Jim Goulart

As we hinted at earlier in the transaction thread -- Tom H. in the J-S Brewer won't be one The most appropriately named player in the Brewers' system no longer is playing. Shortstop/outfielder Brent Brewer decided to quit the game and was placed on the restricted list at Class AA Huntsville. A second-round pick in the 2006 draft who signed for $600,000, the 22-year-old Brewer never fulfilled his potential. He batted .240 in 427 games with 472 strikeouts in 1,584 at-bats, and committed 145 errors. Brewer turned down a football scholarship to Florida State to sign with the Brewers, but farm director Reid Nichols said he made no mention of giving that sport a try upon deciding to quit baseball. "He just said he was burned out," said Nichols. "He said he was going to hang it up and go home. He felt like he didn't want to play anymore. "We moved him to left field in Huntsville to try to challenge him and get him more interested. We tried to coax it out of him, but he said he was tired of playing. It was disappointing to me because I got to know him. There were some family issues, too. He just never seemed to fit in. He was kind of a loner. "I heard about the football thing, but he never mentioned a burning desire to do that. I did hear that he had thought about it. I wouldn't turn him away if he asked to come back, but I'm not counting on it." *** Brewerfan had email confirmations from those in the know at the University of New Mexico this past offseason about Brewer's football-related visit there, but never could really confirm things with a link or such that we felt super comfortable with, given agent Josh's insistence it didn't happen. In hindsight, it sure seems Josh had his hands full trying to inspire an unmotivated athlete who apparently had family distractions. Initially this was posted in the transaction thread, but since a few responses are anticipated, we'll kick off its own thread, and see where it takes us. Young, immature, extremely toolsy and raw second-round shortstops (see Josh Murray, Brent Brewer) don't seem to to be the Brewers' "thing". The two were drafted five years apart, yet it's amazing how much Murray sticks in my own craw nine years later...I need to get over that one.

MID Western (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak Cedar Rapids 32 18 .640 - 17-4 15-14 9-1 W5 Quad Cities 30 20 .600 2.0 18-7 12-13 8-2 W2 Clinton 30 21 .588 2.5 17-10 13-11 9-1 W3 Peoria 28 23 .549 4.5 17-8 11-15 4-6 W1 Beloit 26 25 .510 6.5 13-13 13-12 1-9 L1 Kane County 21 30 .412 11.5 13-12 8-18 1-9 L3 Wisconsin 18 32 .360 14.0 12-17 6-15 5-5 L4 Burlington 17 33 .340 15.0 9-15 8-18 2-8 L2

DSL S.D. North (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak DSL Brewers 1 0 1.000 - 0-0 1-0 1-0 W1 DSL Cardinals 1 0 1.000 - 1-0 0-0 1-0 W1 DSL Athletics 0 1 .000 1.0 0-0 0-1 0-1 L1 DSL Mariners 0 1 .000 1.0 0-1 0-0 0-1 L1

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 28 21 .571 - 11-10 17-11 L1 Omaha 27 21 .563 0.5 15-14 12-7 W8 Iowa 26 23 .531 2.0 12-13 14-10 W1 Memphis 26 23 .531 2.0 14-9 12-14 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennessee 29 20 .592 - 12-13 17-7 W1 West Tenn 26 23 .531 3.0 9-15 17-8 W2 Huntsville 24 26 .480 5.5 10-15 14-11 W1 Carolina 23 27 .460 6.5 11-14 12-13 L2 Chattanooga 22 28 .440 7.5 12-13 10-15 W2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dunedin 31 20 .608 - 12-14 19-6 L2 Lakeland 29 21 .580 1.5 14-10 15-11 L2 Clearwater 29 22 .569 2.0 14-11 15-11 L1 Tampa 27 24 .529 4.0 13-13 14-11 W2 Daytona 24 27 .471 7.0 9-15 15-12 L2 Brevard County 18 32 .360 12.5 11-18 7-14 W1

Follow Monday's action as it happens: Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Tab or New Window". Choose "Recap". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often. Nashville (Gameday also available) Huntsville (Gameday also available) Wisconsin DSL Brewers (Box score won't update until late evening / overnight)

Monday's Daily Menu: Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Chase Wright at home vs. Iowa (Cubs), 1:50 PM pre-game; 2:05 gametime Live Audio Link Huntsville: RHP Alex Periard at home vs. Mobile (Diamondbacks), 3:45 PM pre-game; 4:00 gametime Live Audio Link Brevard County: Idle Wisconsin: RHP Eric Arnett at Cedar Rapids (Angels), 1:50 PM pre-game; 2:05 gametime Live Audio Link DSL Brewers: at home vs. DSL Athletics, 9:30 AM

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

Congratulations to Kevbo on reaching his second 14-game streak of the season, his latest streak still active. Not an easy task.

