[BirdWatcher]

So stepping back a bit as the 1970 season enters July and the Brewers keep dropping in the standings.
While the Brewers remain quite good overall in run suppression (2nd in the MGL in fewest runs allowed currently), with the pitching being mostly good and the defense nearly as solid as ever, run creation is a real challenge.
It is clear to me that the offense needs better balance. One factor is that we play our home games in a park that heavily favors left-handed hitter and is not very friendly to right-handers. Now granted our superstar right-handed batter, Ryan Rodgers, is having a great season and leads the league in both batting average and OBP. But three other key right-handed hitters- Ruben Souffront, Bobby Erbakan, and Jared Stephenson are having abysmal seasons at the plate. And with Antonio Puente having taken a pitch in the face lately and suffered a fractured jaw- out for 6 weeks- our main source of left-handed power is gone from the lineup. Left-handed hitter Tanner Yurek is having another solid season as is switch-hitter Chad Brown. And a few other left-handers- Pat Rondeau and Andrew Kennedy- continue to hit well but are basically contact hitters with good gap power but very little over the fence power. Point being, the Brewers do a pretty good job of getting runners on base (some fine OBP's too in Rodgers, Yurek, Puente when he was still playing, Rondeau, and even catcher Kevin Curtis, in spite of a recent slump) but invariably hitters like Souffront, Erbakan, and Stephenson leave them stranded- or worse, hit into inning-ending double plays. (One of the ironies with Souffront- in spite of his world-class speed he has always hit into a ton of gidp's.)
So the changes I perceive the Brewers need for better balance: more left-handed hitters and more power hitters to balance out the power/speed equation on the team.
And with Souffront's struggles this year, we don't even have the advantage we used to have in the speed game. We are still 2nd in the league in stolen bases, but have also been getting caught trying a good deal of the time, as well as having runners thrown out trying to advance on hits pretty frequently of late.

The big question is, what to do about it?
Some of the answer might come from the minor leagues. For instance, top prospect Joe McPhillips is a left-handed hitter who is starting to show real power potential. Another left-handed hitting prospect who seems to be developing quite well is rightfielder Josh Schaeffer, though at this stage his power potential looks average at best. But with Ryan Rodgers and Antonio Puente pretty firmly entrenched in the Brewers outfield, and Pat Rondeau and Andrew Kennedy both providing great value off the bench (Kennedy also getting plenty of time at firstbase), where do we find room for these young bats?
It pains me to say this, but the most obvious answer seems to be- we trade Ruben Souffront.
Now granted with the numbers he has put up this year we might not get much value for him at this time. Still, his overall ratings are quite solid, he is young, still under team control for one more season, and relatively cheap. Plus, we could likely package one of our decent AAA prospects who are basically major league ready right now but don't have a place on the roster- firstbaseman Steve Hobza or thirdbaseman Jose Careaga- or both, and might get some decent value in the deal.

Looking ahead a few years, it is easy to picture an outfield with Ryan Rodgers in left (where he is currently thriving), Joe McPhillips in center, where he has great defensive skills and should provide a plus bat and plus speed, and Antonio Puente moving over to right, where is already highly rated and his defensive skills should flourish. Then with some combination of Rondeau/Kennedy/Schaeffer we would have a nice mix of speed/power/defense heavily slanted, admittedly, towards left-handed bats.

The hope is that Bobby Erbakan, with his great defensive value and good speed and the projection of being a well above average batter, will bounce back soon and be our firstbaseman for the foreseeable future. Less clear is the future of thirdbaseman Jared Stephenson. But he does provide a bit of power on a team that has little and is a very fine defensive player so for now he stays.

The bullpen is very good and we have quite a few promising prospects near major league ready. No problem there, one would hope.
And with Steve Green nearly ready to join the starting rotation and being projected as a likely #2 starter, and Harry Lyerly continuing to show that he belongs, the rotation should be in good hands. (High priced free agent signing Cheol-han Lee has been a bit disappointing so far, but he is actually at the top or near the top of several categories in the league leader boards, including having the best FIP, so he's probably been a bit unlucky and should be a solid acquisition still.) Adam Getchell looks like he might be a solid #5 guy or long reliever and Abel Pennington remains a valuable middle-to-back-end guy.

I sincerely doubt we can catch Phoenix this year with their powerful lineup and improved pitching and defense. But with a few tweaks- and assuming that our best prospects- McPhillips and Green in particular- are able to make the leap from the high minors to the big league club successfully- the future should still look pretty bright.

Upshot being- don't be too surprised if the Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers thread becomes a tale of a failed relationship.
It might in the future be more appropriately entitled Harry Lyerly and the Denver Brewers or even Joe McPhillips and the Denver Brewers.