Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers pulled off a big deal with the rebuilding Detroit Falcons, getting superstar slugging thirdbaseman Jamison Bash for relief pitcher Josh McEwen and outfielder James Jackson.
Both McEwen and Jackson are arbitration eligible and neither was expected to have a role on the team in 1971.
Given that Bash will be 35 years old this coming season, had a disappointing 1970 campaign, and will be a free agent at the end of the coming season, the Falcons were motivated to unload him.
On the Brewers side they were able to take on his high salary for one season and given how poorly Jared Stephenson played in 1970 and the fact that our scouting staff doesn't believe him to be a capable starter at this point, felt the need for an upgrade, however temporary, at third. Plus, Brewers owner Steve Lester has tasked us with improving on our HR stats and Bash provides a big bat for the middle of the order.

Bash is considered an unmotivated player and could be a bit of a drag on clubhouse cohesion but it was felt that with our strong leadership core it shouldn't be a strong factor. Plus, he is wildly popular with fans and fan interest reportedly spiked upon his acquisition.
Likely Bash is a one-year fix. He will be FA eligible at the end of 1971 and at his age and with his low work ethic there is almost no chance we would resign him. But as the Brewers try to repeat in 1971 he still should have enough skill left to help us win games now.
(I was offered a great many players in trade for McEwen and ended up throwing Jackson into the mix mostly to make myself feel less like I was taking advantage of the AI (which of course led my assistant GM to switch from "this is a pretty good deal as it stands" to "I'm sorry, but this doesn't seem fair" or words to that effect). I could have also had superstar starting pitcher Chris Hernandez which would have made the Brewers already dominant starting staff all that more crazy good. There were also other high profile players- outfielders mostly- who were offered in trade for McEwen. I decided on Bash partly because it seemed a fairer trade given his age, his performance this past season, and his character traits. Fairer meaning not as much like me ripping someone off. Now granted neither McEwen or Jackson are star level players- though McEwen did have a great year in our bullpen in 1969. But they are both quality major league players and at age 26 still have good years ahead. And they are a lot cheaper than Bash. So I don't feel like this trade is totally out of bounds of something that could happen, especially given Detroit's rebuilding status.)

[BirdWatcher]

With his contract having expired, Brewers hitting coach Michael Hawkins was allowed to walk away. The Brewers have continued to struggle offensively and although Hawkins had developed a good reputation as the Brewers AAA Chester club's hitting coach, his WPK reputation was only average.
The Brewers soon after announced that they had signed former Phoenix Speed Devil hitting coach, Jalen Thomas, who has 15 years of experience and a great reputation. The hope is that he can help Brewers hitters to reach their full potential over the next few years.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers came to terms with lefty reliever Liann-wei Hua for the 1971 season, thus avoiding going to arbitration.
Hua was the only arbitration eligible Brewer left after the recent trade that sent Josh McEwen and James Jackson to Detroit.
Hua is considered someone who will have an important role in the Brewers 'pen possibly for many years into the future and the team was happy to avoid the contentious arbitration process and make the 25-year old hurler happy.

[BirdWatcher]

As was expected, two Brewers players earned Gold Glove Awards for the 1970 season.
Bobby Erbakan won his second Gold Glove in a row for his spectacular defense at firstbase. Erbakan led the MGL in fielding percentage (.999), Zone Rating (7.2) and Defensive Efficiency (1.085).

Kevin Curtis, in his first full season behind the plate, won the MGL Gold Glove award for the position of catcher. Curtis admittedly provided very little offensive value but he was a defensive marvel, leading the league in fielding percentage (.997), total chances (797), putouts (722), Range (7.87), Zone Rating (5.1), CERA (2.44) and Caught Stealing % (50.7). He was 3rd in Defensive Efficiency (1.077), 3rd in assists (73) and 5th in double plays (10).

[BirdWatcher]

Eric Singer, who stepped in and gave the Brewers a tremendous lift when All-Star closer Miguel Solis went down with a season-ending injury on July 21st, finished second in the MGL Reliever of the Year voting.
(The owner has asked us to make it a priority to extend Singer beyond the 1971 season. And, in spite of the fact that he will be turning 33 the coming year, it is probably not a bad idea.)

