1993 Brewers Rebuild

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5/17

• Brewers 26-16, 2nd place in NL Central, ½ game behind the Cubs in a very tight division.
• Troy O’Leary hits for the cycle against the Diamondbacks.

6/15

• Brewers are 44-24, 1st in the NL Central, ½ game ahead of the Cubs.
• Brewers take RF Ryan Ludwick with their first round draft pick, and Francisco Rodriguez (!) in the second round.

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7/6 – All Star Break

• Brewers are 55-32, 1st in the NL Central, ½ game ahead of the Cubs.
• C Dave Nilsson, 1B Mo Vaughn and pitcher Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling voted to the All-Star Game by the fans. Mariano Rivera named as a reserve. Former Brewers Dan Plesac and BJ Surhoff named to the AL team.

7/25

• Brewers trade P Ramiro Mendoza (who has been hurt most of the last 15 months) and P Chad Hutchinson to the Angels for 3B Aramis Ramirez and C Toby Hall.

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9/7

• Brewers are 86-57, 1st in the NL Central, 1 game ahead of the Cubs.
• Shannon Stewart has his hitting streak snapped at 25 games.

9/28

• After grabbing a 4 1/2 game lead at one point, the team fades terribly down the stretch, giving up the division lead in the last week of the season. Brewers finish the season 96-66, 2nd place in the NL Central, 1 GB of the Cubs.
• Brewers win the NL Wild Card and will play the Cubs in the NLDS.

10/8

• Brewers lose the NLDS to the Cubs 4-2. Mariano Rivera blows three saves in the series. In the regular season he only blew 5 saves all season, converting 43 chances.
• Twins win the World Series 4-1 over Atlanta.

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Minor Leagues:

• Chris Gissell of the El Paso Diablos named Texas League (AA) Pitcher of the Year.
• Eric Byrnes of El Paso named Texas League (AA) MVP.
• Jack Cressend of Stockton names California League (A) Reliever of the Year.
• Brewers minor league system ends the season ranked 17th.

Major Leagues:

• Garret Anderson wins the Gold Glove in LF.
• Vladimir Guerrero named NL Rookie of the Year.

Amusingly, at this point, the Brewers now have as many Rookie of the Year awards under my control...

• Cirillo (1994)
• Guerrero (1998)

...as the Brewers have across their actual history:

• Pat Listach (1992)
• Ryan Braun (2007)

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Final team stats for 1998.

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I have to say getting bounced in the first round of the 1998 playoffs, especially with the normally reliable Mariano Rivera imploding the way he did was a kick in the gut. It really felt like improving the rotation with Brad Radke while keeping the offensive core would have gotten us back into the World Series.

With the mindset that we were a bit unlucky, the Brewers head into the 1999 season with one big hole to fill. Curt Schilling left as a free agent, signing with the A's for $10,900,000 a year - a hefty raise from the $6.5 million we were paying him, effectively pricing us out of the market, especially with Randy Johnson opting out of the last year of his contract.

Transactions:

• Brewers resign Randy Johnson before he hits the open market (5 yrs/$44.5 million)
• Brewers extend Shannon Stewart (8 yrs/$18.5 mil) and Hideo Nomo (3 yrs/$11.5 mil)
• Brewers trade P Matt Drews to Cincinnati for RP Joe Nathan.
• Brewers sign international free agent SP Chut-sai Li.
• On opening day, the Brewers farm system is 23rd, with the top prospect being pitcher Nando Campana.

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4/12

• After one week of the season, the Brewers are 3-3, 3rd place in the NL Central, 1 GB of both the Astros and the Cubs.

4/24

• Starting SS Jose Valentin sprains his ankle and will be lost for 4-5 weeks.
• Brewers are 13-4, 3 games ahead of both the Cubs and Astros.

5/3

• Jason Hart wins Southern League batter of the month for April.
• Brewers 24-11, 2nd place NL Central, 1 GB Houston.

5/24

• Brewers trade RP Paul Quantrill to the Reds for RP Masao Taniguchi. Reds retain 15% of his salary.

5/30

• Troy Percival hits the DL for 4 weeks with a forearm strain.

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6/6

• Brewers are 36-20, tied for 1st place in the NL Central with the Astros.
• Brewers take Carlos Rodriguez with their first pick in the amateur draft.

