Jim Goulart

Updated the initial post in this thread: Royals (08/07/18) -- Acquired RHP Sal Biasi in exchange for RHP Jon Perrin with: Royals (12/14/23) -- Acquired RHP Taylor Clarke in exchange for INF Cam Devanney and RHP Ryan Brady

LHP Thomas Pannone (2023 - one Brewers big league appearance, 11 appearances with Nashville, nine of them starts) signed a minor league deal with the Cubs.

Translates as a compliment for the young Carolina Mudcats Manager - Congratulations to the manager of @EscogidoBBClub Victor Estevez Cruz, young, prepared, without sponsors, his ability is more than demonstrated with this classification, many doubted and he did it.

2023 Minor League Executive Of The Year: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers’ Rob Zerjav Worth your read for a full appreciation of what they have accomplished in Appleton.

Tuesday 12/19: Via 97.3's "Brewing the Offseason" - "Mike Heller, Tim Allen, Hunter Baumgardt, and Jeff Orloski debate the merits of a Corbin Burnes trade, keeping or trading Willy Adames, and more"

Do you remember the 29-game 2023 stint of OF Michael Reed with Nashville? It was admittedly rather non-descript. He just signed with the Texas Rangers on a minor league deal.

Not a guarantee that he will get official winter at-bats, but 19-year-old middle infielder Gregory Barrios has been added to a Venezuelan Winter League roster. Signed for $1 million as part of the January 2021 class, Barrios had a disappointing .586 OPS in 106 games with the Carolina Mudcats in 2023.

It is rare, but until the two transactions above post on MiLB (could take a while, particularly given the upcoming holiday week), the deals are likely pending physicals. It is rare, but we have seen indy ball signings not come to fruition before. Of course, the independent team (and college) are anxious to share the news right away, can't blame 'em.

Busy day on the indy ball signing front -- This will be Rund's first taste of affiliated ball, He completed his college career at Campbell in the spring before moving to Florence, Kentucky's Frontier League indy team this past summer. Baseball Reference - Turns 25 in June Campbell University Player Profile Page

As detailed in the release (do read it, please) and at the Baseball Reference link here, Polancic, age 25, already has seven years of pro ball under his belt (does not include the lost 2020 Covid season). Four years in the Diamondbacks' system, three in indy ball, Canadian native signed out of high school for $100,000 (11th round, 2016) Lots of Rapsodo data here. Draft day story Lost and Found Glove Story (pre-draft)

Monday 12/18: Locked on Brewers with Chuck Freimund - JR Radcliffe of the Journal-Sentinel is the guest Via the "Sports Loud Mouth Show" (recorded on 12/13) - Tim Dillard (go to the 01:33:45 hour/minute mark)

Congrats to Noah Campbell via the University of South Carolina

Sunday 12/17: Latest Milwaukee Tailgate Podcast - "Spencer joined Jaymes and Ryan to discuss another couple fliers the Brewers took on pitching, the outlook for adding international players and what we'd do if we were commissioner for a day."

Sunday's game - Brisbane loses, 6-4 (Game Wrap, just one Tayden Hall mention early on). But there is video of that Hall RBI knock: No full box score available as of yet.

Saturday Game Two - Box Score Brisbane wins 6-2, and the detailed game wrap-up mentions all three Brewers (this is actually a doubleheader wrap-up including the post above). Tayden Hall singled and scored a run, 1-for-5. LHP Brian Fitzpatrick and RHP Sam Gardner combined to walk five in six innings, while fanning eight, but allowed only two runs, both charged to Fitzpatrick. Gardner entered immediately after Fitzpatrick allowed a leadoff triple in the 5th, and the run did score. However, Gardner otherwise pitched two scoreless, fanning three. Gardner's ERA remains 0.00 through six appearances and 12.1 innings. He has K'd 29 (!) in those 12.1 frames. Go to the 40-second mark here for two K's for Fitzpatrick, and the 01:20 mark for a K by Gardner.

Saturday doubleheader - thus far, Game One is in the books. Brisbane fell to Perth, 5-1. (yes, old friend Alex Hall, released this fall by the Brewers, is playing for his hometown Perth club). First baseman Tayden Hall (no relation to Alex) doubled, singled and walked and drove in the lone Bandits run. Hall had two of Brisbane's three hits. He committed his first error of the season, which led to one unearned Heat run. The 20-year-old Florida native Hall is now sporting a more-than-solid .274/.352/.419 line through 62 AB's (.771 OPS). Box Score Hall singles at the :22 second mark (5th inning breaks up a no-hitter) and doubles in the run at the :56 second mark - VIDEO LINK says "Game Two" but that means Game Two of the series. Hall is moved back into the cleanup spot for the nightcap, a game in which both starting LHP Brian Fitzpatrick and reliever Sam Gardner are appearing. Details on that game later today.