The prior post in this thread has been updated with audio. Link while active, text follows: Guerrero looks for some consistency Stars (24-26) haven't often excelled in all facets of game By Mark McCarter, Huntsville Times Sports Staff Fifty games into the season, the Huntsville Stars have managed to win or lose in almost every fashion. On Sunday, they found a new one: a passed ball and a frog-choking rain. The Stars escaped with a 6-5 win when Brett Lawrie hustled home after catcher Jared Price failed to handle a Tyson Corley pitch with two outs in the sixth. Rain and lightning soon struck and the game was called after six innings. Fifty games into the season, the Stars are 24-26 as they await a five-game series with Mobile, beginning today at 4:00 PM at Joe Davis Stadium. They are 5 1/2 games behind first place Tennessee in the Southern League North with three weeks remaining in the first half. Fifty games into the season, it seemed appropriate for Stars manager Mike Guerrero to take stock of the team's progress as he sat in his office late Sunday afternoon with sons Michael and Daniel. His frustration was a common one in baseball, the inability for all facets to click at the same time. "(Saturday night) we had good pitching, but our offense was off. Today, we had a good offense but pitching was off," Guerrero said. "We need to be able to put it together (in the same game)." Guerrero noted that "the teams that execute better pitching-wise and make less mistakes defensively are going to win." The Southern League stats bear that out. Jacksonville has the best team ERA and best WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and the best record in the league. Division-leading Tennessee is second in WHIP and fourth in ERA. Montgomery, with the third-best record, is third in ERA. While closer Brandon Kintzler is nine-for-nine in save chances with a 0.47 ERA, the team has four blown saves. The current relievers have a combined 4.80 ERA; the combined team ERA is 4.17. "People coming out of the bullpen need to do their job. We have a lead after the sixth or seventh inning, and it evaporates." Josh Butler, a Milwaukee Brewers pitcher making his first rehab start, allowed only four hits in four innings, striking out three, a "pretty convincing start" in Guerrero's words. He was ahead 4-0 after two innings, with Lawrie tripling in a pair of runs in a three-run second. Lawrie has a league-leading eight triples, on pace to top Alan Trammell's 33-year-old league record of 19. Once Butler was removed, relievers Chris Cody, Jim Henderson and Robert Hinton combined to allow five runs in two innings on five hits and five walks. Fifty games into the season, Guerrero is pleased that "we have a lot of guys that are willing to go out there and compete. I would like to see the same thing on the pitching side ... somebody to take the bull by the horns and say 'Let's go.' "

Nashville's Stu Paul interviews Brewers Roving Pitching Instructor Lee Tunnell at the May 30th audio links (Parts 1 & 2) Other than some Tim Dillard insight, not the conversation some of us might have had with Tunnell -- that's not Stu's fault, it's a veteran staff in Nashville, and the local audience there in town is his first audience. Hopefully we'll get to hear more later in the year regarding the lower-level arms...

Nashville Manager Don Money at the May 29th audio link Brendan Katin may be back soon, and Money won't know what to do if Mat Gamel joins Adam Heether on his roster...

