This is exactly how we have operated the last few years. We put together a .500 team and hope we avoid injuries and bad seasons, a player or two breakout, etc. It's a bad approach since luck tends balance out over 162 games. You are forgetting first and foremost this is a business. Having an 83 win team that in theory could squeak out a few extra wins, resulted in them having the 4th highest attendance in the NL. From purely a business perspective, this was a successful season because they pretty much maxed out revenues. Because the Brewers depend for a much larger percentage of their revenue from ticket sales than large market teams, I think they'll continue to try and field a team that will keep fan interest for most of the season. On the field the difference between success and failure was the failure to land Abreu. Still again from a business perspective, how much more revenue could they have generated with Abreu? Some for sure, but enough to offset the cost?