Jim Goulart

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A look at potential minor league free agent R.J. Seidel via Wisconsin Sports Tap

A look at potential minor league free agent R.J. Seidel via Wisconsin Sports Tap

VIDEO from Wednesday's home run action from two players high on the Brewers' prospect watch list -- Nashville's Hunter Morris hits one out in the second inning of a 5-4 loss to Oklahoma City *** Helena's Clint Coulter hits a two run homer as the Brewers beat Grand Junction, 8-4 *** Huntsville's Brock Kjeldgaard singles in two as the Stars fall to Mississippi, 4-3

Brevard County AUDIO -- Pre-game interview with former UW-Milwaukee RHP Chad Pierce Wednesday game highlights/lowlights

Rattler Radio Blog -- Postgame entry includes video highlights

LINK INCLUDES VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH RHP AUSTIN ROSS -- Some of those quotes included in text below *** Ross strong in Wisconsin's defeat by Mike Woods, Post-Crescent Media GRAND CHUTE — Friends and family of Austin Ross are pleased with his recovery from Tommy John surgery, because the pain in their ears is now starting to subside. “I probably talked to anybody that would listen,” said Ross of his frustrations with his recovery. “I probably got on a few people’s nerves along the way, just talking their ear off.” But the confidence has returned, along with the quality outings. That included Wednesday’s five-inning, one-hit and no runs effort during a 4-2 loss to Quad Cities in Midwest League play on Timer Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The setback kept the Rattlers a game behind Clinton in the race for the final wildcard playoff spot with five to play. The Lumberkings dropped a 7-6 decision in 12 innings at Peoria. Because Clinton owns the tiebreaker, the Rattlers must finish one game ahead of Clinton in the final standings. Ross, an all-star with the Rattlers in 2011, injured his arm after just three starts last season in Brevard County. The comeback has been trying at times, but he’s on the verge of regaining his previous form. In his past six starts, he has a 0.93 ERA. He has struck out 14, including a season-best seven Wednesday, and walked four during that stretch. “It’s been pretty good the last four, five weeks,” he said. “And that’s what everybody told me, pitching coaches and staff. I started throwing again around the first of June in Arizona. It’s a little frustrating because you want to get right back to where you were. “But I’ve been very patient with it and stuck to the process and tried to improve every time out and make little strides. It was pretty frustrating. I could see I was making progress, but the results just weren’t there.” After walking the first hitter he faced on four pitches Wednesday, Ross retired the next 13 straight before giving up a one-out single in the fifth. “You try to tell yourself not to look at results,” Ross said. “But the reality of it is when you have good results, you have a little more confidence where if you weren’t. So it’s nice to see some results finally.” Ross has been on an 80-pitch limit the last couple of weeks and Rattlers manager Matt Erickson said it will remain that way until the end of the season, whenever that may be. “It’s like anything else you do. It’s a process,” said Erickson, “whether it’s player development or coming back from an injury. He’s a little bit older. He’s been in this league. He understands that. And he’s doing what he can to get back to pitching every five days.” Ross exited with a 1-0 lead. But the River Bandits got to reliever Alan Williams for four runs on four hits in 2 1⁄3 innings. The Rattlers were held to five hits by four Quad Cities pitchers. No matter what happens from here, Ross will head into the offseason feeling good about his future. “Even like my first few starts, I felt like I was getting close but the results just weren’t there,” he said. “I had to be patient with it and stuck to the process. This is what I told myself every day, ‘Do what you can do today to improve and stick to the process you’ve gone through.’ “So I feel like I’m getting it back to where I was before I was hurt.”

Speaking of 40-man roster players, Adam McCalvy did learn from Gord Ash recently that RHP Nick Bucci is done for the year with a shoulder injury. Already consulted once with Dr. Andrews, and will see him again in September to see if the rest helped. Truly a lost season for the recently-turned 23-year-old Bucci. Should he continue to be on the Brewers' 40-man in the next couple of years, Bucci would qualify for a 4th option year in 2016.

RHP Mark Rogers is scheduled to make his 6th rehab start for Brevard County Thursday night. As we noted earlier, the Brewers played the timing of the beginning of Rogers' rehab period just as they needed to, in order to end the stint just as rosters expand September 1st. Major league rehab stints are limited to 30 days, and Rogers debuted with the Manatees on August 4th. Thursday will be Rogers' last minor league appearance, because the affiliate regular seasons (except for Helena) all end by Monday. The Brewers will need to activate Rogers from the 60-day DL, and once activated, his spot on the 40-man roster will once again count. The Brewers are currently carrying 39 on the 40-man roster, so Rogers will fill the open spot. (If the Brewers wanted to add a non-roster player to the big league club for September, say Jimmy Nelson or Hunter Morris, they could still do so by moving Rickie Weeks to the 60-day DL, or any number of other moves involving fringe 40-man players.) So unless the Brewers can creatively cite a setback, they won't be able to place Rogers back on the DL. Not sure how much Mark will pitch in September, but look for Rogers to be in the Brewers dugout for the month. Rogers is out of options, so the Brewers would need to carry Rogers on the 40-man through the winter in order to get another look at him in spring training of 2014. Rogers, like Mat Gamel and Taylor Green, has been earning his near-minimum big league salary all season (near $500,000), so while rehabbing serious injuries is arduous and certainly not fun, at least the pay and service time accumlation has been big-league level. So we'll see if things go as described here, but this seems to be the only alternative the Brewers have without exposing Rogers to waivers.

