1994 and beyond - a what "if" dynasty

[Loeffle]

As you may see at my stone-old dynasty http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...g-america.html I have been playing OOTP for a very long time.

But now my laptop was getting old and it was time to move on to a new project, this time not on OOTP 9, but on OOTP 15.

To start with I'm from Europe and I didn't grow up with baseball at all. In the early 90'es I was that strange guy starting to follow the MLB and NFL via USA Today and listening to AFN. The 1994 strike ended my enthusiasm and I only came back to follow baseball when regular internet access became common over here.

I always liked small market teams like the Expos, Brewers, Twins, Blue Jays or Rockies - and could not be happier to see such a team make the playoffs or win it all.

This dynasty will start in 1994 and I'm going to manage every game of the Milwaukee Brewers. As I don't like to manage in leagues with DH, I did some early realignment (I didn't want to abolish the DH completely yet).

As you can see below the division are mostly like today, but obviously Tampa Bay and Arizona don't exist yet. And of course Montréal exists (moving into a new stadium next season).

Injury frequency is set to normal.
Trading frequency is set to low.
Trading difficulty is set to hard.
All pre-1980 records were removed.
To avoid "juiced" records modifiers will not auto adjust every year!

[Loeffle]

Preseason in the league was very quiet. The Mariners young star CF Ken Griffey Jr suffered a fractured wrist in a freak injury, but he will be healthy just in time for opening day.

We were happy when the Rangers claimed C Brian Harper and his expensive contract off waivers. Harper is a bad defensive good hitting catcher that did not fit into our plans.

We claimed on the other hand corner outfielder Gerald Young from the Cardinals and even if have an abundance of corner outfielder, he made the opening day roster thanks to his speed.

Spring season predictions think we are going to end up with 96 losses. Battling the Marlins, Mets, Twins and Pirates for the worst record in baseball.
The White Sox are clear front runners in the American League surpassing 100 wins. In the National League the Braves, Expos and Reds should all win close to 100 games.

After thinks the predictions are about right and has no expectations. Indeed our starting pitching looks vulnerable and the lineup offers few big names. But we are going to play hard and honest baseball trying to build a team that can reach the playoffs in two to three years.

The Top 10 Prospects List contains two very interesting names:
3B Chipper Jones at #3 and
SS Alex Rodriguenz at #5.

Our minor league system ranks 11th out of 28th with
pitcher A. Salazar (#11) and T. Cox being our best prospects. Both are still a long way from the big leagues and we have no young impact players in the upper minors. AAA offers some solid bats nevertheless should the opening roster players fail.

[Loeffle]

Opening Day Roster for the 1994 Milwaukee Brewers:

Starting pitchers:
Birkbeck, Mike
Blanton, Sean
Miranda, Angel
Navarro, Jaime
Wegman, Bill

Relievers:
Higuera, Teddy
Ignasiak, Mike
Lloyd, Graeme
Orosco, Jesse
Scanlan, Bob
Vázquez, Luis
Fetters, Mike

Catchers:
Surhoff, B.J.
Wrona, Rick

Infielders:
Seitzer, Kevin
Stubbs, Franklin
Listach, Pat
Reed, Jody
Cirillo, Jeff
Valentin, Jose

Outfielders:
Vaughn, Greg
Hamilton, Darryl
Mieske, Matt
Brunansky, Tom
Young, Gerald

Special focus will be on the wonderful Darryl Hamilton, who is one of my favourite broadcasters on Brewers radio. Give him a follow on Twitter @dham18

We are going to open the season at home against the Phillies, a team with many big names, but that is predicted to finish just slightly above .500.

[Loeffle]

Bill Wegman was named Opening Day starter over Jaime Navarro. Neither of them would be Opening Day starter for most teams as they are typical No 3 or No 4 starters.

Last season Wegman walked 34 batters and struck out 50 in 120 innings of work. So you know what to expect.

Maybe he was fired up because he was named Opening Day starter. He ended up with 13 K's, allowing only 2 baserunners in eight innings. He also collected 2 RBI's with a bases loaded double.

Opening Day nevertheless looked to take a negative turn for the 52,000+ crowd when setup man and lefty specialists Graeme Lloyd gave up a two run homer to Darren Daulton to blow the save.

