1993 Brewers Rebuild

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• Masao Taniguchi is really expensive and the Dodgers contact us saying they are interested. The Brewers trade Taniguchi and prospects SP Matt Riley, SP Gil Meche and CF Eddie Torres to the Dodgers for P Matt Clement, LF Elias Rios and teenage CL Roberto Perez. The Dodgers had been playing Clement as a reliever, but with three good pitches, good stamina and decent ratings otherwise (66/69/34) I plan on converting him back to a starter.
• Brewers extend SP Jose Lima (2 yrs/$4 million) and Mariano Rivera (3 yrs/$16.2 million)
• In a swap of minor leaguers, the Brewers trade SP Alberto Garza to the Braves for CL Alec Zumwalt. Zumwalt touches 100 on the radar gun, so we hope he can put it all together.
• Brewers select CF/2B Chone Figgins in the Rule V Draft. His defense in CF is outstanding, and unlike our existing backup CF, he can actually hit.
• Brewers then trade backup CF Alex Escobar to the Marlins for SS Hector Luna and LF Robb Quinlan.
• Brewers set up their future for when Mark Loretta leaves, trading RP Rick Ankiel, C Jordan Borja, CF Joe Borchard, RP Joe Nathan and 3B Chris Rowan to the Pirates for 2B Mike B Young. Young looks to have an outstanding hit tool and is currently rated the #16 prospect in baseball. Aside from Ankiel (whose poor control doesn't seem to be getting any better) I don't see anyone I've given up in this trade turning into anything special.
• Brewers trade OF Todd Hollandsworth to the Tigers for RP Grant Balfour.

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• Masao Taniguchi, who we just traded to the Dodgers ruptures his UCL and is lost for the season. Dodged a bullet there.
• Brewers are predicted to win the NL Central with 90 wins, but just barely edging out the Cubs and Reds.
• Farm system is ranked 8th in baseball. Top prospect is AAA 2B Michael Young, who is the #16 prospect in baseball.
• I should also mention that I've upped the amount of cash being spent on both scouting and player development. Both are a bit north of $3,000,000. I feel like I'm underperforming in bringing up new talent from the minors. Quite a few of the folks that debut for me are those I've actually traded for as prospects, not those I originally drafted and completely developed myself.

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4/23

• After a terrible 1-6 start, the Brewers are back at .500, 9-9, 4th place in the NL Central, 3 GB of the Astros.
• Fluke errors by players with high Infield Error ratings (Loretta, Damion Easley) have cost the Crew two wins.
• To this point Shannon Stewart has been terrible at the plate (batting .167) and Miguel Tejada has been even worse (.153). Both are suffering from bad luck with extremely low BABIP. Two other starters (Anderson and Varitek) are batting under .240 as well.
• On the positive side, Aramis Ramirez is batting .339 and Matt Clement (3.72 ERA in 3 starts despite being 0-2) and Ugueth Urbina (0.90 ERA in 10 IP) seem to be the real deal.

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5/1

Hideo Nomo hits the DL for 2 weeks. Dan Serafini gets called up to fill in. At this point Nomo leads the starters in ERA at 2.98, but is just 1-3 due to a lack of run support.


5/6

Brewers just can’t seem to put it all together. Different relievers seem to melt down at different times. The team is 15-15, 4th place in the NL Central, 6 GB of the Cubs.


5/14

The Brewers get swept by two division foes in a row – the division-leading Cubs and the lowly Pirates. Mariano Rivera blows four saves and the Crew loses 9 in a row to drop to 15-23.

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6/6

• The Brewers are 28-31, 5th place in the NL Central, 8 GB of the Cubs.
• It’s time for the Amateur Draft. With their first selection, the Brewers choose high school outfielder Wes Bankston. With their second pick in the first round we choose Jeff Francoeur.

