Milwaukee Brewers: In the News (Mar. 9)

Today’s Game: Royals 7, Brewers 1
Record: 5-4-1

Today’s Game

- Yovani Gallardo gave up seven runs, including five earned, in two-thirds of an inning today. Ouch. The Brewers were unable to come back and lost 7-1 to the Royals. On the positive side, Brad Nelson continues to play well and hit a home run in the game.

Brewers News

- Alcides Escobar is close to being major-league ready and J.J. Hardy says he’s not going to switch positions. I was hoping J.J. would move to second or third eventually since Escobar is clearly in the organization’s plans for the shortstop position, but I suppose if he’s not willing to move (would a lucrative contract change his mind?), he should bring a nice return in a trade at some point.

- The Brewers have had discussions with Gallardo about a contract extension, but they appear to be on hold at this point.

- Ryan Braun went 1-for-2 with a walk and a home run in the USA’s 15-6 World Baseball Classic win against Venezuela. He didn’t start the game, but replaced Mark DeRosa in the outfield, who shifted to third in place of Chipper Jones.

- Jeff Suppan and the Brewers pitchers shut out the Cubs Saturday, 2-0. More HERE.

- The Brewers drubbed the Indians 17-7 on Friday.

- The Brewers release Eric Gagne today after he could not overcome his ailing shoulder. Both sides seem to be open to another, less lucrative contract in the future after Gagne can rehab his injury. More HERE.

- David Riske threw a simulated inning today and the also-rehabbing Bill Hall hit a home run off of him. That’s encouraging news on two fronts. More HERE.

- Ken Macha says his catchers are his point guards.

- Anthony Witrado says Corey Hart needs to practice more patience at the plate.

- Jordan M at Brew Crew Ball says throwing more fastballs will not make Manny Parra a better pitcher, making the argument against a Junkball Blues post from last week.

- Is Ben Sheets the best Brewers pitcher of all time?

- Roto Addicts pick the Brewers to finish fourth in the NL Central in 2009.

- Uwe Blog picks the Brewers third in the NL Central behind the Cubs and the Astros. They pick the Astros to finish with 90 wins. Uh, that’s just not going to happen… They do say the Brewers will finish with 85 wins though and that’s probably about right.

- The Crawfish Boxes rank Prince Fielder as the NL Central’s third best first baseman.

- Pitcher Mark DiFelice and catcher Vinny Rottino are happy to be playing for Italy in the WBC. Italy lost 7-0 to Venezuela on Saturday and face Canada today. Rottino went 0-3 in the game. DiFelice, on the other hand, pitched four scoreless innings and gave up only three hits.

That’s pretty impressive against a loaded Venezuelan team and Jeff Sackmann at Brew Crew Ball says Ken Macha should take notice.

- Brewers! Brewers! Keep Turnin’ Up the Heat! takes a look at the 2009 Brewers’ PECOTA projections.

- We should have posted this last week, but we somehow missed it. Comedian Artie Lange tells some great Bob Uecker stories to David Letterman.

Minor Leagues

- Lorenzo Cain is turning some heads in Spring Training. The Brewers centerfielder of the future could be on the major-league team as soon as next year. Listen to an interview we did with him earlier this offseason HERE.

- This is really unfortunate news. Brewers pitching prospect Brae Wright has to undergo Tommy John surgery. Wright had a great year last year and I was really looking forward to watching him progress in 2009. Check out the interview we did with Brae earlier this offseason HERE.

We all wish Brae the best of luck in his recovery from the surgery and look forward to seeing him on the mound again in 2010. More HERE.

- Mat Gamel needs to get a little more serious. Get your head on straight, Mat. We all want to see you in Brewer Blue some time this summer.

NL Central

- When they’re writing articles like this about a guy in the spring, it’s a pretty ominous sign for the season. I think it’s extremely unlikely the Cubs get 20 starts out of Rich Harden this year.

- Dusty Baker is still being Dusty Baker. Thank God he’s not the manager in Milwaukee. And that he’s landed a second managing job in the NL Central.

At least Adam Dunn isn’t around there anymore to clog those bases up, right Dusty?

Other News

- Former Brewer pitcher Dan Plesac, now an MLB Network analyst, talked on 1250 WSSP.

- Somebody loves former Brewer Brooks Kieschnick way too much… (h/t Brew Crew Ball)

- I stumbled across this really cool story involving Craig Counsell this weekend. It’s definitely worth a read.

- Former Brewer Matt Wise has retired.

- Former Brewer Corey Koskie, now a member of Team Canada in the WBC and a recent minor-league signee with the Cubs, has finally made it back to playing baseball after several years of battling post-concussion syndrome.

In a recent article, he criticizes the Brewers organization pretty openly with how the handled the situation. I hope the team learned from their experiences and can build a better program for similar injuries, but I’m also not sure any MLB team could have handled Koskie’s problems at the time.

- Former Milwaukee Brewer Chris Spurling has been charged with domestic battery. He’s accused of throwing his ex-wife to the ground in front of his seven-year-old daughter. Ugh…