A Kevin Seitzer double of Phillies closer Doug Jones paved the way for the walk off hit by newly acquired waiver claim Gerald Young.

Darryl Hamilton went 1 for 4 with 1 run scored and 1 RBI. Every starter excepted lead off man Jose Valentin reached base at least once.

Don't worry - I won't do such detailed reports about every game!

[Loeffle]

Brewers record: 4-4 (tied for first with Cincinnati and Pittsburgh

Power Rankings: 11th

We lost two out of three against the Phillies and Mets before winning the first two games of three game series against the high flying Giants. Highlights were the come from behind and walkoff win against the Giants on April 9th and the shutout of Mike Birkbeck one day later. In that game we stole five bases. Giants slugger Barry Bonds has twice as many homers as we as a team. Lowlight were the back-to-back-to-back homers at the Mets by Angel Miranda.

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.214 /.281./.286 - 3 SB, 0 HR, 3 RBI, -0.0 WAR

Players of the Week:
NL - Barry Bonds, Giants - .520, 5 HR, 12 RBIs
AL - Harold Baines, Orioles - .520, 4 HR, 9 RBIs

Notable injuries:
SP Tom Glavine, Braves - 1-0, 5.40 ERA - out for three months
SP Jason Bere, White Sox - 0-1, 1.50 ERA - out for over a year
CF Gary Redus, Rangers - .364, 0 HR, 2 RBI - out for four months
C Brad Ausmus, Padres - .235, 0 HR, 0 RBI - out for four months
SP Mark Gardner, Marlins - 0-1, 9.82 ERA - out four six months

Accomplishments:
1B Paul Molitor, Blue Jays - .265, 1 HR, 6 RBI - 2500th hit
RF Kirby Puckett, Twins - .313, 0 HR, 3 RBI - 2000th hit

Impressive Game Performances:
SP Tom Gordon, Royals - 1-0, 0.00 ERA - No-Hitter
SP Arthur Rhodes, Orioles - 1-0, 0.00 ERA - No-Hitter

Trades:
To Mets - LF Jacob Brumfield - .143, 0 HR, 1 RBI
To Reds - CL [B]John Franco/B] - 0-1, 0.00 ERA and MiL SP Jerry Durham

Want more details for weekly reviews? Please let me know!

[Loeffle]

Brewers record: 6-8 (2 GB behind the Reds)

Brewers record last week: 2-4

Power Rankings: 19th (11th)

Our best games were a 7-6 slugfest win at the Rockies and a come from behind walk-off win against the Pirates. In addition we lost two low scoring one run games against the Giants and Rockies. Our offense is among the worst in the league, but lead the league in steals. Our pitching is just about average.

We lost No 2 starter Angel Miranda (0-1, 6.14 ERA) to the 60-day DL with a partially torn labrum. He might return around the All-Star-Game. We chose to keep veteran starter Teddy Higuera (1-0, 7.36 ERA) in the bullpen and promoted Cal Eldred from AAA to join the rotation. Eldred pitched a 3-hit shutout in his only start at AAA New Orleans. Eldred's first game a day earlier than planned after No 4 started had to leave his start without getting an out and mild oblique strain.

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.236/.271/.291 - 4 SB, 0 HR, 5 RBI, -0.1 WAR
Walk-off double against the Pirates after committing a three run error in the 1st.

Players of the Week:
NL - David Justice, Braves - .478, 4 HR, 9 RBI
AL - Rickey Henderson, Athletics - .417, 3 HR, 10 RBI

Notable injuries:
n/a

Accomplishments:
n/a

Impressive game performances:
n/a

Trades
n/a

[Loeffle]

Brewers record: 8-13 (6 GB behind the Reds)

Brewers record last week: 2-5

Power Rankings: 24th (19th)

Another very bad week in which we lost all three series. Maybe we are bad, but maybe we were just playing the best team in the league: the Montréal Pandas and the Cincinnati Reds?

Meanwhile we rank last in most offensive categories except home runs (11th) and stolen bases (1st). Pitching is no longer average as we dropped to the bottom third in all pitching categories, too.

