Jim Goulart

You think Jim Powell might do some Brewer cheering this week? Go Braves!

Adam McCalvy: The Brewers are convinced enough of Manny Parra's health that they are sending rookie righty Josh Butler home on Sunday evening. Butler will fly to Huntsville to pick up his car for the long drive home to San Diego. He'll deposit his belongings there before hitting the road again to Phoenix. He'll report for the Arizona Fall League by Oct. 5.

Adam McCalvy: General manager Doug Melvin and assistant GM Gord Ash will travel to Phoenix on Monday to see the Brewers' instructional league squad. It will be their first look at many of the team's 2009 First-Year Player Draft picks, including three players -- Kentrail Davis, Scooter Gennett and D'Vontrey Richardson -- who did not sign in time to play for a regular-season affiliate. ... One high-profile '09 Draft pick, right-hander Brooks Hall, is not participating in the fall instructional league because of a non-baseball-related medical issue, Ash said. He couldn't expound on that because of privacy laws.

Rattler Radio with additional details -- so technically, we didn't copy the pay-for-view text http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Chris Mehring continues his World Cup recaps as it winds down -- one mis-type, it's U.S. vs Cuba in Sunday's final. As Chris notes, Canada finished a solid 3rd, and check out the Australia box score -- LHP David Welch with a fantastic tournament.

Try to keep spoilers out of the thread...but it looks like an awesome piece of filmmaking, and an even better marketing ploy -- Trailer Capital Times Review Dread Central Review I'll probably glance at the thread perhaps once more in order to try to limit my own exposure until the buzz is greater and it's local here.

Corey Provus audio with Logan Schafer and Amaury Rivas from September 19th

Re-opened this notification thread to link to Corey Provus' audio interviews: John Axford -- September 8th Josh Butler -- September 22nd

I have to admit I didn't know much about Ernie's career until recently -- Brian Anderson with an excellent blog post

Chris collects some additional updates; LHP Efrain Nieves a bit wild in his start against the U.S., but hardly rocked -- just the fact he's been chosen to start is something. Old friend Jason Childers the save for the U.S.

Chris Mehring is among those receiving updates from the Brewers' operations staff on actual instructional league game details, so keep posting, Chris (I'm guessing that goes without saying http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif), and we'll keep linking to 'ya. First update

Wonder what they have planned for Zelous Wheeler to work on. He's the most experienced of the position players invited.

Brett Lawrie (Brewers) broke a scoreless tie in the ninth inning with a leadoff solo home run, and Rene Tosoni (Twins) gave the Canadians a cushion with a two-run double later in the inning as Canada beat Puerto Rico 3-0. Nick Bucci (Brewers) pitched five no-hit innings as Canada's pitchers held Puerto Rico to one hit. Trystan Magnuson (Blue Jays) gave up the hit (to Jose Valentin in the seventh) in two scoreless innings, while Dustin Molleken (Pirates) got the win with a scoreless eighth. Jimmy Henderson (Brewers) finished up for the save in the ninth inning. Former Mets farmhand Orlando Roman got the loss for Puerto Rico. *** Link while active, text follows: Canada blanks Puerto Rico 3-0 in third round of Baseball World Cup NETTUNO, Italy - Brett Lawrie hit the go-ahead home run in the ninth inning and four Canadian pitchers combined on a one-hitter in a 3-0 win over Puerto Rico in third-round action Tuesday at the Baseball World Cup. Lawrie, of Burnaby, B.C., belted a solo homer to lead off the top of the ninth, giving Canada a 1-0 lead. Chris Robinson of Dorchester, Ont., followed with a single and one out later, Adam Stern of London drew a walk. Rene Tosoni of Coquitlam, B.C., followed with a two-run double down the right-field line to give the Canadians (2-2) all the runs they would need. Nick Bucci of Sarnia, Ont., tossed five hitless innings for Canada, allowing just a pair of walks while striking out two. "I can't say enough about our pitchers, they've done a great job," said Canadian manager Ernie Whitt. "I'm really proud of Bucci. Here is a young pitcher facing some really good international competition and you see him develop every game." Bucci, 19, said it was important to keep pace with his Puerto Rican counterparts. "We went out there and battled," said Bucci. "Their guys were putting up zeros and I just wanted to go out there and do the same." Bucci gave way to Trystan Magnuson to start the sixth inning. The Vancouver native allowed Puerto Rico's only hit of the game, a Jose Valentin single leading off the seventh inning. Dustin Molleken of Regina followed with a scoreless inning to earn the win, and Jimmy Henderson of Calgary pitched the ninth to earn the save. "That was one of those games where it seemed that you just needed to get something going," said Robinson, who finished with three hits. "The way we pitched was the way we've been pitching all tournament. "We were able to add two more runs in the end, but the way things were going it looked like one was going to be enough." The Canadians face Venezuela on Wednesday. *** It's just ridiculous the polish and maturity Nick Bucci has shown since the moment he was bumped from extended spring training in Maryvale to Huntsville, to Helena, and now in the World Cup.

