Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

The closest to a sure thing regarding the Brewers future is that leftfield will be the purview of Antonio Puente. And likely that he will be entrenched in the cleanup spot in the lineup for the foreseeable future as well. Puente, at age 23 (just barely) is the closest the Brewers have to a superstar in the making. And as he is signed through the 1974 season, there is no reason for the team to think that they will be searching for a replacement in left anytime in the near future.

Should some catastrophe occur to change that, there are a few somewhat intriguing prospects in the minors.
Mike Shumway, currently being tried out in rightfield due to his strong throwing arm, would likely be a below average hitter in the majors but does have some intriguing power potential. His defense and speed, however, will always be nothing better than average. Most likely Shumway might end up being trade bait.
Andrew Kennedy, as a hitter, is nearly the opposite of Shumway. Kennedy has potential to hit for a very high average and pick up a great number of extra base hits, just few of them in the form of homeruns. Kennedy would be a better prospect if his eye at the plate was a bit better, or if he was a bit faster, or if he was a bit better defensively. If all of those things were true, Kennedy could in fact be a very fine prospect indeed.

But let's be honest- being a leftfielder in the Brewers organization (well, one not named Puente) is either a dead-end or a transfer ticket. Antonio reigns there and hopefully will for a very, very long time.

[BirdWatcher]

The plan for 1967 is for 24-year old Zach Banks and 23-year old Pat Rondeau to take turns manning centerfield. Both are exceptional defenders with great speed. And both have some weaknesses at the plate. The thought at this time is that Rondeau is more likely to emerge as the future starter, though his lack of plate discipline does give the team management some pause.

The best prospect in the minors is Michael Morgan, who at 19 years of age had a very fine season at the plate for class A Bainbridge. Morgan is considered a very fine defender with a great arm (which might indicate a move to rightfield in the future) and a solid speed game. There are concerns about his work ethic but should Rondeau fail to capitalize on his chance to take over the position, Morgan might push him in a few years.

[BirdWatcher]

Perhaps the single biggest question mark on the Brewers is whether Ruben Souffront will ever put together his obvious talents to become a viable major league player. With his exceptional speed package and above average contact and gap power ability along with at least average power, Ruben should be capable of being at least an average big leaguer, if not somewhat above average. His defense isn't gold glove caliber but should be quite sufficient. He is considered a very intelligent and hard working young man who is very well-liked in the clubhouse. And thus far, a fully inadequate player at the major league level.

Up until recently it was thought that the player who might most challenge Souffront in the next few years at this position was 19-year old Dave Manning. But recently Manning's star has dimmed a bit. It is possible that his low work ethic combined with a low morale (having played for two quite poor teams this past season) has perhaps set back his development. He still has the potential to be an above average hitter with above average power (though earlier his power potential was thought to be well above average), he is a fine defender and a great runner. And Manning put up very good numbers at the plate at class A Bainbridge last season. There is still the possibility that he will regain his upward trajectory and challenge Souffront in the next few seasons.
Another potential contender for the rightfield job in the next 3-5 years is 18-year old Andrew Knight. Like Manning, Knight is well above average defensively and a fine runner but he does not seem to have the potential at the plate that Manning still has.

[BirdWatcher]

To sum up:
It appears that in the next 3-5 years the starting pitching staff could be adequate but that the team should continue to work hard to find prospects in this area and might need to dip into the Free Agent pool eventually to get a true #1.
The bullpen appears to be trending in the right direction and the organization has a good number of relievers with major league potential. This area, which has recently been a great weakness, should soon become an area of strength.
As far as the infield, in the next 3-5 years it could be quite strong, particularly defensively. Yurek and Brown are well above average up the middle (with Bravo providing even greater defense in a back-up role), should Erbakan take over at firstbase he profiles as a tremendous defender and any one of the trio of Ledbetter, Uribe, or Careaga would provide above average to excellent defense at third. Offensively, Erbakan could be a star, Yurek should provide solid offense with a great eye at the plate and a decent amount of power for a speedy secondbaseman. Brown should be average to above average at the plate, though his OBP will never be great. If Careaga steps up to be a solid major leaguer we should get decent offensive production from that position as well. The longer Ledbetter or especially Uribe holds down that position the more it will be an offensive weakness.

