It wasn't hard to figure out the Milwaukee Brewers' strategy for overtaking the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central Division.

General manager Doug Melvin's offseason additions were catcher Jason Kendall, outfielders Mike Cameron and Gabe Kapler and relief pitchers Eric Gagne, Salomon Torres, Guillermo Mota and David Riske. All are in their 30s.

"We're trying to win now," owner Mark Attanasio said Friday. "That's why we spent the money we're spending. That's why we brought in the extra players we brought in. ... We've added a lot here."

So how did Melvin do as he tried to supplement his cadre of great young hitters with enough quality veterans to put Milwaukee over the top? It's too early for lasting judgments, but some early impressions have formed during the Brewers' 4-1 start.

Offense: The 2007 Brewers led the majors in home runs with a franchise-record 231 and, barring injuries, could top that this year. The good news is they might not have to.

Long one of baseball's slowest teams, the Brewers have decent to above-average speed at most positions and, for a change, appear to be capable of manufacturing runs. They've promised to be more aggressive on the basepaths and so far they have been.

Early evaluation? Improved, especially if Bill Hall has a bounce-back season.

Defense: The Brewers were the worst defensive team in the big leagues last season, forcing Melvin to shuttle players all over the diamond. The moves paid off immediately as Milwaukee didn't make an error until the fifth game.

The Brewers are improved defensively at three positions — Cameron in center, Kendall at catcher and Hall at third base. They're worse in left, but at least Ryan Braun has the smarts, speed and athletic ability to improve.

Early evaluation? Significantly improved.

Catching: Last year, Johnny Estrada didn't work well with pitchers or coaches, couldn't throw anyone out, couldn't run and, while he could hit, had no plate discipline. In the first week this year, all Kendall has done is become the talk of the team.

He's in sync with the pitchers and coaches, is a slightly better thrower than Estrada, still runs better than most catchers, has great at-bats and, most important, uses his quickness to consistently block pitches in the dirt. Kendall isn't the hitter he once was but has started out hot, which may be due to offseason Lasik surgery.

Early evaluation? Significantly improved.

Starting pitching: The rotation's inability to go deep into games contributed to the late-season collapse of the bullpen. While many thought Melvin needed to make major changes, he stayed with what he had. Jettisoning Claudio Vargas in March seemed like a risky move, especially given Chris Capuano's elbow problems, but Vargas was more lucky than good last season.

Melvin's stand-pat approach was based on the hope that injury-prone Ben Sheets can give him 34 starts for the first time since 2004, pitch-to-contact veterans Jeff Suppan and David Bush will be more effective with an improved defense and young guns Yovani Gallardo, Carlos Villanueva and Manny Parra can come of age the way hitters such as Fielder and Braun did last year. If everyone stays healthy, the Brewers will need only two of the three youngsters to have breakout seasons.

Early evaluation? Not as risky as one might think, because the kids have talent and poise.

Relief pitching: This is where Melvin did most of his offseason work after closer Francisco Cordero, setup man Derrick Turnbow and left-handed specialist Brian Shouse ran out gas. Turnbow and Shouse are back, but they have many new faces around them.

Gagne is the closer, but Yost has five or six interchangeable parts for the seventh and eighth innings. That means he can limit relievers to two or three appearances a week or allow a pitcher to go more than one inning if he's throwing well. That depth and versatility showed in the first four games, where the Brewers had three wins and two saves, neither one by Gagne.

Early evaluation? Improved.

Closer: Cordero was a beast last season, saving 44 games. But when Cincinnati gave him silly money ($46 million for four years) in free agency, the Brewers backed off. Instead, they signed Gagne for one year and $10 million.

Gagne's blown save in his Brewers debut did little to ease fears that he is not the same guy who re-wrote the record books from 2002 to '04 while saving games for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Age, injury, his late-season struggles with Boston and the nagging notion that Gagne might have been a creation of performance-enhancing drugs make the closer spot the Brewers' biggest area of concern. The only saving grace is that if Gagne fails, they might have a ready replacement in Riske.

Early evaluation? The only reason not to think the Brewers are a better, more talented team this season than last.