Jim Goulart

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

Follow Tuesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Game One Brevard County Game Two Wisconsin

MiLB.TV note -- Reminder that in addition to the always-available Sounds feed (minus regularly-scheduled starter Mike Fiers today), you're treated to Stars video for this series in Tennessee, so good time for friends and family of Huntsville players (and the rest of us) to invest in MiLB.TV if so inclined.

Tuesday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Brian Baker at Oklahoma City (Astros), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the new 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). We imagine the audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP Evan Anundsen at Tennessee (Cubs), 6:00 PM pre-game, 6:15 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page I-Phone friendly audio link Alex Cohen is the new play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. It's fantastic that Huntsville is returning to what will be a traditional broadcast format this year. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. MiLB.TV subsciption note: Huntsville road games in four locales (Mississippi, Tennessee, Jacksonville and Pensacola) will be broadcast. ********** Brevard County: RHP's Jimmy Nelson and Brandon Williamson in a doubleheader at home vs. Daytona (Cubs), 4:05 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Daytona feed from the MiLB main audio page Once again this season, Brevard does not have its own audio coverage. It appears two teams in the Manatees North Division (within which the majority of games are played) have audio, and all six teams in the South Division have audio (at least for their home games), so there will be opportunities to listen to approx. 70% or Brevard's games this season, just all from the opponent's perspective. There are no Florida State League games on MiLB.TV this year. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Drew Gagnon at Peoria (Cubs), 6:10 PM pre-game, 6:30 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 only two (Great Lakes) Midwest League clubs that have all their home games available via MiLB.TV; Chris' call provides the audio. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, all Timber Rattlers home games, and 24 Stars' road games (one Helena series this summer, too).

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

With his first at-bat single, Huntsville starter Josh Stinson is batting .500 (5-for-10). Hey, he's on the 40-man, bring him up in the Brooks Kieschnick role. *** With Martin Maldonado a possible call-up given the Brewers catcher situation, the organization may need to ask for a return from Toronto after the Paul Phillips sale.

The DSL schedule is finally up. Our DSL Link Report contributor is DSL afficienado "Young Geezy", right? Ready for June 2nd? Braves, Angels, Blue Jays and Tigers all season in a five-team division, as the Brewers move to a new division given their new complex location near San Pedro de Macoris instead of Santo Domingo. The five-team division will lead to more scheduled days off just out of necessity.

That pre-game interview must have put Mike Guerrero in a feisty mood: Nashville Bottom of the 1st Eric Farris doubles (5) on a ground ball to left fielder Ryan Spilborghs. Jeff Bianchi grounds out, second baseman Yangervis Solarte to first baseman Michael Bianucci. Eric Farris to 3rd. Corey Patterson reaches on a fielder's choice out, second baseman Yangervis Solarte to catcher Dusty Brown. Eric Farris out at home. With Sean Halton batting, Corey Patterson steals (4) 2nd base. Sean Halton called out on strikes. Round Rock Top of the 2nd Nashville Sounds Manager Mike Guerrero ejected by HP umpire Stu Scheurwater.

Brooks Conrad Named PCL Batter Of The Week Slugger's Hot Hitting Earns League Award, Promotion To Brewers Nashville Sounds

Audio from Music City — “Mondays with Mike (Guerrero)” Jeff Hem's note: Here is this week’s “Mondays with Mike” interview with Sounds manager Mike Guerrero, who discusses the team’s rough loss yesterday, the short-handed pitching staff, the recent struggles of Wily Peralta and the addition of Jay Gibbons to the roster from Double-A Huntsville.

Here's a post with some details from April in which we indicated the Brewers had signed LHP Phillip Valiquette. The Manatees tell us today: ROSTER MOVES: RHP Stosh Wawrzasek placed on the DL. LHP Philippe Valiquette transferred to Brevard from Helena (extended spring training). *** Just yesterday, Stosh tweeted about his brush with a big leaguer. Valiquette was (and probably still is) a client of Josh (agent39, where is Josh these days?). Perhaps that connection led Valiquette to a chance from the Brewers.

