1993 Brewers Rebuild - The Second Decade

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6/2

The Brewers tank a West Coast road trip against the Dodgers and Padres, losing five straight and dropping their record to 28-28, 4th place in the NL Central, 6 ½ GB of the Cubs.

Things are going a little better in the minors:

• Ryan Howard named Southern League batter of the month. He is now hitting .349 with 13 dingers.
• Edgar Rivas (who we picked up on waivers in January) named Southern League pitcher of the month, going 4-0 in 5 starts with 2.16 ERA.
• Javier Herrera wins California League batter of the month. He is now hitting .338 w/ 6 homers.
• Evan MacLane wins California League pitcher of the month. Now 6-1, 3.41 ERA, 41k/13bb

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6/6/03

It’s time for the amateur draft, and the wheels have fallen off. The Mets came to town on the third and completely put our bats to sleep, sweeping us 2-1, 2-0 and 2-1. The Brew Crew’s losing streak is now 8 games and we’re 8 ½ games out of first. What seemed like a very promising season has turned dark quickly. On top of this, Wataru Nakanishi apparently had a verbal altercation with fans after the loss today and the fan base is upset.

In a stroke of luck, the Blue Jays returned Sean Burroughs to us for some reason, even though he had an OPS of 1.024 for them in 51 plate appearances. The Brewers send down Jared Sandberg and add Burroughs to the active roster, where he will back up Arturo Galindo, who is batting .350 as the starter at 1B.

In the amateur draft, we took these folks with our top selections. Overall, this seemed like a pretty weak class, with very few prospects grading out highly.

• 1^st Round: Yovani Gallardo (17 y/o SP)
• Supplemental 1^st Round: JA Happ (20/SP)
• 2^nd Round: Akinori Otsuka (31/RP)
• 2^nd Round: Glen Perking (20/RP)

Gallardo continues the reunion of actual Brewers. If all goes well, we may have Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and Gallardo all playing together. Otsuka is MLB-ready right now and I need another reliever. Perkins is interesting in that he already has three pitches in the high 60’s and another that could top out at 60. I’m hoping I might be able to convert him into a starter as his stuff is already at 63/100 and his movement and control could top out at 61 and 76 respectively.

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I have been resisting the temptation to call up Roberto Perez not wanting to (a) somehow hose up his development (he was pitching in A ball last season) and (b) not wanting to start his arbitration clock. However I just realized I'm not really saving myself anything because I had to add him to the 40-man roster in the offseason to keep from losing him in the Rule V Draft. I'm going to try to sign him to an extension immediately... because damn, look at this.

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6/11

• Brewers send down Ricardo Flores, who is walking 6 batters per 9 innings and replace him with the recently drafted Akinori Otsuka.
• Brewers are now 31-32. 4th in the central, 6 ½ GB of Chicago.

6/21

• Brewers are now 37-36. 4th in the central, 5 ½ GB of Chicago.
• Nakanishi has now had a shouting match with manager Tom Kelly. We may need to ship him off.

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7/1

• Brewers are 42-39, 4th place in the Central, 5 GB of the Cubs

A couple of transactions to start the month:

• Brewers call up top relief prospect Roberto Perez. Hopefully this doesn’t hose up the long-term contract he says he is in favor of signing. Ricardo Flores and his 6.5 BB/9 are sent to AAA.
• Call up Reed Johnson, who has been on fire at AAA, demoting Greg Jacobs.

Minor Awards

• Michinobu Kagawa named NL rookie of the month. He went 3-1 with a 1.39 ERA and 27K in 32.1 IP. For the year he is 5-4 with a 3.21 ERA, 62 hits and 88K in 87 IP.
• Brian Roberts named International League (AAA) Batter of the Month. He hit .422 with 3 dingers. His defense at SS also climbed 10 points since the last time we checked in on him, which makes it very likely one of him, Michael Young, or Freddy Sanchez gets dealt at some point.
• Brandon Claussen named International League (AAA) Pitcher of the Month. Went 6-1 with a 3.23 ERA in 8 starts, holding the opposition to a .198 BA.
• Jake Dittler named Midwest League (A+) Pitcher of the Month. 4-1 with a 1.67 ERA and 35 K in 43 IP.

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7/2

• Roberto Perez signs a 6 year/$15 million extension.

7/4

• Brewers are now 43-41, 4th place in the Central, 5 GB of the Cubs.
• Brian Roberts (AAA) has a 22 game hitting streak end. It’s his second streak of 20+ games this year. He’s batting .350 on the season.
• We sign 18 year old pitching prospect Jorge Costas. Our scouts think he can be a middle of the rotation starter.

7/6

• Jorge Ramirez (AAA) has a 29 game hitting streak end. It’s also his second streak of 20+ games this year. He’s batting .360 on the season.

7/7

• Dan de la Mora (A+) named Midwest League Player of the Week. He hit .632 for the week, but is hitting just .233 for the year.
• AAA (Indianapolis), A+ (Beloit) and R (AZL Brewers) all at the top of the power rankings for their leagues.

