[BirdWatcher]

When the calendar flips to a new year and the next baseball season still seems a long ways away (OOTP alternate universe time, of course) and especially when your team just suffered through a long, losing season and you can't be sure that won't happen again in the upcoming campaign, it is natural to look forward a bit to the future, say, 3-5 years ahead.
And to wonder, what could be? To be both hopeful but also to think practically about what steps might be needed to make the future a brighter one.

So the next several posts will be exactly this: a glimpse into the possible Denver Brewers future and a look at both the potential strengths and weaknesses of that possible future.

Let's start with perhaps the biggest question mark on the horizon- the Brewers starting pitching staff.
This is the area of the team that is oldest and most likely to need complete overhauling in the next 3-5 years. Although Jason Lawson has been pretty solid these last two seasons (in fact, was one of the best pitchers in the WPK in 1965, and finished 1966 with the third best ERA in the MGL), he is 38 years old and showing some signs of decline, though thankfully thus far not steep decline. Still, 3-5 years down the line he will surely be comfortably retired. Jeff Burdick, the very first Brewer, has not been as advertised during his time with the team, and at 35 years old he is not likely to ever be the ace the team expected him to be.
More positively, Steve Alonso, who was picked up in the Mark Compton trade from L.A. this past season is just shy of 30 and should be a stable mid-rotation starter for at least the next two seasons (after which is FA eligible). Whether he will still be a Brewer 3-5 years from now is an open question.
Alex Burley has been the greatest stabilizing force in the rotation the past two seasons. At 35 Burley isn't showing any obvious signs of decline yet and is a true workhorse. So it is possible that in 3-5 years he might still be a Brewer as the veteran of the staff, probably pitching mid-to-back-end of the rotation. Possible. Not a sure thing.

In terms of young pitchers, Abel Pennington at age 24 is already a member of the rotation and shows potential for at least a mid-rotation spot in the future. Plus, he is a great influence in the clubhouse and could be one of the most important leaders on the team going forward.
There aren't many great starting rotation prospects in the minors at this point. The best among them is 19 year old Rob Ibarra who will need his potentially spectacular changeup to start developing soon or he will likely be relegated to the bullpen once he makes the bigs. At this stage of his development, Ibarra looks like he could have a future ranging anywhere from being a staff ace to being a mediocre middle reliever.

In summation, when it comes to the future of the Brewers rotation there are a whole lot of questions and ifs. If Alex Burley ages well and just keeps doing what he has thus far, if Steve Alonso continues to develop and the Brewers decide to (and can) keep him beyond the 1968 season, if Abel Pennington proves to be the solid mid-rotation starter it looks like he has the potential to be, if Rob Ibarra can develop his potentially lethal changeup and turn into a top-notch big league starter, then, well, the rotation has some hope. I just realized I haven't even mentioned flame-thrower Miguel Campos who is just now coming back from the shoulder (torn labrum) injury he suffered early in the 1966 season and is now considered a fragile pitcher with much lower stamina then pre-injury. At this point, if he can stay relatively healthy, Campos looks like he could have a bullpen role but if everything breaks just right (not likely) it is always possible he may work his way back to the rotation and that would be a great boost.
But mostly, this is an area that the Brewers will continue to focus on in terms of the new player draft and trades. And, of course, should other aspects of the team work out for the best, it is always possible that an investment might be made in the next 2-4 years for a free agent staff ace.