6/15

• Brad Radke hits the DL for 2 weeks.
• Brewers are 49-24, 1st place in the NL Central, 5 ½ games ahead of the Astros.

7/12 – All Star Break

• Brewers are 57-30, 1st place in the NL Central, 6 games ahead of the Astros.
• Jeff Cirillo, Vladimir Guerrero, Randy Johnson, Mariano Rivera and Seinosuke Yamaguchi all voted to the all-star team by the fans. Garret Anderson named as a reserve.
• Former Brewers Curt Schilling (OAK), Ricardo Rincon (MIN) and David Wells (LAD) are also named to the all-star game.

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Apparently I was pretty engrossed in the game and took very few notes.

The Brewers finished the regular season 103-59, winning the NL Central by 7 games over the Reds. This was the best record in baseball, winning four more games than the Dodgers. This is also the second-best record the Brewers have ever put up, just one game short of the World Series winning team of 1997.

The first five batters vs righties – Shannon Stewart, Jeff Cirillo, Vladimir Guererro, Mo Vaughn and Garret Anderson – all finish the season batting .324 or higher, with 16-38 HR apiece. Seven players finish with at least 17 dingers.

Shannon Stewart wins the NL Batting Title, hitting .351 for the year with 51 doubles and 17 dingers.

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Flush with confidence, and holding home field advantage through the playoffs, the Brewers face off with the Reds in the NLDS. The Crew sweeps Cincinnati. Mo Vaughn is named series MVP after batting .600 with three homers in three games.

In the NLCS, despite scoring the most runs in the National League, the Brew Crew is unable to solve the Dodgers’ pitching. Pedro Martinez and the rest of the LA staff bamboozle the Brewers, and the Cream City Nine fall 4-1. The Crew scored just 2, 3, 1, 1 and 2 runs in the five games. Sparkplug Shannon Stewart batted just .150 at the top of the order.

The Dodgers then go on to sweep the Twins in the World Series.

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Minor Leagues

• Kevin Gregg of the Stockton Ports (A) named California League Reliever of the Year.
• Sun-Woo Kim of Stockton named California League Pitcher of the Year. He went 17-9 with a 3.67 ERA and 178 K in 237.2 IP.

Major Leagues

• Randy Johnson wins the NL Cy Young Award. This is his fourth Cy Young with the team. He previously won three straight from 1994-1996 while the team was still in the American League. On the season he finished 3rd in ERA (2.66), 3rd in wins (19), 1st in K (274) and 1st in Pitcher WAR (10.5)

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• In addition to winning the batting title, Shannon Stewart ties for Rafael Furcal for the NL lead in SB (65).
• Vladimir Guerrero finishes 2nd in RBI with 141 and 3rd in OPS at 1.009.
• Hideo Nomo finishes 3rd in strikeouts (216)
• Former Brewer BJ Surhoff (now a Pirate) had a 35 game hitting streak at age 35 (but only hit .279 for the year.)

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After winning 103 games and getting bounced from the playoffs in what seemed like a fluke, the Crew tinkers a bit with their roster.

• Jeff Suppan has plateaued, he's durable, but the best ERA he has posted is 4.72, so that rotation spot is ripe for upgrading. WE flip him and the barely-used Chut-sai Li to the Indians for minor leaguers 1B Richie Sexson and CF Alex Ramirez. It's fun picking up Sexson as another real-life Brewer comes home to roost.
• Jose Valentin, Henry Rodriguez, Troy O’Leary and Dave Nilsson leave as free agents. Nilsson was far too expensive to sign to a long-term deal at his age.
• Brewers lose Josh Towers and Alex Ramirez in the Rule V draft. Oops. Missed putting Ramirez on the 40-man roster.
• Brewers trade Troy Percival to the Astros for RP Billy Wagner, CF Jesus Feliciano and P Brandon Claussen. Percival will very shortly be 29 and his ERA jumped three full points last season. It seemed like time to trade him rather than risk keeping around someone who might be due for a precipitous dropoff.
• To try and get something for spare parts we trade INF Shane Halter and 3B Vince Rooi to the Giants for OF Reed Johnson and 1B Greg Jacobs.

