The Denver Brewers stunned the baseball world today when out of the blue they signed premiere closer, and known malcontent, Jamel McNeil to a 4-year deal worth 500K over the course of the contract.
This seems to go against the perceived proclivity of the Denver organization to favor high character players and team cohesion sometimes even at the expense of sheer talent.
Team management wouldn't say much other than that they believe the acquisition will help make the team competitive this coming season and that judgement should be reserved until the actual on-the-field product can be measured.
There are rumors though that Brewers players are skeptical of this move.
(Okay, I just couldn't resist this one. He is such a dominant reliever who is durable, young, pitches a high number of innings for a bullpen guy, and has generally had our number. Admittedly, when I was mulling this over I noticed that there was no mention anymore of his having the Personality Class label of Disruptive. So I hoped that maybe with a little experience his behind-the-scenes ratings had changed just enough that he was just the run-of-the-mill troublemaker now and not a clubhouse cancer. Once he was signed that old disruptive classification came right back. So, lesson learned. Still, I think this, along with other moves made this offseason and the continued development of young players like Chad Brown, Ruben Souffront, and Antonio Puente, will give the Brewers a real chance to compete for the top of the MGL. And given the great clubhouse chemistry this team usually has under captain Sam Rogers and other leaders on the team, I am just hoping we can survive McNeil's troublesome nature and win, win, win, which should salve all wounds. Then again, I might have just sunk this team. At the least, this should be interesting.
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