Wednesday 12/13: Locked on Brewers with Chuck Freimund - "When will the Brewers get their offseason rolling?" *** Thursday 12/14: Via WTMJ: Dom Cotroneo hosts Brewers Weekly - "A couple of marquee free agents have signed contracts! Dom takes a look at the league-wide offseason canvas and dissects what Brewers fans need to pay attention to on this latest edition" Via 97.3's "The Steve Czaban Show": Jeff Levering (go to the 02:30 minute mark) Locked on Brewers with Chuck Freimund - Matt Carroll of "Reviewing the Brew" is the guest Via the "Cream City Pod" with BrewerFanatic's own Spencer Michaelis: "Topics Covered: -Shohei contract -Taylor Clarke Acquisition -Potential for Yelich trade? -Burnes to LAD still a possibility after Glasnow trade? -Our Top 10 offseason Brewers trades -How many hitting coaches does one actually need? -Australian Winter League update

The Brewers scored a major player development win on Thursday night, and it wasn't because they acquired top prospects in a trade. There was a reason that Tyler Barnes, the team's Senior Vice President of Communications and Affiliate Operations, was on hand in Wilson, North Carolina, and in a congratulatory and celebratory mood. It was there that the Wilson City Council voted and authorized a major public investment of $69 million in bond financing for a new stadium for the Brewers-owned Carolina Mudcats, part of an also-approved partnership with private developers to invest upwards of $212 million in the surrounding community. This Wilson Times article provides us with further detail and photos from the council meeting, while this additional article from the Times includes many quotes with reactions, both from those thrilled and concerned. Image courtesy of Drew C. (Wilson, NC Times) - Photo of Artist Rendering Wilson is located about 25 miles east of the current ballpark home of Zebulon, North Carolina, and 45 miles east of Raleigh. Five County Stadium in Zebulon opened in 1991 and was extensively renovated in 1999. It has a capacity of 6,500 (the new proposed stadium will include 3,500 fixed seats with a total capacity of 4,500 on game day - source). The reduced capacity makes sense for a team playing at the low-A level. Five County Stadium was facing at least $20 million in upgrades in order to comply with the new stadium criteria set by MLB as part of the downsizing of minor league affiliates to 120 (four per organization). Those new criteria included larger clubhouses, both for home and visiting teams, enhanced food prep and dining areas, better field lighting, weight room enhancements, batting and pitching tunnels, and separate locker rooms for female staffers. Those won't be concerns with the new stadium as all these factors will have been taken into consideration. Before we highlight additional positives, we should point out that this is a tough break for Zebulon, the town of 7,000 (Wilson's population is 50,000). There are going to be longtime supporters and ticket holders impacted, and workers who will lose jobs once the next two lame-duck seasons are completed. We imagine some will make the move "three exits east" but there is a real concern regardless in the Zebulon community. This article is not written without pausing to share condolences in that regard. There will also be an impact on the Wilson Tobs, an amateur team playing in the Coastal Plain League, an NCAA-sanctioned collegiate summer baseball league. They play at classic 1939-built Fleming Stadium (awesome link here) and have found solid support through the years within the Wilson community. By the way, the Tobs' mascot is a tobacco worm. The Brewers completed the purchase of the Mudcats in October 2017, just as their first-year association with the affiliate was ending. The purchase price was not formally disclosed. Especially within the last year-plus, the organization actively shopped the concept of relocation, and became major lobbyists for the Wilson plan. It is not hard to see why. As of 2026, the facilities ladder of Carolina - Wisconsin (Appleton) - Biloxi - Nashville will be among the very top of quality in all of MLB. Affiliates entered ten-year Player Development Contracts (PDC agreements) starting in 2021 across all of baseball. As for the Milwaukee chain, the only kink may be what happens in Nashville should the city score an anticipated major league expansion team before the end of this decade. Many of the players the Crew will draft domestically and sign out of Latin America prior to the 2026 season will be christening the new Wilson ballpark. But will the team still be called the "Carolina Mudcats"? The "Wilson Mudcats", perhaps? It seems there is language in the agreement which may force a recognition of the city name in the team's identity. It's going to be tough to have a Mudcat embedded within the letter W compared to the iconic letter C we're all familiar with, if Mudcats even remains the alias. Well, the Timber Rattlers have certainly made the W integration work, though much easier to do with a flexible rattlesnake. Do yourself a big favor and visit this feature on the iconic Mudcats logo: His logo made the Carolina Mudcats tens of millions of dollars. He got none of it. In addition to the extremely positive player development aspect, there seems to be additional cause for celebration in the Milwaukee front office. Other than entering a lease agreement and paying rent once the park opens, it does not appear the Brewers are contributing any dollars towards the stadium plan itself, nor the surrounding development. From a fan standpoint, for the devout fans of the Crew's minor league system, this is also excellent news, enhancing how the organization's prospects will impact the big-league club down the road (not thrilled with the artificial turf mention we’ve seen, however). There is opportunity to fully maximize the new facilities and there will certainly be larger, boisterous crowds during the franchise's early existence in Wilson as fans check out the new digs. Here at BrewerFanatic, we have been on top of this story since word broke in February. Since it did not gather much traction in the Brewers press coverage or online community elsewhere, you may wish to check out the thread that has been maintained to see how things progressed. View full article