In the outfield, Puente should remain our best player, being strong both at the plate and in the field. Centerfield should see great defensive play but whether we get the needed offensive production out of any of the candidates for that position remains questionable. If Ruben Souffront lives up to his potential, rightfield should be fine. If not, well, things could get a bit dicey and this might be an area where the team will have to focus on an upgrade.

Overall- pitching could be a relative strength going forward, especially the pen. Fielding should be a great strength, both in the infield and outfield. Speed will continue to a big part of the Brewers offense. (Hopefully with more of our young players getting major league experience our stolen bases will outnumber our times caught stealing by a larger amount.) Power, beyond Puente, might continue to be a weakness. Tom O'Donnell (who I just realized I forgot to mention earlier) as a fourth outfielder shows signs of providing some decent power off the bench. Erbakan could develop above average power. Careaga also shows some sign of being able to hit a fair number of HR's. Yurek can be counted on for 15-20 a season. And if Dave Manning ends up in rightfield he could provide some decent power as well. But that's a lot of if's. Puente is pretty much the only sure power source as it stands. And that could be a problem.

On the whole, looking forward, I feel pretty confident that this club will/should contend in the future. I don't see a championship club there yet. But one step at a time.

[BirdWatcher]

In a trade initiated by the G.M. of the San Francisco Velocity, the Brewers sent 25-year old C/1B Franklin Jimenez and 25-year old minor league secondbaseman Rogelio Espinal to the Velocity for 31-year old lefthanded starting pitcher Daniel Torres. It would appear that with Torres being eligible for free agency at the end of the 1967 season the Velocity were looking to free up some salary space and add some younger players. While Jimenez is not likely to ever be a star in this league (his overall and potential ratings were both actually higher pre-trade than they are now), with a dearth of quality catchers in the WPK and Jimenez having the ability to not only be solid behind the plate but also at firstbase, his value seems to have been inflated somewhat this off-season (his name came up in several trades offers floated our way).
This trade does mean that Tony Silmon will continue to be the back-up to Sam Rogers. While Silmon is a somewhat better defensive catcher than Jimenez (and Rogers, for that matter) his bat is completely insufficient against major league pitching. The loss of Jimenez also leaves the Brewers with less depth at firstbase, which could be an issue with fragile (though, so far, thankfully not yet often injured) and aging A.J. White learning that position and unproven Erik Shelton as the only other viable option. Plus, this trade leaves the Brewers basically tapped out in terms of player salary budget space.

On the other hand, adding the solid Torres to the starting rotation will take some pressure off youngster Abel Pennington, who will now be a sixth starter/swingman. It also give the Brewers three lefthanded starters on a team that plays home games in a park that slightly favors lefthanded hitters. Torres, like the two relievers the Brewers picked up in the off-season, is far less prone to giving up the long ball, which was a distinct problem for the Brewers pitching staff in 1966. And while Torres is probably just a one-season loaner, it is hoped that his addition will give the Brewers a very competitive pitching staff and a good chance at respectability in the standings this upcoming season.

(While all teams will profess, this time of the pre-season, that their goal is to win the championship, in private conversations it becomes clear the the Brewers management would consider 1967 a success if the team finishes anywhere between 3rd and 5th in the MGL. The very real goal is to at least finish at .500, and hopefully a bit above.)

[BirdWatcher]

Granted it's just two games into the meaningless pre-season exhibition game schedule, but Brewers fans are happy with what they are seeing from Ruben Souffront thus far. Souffront started the exhibition season 5-5 (before striking out in his sixth AB) and has already hit a triple and a homerun and has stolen a base.
Signs of better days to come or just a very small sample size/exhibition season fluke? (Okay, probably the latter but still nice to see.)

[BirdWatcher]

