The Brewers need to make a three deals this week. One for a starting caliber 3B to push Casey McGehee, one for a reserve infielder to improve on Craig Counsell (he has been pathetic this year) and one for a lefty reliever. Edwin Encarnacion, Chone Figgins, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Mark Teahan, Jeff Baker, Ty Wigginton, Juan Uribe or Casey Blake would push McGehee at 3B. Blake DeWitt, Omar Infante, Aaron Miles, Jamey Carroll or Mike Aviles might push Craig Counsell into retirement. As far as the lefty reliever goes, top targets would likely be Craig Breslow, Arthur Rhodes, Will Ohman, Tim Byrdak, John Grabow and J.P. Howell in that order. The Brewers don’t need to make major moves but they need these kinds of improvements if they want to hold off the Pirates, Reds and Cardinals and win the N.L. Central in 2011.

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.

The Brewers are 37-46 on the season which has them in 3rd place in the N.L. Central, 10.5 games behind the Reds. The Brewers will likely wait another week or two to see if they can get into a groove. If they can’t, they will be sellers later this month. Prince Fielder and Corey Hart are the two players the Brewers would likely get a incredible haul for them so they will likely put them both on the block. Smaller deals involving guys like Jim Edmonds, Craig Counsell, Dave Bush, Carlos Villanueva and Todd Coffey will also be likely. The Brewers need to rebuild for the future by giving up on the present unless they get really hot the next couple of weeks.

The Brewers need to add bullpen help right now or they are going to be big time sellers in July. That means they will have to give up prospects that they have tried to hold onto for a while. Here’s a look at how the Brewers match up with teams that have relievers available:

Chicago White Sox: The White Sox would probably be willing to deal Bobby Jenks/J.J. Putz. The Brewers might be able to get both of them for a package of Lorenzo Cain, Taylor Green and Angel Salome. I tend to think that price would be a little too high to pay.

Cleveland Indians: The Indians have Kerry Wood, Rafael Perez and Jensen Lewis on the block. The Indians would probably require Mat Gamel and Lorenzo Cain for the three of them.

Pittsburgh Pirates: The Pirates would probably be willing to trade Octavio Dotel, D.J. Carrasco, Brendan Donnelly and Javier Lopez to the Brewers for Mat Gamel and Lorenzo Cain.

Houston Astros: Brandon Lyon, Matt Lindstrom and Tim Byrdak could likely all be had for Lorenzo Cain, Angel Salome or Jonathan Lucroy and Mat Gamel.

The Brewers can either keep their prospects and watch the season go down the toilet or they can pay up to improve the bullpen and make a run this year. It will be interesting to see which way they choose to go.

With Mike Cameron likely done with the Brewers they should give the Dodgers a call about Juan Pierre. Pierre is a tough little speedster who always hits around .300 with 40-45 steals. The Dodgers wouldn’t mind moving him as Pierre isn’t too happy coming off the bench but they will have to send a lot of money to the Brewers to consider making a deal. Carlos Villanueva and a B-level prospect would be enough to get this deal done so the Brewers should make the call and get themselves a legit leadoff hitter.

UPDATE: This trade won’t be happening as the Brewers got there CF in Carlos Gomez from the Twins.