By acquiring reliever Francisco Rodriguez from the New York Mets, the Brewers took another big step toward a possible playoff berth. But if the Brewers are going to earn their first playoff berth since 2008 and division championship since 1982, they have some pretty big questions to answer.
1. Can this team win on the road?
Of all the questions on the list, this may be the biggest. Flat out, the Brewers are absolutely awful away from Miller Park. After getting shelled Thursday by the Rockies, the Brewers are 16-30 on the road. As good as they've been in Milwaukee (33-14), the Brewers will need to start winning games away from home if they have any chance of even sniffing contention down the stretch. The current stretch of 10 games against the National League West could be a defining moment in this team's season.
2. Will the "real" Zack Greinke please stand up?
A Cy Young Award winner two years ago, Zack Greinke was the centerpiece of the Brewers' off-season moves. His debut was delayed due to a spring training injury (a goofy one, at that) and since he's returned, he has been pretty good but has looked little like the pitcher who went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA in 2009. Very little about Greinke's numbers this season makes sense. He's 7-3 (thanks to some very good run support) but has a 5.45 ERA, despite recording 99 strikeouts and walking just 16. His W/HIP is still respectable (1.251). Dig a little deeper, though, and you'll realize that once you take his '09 numbers out of the equation, what Greinke is doing this year is closer to his career averages. Considering what the Brewers had to give up, that's a concerning reality. The "average" Greinke won't get the Brewers where they want to go.
3. Can Casey McGehee turn things around?
You knew going in to the season that Yuniesky Betancourt wouldn't exactly light up National League pitching but nobody could have foreseen the slump that has plagued McGehee all year long. He finished with 104 RBI last year but has just 36 this season. The Brewers could survive a full season of Betancourt if McGehee was playing up to his career averages. If he doesn't turn it around soon, Doug Melvin will have to start combing through the trade market, which brings us to the next question.
4. Will Melvin pull the trigger ... again?
Melvin has not been shy about making deals to help his squad and so far, he's already added a top-notch reliever in Rodriguez. There is still a glaring need for an upgrade at shortstop and the possibility that a move will become necessary at third in order to add some punch to the lifeless bottom of the lineup. Don't expect a blockbuster; though the organization does have plenty of young talent in the system, those players are at the low levels of the system and will be needed to keep the Brewers winning in years to come. Remember when Melvin picked up Ray Durham in 2008? That might be the type of deal you see this year.
5. How will the bullpen shape up?
Most of the focus has been on how to split the closing duties between Rodriguez and John Axford, but K-Rod's arrival does more than just shake up the ninth inning duties. Ron Roenicke will need to find a way to get Takashi Saito, LaTroy Hawkins and Kameron Loe into games on a regular basis. One could assume, since Roenicke currently doesn't want to use Saito in back-to-back games, that Saito would be the first player summoned out of the pen should the starter falter early, with Loe and Hawkins following. Managing the middle innings is just as important to determining who gets the final three outs but with so many quality options, it's probably not a problem Roenicke minds too much.
