The brief Ryan Campbell era is over in Denver, as yesterday the Brewers traded away the highly regarded veteran third baseman to the Washington Night Train in exchange for first baseman/DH
Kenny Brown, who recently won his first Silver Slugger award.
Campbell came to the Brewers in a trade with the San Antonio Keys back in November of 1984 and was considered one of the stars of the game. Although he bounced back from a slow start in the 1985 season to finish with 5.5 WAR he never was able to reach the power he had previously shown while in Denver purple and gold and this past season he hit .280/.377/.426 with just 12 homers and 21 doubles. His 2.9 WAR was still quite good but his overall performance in Denver was disappointing and didn't live up to the hype. With young third base prospect
Jeremy Beeson ready and having shown a plus bat in an admittedly small sample size late this past season, the Brewers were ready to move on from Campbell.
In getting 29-year old
Kenny Brown acquire a player with tremendous speed (he has stolen over 50 bases in 2 of the past 3 seasons, with 19 in his 1985 campaign, when he inexplicably only had 240 plate appearances) and a tremendous contact bat.
Brown won the Silver Slugger award for this season with a slash line of .332/.375/.501 and although he doesn't profile with much over-the-fence power his 11 homers were only one shy of Campbell's production in 1986 and he also hit 41 doubles and 8 triples.
Brown is also a fan favorite and while there was some grumblings from Brewers fans at the loss of Campbell it was more than counteracted by the excitement of having
Brown join the Brewers.
Most likely
Brown will take over as the primary DH for the team this year while also giving starting first baseman
Chris Romines some breathers.
The other players in the deal weren't insignificant either, as Dave Wofford has had some big league experience with the Brewers and could be a very capable 4th or 5th outfielder for Washington and the 23-year old catcher the Brewers got,
Juan Zamudio, will likely held back by his very poor bat-to-ball skills but is a capable AAA depth piece who could come up as an injury replacement short-term with his above average defense and very good power and eye at the plate.
Outfielder Alfredo Sanchez is mostly just a throw-in, but he does have some raw skills as he is very fast and has tremendous power potential and an excellent eye. His lack of contact skills and propensity to swing-and-miss probably mean that minor league depth is the best he will ever provide, but the Night Train can hope for some growth still that could turn him into a legit big leaguer. (It's a long shot.)