Although I wasn't planning on making any big moves this offseason, when I saw that Portland had put Gold Glove shortstop
Willie Romero on the trading block I had to go for it.
With Denver's defense having been subpar in 1985 and our theoretically strong pitching staff suffering likely largely as a result of this, and shortstop having been a weakness of the team for some time now, it was hard to pass up the chance to get the premiere defensive shortstop of his generation. While Bud Lindsay is the GOAT at this position and has been a great defender as well, having earned 7 Gold Gloves, his career ZR of 169.1 is dwarfed by
Romero's 211.6 over the course of 7 big league seasons at shortstop. While
Romero likely will never repeat his age 22 season (1981) when he had a phenomenal ZR of 51.5, he has won Gold Gloves now in 5 of his past 6 seasons, including this year, in which he had a 21.3 ZR. He is also only 27 years old and hit 26 bombs while playing his home games at a park that suppresses homers, especially for right handed batters like him. He moves to a park that is enhances home run power, especially for right handed batters (though that didn't work out so well this past year with
Ryan Campbell).
The Brewers send Portland an excellent contact hitter but not great defender in Marty Crumbley and a good pitching prospect in Jim Evans, who struggled this past season at AAA Chester and who has been surpassed by others in the Brewers system at his position. This past season's starter at short, Roberto Costocurta, who has been largely disappointing both offensively and defensively, was also sent packing to Portland.
In addition to star shortstop
Romero, Denver gets a decent right field prospect in
Jerry Lillie, a switch-hitter with excellent power and plate discipline and a strong arm.
Lillie hits better against right handed pitchers and will likely be given an opportunity to at least platoon with veteran right fielder
Antonio Acuna, if not fully take over as the starter this season.
