Quote:
Originally Posted by Palaaemon
The winds of change have started blowing through Denver Colorado. The Brewers baseball club is in a position that they have never been in before. Sure they have traded players, let them go to free agency even flat out cut them, but not in the numbers that are being seen since during the season to now and continuing. Wholesale changes are happening here. Some due to contracts coming due, others with players abilities degrading and losing effectiveness, some where the organization has lost faith in them after being patient with them to develop, and with others it came down to simply a numbers game or being a "clubhouse cancer". There may be other reasons (each player can have a unique situation).
Once the wind dies down this team will certainly not look like it did previously. Of course parts will be familiar here and there but so many familiar names and faces will have departed for other pastures. For so long you could count on the beginning of each year the team remaining basically the same with perhaps 2-3 player changes for opening day. This next season you will need a program to know the team. Changing so many players at one time is unusual and can have a detrimental effect on team and individual player chemistry and morale. It certainly is not the ideal way to go about roster turnover. Usually it is more of a gradual process rather than a massive resource reallocation, trade or dump.
Among those players moving on have been (and will be) minor league players, minor league prospects of variable levels, major league role players, (bench, utility, platoon, etc.) major league starters, even major league stars (or former stars).
Some of these players have been here since the beginning of the league, others were drafted by the team, some were traded for or procured through waivers and others came by way of free agency, either domestic or foreign. I will not name any players here partly out of respect and also because not all transactions have occurred yet. I will allow the Brewers team officials to announce all transactions as they become official.
It will be interesting to see what this team will look like after everything is all said and done. I look forward to it. The off season has started, the Hot Stove is heating up and the winds of uncertainty are blowing hard!
Palaaemon
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So, I was planning on doing a bit of an overview of changes thus far and what they might mean (and what might still be coming) and this gives me a nice opportunity to do just that.
First things first, the elephant in the room. Or some kind of large, powerful creature anyway. I notice you have not responded yet to the Brewers acquisition of top prospect Mike Lovett. But this guy could change everything.
To begin with, the Lovett trade means it is almost inevitable that Bobby Erbakan will be asked to perfect his craft at second base this coming Spring Training. And if he proves capable in this regard, he will be the starting second baseman in 1976. Likely this will mean that Brett Taranto will take over primarily at first (with Andrew Kennedy playing quite a bit there also), at least for the first half of the season or so.
Mike Lovett dominated with the bat in single A ball this past season. Granted, it was his second year in a row at that level. To be fair, he was pretty dominant the first year there too. He will start the season in Nashville, with the Brewers AA club. If our scouting staff is right about this kid, he will dominate there too. And if that happens don't be surprised to see him join the Brewers mid-season or at the very least on September 1st.
According to inside sources Brewer management is salivating at the thought of the following batting order going forward for at least the next several years:
1- Josh Schaeffer, RF
2- Rodrigo Rodriguez, 3b
3- Joe McPhillips, CF
4- Mike Lovett, 1b
5- Bobby Erbakan, 2b
6- Jorge Gonzalez, LF
7- Rich White, SS
8- Zacarias Martell/Kirk Patnode, C
Lovett looks like a batter who could consistently hit .325-.335 each year, with 20-25 doubles, 35-50 HR's, while putting up an OBP over .400. With good hitting, very good OBP and fast runner Josh Schaeffer setting the table, batting champ RodRod hitting second with his good speed and great gap power (doubles machine), Joe McPhillips contact/speed/power/on-base combination in the three hole, Lovett cleaning up, Erbakan with great contact and good power hitting 5th, the excellent contact hitting and speed of Gonzalez (also with some power) 6th, and then Rich White with decent pop and good OBP skills followed by one of our fine catchers (who admittedly have probably over-achieved with the bats thus far), well, a team that already is the best in the WPK in runs scored and batting average, could just become all that more dangerous.
The major changes in the roster for next season have probably all happened now. There are still some questions in the bullpen, but the reality is that it doesn't look like there will be a good crop of relievers to choose from in free agency, so we might just go with what we have now, having unloaded Francis, Walker, and Stephens. We have the two left-handers in Gottula and Marino and two righties in Shore and Flynn. Perhaps Walter Hackler will be ready this spring or he might start the season at AAA. But it is certainly possible that starters John Weaver and Damian Hahn could be in the 'pen as long relievers/swing men on Opening Day.
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see how Jose Figueroa continues to develop as our future third baseman and what that will mean for RodRod. Figueroa profiles as a similar hitter to RodRod and a much better fielder. (We also have a great hitting third base prospect in Andy Oleson, who is a level ahead of Figueroa in the system, but he is even more suspect defensively than RodRod, doesn't have great makeup, and likely might be trade bait before too long.) We have a few young outfielders to keep an eye on, especially in case the not great work ethics of Jorge Gonzalez or Josh Schaeffer start to lead to lesser output. Jon Williams, in particular (IIRC) could be a fine defensive and power hitting option for right field. Reliever Adrian Darby still profiles as a future plus arm in the bullpen. He is also maybe our best power hitter in the system (well, until we acquired Lovett) and has been a two-way player thus far. And starting pitching prospect Jim Atwell, with his great stuff, is moving along nicely and has scouts pretty excited.
The future looks bright for the Brewer organization, even if a little unsettled.