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.217/.241/.301 - 4 SB, 1 HR, 7 RBI, -0.6 WAR
1st homerun for him, but also another costly error in CF.

Players of the Week:
NL - Barry Bonds, Giants - .417, 5 HR, 13 RBI
AL - Paul O'Neill, Yankees - .433, 5 HR, 9 RBI

Bonds totals really scare me a bit. This should be a no dope dynasty!

Notable injuries:
SP David Wells, Tigers - 2-2, 4.97 ERA - out for eight weeks
3B Scott Cooper, Red Sox - .222, 1 HR, 3 RBI - out for eight to nine months
RP Tom Edens, Astros - 0-1, 6.23 ERA - out for eight months
SP Steve Ontiveros, Athletics - 3-0, 3.86 ERA - out for four months

Accomplishments:
n/a

Impressive Game Performances:
SP Randy D Johnson, Mariners - 4-1, 3.70 ERA - 15 K's

Trades:
n/a

[Loeffle]

After starting the month well, we are now there were the pundits expected us to be: A 10-16 record, which means tied for last, six games behind the Reds, in a rather weak NL Central.

We are struggling at the plate and we are struggling on the mound - and recently also with the glove. But there are a few glimmers of hope.

Who was doing well?
(1) B.J. Surhoff - hitting .393/.414./.625, which is good for a 1.0 WAR. Does also surprisingly well behind the plate (+1.5 ZR), while throwing out 50.0% of base stealers.
(2) backups Franklin Stubbs and Gerald Young both have OBPs of over .400 and got much more playing time recently. This was of course only possible because the every day players did very badly.
(3) No 1 and No 2 pitchers Bill Wegman and Mike Birkbeck are doing ok. While their ERA is over 3, they are eating innings and give us usually a chance to win the game.
(4) setup men Graeme Lloyd and Mike Ignasiak did their job by posting a WHIP of 1.0 or below. Notable when the rest of your bullpen is a disaster area.

Who was doing badly?
(1) Greg Vaughn was supposed to be the best hitter of this team. But he was hitting .175/.298/.225 in april with 1HR and 5 RBI.
(2) every day players that don't hit at all include 1B Kevin Seitzer (.220), 3B Jeff Cirillo (.226) and SS Jose Valentin (.202).
(3) starting pitcher Jaime Navarro makes $800,000 (a lot of money for a team like us) and posted a 5.91 ERA with a 1.94 WHIP.
(4) as mentioned above the bullpen is a disaster. Here some WHIPs Teddy Higuera (1.86), Mike Fetters (2.06), Jesse Orosco (2.71) and Bob Scanlan (2.34).

Interestingly enough people flock to see us. Our total attendance ranks 4th now with a 50 % increase from 1993.

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Worst teams in baseball are Minnesota (7-19), Texas (9-17), we (10-16) and Pittsburgh (10-16).

The division leaders are:
Toronto (18-8)
Cleveland (15-11)
Oakland (15-11)
Montréal (19-7)
Cincinnati (16-10)
San Diego (15-11)

Award winners for april:
Batter of the Month AL - Paul O'Neill, Yankees
Batter of the Month NL - Barry Bonds, San Francisco
Pitcher of the Month AL - Al Leiter, Toronto
Pitcher of the Month NL - Erik Hansen, Cincinnati
Rookie of the Month AL - Bob Hamelin, Kansas City
Rookie of the Month NL - Raul Mondesi, Dodgers

[Loeffle]

Award winners for april:
Batter of the Month AL - Paul O'Neill, Yankees
Batter of the Month NL - Barry Bonds, San Francisco
Pitcher of the Month AL - Al Leiter, Toronto
Pitcher of the Month NL - Erik Hansen, Cincinnati
Rookie of the Month AL - Bob Hamelin, Kansas City
Rookie of the Month NL - Raul Mondesi, Dodgers

[Loeffle]

Brewers record 10-17 (7 GB behind the Reds)

Brewers record last week: 2-5

Power Rankings: 26th (24th)

When you get swept by the last place Cubs things cannot be good. But it would have been a 4-3 week if we wouldn't have lost twice in walk-off fashion against them. In general things didn't look as bad as in Week 3 and maybe some bullpen help is under way as we laid claim on a decent reliever on waivers.

