Haudricourt: Additions of Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain whip Brewers fans into a frenzy

News of the Brewers’ latest acquisitions was still fresh Friday when Craig Counsell witnessed an example of the heightened excitement level of local fans.

The club's manager and Milwaukee native was having lunch when a young man entered the restaurant wearing a Lorenzo Cain jersey of the Kansas City Royals.

“He said, ‘There’s no Cain Brewers jerseys yet. We’ve got to wait,’ ” Counsell recalled. “I said, 'They will be here soon. They might be here this weekend already.’

“He had an authentic Royals Cain jersey on. It was pretty awesome they were showing him love already.”

There was equal if not more excitement about the addition of Christian Yelich, acquired in a trade with Miami seemingly minutes before the Cain news broke Thursday evening. In netting two of the top all-around outfielders in the game, the Brewers sent a shock wave throughout baseball and electrified a fan base already enthusiastic about the team's recent progress.

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So much for rebuilding. The Brewers have the playoffs in mind this season, and no one holding 2018 tickets -- or planning to buy them -- is going to argue.

When managers have sleepless nights, it’s usually because something bad is going on with their teams. Not so for Counsell these days.

“Two great additions and it certainly gets you excited, keeps you up late at night for sure,” he said with a broad smile.

The entire organization will get an up-close look at the excited faces of fans Sunday when the annual “Brewers On Deck” winter festival is held at the Wisconsin Center. Yelich and Cain will join their new teammates for the full day of activities, and you can bet extra tickets have been sold to the event since Friday morning.

Counsell knew he’d be asked immediately what he’s going to do with all of these outfielders. The three starters from last season – leftfielder Ryan Braun, centerfielder Keon Broxton and rightfielder Domingo Santana – are still in the fold, and prospect Brett Phillips was hopeful of forcing his way into the picture as well.

The savvy skipper was quick to point out that he doesn’t have to fill out a lineup card anytime soon. And that’s the message he will pass on to affected players such as Broxton, Santana and Phillips.

“I know we want answers, but there’s not a regular-season game until the end of March,” Counsell cautioned. “It’s human nature to be a little disappointed at the outset of this, but if you look at it, there’s a season ahead of you and the best thing is to come into spring training excited about the season.

“The players, they don’t control everything, and the ones that know that probably succeed the most. There are some things that are out of their control. Play well, get ready for a baseball season. If you’re playing well, there’s a good chance you’re going to make a big impact on this team.

“We've got a lot of good choices, certainly. They'll be tough choices, but there will be a lot of good choices. So that's how I'm looking at it. As we get better and the more good players we acquire, the lineup choices become tougher.”

Make no mistake about it – Cain and Yelich are going to play regularly. The Brewers invested $80 million on the former and sent three of their very best prospects (and a fourth) to the Marlins for the latter.

That leaves Counsell to figure out what to do with the rest of the cast. Braun, who has worked through various health issues in recent seasons and played in only 104 games in 2017, might see some action at first base to ease the logjam.

There is good reason to expect at least one of the other outfielders to be traded before opening day. Now that they’re going for it, the Brewers could use another starting pitcher, an established second baseman and perhaps another high-leverage reliever.

In the meantime, the Brewers and their fans will revel in the 1-2 punch of adding Yelich and Cain to an improving team that won 86 games in 2017, falling one short of a shot at the postseason. General manager David Stearns has stated time after time that his constant mission is to improve his club whenever possible, and it certainly was mission accomplished this time around.

“They are all-around baseball players and, really, all-around people,” Counsell said of Yelich and Cain. “I think we’ve added two of the best in the game. I think it just makes us better everywhere, and that’s what is so exciting. There’s not a place I don’t think it doesn’t make us better, offensively and defensively – the lineup, in the clubhouse, experience."

In the afterglow of the news, Counsell said he happily changed his talking points for Sunday and the coming days.

“I was slightly concerned that we were going to talk about last year too much coming into this year,” he said. “I know we’re not now. That wiped it out. I’ve got to start over with my spring training stuff now. That’s a good thing.”