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7/14

Major Leagues:

• Brewers are 48-46, 4th place in the Central, 6 GB of the Cubs.
• LF Eilas Rios, SP Tokuji Kobayashi and RP Seinosuke Yamaguchi voted to the All-Star Game.
• Former Brewers relievers Josh Towers, Mike DeJean, Armando Benitez and Masao Taniguchi also named to the All-Star roster.

Minor Leagues

• Seven farmhands - RP Jonathan Papelbon (A), 1B Prince Fielder (A), 1B Ryan Howard (AA), SS Brian Roberts (AAA), RP Francisco Rodriguez (AAA), 2B Jose Castillo (AA) and 3B Miguel Cabrera (AA) all named to the Prospects Game.
• Brian Roberts named MVP of the Futures Game.

Minor Awards

• Jon Knott (AAA) named International League POW, batting .462 with 4 homers. For the year he is only hitting .249 but does have 17 homers.
• Travis Denker (R) named Arizona League POW, batting .435 with 3 dingers. He is batting .345 for the year.

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It's interesting to the the Rays, Tigers and Mariners in first in the AL.


Closer to home, the Brewers are still 4th in the NL Central, but only a good series away from 2nd place, and right in the hunt for the Wildcard. The next two weeks will determine whether we trade away folks like Vladimir Guerrero at the deadline.

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7/27

After going on a bit of a run, the Brewers are 56-48, 2nd in the Central, but still 6 ½ GB of the Cubs. We’re 2 GB of the Dodgers for the Wild Card, tied with the Mets.

I've never done much at the trading deadline, but even though I'm in the thick of the Wild Card hunt, we need to focus on the big picture and keep strengthening the team. There are a couple of pieces we should move because they will be leaving at the end of the season and getting any controllable talent is better than nothing.

• I've tried to lock up Vladimir Guerrero to a long-term deal a number of times and just cannot close the deal. He wants 10+ million per year and we just cannot afford that. Before he walks at the end of the season, we trade him (retaining 35%) along with prospects CF Jon Jimenez (#82) and C/2B Carlos Rodriguez to the Marlins for the #23 prospect in baseball SP Juan Savedra. Rodriguez could turn into something but he has already had one major injury and is rated fragile. One more injury and he’ll probably be wrecked.
• Fearing an injury and being bereft of any decent starters at AAA, I signed former Royals ace Kevin Appier to a minor league contract before the season started. At age 35, he is spare parts at this point. We trade him to the Devil Rays for 50-potential C prospect Chris Snyder 60-potential CL Matt Capps.

7/28

• Brian Roberts (AAA) named International League POW, hitting .481 w/ a homer and 9 RBI. He is batting .354 for the season.
• Indianapolis (AAA), Hunstville (AA) and Beloit (A+) all lead their league’s power rankings.

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While he never made it up to the level of the real life Vlad, he was a very solid player for us and had a season for the ages in 1999, batting .340 with an OPS of 1.009 and narrowly missing a 40/40 season.

Among single season leaders for the Brewers, That 1999 season ranks Vlad 9th in BA (.340), 1st in Slugging (.634), 1st in OPS (1.009) 6th in Runs Scored (127), 1st in Total Bases (386), 4th in triples (12) 6th in Homers (39) and 1st in RBI (141).

Oddly enough, he did NOT lead the team in batting in 1999 - that honor went to Shannon Stewart who hit .351 (4th in team history). Boy was the '99 team good. Too bad we lost in the NLCS.

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7/28

• Brian Roberts (AAA) named International League POW, hitting .481 w/ a homer and 9 RBI. He is batting .354 for the season.
• Indianapolis (AAA), Hunstville (AA) and Beloit (A+) all lead their league’s power rankings.

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8/1

The Brewers begin August at 59-49. 2nd place in the NL Central, 4 ½ GB of the Cubs. We are deadlocked with the Dodgers for the NL Wild Card.

It was a fantastic month for the farm system:

• Brian Roberts was named (AAA) named International League Batter of the Month. He hit .370 in July with 5 dingers, 26 RBI and 25 runs scored. For the season, his OBP is a staggering .454.
• Ricardo Flores (AAA) named International League Pitcher of the Month. He went 3-1 with 3 saves, striking out 32 in 20.1 innings.
• Miguel Cabrera (AA) was named Southern League Batter of the Month. He hit .398 with 7 dingers. For the season he is hitting .359.
• Prince Fielder (A+) was named Midwest League Batter of the Month. He hit .383 with 7 dingers. For the season he is hitting .293 with 16 homers.
• Bryan Bullington (A+) was named Midwest League Pitcher of the Month. He went 6-0 with 29 K and a 2.33 ERA across 46.1 IP.

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8/4

• Miguel Cabrera (AA) named Southern League POW.
• Prince Fielder (A+) was named Midwest League POW.
• Garrett Guzman (A) was named California League POW. He’s hitting .304 on the season with 10 homers.

8/11

• Brewers are 65-52, 2nd in the Central, 5 GB of Chicago. We’re 1 ½ games out of the wildcard, tied with the Mets behind the Dodgers.
• The Indianapolis Indians (AAA) wrap up the West division title. With a record of 82-42 they are 23 games up on their closest competition.

