MILWAUKEE - Of all the many questions to be answered about the Brewers in the coming months, the biggest was discreetly handing out hugs and handshakes in the home clubhouse at Miller Park late Sunday afternoon.
 
 While teary-eyed Ben Sheets was taking questions on one side of the room, and CC Sabathia was holding court on the other, Dale Sveum was stopping at every cubicle to say thanks to one and all.

 Few seemed to notice as Sveum wove around clusters of reporters, front-office personnel and family members before disappearing into down the corridor toward his office.

 Sveum's ride as interim manager of the Brewers officially came to an end with a 6-2 loss to Philadelphia in Game 4 of the National League Divisional Series.

 The first major question Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin has to answer during the offseason is whether Sveum deserves the gig full-time.

 I believe he does.

 Sveum took the wheel for one of the wildest rides in franchise history and managed to bring the muscle car home in one piece, albeit with some dings and paint smudges.

 The reason Ned Yost was fired Sept. 15 after five-plus seasons as manager was the genuine fear he would be unable to get the Brewers into the postseason, which was their publicly stated goal after finishing second in the NL Central Division in 2007.

 Yost had become too tightly wound and his players were feeding off that tension, losing seven of eight before the pink slip was delivered at the behest of owner Mark Attanasio.

 With 12 regular-season games left, Sveum took over and brought a sense of calm to the chaos. Not all of his alterations rang true - center fielder Mike Cameron was a bust in the leadoff spot and platoons at second and third hardly dazzled - but there's a lot to be said for keeping your head and producing the postseason berth as Sveum did.

 To his credit, Sveum believes the current free-swinging cast can be molded into a more well-rounded club, one that has discipline at the plate, can move runners and execute run-and-hits as well as hit home runs.

 Once the managerial question is answered, Melvin can move on to whether Ben Sheets should be re-signed (no), whether he has a legitimate shot at signing Sabathia (not a lost cause, but less than 50-50), how to retool the rotation (trade first baseman Prince Fielder), and how to fortify his infield defense (shortstop Alcides Escobar would be a good start).

 It was interesting to hear Sabathia talk Sunday about the exceptional experience he had with the Brewers and how that factors into his free agency decision.

 "This has been one of the best times of my life,'' he said.

 Everyone in baseball says Sabathia can break the bank -- $25 million a year - but it remains to be seen if he will. Asked how this playoff experience would benefit Milwaukee down the road, Sabathia curiously injected himself into process.

 "Put us in this situation a year from now, two years from now, I think we'll have a better opportunity,'' he said.

 Having CC would makes Sveum's job a lot easier.