With the draft coming up next week, this seemed like a convenient time to revisit Brewers drafts since 2003, within the Doug Melvin / Jack Zduriencik / Bruce Seid era, in order to see which draft picks the Brewers failed to sign had success elsewhere. I had recently asked for assistance from the Brewerfan faithful on researching this topic, and our poster "Minigoon" (Chris) came through with a master list, allowing me to go after the details. Thanks! Any links unless otherwise noted, point to a player's Baseball Reference Player Page. 2003 Draft: Luke Cannon, OF -- 13th round, subsequently drafted and signed by the Padres in the 21st round, 2006 Great name for an outfielder, no? I miss the days of draft-and-follow when we'd look at all the eligible junior college kids all season long and then wonder which might lock down deals prior to the next draft. The Brewers couldn't pry Cannon from an eventual stint at Texas State. Cannon was released by the Padres early in his 2nd pro season, after hitting .211 in 142 career AB's. *** Garrett Bussiere, C -- 14th round, subsequently drafted and signed by the Cardinals in the 26th round, 2006 Bussiere's college career was at Cal (nothing wrong in pursuing an education there), but his pro career lasted all of 22 games in the Cardinals' system. Unfortunately, it appears Bussiere's career was ended by issues with post-concussion syndrome. Here is a somewhat chilling detailed feature story on Bussiere's plight. Wherever Garrett is today, here's hoping he's completely healthy. *** Sheldon Catchot, LHP -- 31st round, subsequently drafted and signed by the White Sox in the 12th round, 2005 This Louisiana high school pick of the Brewers went on to pitch in community college and while he did sign with the White Sox, he never threw an official pitch for them, and was released in March of 2007. There doesn't seem to be any record of his injury status or any other status for the '05 and '06 seasons. Catchot did play a bit of independent ball for the "Grays", a traveling team (no home park) within the Can-Am League in 2007, as his link above indicates. *** Joe Ayers, 2B/SS -- 36th round, subsequently drafted and signed by the Diamondbacks in the 48th round, 2007 Ayers was one of four Alaskans drafted by MLB in 2003, three by the Brewers! Always tough to pull high school kids from Stanford commitments, although Ayers later transferred to Boston College (how about the quality schools in this thread thus far?) He was a senior year sign by the D-Backs, and posted only a .508 OPS over two brief rookie-level pro seasons. *** Brent Weaver, RHP -- 38th round, subsequently drafted and signed as a third baseman by the Marlins in the 26th round, 2009 It's amazing how many seemingly anonymous players have remarkable stories, regardless whether they made it to the big leagues. Quite the read here. It's what makes some of the compilation projects we've taken on here so much fun to research. *** Daryl Maday, RHP -- 43rd round, subsequently drafted and signed by the Giants in the 30th round, 2006 The Brewers couldn't pry Maday (a Bristol, Wisconsin resident, by the way) from the University of Arkansas, and he's gone on to have a nice minor league career to this day in the Giants system (after 2007 Tommy John surgery), reaching AAA, although he's currently with AA Richmond in the Eastern League. Here's a recent story about his conversion to closer this year and his status as a former 30th round pick making it to his 6th season in professional ball. *** Ryan Zink, RHP -- 47th round, subsequently drafted and signed by the Yankees in the 17th round, 2007 Yet another Wisconsin native (Madison) and another subsequent Tommy John patient (2006), Zink went on the the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC). Zink reached high-A in 2009, which also marked the end of his affiliated career. As his B-R link shows, he toiled in independent ball the last two years. As of this post, it appears Zink has called it a career, as he's not active in 2012. Our own colbyjack, Patrick Ebert, conducted this excellent Q&A with Zink in April of 2006. A reminder -- Patrick's baseball career is going swimmingly, he's the Managing Editor at Perfect Game USA, and you should be following him on Twitter @PGPatrickEbert -- heck, Patrick's own baseball story (original Brewerfan staff member and career graphic artist to amateur baseball and MLB draft guru) deserves a feature article of its own! *** Ryan Pardo, RHP -- 50th round, subsequently drafted and signed by the Astros in the 9th round, 2007 Pardo's pro career continues to this day, but in independent ball. Pardo did spend two seasons in the Astros' chain, as his link above will detail. His college career was at Florida Gulf Coast. The Reds signed Pardo after his Astros release in February 2009, but Pardo never pitched for a Reds affiliate.