6/25

• After pulling themselves up to .500 at 34-34, the Brew backslides again. The team is now 36-38, 5th place in the NL Central, 7 GB of the Cubs.
• The persistent theme is a lack of hitting, with nearly every starter underperforming compared to last year at the plate.
• It also does not help that Randy Johnson is 4-8 with an ERA fully two runs above his previous worst season. In Feb his stuff jumped almost 40 points (it has since settled back at 71) but his movement score has moved in the opposite direction. It’s down to 58 (from 77 last year) so that may be the problem. He’s “only” 37 and if he keeps pitching like this, he’s going to “hit the wall” much earlier than IRL. This is a problem since he’s the most expensive player on the team (8.9 million/year) but he only has one more guaranteed year after this one.

6/30

• Ugueth Urbina, who took over as closer from Mariano Rivera after his May meltdown is lost for the rest of the season to bone chips in his elbow. The Brewers recall Kyle Farnsworth from AAA Indianapolis, hoping he finally puts everything together.
• The Brewers are back at .500 – 41-41, 4th place in the NL Central, 5 ½ GB of the Reds and Cubs who are tied atop the division.

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7/3

• In a storyline moment I have not seen before, Miguel Tejada calls out Shannon Stewart for lack of effort. Stewart is batting over 100 points lower than last season… so Tejada’s not necessarily wrong.

7/9 – All-star Break

• The Brewers hit the break at 44-44, 4th place in the NL Central, 7 ½ GB of the Reds.
• Brewers place the injured Ugueth Urbina and RP Seinosuke Yamaguchi on the All-Star team. This is the fewest players to make the team since 1994. Strangely, former Brewers farmhand Josh Towers makes the team as a reliever for the Cardinals. His ERA is just over 2 – a drop of four full points from the season before.
• Farmhand RP Neal Cotts (A), Roberto Perez (A), Francisco Rodriguez (AA), Alec Zumwalt (AA) and Byung-Hyun Kim (AAA) and 2B Michael Young (AAA) named to the Prospects Game. There are a LOT of high-octane bullpen arms in the system right now.

7/29

• With the trading deadline looming at the end of the month, the Crew needs to decide if they are going to make a final push or not. Things have gone better of late, and the team is 55-49, 3rd place in the NL Central, 5 ½ GB of the Reds and 4 GB of the Cubs for the Wild Card.
• Since being called out by Miguel Tejada, Shannon Stewart has gone on something of a tear, hitting over .280 in July, but still a far cry from the .336 and .351 the last two seasons.
• Garret Anderson has had a terrible final year of his contract, hitting just .219 with painful OPS+ of 50. Knowing he wants a six-year deal and that he will turn 30 shortly, it’s time to try and get something for him. He gets shipped to the Mariners for 2B Sean Burroughs. Greg Jacobs is called up to take his place.

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8/25

• Brewers are 70-58, still 3^rd place in the NL Central, 5 GB of the Reds, but only 2 GB of the Cubs for the NL Wildcard.
• Top relief prospect Byung-Hyun Kim has been called up to replace a slumping Octavio Dotel. Also Greg Jacobs seems to have stepped into whatever BABIP wormhole exists in the Miller Park outfield and is batting a horrible .127 with a -6 (!!!) OPS+. He gets sent back down to AAA and 22 year old Elias Rios is called up to play LF after spending just 24 games at AAA.

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• The Brewers catch fire in August, going 18-10 and then play .500 ball in September to hold off the Cubs and take the NL Wildcard. The Brewers finish 89-71, 2nd place in the NL Central, 9 GB of the Reds.
• Elias Rios hits .284 with 7 dingers in 31 games down the stretch, good for an OPS+ of 145.
• Overall the batting made up for lost time the last two months of the season. Jason Varitek hit 15 homers in August and September in just 47 games. Much maligned Miguel Tejada hit .365 in September and Vladimir Guerrero hit .355 that month. Damion Easley and Richie Sexson hit over .300 the last month of the season as well.

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• The Brewers lose the NLDS 3-2 to the Reds. Barry Bonds (who signed with the Reds as a free agent in the offseason) hits .444 with 4 dingers to spark the Reds. Kim, who pitched well down the stretch in the bullpen fails to hold the lead in two of the games.
• The Expos beat the Reds in the NLCS. Bonds suffers an elbow injury in the first game of the series and will miss almost an entire year of playing time. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy...
• The Expos then go on to defeat the Yankees 4-2 in the World Series.

