Ro Mueller

It sounds like we’re better off trading for Ramon Urias… But I guess Moncada’s got the solid arm and switch hits, so he’d be the guy from this group.

The Winter League regular seasons are wrapping up, with top teams qualifying for Round Robin rounds. Jackson Chourio played 6 games for playoff-bound Aguilas, but will not participate. Hopefully Eduardo Garcia gets some further playing time with Cardenales. Over in Puerto Rico, Justin Yeager now has 8 saves for Indios. Winter League Stats to Date (for active or recently-active players): Venezuela: OF Jackson Chourio - Aguilas del Zulia - .944 in 22 PAs, 3 RBIs INF Andruw Monasterio - Caribes de Anzoategui (didn’t qualify for Round Robin) - .823 OPS in 190 PAs, 21 RBIs, 7 SBs OF Hedbert Perez (never returned from US visa processing) - Tiburones de la Guaira (lost play-in game, so didn’t qualify for Round Robin) - .858 OPS in 88 PAs, 10 RBIs, 2 SBs INF Eduardo Garcia - Cardenales de Lara – 1.215 OPS in 30 PAs, 11 RBIs, 2 SBs Dominican League: OF Bladimir Restituyo - Aguilas Cibaenas - .353 OPS in 18 PAs Puerto Rico: RHP Justin Yeager - Indios de Mayaguez - 17.2 IP, 4 R, 11 H, 7 BB, 20 K, 8 Saves C Ramon Rodriguez - Senadores de San Juan - .743 OPS in 58 PAs, 3 RBIs, 1 SB C Victor Torres - Senadores de San Juan - .000 OPS in 4 PAs, 1 RBI

Here are well wishes for 11 Brewers’ farmhands released over the past two months: 21-year old RHP Gerson Calzadilla signed from Venezuela in May 2021, dominating hitters for three seasons and winning the Arizona League Complex Pitcher of the Year in 2023 (amongst 17 teams) before an August 2023 injury derailed his solid trajectory. Calzadilla delivered a 2.80 ERA in 45 DSL innings and 2.66 ERA in 84.2 ACL innings (before the injury), although he averaged just 7.6 K/9 in those periods. He started 16 of 24 games in 2021-22 before shifting to long relief work in 2023. Promoted to Low-A Carolina in August 2023, he was injured the same month, then pitched just 11 innings in 2024. We hope Gerson has made a full physical recovery and wish him luck in his next opportunity. 20-year old RHP Esmir Suarez signed from the Dominican Republic in July 2022, delivering an excellent 2023 campaign in the DSL: 2.80 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 7.9 K/9 in 35.1 innings (10 games, 8 starts). The starts, solid stats and respectable 31 K / 12 BB ratio all indicated a likely promotion to the Arizona Complex League in 2024, but he instead spent the season on the injured list. We wish Esmir best of luck in whatever comes next on his road. 20-year old OF Ramon Moreno signed from the Dominican Republic in July 2022, debuting in the DSL in 2023 with a respectable .730 OPS in 158 PAs, including 10 extra-base hits (2 HRs) and 14 stolen bases. Promoted stateside to the ACL in May 2024, he delivered a .701 OPS in 106 PAs (helped by a .442 BABIP) with 7 extra-base hits and 12 stolen bases. 221 of Moreno’s 535.2 career innings were in center field. Perhaps his proven speed will enable Ramon to latch onto another minor league contract. We wish him well. 20-year old OF/LHP Idalberto Santiesteban signed from Cuba in November 2022, producing a respectable .662 OPS in 101 DSL PAs with 21 stolen bases principally as a corner outfielder in 2023. The 2024 DSL campaign saw Santiesteban handle split duties, including 10 games as a pitcher (2.89 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 5.8 K/9 in 9.1 IP) and 27 games as a position player (.501 OPS in 64 PAs with 3 SBs). Hopefully Idalberto’s versatility will pay off for him elsewhere. 19-year old RHP Ranwell Smith signed from Nicaragua in June 2022, starting 10 of 20 games over his first two DSL seasons, with an encouraging second year: 4.34 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 9.9 K/9 in 37.1 innings. Shifted exclusively to bullpen work in the DSL in 2024, Smith produced a 2.25 ERA in 20 innings, accompanied by a 1.70 WHIP and 5.9 K/9. Good luck to Ranwell wherever his path takes him. 19-year old C/1B Ludwin Tejada signed from the Dominican Republic in June 2022, showing promise in 2022 and 2023 but never getting the promotion stateside. His .719 OPS in 70 DSL PAs in 2022 was accompanied by a 27% caught stealing ratio, followed up by a .522 OPS in 62 DSL PAs in 2023 with a 44% caught stealing ratio. Unfortunately, his 2024 DSL caught stealing ratio fell to 13% and his OPS stayed down at .607 (in 42 PAs). Best of luck to Ludwin in his next career opportunity. 20-year old OF Fabricio Valera signed from Venezuela in June 2022, making 26 outfield starts over two seasons in the Dominican Summer League. He produced a .553 OPS in 2022 (57 PAs) and .634 OPS in 2023 (73 PAs) with one extra-base hit and three stolen bases, but had an encouraging 32 walks vs. 26 Ks. He spent the 2024 season on the injured list and we hope he’s made a full recovery. Good luck Fabricio! 20-year old 1B/C Estefano Lozano signed from Columbia in August 2022, playing 74 innings at first base and 30 innings at catcher over two DSL seasons. He managed a .408 OPS in 2022 (13 PAs) and .675 OPS in 2023 (46 PAs) before missing the 2024 season due to injury. We hope he’s healthy and wish Estefano success in his next endeavor. RHP Justin Caceres signed from Nicaragua in June 2022, delivering a 6.97 ERA with 25 Ks in 31 DSL innings that year. His 2023 season went a bit better, highlighted by a 3.81 ERA with 26 Ks in 28.1 innings, though with a 1.80 WHIP. Unfortunately, Caceres spent the entire 2024 season on the injured list. We hope that Justin is healthy again and wish him luck in his next opportunity. 18-year old RHP Francisco Guevara signed from Venezuela in July 2023, immediately going on the injured list before debuting in the DSL in June 2024. An extremely rough start saw the first 10 batters reach base against him before results started to improve. All-in-all, Guevara faced 61 batters, allowing only 6 hits along with 20 walks, 6 HBPs and 6 strikeouts for a 13.06 ERA. Good luck to Francisco in his next opportunity. 18-year old OF Jeremy George signed from Panama in January 2024, playing in 19 DSL games this year and producing a .427 OPS in 53 PAs with 1 home run, 1 RBI and 3 stolen bases. He mainly played right field and we wish Jeremy well in his next opportunity.