Some of batters raised their batting average over the Mendoza line and I consider calling up John Jaha or Dave Nilsson from AAA New Orleans. Also Darryl Hamilton was on fire and should have won the player of the week award.

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.281/.297/.368 - 5SB, 1 HR, 7 RBI, -0.2 WAR
Has a seven game hitting streak and keeps hitting singles.

Players of the Week:
NL - Dante Bichette, Rockies - .619, 4 HR, 8 RBI
AL - Shane Mack, Twins - .455, 3 HR, 7 RBI

Notable injuries:
SP John Burkett, Giants - 4-0, 3.32 ERA - out for three to four months
3B Scott Brosius, A's - .321, 1 HR, 7 RBI - out for four months
SP Jason Grimsley, Indians - 0-2, 18.36 ERA - out for seven months
CL Josias Manzanillo, Mets - 0-1-6, 0.96 ERA - out for six to seven months
2B Terry Shumpert, Royals - .200, 4 HR, 16 RBI - out for five to six months

Accomplishments:
n/a

Impressive Game Performances:
n/a

Trades:
n/a

Big contract extensions:
LF Juan Gonzalez, Rangers - .263, 5 HR, 12 RBI - $6,900,000, 3 y
RF Dante Bichette, Rockies - .358, 9 HR, 20 RBI, 5 SB - $1,700,000, 1 y
C Darren Daulton, Phillies - .344, 5 HR, 18 RBI - $12,000,000, 3 y
SP Charles Nagy, Indians - 2-3, 3.68 ERA - $6,930,00, 4 y
2B Craig Biggio, Astros - .264, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 8 SB - $1,640,000, 1 y
2B Roberto Alomar, Blue Jays - .318, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 4 SB - $1,740,000, 1 y

[Loeffle]

Brewers record 13-21 (8 GB behind the Reds)

Brewers record last week: 3-4

Power Rankings: 24th (26th)

May begun with four more losses creating eventually a 7 game losing streak. Thankfully things took a turn towards the better when we won two out of three at St Louis and won the first game of a series against the Dodgers. None of the losses were blowouts, so that's a reason for hope. First goal is to climb back to .400 and catch the Cubs and Pirates, both only one game ahead of us.

On the last day of the losing streak we lost the best arm of our horrible bullpen: Mike Ignasiak (0-0, 2.19 ERA, 1.22 WHIP) will be out for about three months with a partially torn labrum. The same day we were awarded waiver claim Mike Timlin (0-0, 10.80 ERA, 2.64 WHIP) from Toronto who should offer an upgrade on the existing arms.

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.270/.299/.343 - 6 SB, 1 HR, 7 RBI, -0.3 WAR
not a very good week for the fan favourite

Brewers transactions:

Demoted IF Pat Listach (.147/.194/.147 - 3 SB, 0 HR, 1 RBI) to AAA New Orleans.
Promoted IF Bill Spiers (.271/.333/.329 - 1 SB, 0 HR, 5 RBI)

Demoted reliever Jesse Orosco (0-1, 14.14 ERA, 2.71 WHIP).
Promoted reliever Ricky Bones (2-0-4, 3.72 ERA, 1.03 WHIP).

Placed reliever Mike Ignasiak on the 60-Day DL, claimed reliever Mike Timlin on waivers (see above).

Players of the Week:
NL - Jeff Treadway, Dodgers - .524, 1 HR, 8 RBI
AL - Jeff Bagwell, Astros - .393, 5 HR, 11 RBI

Notable injuries:
SP Allen Watson, Cardinals - 0-4, 7.26 ERA - out for four to five months
RP Mauro Gozzo, Mets - 1-1, 8.44 ERA - out for four to five months
SP Aaron Sele, Red Sox - 3-3, 5.10 ERA - out for three months

Accomplishments:
n/a

Impressive Game Performances:
SP Tom Candiotti, Dodgers - 6-1, 1.71 ERA - pitched a perfect game.

