Jim Goulart

Chris Duffy gets a spring training invite with the Phillies. Duffy, 29, started last season with the Milwaukee Brewers, hitting .125 with three RBIs in 19 games. He played three games with Triple-A Nashville before leaving the team for personal reasons. He has hit .262 with six home runs and 52 RBIs in 212 big league games with Pittsburgh (2005-07) and Milwaukee (2009).

WSSP Interview -- sounds like quite a character, love a non-blase, non cliche-filled chat

Richardson fixed on the Player Index, P50 may be trickier to adjust. Personally, wouldn't just the "opportunity" factor of being a Rule 5 pick factor into ranking Lofgren into the mid-teens or so?

Adam Stern of Ontario will tell you he plays "centre" field. http://www.centrefieldsports.com/instructors.php Stern has become the baseball entrepreneur north of the border. Article from the London Free Press http://storage.canoe.ca/v1/dynamic_resize/?src=http://www.lfpress.com/sports/columnists/morris_dalla_costa/2009/12/11/1211ball.jpg&size=248x186 Adam Stern, owner of Centrefield Sports provides training in hitting, fielding, throwing and speed and agility training. With Stern is Jamie Romak, a professional baseball player and a Stern instructor. (SUE REEVE The London Free Press)

Because this lengthy "agent 39" thread is more of a hodegepodge of updates from Josh, our occasional miscellaneous questions for him, and his history here on our board, we've started a new thread specifically on the latest Jeffress feature article for any further discussion. Initially we were going to resurrect older threads, but looking back, many of the posts had a raw and understandably negative tone based on the news of the suspension. To be fair to Jeremy and all involved, a fresh thread seemed appropriate. That doesn't mean discussion there has to be all sunshine and roses, but it seems like the way to go. Good luck, Jeremy. Hopefully everyone is not only rooting for you as a Brewer but as a person. So please click for the new thread if you so choose, everyone.

Feature from Tom H. after interviewing Jeremy by phone

Any posts going forward in this thread that attempt to dissect the posting politeness or rudeness of other posters will be hidden. It's been covered, been there done that, everyone get past it. The topic here is "Lucroy and Salome in 2010". Enjoy.

Adam McCalvy with several relevant quotes from a number of parties -- good work so quickly.

Baseball America has the master list, and confirms that no Brewers were taken or lost in the minor league phase, pretty surprising based on recent years' activity.

Must be on the 25-man roster all season, not just out of camp. He could be traded, or waived and claimed by another team, prior to being returned to the Indians. Or the Brewers and Indians could work out a trade that would return him to the Indians, then right back to the Brewers, who could assign him to the minors then if he cleared waivers.

A more pessimistic portrait -- written in April 2008

Indians Prospect Insider includes a video link -- posted January, 2008, but detailed

From Baseball America: Chuck Lofgren is one of the best stories taken. In 2007 he started the Futures Game for the U.S. team in his hometown of San Francisco, and he's a physical, athletic lefthander. He's had massive control issues the last two years and his star obviously has fallen from when he ranked second on our Indians Top 10. MiLB.com: Chuck Lofgren, LHP, Indians: Speaking of possible lefty specialists, Lofgren might fit that bill even though he's spent most of his pro career as a starter. He pitched extremely well in Double-A to start the year, but scuffled a bit over 17 Triple-A starts. But the numbers that might stand out to a team are 19-for-106. That's what left-handed hitters managed against Lofgren, which translates to a .179 average.

Discussion taking place here

Cleveland 2004 4th rounder LHP Chuck Lofgren Career Statistics 2009 Breakdown

Corey Patterson to Seattle on a minor league deal with a camp invite

Corey Patterson to Seattle on a minor league deal with a camp invite

Coach, click in the Navigation box in the upper-right corner, and then check your messages. I've instructed you on where you can email the pictures to me, thanks.