Can we just make it up ourselves?: - Carlos Santana - Mark Canha - Ha-Seong Kim - Donovan Solano

Low teens for me

INF Eduardo Garcia's first plate appearance in 2 weeks went well:

I think it’s difficult to read what’s available on the market at the moment:

"Rafael Álvarez, advisor to the management of the Águilas del Zulia, spoke about possible reinforcements for the Round Robin and the possibility of Jackson Chourio playing in the next round":

Jackson Chourio has been the story of the last week, exciting fans since joining Aguilas. Will the Brewers allow him to also participate in some playoff games? Winter League Stats to Date (for active or recently-active players): Venezuela: OF Jackson Chourio - Aguilas del Zulia - 1.089 in 18 PAs, 3 RBIs INF Andruw Monasterio - Caribes de Anzoategui - .819 OPS in 180 PAs, 19 RBIs, 7 SBs OF Hedbert Perez (not played since 12/6 – renewing US work visa) - Tiburones de la Guaira - .858 OPS in 88 PAs, 10 RBIs, 2 SBs INF Eduardo Garcia (not played since 12/5) - Cardenales de Lara – 1.201 OPS in 19 PAs, 5 RBIs Dominican League: OF Bladimir Restituyo - Aguilas Cibaenas - .250 OPS in 17 PAs Puerto Rico: RHP Justin Yeager - Indios de Mayaguez - 14.2 IP, 4 R, 10 H, 7 BB, 19 K, 7 Saves C Ramon Rodriguez - Senadores de San Juan - .693 OPS in 41 PAs, 1 RBI, 1 SB C Victor Torres - Senadores de San Juan - .000 OPS in 4 PAs, 1 RBI Mexico: LHP Jesus Broca (not played since 11/30) - Algodoneros de Guasave – 12.2 IP, 6 R (4 ER), 10 H, 10 BB, 10 Ks

Tiburones de La Guaira (Venezuela) has dropped 4 games in a row and may now miss the playoffs. They miss Hedbert Perez (last played December 6) as he tries to renew his US work visa.

