The Milwaukee Brewers finished 68-94 and in fourth place to continue their steep tumble from the 2011 peak that put them in the 2011 NLCS. Accepting the need to tear down, they traded away center-field star Carlos Gomez and other veterans.
What do they need: Balancing their long-term needs with their more immediate problems, they need prospects to shore up a farm system that was at best in the second rank as far as talent on hand, plus a starting pitcher and maybe an infield answer or two. The rotation needs help after finishing 11th in the NL in ERA and next to last in quality starts in baseball, and, although they might anticipate good stuff from the talented trio of Jimmy Nelson, Taylor Jungmann and Wily Peralta in next year's rotation, a true horse to eat innings and provide a positive possibility model for the younger starters would be ideal. And there's no locked-in answer at second or third base.
Guy on the rise: Left fielder Khris Davis came back from a slow start and a month spent on the DL with a knee injury to hit 22 home runs and put up an .855 OPS from July on. A full, healthy season could mean 30-plus bombs and a place among the game's top sluggers.
Prospect to anticipate: Shortstop Orlando Arcia hit .307/.347/.453 for Double-A Biloxi, his first year in the upper rungs of the farm system. Although young veteran Jean Segura had what looked like a breakthrough year in 2013, he has struggled in each of the past two years, hitting .252/.285/.331, which suggests that Arcia's timetable for making the majors to stay could be sometime in the 2016 season.
Winter action plan: The Brewers aren't far above $50 million as far as their 2016 payroll commitments, and won't take on that much more via arbitration, so they could afford to throw some money around. However, with the Cubs, Pirates and Cardinals all riding high in the division, convincing top-shelf free agents to come to Milwaukee wouldn't be easy. Dealing veterans for prospects makes sense now that they've already cratered. Down years and/or injuries hamper the offseason value of up-the-middle assets such as Segura and catcher Jonathan Lucroy. Adam Lind's value in the last year of his contract might yield maximum value this winter after he averaged an .842 OPS across the previous three seasons.
The really big question for new GM David Stearns is to sort out whether anyone will give the Brewers anything close to value for Ryan Braun given his PED-checkered past and declining power performance. Or do you try to build around him -- with better health, he did have his best season since 2012 -- for the last six years of his deal?
For more on the Brewers, check out the Disciples of Uecker blog.
Christina Kahrl writes about MLB for ESPN. You can follow her on Twitter.