At least one of the faces that will be in the 1976 Denver Brewers bullpen seems to have been identified, as it was announced today that the Brewers and lefty reliever Jason Gottula had agreed on terms for a contract for next season. Gottula was in his last year of arbitration eligibility and has pitched pretty well since joining the Brewers, at least in the relative terms of this disastrous 'pen.
The team decided to take a chance on him for at least one more season with the probability being that at least 2-3 of the current members of the bullpen will not be in Brewer purple next season. Jaden Francis (1-5, 6 svs, 5 BS, 4.98), Jordan Stephens (2-0, 1 save, 0 BS, 5.87), and Jeremy Walker (0-4, 7 svs, 2 BS, 4.82) all have suffered through horrible seasons and could be on the chopping block. Rumor is that Stephens, due to his relatively cheap contract and two more years of team control, along with his hitting ability, might be the one to survive. But left-hander Walker is even cheaper, slightly younger (26, a year younger than Stephens) and has 5 more years of team control, but with his very poor control there are concerns about whether he will ever be a useful bullpen piece. The 29-year old Jaden Francis, likely to get at least 100K for 1976 in this his last year of arbitration eligibility, is almost surely gone.