Jackson Chourio Feels At Home in Zulia’s Nest

Thanks! Thinking further, it’s possible that we may not want a new INF on a multi-year deal, given that we expect Durbin to become something special by 2026. So that could limit our interest in McMahon and Cronenworth. Suarez - The Diamondbacks have so many position player holes to fill that they may not know their plan for Suarez for another 6 weeks, unfortunately. Lowe/Cronenworth - I feel like we’re too lefty-heavy, still trying to replace the RHH thump of Adames and Sanchez. Moncada - 52 walks and 221 Ks in 2022-2023 scares me. I’m still scarred by the Schoop trade. Patrick Wisdom fits this mold as well, though with worse defense. Kim - an 85.9 EV over 4 seasons doesn’t sound like “pop”. I figure someone else will give him a shortstop premium, which we don’t necessarily need to offer. Mead - I’m not sure if the arm strength is enough. If not, then he’s basically another Durbin. Unless we make a hard push for Bohm now (or an earth-shattering Bregman signing), I guess we may just have to wait to see what the D-Backs do over the next month before ponying up in a trade.

I’ve no idea if Ryan McMahon is available, but his exit velocity and defense are solid.

Barnhart to the Rangers on a minor league contract. Still expecting the Crew to nab an experienced catcher for depth.

Thank you. If I remove Shane Smith, Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick from the 48, that takes me to 45, with 9 players to leave unprotected. Without really understanding the potential the Brewers see in some of these players, I’d have had these as a first 8: McWilliams (old), Stallings (old), Polancic (old), Morelo (injured forever; 2025 free agent), Kahle (barely plays, 2025 free agent), Victor Torres (barely plays), Figueroa (2025 free agent), Adam Hall (2025 free agent). To me, the 9th and final unprotected player would have been another 2025 free agent (e.g. Eduarqui Fernandez) or a recent signee (e.g. Bladimir Restituyo). But Brewers’ brass knows best. Good luck to Miguel Briceno. Hopefully we’ll see him at Cedar Rapids this year.

Jackson Chourio 3-for-4 with a double, walk and an RBI in his first Winter League start, as Aguilas won 8-5.

I didn’t mind losing Joe Gray Jr. in 2023, but I’m not pleased with what transpired today. Shane Smith was a top 3 pick (#1 overall actually), as expected. The only rational explanation I can imagine for leaving him unprotected is that there’s a secret, looming injury risk. Briceno seemed like a team leader on an incredibly young Mudcats’ team. In reality, he was still slightly underage for the level and posted an above-league average OPS (.685 vs. 661) without excessive luck (BABIP .309). Sure, Briceno is not likely to ever make the Majors (so few actually DO make it and he only hit 3 HRs in 2024), but he looked like someone worth keeping in the clubhouse and on the field for a while. Go make your families proud, gentlemen!

In the minor league phase, we picked up RHP Zach Peek (Orioles) and OF Garrett Spain (Blue Jays), but lost INF/OF Miguel Briceno.

I’d figured we may try to get a LHH catcher on a minor league contract or split contract: - Reese McGuire - Tucker Barnhart - Omar Narvaez (if we think we can fix him)

Hey, at least we have Vinny Capra.

I think our best hope is that Smith is selected by an incompetent organization who gives up on him too soon:

While we await Jackson Chourio’s stint with Aguilas del Zulia (Venezuela), here are the Winter League stats-to-date of active Brewers: INF Andruw Monasterio - Caribes de Anzoategui - .825 OPS in 157 PAs, 18 RBIs, 7 SBs OF Hedbert Perez - Tiburones de la Guaira - .858 OPS in 88 PAs, 10 RBIs, 2 SBs INF Eduardo Garcia - Cardenales de Lara – 1.201 OPS in 19 PAs, 5 RBIs INF Daniel Guilarte - Caribes de Anzoategui - .584 OPS in 43 PAs, 2 RBIs Dominican League: INF Oliver Dunn (didn’t play this week) - Gigantes del Cibao - .322 OPS in 26 PAs, 1 RBI OF Bladimir Restituyo (his team has apparently been playing in the Titans of the Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico this week, so his league stats haven’t changed) - Aguilas Cibaenas - .267 OPS in 16 PAs Puerto Rico: RHP Justin Yeager - Indios de Mayaguez - 11.2 IP, 4 R, 9 H, 7 BB, 14 K, 5 Saves C Ramon Rodriguez - Senadores de San Juan - .795 OPS in 33 PAs, 1 RBI, 1 SB C Victor Torres - Senadores de San Juan - .000 OPS in 3 PAs, 1 RBI Mexico: LHP Jesus Broca - Algodoneros de Guasave – 12.2 IP, 6 R (4 ER), 10 H, 10 BB, 10 Ks

I worry that Wednesday is Lose Shane Smith Day, forever replacing Lose Miguel Diaz Day.

I was happy that the Cobra was on our side in this brawl. See him at the 3:47 mark. You don't want to upset that man. Congrats Mr. Parker!!

Aren’t we just raising the price the Cubs will pay?