[BirdWatcher]

Rumor has it that the Denver Brewers were one of the teams bidding for the services of left-handed starting pitcher Mike Sayers, considered the best lefty starter on the Free Agent market. Sayers would have provided the Brewers with the true ace they have been lacking for their entire history. However, there were some concerns that at age 34, and having suffered a few fairly significant elbow injuries to his throwing arm the past two seasons (elbow tendinitis late in the 1967 season and surgery to remove bone chips in the same elbow that kept him out of action for much of the 1968 season), that he might not be worth the risk.
In the end, it was a moot point as the Brewers were unable to come to terms with Sayers and he signed instead with the Baltimore Lords.

(There were protracted negotiations in which it became clear that I was not going to be able to find a deal that I could live with that would be agreed to. Eventually I broke off talks. And, naturally, he signed the next day to a contract less lucrative then what I was offering.)

As it turned out, the Brewers set their sights a bit lower and were able to sign a younger, though not nearly as talented, starting pitcher in Will Smart to provide some depth to the rotation (and some security knowing that Diego Ramirez is very injury prone.) Smart's, well, smarts, as well as his reputation of being a hard worker and popular with teammates, combined with his age, led management to believe that he at least is likely to be able to maintain his current level of performance for the foreseeable future and will fit in well with the team's culture. The main knock on Smart is that he is far from a workhorse and the bullpen is likely to get a lot of work in games he starts. (And, I must confess, somehow I didn't even notice his low stamina rating until after he was signed.)
The Brewers signed Smart to a 3-year contract, totaling a bit under 575K (not counting incentives.)