"The hierarchy has been officially adjusted.

The table for National League contenders now has to bump some place settings to make room for the Milwaukee Brewers after they traded Sunday for Kansas City Royals ace and 2009 Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke. The six-player trade forced the Brewers to shake out some valuable farm pieces but immediately catapulted the team into contention in the NL Central after being buried early last season.

Having already traded with Toronto for right-hander Shaun Marcum, the Brewers have a solid starting rotation that doesn't resemble the one they put onto the field the last two seasons. In 2010, the rotation finished with the second-worst NL earned-run average (4.65), ahead of only Pittsburgh.

The moves allow the Brewers to put their rotation pieces in the proper places for next year, moving right-hander Yovani Gallardo into the No. 2 spot and dropping left-hander Randy Wolf into the third or fourth spot depending on matchups. This is quite a change from last season, when Wolf was regarded as the No. 2 starter and for a while carried the load when Gallardo was hurt and not pitching well.

Left-hander Chris Narveson, a 12-game winner in 2010 who improved greatly in the second half (6.02 ERA and 1.569 WHIP in the first half and 3.89 and 1.173 in the second), will fit at the back of the rotation, leaving the team's new pitching coach giddy when thinking about his stable of arms.

"It puts us right there with anybody in the division," said Rick Kranitz, who replaced Rick Peterson as pitching coach last month. "It sets up the rotation to make you feel like you've got a legitimate chance to win the division. Anytime you acquire a guy like Greinke and guys like Gallardo, Marcum and Wolf, you have a chance to win every single day. I don't care who you are in baseball.

"I've been on the other side and not known what the rotation is going into spring training and it's been a tryout, and that's hard. To know what your rotation is going to be is comforting."

The Brewers might not have the caliber of arms as San Francisco or Philadelphia, but it is still a 180-degree shift from last season, when Jeff Suppan, Doug Davis and Manny Parra made up three-fifths of the rotation. That rotation tried to stay afloat early, which it failed to do.

This edition isn't only expected to stay above water, it is expected to compete with some of the league's top staffs through the finish line. Marcum was a key piece to add depth, but Greinke, along with Gallardo, gives the Brewers one of the most formidable starting duos in the league.

It is true Greinke has had only one dominant season, his Cy Young year in 2009, but there seems to be a consensus that the 27-year old is a true stopper capable of leading a playoff push."