Final, Season Over: @AZL Brewers 4, AZL Indians 3, ten innings SWEEP the three-game set in less than 18 hours! Now that's how you end a season! The A-Crew managed to break even in the second-half at 14-14, after a rough 9-19 first half. AZL Brewers Box Score It's been a rough go for recently-turned 18-year-old catcher Tanner Norton (.453 OPS), but he walked off the season as part of a two-hit day -- AZL Brewers Bottom of the 10th Pitching Change: Ramon Rodriguez replaces Kyle Bellows. Defensive Substitution: Juan De La Cruz replaces catcher Shane Rowland, batting 4th, playing catcher. Tucker Neuhaus grounds out, third baseman Yonathan Mendoza to first baseman Gerald Bautista. Elvis Rubio singles on a line drive to right fielder Silento Sayles. Brandon Diaz singles on a line drive to left fielder Victor Cabral. Elvis Rubio to 2nd. Tanner Norton singles on a line drive to right fielder Silento Sayles. Elvis Rubio scores. Brandon Diaz to 2nd. Another 18-year-old, OF Brandon Diaz, was the DH today and he doubled, singled twice, walked, and stole two bases (now with 21 in 30 tries). That'll do. Recently-turned 19-year-old RF Elvis Rubio has made the chore of late night / early AM Maryvale Link Report duty so much more palatable. Thank you, Elvis, you've been my hero all summer. Two more singles and a walk today, if anyone deserves a flight to Montana for a couple of weeks of reward seasoning, it's you. AZL Brewers Game Log Over the past couple of weeks, 5th round UW-Milwaukee RHP Josh Uhen has been pitching like you'd expect a high-round college arm to do in this league, nice to see. Uhen only turned 21 last April, so he's a youngish-college arm as well. 32nd round RHP Ryan Deeter jumped from the College World Series experience with UCLA to the Arizona League experience - the lack of fans didn't phase him, finishes with a 0.00 ERA through seven relief outings, today was the longest, three innings to net his first professional win, congrats! We'll squeeze in a post in the Helena / Maryvale thread at some point, capping the high- and low-lights of the Maryvale season, and we'll link to the team's individual stat lines in each Daily Menu right through Helena's (and hopefully Wisconsin's) postseason run(s).

No D'vo, No Hall, No Cravy...am I missing something? If the junior Hawaii Fall League was still in place, you'd be calling bingo! In the case of the three you list here, you're just a year early. They already started to limit innings for Hall and Cravy, and considering last year's absence, pushing D'Vo beyond Labor Day may be a bit much.

Happy 18th Birthday to Dominican Summer League switch-hitting rookie second baseman Daniel Leonardo!

Weather.com: Oklahoma City, OK Viera, FL (Melbourne) Grand Chute, WI (Appleton) Maryvale, AZ

STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern Division AA - Southern League North Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division Rookie Advanced - Pioneer League North Division Rookie - Arizona Summer League DSL - Dominican Summer League San Pedro de Macoris Division *** NOTE: To view first half or overall standings for Huntsville, Brevard County, Wisconsin, and Maryvale, you'll notice options at the respective links for that. Otherwise it's second-half standings as the default view for those three leagues.

Look for Nashville and Wisconsin media notes at the links just prior to their game times. New this season: Brevard County has media notes; as of now, it's a unique link each day, but look for it just prior to game time each day within the "Stats and Scores" banner here.

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

Follow Wednesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Brevard County Wisconsin Maryvale New MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers *** BONUS BOX: Root for Peoria vs. Clinton to aid the Rattlers' playoff push

DVR Alert! As we mentioned yesterday, tonight's 7:05 PM Timber Rattlers game will be televised on MyNew32 TV out of Green Bay. "Showdown: Timber Rattlers Pre-Game" airs at 6:30.

Tuesday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Alfredo Figaro at Oklahoma City (Astros), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the play-by-play voice of the Sounds; follow him on Twitter @jeffhempbp; we'll link to his blog updates at On the Air…and Off MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Nashville games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $39.99 season-long package ($9.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: Idle ********** Brevard County: RHP Damien Magnifico at home vs. Lakeland (Tigers), 5:05 PM pre-game, 5:35 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the link based on listed schedule Manatees audio, hooray! Dave Walkovic is the first play-by-play voice of the 'Tees since 2007, he's joined by Andy Towne; follow the Brevard broadcast booth staff on Twitter @BCManateesRadio. All home games and many road games are scheduled to be broadcast. When road games are only available via the opponents' audio feed, we'll let you know that. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Austin Ross at home vs. Quad Cities (Astros), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link - 1280 AM WNAM Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio. MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; Wisconsin is one of four Midwest League clubs that have all their home games available via MiLB.TV. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, Stars' road games from four Southern League locales, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games. NOTE: Many of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and WACY-TV My NEW32 will split duties. We'll let you know when and who, and will try to provide day-before DVR reminders, so regularly check with us. ********** Helena: Idle ********** Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): It's the season finale at home vs. the Indians' youngsters, 12:00 PM gametime; never audio for games in this league ********** DSL Brewers: Season complete (26-45), final individual stats found here