To finally fill out the rotation, the Crew make a couple moves late in the offseason.

• The Crew’s Japanese pitching pipeline continues as they sign international free agent SP Tokuji Kobayashi (5 yrs/$27.5 million) Just 23 years old, he already has 74 stuff (87 max) and 57 movement (66 max) with high-thirties control. Definitely one for the future, but still a decent upgrade from Suppan.
• Brewers sign FA P Jose Lima to a 1-year deal for the second year in a row.

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• The Brewers farm system is ranked 11th in baseball.
• Brewers try to sneak Paul Spoljaric through waivers and fail.
• The Brewers settle on former Rule V pick Miguel Tejada as SS, taking over for the departed Jose Valentin.
• Jason Varitek succeeds Nilsson at catcher.

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5/8

Despite being the preseason favorite to win the division, early pitching woes and horrible defense at SS hindered the Crew in the early going. However the team has rebounded and are now 16-15, 4th place in the NL Central, but only 2 GB of the Astros. After terrible defense starts by Ramon Vazquez and Miguel Tejada (6 and 4 errors respectively) the Brewers summoned slick fielding, but light hitting Mike Coolbaugh from AAA to steady the infield.

6/6

• The Brewers continue to sputter, with Cirillo and Guerrero having terrible luck with BABIP. The Crew are now 32-26, 2nd place in the NL Central, 2 GB of the Cubs.
• In the Amateur Draft, the Brewers take 3B Andy Marte in the first round. Later in the draft actual MLB players Dallas McPherson, Jeff Mathis and Neal Cotts are chosen.
• Brewers get tired of Armando Benitez not living up to his stats, ship him to the Mets for minor league catcher Alex Velez.

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7/10 -- All-Star Break

• For the first time in a number of years, no position players were voted to the team by the fans. However, pitchers Randy Johnson, Seinosuke Yamaguchi, Mariano Rivera and Billy Wagner made the team. Additionally Jason Varitek was named as a reserve.
• Relievers Neil Cotts, Francisco Rodriguez and Byung-Hyun Kim all play in the Futures Game.
• Brewers are 52-36, 1st place in the NL Central, ½ game ahead of the Cubs.

7/26

• Brewers 1st place in the NL Central, 1 ½ games ahead of the Cubs.
• The team’s most consistent reliever, setup man extraordinaire Seinosuke Yamaguchi hits the Disabled List for 2 months.

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9/1

• Shannon Stewart has his 20 game hitting streak end.
• Brewers are 84-49, 1st place in the NL Central, 10 games ahead of the Cubs.

10/2

• Regular season ends. Brewers win the NL Central with a 97-65 record, finishing five games ahead of the Cubs.

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NLDS

• The Crew achieve a pyrrhic victory in game one of the series. Vladimir Guerrero breaks his thumb and will miss the rest of the playoffs. Additionally, Seinosuke Yamaguchi, who managed to return from his earlier injury in time to shake the rust off before the playoffs strains his shoulder and will miss the rest of this series and the NLCS.
• Brewers take a hard-fought NLDS, beating the Rockies 3-2. Miguel Tejada wins series MVP by batting .400 with 3 dingers and 7 RBI.

NLCS

• Brewers fall in the NLCS again… this time getting swept by the Mets. The pitching, which was a strength all year, fell apart, giving up 5, 6, 7 and 8 runs in the four games. The Mets then lose the World Series 4-1 to the Texas Rangers.

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• Rich Corbett of the Helena Brewers named Pioneer League Manager of the Year.
• Casey Kennedy of the Mudville Nine named California League (A) Reliever of the Year. He had 39 saves, a 2.09 ERA and struck out 52 in 47.1 IP.
• Matt Riley of the Mudville Nine named California League (A) Pitcher of the Year. He went 19-6 with a 3.50 ERA, fanning 219 and walking 73 in 218.1 IP.
• Greg Jacobs of Mudville wins California League MVP. He hit .353 with 43 2B, 30 HR and 142 RBI.

The farm system ends the year ranked 8th. This will go down over the winter as top prospect Kobayashi has completed his rookie campaign.

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Good hitting up and down the lineup. Good pitching too. Another wasted opportunity in the postseason *sigh*