[BirdWatcher]

Leftfielder Ryan Rodgers was the lone recipient of a Silver Slugger Award among the Brewers players for the 1970 season.
Rodgers, of course, led the league in batting average, OBP, walks, and WAR, so it was well deserved.

[BirdWatcher]

I was surprised that Ryan Rodgers didn't get a bit more love in the MGL MVP voting, especially considering that he led the league in WAR while playing for the Championship team.
It is true though that he was the only player other than the very deserving young superstar MVP Jesse Cibula to get any 1st place votes.
Tanner Yurek got a couple of mentions on ballots to sneak into a next to last place spot in the MVP voting.

[BirdWatcher]

Well, this is disappointing.

Pressley was my favorite relief pitching prospect in the organization and I had high hopes for him. I expected him to be in a Brewers uniform sometime before the end of the 1971 season.

Fortunately we have a deep corps of relievers and it isn't hard to get more quality bullpen arms.

Still, this one saddens me a bit.

[BirdWatcher]

With the calendar having rolled around to a new year- 1971- Brewers management is happy to hear what the scouting staff thinks about the development of top starting pitching prospect Steve Green.
Green, who pitched well in his 3 big league starts in 1970 (2-1, 2.21 ERA, 0.98 WHIP), is expected to be in the Brewers rotation for the entire 1971 season(barring injury or disastrous outcomes.)

At this stage the Brewers scouting staff thinks that the future is rosy indeed for young Mr. Green. The latest development reports indicate that he is expected to develop better movement then earlier thought, to go along with his already fine stuff which could become near elite and very solid control. His cutter is already considered extremely good and his solid slider and changeup are expected to improve still a bit more. His fourth pitch is an average forkball which should help keep hitters on their toes. The expectation is that he may have greater stamina then earlier thought too.
Essentially, at this point our scouting team sees Green as having staff ace potential.

When you combine that with the already emerged talent of Harry Lyerly, the great talent of 2-time Pitcher of the Year award winning veteran ace (who will only be 30 years old this coming season) Cheol-han Lee, the very impressive Brewers starting staff doesn't look to be losing any potency anytime soon. Granted, the expectation is that lefty Daniel Torres, the reigning MGL ERA champ, might not have his nastiest stuff anymore as he approaches 36 years old, but he still profiles as a solid mid-rotation arm.

Also, while our scouts don't expect 25-year old Adam Getchell to ever become the ace he once was expected to (he was drafted #3 overall in the 1966 draft) he has performed quite well thus far in his limited appearances as a Brewer over the past 2 seasons and the expectation now is that he might be a solid back-end-of-the-rotation guy.

Pitching can of course be quite unpredictable but with the seeming durability of most of the Brewers staff, with great defenders behind them and the magic that heralded pitching coach Blake Martin seems to work, especially with groundball pitchers (which describes every Brewers starter other than Harry Lyerly, who has been trending in that direction), the future appears to look very bright indeed for the Brewers in this area.

[BirdWatcher]

Well, this is interesting.
I had decided when setting up this save to let things evolve as they wish mostly, though I deselected the option of having schedule length or the 40-man roster change.
This is the first bit of league evolution.
And it might be an advantage to the Brewers right now with some young players starting to blossom (Lyerly, Hua, Kennedy, Erbakan), a few others looking like they are about to (Green, Getchell, Francis), and some potential star young players on the horizon (particularly Joe McPhillips.)
We might be able to keep this club together for a decent amount of time.

[BirdWatcher]

With the day fast approaching when the first pre-season exhibition games of 1971 will be played, insider reports indicate that the Brewers are largely content to move forward with their current roster.
Unlike the past several years, the Brewers showed no interest in any Free Agent investments this off-season and the signs are that we should not expect that to change prior to the beginning of the regular season. (With the possible exception of a veteran or two being signed to minor league contracts as security against injury and to provide leadership for minor league prospects.)

The biggest question mark this off-season surrounded the fate of Ruben Souffront. All indications at this time are that the team has decided to keep Ruben in the organization for now and he will be given a shot at a bench role with the Brewers as a pinch-hitter, pinch-runner, occasional rightfielder. Ruben has one more minor league option year remaining and with the recent change in Free Agency and Arbitration rules he now has one more year of arbitration eligibility as well (he would have been a Free Agent at the end of the 1971 season under the prior rules). Ruben's status this coming season will have as much to do with how well Joe McPhillips does at AAA Chester as it will with Ruben's own on-field performance. Should it become clear that McPhillips is likely ready to put on a Brewers uniform and compete for the centerfield job, Ruben may be traded prior to the end of July deadline.

