The Will He Poll:

[The Dude]

I want to see everyones opinions on this subject.

[brewcrew82]

I voted the positive response for all of the options except for Dan Kolb, as I've said before, if Kolb cannot thrive in Atlanta then I don't hold too much hope for him I'd love to see him prove me wrong...in fact I'd love nothing more).

In regards to Prince Fielder, I think he will take a while to heat up and adjust to big league pitching, but I still see him having a big season.

For reasons why I feel the second half JJ Hardy is what we'll see in '06, see Prince Fielder.

[Atlanta Braves Freak]

I feel Dan Kolb will return to his 2004 form with the Brewers, he had so much to pitch for in Atlanta with them in the playoff hunt. But, with the Brewers he'll be on a growing team. I see the Brewers in the playoffs by 2008, they have great young talent and a solid pitching staff.

[BrewKeggr]

two years late

I see the Brewers in the playoffs by 2008, they have great young talent and a solid pitching staff.

I know this sounds crazy and overly optimistic but the wildcard is within reach in 2006

[Atlanta Braves Freak]

I think the Padres will come out with the wild card this year, but a wild card berth for the Brew Crew this year is realistic.

[Schaddy]

To answer each question:

1. Hardy won't hit .300, but he'll be close, and he's getting better all the time. His defense is solid and he doesn't have to worry about that at the big league level now, so his bat will continue to emerge. I can see him going .285, 15 HR, 70 RBI this year, but I wish Yost would let him run more; he's got solid speed and enough baserunning sense (he's no Alex Sanchez lol) to be a legit 20 SB guy if the Crew gives him a chance. He's never going to be a middle of the order guy, but Hardy will be a real solid and versatile #2 hitter for a long time. He has as good of potential as Khaill Greene, without the hype or the injury troubles. He's going to be a good one.

2. Weeks will be fine; as young and athletic as he is, I don't see his situation being a nagging injury, and he's moving very well so far this year. He's also been much better defensively than I thought he'd be. I still don't expect him to be a good defender this year, but he's looking to be ahead of the curve so far and is making the routine plays for the most part.

3. Fielder won't live up to his potential (and the crazy predictions I've heard from some people so far)...YET. He's going to hit at least 20 HRs this year, and might even approach the 80+ RBI plateau depending on how well he hits for average and where Yost puts him in the lineup. I don't expect his average to be very good, and he's going to make Adam Dunn look like Brian Giles this year, but he will improve every week and should turn in as good of if not better numbers than Overbay did last year (.276, 19 HR, 72 RBI).

4. Turnbow is not a one year wonder; as long as he has Maddux, he's a good MLB closer. He does have to quit living dangerously, though: he's 4/4 so far, but he's gotten himself into jams a couple times, and he'll have to iron out his control issues if he's going to take another step up. I do like the improvement he's shown with his breaking ball so far, and he's made good hitters look silly with it a couple times already. He's in the top half of the leaugue's closers, but he has some issues to tackle before he moves into the top 10 or so.

5. Kolb will be fine, IMO. He doesn't have the pressure of being the stopper or even the top setup option with Matt Wise around, plus he's back where he had his best seasons and with one of the most underrated pitching coaches in the league, who really helped him. I'm thinking he'll turn in an ERA in the low 3.00s, and he might even save a couple of tilts if D Bo needs a day off. One thing that the Crew will really appreciate with him this year is that he's versatile; he can close, set up, work as a ground ball/righty specialist, or even eat a couple of innings. He's still a good reliever, and being back in Milwaukee will bring out his best again.

Now I have a question for you guys:

Will Bill Hall improve enough to boot Koskie out of the starting 3B job, or will he settle in as a super utility guy, or will he regress, or will he be traded? I think he'll bide his time as a super utility man until the Crew decides to hand him the 3B job (when he improves a bit more defensively), and until then he'll be one of the more dangerous bench weapons in the N.L. He does a lot of things well, and I expect big things from him still.

[The Dude]

I think Koskie will play well enough to remain the main starting 3B. Here's one of the essentials I believe of billy hall: he can play every position but CF and 1B (and catcher, but they're thinking about training him back there as well). If you make Bill hall the every day guy at 3B and he goes down, Cory Koskie can play 3B for you, but what happens if say, J.J. Hardy goes down? We've got to bring someone up from the minors. If Cory Koskie stays at 3rd and goes down in an injury, we can play Cory Hart or Jeff Cirillo over there, and Hall can make his usual every 3 day start at 3B and still make occasional starts at other spots.

[Ravenlord]

the reall JJ Hardy is closer to what happened after the All-Star Break.

Rickie Weeks will be fine assuming he actually gave his body proper recovery time in the off-season.

i doubt Prince Fielder will live up to his hype, but i don't think he'll implode either.

Turnbow is not a one-year wonder.

Dan Kolb has never really been anything more than average pitcher aside from 2 years with an uncanny amount of luck on his BABIP. and now he's 31.

Corey Koskie could play himself out of 3B. however, i've always believed Koskie was insurance in the event that Fielder utterly flounders, especially with him playing some 1B for the first time ever this spring.

Bill Hall's still going to play 130 games and get 450+ PAs. unlike most guys with his poor walk rate, i don't think he's going to regress horribly from last year. a guy who can OPS 780 and play above average defense at 3 positions is something most teams lust after.

[KCGHOST]

Kolb looks like toast. Turnbow looks like the classic fungible reliefer; he could well be one-and-done. The rest are coin flips.