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Chicago Cubs: Are Milwaukee Brewers now a threat to NL Central crown?

By Khari Thompson

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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The Milwaukee Brewers made a big splash yesterday by bringing in Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain. Should the Chicago Cubs be worried, and will they counter with moves of their own?

Chicago Cubs fans have been waiting anxiously to see who, if anyone, their team intends to add to help win the National League Central for the third year in a row.

The Milwaukee Brewers, on the other hand, have already made clear their intentions of challenging the Cubs for the crown.

Yesterday, Brewers announced two monster roster moves that put the National League on notice, sending four prospects to the Miami Marlins for outfielder Christian Yelich and bringing back veteran outfielder Lorenzo Cain on a five-year, $80 million contract.

Yelich, 26, batted .282 with 18 homers and 81 RBIs last year, winning the Silver Slugger Award.

On the flip side, the 31-year-old Cain, who started his career with Milwaukee in 2010, hit .289 with 56 home runs and 308 RBIs in 713 games with Kansas City. Both players have career .290 batting averages.

Furthermore, both players bring solid defense and great overall value to their new team. Yelich won a Gold Glove in 2014, and Cain was an All-Star and top MVP candidate in 2015. Also, the two of them combined for a 9.2 WAR last season (Cain-5.3, Yelich-3.9).

Obviously, the Brewers, who just missed the playoffs with an 85-77 overall record (second in NL Central), got significantly better. And they might be hunting for more as well.

Clearly, the Brewers aren’t hiding the fact that they intend to win now.

Are the Chicago Cubs going to do something to counter that? And if they don’t, will they risk allowing the balance of power to shift in the division?

While the Cubs’ regular lineup is largely set for a while with Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and Co., they have still yet to address a few key needs.

For one thing, they still don’t have a leadoff hitter after letting Dexter Fowler walk in free agency last year.

Though they could continue trying out players like John Jay, whom they’d need to re-sign, and Ben Zobrist, might they attack the position in free agency or trade? Kevin Kiermaier, whom Joe Maddon loves, or Cameron Maybin have been suggested as possibilities.

But perhaps the bigger issue remains who will round out the Chicago Cubs starting rotation.

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Could they still bring back Jake Arrieta in hopes that he can regain some of his 2015 CY Young form for a few more years?

Or could they be looking to bring in Yu Darvish, a four-time All-Star who remains a top-half-of-the-rotation guy despite his struggles in the World Series?

Or would the Cubs be just fine rolling out John Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana, Tyler Chatwood and Mike Montgomery? That’s what Hendricks thinks, anyway, should that situation arise.

Well, it would be hard to expect him to say anything else, but could the Cubs legitimately win the NL Central with that rotation? The answer is probably no.

And if they don’t figure out how to set the table at the top of their lineup and get more production from their outfield spots—read: Jason Heyward—will they have the firepower to keep up with Milwaukee?

Next: Why the Cubs should trade Kyle Schwarber

The Chicago Cubs might believe that they still unequivocally control this division, and for now, they remain on top. All of these moves don’t mean much if Milwaukee doesn’t get the wins on the field.

But Theo Epstein is probably starting to realize that the status quo might not be enough to win a title this season. At least, that’s what most of us hope. Whatever the case, the Brewers are coming for his team, and he likely needs to do something about that.

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