As discussed previously, the Brewers starting rotation looks deep and talented. Even should injury strike (always a strong possibility) the rotation runs so deep that it would take a number of serious injuries to really cause any panic in this area. At this stage it appears that the 5-man rotation will be Cheol-han Lee, Harry Lyerly, Daniel Torres, Steve Green, and Abel Pennington, likely in that order.
The bullpen will be anchored by the All-Star duo of Miguel Solis (who has returned from a season-ending injury suffered in July of 1970 with no indications of significant talent reduction) and Eric Singer. Liann-wei Hua returns for set-up duty. Veteran lefty David Brown, who was eligible for Free Agency at the end of the 1970 season but accepted the team's offer of arbitration, returns for middle-relief/setup duties. Young Jaden Francis, after a respectable first full season in 1970, is looking very promising in middle relief with the potential to earn a set-up role as the season progresses, should someone else falter or in case of injury.

Likely the 'pen will be rounded out with two swingmen- Adam Getchell and Will Smart. Getchell will be trying to prove that he should be in the starting rotation and would likely enter the rotation in case of injury to one of the top 5 starters. Smart, who had such a fine season in 1970, does not possess great stamina and might be best suited for a long relief/emergency starter role with occasional appearances in middle relief.

Catcher Kevin Curtis, in spite of his very sub-par offensive skills, was so great at handling the staff last year (and won the Gold Glove award as a result) he will certainly be back and for the time being will be the primary starter at this position.
The big question is who will back him up. Joey Townsend has held this role for most of the past 2 seasons but with his defense becoming increasingly suspect and his offense not much better than Curtis' (and his lackadaisical approach), the team will likely give Jeff Darden a chance to earn the second catching position in spring training.

Three fourths of the infield should look exactly like it did in 1970- with Bobby Erbakan and his Gold Glove at first, Tanner Yurek at second, and Chad Brown at short. Erbakan showed late season signs of maturing with the bat but still put up underwhelming numbers at the plate in 1970. However, our scouting staff now believes that he might have a bit more HR power potential then previously thought and if so that will be a big boost to the team offense. Yurek just needs to keep doing what he's been doing. Brown was disappointing offensively in 1970 and not even as good defensively as hoped (he led the league in errors once again with 32, after having made great improvement in that area the prior season.) But he's young and overall is a very slick defender with great range, is very fast, and still has pretty good hitting potential. Plus, we have no good shortstop prospects to challenge him at this time. The new guy on the infield is veteran slugger Jamison Bash. Bash's career is clearly in decline but he is still a very solid defender, has a good eye at the plate, and should challenge Antonio Puente as the biggest HR hitter on the club. His power bat in the middle of the lineup is something the Brewers have been missing. Unless his numbers completely bottom out he should be a plus.

Oscar Vargas is almost sure to once again be the primary backup at second, short, and third. At every one of those positions he is a superior defender. He doesn't hit much, but he has a bit of power and will take a walk and is a decent base runner.
Minor league prospect Danny Roman will be given a chance to win the second utility infielder. Roman is best suited to second base, but is a solid defender at any infield position, has great speed and base-running abilities, and is potentially a pretty average hitter.

Ryan Rodgers will once again man leftfield, where his skills as a defender are still premium (heading towards his mid-30's he is still a decent centerfielder, but left is a better fit now and he remains one of the best in the game at that position.) Andrew Kennedy should be his primary back-up and provides decent defense with a great bat. Kennedy will also be the primary backup for Bobby Erbakan at first base.

Antonio Puente and Pat Rondeau will likely both be given time in centerfield and rightfield. While they are both very good defenders they are both better suited for right than center. And really whoever plays center is likely just keeping the position warm for Joe McPhillips. Puente and Rondeau are both left-handed hitters and will likely both be spelled at times by the right-handed hitting Ruben Souffront.

