Responding to an inquiry from the Charlotte Sting general manager, the Brewers management worked out a deal with the Sting to send a pair of decent outfield prospects to Charlotte for a decent starting pitching prospect and an intriguing 1-pitch relief pitching prospect.
Jason Brannan, who was the 6th round pick for the Brewers back in 1974, has proven himself to be an excellent minor league hitter and shows potential to be a big league starter, if not exactly a star player. But with the continuing great depth of quality outfielders in the Brewers organization, he had no future in Denver. With Charlotte's corner outfielders being old and injury prone, he is a great fit for that organization. Justin Horner was the Brewers 1st round pick, 22nd overall, in the 1975 draft but profiles as more of a 5th outfielder in the WPK eventually. But like Brannan, Horner has had some fine seasons of late with the bat in the Brewers farm system. Although he is slow, he is a decent base runner and not a bad fielder, and with his baseball smarts he has a decent chance to have a big league career at some point, even if in a limited role.
The Brewers in return get 2 left-handed pitchers.
Terry Dubiel was a supplemental 1st round pick for Charlotte in 1974 and while he doesn't profile as a front-line big league hurler, he does have decent mid-to-back-end of the rotation potential, profiles as durable, is a groundball specialist, and has decent stamina. But really probably the most important thing is that he is a southpaw, and the Brewers desperately need more depth in their pitching ranks in terms of left-handed throwers.
Then there is reliever
Rand Pinti. The 22-year old Kentuckian, a 4th round pick by Boston last year, was the source of much discussion and disagreement in the Brewers front office. The scouting staff loves this guy, with his wonderful makeup, his multi-inning stamina, his excellent sinker and extreme groundball inducing talent, and fine movement. Others in the front office argue that he can't possibly live up to the scouting staff's projections with just that single quality pitch. In the end, his strong character traits and mostly the fact that he is left-hander won out and the team decided to take a chance on him. And really, with neither Brannan or Horner having any path to the bigs with Denver, what was there to lose in taking a risk on
Pinti?
