The phrase "closers who flame out" sounds like a Wikipedia article that should redirect to the Milwaukee Brewers page, doesn't it? The Brewers have had a long and proud tradition of pulling closers out of nowhere. Closers who eventually go on to flame out, that is. Mike "Mustard Man" DeJean, Leo "Icelandic Brand" Estrella, Dan Kolb, Mike Adams, Derrick Turnbow, and coming soon - the Francophone Turnbow - Eric Gagne, have all fallen off the face of the Earth since being removed from the closer role.

Last night, I flipped on the AAA All-Star game just in time to see Nashville closer Luis Pena attempt close out the game for a Pacific Coast League victory. Unfortunately, he gave up 3 runs in the 9th and nearly gave up the lead. Pena is the logical choice to take over as the Brewers closer next season, so let's just hope he doesn't flame out before he arrives in Milwaukee.

Good business would be to let a guy close for a year, trade him, and let him flame out with the new club. We did that with Dan Kolb, and it netted us (the admittedly disappointing) Jose Capellan. Saloman Torres is having a solid year since being inserted in the closer role. We have an option for 2009, so we should pick that up and trade him in the offseason. Watch him flame out while Pena flourishes. Trade Pena, find another one-year wonder off the scrap heap for 2010, and so on.

He's better than Ben Broussard,
He's thinner than Ryan Howard,
Tim Dillard, Dillard!

Two years ago, Tim Dillard was a prospect on the rise - brewerfan.net's Power 50 had him as high as 11th in the organization at one point. After a mediocre 2007, his first season in AAA, he's starting to look like his former self again in Nashville. Strikeouts are back up and walks are back down as he's posted a 2.70 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 23 1/3 innings. With four pitchers in the Milwaukee rotation struggling to get through 5 innings, you can't help but to look at other options. Dillard is 24 years old, but his pitching arm is much younger. He was drafted by the Brewers as a catcher, but was moved to the mound upon arrival to rookie ball. He has much less wear (and experience) on his arm than most 24 year olds, one might expect him to bloom a bit later than most pitching prospects. Despite this, Dillard is still younger than several of the non-prospects currently filling Nashville's rotation. It's too early to give up on him as a starter. Dillard may not be a future ace, but his minor league numbers indicate that he could be a future (circa 2005) Dave Bush. And I think that is something we can all live with at this point.