Six games into the exhibition season and Souffront now hitting .500. Granted, he's striking out quite a bit too, but nearly every time he does put the ball in play he gets a hit. And he has 3 stolen bases with no caught stealing yet. Might mean nothing. But maybe he's turning the corner on his career.
Also, the revamped bullpen is looking very sharp. Young Bobby Erbakan, getting his first taste of major league play, has looked impressive even though he's clearly not ready for the bigs yet. Pat Rondeau continues to come up with some big hits and play great defense. (While his centerfield competitor, Zack Banks, struggles at the plate.) Starting staff looking solid.
Thus far, a nice start to Spring for the Brewers.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers finish with a Spring Training record of 18-12. Meaningless, of course, but still a bit of a boost in spirits for a team that finished so poorly in 1966. Ruben Souffront stayed hot all spring and finished with a .410 batting average. All of the new acquisitions for the Brewers had fine springs, particularly new starting pitcher Daniel Torres and relievers Miguel Solis and David Brown. New thirdbaseman Steve Cutrer played very solid defense while hitting .310 and with an OBP of .412.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Miguel Campos, coming off a nearly season-long shoulder injury, seems to have lost none of the zip on his fastball and had such a marvelous spring that the plan to send him down to AAA to get his game back was scrapped and he will be joining the team for Opening Day. Ben Malzone, who also had a fine spring, was sent to AAA instead. But given Campos long lay-off and proneness to injury, Malzone may be back on the big league club soon.

[BirdWatcher]

The 1967 Pre-Season Predictions are out and they indicate that most pundits believe that the reigning WPK champs Jacksonville should easily head back for a third straight World Series appearance.
As for the Moonlight Graham League, predictions are that this will be a far more competitive league with Portland narrowly Oklahoma City and Phoenix and the two-time MGL champs Los Angeles expected to fall to fourth place.
As for the Brewers, pre-season predictions show them only moving up one place in the standings, though they do indicate they are expected to get close to their stated goal of playing at least .500 ball. The Brewers leadership is shrugging off the prognostications, focusing instead on how close the league is expected to be and noticing that even a slight over-performance by the team compared to the predictions could vault them up several places in the standings.
And, well, there is a reason they play the game on the field and not on paper. Anything can happen between the lines.

[BirdWatcher]

So, of course, in his very first regular season appearance for the Brewers, new closer Miguel Solis got injured pitching to his very first batter, in a one-run 9th inning save situation. Fortunately, it is just a day-to-day injury (as I recall- not in front of the game currently- a tight back) which will have him out for a week. Just as a precaution, the Brewers placed him on the 10-day DL and recalled Billy Tanner from AAA.
Also fortunately, Armando Cruz came into the game and preserved the 2-1 opening day victory over Baltimore in front of over 33,000 cheering Brewers fans.

Some think opening day could be a template of how the Brewers might possibly exceed expectations a bit in 1967. The game saw starting pitcher Steve Alonso work 8 strong innings, allowing just 2 hits (though also walking 4, as I recall) and the bullpen do their job with minimal effort. It also featured impressive defense (including a few fine plays late in the game by Erik Shelton who had taken over from A.J. White at first to provide late inning defense), and a very timely pinch-hit double by Pat Rondeau in the 8th inning which drove in Zack Banks (who walked and stole second) with what would prove to be the winning run.

And this is the thought: the Brewers will not be one of the better run scoring teams in the league in 1967. But they do have very good defense overall and have the team speed to manufacture some runs. The starting pitching staff is without an ace but it is deep and mostly solid. And if the bullpen proves to be as improved at it appears they should be able to protect small leads much better than in 1966. So, if the team continues to be one of the better OBP teams in the league and gets enough timely hits, they might be able to overachieve and rise to at least the middle of the pack in the MGL. It's admittedly a bit of a tightrope walk, but it could happen.

(Although what might be flawed about this theory is that the pre-season predictions show the team scoring more runs than all but 2 teams in the SJL and being middle-of-the-pack in runs scored in the MGL. On the other hand, our runs allowed is expected to be the second highest in the MGL and higher than all but 2 teams in the SJL. So maybe my impression of my own team is quite flawed. I just don't see us having that good of an offense yet and I think the combination of pitching and defense should see us yield fewer runs than predicted. Only time will tell, I guess.)

[stevem810]

The Crew is projected to lead the league in stolen bases. Is that the plan long term? A speedy team that will attempt stolen bases?

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by stevem810

The Crew is projected to lead the league in stolen bases. Is that the plan long term? A speedy team that will attempt stolen bases?

We have led the league in this category the past two seasons (which is the entire history of this league, after all) as well. I do like to get athletic players who tend to combine speed with defensive skills. But this has unfortunately led to not paying enough attention to power skills.
More troubling, I keep having to adjust team (and some individual) strategy in terms of stealing bases (I play out every game but mostly let the AI manage based upon strategy settings) as our success rate in this category has been quite poor. I'm hoping that this has something to do with lack of experience, as I've noticed some of the worst success rates are among players who are at the top of the scale in both speed and stolen base skills (Ruben Souffront, Zack Banks, to name two) and it seems like with their ratings they would have to get better eventually.
Some of the best stolen base percentages on my team tend to come from players with solidly above average speed and very good (but not top end) basestealing ratings (Tanner Yurek, Antonio Puente).

