[BirdWatcher]

Now let's check in on our Denver Brewers as we enter June of the 1985 WPK season.

A few overview looks:






It was a busy month for the Brewers in a season of change as they parted ways with a couple of veteran former stars and possible future Hall of Famers. First, on May 10th, the Brewers traded away long-time first baseman, and 2-time MGL MVP award winner, Brett Taranto to the Portland Wild Things for 26-year old starting pitcher Nick Hernandez. Hernandez is currently down at AAA Chester and while he is a usable big-league pitcher (at the back-end of a rotation) this was more about clearing the way for younger players to take over in Denver, particularly in this case first baseman Chris Romines.

That same day the Brewers did something even more controversial when they announced the unconditional release of former ace starting pitcher Sadahige Kawasaki. Kawasaki was off to a poor start to the season after a mediocre 1984- having missed all of 1983 with a torn UCL- and at age 37 his formerly excellent control had utterly vanished. The day before he was released he started against the Brooklyn Aces (in Brooklyn) and in a game that the Brewers lost 20-9 Kawasaki allowed 18 runs (17 earned) on 18 hits over 5 innings pitched. There was quite a bit of talk in the local press after that game that Denver manager Barry Allen had mercilessly, and unfairly, left the veteran former-great out there long after he should have been pulled, essentially subjecting Kawasaki to unnecessary and undeserved humiliation. But regardless, it was the end of the Brewers career for the hard-working 2-time Harris/Lee award winner.

The release of Kawasaki certainly gave top pitching prospect Stephen Brooks the opportunity to take on a more steady role in the rotation and the young hard-throwing righty took full advantage, earning not just the Rookie of the Month honors but also the Pitcher of the Month honors in the MGL. Brooks, the Brewers 1st round pick (#22 overall) in the 1979 draft, moved slowly up the minor league system and at times it seemed as though Brewers management didn't believe in his potential fully, but he has now emerged as the most likely rotation ace in the near future (with apologies to the inconsistent and often injured Eric Maisch).



Having had a particularly deep and talented starting pitcher prospect pool for several years, the Brewers find themselves in the unusual and unexpected position of their rotation being one of the biggest weaknesses of the team this season. However, with Brooks leading the way, there are signs of things heading in the right direction at this point of the campaign.
Veteran Jim Atwell, at age 31, appears to be transitioning into more workhorse than ace, but with his iron man durability and great stamina, along with triple digit velocity, an ability to induce groundballs, and still strong overall skills, Atwell remains an extremely valuable commodity, even if the chances of him adding another Harris/Lee trophy (he won it in 1980) to his case are diminishing.
26-year old control artist Eric Fehrenbacher, the Brewers 1st round pick in 1980, got rocked in his most recent start but mostly looks like a legit mid-rotation arm.
And Austin Bond, the lone lefty in the rotation, continues his career-long trend of over-achieving his perceived abilities, getting off to a wonderful 6-0 start this season though he has cooled off since mid-May. The 28-year old sparkplug has gone 69-39 with a 3.48 ERA thus far in his 5+ season career, including a rookie campaign in 1980 that saw him go 19-6 with a 3.22 ERA. He has a 6-pitch repertoire, but at this point only one of those pitches, his slightly above average slider, profiles as anything close to an out pitch and his stuff is below-par. So the feeling is that he might fall off a cliff performance-wise at any point. But for now he remains a solid back of the rotation arm and a great clubhouse presence.

The real enigma of the rotation is 25-year old Eric Maisch. Maisch won the Harris/Lee award in 1982, his second full big league season, with a 21-4 record and a 2.44 ERA. He then missed most of 1983 when he went on the IL in late April with an arthritic elbow. He had a decent, but at times injury interrupted, season in 1984, when he went 13-6 with a 3.05 ERA over the course of 23 starts. But he is off to a slow start in 1985. When he is in command of his stuff, Maisch can look like one of the most dominant pitchers in the game. But he has also shown himself to be prone to the long ball and inconsistency. He should be the ace of the staff and one of the best pitchers in the game but he will need to reestablish his reputation a bit with some more consistent quality pitching and good health.

On the other hand, the bullpen is a relative strength of the team and with a handful of very promising young hurlers on the way it should remain so for several years. Unfortunately, the most talented young arm in the 'pen- Dan Folk- is currently on the IL with a sprained ankle (at least it wasn't a pitching arm injury!) and is not expected back for another month or so.
Fellow youngster Willie Ramirez is picking up where he left off last season and has been tremendous, though admittedly his BABIP against (.200) is unsustainable.
Paul Johnson, a Rule 5 draft pick for the Brewers in 1979, is fully entrenched at age 27 as a reliable and talented middle reliever/set-up man. And Diego Lopez, another guy picked up in the Rule 5 draft (1982) continues to outperform expectations and is the primary left-hander in the 'pen.
The other lefty reliever, Rand Pinti, at age 29 continues his trend of alternating good years and bad. After having a tremendous 1984 he has been a weak link in the 'pen this season.


On the offensive side, veteran left fielder Val Guzman, who always appears to be on the verge of career collapse, just continues to defy those predictions. It was felt that he would be losing much of his playing time to the younger Ben Hartman this season, but with Hartman off to a slow start and Val once again tremendous in the early going, he has earned the bulk of the playing time. Guzman (.317/.406/.627) has never been a great power hitter but he does have streaky power and he has been on one of those power surges of late, including having a 3-homer day on the 28th of May against L.A. With a homer on the 1st of June he now has 5 homers in his last 5 games.


Another veteran outfielder, Joe McPhillips (.281/.358/.507) also had a good start to the season but is now sidelined for more than a month with a wrist injury.

Injuries have been a big part of the story for the Brewers early on as starting catcher Willie Ortega is sidelined with a fractured ankle which he suffered on May 1st and which is expected to keep him out of action for at least two more months. In his absence, 25-year old Joe Sandwell (.349/.388/.460) got his first chance at big league action and he has risen to the occasion thus far. Although Sandwell's arm is thought to be a weakness in his game he has thrown out 50% of the runners who have challenged him up to this point.
Starting pitcher Jose Corpeno has been out with a shoulder injury since mid-May and at this point it is not clear when he will be able to throw again.


EDIT: And re-reading this I realize that I completely forgot to mention 39-year old reliever Tim Shore. Shore is likely headed to the Hall of Fame, and is at the top of the WPK career saves leader board, with 419, well over a 100 more than his nearest competitor. He is starting to show his age and is certainly no longer the anchor of the bullpen but he remains a quality arm and has a 1.03 WHIP to go with a slightly inflated 3.86 ERA and 6 saves in 7 opportunities.