Zack Greinke

With so many of the big name free agents signed early on this off season, it has been a winter of trade rumors, and while most have proved to be nothing beyond just rumors, the Brewers managed to pull off two of the bigger trades of the off season.

However, the rest of the NL Central has been fairly busy as well, as the Cubs, Reds, Cardinals, and Brewers all look to be in the running for the division. Even the Astros and Pirates made a handful of moves that could make series' against them that much tougher.

Our fourth stop on the 30 in 30 is the Milwaukee Brewers.

Due to my schedule preventing me from writing yesterday, I'll be making up for it by covering two teams today. Consider it a 2-for-...Wednesday? Something like that.

The brew crew finished the 2010 season one game ahead of the Astros, two games ahead of the Cubs and nine games back of the Cardinals.

The Kansas City Royals made some surprising news earlier today as they announced the signing of free agent and former Colorado Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis.

On one side, the move makes sense because KC needs immediate help in their starting rotation, after losing former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke via trade and not resigning veteran Brian Bannister for next season.

For the past several seasons, most people felt the National League Central was the St. Louis Cardinals and "everyone else." However, since the 2005 season, every team in the division has appeared in the playoffs with the exception of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

With shocking free agent signings, blockbuster deals, and no shortage of clear-cut winners and losers, the 2010 off-season certainly hasn't lacked intrigue.

With most of the big-name free agents off the board and the trade market slowing down, now is a good time to take a look at the best moves of the off season up to this point.

In evaluating these moves, I gave as much consideration to the impact of the move on the team's chances as I did that player's cost in either dollars or players.

Step aside, Yovani Gallardo, there’s a new ace in town.

It’s time to do a little Washington Nationals housecleaning today and cover a few things that I haven’t had time to cover in any great detail.

Well, that’s not true of course. I’ve covered all of this in great detail. But let’s cover it some more, shall we?

With a large part of the 2011 offseason over, teams' rosters are becoming more and more clear.

Which starting rotations are the best in baseball for the 2011 season?

In this article, I will list the top 10 starting rotations in Major League Baseball.

Let me know if you agree/disagree with any of my picks in the comments section.

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Yes, I know the Brewers just traded ostensibly their top four prospects. Getting Greinke and Shaun Marcum in return was the shocker. I've been beating my head against the wall for a while, trying to get people to understand what the meaning of the word prospect is. At least the Brewers finally got it.

Even though the very top tier of the Brewers' system is now virtually bare, the big club is stocked. With the Brewers' 2010 first round pick, Dylan Covey, opting to stay close to home as a result of a medical condition, they will receive an additional first round pick in 2011.

With extravagant talk about newly acquired superstar Zack Greinke on his way to the Brew City, a majority of experts are now dubbing Milwaukee's pitching staff the foremost pitching staff (on paper) in the league.

It's about time.

In recent years, the Brewers have been a prime example of how maintaining an embarrassingly under-talented pitching staff can halt the rest of the team's success—as well as dishearten the entire Milwaukee fanbase, for that matter.