Trades:
n/a

Big contract extensions:
SP Ken Hill, Montréal - 4-3, 5.61 ERA - $1,500,000 - 1y

[Loeffle]

Brewers record 17-23 (7 GB behind the Reds)

Brewers record last week: 4-2

Power Rankings: 19th (24th)

Finally a week with a winning record. We won the series against the Dodgers and swept the Marlins. By doing so we achieved all short goals from last week: climbing over .400 and catching the Cubs and Pirates. Climbing to .500 and catching the 2nd placed Cardinals is more of a long term goal.

Pitching and batting were very solid last week, but Darryl Hamilton hit a very cold streak:

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.239/.282/.302 - 6 SB, 1 HR, 7 RBI, -0.8 WAR
1 for 22 last week. He is in a contract year!

Brewers transactions:
n/a

Players of the Week:
NL - Ryan Thompson, Mets - .417, 3 HR, 10 RBI
AL - Kevin Brown, Rangers - 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 18.0 IP, 8 K

Notable injuries:
RP Dave Telgheder, Mets - 0-0, 0.00 ERA - out for four months

Accomplishments:
SS Cal Ripken, Orioles - .383, 3 HR, 34 RBI - makes the 300 HR mark

Impressive Game Performances:
n/a

Trades:
n/a

Big contract extensions:
n/a

[Loeffle]

Brewers record 21-26 (7 GB behind the Reds)

Brewers record last week: 4-3

Power Rankings: 15th (19th)

The positive trend continued and we collected another winning week. After a 6-18 disaster against the Mets we won two straight in dominant fashion at the Giants limiting their power lineup to four runs. In the aftermath of the Mets disaster we demoted reliever Luis Vázquez (2-1, 6.23 ERA) to AAA to make room for another waiver claim from Toronto; reliever Huck Flener (0-0, 6.14 ERA).
Starting pitcher Jaime Navarro (2-3, 5.34 ERA) lasted only four pitches in the Giants opener and we are awaiting the diagnosis. Losing another - even a bad one - starting pitcher could cast new doom on us.
Power hitting RF Bob Brunansky (.267, 5 HR, 12 RBI) was placed on the DL with shoulder soreness, but his replacement from AAA Troy O'Leary (.357, 1 HR, 4 RBI) is very solid so far. Brunansky might be back in Early June.

We also resigned corner infielder Kevin Seitzer (.245, 4 HR, 23 RBI) who leads the club in RBIs to a new 2-year deal worth $1,240,000 (second year is a team option with low buyout).

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.223/.275/.279 - 7 SB, 1 HR, 8 RBI, -1.2 WAR
Still very cold, but collected a key RBI.
Won't get a 1 million or more contract if he continues like this.

Brewers transactions:

Placed RF Tom Brunansky on the 15-Day DL, claimed reliever Huck Flener on waivers (see above).

Players of the Week:
NL - Dante Bichette, Rockies - .519, 3 HR, 7 RBI
AL - Frank Thomas, White Sox - .520, 4 HR, 5 RBI

Notable injuries:
SP Junior Hogan, Cardinals - 2-2, 4.21 ERA - out for seven to eight months

Accomplishments:
SP Jack Morris, Indians - 6-1, 3.25 ERA - Win # 250

Impressive Game Performances:
n/a

Trades:
To Blue Jays - RP Tim Worrell - 2-1, 7.43 ERA
To Padres - MiL RF Luis Castillo and MiL 2B Woody Davidson (#173 prospect)

To Blue Jays - SS Jose Vizcaino - .226/.302/.274, 0 HR, 1 SB
To Mets - CL Danny Cox - 0-0-1, 5.63 ERA, 3 BB, 6 K and MiL SS John Pratt (#24 prospect)

To Mariners - RP Cris Carpenter - 4-0, 1.71 ERA, 5 BB, 12 K
To Rangers - RF Jonathan Moody (#113 prospect)

Big contract extensions:
SP John Smiley, Cincinnati - 4-4, 3.21 ERA - $9,040,000 - 4y
1B Jeff Bagwell, Houston - .362, 13 HR, 41 RBI - $11,035,000 - 5y

[Loeffle]

Brewers record 24-29 (9 GB behind the Reds)

Brewers record last week: 3-3

Power Rankings: 19th (15th)

Another solid week that saw us winning three in a row at one point. Starting pitching is very sound at the moment carrying us far into games. The bullpen is still pretty bad. The injury of Jaime Navarro was a minor one which let to a spot start of Teddy Higuera (2-1, 7.04 ERA) who did his job well.
We lost struggling LF Greg Vaughn (.212, 3 HR, 13 RBI) for about a month with a strained rib cage muscle, recalling hot hitting corner outfielder Dave Nilsson (.370, 13 HR, 37 RBI - AAA). Nilsson homered in his first game for us.