Manatees fall 3-2 on Military Appreciation night By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees VIERA -One night after being one-hit, the Brevard County Manatees pounded out 14 hits, but came up one run short as the Fort Myers Miracle topped the Manatees 3-2 on Saturday night in front of 2,711 fans on Military Appreciation Night at Space Coast Stadium. The Manatees got on the board early with a run in the first with a two-out RBI single by Kentrail Davis that scored All-Star Sergio Miranda. Brock Kjeldgaard would then reach after being hit by a pitch. Sean Halton then followed with a single to left and Davis tried to score from second, but was thrown out to end the inning and keep the game at 1-0. Brevard County would benefit from another two-out RBI in the second as All-Star Matt Cline doubled to left to score Shawn Zarraga. Manatees starting pitcher Trey Watten threw 4 2/3 innings of shut-out ball and allowed six hits, while walking three and striking out three, but left quite a jam for Brandon Ritchie in the top of the fifth. Fort Myers had the bases loaded with two outs and it took Ritchie just one pitch to get out of it as Chris Parmelee flew out to right field. Brevard County loaded the bases in the fifth with two outs, but Anderson De La Rosa struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch to leave them loaded. Miracle third baseman Deibinson Romero led off the bottom of the sixth with a towering solo home run to left field on a 3-2 pitch. Ritchie settled down after that and retired the side. Fort Myers loaded the bases up in the seventh against Ritchie and he was able to trade two outs for one run as Estarlin De Los Santos grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that scored Nate Hanson and tied the game at 2-2. One batter later, a wild pitch by Ritchie with Parmelee at the plate scored Jhonathan Goncalves and gave the Miracle a 3-2 lead. Corey Frerichs relieved Ritchie with one on and one out in the top of the eighth and was able to get out of a jam as he induced a 5-4-3 double play ball off the bat of Evan Bigley. A one-out bloop double by Cline in the eighth put the tying run on for the Manatees but after a Sergio Miranda groundout moved Cline to third, Erik Komatsu was unable to drive him in as he struck out swinging. Brevard County had one last chance to tie it in the ninth, when Halton reached with two outs on a throwing error by De Los Santos. Steve Braun would pinch run for Halton and Zarraga would rip a 2-1 pitch into the right center field alley to put runners on first and third with two outs. De La Rosa came up with the chance to tie it but after fouling off several pitches with a 1-2 count, he struck out swinging to end the game. Cline and Davis had three hits each, while Kjeldgaard, Halton and Zarraga added two each as well. Davis left the game in the fifth due to an apparent injury. The Manatees went just 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 15 men on base. Brevard County and Fort Myers will close out their series on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 PM (12:05 Central) in Viera. Manatees All-Star second baseman Matt Cline went 3-for-5 with one RBI in Brevard County's 3-2 loss to the Fort Myers Miracle on Saturday night at Space Coast Stadium in Viera. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography)http://brevardcounty.manatees.milb.com/images/2010/05/30/tzxNJBd8.jpg

DSL S.D. North (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak DSL Brewers 1 0 1.000 - 0-0 1-0 1-0 W1 DSL Cardinals 1 0 1.000 - 1-0 0-0 1-0 W1 DSL Athletics 0 1 .000 1.0 0-0 0-1 0-1 L1 DSL Mariners 0 1 .000 1.0 0-1 0-0 0-1 L1

MID Western (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak Cedar Rapids 31 18 .633 - 16-4 15-14 9-1 W4 Quad Cities 29 20 .592 2.0 18-7 11-13 7-3 W1 Clinton 29 21 .580 2.5 17-10 12-11 9-1 W2 Peoria 27 23 .540 4.5 16-8 11-15 4-6 L1 Beloit 26 24 .520 5.5 13-13 13-11 2-8 W1 Kane County 21 29 .420 10.5 13-11 8-18 1-9 L2 Wisconsin 18 31 .367 13.0 12-17 6-14 5-5 L3 Burlington 17 32 .347 14.0 9-14 8-18 3-7 L1

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 28 20 .583 - 11-9 17-11 W2 Omaha 26 21 .553 1.5 14-14 12-7 W7 Iowa 25 23 .521 3.0 12-13 13-10 L4 Memphis 25 23 .521 3.0 13-9 12-14 L4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennessee 29 20 .592 - 12-13 17-7 W1 West Tenn 25 23 .521 3.5 9-15 16-8 W1 Carolina 23 26 .469 6.0 11-13 12-13 L1 Huntsville 23 26 .469 6.0 9-15 14-11 L3 Chattanooga 21 28 .429 8.0 12-13 9-15 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dunedin 31 18 .633 - 12-12 19-6 W2 Lakeland 29 20 .592 2.0 14-10 15-10 L1 Clearwater 29 21 .580 2.5 14-11 15-10 W2 Tampa 26 24 .520 5.5 13-13 13-11 W1 Daytona 24 26 .480 7.5 9-14 15-12 L1 Brevard County 17 32 .347 14.0 10-18 7-14 L2

