With just a handful of games left in a long, fruitless Brewers campaign, Jeromy Burnitz fans should use the few remaining contests to see their favorite in a Milwaukee uniform one last time.

The reigning National League player of the week has been trade bait ever since Dean Taylor came to town, including all throughout this season. And there is simply no chance the GM will leave this particular team intact going into 2002 spring training.

Yes, Burnitz did agree to a two-year, $20 million extension in March, but that deal simply made him even more tradable. Burnie's contract limbo and subsequent demands killed off a deal for San Diego's Phil Nevin last winter, and as Nevin racked up a huge offensive season (.302, 38, 108), it became obvious that was to the Brewers' detriment.

It pains me to say these things, because I've backed Burnitz since Day One in Brewtown. OK, not entirely true -- I actually bemoaned the team dealing an aging Kevin Seitzer in late 1996 to acquire the young outfielder, seeing as how Seitzer was to that team what Jeff Cirillo was to the '99 squad: its one consistent average hitter. But it didn't take me long to see the error of my ways.

However, it's now clear that Burnie needs to go. Why? National columnists smugly assert that Burnitz should not be dealt, that Milwaukee locals don't realize how good he is, that we're too focused on batting average. I admit to being occasionally guilty of the latter -- however, let me assert that batting average actually DOES play a role in on-base percentage, which is the stat du jour of the last few years -- but have seen and listened to too many Crew games to fall for the other two.

Burnitz's last week was classic. He grabbed headlines by joining Richie Sexson as the only teammates to homer thrice in the same game, his second three-homer outing of year (and the team's fourth). He followed that with three more homers on the week, including a grand slam, to sew up NLPOW honors.

It was all so Burnitz: a power burst clustered over a few days, the dramatics of the grand slam clanging off the right-field foul pole in Arizona ... and the Brewers losing three of the four games anyways. Simply put, Burnitz's blasts are too often meaningless. His hot streaks rarely carry the team (and in comparison, Sexson's homers, including his opening-night winner at Miller Park, are seemingly more timely). His numbers (34 homers, 97 RBI and a .351 OBP) mirror last year's (31, 98, .356) -- and sadly, he had to pull similarly pointless September heroics to reach them in 2000.

On their face Burnitz's totals are good, even in today's era of offensive inflation. He's scored 101 runs for a team that can't get on base, and his slugging plus OBP is .865, which is best on the team (Sexson: .860; Jenkins: .813). But his power totals were 38/125 in '98 and 33/103 (with a .402 OBP) in '99, so while consistent, his numbers have felt a bit stagnant, too (a hand injury in '99 derailed what was going to clearly be his best season).  {INSERT_RELATED}

In fact, looking back over the years now, I really can't believe what I'm saying. Burnitz is quite possibly my favorite Brewer. He tortures the Cubs (his first three-homer game in May came at their expense), refreshingly speaks his mind at every opportunity, and represents left-handed power in a league which still values that commodity.

Unfortunately, his virtues make him valuable, and the Brewers are clearly going nowhere with him in the fold. In case anyone didn't notice, Sexson (and his third 40-homer season in club history) isn't going anywhere and neither is Geoff Jenkins, a younger version of Burnitz who has better gap power. And certainly everyone realizes the team's offensive pratfalls cannot be ignored again this offseason.

They won't be. Burnitz is gone. Whether he nets a Shannon Stewart-type (as he almost did in late July) table-setter at the top of the order or another young arm like Glendon Rusch (also in the Stewart talks, but could have been had in a separate one-for-one move), he's got just five home games left. I encourage you all to go and appreciate him in person at least one more time.