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.244/.297/.308 - 9 SB, 1 HR, 13 RBI, -0.5 WAR
Got streaky again, this time on a good one.

Brewers transactions:

Placed LF Greg Vaughn on the 15-Day DL,
called up corner outfielder Dave Nilsson (see above).

Players of the Week:
NL - Matt Stairs, Montreal - .600, 2 HR, 8 RBI
AL - Jeff Bagwell, Astros - .550, 3 HR, 8 RBI

Notable injuries:
SP Scott Sanders, Padres - 2-3, 4.30 ERA - out for four to five months

Accomplishments:
CF Brett Butler, Dodgers - .278, 6 HR, 26 RBI - Hit # 2000

Impressive Game Performances:
n/a

Trades:
n/a

Big contract extensions:
1B Fred McGriff, Atlanta - .310, 13 HR, 38 RBI - $16,000,000 - 4y

[Loeffle]

May was a month of hot and cold streaks and we ended it by going 14-15. Despite playing almost .500 ball we are now ten games behind the Reds who seem to have locked up a very weak NL Central already.

I'm pretty optimistic that we can climb closer to .500 if we continue the performances we show in parts of last month.

Who was doing well?
(1) Both catchers - B.J. Surhoff, who saw also much playing time at other positions hit .287/.330/.479. Rick Wrona was even better hitting .361/.424/.699 with 6 HR and 20 RBI. Wrona is also throwing out over 60 % of base stealers.
(2) 3B Jeff Cirillo OBP .372 and SS Jose Valentin 15 RBI had a fair month at the plate.
(3) The starting rotation did quite well: Bill Wegman 2.30 ERA, Mike Birkbeck 3.17 ERA, Sean Blanton 3.41 ERA and Cal Eldred 3.67 ERA ate innings and usually kept us in the games.
(4) Attendance is still very satisfying - 36,906 per game rank 7th in both leagues.

Who was doing badly?
(1) Backup players like Bill Spiers OPS .298, Matt Mieske OPS .412 and Franklin Stubbs OPS. 463 offer very little from the bench and might head for AAA sooner or later.
(2) Fan and manager favourite Darryl Hamilton had a very mediocre OPS of .534, while stealing five bases at least and playing an ok CF.
(3) Parts of the bullpen, mainly Bob Scanlan 10.61 ERA, Mike Fetters 6.75 ERA and Teddy Higuera 6.08 ERA should maybe not be part of a big league roster right now, but we have no better options.

Jeff Cirillo dropped out of the top prospects list, but was replaced there by waiver claim Huck Flener.

[Loeffle]

Worst teams in baseball are Minnesota (19-36), Boston (21-34), Texas (22-33) and Colorado (23-32).

The division leaders are:
New York (32-23)
Cleveland (32-23)
California (33-22)
Montréal (41-14)
Cincinnati (34-21)
San Diego (28-27)

Award winners for april:
Batter of the Month AL - Jeff Bagwell, Houston
Batter of the Month NL - Raul Mondesi, Los Angeles
Pitcher of the Month AL - Scott Erickson, Minnesota
Pitcher of the Month NL - Erik Hansen, Cincinnati (12-0, 1.40 ERA now!)
Rookie of the Month AL - Manny Ramirez, Cleveland
Rookie of the Month NL - Raul Mondesi, Los Angeles

[Loeffle]

Award winners for april:
Batter of the Month AL - Jeff Bagwell, Houston
Batter of the Month NL - Raul Mondesi, Los Angeles
Pitcher of the Month AL - Scott Erickson, Minnesota
Pitcher of the Month NL - Erik Hansen, Cincinnati (12-0, 1.40 ERA now!)
Rookie of the Month AL - Manny Ramirez, Cleveland
Rookie of the Month NL - Raul Mondesi, Los Angeles

[Loeffle]

Brewers record 25-35 (12 GB behind the Reds)

Brewers record last week: 1-6

Power Rankings: 23rd (19th)

The hope to reach .500 was thrashed by getting swept by the best team in baseball Montréal (45-15) and losing two out of three against the second best team in the league Cincinnati (37-23).
The only highlight came when we thrashed the best pitcher of the league Erik Hanson, who has been 12-0 before. His ERA jumped from 1.40 to 2.12 after allowing nine earned runs.

