[BirdWatcher]

In the midst of a week without a lot of good news (were on losing end of 4-game sweep at Phoenix and were informed that Chris Montefusco's sore elbow, which was expected to only make him miss one start, was not healing as quickly as first expected and he had to be placed on DL), there was some very good news announced on July 2nd. Antonio Puente, arguably the MVP of the team this year, and one of our budding young stars, agreed to an 8-year contract extension. Having upset the fans by losing two very popular players in trades earlier in the season (Pablo Gonzales and Mark Compton) this contract extension for a young player who is already very popular also helped boost fan interest once again by showing that the team was indeed committed to winning in the near future.

(A few things: when I went to see about getting Puente extended for at least next season, given that he was arbitration eligible at the end of the 1966 campaign, this 8-year contract was what he requested. Now, normally even if a player requests something that I essentially agree with I will do a little haggling to get a better deal. In this case, though, I decided to just give him what he wanted and hope he didn't change his mind. Given how far he has developed at the tender age of 22, and with his high work ethic and low loyalty, this seemed like potentially the only chance to wrap him up long-term with such reasonable terms. To put it into context- veteran RF'er Justin Schumann, who at age 37 isn't even half the player Puente is, likely will be demanding 100 K at the end of the season. Puente, under the deal he inked, is now under contract with the Brewers through age 30, at his peak making 140 K per year. It is still perhaps a risky move, being locked in for that long, but it seems like a risk well worth taking.)

19-year old shortstop Chad Brown also signed an extension, but just for the 1967 season at 29 K.
(Always fascinating who wants to go long term and who prefers year-by-year. Chad is considered a high loyalty guy and there is no indication that he is high, or low, greed. But when I tried to at least get him to sign for 2 years, offering some incentives and a bit more for 1967 than he was asking, he begged off, saying he didn't want to commit to that long. Ah well. Back to the fan interest component. Fan interest had dropped from 86 at the beginning of the season down to 80, primarily due to the two trades referenced above. Even though the team remains #1 in attendance and has a loyal fan base, it was nice to get that number moving back in the right direction again.)