Media Notes: Nashville Wisconsin

New photos added to last night's Nine After Nine from the Rattler Radio Blog

After Brooks Conrad's most recent recall to Milwaukee, OF Jay Gibbons has been bumped up from AA Huntsville to Nashville to backfill. No word quite yet on a corresponding roster move at AA.

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.

The Rattlers can qualify for the post-season via a first-half wild card, and with 20 games remaining in the first half, they now have a five-game wild card lead. The celebratory dogpile would be much more fun with a division-clinch, however, and Wisconsin has a three-game lead for that. Chris is going to crucify me for this, because he thinks I jinx everything, but do you dogpile after clinching a playoff spot, or should you wait until you grab the division? Of course, you might not win the division and if you waited on the earlier wild-card clinch, you could lose out altogether on the fun. Where are the guidelines on this? If the Rattlers self-destruct in the next three weeks, this post will never have existed, but I'll be in a witness protection program. *** Huntsville doesn't have the fallback of a first-half wild card, they need to win the division. Now 1 and 1/2 games back because Jackson (Mariners) played and won Sunday, the Stars remain just one out in the loss column.

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

Follow Monday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Wisconsin

ONE LAST REMINDER ON THIS: Please note the following from the Rattler Radio Blog: If you listen to the Timber Rattlers on the internet feed see below information for IMPORTANT NEWS!! There have been issues with the internet feed the last few nights and the station engineer gave me the story and a few tips on how to listen to the games. The story: The station has moved to a new provider for the internet feed. The new provider is supposed to be able to automatically take out the commercials and go back into programming. There have been a few problems with that on their end, but here are the fixes he suggested. #1: There is a new link or try the Main WNAM page and click on the big LISTEN LIVE button at the top. #2: Download the Silverlight and Adobe Flash programs and start running them on your computer. #3*: Be Patient. If you go to the link and there is dead air, hang with it the programming should come back on. #4**: Test it out before the game. *-This is the most important one. My blood pressure started to go up after I was at the new link and heard nothing for 45 WHOLE SECONDS! The NERVE! **-This one is mine…but it makes sense. If you are in the listening area, feel free to tune in on AM1280, WNAM.

MiLB.TV note -- Reminder that in addition to the always-available Sounds feed (for Mrs. Claudio Vargas today), you're treated to Stars video for this series in Tennessee, so good time for friends and family of Huntsville players (and the rest of us) to invest in MiLB.TV if so inclined.

Monday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Claudio Vargas at home vs. Round Rock (Rangers), 1:50 PM pre-game, 2:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the new 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). We imagine the audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP Josh Stinson at Tennessee (Cubs), 6:00 PM pre-game, 6:15 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page I-Phone friendly audio link Alex Cohen is the new play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. It's fantastic that Huntsville is returning to what will be a traditional broadcast format this year. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. MiLB.TV subsciption note: Huntsville road games in four locales (Mississippi, Tennessee, Jacksonville and Pensacola) will be broadcast. ********** Brevard County: Idle ********** Wisconsin: RHP Matt Miller at Peoria (Cubs), 1:40 PM pre-game, 2:00 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 only two (Great Lakes) Midwest League clubs that have all their home games available via MiLB.TV; Chris' call provides the audio. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, all Timber Rattlers home games, and 24 Stars' road games (one Helena series this summer, too).

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

Audio from Nashville — “(Rob) Wooten’s Words” Jeff Hem's note: Today’s interview is with Sounds reliever Rob Wooten, a former North Carolina Tar Heel who describes the Sounds’ recent hot streak, his transition from Double-A Huntsville to the Sounds, his memories of the ’06 and ’07 College World Series finals when his Heels lost to Oregon State and his comeback from “Tommy John” elbow ligament replacement surgery in ’10.

Brevard note: Nine-time Major League All-Star Vladimir Guerrero is expected to be in Dunedin's line-up Sunday against the Manatees. Guerrero signed a minor-league contract with the Blue Jays on May 10.