Milwaukee Brewers general manager David Stearns stood nearby, on the grass, as his club took batting practice at Busch Stadium and surveyed the landscape of the National League Central, tracing a line from the team that had been king to the team that would soon be.
“The truth is we never really put a time frame on any of this,” he admitted. “We sought to get younger. We sought to get talent that could be together for a long time. We did that via trades and minor-league acquisitions and waiver claims. For a long time it was the Cubs, Cardinals, Pirates.