(Edit: Well, looking back through this thread I see that Puente did not finish with a very good stolen base % in 1966 at all. In fact, nearly everyone on the team had a worse success rate in 1966 than they did in 1965, except Yurek, who was quite good in 1965 and even better this past season. Chad Brown was someone who had a very good success rate in '65 only to see '66 devolve to break even. Souffront really wasn't even that bad in '65. But '66 was another story. Not quite sure what happened here. Though perhaps it has something to do with statistical modifiers for 1965 being based upon MLB 1965, and in 1966 I changed that to 1970 MLB.)

So, short answer is, we will probably continue to be at or near the top of this category for the foreseeable future, but unless we can get more efficient in our base stealing it will likely hurt us more than help us.

[BirdWatcher]

This happened while he was pitching against the Brewers. Sad news for a young player who had solid potential.

[BirdWatcher]

The 1967 WPK season is not proving to be a good one for talented young arms. The reigning WPK champs, Jacksonville, just found out that one of their better young starting pitchers, Jerry "Penguin" Allen, has likely been prematurely pushed from the sport by a partially torn UCL.

[BirdWatcher]

So I think I'm going to step back from reporting on the Brewers week by week but also try to add in some more reporting on the rest of the WPK as well. I will likely keep the same basic format in place on reporting on my team but maybe make it more of a monthly report rather than a weekly one. While still giving glimpses into Brewers events as they happen.
At this point of the season the Brewers are about as predicted. After a very solid first week of the season, including a 3-game sweep of the Charlotte Sting, they fell back to earth in the second week and now stand at 5-6 on the season.

The best news for the Brewers so far this early 1967 season is how well rookie centerfielder Pat Rondeau is playing. He is second only to thirdbaseman Steve Cutrer (.258/.425/.516, 0.7 WAR, with 2 HR's and a triple thus far) in WAR. Rondeau, in addition to playing great in the field (all 3 outfield positions) thus far, is leading the team in batting average at .419, has hit a pair of doubles, and has 3 stolen bases while not being caught stealing yet.
On the other side of the ledger, Ruben Souffront continues to struggle to prove he is major league caliber. Our scouting staff remains optimistic that he should have some sort of future at this level (though perhaps not a significant one) and for the moment the team leaders are content to let Ruben try to figure it out in a Brewers uniform. But with Zack Banks doing pretty well thus far and Pat Rondeau being so productive, Souffront may be sitting on the bench quite a bit more in the near future.

[BirdWatcher]

During a week in which much has gone right for the Brewers (even including Ruben Souffront starting to hit a bit), this is certainly not welcome news. Alex Burley has been the rock of the Brewers starting rotation and a true workhorse. But then, just like that, gone for the bulk of the season. And at his age, who knows whether he will ever be back to his former level of high quality.

[BirdWatcher]

Well, so far things are looking much as I predicted. The Brewers pitching staff is doing great with the bullpen much improved over 1966 (new additions Miguel Solis and David Brown have been particularly impressive) and the defense has been exceptional. As always, we lead the league in stolen bases. A bit surprisingly we also are in the top half in HR's and have a better team batting average than most. Trick has been turning that into runs scored. Though, admittedly, just a few days prior we were dead last in runs scored, so there has been some recent improvement. Early in the season, of course. But the trends thus far are what I expected.

[BirdWatcher]

Denver Brewers April 1967 Team Report:

The Brewers get off to a decent start in 1967 largely due to a much improved bullpen, some fine starting pitching, great team defense, and some very timely hitting. The team is first in the MGL in runs allowed, stolen bases, and defensive efficiency. They are second in bullpen ERA and third in starting staff ERA. Offensively they are third in the MGL in batting average and fourth in on-base percentage, but sixth in team homeruns and 8th in runs scored. Eight of the ten Brewers victories were by two runs or less, with two being walk-off wins and several wins where the Brewers came from behind late in the game. There is much question about how sustainable that method is but at the least with a stronger bullpen they are in a better position to steal these kinds of games.