Mexican Pacific League Opening Day 10/09/2009 Regular season ends 12/30/2009 Dominican Winter League Opening Day10/16/2009 DWL All Star Game12/13/2009 Regular season ends 12/21/2009 Venezuelan Winter League Opening Day 10/09/2009 Regular season ends 12/23/2009 Puerto Rican League Opening Day 11/12/2009 Regular season ends 01/13/2010 Caribbean Series Begins 02/02/2010 Ends 02/08/2010

The Timber Rattler's Chris Mehring does a nice job all year round with his blog. Here's his latest entry, and the thread here from last August about Mark Fidrych's unfortunate passing. Via Chris' blog, be sure to check out the four-minute You Tube video he links to , which includes our own Bob Uecker on the mike. If you're not old enough to remember the Bicentennial season of 1976, you'll get a chance to feel what watching "the Bird" was like.

Here is how the Brewers have chosen to line up and protect players prior to Thursday's Rule 5 draft. Sorry, we don't have the formal list of all organizations available at this time. Baseball America may release that later. Players protected at the AAA level are eligible to be plucked in the Major League phase, and you're all familiar with that. Players protected at the AA level are available to be plucked with virtually no restrictions. Look for the Brewers to be active in that phase, they always are. AAA: Pitchers Burns, Mike Capuano, Chris (L) Cody, Chris (L) Flores, Ruben Green, Nick Halama, John (L) Henderson, Jim Hinton, Robert Johnson, David Jones, Mike Kintzler, Brandon Lluberes, Rafael (L) McClendon, Michael Pascual, Rolando Ramlow, Michael (L) Sandoval, Juan Wright, Brae (L) Catchers Arlis, Patrick Maldonado, Martin McCraw, Sean Infielders Almonte, Erick Justis, Shane Kjeldgaard, Brock Koshansky, Joe Raburn, John Sanchez, Juan Outfielders Caufield, Chuckie Katin, Brendan Oeltjen, Trent Redman, Tike Stern, Adam AA: Pitchers Delaughter, Ryan Holliman, Mark Romero, Jose (L) Welch, David (L) Catchers De La Rosa, Anderson Hopf, J.R. First Baseman Errecart, Chris Thoughts on the "minor league phase" first -- that is probably a bit of a favor to 26-year-old LHP David Welch, allowing him to be snapped up by another organization. If the Brewers don't see him in their plans, then it's a nice gesture. Just think, Chris Errecart was as high as # 16 on the Power 50 in June of '08 -- talk about a fade. I could definitely see Jack Z. grabbing LHP Jose Romero -- injury riddled since '07, but once-promising as a first-year pro in '06. On the big league level, perhaps a Mike Jones (Seattle again) or reliever David Johnson? A flyer on Brendan Katin for a weak AL team with some DH at-bats available? Newcomer Trent Oeltjen? Looks like another year where all the Milwaukee kids are well-protected.

RHP Hiram Burgos earned a front-page photo on MiLB.com with this start in Puerto Rico. Martin Maldonado, struggling offensively, was his batterymate. Brewer AAA outfielder Tike Redman was in the opposing lineup, as was former Brewer farmhand and now independent league catcher Lou Palmisano.

Hey paris16, just wanted to acknowledge your post in some way, because your passion and appreciation for your favorite Brewer farmhand is apparent. It's doubtful folks here have seen Alfonso play if they blinked at any of his brief stops last season, so you're going to get little real analysis here. You'd have to say coaches' decision. They kept the now 24-year-old 2008 26th round pick around, which is more than others can say. You may have better luck emailing the Brewers directly for some insight (not a guarantee). Check your message board email for a note from me (blue navigation bar in upper right corner).

We should note that the thread discussing slick-fielding SS Luis Cruz (career stats), the RH "bat" (term used loosely) who will be 26 years old next year, is here. As noted in that thread, Nashville had a gaping hole at short next season, and the Yohannis Perez investment hasn't panned out at all. In what would have been the most ambitious career path, Brent Brewer would have been projected as a possibility there upon his drafting. Thus the gap and the need for the waiver claim.

Nothing like waiting until we have increased visitors for this week's winter meetings to break out an overdue off-season Power 50 to bide you until mid-April. I'd be remiss in not thanking Brad (pogokat) for all his past efforts and insights here on the Minor League Forum and as one of the Power 50 editors. pogo has reluctantly stepped aside from P50 duties, so our rankings reflect that of And That (Toby), colbyjack (Patrick), and myself. The shift from four to three combined rankings may have had an effect or skewed this particular session for a few players, but that should then stabilize in future efforts. Have at it, and then have at us. We can take it.