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You'll notice that we've updated the initial post in this thread with the names of "restricted" players that are Rule 5 eligible. You'll understand when you read the update. *** Also, this is a very useful tip we'll retain for future years. We had some questions about several Latin signings. We had a good handle on stateside-born players, but this really helped clear up some players we had on the bubble: "If the signing date of a player’s first Minor League contract is between the conclusion of the championship season and the next Rule 5 meeting, then the player shall be deemed to have signed after the next Rule 5 meeting." Examples: OF Yonki Hernandez is not eligible - he signed in 2009, but in November 2009, after the season. As a result, the 2009 Rule 5 draft didn’t count against him. 2013 will be the fourth and final draft in which he is ineligible to be selected. On the other hand, OF Jose Pena is eligible. He signed earlier in 2009, in July, and although he didn't appear in a game that season, he is eligible this year after four seasons of actual play, not five. That helpful info was passed along to us by the Brewers (thanks!), and we now have a verified accurate list at the top of this thread.

You'll notice that we've updated the initial post in this thread with the names of "restricted" players that are Rule 5 eligible. You'll understand when you read the update. *** Also, this is a very useful tip we'll retain for future years. We had some questions about several Latin signings. We had a good handle on stateside-born players, but this really helped clear up some players we had on the bubble: "If the signing date of a player’s first Minor League contract is between the conclusion of the championship season and the next Rule 5 meeting, then the player shall be deemed to have signed after the next Rule 5 meeting." Examples: OF Yonki Hernandez is not eligible - he signed in 2009, but in November 2009, after the season. As a result, the 2009 Rule 5 draft didn’t count against him. 2013 will be the fourth and final draft in which he is ineligible to be selected. On the other hand, OF Jose Pena is eligible. He signed earlier in 2009, in July, and although he didn't appear in a game that season, he is eligible this year after four seasons of actual play, not five. That helpful info was passed along to us by the Brewers (thanks!), and we now have a verified accurate list at the top of this thread.

Some awesome Helena VIDEO highlights from a news report in Grand Junction - Clint Coulter and Adam Giacalone's HR's, CF Omar Garcia's web gem, and more

Garza lifts Wisconsin by Mike Woods, Post-Crescent Media GRAND CHUTE — Michael Garza was the unwanted man. Carrying a .182 average over his last 10 games and fresh off a one-day benching, he came to the plate with two out, a runner on first, in the ninth inning of a tie game Tuesday on Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers’ play­off hopes still had a pulse but, after Garza hit an RBI double to the wall in right field, they had an actual heartbeat. “I’m usually the one doing the mobbing on someone else,” said Garza of his first walk-off hit as a professional that scored Tyrone Taylor and gave the Rattlers an 8-7 victory over Kane County. “It’s nice to have them mob me.” The Rattlers moved within one game of Clinton for the final Midwest League wild-card playoff spot with six games to play. “Good for Garza,” said Rattlers manager Matt Erickson, “because he’s been struggling a little at the plate. I know he was in here looking at video yesterday. He was in here early (Tuesday) hitting. He’s grinding a little bit but I know that helped him out right there, to get that big hit.” The game started poorly for both teams. The Rattlers were beset with ineffective pitching and shaky defense, but that was countered by the Cougars’ horrible defense that allowed the Rattlers to take a 4-3 lead into the third inning despite only having one hit. “It was an ugly, ugly baseball game for a couple innings,” said Erickson. “But we were able to clean it up a little bit defensively and on the mound.” Alfredo Rodriguez’s sacrifice fly gave the Rattlers a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth, but they coughed it up in the top the ninth when Jeimer Candelario homered to lead off the inning. Taylor started the Wisconsin ninth with a bunt single and, with the Rattlers’ Nos. 4 and 5 hitters due up, Erickson elected to give them a chance and let them swing away. Both, however, were called out on strikes. “I definitely wanted to get (Taylor) moving there and create a hole,” said Erickson. “I didn’t know Garza was going to hit a double, but if he hits the ball down the line or in the gap, we have a chance to score. And that’s exactly what happened.” And it made Garza, who finished two-for-five on the day, a wanted man moving forward. “You’re going to have your ups and your downs, as an individual and as a ballclub, and I think we’ve experienced that,” said Garza. “This group of guys in this clubhouse has been fighting all year and so I think this is the culmination of that, and we’ll see what we can do here the last week to make a push in the playoffs.”

VIDEO from Monday: Jimmy Nelson gets off to a good start in Nashville's 6-3 win at Oklahoma City