Who's Hoppy? Rookie outfielder Pat Rondeau is off to a great start. Rondeau (.365/.377/.423, 0.8 WAR) scored 7 runs during the month and drove in another 5, while hitting 3 doubles. While he only walked once and was struck out 8 times, when on base he was highly successful, including stealing 7 bases and not yet being thrown out on the basepaths.
Shortstop Chad Brown looks to be developing into a first-rate player, with his defense improving to the point of possible gold glove award level and his bat also coming along nicely. Brown (.319/.365/.391, 0.8 WAR) banged out 5 doubles in April, driving in 7 runs while scoring 6, walking 5 times while striking out 6. Unfortunately, his stolen base success rate was not good- he collected 2 stolen bases and was caught trying 4 times.
Erik Shelton (.325/.386/.375, 0.4 WAR), who provides the team with really great defense at firstbase and also provides solid outfield backup, is off to another good start. Shelton scored 7 runs in April with 2 RBI, 4 walks and 6 K's, and hit 1 triple.
A pair of starting pitchers are off to solid starts also:
Steve Alonso- 3-1, 2.48, 1.03 WHIP, 11 BB, 25 K, 1 HRA, 0.7 WAR
Jason Lawson, 1-0, 1.74, 1.21 WHIP, 4 BB, 7 K, 2 HRA, 0.1 WAR

Who's Hungover? Captain, and catcher, Sam Rogers is off to a slow start at the plate. Rogers (.204/.254/.296, 0.0 WAR) has collected 3 doubles and 1 triple and driven in 7 runs while scoring 4 so at the least when he has come through it has often been in significant moments.
Antonio Puente, the team's biggest star, is also off to a bit of a slow start, though he remains a very gifted leftfielder. Puente (.200/.302/.356, 0.4 WAR) did drive in 10 runs in April (he is the cleanup hitter, after all), while scoring just 3, walking 7 times and striking out 12, with 2 HR's, 1 SB and 1 CS.
Fifth outfielder Tom O'Donnell is displaying diminished skills this season after a solid rookie campaign in 1966. O'Donnell (.156/.182/.156, -0.5 WAR), who is a mediocre defensive outfielder with a weak arm, is on the team for his bat. Right now, he has no bat. It is likely he may be returning to AAA soon for some more seasoning.
Young starting pitcher Abel Pennington, who will likely be called on more with the recent injury loss of Alex Burley, is struggling in the early going. Pennington is 1-1 but with a 6.35 ERA and 1.85 WHIP. He has allowed 3 HR's in the early going while walking 4 and striking out 9. He has a WAR of -0.2.

What's Brewing Around the League? Jacksonville once again is top of the pack in the Shoeless Joe League. They are off to a 13-4 start. Philadelphia is next at 11-6 and Milwaukee in third with an 11-9 record. In the Moonlight Graham League, as predicted Portland has risen to the top thus far. Portland is 15-4 at this point. Phoenix is second at 11-6 while the reigning MGL champs (two-time) Los Angeles is tied with our Denver Brewers for third at 10-8.

Brewers' Power Ranking: #6 (#1POR #2JAC, #3PHI, #4PHO, #5L.A.)
Brewers' Record: 10-8, .556, tied for 3rd place in MGL, 4 1/2 gb POR.

[BirdWatcher]

Forgot to report on Ruben Souffront.
After a really great spring training, Ruben got off to a very slow regular season start. However, towards the end of April he started to show signs of coming out of his batting slump and ended the month with at least a positive WAR.
Ruben is performing quite well in the field and thus far is doing much better in the stolen base success rate department- he has swiped 3 bases and only been caught attempting to steal once.
The thought at this point is that Ruben will likely remain on the active Brewers roster all season but that this is the pivotal year in terms of his future in Brewers' purple. With the emergence of Pat Rondeau, who would be a very strong rightfield option (though without the power bat one would normally wish for) and the solid play of Zack Banks thus far in 1967, Ruben will need to prove he can play at the WPK level or the team might look to move him.

[BirdWatcher]

It was announced today that Brewers secondbaseman Tanner Yurek, who is off to a fine start in the 1967 season, has inked a contract with the team that should keep him in Brewers purple through the 1973 season. Yurek is a fan favorite and the feedback in the community for the signing has been overwhelmingly positive.