Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

Unsurprisingly, Charlotte's Jaime Schardein wins the MGL Pitcher-of-the-Year Award. The Brewers Daniel Torres comes in 8th in the voting with his fine season.

[BirdWatcher]

The Pitcher-of-the-Year award in the SJL goes to Columbus' hurler, Jake Harris, who had just a terrific year.

[BirdWatcher]

The 1967 MVP award in the SJL goes to Ryan "Boxy" Rodgers, who was a member of the World Championship Washington Night Train. Rodgers, at age 29 and a bonafide superstar, is expected to be the most sought after free agent this off-season.

[BirdWatcher]

Veteran Phoenix secondbaseman Chris Flaim fairly easily took the MVP honors for the MGL in 1967.

(No Brewers players received any MVP votes.)

[BirdWatcher]

Nice to see Joe McPhillips, the Brewers 1st round (#5 overall) pick in the 1967 new player draft, doing great down in the Arizona Fall League so far. McPhillips didn't have a great first season in the Rookie League, so it is good that he is getting a bit more experience and getting some better results this Autumn.

[BirdWatcher]

In what was an apparent last-minute change in philosophy by the Brewers front office, it was announced today that the team had signed perhaps the premiere free agent on the market, 1967 SJL MVP Ryan "Boxy" Rodgers.
The feeling was that the front office and on-field management team, who had earlier been targeting MGL Pitcher-of-the-Year Jaime Schardein, were a bit scared off by the former Charlotte Sting ace's age (he will turn 32 before the 1968 season starts) and some belief on the part of the scouting staff that he might be experiencing some decline soon. Plus, rumors are that the team believes they might get nearly as good pitching production from International Free Agent Diego Ramirez, out of Cuba, who just a little over a month ago turned 28 and is reportedly demanding a great deal less money then the established WPK star Schardein. No word yet on what the team might have offered Ramirez or whether he is likely to sign with the Brewers.
Perhaps even more so, the front office felt that a lack of run scoring was the biggest issue that kept the Brewers around the .500 mark in 1967. Even though Rodgers will not help with the lack of HR power in the lineup, he is a premiere hitter who will get on base at a high rate and drive in runs with extra-base hits and line drive singles. This also takes a bit of pressure off youngster Pat Rondeau, who should still get plenty of playing time as he is capable of playing all three outfield slots very well. Speculation is that it does likely mean that Zack Banks will be on the trading block as the odd man out in the Brewers outfield.
It appears that the Brewers, if not exactly going all out, are certainly looking to make a statement in 1968 and beyond.

[BirdWatcher]

As the annual Winter Meetings commence the Brewers announce a minor trade that could yield good results down the road. Tom O'Donnell, who just didn't fit into the Brewers plans but could turn into a useful piece of another team's outfield on the major league level, was sent to the Washington Night Train (along with a couple of veteran minor leaguers) for 22-year old relief pitcher Kelly McTavish and 21-year old minor league outfielder/infielder George Alexander. McTavish is young and intelligent and fairly talented and at least adds more depth to the Brewers bullpen corps (and will likely start the '68 season at AAA Chester.)
But Alexander was really the draw here. He was the #3 overall pick in the 1965 new player draft and has always intrigued the Brewers brain-trust. Although his stock has diminished the past few years, he still has good raw talent and is considered a very smart and hard-working player. There are those in the Brewers organization who believe that a change of scenery might be exactly what he needs to reclaim his status as a legitimate prospect. It was felt that this was a risk worth taking given that the Brewers didn't give up anyone they were planning on having a role on the club anyway.

[BirdWatcher]

And it's official: the Brewers do indeed sign International Free Agent, Diego Ramirez, a righthanded starting pitcher out of Cuba. While he is likely not the ace they were originally hoping to acquire this off-season, along with hard-throwing lefty Daniel Torres, healthy returns for Alex Burley and Steve Alonso, a still developing Abel Pennington who our scouting staff thinks could still turn into a top of the rotation guy, and back-end options in Bobby Arends (who performed better than expected when he came up from AAA late in 1967 due to injuries to the staff) and the 39-year old Jason Lawson who exercised the option on his contract for 1968, the starting staff looks pretty solid for this upcoming season.

[BirdWatcher]

The Denver Brewers stunned the baseball world today when out of the blue they signed premiere closer, and known malcontent, Jamel McNeil to a 4-year deal worth 500K over the course of the contract.
This seems to go against the perceived proclivity of the Denver organization to favor high character players and team cohesion sometimes even at the expense of sheer talent.
Team management wouldn't say much other than that they believe the acquisition will help make the team competitive this coming season and that judgement should be reserved until the actual on-the-field product can be measured.
There are rumors though that Brewers players are skeptical of this move.

(Okay, I just couldn't resist this one. He is such a dominant reliever who is durable, young, pitches a high number of innings for a bullpen guy, and has generally had our number. Admittedly, when I was mulling this over I noticed that there was no mention anymore of his having the Personality Class label of Disruptive. So I hoped that maybe with a little experience his behind-the-scenes ratings had changed just enough that he was just the run-of-the-mill troublemaker now and not a clubhouse cancer. Once he was signed that old disruptive classification came right back. So, lesson learned. Still, I think this, along with other moves made this offseason and the continued development of young players like Chad Brown, Ruben Souffront, and Antonio Puente, will give the Brewers a real chance to compete for the top of the MGL. And given the great clubhouse chemistry this team usually has under captain Sam Rogers and other leaders on the team, I am just hoping we can survive McNeil's troublesome nature and win, win, win, which should salve all wounds. Then again, I might have just sunk this team. At the least, this should be interesting.)

