Milwaukee Brewers: In the News (Feb. 5)

Brewers News

- It’s Hank Aaron’s 75th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Hank. Speaking of Aaron, Bud Selig thinks he’s the greatest baseball player ever. And I agree.

- The Brewers got some pitching depth when they traded with the Yankees for left-handed starter Chase Wright. They gave up catcher/outfield prospect Eric Fryer. More HERE.

- They also signed 36-year-old reliever Ramiro Mendoza, who has not pitched in the Major Leagues since briefly pitching in 2005 with the Yankees. Mendoza pitched well in this year’s Venezuelan Winter League, however, posting a 1.62 ERA in 21 games for the Cardenales de Lara, with only three walks in 33-1/3 innings.

- A Scranton/Wilkes Barre area reporter caught up with Wright after the trade. Wright said he’s “excited” to join the Brewers organization, but that “it’s going to be tough to leave here.”

- Haudricourt has a scouting report on Wright.

- Was Watching, a Yankees blog, said late last month “if Wright is picked up by another team, with a decent roster, and given 30 starts at the big league level in 2009, it would not shock me to see him win between 10 and 15 games in the majors this season.”

The blogger even links to a post he made in 2007 that pointed out all the similarities between Wright and Bedard. I’m not expecting to see Wright blossom into a pre-Mariner Erik Bedard or anything, but it’s obvious there’s some potential with this guy.

- Jim at Bernie’s Crew doesn’t see as much potential in Wright as Was Watching. He says, “the southpaw projects to be nothing more than a back-end of the rotation starter.” But that wouldn’t be so bad either. The Brewers will probably need some back-of-the-rotation guys to eat innings this season.

- Tom Haudricourt has a Q&A up. He says it would take “a major injury to J.J. Hardy” for Escobar to start the year in the bigs and that he thinks either Weeks or Hall will break out this year.

- In-Between Hops likes Corey’s case in arbitration. Scott compares Corey’s numbers and salary to Curtis Granderson’s through 2007. He also points out that Andre Ethier’s case is one to watch as it is very similar to Hart’s and will end a day sooner (if they both go to hearings).

- The Brew Town Beat says Hart should watch his back, claiming Trot Nixon is more than capable of replacing him. I just imagined Nixon as a regular starter on the Brewers in ‘09 … and I threw up…

- Bernie’s Crew lists the non-roster invites that will be attending Brewers camp.

- Jeff Breen at Bleacher Report takes a look at the Brewers impressive run of talented broadcasters.

- Group ticket sales start Saturday.

- Mark DiFelice is No. 9 on the Brewers Advent Calendar, which allows me to use my horrible DiFelice joke I used about 500 times last season.

Me: “It must be getting cold out there.”

Unsuspecting Victim: “Why?”

Me: “The Brewers just threw on DiFelice.”

Rumors and Speculation

- Jeff Sackmann at Brew Crew Ball says the Brewers should target Odalis Perez for rotation depth. There has been virtually no talk of Perez this offseason, as Sackmann points out. The Brewers might be able to sign him cheap and he’d be a decent back-of-the-rotation guy, pushing McClung to the 'pen until injuries or ineffectiveness require him to return as a starter.

There’s a pretty good chance Perez would be the ineffective starter needing replacing though. He had a decent year last year, but the two years before that his ERA was over 5.5 and he hasn’t thrown over 160 innings since 2004.

The $4 or $5 million number Sackmann throws out for Perez seems high, especially in this market. Perez made less than $1 million last year. Yes, he had a pretty good year, but I think Perez will end up signing for half of that prediction.

If the Brewers can get him for around $2 million, I’d be interested, though not anymore interested than I’d be in a reclamation project like Mark Mulder on a minor-league deal.

- Looks like the Rangers are out of the running for Sheets. So, who exactly is in the running now?

- The Brewers reportedly showed “some interest” in trading for catcher Ramon Castro, but have “backed off.” Interesting… They must not be content with Rivera as  the back up with Salome waiting in the wings? 

- The Rockies are reportedly out on Braden Looper. Looper reportedly wants to play in the NL, but there aren’t many teams after him. The Cardinals were interested in bringing him back, but are out now, and the Pirates might be interested. I think if he lowers his demands, he could still wind up in Milwaukee.

Minor Leagues

- Keith Law at ESPN ranks organizations’ farm systems, putting Milwaukee at 13 with the Cardinals at six, Pirates at 13, Reds at 26, Cubs at 27 and the Astros at 30. He also ranks the best prospects in baseball, with Escobar at 45, Jeffress at 49, Salome at 71 and Gamel at 86. Ouch, most places have Escobar and Gamel much higher than that…

- Mat Gamel is No. 2 on Bernie’s Crew’s list of top Brewer prospects and Alcides Escobar is No. 2 on Between the Green Pillar’s list. I have a feeling those players will be flipped for the #1 rankings tomorrow.

- New Brewer minor leaguer, Adam Stern, a Canadian native, has set up an indoor training center for baseball players in his hometown. And he’s “looking forward to getting back out there and getting another crack at the bigs” with the Brewers.

Other News

- Former Cub Matt Murton was traded from Oakland to Colorado today. I was oddly captivated with Murton while he was a Cub. I felt like he was never really given a chance there and there was a part of me that actually rooted for him, especially after he was traded.

Now, I’m beginning to think he’s just another Mark Teahen — a player I decide I like for no apparent reason and won’t give up on despite all signs pointing to a mediocre Major League existence. Prove me wrong, Thunder Matt!