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Minors

• Travis Blackley of the High Desert Mavericks (A) named California League Pitcher of the Year (13-5, 2.96 ERA, 204 K in 222 IP). Teammate Rich Harden was runner up.Alfredo Aceves of the Ogden Raptors (R) named Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year (4-4. 3.04 ERA, 71 K in 103.2 IP)
• Dallas McPherson of the Beloit Snappers (A) named Midwest League MVP (.334 BA, .430 OBP, 23 2B, 19 HR)
• Rhett Parrott of the Beloit Snappers (A) named Midwest League Pitcher of the Year (16-8, 3.19 ERA, 198 K in 220.1 IP)

Majors

• Vladimir Guerrero wins NL Silver Slugger in RF.

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I didn't notice this at the time, but my offense dropped off something fierce this year, scoring around 130 runs less than the 2000 season. Shannon Stewart was awful, as was Garrett Anderson. Richie Sexson was not nearly as good as the previous season, and he played far more as he took over starting duties for Mo Vaughn. Ugly.

Pitching was slightly better though.

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Pitching

Losses:

• We allow free agent Hideo Nomo to walk. He wanted more money than we could afford and more years than were prudent for a 33 year old starter with a lot of innings on his arm. The A's swoop in and sign him to a four year contract worth over $10 million per season. This is the second time the A's have done this to the Crew - they also swept in and picked up Curt Schilling when his contract ran out with us.
• The Brewers also void the second year of Jose Lima's contract, paying the $400,000 buyout. He's gotten worse every year with us so it's time to move on.

Additions:

• Trade C Jason Varitek to the Orioles for SP Wade Miller and C prospect Jason L Phillips. At 25 years old and with room to grow from 61/57/43 ratings it seems like he might be ready to bust out.
• Sign free agent P Freddy Garcia (3 yrs/$2.8 million). We hope to have lightning strike a second time. The Tigers were using him as a reliever for some reason, despite the fact that he has three good pitches and having all three of his pitching skills be in the high fifties with potential to improve. Hopefully he becomes Matt Clement 2.0

Other transactions

• Mark Loretta leaves as a free agent. A favorite player of mine in real life, he's been very average with the bat, only posting an OPS+ over 100 once in his tenure, and that was just 109. With Mike Young and his high potential bat waiting in the wings, it's time to let him walk.
• Trade INF Mike Coolbaugh to the White Sox for RP Steve Karsay. The Sox retain 35% of his salary the next two seasons ($1.5 million). There is some risk here with Karsay being over 30, but 90 movement and 80 control I'm willing to take the risk.
• Trade RP Octavio Dotel and prospects 1B Mike Glendenning and SP Raul Aviles to the Reds for prospects SP Erik Bedard and SS Jose Castillo. I hate giving up Dotel as he is pretty useful, but Bedard is the #27 prospect and I need starters, and Castillo is #17.
• Brewers DFA AAA pitcher Nelson Figueroa to claim a 40-man roster spot and he gets claimed by St. Louis.

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• Brewers farm system is ranked 7th. Top prospects are Michael Young (21) and Erik Bedard (27th)
• Young breaks camp as the starting 2B. Alex Velez slots in to start at C for the departed Varitek. Elias Rios appears ready to take over in LF. The bottom part of the rotation has been revamped with the arrivals of Wade Miller and Freddy Garcia bolstering Tokuji Kobayashi, Randy Johnson and Matt Clement.
• The pundits predict that the Brewers will go 98-64 and win the division by 6 games.

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4/7

• Brewers are 4-2, in a three way tie for first in the NL Central with the Cubs and Reds.
• Aramis Ramirez fractures his tibia and will be out for 6 weeks. This bodes poorly as he didn't exactly set the world on fire in his rookie season.

4/15

• Here’s something you don’t see often. Five teams are all 7-5 atop the division. The only team not in on the fun? The 3-9 Cardinals.

4/29

• The team manages to lose 5 (!!!) extra inning games in two weeks, and are now 11-14, 5th place in the NL Central, 6 ½ GB of the Cubs.

