Milwaukee Brewers

After four games, the Brewers were 0-4 and struggling to get anything going. They lost a heart-breaker to the Reds on Opening Day after blowing a 6-2 lead, then lost the other two games 4-2 and 12-3. Then their home-opener came and the Brewers had a 1-0 lead until the eighth inning, when Martin Prado and Dan Uggla hit solo home runs to win the game for the Braves.

The Milwaukee Brewers are coming off a sub-.500 season filled with inconsistency and injury.

You’ve worked hard all offseason taking note of player movement, and you’ve scouted spring games.

You’ve participated in countless mock drafts, and put hours—if not days—of research and preparation into your league’s draft.

You go to bed on Opening Day eve, feeling good about your team—this will be the year you dominate your fantasy league.

Action got under way quickly in Cincinnati today with back-to-back home runs to lead off the game. Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez took advantage of Edison Volquez’s mistakes as both led off the game with home runs.

The Milwaukee Brewers proceeded to pounce on the vulnerable Volquez by knocking in another run with Casey McGehee’s sacrifice fly.

Brewers starting catcher Jonathan Lucroy has been cleared to start playing.

After breaking his finger during a catching drill, Lucroy had pins inserted in the finger and was out for all of the spring training playing schedule.

Last week, the pins were removed and he resumed workouts, but wasn't ready to play in a game.

Now that he's cleared, he will first go to the Brewers' Class A affiliate—the Brevard County Manatees—where he will begin his rehab assignment.

Long before July brings the yearly whirlwind trade speculation and months before the first crop of premier prospects debut in the ides of May, there is Opening Day. This is a date that clears the slate for last year’s underachievers, the injured and the belittled, and opens the door to another year. 

Don't forget to check out The Fantasy Fix 2011 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit!

After a flurry of moves today, the 25-man roster heading north with the parent club has become as clear as it's been all spring. Justin James and Mike McClendon were optioned to the minor leagues and once GM Doug Melvin traded minor leaguer Cutter Dykstra for OF Nyjer Morgan, Brandon Boggs was placed on waivers.

I had the good fortune of connecting with the Milwaukee Brewers 2009 Minor League Player of the Year, Logan Schafer, and asked if he would have time for a quick interview. He didn't at the time but we agreed to connect somewhere around the beginning to middle of spring training.

We had originally thought that we could do a phone interview but that had been discussed just prior to Schafer's thumb injury which he suffered during a spring training game.

It was recently announced that the Milwaukee Brewers acquired Yankees' pitcher Sergio Mitre in a deal that sent outfielder Chris Dickerson to New York in return.

At the moment, this seems like a win-win situation for both teams: New York announced that Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia will round out the rotation, and Bartolo Colon will move to the bullpen, most likely as a long reliever, a role which Mitre possessed last season.

In 2010, veteran closer Trevor Hoffman struggled following his brilliant 2009 campaign and rookie John Axford was promoted to fill his place. Axford experienced remarkable success in relief of Hoffman.

Can Axford carry over his success from last season? Brewers fans hope so, but to do so he will have to break a recent trend of one-and-done for Brewers closers.