Zach Greinke and Cliff Lee

Zach Greinke broke a rib playing pickup basketball before reporting to Spring Training with a new team.  As dumb as playing pickup basketball is when your getting paid 13.5 million a year to pitch professionally, the Brewers do not seem to care that much.  Apparently, the language of his contract stipulates against “competitive” basketball such as a men’s league but, the BrewCrew are surely justified should they be upset with Greinke.  The kid is supposed to be your ace pitcher and help propel you into the playoffs, and shows a complete  lack of commitment.  On a larger scale, what sort of implications could this have for the Brewers in 2011.

We at Off The Bench already had the Brewers finishing second to the Reds in the NL Central.  But, this situation reminds me of the Cliff Lee situation of a year ago.  Lee was brought to Seattle to be the savior.  He would lead the Mariners to the postseason and coupled with King Felix, they would have a legitimate shot at the World Series.  Some said “It’s tough to imagine these guys winning fewer than 85 games.”  But, after Lee was injured in Spring Training, was out for 4-6 weeks with a abdominal injury,  made his debut on April 30, the lineup fell apart, Ken Griffey Jr. retired six weeks into the season, and Lee was traded for prospects, the final season standings had the Mariners at 61-101.  Not so good. Fast Forward to 2011, Greinke is brought in to help the Brewers make the postseason.  He, coupled with the unstable Shaun Marcum, were going to help lead this

team into contention and possibly a World Series.  But, now Greinke is out 4-6 weeks with a broken rib.  He likely won’t make his debut until April 30, very similar Lee.

Will the Brewers fall apart as horrifically as the Mariners a year ago? No.  Will Greinke be traded and help lead that team to a World Series? No (Mostly because he has another year on his contract).  The Brewers have some major flaws: defense, lineup depth, and does anyone really know how Shaun Marcum will fair? My money is that Marcum will do just fine moving from the AL East to the NL Central but, its a storyline nonetheless. The Brewers have too many powerful, proven pieces in the lineup to fall completely on their faces.  However, an injury like Greinke’s sets the tone for the season.  Greinke, and the Brewers, already had little space for error in what will be a close NL Central.  Greinke’s absense will put the BrewCrew in catch up mode all season and it will be fun to see how they respond.

-Sean Morash