[gemini615]

I've never had good luck with disruptive guys, so I'm curious how you'll fare.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by gemini615

I've never had good luck with disruptive guys, so I'm curious how you'll fare.

Yeah, I'm pretty nervous about it.
I got lulled into a false sense of security as the disruptive designation and the wording about him being unliked by, well, pretty much everyone, wasn't there while he was on the FA list. I knew he was a risk, but was hoping he wasn't as big of a risk as he actually is.
Still, he's the best darn reliever in the league and given the workload he usually shoulders and his durability, he's more valuable than relievers usually are. Will it be enough to make up for his bad influence in the clubhouse? I can only hope.

What I really find myself wondering is- should I feel the need to trade him later, will there be any takers and will I get any value in return? If so, this might not be the worst thing. If not, I might have shot myself in the foot with this one.

[BirdWatcher]

Well, here is a big blow to the reigning champs Washington in Spring Training. Their newly signed ace starting pitcher, Juan Soto, is out for the season.

[BirdWatcher]

And, another solid young pitcher (2 time All-Star) sees his career end very prematurely due to an elbow injury.

[BirdWatcher]

Spring Training has ended and the regular season of the 1968 WPK season has begun.
The pre-season predictions were released recently and they indicate the Denver Brewers will gain almost no ground in the upcoming season, in spite of making some big off-season moves. The Brewers management team has voiced skepticism about this and publicly voice confidence that the team will be better than prognosticators think, but in private there are reportedly some members of the front office who admit that the under-powered offense does concern them.

(It should be noted that these pre-season predictions indicate a very pitching rich environment. The day before opening day I adjusted, or thought I had adjusted, the statistical modifiers of the league to MLB 1973 numbers. Something seems to have gone wrong and they reverted to, I believe, 1968 numbers. I tried adjusting again prior to any games being played on opening day but I can't be sure yet what the results will be. So these may be pretty flawed predictions or this might be another year of the pitcher in the WPK. Time will tell.)

[BirdWatcher]

Big 10th inning walk-off HR by Ruben Souffront gives the Brewers a 2-game sweep in the opening series against highly regarded Phoenix in front of Brewers fans.

[BirdWatcher]

Ruben "Streak" Souffront gets his second HR of the season in the very next game, this time streaking around the bases after hitting a long drive off the top of the right-center wall for an inside-the-park homerun.
This gives Ruben a career-high 15-game hitting streak stretching back to the end of the 1967 season.
It's early, but the Brewers are happy to be off to a solid start.
At this point, in spite of the disruptive presence of Jamel McNeil, the clubhouse chemistry is pretty good.
(I didn't even realize, until looking back over this, that young starting pitcher Abel Pennington has now been elevated to the status of Captain as well. That helps! On the other hand, having a couple of outspoken players could get tricky if the team starts losing. They are likely to call out McNeil and/or our 2 unmotivated players.)

[BirdWatcher]

In a season that is certainly all about pitching so far, two young Brewers outfielders at least are off to good starts at the plate and help the Brewers finish the first week of the season with a 4-2 record. Ruben Souffront continues his hot ways at the plate while Pat Rondeau, admittedly in a more limited role thus far with the addition of Ryan Rodgers to the team, has been absolutely on fire.

[BirdWatcher]

Knuckle-baller Dennis Daniel of the San Francisco Velocity hurls a no-hitter in what is increasingly looking like the Year-of-the-Pitcher in the WPK. This is the 4th No-Hitter in WPK history and this first of the 1968 season (the other 3 were all in 1965.)

A pair of young Denver hitters don't seem to have gotten the message though about this being a pitching dominant year.
Pat Rondeau and Bobby Erbakan are both hitting the cover off the ball and have contributed a good deal towards the Brewers fine 7-4 start.
Ruben Souffront seems fairly unfazed by the imbalance as well as he has a slash line of .324/.342/.514 with a double and a pair of HR's in the early going.

[BirdWatcher]

Reliever Miguel Solis is off to another great start and the team just signed him to a 4-year extension to keep that core of the bullpen intact.
The Brewers are exceeding expectations (well, the so-called experts expectations, they are right about where Brewers management hoped and believed they would be) and with the continued great play of Ruben Souffront and the apparent emergence of Pat Rondeau and Bobby Erbakan, the Brewers find themselves entertaining visions of a championship (or two, or three?) in the next several years. The team has not yet been able to wrap up longer-term extensions for Souffront or shortstop Chad Brown (but will continue trying) but with Ryan Rodgers, Antonio Puente, Tanner Yurek, Steve Alonso, Diego Ramirez (looking good, so far), and Daniel Torres, along with Jamel McNeil and now Solis under contract at least through 1971, there is some degree of confidence that this group will stay together long enough and have enough talent to do some exciting things.

[BirdWatcher]

Another big homerun from Ruben Souffront helps the Brewers get a come-from-behind win at Brooklyn. The team is hoping this is a sign that Ruben is developing decent power and it is sorely needed, especially as Antonio Puente is off to a poor start and has yet to hit a longball (and neither has our other usual power source- Tanner Yurek.)