Right Place, Wong Time

 

I don't usually compliment St. Louis Cardinals, but Kolten Wong actually turned into a pretty nice player for them. It took him longer than it should have, but Wong's now a two-time gold glover, has his 3.4 WAR 2019 season under his belt, and can hit into the .280s if he stays healthy for the whole year. He's not the most productive Cardinals player of the last 10 years, but they got a lot out of him in 7 seasons.

So now Wong has moved onto a new team, a division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers. A team that was more than happy to move Keston Hiura to 1st in order to accommodate him, and only really has Luis Urias and Omar Narvaez as NON-megastars in their lineup. Like...the way things are looking, Wong might still be batting 6th or 7th. Considering that he'll be following Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Jackie Bradley, Keston Hiura and Orlando Arcia, it's a little understandable, but Wong being in here, and looking good so far, does put the Brewers a bit higher than they were last year. 

That's where we're kinda at with the Brewers- I don't think they've had enough of a concrete, pristine team to be the top contender in this division, even over the past 4 years, but they have enough clutch and sneak  built in to keep them in the conversation all the way through. At any point you could have someone like Dan Vogelbach or Jacob Nottingham sneak in and clutch hit, or someone like Devin Williams dominating for an inning. The Brewers have a lot that's more functional than starry, and people like Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Omar Narvaez can get the job done without completely running the league. 

So I do think the Brewers have enough to compete, even though I don't think they'll end the year in first [it's still looking like the Cardinals might be doing that]. I do see good things happening in Milwaukee this year, like a return to form from Yelich, a Cy Young-caliber performance from either Woodruff or Burnes, or, heck, a long-awaited ASG nod for Kolten Wong.

Coming Tonight: 9 years ago, a Japanese import pitcher hit Arlington. This year, history repeats itself.