PDF document: Huntsville Media Notes

From this article: Members of the 40-man roster. Players sign split major league/minor league contracts once they're added to the 40-man, with their pay rate dictated by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. While those in the big leagues earn at least the minimum of $400,000, those on the minor league side are paid based on their experience. First-year members earn a minimum of $32,500 in the minors, while second- and third-year members earn a minimum of $65,000. However, if a player spends time with the big club in one season, his pay rate the following year must equal at least 60 percent of his total earnings from the year before. Factoring in the higher big league pay rate, a player's minor league salary could be two or three times more than the minimum.

PDF document: Nashville Media Notes

Nashville Media Notes: EX-SOUND BENNETT REJOINS CLUB FOR 3RD CAREER STINT: Right-hander Jeff Bennett -- a native of Gordonsville, Tenn., approximately 30 miles east of Nashville -- has joined the Sounds today after being signed to a minor league contract by the Brewers on Tuesday. He was released by Tampa Bay on May 12 after going 0-3 with a 10.97 ERA (13 ER / 10.2 IP) in three starts at Triple-A Durham. Last season, Bennett split time between Atlanta (2-4, 3.18 ERA in 33G) and Tampa Bay (0-0, 9.95 ERA in 11G). He previously spent parts of two different seasons in Nashville (2003, ‘05) and was a member of two Sounds playoff clubs.

We've indicated in the past that we couldn't possibly keep up with all the independent league comings and goings of Brewer alumni each year (literally dozens still active), but we will note when recently released players have found new work, as has catcher J.R. Hopf with Somerset (N.J.) of the Atlantic League. Hopf is paired behind the plate with former Brewer farmhand Jason Belcher in Somerset. Also on that squad is 32-year-old Elliott Ayala, a long ago Brewer and now veteran indy baller, and former Brewer AAA pitcher Ryan Houston.

These links should be updated shortly before Sunday's action with your pre-game media notes -- PDF documents: Nashville Media Notes Huntsville Media Notes

Follow Sunday's action as it happens: Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Tab or New Window". Choose "Recap". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often. Nashville (Gameday also available) Huntsville (Gameday also available) Brevard County Wisconsin

Sunday's Daily Menu: Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Chuck Lofgren at home vs. Iowa (Cubs), 1:50 PM pre-game; 2:05 gametime Live Audio Link Huntsville: RHP Alex Periard at home vs. Birmingham (White Sox), 12:45 PM pre-game; 1:00 gametime Live Audio Link Brevard County: RHP Michael Fiers at home vs. Fort Myers (Twins), 12:05 PM gametime Live Audio Link (Miracle's Feed) Wisconsin: RHP Jake Odorizzi at Cedar Rapids (Angels), 1:50 PM pre-game; 2:05 gametime; LHP Del Howell is scheduled to tandem in relief Live Audio Link

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

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 27 20 .574 - 10-9 17-11 W1 Omaha 25 21 .543 1.5 13-14 12-7 W6 Iowa 25 22 .532 2.0 12-13 13-9 L3 Memphis 25 22 .532 2.0 13-8 12-14 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennessee 28 20 .583 - 12-13 16-7 L2 West Tenn 24 23 .511 3.5 9-15 15-8 L1 Carolina 23 25 .479 5.0 11-12 12-13 W1 Huntsville 23 25 .479 5.0 9-14 14-11 L2 Chattanooga 20 28 .417 8.0 12-13 8-15 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dunedin 31 18 .633 - 12-12 19-6 W2 Lakeland 29 19 .604 1.5 14-10 15-9 W1 Clearwater 28 21 .571 3.0 14-11 14-10 W1 Tampa 25 24 .510 6.0 13-13 12-11 L1 Daytona 24 25 .490 7.0 9-13 15-12 W7 Brevard County 17 31 .354 13.5 10-17 7-14 L1