CheeseheadInQC

There's plenty of time for things to change, but it is increasingly looking like from the start any improvement was going to have to come by trade. Moncada is already hurt, Dejong is striking out at rates that might even make Joey Gallo blush and Iglesias isn't really hitting either. Outside of a significantly outpacing his peripherals Amed Rosario, the only one of the free agent infielders discussed who is hitting is Brendan Rodgers, who is pretty much 2B-only at this point, so that wouldn't have worked with Turang's arm issue that made the shortstop decision for the Brewers.

Cameron is off to quite the start in Nashville.

Wow, Nicasia with a grand slam.

Areinamo has had three absolutely amazing plays, including a game-saving stab right now

They also got the good Yerlin so far, a big change from the time I saw him pitch last year.

With as chilly as it is, I don’t think either team wants that

Nothing to do with the game, but you know you’re a Brewer fan if the seventh inning stretch feels incomplete without Roll Out the Barrel.

Nicasia just crushed a line drive homer

Too close to get a better shot with the net.

Fair warning, I am going to be at the Timber Rattlers-River Bandits game tonight. If past experience is anything to go by, this doesn’t bode well for the Rattlers.

Dinges as well.

The Mudcats just scored a couple off Jeral Vizcaino, who if I remember correctly was in the same signing class as Torres.

Nice to see six shutout innings from Cornielle. Hopefully he can break out a bit this year.

Unless they changed it, Rule 5 eligibility is signing date dependent with a moving target of when the team he’d be assigned to has its season end. There was one prospect a couple of years ago who we couldn’t decide when he would be eligible because he signed after the DSL regular season ended but before the postseason ended. That is why there was a year with very few new international signings becoming eligible after they moved the signing date from July to January.

Has Daniel Corniel pitched? If not I wonder if they are going to do a piggyback situation with Birchard since Rodriguez is slated to throw tomorrow.

It was an unforced error. I get the theory. You need a lot of pitching. We've seen that proven definitively this year. And sneaking Smith through would have left them with an additional pitcher. But at some point the risk of losing them becomes too great, and Smith should have been on the right side of the line, especially when there were a number of pitchers with less upside and no more big league ready who ended up getting 40-man spots.

Looks like from the matchups the rest of the week and who hasn’t pitched, the remaining Carolina tandems for the next two days are likely Hernandez/Rivera and Torres/Holobetz.

I hope this turns out OK, but man that is a lot to give up for a guy with that career ERA who wasn’t getting big league starts for a team with its own set of injury issues. I think we got spoiled by Chourio, but few prospects have as much success as Yophery has by that age.

Based upon his first Carolina start, definitely looking like the spot was earned. Great full season debut.

By us, they laid all the initial lines first, then went back to make the home connections for those interested. They were definitely publicizing it before the laying of the fiber started, though. I wonder if there was a foundation grant to install the infrastructure in hopes of luring a provider who would do the home connections or something like that.

There are still some with landlines (including us) because they are practically free with their fiber internet service (their real money-maker now).

I have paid less attention to college basketball this year than I have in decades, so of course this is the first time I enter the championship game with a shot at finishing in the money in a pick ‘em contest put on by my town’s phone company. In my case it seems the old joke about these things might really be true. Also, that Houston-Duke ending was insane.