The hope is that with the addition of the aptly named Bash, some development by Erbakan, a continuation of the same by Yurek, and hopefully an injury free season for Puente, the Brewers offense should produce more power this season than in the past. Ryan Rodgers, Yurek, and Puente all provide great on-base skills while Kennedy and Rondeau are both very good line-drive contact hitters who should have good to great batting averages. If Ruben Souffront and Chad Brown can match their offensive production from their earlier best seasons- or at least come a bit closer to that then they did in 1970- the Brewers offense could take a step forward this year.
And if the pitching, as expected, remains as dominant as it has been the past few years, the chances of a third straight season winning the MGL should be good.

[BirdWatcher]

(Catching up on a bit of off-season news as we head into Opening Day 1971.)

As requested by owner Steve Lester, the front office worked out a contract extension to keep reliever Eric Singer in Brewers purple beyond the end of the 1971 season, potentially through the end of 1974. (The team has an option to buyout the final year of the contract.)
In spite of his age, the feeling is that Singer will remain an effective arm out of the pen for at least a few more seasons and in fact two of his best three years have come since he turned 30. He is also a fan favorite and a great influence in the clubhouse.

[BirdWatcher]

This past winter, San Francisco Velocity reliever Jason King called an end to his career at the age of 27 in order to donate a kidney to his ailing brother in an act of loving self-sacrifice.

[BirdWatcher]

With Opening Day nearly upon us, the annual pre-season predictions have been published and the prognosticators are expecting that the upcoming 1971 World Series will feature a re-match of 1970.
Jacksonville is expected to once again be the WPK team with the best record- and by far the best offense- and to easily take the Shoeless Joe League title with the upstart Milwaukee Cadets and the Washington Night Train finishing a distant second and third.

Our Denver Brewers are expected to once again feature the best pitching in the WPK and to give up by far the fewest runs (they are the only team in the WPK expected to give up fewer than 500 runs.) With the offense predicted to be perhaps just a bit better than 1970, the Brewers are expected to win nearly the same number of games as in 1970 and to narrowly hold off their main challenger from the past two seasons- Phoenix- as well as the Los Angeles Spinners, from whom experts expect a bit of a return to earlier form.

As has generally been the case in the short history of the WPK, the SJL is expected to feature much more potent offensive production while pitching is more dominant in the MGL.
Among the expected offensive leaders in the MGL is the Brewers Ryan Rodgers, the 1970 batting title champ.
The experts also foresee both Cheol-han Lee and Harry Lyerly being once again among the top pitchers in the league, though the expectation is for Lee to perform even better than in 1970 while the young fire-baller Lyerly is expected to see somewhat more modest amounts of wins and a somewhat higher ERA. Still, Lyerly is predicted to rack up over 230 strikeouts, almost surely leading the league again in that category.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers drop their road opener for the 1971 season by getting shut out, 2-0, by the Detroit Falcons.
Although Cheol-han Lee pitched a good game- allowing the 2 runs on 4 hits over 8 innings pitched, striking out 6 and walking just 1, the Brewers managed just 3 hits- all singles- off Falcons starter Colby Muir- and none in the last 1 2/3rds inning against 2 Detroit relievers.

Game 2 of the 2-game series was postponed by rain and will need to be made up later in the season.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers then traveled west to San Francisco to take on the Velocity for a 2-game series over the course of 3 days.

The Brewers won the first game with Harry Lyerly on the mound for his first start of the 1971 season coming off his MGL Pitcher of the Year performance of 1970. Lyerly was not at his best, allowing 3 runs on 10 hits over 6 1/3rd innings while striking out 5 and walking 1, but he got plenty of run support to get the victory as the Brewers prevailed 8-3. Shortstop Chad Brown led the way offensively with a 4 for 5, 3 RBI game including hitting a rare HR.

Game 2 saw Daniel Torres, the reigning MGL ERA champ, combine with Eric Singer and Miguel Solis to pitch a shutout as the Brewers won 3-0. Torres worked 7 1/3rd, giving up 5 hits, striking out 9 and walking 2. Gold Glove catcher Kevin Curtis had a big day with the bat, going 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and Chad Brown stayed hot with a 2 for 3 performance.

[BirdWatcher]

In an odd bit of scheduling the Brewers then find themselves traveling back across country to the east coast to play the Aces in Brooklyn for 2 games.

