righty starting pitcher Amaury Rivas came into this season as the Brewers’ #16 prospect according to Baseball America. Rivas has started 16 games in AA-ball this year and he is 8-5 with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He has only given up 81 hits in 98 innings so far this season as he has been missing a lot of bats. Don’t be surprised if Rivas makes it to Milwaukee sooner than later because the Brewers’ are in dire need of help in the rotation right now.

The Brewers have placed 34-year old lefty starting pitcher Doug Davis back on the 15-day disabled list. This time it’s elbow tendinitis that’s doing him in. He has started 8 games for the Brewers this season and he is 1-4 with a 7.51 ERA and a 1.98 WHIP. The Brewers have called up 23-year old righty swinging outfielder Lorenzo Cain to replace Davis on the active roster. Cain has played in 72 games in AA+AAA-ball this season and he is 93 of 285 (.326 avg, .846 OPS) with 48 runs scored, 3 homers, 22 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. He has now played in 572 games in his six years in the minors and he is 646 of 2,213 (.292 avg, .782 OPS) with 347 runs scored, 31 homers, 243 RBIs and 123 stolen bases. Cain came into this season as the Brewers’ #8 rated prospect according to Baseball America.

The Milwaukee Brewers finished the first half of the 2010 season with a 40-49 record which has them in third place in the N.L. Central, 8.5 games behind the Reds. The season hasn’t all been bad as they have had some surprises as well as disappointments and here’s a closer look at them:

Pleasant Surprises: 27-year old 2B Rickie Weeks has stayed healthy this season (knock on wood) and he’s showing what he can do. He has played in 88 games for the Brewers this year and he is 97 of 361 (.269 avg, .818 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 15 homers, 53 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Weeks has whiffed 101 times this season but you can overlook the strikeouts as long as he remains productive. 28-year old swinging RF Corey Hart actually started this season platooning with Jim Edmonds. That quickly changed when Hart got hot. Hart has played in 81 games for the Brewers this year and he is 88 of 306 (.288 avg, .918 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 21 homers, 65 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The biggest surprise for the Brewers has been the rise of rookie reliever John Axford who bumped Trevor Hoffman from his closer’s role. Axford has pitched in 23 games (0 starts) for the Brewers this year and he is 5-1 with 10 saves, a 3.12 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. 28-year old righty reliever Kameron Loe worked his way to Wisconsin after starting this year in the minors. Loe has pitched in 19 games (0 starts) for the Brewers this year and he is 0-1 with a 1.59 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. He has only given up 12 hits in 22 2/3 innings this season for the Brewers!

Disappointments: The Brewers decided to trade J.J. Hardy over the winter because they felt that 23-year old righty swinging Alcides Escobar was ready to replace him at SS. But he has been a huge disappointment for the Brewers this season. He has played in 81 games for the Brewers this year and he is 69 of 283 (.244 avg, .630 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 2 homers, 24 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. 42-year old righty reliever Trevor Hoffman (baseball’s all-time saves leader) came into this season as the Brewers’ closer. They quickly had to demote him from that role as he is pitching B.P. during games this year. Hoffman has pitched in 28 games (0 starts) for the Brewers this year and he is 2-4 with 5 saves, a 8.33 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP. He has given up 34 hits (8 homers) in only 27 innings this season! The Brewers spent big money on 37-year old righty reliever LaTroy Hawkins over the winter but he was awful before getting injured. Hawkins has pitched in 13 games (0 starts) for the Brewers this year and he is 0-3 with a 9.26 ERA and a 1.71 WHIP. 34-year old lefty starting pitcher has had serious injury problems related to his heart so it might not be fair to drill him here…..but I’m going to anyway. Davis has started 8 games for the Brewers this year and he is 1-4 with a 7.51 ERA and a 1.98 WHIP. He has given up 55 hits (6 homers) and he has walked 21 batters in only 38 1/3 innings.