Jim Goulart

Quite the journey -- veteran indy ball lefty Derrick Ellison (Brewers 2008-2009) now one step from the big leagues.

Here's the list, now add Schoeneweis -- Three catchers, don't worry about their impact. You simply need them. Martin Maldonado won't be a bother to anyone. The two high draft picks, Arnett and Heckathorn, will be sent to minor league camp after about a week's worth of spring training games. Nothing to be concerned about here, it's not over the top.

Vindicated for sticking with Internet Explorer, where things are fine...

Vinny Rottino to the Marlins on a minor league deal.

Vinny Rottino to the Marlins on a minor league deal.

Chris Mehring asking excellent questions (as usual) as the Interrogator -- Timber Rattlers' Pitching Coach Chris Hook is the Interrogatee.

The Brewers have re-signed LHP Chase Wright to a minor league contract. It does not include a big league spring training camp invite. Wright struck out 57 AAA batters in 131.2 Nashville innings last season, so most everyone is familiar with him (career stats). At this point, who knows what role he may be asked to take on (he did hold LH bats to a .220 average last season - .313 vs. righties). The Brewers love lefty arms at the AAA / AA level, they always seem to stock up on them -- Halama, Capuano, Cody, Waters, Murray, and so on... Baseball America should list these latest moves within their transactions within their next couple of updates.

More details from Adam McCalvy on additional signings.

OF Luis Chirinos, who didn't turn 17 years old until August 2009, so he actually played last season's Dominican Summer League season as a 16-year-old (stats), has been dropped by the organization. It's unlikely any details will come out regarding the release. The Brewers continue to stock their 2010 DSL team, which they will no longer share with the Orioles or any other organization. We have some names, but at this point, all they are, are names (none prominent based on the occsional top prospect signings that come out occasionally). No position info, no vitals. So we'll wait for the media guide in the spring along with everyone else.

Detailed article on Michael Brantley's current status with the Indians, which still seems awfully promising -- he's also added some muscle this offseason.

Detailed article on Michael Brantley's current status with the Indians, which still seems awfully promising -- he's also added some muscle this offseason.

SS Luis Cruz is fine, 2-for-4 in the Caribbean series finale for Mexico. The Dominican Republic took the championship by defeating host Venezuela Sunday night, thus avoiding a tiebreaker game with Mexico.

Now 32 and out of baseball since some failed indy league appearances in 2005, Allen stayed local and just married last September a lovely girl named Vanessa (yes, all new brides are lovely, but Allen did well for himself). Nineteen relief appearances with the 2003 Marlins earned himself a World Series ring, so in a sense, he did "make it". He's not exactly in playing shape these days, barrel-chested players can have their appearances change quickly once the workouts end, it seems. Glad he's happy.

I somtimes nod disagreeingly at the "Suppan - Hall - Riske money coming off the books" line of reasoning, in that it will free up money to sign Prince not only in the early years, but nearly for the life of his contract. The reason I say this is that like it or not, there will be future contract mistakes made by Melvin or whoever eventually fills his seat, to not think so would be a bit unwise. It's one thing to live with that mostly dead money in 2010 at Prince's current salary. It's going to be more painful to live with similar mistakes when Prince is in the $20+ million stratosphere. To think there won't be another dead money period like this over the next 6-8 seasons is failing to take that into account. You almost have to buffer any yearly budget for "mistakes". The Red Sox can live with eating Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, Matt Clement type deals. The Brewers can, but only to the extent we're seeing in 2010.

By the way, here's the easiest way to jog your memory on this topic. Go to the Power 50, and then click on Player Tracker. There you'll see the name of every player ever listed on a P50. Click on the player's name to see their weekly ranking, and also the comments -- prior to 2008, exclusively Toby's (And That's), when he somehow cranked out Power 50's on a bi-weekly basis. Anyway, I'm sure that the list will provide memories for many of you to comment on. *** Among current players, I'm afraid that Shawn Zarraga is someone that seems destined to be on this list for me some day -- please prove me right (wrong?) by succeeding, Shawn. And I'll be devastated if I ever have to place Chris Dennis on this list a few years from now.

