Off-Season Transactions - Prior To Rule 5

[Harold Hutchison]

igor67

 

He's also younger than Osik. And the Brewers don't waste a 40-man spot on him.

 

Too bad they couldn't find a spot on the 40-man for Jason Shelley.

[molitor fan]

Mark Johnson is an excellent pickup. I was living in Chicago when he was with the White Sox, and saw him on occasion when I ventured to the South side. He is a very good backstop, solid skills all around though his hitting certainly is mediocre - very reminiscent of Matheny to be honest.

 

Whether that is good enough, I will let you decide, but I think he has a chance to be the opening day catcher.

[RobertR]

Mark Johnson is an excellent example of why batting average does matter.

 

However, I think it's a fine signing as a minor leaguer. You'd be hard pressed to do much better at catcher. Johnson has a good defensive reputation and will draw a walk. If he hit .250, he'd actually be valuable.

 

Robert

[Al the Thinking Man]

I recall BP saying kind things about Johnson, but a .311 OBP is barely tolerable. He's not a bad reserve, but unless you feel Coste is going to start...

[igor67]

I guess for me I have a hard time believing that his career batting average can stay so putrid. Then again his BB/K ratio has basically flipped between the minors and the majors and the increased K rate alone could account for the drop in batting average. Still that does indicate that he's still got some room to turn it around a little. It's not the best option, but at this stage of the game it's a reasonable one.

[rotoherb]

I've always heard good things about Johnson. I know when he got the starting catcher job with the White Sox in spring 2002 there were a lot of people who thought he was going to be good. Of course, none of his stats back it up so he could just as well be a flame out.

[squarepusher]

Well, he's a former first rounder, so he'll always get the nod over another catcher with perhaps slightly better numbers...

 

For some reason, 1st rounders who flame out tend to stick around.

[igor67]

Performance may come and go, but tools last nearly forever.

[rpms6]

Looks like some roster filler. The Huntsville roster now shows Kevin Haverbusch as an outfielder.

 

He was in the Pirates organization for a bunch of years.

[igor67]

St. Louis is clearly jealous

[MassBrew]

Thanks for the heads-up on Kevin Haverbusch.

 

87 games of AAA experience for the 27-year-old RH-hitting outfielder, but spent 2003 at AA Portland (Red Sox).

 

Given the limited number of games played by Haverbush each season in his career (the vast majority at the AA level - stats listed below), it appears the Brewers have someone to plug in to the 4th OF spot at Huntsville, perhaps Indy. Goodness knows that each of the past few seasons, injuries and generally being thin in the outfield have led to some pretty unique outfield experiments in the mid-levels of the farm system.

 

His career path screams "organizational soldier", and there's nothing on the stat line that jumps out at you, but there's no harm in wishing him well with the Brewers.

 

www.sports-wired.com/play...sp?ID=5618

[Al the Thinking Man]

Kevin needs to learn how to take a walk. He does scream career minor leaguer, yet he's a zillion times better than me.

 

Damn.

[SoCalBrewfan]

Dang...I remember way back in '98 or so that there was a guy whose projection system said Haverbusch was the next Mike Schmidt. Oops.

[rpms6]

As per MLB.com's Indy roster. Looks like a couple of decent pickups for AAA.

 

RHP- Victor Santos

 

www.sports-wired.com/play...p?Name=FAI

 

OF Jon Nunnally

 

www.sports-wired.com/play...sp?ID=6461

[igor67]

Santos is modestly intriguing, but Nunnally looks like he's some real good OF depth Career MLB OPS of .823 with good OBP. Definitely a guy who has had a hard time getting an extended look anywhere. Given his age he might get bad at anytime, but a solid NRI on this team.

[squarepusher]

If Nunnally could get his SB% in check, he wouldn't be a bad option in RF. More likely that he would be an OK 5th outfielder though.... Still, he was basically a 20/20 guy in AAA last year.

[lend d money]

Squarepusher, you are amazing. You even know the man's vision. Incredible!http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[RealityCheck]

I am officially Jon Nunnally's stalker. Or maybe he is my stalker? I met him back in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and soon to be 2004. I have gotten all 13 cards that I had of him autographed plus some photos (which means I have met him 22 times in four different cities).

 

I have never really understood why he hasn't landed a regular backup OF role. He isn't a great defensive OF but he can hit very well. He is basically a left-handed version of Wes Helms (or an older Brad Wilkerson). Despite his age, I am very confidant that he could at the very least, replicate the production from the 2003 Vander Wal/Clark platoon. A Nunnally/Magruder platoon might be the most productive spot behind Jenkins.

[colbyjack]

I remember Nunnally getting a lot of pub as he came up from the minor leagues. I agree with RC, he never seeemed to have got a fair shake. I remember him struggling early, but I don't recall him getting the prolonged chance to make a name for himself. I think that was at about the same time the Royals had Johnny Damon coming up, and I seem to remember Todd Dunwoody being a popular OF prospect back then as well. Maybe I'm just getting random names mixed up.

 

Another good signing for the organization.

[SoCalBrewfan]

I am officially Jon Nunnally's stalker.

 

Oh-oh...not this again. What was that guy's name, Break_A_Leg or something?

[Al the Thinking Man]

Two more solid minor league FA pickups. Not only are they good AAA players, every one has an upside big enough to see them contributing a the major league level.

[RealityCheck]

Here is a few other good players that I watched in Indy that fell under the radar. Guillermo Garcia, Mike Frank, Chad Mottola, Roger Salkeld, and Pat Watkins.

[Never Outhustled]

While it hasn't been made official yet, the Crew has signed Matt Erickson to a minor league deal with a spring training invite. Matt is 2B/3B and a native of ******on WI. He had an an outstaning season in the hitters paradise that is the PCL. He hit 342/442,463/905. Also, as you would expect , he's grittyhttp://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/happy.gif . Rumor has it he was fed up with the Florida organization after he didn't recieve the Sept. callup he was promised.

[danzig6767]

I noticed an odd thing in Nunnally's year last year,he hit 25 homers and had only 53 RBI's in 428 at bats.How can you hit 25 jacks and have 428 at bats and only end up with 53 RBI's?

[SoCalBrewfan]

Huh...that's pretty tough to do. My guess from a glance at the Memphis team stats is that probably he was batting cleanup behind a leadoff man like Dunwoody (.261 OBP) or Taguchi (.318 OBP), a #2 hitter like Marty Malloy (.312 OBP), and then #3 hitter Dee Haynes (.279 OBP but 70 RBI).