Perhaps a bit jet lagged in the first game, the Brewers went down to defeat, 6-4 in 13 innings. The Brewers took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th but Miguel Solis could not hold it and the Aces tied the score on a 2-out, pinch-hit sacrifice fly. The Aces then won it on a walk-off 2-run HR in the bottom of the 13th off Jaden Francis.

The Brewers bounced back in a big way in the second game, winning 12-3 behind the power hitting of Antonio Puente, who belted a pair of HR's. The Brewers would get 5 HR's in the game, including the 1st of the season from both Jamison Bash and Andrew Kennedy as well as from an unlikely source, Kevin Curtis, who is off to a good start at the plate in 1971. Cheol-han Lee got the win for the Brewers to improve to 1-1 (2.65).

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers finally come home to Denver for the home opener and Harry Lyerly has the honor of pitching the first game of the 1971 season at Brewers Field. And while Lyerly was still not at his sharpest- he gave up 2 runs, both on solo HR's, on 8 hits in 8 innings pitched, striking out 8 and walking 2- it was good enough for his second victory in two tries on the season as the Brewers won 4-2. Andrew Kennedy, who is not known for his HR power, hit his 2nd of the season as he continues to give indications of having more power then expected.

Daniel Torres then also improves to 2-0 (0.00) by giving up just 1 run (not earned) over 8 innings pitched (2 K, 4 BB) as the Brewers win game 2, 3-1. Antonio Puente (.276/.344/.690) hits his 4th HR of the season (in 7 games played) to help power the offense as the Brewers win 3-1. Puente is on pace for 93 HR's, which, of course, isn't gonna happen. But it's a nice start in the power department not only for Puente but for the team as whole (this is one of the owner's requests/commands for the season- increasing our HR ranking in the league) and after finishing 1970 with the 9th highest HR total in the MGL the Brewers are currently 2nd in the league in this category.

[BirdWatcher]

The home stand continues with 4 games in 3 days against the San Francisco Velocity.
And things go pretty sideways for the Brewers as they drop all 4 games.
Abel Pennington takes the loss in game 1, pitching 6 1/3rd innings while allowing 4 runs on 7 hits in his first regular season start of the 1971 season. Catcher Kevin Curtis went 2 of 4 with his 3rd double of the season as he continues he good start at the plate. The Brewers lose 5-2.

Cheol-han Lee started game 2 and was not good. Lee gave up 7 runs on 12 hits in just 5 1/3rd innings pitched and drops to 1-2 with a 4.84 ERA. Jamison Bash goes 2 for 3 in the 7-2 loss.

In the Sunday doubleheader, rookie Steve Green started the first game and didn't pitch too poorly- giving up 3 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings pitched while striking out 6 and walking just 1, although also giving up 2 HR's- but the Brewers batters could only manage 1 run and the Brewers lost 3-1. Jamison Bash drives in the only Denver run with an 8th inning pinch-hit HR, his second of the season. Steve Green is now 0-1 with a 3.95 ERA.

Game 2 was Harry Lyerly's turn to try to stop the losing streak for the Brewers and he wasn't quite up to the challenge- allowing 4 runs on 11 hits in 7 innings pitched, striking out 5 and walking none. Lyerly falls to 2-1 with a 3.80 ERA and the Brewers fall 4-2 and get swept at home.

[BirdWatcher]

Next up- the Brooklyn Aces came to town for two games.

It took an 11th inning walk-off HR off the bat of Antonio Puente to do it, but in the first game the Brewers do manage to stop their 4-game losing streak with a 3-2 extra inning win. Daniel Torres pitched another strong game without getting a decision as he allowed just 2 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings pitched (8 K, 2 BB) and he is now 2-0 with an 0.81 ERA. Miguel Solis and Eric Singer each provided the Brewers with 2 innings of scoreless relief and Antonio Puente hit not just the game-winning HR but also a solo HR in the 6th inning and he now has 6 HR's on the season.

Adam Getchell gets his first start of the season in game 2 and although he allowed 4 runs in 7 IP, only 1 was of the earned variety as errors by Tanner Yurek and Chad Brown led to predictably bad outcomes. Andrew Kennedy (.324/.324/.486) went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored in the game but there was little support from the rest of the lineup as the Brewers lose 4-3. Getchell falls to 0-1 with a 1.13 ERA.