This is a fantastic topic, thanks for posting it. We'll work with the "Brewerfan era", 2001 and up... Diehards will remember the 2001 stat line of an unheralded 37th round OF, Tommy Carrow, who fought for playing time as a 19/20 year old (July birthday) in Ogden. How's .331 / .454 / .471 with minimal strikeouts grab you? This was going to be an amazing find for Jack Z. and staff. A hidden gem to follow and root for. Then, after (again) having to scrap for playing time with Beloit in 2002 (a much more pedestrian .695 OPS in 75 games), he was gone, voluntarily retired from the game, gone as quickly as he arrived I hope he's doing well today. By the way, there are tons of guys who posted monster Brewer rookie league numbers this decade never to be feared again, but they were all 22/23 year olds, that's what allowed Carrow to stand out. *** There was a kid named Matt Parker, a RHP the Brewers acquired from the Cardinals as part of the Fernando Vina deal. He survived 28 starts as a 22-year-old in the insanity that was High Desert in 2001 with very good numbers considering the atmosphere (13-6, 4.30 ERA, good ratios). The Brewers inexplicably mis-assigned him and tossed him into middle relief over the next two seasons before releasing him early in 2004. Tampa Bay and St. Louis took chances on him later that season, and that was it. *** An important reminisce is about a rotation mate of Parker's in that 2001 High Desert rotation, RHP Paul Stewart. In 2002, Stewart fashioned an absolutely wonderful clutch age-appropriate (23) AA season in Huntsville, with a 3.28 ERA and even more impressive 1.17 WHIP. But wait, suddenly we realized he was available as a minor league free agent. How could this be? Yes, Stewart signed out of a Virginia high school as a 6th round Brewer draft choice as a 17-year-old (think Alex Periard). He had been available via Rule 5 for several years, but was never taken, never on a 40-man. Certainly he would be protected now, and kept from walking, right? He had put it all together at AA, at 23, polished and ready to roll. This was the 2002 106-loss Brewers! Coming off that debacle, they would protect this young man now, right? We waited, and waited, and the new front office with Doug and Jack established themselves that fall, yet didn't make this one designation. They were going to let Stewart walk. How many minor league free agents do you see at 23? Just as I made my impassioned plea here on the forums, making many statistical comparisons to age-similar top pitching prospects throughout baseball, I sent my "research" to Doug Melvin's inbox (alas, too late at the time). Perhaps one of my prized possessions was Doug's response (since lost, I'm afraid), in which he mentioned something about having wished he had had the chance to discuss Stewart more thoroughly with his scouts during the front office transition and such, basically it was as close to an admission of "we dropped the ball" as you might get these days. So anyway, Stewart hits free agency and we had to read quotes like this: Red Sox GM Theo Epstein on the Stewart signing this winter: The signing of Paul Stewart, a six-year minor league free agent off Milwaukee's Double A team in Huntsville, gives the Sox a new candidate for the rotation, if not for next season, then in 2004. ''He's that rare minor league free agent who is a bona fide prospect,'' Epstein said of the 6-foot-5-inch, 240-pound righthander, who was 12-9 with a 3.28 ERA last season. ''After the first month last season, he was lights out. He throws in the low 90s, with a heavy sinker, and has four pitches. We added a prospect without giving up a player, and he is going to pitch in the big leagues one day.'' Red Sox Director of Player Development Ben Cherington, this past winter: "The reason why we were so thrilled to get (Stewart) is, when the six year free agent list is distributed every year, you tend to see a lot of guys who've kicked around the minors for many years", said Cherington, who was informed about Stewart by scout Joe Mason. "With Paul, he's still in the category of being a prospect. You don't see too many players who are that young (just turned 24) become available. This was an opportunity for us to acquire a prospect at minimal cost. We're bringing him to the organization not just as a starting pitching prospect, but as a starting pitcher who can help us at the upper levels." Stewart was included prominently in the Pawtucket pre-season media day blitz and in promotions for the 2003 season. While not included in big-league camp during spring training (he pitched one scoreless inning when recruited for one Red Sox game), he was still given the honor of pitching Opening Day in Buffalo. Stewart went on to have a middling disappointing 2003 season for Pawtucket (4.30 ERA, 1.44 WHIP), although I got to see him live on a few occasions that summer in Rhode Island, and he thanked me for touting him as I had. So it was definitely pretty cool to see Doug bring Stewart back to the Brewers organization in 2004 (he remembered my pleas!), and Paul pitched well in relief for Huntsville. His career would end in the Pirates organiztion in 2005. Thanks for letting me relive that, that was fun. *** RH reliever Tony Stavros retired after his high-A age 22 season in which he had a 101-to-39 K-to-BB ratio in 84.2 innings in High Desert in 2003. Why, kid? And yes, I spent too many late nights listening to West Coast baseball after Brewer games in those days while on Link Report duty. Ahh, the lack of sleep...

Timber Rattler lefty Efrain Nieves, pitching for Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series, helped keep his country's hopes alive with 2.2 scoreless innings, picking up the win Saturday night. The game story must have been chopped up by MLB, because this blurb appears without prior reference to Efrain: "The truth is that I didn't prepare myself for such a long season," Nieves, 19 (actually now 20, last November), said. "And as result, I didn't up the numbers that I should have. This year is totally different. I've been working hard every day, running on the beach and working out all winter time. I'm going to be ready this time." Box Score SS Luis Cruz did not play for Mexico Saturday after leaving Friday's game. Things wrap up as follows: With the victory, Puerto Rico improves to 3-2 with one regulation game remaining. If Puerto Rico defeats Mexico (2-3) in Sunday's matinee and the tournament-leading Dominican Republic (4-1) falls to Venezuela (1-4) in the final regulation game of the tournament, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will face each other in a tiebreaker for the title Monday. If Mexico defeats Puerto Rico, the tournament is over and the Dominican Republic's Escogido squad will win its first title since 1990. A Dominican team has won the Caribbean Series title 17 times since 1970, while a Puerto Rican team has not won the championship since Santurce in 2000.

