Off-Season News

Geoff Jenkins career as a Milwaukee Brewer is over. The Brewers did not exercise Jenkins' $9 million dollar option and he will become a free agent. Jenkins was the longest tenured player on the roster. The move wasn't surprising but it's disappointing he never reached the playoffs with Milwaukee after all the losing seasons he's seen. At least Jenkins ended his Brewers career on a winning team.

In a very surprising move the Brewers announced Ted Simmons as their new bench coach. Current bench coach Dale Sveum will become the third base coach. Simmons played catcher for the Brewers from 1981 to 1985.

I'm not sure what to think of this move. I was shocked when the Brewers announced Nick Leyva wouldn't be returning. Then Ted Simmons becomes the new bench coach and Dale Svuem moves back to third base? I thought Sveum was a better bench coach than third base coach. Leyva was an improvement over Svuem. The off-season coaching moves have been puzzling.

Down on the farm there is some bad news for the Brewers. Top pitching prospect Jeremy Jeffress failed another drug test. Players are suspended 100 games for a second offense and banned for life on the third offense. Hopefully this is a huge wakeup call for Jeffress. He has enormous potential but this needs to stop. Jeffress went 9-5 with a 3.13 ERA at Single-A West Virginia last season.

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Team Awards

MVP: Prince Fielder- 23 years old and he hit 50 home runs. Prince had a monster year for the crew. He hit .288 with 50 homers, 119 RBI, and had a .395 on base percentage. Prince is also the leader of this team and being the guy everyone in the clubhouse looks up to at age 23 is very impressive.

Rookie of the Year: Ryan Braun - Braun put up one of the best rookie seasons ever. He set a Brewers rookie record for home runs with 34 and also had 97 RBI's while hitting .324. What makes this more impressive is that Braun wasn't even called up until late May.

Most Improved Player: Corey Hart - While it would be easy to give this award to Prince since he hit 22 more home runs than last season I'm going to give this award to Corey Hart. Most people expected Prince to improve a lot but weren't exactly sure what to expect out of Hart. In his first full season as a starter Hart hit .295 with 24 home runs and 81 RBI. He also stole 23 bases. He's such a versatile player and can play every outfield position. Hart is the most underrated player on the team and will be a future All-Star.

Best Starter: Ben Sheets - While he battled injuries once again he still put up a better season than the rest of the rotation. He tied Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush for the club lead in wins with 12 and had an ERA of 3.82.

Best Relief Pitcher: Francisco Cordero - Coco set a new club record for saves with 44. He posted a 2.98 ERA and struck out 86 batters in 63.1 innings. Cordero was also one of four Brewers to make the All-Star team.

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