8/18

• Brewers are 68-55, 2nd in the Central, 6 GB of Chicago. We’re level with the Mets for the Wild Card, ½ game ahead of the Dodgers.
• Miguel Cabrera (AA) bats .500 on the way to winning Southern League POW.
• 2B Josh Barfield (A+) bats .471 on the way to winning Midwest League POW. He’s batting .310 on the season.
• 1B David Winfree (R) bats .455 on the way to winning Arizona League POW. He’s batting .357 on the season.

8/19

• The Huntsville Stars (AA) wrap up the Southern League western division crown. They are 80-46, 15 games up on the next closest team.

8/22

• After getting swept by the Phillies, we stand at 68-58, 2nd in the Cental, 6 GB of the Cubs. We’re now 2 ½ games out of the Wild Card.
• Miguel Cabrera (AA) has a 22-game hitting streak snapped. He’s now hitting .376 on the season.

8/25

• We finally break out of our funk after an ill-timed 5 game skid. We’re now 70-59, 2nd in the Cental, 6 GB of the Cubs. We’re now 2 ½ games behind the Mets for the Wild Card.
• Corey Hart (AA) named Southern League POW, batting .552 with 3 dingers. He’s now hitting .328 for the year with 14 homers.

8/26

• The Beloit Snappers (A+) clinch the Midwest League western division crown.

8/28

• Prince Fielder (A+) has a 29 game hitting streak snapped. He is now hitting .318 with 19 homers.

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9/1

• Brewers are 73-63, 2nd in the Cental, 7 ½ GB of the Cubs. We're now 5 games behind the Mets for the Wild Card.
• Former farmhand Sergio Castro wins AL Rookie of the Month for the Twins. We sent him off in the Jesus Cueva trade.
• Miguel Cabrera (AA) wins Southern League Batter of the Month, batting .397 in August.
• Edgar Rivas (AA) wins Southern League Pitcher of the Month.
• Prince Fielder (A+) wins Midwest League Batter of the Month, batting .423 in August.
• Jeff Housman (R) wins Arizona League Pitcher of the Month.

9/6

• Brewers are 75-66, 2nd in the Cental, 8 GB of the Cubs. We're now 6 ½ games behind the Mets for the Wild Card.
• Akinori Otsuka is lost for the rest of the year with biceps tendinitis. At the roster expansion we called up Francisco Rodriguez, so it's not as big a loss.

9/22

• Brewers are 84-72, 2nd in the Cental, 9 GB of the Cubs. We're now 5 games behind the Mets for the Wild Card.
• Elias Rios named NL Batter of the Week. Hit .500 with 3 homers.

9/29

• Brewers finish the season 87-75, tied for 2nd in the Central with the Pirates, 8 GB of the Cubs. Sadly we also finish 2 1/2 games out of the Wild Card. Considering our closer blew 10 saves this year, it makes you wonder what could have been.

10/1

• Kenichi Akamatsu named NL Rookie of the Month.

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Minor League Playoffs

Indianapolis (AAA), Huntsville (AA) and Beloit (A+) all won the playoffs for their respective leagues.

Postseason Awards
It was quite a year for our minor league affiliates.


Arizona League (Rookie):

• Jeff Housman wins Arizona League (R) Pitcher of the Year. 6-4, 3.14 ERA 72 K in 91.2 IP.

High Desert Mavericks (A):

• Josh Banks named California League (A) Pitcher of the Year. 10-7 w/ 3.82 ERA. The top four in the voting all came from the High Desert Mavericks.

Beloit Snappers (A+):

• Jonathan Papelbon wins Midwest League Reliever of the Year. 3-2 with 35 saves, 1.37 ERA, 64 K in 52.2 IP.
• Jake Dittler wins Midwest League Pitcher of the Year. 17-6 3.02 ERA, 175 K in 217.2 IP.
• Jeff Francoeur wins Midwest League MVP. He hit .341 with 38 2B and 18 HR.
• Jerry Robertson named Midwest League Manager of the Year.

Hunstville Stars (AA)

• Rich Folkers named Southern League Manager of the Year.
• Edgar Rivas named Southern League Pitcher of the Year. 18-6, 3.76 ERA, 205 K in 215.1 IP.
• Miguel Cabrera named Southern League MVP. .372 BA, .442 OBP, 38 doubles 31 HR.

International League (AAA):

• Josh Weimer named International League (AAA) Manager of the Year.
• Brian Roberts named International League MVP. He batted .347 with a .440 OBP with 43 doubles, 9 triples and 12 homers.

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10/30


Nelson Cruz retires at age 31. Chosen in the 20th round of the 1996 draft, he’s one of the best draftees we’ve had. A member of the 1997 championship team. He retires after pitching in 276 games (good for 9th most in team history), with a career WHIP of 1.07.

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10/30: The end of the year prospects list is released. We have the top rated farm system in the league, with the number 2 (Miguel Cabrera) 7 (Jesus Cueva) and 9 (Juan Savedra) prospects in baseball.