Brian and Bill quoted Rickie this week that he definitely does not like outfield play, mainly for the lack of action. Bill then intimated that well, obviously he could be pursuaded -- wink, wink.

Before a raucous 250 fans in Italy today, Aussie LHP David Welch gave up six hits, two runs (1 ER) and two walks in six innings, while striking out five, but the United States scored a walkoff 4-3 victory in the bottom of the 9th. There's a "gametracker" here where you can click "replay the game play-by-play" and watch little cartoon dudes. Looks like both squads advance to the third round, this was about seeding today. Welch can be proud, he's been fantastic in three starts. If Australia had won again today, he'd be building up an MVP-type resume for the tournament. His efforts have been noted in many of the press releases thus far.

Chris updates us on Sunday at the World Cup -- LHP David Welch should be coming up on a 3rd start for Australia, but it wasn't Sunday.

Thanks for the update. Green was a draft-and-follow (25th round, 2005), and must have signed prior to his 19th birthday which would have been November 2nd, 2005. He debuted with Helena in 2006 (not all that impressively) before exploding into our consciousness at West Virginia in '07.

I think we've had the information just once all these many years. Will try to hunt something down for you. Don't read too much into it, some top players, like Logan Schafer, aren't there, so it's not necessarily the Brewers "Top 45" list -- it is a list of those who they have higher hopes for, but just because a player is not there, doesn't mean they may never get their cup of coffee (or more) in the majors.

From the J-S: Scouting director Bruce Seid, on hand for the ceremony, was excited about a newly signed pitcher out of the Dominican Republic, 18-year-old right-hander Joel Dicent. "He's 6-4, 195 and throws 90-95 (mph)," said Seid. "He'll go to our academy in the Dominican. We've brought a lot of big, hard throwers into the system this year." Of course, leave it to the Brewers to sign a Domincan with a French-Canadian name http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

In Saturday action, Brett Lawrie gets the triple he needed Friday, and then adds a double for good measure (I would love to hear the sound of the ball off his bat) in a win over Italy today. Canada has qualified for the third round and ends pool play Sunday vs. Chinese Taipei. Reliever Jim Henderson allowed a run in one inning. Adam Stern a nice game as well, but we haven't focused on him as he's likely to become a minor league free agent. Box Score

