Many teams approach an offseason intent on improving specific aspects of their team, presumably because addressing the most glaring weakness is the quickest way to bring a team back to respectability. In order for clubs that haven?t competed for a playoff spot in recent years, a well-rounded team is one that will have at least a puncher?s chance of going toe to toe with the big boys (read: top payrolls). While there were many distinctly beleaguered units in Major League Baseball in 2010, such as the Arizona Diamondbacks? bullpen, the Seattle Mariners? offense and the Pittsburgh Pirates? starting rotation, none have done more than the subject of this piece to improve what has been a consistent source of fan frustration. For teams that don?t have the ability to attack the free agent market with the fervor of, say, the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees or Philadelphia Phillies, the trade market is the only way to immediately impact the team for the following season. No team took this notion more seriously than the Milwaukee Brewers did during the 2010-2011 offseason. The starting pitchers for Milwaukee is a unit that has seemed to have been lacking quality and depth for quite some time now, most recently having finished last in ERA (5.01, and, yes, that is worse than the Pirates) among National League rotations when combining 2009 and 2010 statistics. As a group, the Brewers 2010 rotation was a wholly unimpressive bunch. They finished 15th out of 16 National League teams in ERA, 14th in FIP and walked batters at a higher clip than all of their peers in the senior circuit. Furthermore, only two other teams saw their starters contribute fewer innings, leading to a bullpen being relied upon far more than management would have liked. The performance of this staff figures to benefit from a focused and aggressive front office that targeted two of, if not the two most attractive starting pitchers available on the trade market. When General Manager Doug Melvin traded for Shaun Marcum, previously of the Toronto Blue Jays, he obtained a pitcher who spent the 2010 season proving to the rest of the American League that he was fully recovered from Tommy John surgery. His success in 2010, as evidenced by his 3.64 ERA, 3.84 K/BB ratio and 1.15 WHIP, is amplified by the fact that these numbers were generated in the toughest division in baseball. Marcum is not a power pitcher by any means, but still has the ability to get the strikeout judging by his 7.6 K/9 in 2010 despite an average fastball just over 87 mph. His bread and butter is a changeup that has progressively improved throughout his young career and has, therefore, been utilized more. In fact, more than 25% of Marcum pitches were changeups in 2010, a career high. There is good reason for him to be throwing it more, as fangraphs? pitch value measured his changeup as the best one in the game last season by a significant margin. With five pitches he can throw, hitters in the National League should generally struggle against Marcum. While I?m sure Brewers fans were optimistic after a pickup like Marcum, what came next surely had the most severely pessimistic Milwaukee devotee declaring the glass half-full. Rarely is the day that a 27-year-old pitcher who is both universally considered ace-caliber, as well as signed to a below market contract for multiple years, traded to what is deemed a small market team. That is exactly what happened on December 19th, when the Brewers pulled off the biggest trade of the offseason by nabbing Zack Grienke from the Kansas City Royals. Sure, it cost them a pretty penny in the form of four of their best young players/prospects in the system, but you have to give quality to get quality. While Grienke may have struggled at times during 2010, there is no doubt among those in the know that he still possesses the ability to dominate opposing hitters the way he did in 2009, his Cy Young season. Throw in the fact that he will be facing a league full of hitters that aren?t yet familiar with him, 2011 has the looks of a bounce-back season for Grienke. There are few pitchers in the game that have equaled the figures that he has posted over the past three years, despite his most recent, subpar campaign. Since 2008, Grienke ranks eighth among major league starters in ERA, fourth in FIP, sixth in K/BB ratio, seventh in total strikeouts and ninth in innings pitched. All of this prior to even reaching the typical prime of a pitcher?s career. There has been much written and spoken over the past several years regarding Grienke?s mental health and his inability or unwillingness to pitch in a large market. If that is indeed the case, then ending up with the Brewers really is the ideal conclusion to a long year of the trade speculation that swirled around the dynamic right-hander. I?ve never heard a Milwaukee player complain about the pressure applied by the local media or the fans, for that matter. Given the conditions of a low pressure environment, an unfamiliar league and the prospect of playing for a competitive team for the first time in his career, one might assume that Grienke is poised to produce at a level equal to or even better than his Cy Young campaign. Is there another team in the National League Central that can claim they are more improved than the Milwaukee Brewers? I don?t think there is even a doubt in anyone?s mind that that title belongs to the new home of Shaun Marcum and Zack Grienke. When you add these two to a rotation that already includes an ace in the making in Yovani Gallardo and a solid lefty in Randy Wolf, you have the makings of a staff to be reckoned with. Seeing as 2011 is shaping up as the Brewers best chance of competing in recent memory, given the impending departure of Prince Fielder, it is not a surprise that the front office decided to go all in this offseason. What remains to be seen is whether or not they will be able to overtake the upstart Cincinnati Reds or the ever-competitive St. Louis Cardinals. It should be a good show in the Central this year and all of baseball will be watching.