The release of the minor league rosters for Biloxi, Wisconsin and Carolina produced few surprises, but some of the decisions and the confidence they show or opportunities they provide are significant for a group of Brewers prospects. Image courtesy of © Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images With the release of the minor league rosters for Biloxi, Wisconsin and Carolina came … well … not a ton of surprises. Most of the fairly significant choices were tipped by the minor league spring training lineups. Still, the decisions and the confidence they show or opportunities they provide are significant for some of the Brewers prospects. I considered making this a winners and losers column, but with all the negativity over how the season started, I'm going to focus on the bright side. So here are some of the winners from the Brewers minor league roster decisions. Hitters Jesus Made and Luis Pena I said winners, not necessarily surprises. Made was considered a near lock to make Carolina's opening roster and Pena was a good bet as well. Still, it is important to note just how rare it is for international free agent signings, especially those who sign at 16 or 17, to start their second campaign in full-season ball. Unless I missed someone, the prior three seasons a total of only 13 such IFA hitters didn't have a rookie ball at bat in their second season. It seems old hat to us because the Brewers happened to account for nearly a third of those with four. They also had the only pair of teammates on the list with Jackson Chourio and Hendry Mendez. This is a significant accomplishment, and also why I don't find Jose Anderson starting the year in the ACL disappointing at all. Looking at some of the other top DSL stars from last year, Emil Morales does not appear to have made the jump for the Dodgers. The Cardinals had arguably the second best DSL prospect duo behind Made and Pena, but last time I checked neither Rainiel Rodriguez or Yairo Padilla made it either. The Angels, who had one in each of the prior two years, appear to have not had either Joswa Lugo or Hayden Alvarez skip the Complex League. There might be one or two other than Made, Pena and the Padres' Leo De Vries, but based upon history, I doubt there are more than that. Demetrio Nadal Speaking of players skipping the Complex League, last year was going to be a big season for Demetrio Nadal. He was going to be among the players to watch on the Brewers' ACL squad. He was coming off a DSL season almost as good as the ones that Made and Pena posted a year later and looking to prove that he was a legit prospect, not second-DSL-season mirage. Then he got hurt and missed the full season. To some degree, it makes sense to have Nadal in Carolina given that it is his fourth season in the organization (although that didn't help Johan Barrios). But the Brewers giving him an A-ball spot over Barrios and Tyler Rodriguez shows they have confidence in the diminutive utilityman. And that makes the assignment significant. Every Single Healthy Outfielder (or Infielder Playing the Outfield) The Brewers have exactly three top-30 outfield prospects on full season rosters, and they are spread out. With Luis Lara at AA, Yophery Rodriguez at A+ and Braylon Payne in A ball, no outfielder is going to be buried on the bench, unable to get more than a handful of at bats a week to show what they can do. Moreover, the Brewers teams don't have many outfielders period. Only Wisconsin has four players who started off as outfielders. Jheremy Vargas and Zavier Warren (and maybe even Eric Brown Jr.) figure to get outfield time in Biloxi and Nadal and Luiyin Alastre both will likely see their fair share of outfield starts for the Mudcats. For someone like Vargas, who struggled out of the gate in low-A a couple of years ago and quickly got shoved into an organizational depth role, the aggressive promotion and playing time that will likely go with it represent a chance to really put himself on the team's prospect radar. For Nadal and Alastre, it gives them a chance to get playing time despite the horribly crowded Mudcat infield situation. Whether they or the other outfielders sink or swim, at least they all will likely have a fair shot at playing time. Yoneiker Lugo & Freider Rojas While this could change before opening day, it is looking increasingly likely that at least one of these ACL catchers will be making the move stateside this year. Barring Yannic Walther dropping back to the ACL once that season starts, Eric Martinez and Luis Corobo are the only catchers left for the Complex League. Given that they will almost certainly roster at least three, that means at least one of Lugo or Rojas will be moving up. Pitching The IFA Class of 2022 Take it from someone who has spent much of the last month engrossed in DSL pitching success rates: Most DSL pitchers never reach full season ball. That has historically been doubly true for the Brewers. There will be more on this group coming at a later date, but for now I'd just like to say how heartening some of their placements are. Manuel Rodriguez was expected to start in high-A, but Daniel Corniel figured to be squarely on the bubble and Anthony Flores was one of the bigger surprises on the Wisconsin roster. Then in low-A along with a few fellow Class of 22 pitchers is Wande Torres, who came back from injury to strike out seemingly almost everyone he faced last season and then skipped the Complex League to join the Mudcats this year. Alexander Cornielle and Stiven Cruz Remember when Carlos Rodriguez, Alexander Cornielle and Stiven Cruz anchored the Carolina rotation, the three 20-year-olds looking like the next wave of Brewers pitching prospects? Rodriguez pitched his way up to Nashville and eventually his big league debut. Cornielle and Cruz, however, seemed to either stagnate or regress in Wisconsin. Cornielle in particular seemed to spend most of last year as the "likely next guy to be promoted" only to be passed up shortly before each AA rotation spot opened up. That's why I'm liking that both made the Biloxi roster, with Cornielle likely grabbing one of the starting rotation spots. It feels like it has been a long time coming given how quickly some of the pitchers around them have ascended the ladder, but both are still young enough to use this promotion to put themselves squarely back on the prospect map. Bjorn Johnson Things did not go particularly well for the Brewers' 2023 12th rounder last season. That he was among the worst offenders on a pitching staff that really struggled in the rough Arizona pitching environment is really saying something. The young lefty walked more batters than he struck out and allowed more than a hit an inning. He seemed to have righted the ship late, with two strong outings before suffering another blowup in his finale. None of this really pointed to him opening the season on the Mudcats' roster. Here's hoping that Johnson earned that spot with an impressive spring and not that this was a case where injuries left them with no better options. View full article

I am pretty bad at this, but I was thinking Moustakas.