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Then on October 24th, Denver sent 22-year old starting pitcher Chris Montefusco (along with minor league pitcher Luis Acosta) to the Milwaukee Cadets for 26-year old relief pitcher Miguel Solis and a bit of cash.
Montefusco has suffered frequent injuries in the past two seasons (though none terribly serious or long lasting) and although he has often pitched well when healthy the emergence of youngster Abel Pennington as a solid number 5 starter in the rotation left Montefusco without a role on the team. Plus, rumors have it that the team tried to negotiate an extension with Montefusco during the season (he was arbitration eligible at the end of the season) and the young righthander made what team officials considered unreasonable demands and showed no signs of a willingness to negotiate in good faith. If the rumors are to be believed, team leadership decided then and there that Montefusco wasn't likely to return for another season in a Brewers uniform.
Solis, meanwhile, is coming off an all-star season and has put up good numbers the past two years. While the Brewers were hoping for a good lefthanded bullpen option (and will likely be targeting at least one free agent to fulfill that role) Solis was too tempting a young arm to pass up and it is hoped that he will vastly improve a pen that was the weakest area for the team in 1966.
(So, this trade tested me in terms of how to approach fairness in game play. It is my desire to never unrealistically take advantage of another team/the AI. And this one might cross that line. One way that I justified it in my mind was weighing the relative importance of a starting pitcher against that of a reliever. At this stage of the WPK good starting pitching is becoming a more sparse commodity and it may make even a back-end of the rotation guy like Montefusco relatively more valuable. In addition, I had noticed that several of the trade offers received prior to the trading deadline targeted Montefusco. So, there was some sense that he might be attractive to multiple teams. Of course, his fragility is an argument on the other side of the coin: the AI might not be as aware as it should be, as I am, of how much of a negative this is. But ultimately I guess my decision came down to this- after such a horrible 1966 season this one trade isn't likely to suddenly turn the Brewers into a contender and, well, I can use a little help right now. Even if that help comes in the form of a somewhat questionably favorable trade.)
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