Kermit

Fielder has generally been a slow starter every time he moves up a level. I think he'll be fine. His defense has been much better than expected so far. Admittedly, I wasn't expecting much.

With regard to Weeks' poor offensive numbers last season, the thumb injury appears to have hampered him a lot more than the Brewers let on at the time. He's just now getting back into game action this spring after some problems with the oblique.. I don't think he has a history of fragility but you have to wonder.

Attanasio has said that he will spend more next season but has been a little vague about just how much more. Hopefully he means above and beyond the increases that are already built into existing contracts. I like the top four in the rotation (Sheets, Davis, Capuano, Ohka if he returns) but they need to fill in that fifth spot.. Helling has looked very good this month, so maybe he would be a possibility, but I'm hoping they move Overbay for a pitcher. They've also made noises about letting rookie LHP Dana Eveland have a shot at the rotation next season. The bullpen also needs shoring up. Matt Wise hasn't been able to stay healthy for an entire season and some of the young kids have been very shaky. I suspect someone like Millwood would be too rich for their preference, they will probably try to find another scrap heap guy like Helling. Santos can't return. Things are unsettled at 3B but it looks like Bill Hall may be good enough to play there if they don't add anyone in the offseason. I'd like to see Cirillo back on the bench. Magruder will likely be gone, replaced by either Corey Hart or Nelson Cruz. I wouldn't mind seeing them trade Jenkins this winter... great second half but his recent performance doesn't justify the money he's getting ($8M) and he is about due for a major injury. Great strides made this season, Hardy looks like he's figured out what to do at the plate. Weeks has shown good patience, hopefully his month-long slump is related to his thumb injury. Fielder has looked great in limited time but we'll see what happens when he plays every day. His pattern has been to start slowly at each new level and then come on strong in the second half. After last year's second half collapse, I had doubts about Yost's motivational abilities, which is really all he has (as a game manager I think he makes some terrible decisions) but they managed to avoid that this season and made a pretty nice rally from their low point in June.