It was a great season. Now go out and do it again.

That's the hope of Brewers fans everywhere after a franchise record 96 wins, a division title for the first time in 29 years, and a berth in the National League Championship Series.

But can they do it without Prince Fielder in the lineup?

Fielder is almost assuredly gone, sold at auction to the highest bidder because that was always his desire. It is what Brewers fans have been dreading since his breakthrough 2007 season, even some suggesting that he be shipped off for prospects years ago.

While I won't go into how foolish that defeatist line of thinking was, the time to face the inevitable is here. To that end, general manager Doug Melvin will travel to the Los Angeles area to meet with manager Ron Roenicke and owner Mark Attanasio, who both make their offseason homes there.

The Brewers payroll at the beginning of last season was just over $88 million, including Rickie Weeks' $4 million signing bonus. Prince Fielder was the Brewers highest paid player at $15.5 million. The problem is that Fielder's money coming off the books will be primarily taken up by players earning more than they did last season.

Ryan Braun's salary jumps from $4 million to $6 million; Yovani Gallardo's goes from $3.25 million to $5.5 million. Rickie Weeks will get a $2.5 million raise, even after factoring in his signing bonus. Shaun Marcum gets a $2.85 million raise. Nyjer Morgan and Casey McGehee are both arbitration eligible, and assuming both are back with the Brewers, they can expect to receive up to an additional $4 million between the two of them. Corey Hart's salary will jump from $6.5 million to $9 million.

With those scheduled raises, that is a jump of $18 million alone, give or take a few dollars. So much for Prince's salary being used to go out and add a bullpen arm or the object of Ryan Braun's desire, Jose Reyes.

Several national reports have the National League batting champion being heavily courted by both the Brewers and Miami Marlins. The Marlins are trying to make a splash (no pun intended) in their new ballpark built on the site of the former Orange Bowl stadium. Time will tell if they can turn a listless, apathetic fan base into baseball fans, but if they can sign Reyes, they will likely move perennial malcontent Hanley Ramirez to third base.

Attanasio said after Game 6 of the NLCS that he planned to be a player in the Prince Fielder sweepstakes. Perhaps he was still a little bit on a playoff high, but as reality sets in and the math adds up, that prospect seems somewhat unrealistic.

But what about Reyes? All of the hard feelings about how he got one hit and sat out on the season's final day to preserve his batting championship over Braun will evaporate should he make his next home Miller Park, especially considering how heavily Braun was courting Reyes at the All Star Game in Phoenix in July.

Last season, Yuniesky Betancourt drew the ire of fans for his ineffectiveness in the first half of the season and his maddening first pitch pop outs that never got out of the infield. While Betancourt's defense was not as bad as some would have you believe (.965 fielding percentage, 19th in baseball), his range was indeed abysmal (6.061 zone rating). On the plus side, Betancourt's 61 RBI last season were the third most for any Major League shortstop despite his anemic .252 batting average and .271 on base percentage.

Betancourt did shine in the postseason with his bat, but still the Brewers would like to improve offensively and defensively if possible. After buying out his $6 million option for $2 million, Betancourt is a free agent, although the Brewers may still try to resign him at less than the $4 million he made in 2011.

The fact of the matter is that shortstop is the Brewers thinnest position within the organization after trading J.J. Hardy and Alcides Escobar in successive offseasons. Without either Reyes or Betancourt, the Brewers are out of options unless they can swing a trade with a team looking to move an infielder.

Inserting Reyes at the top of the lineup would also mean that either Corey Hart could slide to either the No. 2 or the No. 4 spot and still offer Braun some protection.

One lineup possibility is:

1. Reyes, SS
2. Hart, RF (or Weeks, 2B)
3. Braun, LF
4. Weeks, 2B (or Hart, RF)
5. Lucroy, C
6. Gamel / McGehee / Free Agent, 1B
7. Green / McGehee / Hairston, 3B
8. Gomez / Morgan, CF
9. Pitcher

The other questions that need to be answered are that of first and third base. The working model the Brewers had been using for 2011 was to have Mat Gamel at first base and Casey McGehee at third. However, Gamel's attitude has been called into question despite his solid Triple-A numbers (.310, 28 HR, 96 RBI, .540 SLG, .912 OPS in 493 at Nashville), and McGehee never was able to find a groove, eventually getting benched for Jerry Hairston, Jr. as the postseason arrived.

Without Fielder or Reyes, the Brewers will have to rely more heavily on their pitching, which was significantly upgraded one year ago. Marcum, despite his postseason failures was steady as a rock for five months of the year; Gallardo was the team's workhorse all season long and finally displayed signs of being a true ace; and Zack Greinke, while not looking like the Cy Young Award winner he was in 2009 for Kansas City, still gave the Brewers a legitimate chance to win almost every time he took the mound.

The Brewers bench was critical to their success in 2011, but you could see an overhaul during the offseason. Craig Counsell looked like he was finished last year, but may try to hang on for one more pay day before becoming a coach or front office executive, which seems to be his path in the game. Mark Kotsay fit in perfectly with this team as an all-important "glue guy" in the clubhouse and with his timely hitting. It is difficult to imagine where the Brewers would have been without Hairston down the stretch.

As is the case with Kotsay, Hairston is not under contract for next season and would likely command more than the $2 million he made last season after displaying his versatility and solid bat in the 2011 postseason.

The Brewers are relatively set in the bullpen, but still have to replace the free agent arms of Francisco Rodriguez, LaTroy Hawkins, and Takashi Saito. Hawkins has indicated a desire to stay, and Saito may have one good year left in his arm. The Brewers would like to get some production out of Manny Parra, who is under contract for 2012, but missed all of last season with an elbow strain.

Look for Mike Fiers and Brandon Kintzler to make a strong push to go North with the Brewers during spring training.

The only other face that Melvin and Roenicke may have to replace is hitting coach Dale Sveum, who is a finalist for managerial openings in both Chicago and Boston.