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5/4

• Elias Rios wins NL Rookie of the Month for May, hitting just .224 but slugging 6 home runs.
• Greg Norton, who has been filling in for Aramis Ramirez at 3B, pulls an abdominal muscle and will be day-to-day for 4 days.

5/23

• Brewers are 20-28, 5th place in the NL Central, 11 GB of the Cubs.
• Everyone who plays 3rd base appears to be in line for an injury this season. Damion Easley sprains his ankle and hits the DL for 3-4 weeks.
• Velez, Sexson and Rios have all drastically underperformed at the plate to this point, and the bullpen has been an adventure. Nelson Cruz and Felix Rodriguez, two of my most consistent relievers the last two seasons have pitched poorly to this point. Overall a very disappointing campaign to this point.

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6/6

• Brewers are 24-36, 5th place in the NL Central, 11 ½ GB of the Cubs.
• Aramis Ramirez joins the team after his rehab stint at AAA.

6/24

• It’s been a painful year for the Brewers. The bullpen – long a strength of the franchise and expected to help carry the team has been awful by Brewers standard – Bullpen ERA is 14th in the NL, and our 4-11 record in extra inning games reflects this. Checking players within the editor shows nearly every player underperforming compared to expectations.
• The batting has been similarly uninspiring, with unexplained underperformance there as well. That said, the rebuild of the rotation has been a success. The starters’ ERA is 4th in the NL, and all five starters have an ERA under 4, making the bullpen implosion all the more painful.
• Brewers are 30-46, 12 GB of the Cubs, dead last in the NL Central.

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7/8

• Tokuji Kobayashi and Seinosuke Yamaguchi named to the All Star Game.
• Jonathan Papelbon (a draftee this year), Roberto Perez and Francisco Rodriguez named to the Futures Game.
• Brewers are 37-52, 12 ½ GB of the Cubs, 5th place in the NL Central.

7/30

• Randy Johnson wins game #200 of his career, giving up one run in 8 innings against the Braves.
• Brewers are 48-60.

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8/5

• Reliever Danny Graves goes on the DL for 2 weeks.
• Brewers are 51-61, 5th place in the NL Central 14 ½ GB of the Cubs.

8/23

• Wade Miller tosses a no-hitter against the Pirates.
• Brewers sign Wade Miller to a 5 year extension worth, $40.1 million. In retrospect... this might be a mistake, but his ratings have surged upward this season.

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9/1

• Wade Miller named NL Pitcher of the Month
• Elias Rios names NL Rookie of the Month, hitting .305 with 10 dingers.
• To put a cherry on top of the crap sundae that was the 2002 season, top pitching prospect Erik Bedard tears a tendon in his elbow and will be lost for 8 months. Sigh.

9/9

• Yamaguchi is DTD with an injury. He goes on the IL and Braden Looper is called up.
• Brewers are 68-75, 5th place in the NL Central, 14 GB of the Cubs.

9/30

• The season comes to a merciful end, the Crew finishes 78-84, 5th in the NL Central, 14 GB of the Cubs. This breaks a streak of five straight years in the playoffs, which would tie the team for the fourth longest streak in actual MLB history.

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Minors

• Evan MacLane of the AZL Brewers named Arizona League (R) Pitcher of the Year. He went 7-1, 2.02 ERA over 66.2 IP.
• Roberto Perez of Beloit named Midwest League (A) Reliever of the Year. 40 saves with 84 K in 64 IP with a 1.27 ERA.
• Mike Blackburn of Beloit named Midwest League Manager of the Year.
• Travis Blackley of Beloit named Midwest League Reliever of the Year. 20-4 2.61 ERA 206K and 49 BB in 214 IP.
• Dallas McPherson of the Hunstville Stars (AA) named Southern League MVP. .288 average with 27 2B and 39 dingers.
• Francisco Rodriguez of the Indianapolis Indians voted International League (AAA) Reliever of the Year. 30 saves with 59K in 48.2 IP, with a 1.66 ERA.
• Jon Knott of the Indianapolis Indians voted International League MVP.

Majors

• Elias Rios named NL Rookie of the Year. Batted .258 w/24 doubles and 36 homers.
• He is now the third ROY I've had in this save.