Don't forget, he was tossed for a AA game after hitting a batter during his stint in Huntsville. Definately firey. As long as impact 2009 reliever Michael Fiers is fiery too -- too obvious, right? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Link while active, text follows: Q&A -- Buck Rogers, Huntsville Stars GM Huntsville Times The season was beset by rain, poor attendance, concerns about the franchise's future, a famous incendiary quote - and a return to the playoffs by the Huntsville Stars for the fifth time in nine years. Before leaving for Milwaukee for the Brewers' annual meeting with their minor-league affiliates, Stars general manager Buck Rogers talked with Times columnist Mark McCarter to both look back and look ahead. Q: The Stars contract with the Brewers comes up for renewal next year. Will that be part of this weekend's agenda and what does the future hold? Rogers: I think we're in great shape with Milwaukee. We've had every level of their management come through this year and we've always had good open dialogue with Milwaukee. They're easy to deal with. I don't think, as far as long-term future, we'll discuss it this weekend. Q: The Brewers' assistant general manager Gord Ash called Huntsville "an apathetic baseball town" during a visit this season. Your reaction? Rogers: I think he was having a bad day. Every time Gord came to town I think we gave up double-digit runs. And it rained quite a bit. It hurt quite a bit, people thinking that the Stars are leaving, things like that. We're not leaving. A lot of people don't understand the affiliation relationship. If the Brewers did end the agreement with us after next year, we're still the Huntsville Stars with the same logo, same stadium and we'd be with (another major league affiliate). We'd still be playing baseball. But I'd really hate to lose the Brewers. I know people remember (Jose) Canseco and (Mark) McGwire and they talk about that, but my answer is how many guys came through here recently who have made it with the Brewers. And they're loaded with them. We want (today's) kids to remember 20 years from now. Q: How did you feel about the past season? Rogers: Wow, before this season my record for tarp pulls (because of rain) in a season was 56 in a 70-game season. That's a hellacious amount. This year in 70 games we did 54. The weather this year just crushed us. Our biggest dates were rained out. If we set it up, Mother Nature knocked it back down this season. Q: What were your successes? Rogers: We kept up with charitable activities, non-profit organizations. Our goal was to increase those and we did. We've got a lot to do and plan for next year. We continued to work on the stadium, painting, trying to fix the things we could fix, trying to make the fan experience the best it could be. Q: This franchise has drawn a lot of criticism lately, and you know I'm one of the louder critics. So how do you respond why people say some promotions are more appropriate to Single-A ball and not a conservative fan base like Huntsville? Rogers: We definitely have to adjust how we do things. It's always a learning curve. You never know what you're going to be able to get away with until you try it. ... We're not going to stop trying to do things to have fun. It's about family fun and kicking it up a notch. Q: Another criticism is the staff, which is one of the smallest in Double-A and half the size of Midland (Texas), which is also owned by Miles Prentice. Rogers: We're a small operation. But it's what you compare yourself to. (Midland) has a minor-league soccer team they also run. I don't know if you can compare apples to apples. But, granted, yes, we should have a staff double the size of what we have now. We have to do more with less. Until we can get this operation and the stadium swinging in a positive direction, this is what we have. Q: You have defended having an absentee owner, but doesn't that impact the team? Rogers: He comes around a few times a year. He calls me three-four times a day. A lot of times just calling to ask the score, what's the crowd like. Miles ... has a lot of irons in the fire. He has a couple of other teams. He's a lawyer on top of that. I know he's always on the move. It's hard to keep up with him. If Miles lived here would it be different? Sure. But it is what it is. Q: What is the future of this franchise? Are we in danger of losing baseball in Huntsville? Rogers: (Miles) is committed to Huntsville. He said he doesn't want to leave Huntsville, he doesn't want to move, he doesn't want to sell. He wants to fix this operation and guarantee its existence for the future. I'm going to take him at his word because the man has never lied to me before.

19-year-old LHP Efrain Nieves allowed two runs over 4.2 innings, striking out six, as Puerto Rico knocked off previously undefeated Cuba 5-2 in World Cup play. Box Score Brett Lawrie was just a triple shy of a cycle in a 19-2 Canadian rout of Netherlands Antilles (not to be confused with the lone undefeated team in the tournament at 5-0, the Netherlands). Box Score The Brewer farmhands have performed exceedingly well in this tournament.

It'd be pretty unusual for a player under contract with the Brewers to also participate in a professional independent league, even a new one in Florida that is during the winter months, so one wonders if the Brewers have cut ties with 23-year-old OF Derrick McPhearson (stats), who struggled so with Wisconsin in his first pro season. Surge Tab Mcphearson -- Brewers Farmhand Becomes First Player Signed About the Florida Winter Baseball League

It would have been nice if the Brewers chose to participate in this informal alternative to the Hawaiian League, which is on a one-year (perhaps longer) respite, but it appears only those Arizona-based clubs who share a facility are involved.