[BirdWatcher]

As the team continues to yo-yo a bit (they have now lost 4 in a row to drop back from second place to fourth place in the MGL), I find myself thinking about the ages of the players on the Brewers and what that might mean for the near future.
Certainly the most veteran part of the team is the starting rotation. And while I continue to have many reservations about this group, the reality is that they are a current strength on the team (I believe they still have the 3rd best ERA in the MGL at this point.) Assuming that the 1969 squad retains pretty much the same group of starting pitchers (which might be a fair assumption, though much depends upon whether Diego Ramirez can avoid a major injury), the starting staff would have an average age of 31 during the 1969 season. Which isn't bad. Alex Burley, who might be pushed to the bullpen as a swingman/long reliever if he remains with team, would be the old man at 37. Daniel Torres and Steve Alonso are heading into their mid-30's (34 and 32, respectively), while Diego Ramirez, Abel Pennington, and Bobby Arends will all still be in their 20's during the '69 season (29,27,26.)

The bullpen, with 37-year old Chris Healey a free agent at the end of the season and the team almost surely not trying to re-sign him, looks to have an average age of 27 in the 1969 season. David Brown, the lone lefty in the mix (possible the team will ID a lefty FA to sign in the off-season), will be the old man at 34. The team's dominant duo- Miguel Solis and Jamel McNeil will be 29 and 28. Josh McEwen will likely have a role on the team- he will be 25. Kelly McTavish will be 24 and may be in the pen for much of '69. If not McTavish it would likely be the even younger Billy Tanner (22) or even Dave Harder (22/23). And surely fire-baller Armando Cruz will be there again in a set-up role, at 23 years of age.

As for the infield (including catchers), this is the youngest part of the team with an average age (given likely 25-man roster for 1969) of 24.5 or 25 years old. The oldster here would be Tanner Yurek at 28, though it is possible that the also-28 Willie Chavez will have a role at thirdbase. (Much will depend upon whether the team identifies and is able to sign a free agent thirdbaseman in the off-season, which would surely raise the average age a bit.) But with two of the key starters- shortstop Chad Brown and firstbaseman Bobby Erbakan- both only 22 in 1969, and likely a back-up catcher in his early 20's (Joey Townsend- 22 or Kevin Curtis- 23), as well as utility infielder Juan Lujan (24)-there is a lot of room for growth and development yet in the infield.

And really the outfield isn't that much more senior. Granted star centerfielder Ryan Rodgers will be 30 in 1969, but the other starters- Antonio Puente at 25, and Ruben Souffront at 24- are really still in their pre-peak years. Pat Rondeau, who spent a bit more time in the minors than some of his outfield compatriots, will be 26 in 1969, but Andrew Kennedy, likely to be with the squad as a valuable pinch-hitter, will only be 22. It is highly likely that these five will comprise the Brewers outfield in 1969 and if so the average age will be 25.4.

Point simply being that I comfort myself with the knowledge that as the team continues to show great streakiness, it is still a very young nucleus and it might not be unreasonable to expect continued development towards excellence as a group in the next 1-4 years.