On the other hand, they could do something like use McGehee/Greem at 3rd, sign a halfway competent SS like, say, Scutaro, and sign someone who can field well at first, say Pena. Even the Brewers farm can come up with some bullpen pieces, and Peralta could, as Kevin said, fill out the back end of the rotation, which is pretty much all that's required, given that they have Greinke/Gallardo/Marcum as a very decent top 3. I would imagine that the pitchers may also have better luck with a more competent infield behind them.

Unless ownership raises the payroll, the raises due to players currently under contract will eat most of the money "saved" by letting Prince Fielder walk. My back-of-the-envelope calculation has them about $6.5M under last year's payroll *after* losing Fielder.

They can't make up Fielder's offense, but they should be able to upgrade defensively from the horrors of Fielder, McGehee, and Betancourt. Presumably Mat Gamel gets the 1B job, so the defensive upgrade has to come on the left side. I'd let Taylor Green get the majority of the at-bats at 3B (perhaps platooning with McGehee) and sign Clint Barmes or Marco Scutaro to play SS. That gives them better defense and offense at both SS/3B - it won't completely replace the overall drop from Fielder to Gamel, but it helps a lot.

It should be possible to come within a couple WAR of Fielder with a good-field, ok hit 1B like Pena or LaRoche (if Wash signs Fielder), and the money saved should go to a better SS. Pena can join the rotation, and Narveson/Estrada are ok as backups. Relievers are always around and noone, especially a team like Milwaukee, should spend a lot to get them. Between Green and McGehee 3B should be fine. Gamel can be a bench bat.

They are going to need a better 4th OF. He must be lefthanded and should be able to play CF, because Morgan may wear out his welcome, and Kotsay just isn't that good a hitter, or fielder. Gomez is solid as the RH half of the CF platoon/wheels off the bench.

Remember, the Brewers made some bank with the six playoff games, and success usually results in good attendance the next year. They should be around 3 million next year again. It's pretty reasonable to expect they'll be in the thick of it next year.

On the chance that they make the playoffs again next year, 'Move #1' is to cut Kotsay. I half-expected Roenicke to have him on the pitching mound for the start of Game 6.

Which, well, wouldn't have worked out that much poorly than things did.

If you're David Ortiz's agent, do you give the Brewers a call? After all, Prince Fielder wasn't exactly nimble at 1B, and the Brewers played him there for years.

Funny that for years BP made fun of Bowden as a GM, yet he now contributes to these articles.

The mixed messages in this article about Fielder and McGehee create the impression that it was kind of slapped together at deadline.. Probably not the first time that's happened, but leaves the article with questionable value. I'm not sure if "bold" is the word I'd use if the Brewers were to somehow re-sign Fielder at the pay rate and contract length Scott Boras will seek. I thought McGehee looked lost virtually all season both at the plate and in the field, except for a couple of short bursts. My bold move would be to use the Fielder "savings" and attempt to sign Jose Reyes, which also addresses the Betancourt problem and the leadoff issue.

As someone who follows the Brewers very closely, this is what I expect will happen:
-Taylor Green will start at 3b next year.
-Corey Hart will move to 1b.
-They will sign a RFer to a 1-3yr contract (It's possible they sign a 1b and keep Hart in RF, but the market looks pretty grim after Fielder and Pujols).
-Matt Gamel will open the season at AAA playing either 1b or RF.
-Betancourt may actually be on the team in 2012. There are almost no SS available. I'm sure Doug Melvin will exhaust every option though.
-The rotation will stay the same: Gallardo, Greinke, Marcum, Wolf, Narveson. Willy Peralta will be the 6th starter and possibly will bump Narveson as the season progresses.
-They will sign or trade some journeyman 6th starter for AAA depth
-They will acquire a reliever or two.

These moves will probably bump up the payroll slightly this year. If you figure the Brewers true talent was 93 wins last year and you start doing some pluses and minuses its pretty tough to say the Brewers expected talent level is much worse than winning in the upper 80s. That being the case, it doesn't make sense to resign Fielder when you know the Brewers will expect to compete next year, but the future after 2012 (Greinke and Marcum leave) starts to get a real hazy.

I wonder if Brandon Inge or Kevin Kevin Kouzmanoff would benefit from a change of scenery. And even if they don't hit, they can only improve the Brewers' infield defense.

The article mentions in a couple of places "contenders for years to come"....this is not really true, since both Greinke and Marcum are Free Agents after 2012. At best they will contend next year before having a pretty dramatic fall off.

Tony Plush is "endlessly entertaining"? Perhaps in a pro-wrestling sense. I, for one, would be saddened beyond words to see baseball turn into pro wrestling.

I can see the Dodgers signing Fielder, the brewers signing Loney for pennies,....and Loney outplaying Fielder.

Might they sign Buehrle to fill out the rotation? He should be relatively cheap and would likely provide ample innings in the pitcher's league.

I'm going to second what bobgale said and go hard after Jose Reyes with your Prince Fielder money. This gives you pretty dramatic upgrades on the defensive and offensive side of the ball. I would also give Mat Gamel a good long look at 1B or 3B. Give him 250 - 300 plate apps, playing every day for half a season, and see if the guy can figure it out in the show. To date, he has not had a consistent chance to make adjustments at the MLB level. I think the rewards outweight the risk in this scenario.

I think the rotation is good enough as is . . . I don't see a need to go after a #3 starter. How many teams in baseball have a better #3 than Shaun Marcum? Gallardo + Greinke + Marcum is definitely good enough to compete in any playoff series, and Randy Wolf will suffice as a #4.

I do see a solid 8th inning guy as a real need on this club. Somebody has to be able to bridge the gap to get the ball to John Axford. That said, I only want to sign a guy for 1 or 2 years as this team could be in rebuild mode by 2013 if they don't win in 2012 and Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum leave via free agency. I would not want to be paying a set-up guy $7 million a year for a team that is not contending, hence my desire for a very short contract with my 8th inning guy.