When Hardy, Hart, Weeks, Fielder, etc were in the minors, the Brewers publicly made a point of keeping them together "so they got used to playing and winning together." They all came up in the '03-'05 seasons. And they all came up at different times other than Hart and Fielder. Hardy one year. Weeks part way through the next and Fielder and Hart the start of the next. They came up staggered. Guys are brought up when they are ready and there is a need. Then we started signing FAs to fill in while this group played, and kind of gave up on bringing in rookies/prospects. Again, this was probably due to an effort to make the playoffs, but kind of kept us from easing in any rookies. McGehee was a rookie last year, but he was esentially the 25th man out of ST, sitting the bench behind Hall and Counsell. We didn't have anybody that was ready to come up other than Gamel. They didn't give up on bringing guys up. We had a gap in talent. It is questionable whether Escobar or Lucroy are really ready this year.