We also lost our best bat in C Rick Wrona (.321/.387/.604) for four weeks with a hip strain. He signed a 2-year contract extension that can be worth up to $2,080,000. The second year is a vesting option. Backup outfielder Matt Mieske (.203/.224/.284) who is known most for his strong arm went to DL as well, but the diagnosis is not yet known.
Veteran Tom Brunansky was activated from the DL and 1B John Jaha called up from AAA.

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.259/.311/.326 - 10 SB, 1 HR, 16 RBI, -0.3 WAR
this week it was good Darryl again - and he is nearing the 0.0 WAR mark. (No, this organization does not have a better CF)

Brewers transactions:
Placed C Rick Wrona and OF [B]Matt Mieske/B] on the DL,
activated RF Tom Brunansky (.262/.350/.515) from the DL,
called 1B John Jaha (.286/.411/.548 - 12 HR, 33 RBI) up from AAA.

Players of the Week:
NL - Tony Gwynn, San Diego - .577, 1 HR, 3 RBI
AL - Ken Griffey, Seattle - .414, 5 HR, 12 RBI

Notable injuries:
CL Mike Henneman, Tigers - 0-0-12, 5.65 ERA - out for eight to nine months
SP Bill Gullickson, Tigers - 5-7, 5,85 ERA - out for a year
The Tigers never had good pitching, but now their pitching looks like the one of AAA team.

Accomplishments:
n/a

Impressive Game Performances:
n/a

Trades:
To Padres - RP Zane Smith - 3-2-4, 5,79 ERA
To Pirates - MiRF Brett Taylor and MiCF Bob Manley

Big contract extensions:
n/a

[Loeffle]

Brewers record 27-39 (13 GB behind the Reds)

Brewers record last week: 2-4

Power Rankings: 26th (23rd)

After taking two from three at San Diego, the home series against the Cubs was a full disaster. In three games we managed to score just one run. We are really missing the bat of Rick Wrona, while virtually everybody seems to be in decline (rating-wise).

We are clearly in rebuilding mode and claiming promising outfielder Derrick White (.351./422/.649 - AAA) from Montréal off waivers is a move for the future.

Darryl Hamilton watch:
.250/.306/.310 - 12 SB, 1 HR, 16 RBI, -0.8 WAR

Brewers transactions:
Sent IF Bill Spiers (.114/.220/.114) to AAA,
called IF Pat Listach (.254/.320/.290) up from AAA.

Players of the Week:
NL - Fred McGriff, Atlanta - .526, 4 HR, 7 RBI
AL - Tim Salmon, California - .500, 2 HR, 4 RBI

Notable injuries:
n/a

Accomplishments:
n/a

Impressive Game Performances:
n/a

Trades:
To Braves - RP Jeff Parrett (0-0, 6.40 ERA)
To Rockies - MiSS James Wright

To Cardinals - 3B Charlie Hayes (.287, 4 HR, 21 RBI)
To Rockies - Mi2B Rich Morales and MiSP Alje Roelands #87 Prospect

To Indians - 1B Troy Neel (.287, 9 HR, 32 RBI)
To Athletics - SS Omar Vizquel (.307, 0 HR, 17 RBI) and MiLF Nate Rogers

To Athletics - SP Greg W Harris (4-8, 7.55 ERA)
To Rockies - RF Ernie Young (.225, 2 HR, 6 RB), MiLF Nate Rogers and Mi2B Francisco Matos

To Angels - RP Yorkis Perez (0-0-2, 3.34 ERA)
To Marlins - SP Roberto Martinez (4-1, 3.08 ERA)

Big contract extensions:
n/a