We had mentioned previously that the folks over at BrewCrewBall were doing a fine job of posting daily updates on the winter leagues, which in this particular case spared us from duplicating their efforts (thanks http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif), but here's an injury update on 40-man roster SS Luis Cruz, which may or may not prove serious. The Brewers are really counting on Cruz to be the every-day, every-inning, defensive whiz at AAA Nashville this season, and while some may question his 40-man roster spot worthiness, the organization really has no one else capable of coming close to filling that spot at this time. Cruz turns 26 on Wednesday the 10th, and given what his defensive stability could give the AAA staff, it's at least something to keep an eye on.

From the WSSP show on the 4th: Doug Davis Jim Edmonds Casey McGehee Mitch Stetter From ESPN Milwaukee: Doug Davis (Scroll down a bit while available)

Just reminding folks about these three posts from last May, which discussed Doug Melvin's excellent management of the 40-man roster. Since those posts, the Brewers have lost two players on waivers, LHP R. J. Swindle, and OF Jason Bourgeouis, and while both are still active, each has been dropped from a 40-man roster subsequently.

LHP Brian Mazone might be one of the more forgettable Brewer independent league signings of all time, except his 2003 performance in High Desert was so memorable for its ineffectiveness. Check out his season in High Desert. Mazone was able to bounce back in a pretty big way and was spectacular as a AAA All-Star in 2006. He just re-signed with the Phillies organization, still awaiting his first big league call-up. Infielder Kevin Melillo, who was a regular for AA Huntsville in 2009, signed with the Pirates organization. Melillo is one of only 15 big leaguers to have drawn a walk in their only plate appearance in the majors (Athletics), with the most famous, of course, being "little person" Eddie Gaedel. OF Kevin Mench, as mentioned on the major league board, signed a minor league deal with the Nationals.

LHP Brian Mazone might be one of the more forgettable Brewer independent league signings of all time, except his 2003 performance in High Desert was so memorable for its ineffectiveness. Check out his season in High Desert. Mazone was able to bounce back in a pretty big way and was spectacular as a AAA All-Star in 2006. He just re-signed with the Phillies organization, still awaiting his first big league call-up. Infielder Kevin Melillo, who was a regular for AA Huntsville in 2009, signed with the Pirates organization. Melillo is one of only 15 big leaguers to have drawn a walk in their only plate appearance in the majors (Athletics), with the most famous, of course, being "little person" Eddie Gaedel. OF Kevin Mench, as mentioned on the major league board, signed a minor league deal with the Nationals.

Our old friend David Weiser summarizes all things Stars from this offseason at his http://www.starsboxscore.com/.

Link while active, text follows: Stars games make return to area radio's playlist By Paul Gattis, Huntsville Times Sports Staff After a year's absence, the Huntsville Stars will be back on the radio this season. The team on Monday announced a partnership with newly-revived WTKI-AM that could ultimately result in the Stars being available on at least four different signals. One of those signals, and possibly two, will be on FM. "That's huge," Stars general manager Buck Rogers said. The games can be heard on WTKI-AM (1450) and sister station WEKI-AM (1490) in Decatur as well as WTKI's FM signal at 92.9, which is expected to be online before the season stars April 8. WTKI station owner Fred Holland also said efforts are being made to establish an FM signal at 94.7 in Decatur. The Stars had no radio presence last year for the first time in their 25 years in Huntsville. The games could only be heard over the Internet at HuntsvilleStars.com. At the time, Rogers cited expenses for dropping off the air but expressed the hope of returning to radio in 2010. Rogers and Holland credited Chad Anderson - the new voice of the Stars, replacing Brett Pollock - with making it happen. "We brought in someone outside of the organization who can look at it differently," Rogers said. "Sometimes, that's what you've got to do. Chad walked into our office and we were trying to make it work and we were hitting brick walls. "Chad grew up here and he's got experience and he knows how to go in and knows who to talk to. We hit brick walls in a lot of those areas and Chad went and got it done." Said Holland, "Chad gets the credit for putting a lot of this together. He brought us together and got the thing moving." Anderson, who turns 25 later this month, was simply looking for a broadcasting job. He hosted a Saturday sports show on WUMP-AM while doing an internship but said he considers himself "a play-by-play guy." He talked with Mick Gillispie, the radio voice of the Tennessee Smokies baseball team and a college classmate at Alabama, and Gillispie suggested Anderson check into the Stars' situation. After sending Rogers a couple of e-mails, Anderson simply showed up at the Stars' offices at Joe Davis Stadium one day this winter and the radio wheels began turning. "Fred was all for it," Anderson said. "Once we did that, that was it. We worked out the deal and it all came together."

For those of you who may have forgotten about Josh's blog (he admits his posts haven't been frequent), he did make one of his more substantive posts on one aspect of being a player agent this week. Obviously we can't know if this was Brewer related. A lot easier to write about success stories, so credit should be given when the opposite is true. He didn't have to post that but chose to.