Brewers Lock Up Wolf, Hawkins

It's easy to realize that the biggest difference between the Brewers of 2008 and the Brewers of 2009 was their pitching staff, and it looks like that may true for the 2010 Brewers as well. Only this time, in a good way. The Brewers made two major additions to their pitching staff on Wednesday, one to their starting rotation and one to their bullpen.

The first move came after two days of waiting, as Randy Wolf finally signed a three-year deal for $29.75 million. News of a possible Wolf signing came down on Monday, but the Brewers offer was reportedly shopped around for awhile before he eventually agreed to come to Milwaukee. He's not the greatest free agent catch ever, but anytime you can sign a guy who automatically becomes your number two starter, it's a good day.

Now for whatever reason, a lot of comparisons are already being made between this signing and the signing of Jeff Suppan years ago. The main comparisons in that are because he was signed in December and he's getting about ten million per year. That's pretty much the extent of it though. Wolf is going to be a great addition to this staff, with stats of a sub-3.00 ERA on the road last season and six years of 150+ strikeouts as evidence to support my theory. Plus, anyone that wears a shirt that says, "Could You Come Back in a Few Beers?" is good in my book.

Brewers fans didn't have much time to come down from their Randy Wolf high as the Doug Mustache went out and got some more pitching help just a few hours later. It appears in addition to a front line starter, the Brewers now have a setup man for Trevor Hoffman. Milwaukee has also signed former Astros reliever LaTroy Hawkins, a 37-year old former closer who posted a 2.17 ERA last season. Again, not the flashiest signing in the world, but the Brewers already have a much better pitching staff than they did a season ago.

These two additions are just the latest in the many changes that are happening to a Brewers squad that disappointingly missed the playoffs a year ago. Add these moves to the Hardy trade, Zaun signing, and all the rest of the moves that are bound to happen, and this is going to be a different Brewers ballclub next season.

Hopefully for the better.