Jim Goulart

"There are 28 players on this initial roster. There will be three moves made before April 7 to get down to the Midwest League's 25-player limit for Opening Day."

Here you go: Rattlers' Site Rattler Radio Blog with the PDF

Saturday notes via Marcus at Miller Park Prospects

Since every Southern League series (well, 95% of them) is a five-gamer (to cut down on travel), yes, series can start on pretty much any day of the week.

Looks like infielder George Iskenderian (7th round, UMiami) is jumping over Wisconsin, on his way to Brevard. He played second base exclusively in '15.

Via @Brewers PD - Friday's games -- The Sky Sox downed OKC, 7-3. Cecchini had a 2B, 3B, & 3 RBIs. Hernan Perez collected 3 hits, scored a run, & also drove one in. Brevard avenged its earlier season loss to Rancho Cucamonga with a 2-1 victory. Derby posted five shutout innings on the hill w/6 SO Wisconsin used a 4-run sixth to shoot down the Loons, 6-2. Matos had two hits, including a 2B, scored once, & knocked one in. *** That's nine shutout innings for Bubba Derby in his last two starts....

AUDIO via the Biloxi Shuckers Sat. 4/2 Pre-Game Show: Chris Harris interviews former Shuckers Manager, now Brewers' First Base Coach, Carlos Subero

AUDIO via the Biloxi Shuckers Sat. 4/2 Pre-Game Show: Chris Harris interviews GM David Stearns *** AUDIO via WTMJ Sat. 4/2: Opening day preivew with COO Rick Schlesinger

Career numbers Tweet

Via Dan Karcher -- 7-4 win for @skysox today in Maryvale over @okc_dodgers. G.Cecchini DBL, TPL, RBI, Jim Miller 2ip, 0r

Under-the-Radar Prospects To Keep an Eye On in 2016 Marcus Young, Miller Park Prospects

This wraps up our 2015-16 Offseason & Spring Training Media Thread. The thread generated over 9000 views, much appreciated, and we will kick off a regular season media thread best we can. Keep in mind there will be a lot of Minor League audio / video in 2016 as well (which should be of particular interest during this rebuild), but those media clips will be posted only within the Daily Link Reports on the Minor League Forum.

AUDIO via MLB.com Fri. 4/1: "Who will roam center field for the Brewers on Opening Day? Will the Nats trade for Jonathan Lucroy? MLB.com's Matt Waymire caught up with Brewers reporter Adam McCalvy to hear why the position is still up for grabs, why Lucroy could land in the Capitol and a few bold predictions, like can Chris Carter hit more than 35 homers in 2016." *** AUDIO via WSSP 105.7 FM Fri. 4/1: Rob Neyer via the Morning Show *** AUDIO via the Bill Michaels Show: WSSP's Tim Allen *** AUDIO via the Bill Michaels Show: MLB Network analyst Joe Magrane *** AUDIO via WSSP 105.7 FM Fri. 4/1: Adam McCalvy joins the afternoon's "Big Show" *** AUDIO via 107.5's Sportsline Mon. 4/1: FSN Wisconsin's Jerry Augustine

Between Disciples of Uecker, BrewCrewBall, MillerParkProspects, and BPMilwaukee, there has been a ton of daily fan-generated content this past offseason, and surely those sites are prepared to generate a ton more in 2016's regular season, almost to the point of saturation already. All are strongly suggested. "Reviewing The Brew" is currently on a bit of a slide with several of their lead writers now submitting elsewhere, yet every once in a while throws out a nice nugget such as their recent Kodi Medeiros Q&A. Brewerfan long ago realized its focus needed to be on the discussion forum, and, within that forum structure, a site to keep everyone aware of news and analysis from around the web. Humble opinion, we do that very well. As the folks on those other sites would tell you, generating consistent original content is a tremendous grind and once established, an ongoing persistent commitment. From an editorial standpoint, you need to review and maintain a respectable level of both quantity and quality. Could that happen here down the road? Perhaps, but it would require major commitments to do it properly.

Pacific Coast League doesn't see the Sky Sox moving anytime soon from Colorado Springs By Rich Laden, Colorado Springs Gazette The head of the Pacific Coast League doubts a move by the Colorado Springs Sky Sox to Texas is imminent, and doesn't expect the Sky Sox or any of the league's 15 other teams to relocate from their existing cities for at least two to three years. PCL president Branch Rickey said Friday that relocations depend on many factors and no assumptions should be made about a team's plans or intentions. "If I look through it through my lenses, I don't anticipate a single franchise in our league is going to be in a different city than it is in today in '16, '17 and I'll throw '18 in there, too," Rickey said. His comments came in the wake of a report that the Elmore Sports Group, the Sky Sox's owner, will meet with San Antonio's City Council next week to discuss moving the Triple-A team out of Colorado Springs. The Sky Sox, the top minor league affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers after many years as the Colorado Rockies' No. 1 farm team, have been in the Springs since 1988. But San Antonio officials reportedly want to use the lure of a possible new downtown stadium to attract a Triple-A team. Currently, San Antonio has a Double-A team - also owned by the Elmore Group. If a deal were struck between San Antonio and the Elmore group, the owner likely would move the Sky Sox to that city and relocate its Double A team - possibly to Amarillo, Texas. Dave Elmore, head of the Elmore Sports Group, was approached this year by someone in San Antonio who wanted to gauge his interest in moving the club, Rickey said, based on what Elmore told him. Rickey said he didn't know if city officials or civic leaders approached Elmore, who didn't respond to several calls from The Gazette. But Rickey said Elmore also was approached by San Antonio officials five years ago - and nothing happened. Rickey, PCL president since 1998 and grandson of the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers executive, said teams routinely evaluate their business interests. The costs of running a team are significant and drive many decisions, he said. And it's not unheard of for a team to listen if someone calls, Rickey said. In the case of San Antonio, it's an attractive market that could appeal to anybody, he said. A statement by the Sky Sox this week said that if San Antonio, as the 37th largest TV market in the country, "calls and says they would like to talk about a downtown stadium and the possibility of bringing Triple-A baseball to San Antonio, it would be imprudent as business owners not to listen." Yet, the Sky Sox have been financially successful in the Springs, which is the former home to the PCL's headquarters, Rickey said. "It's a very viable franchise," he said. "There's not a compelling need from the side of business difficulty for that club to have to do anything." The Springs - in the middle of three time zones that the PCL covers - also is conveniently located as the league schedules games, he said. A team that might want to relocate needs an overwhelming majority of the PCL's 16 teams to approve a move, Rickey said. "If it got to that point, there would be a burden on a club to convince its fellow members why this would be advantageous to the membership in general," Rickey said. "The league doesn't want to take a step backward." Regardless of pros and cons, Rickey warned about reading too much into what might happen; as PCL president, he said he doesn't want to engage in conjecture. During his years with the PCL and with the now-defunct American Association, Rickey said he watched teams explore moves that ultimately went nowhere. "Trying to forecast that a team is going to relocate when there are so many unknowns in front of that equation is a thing you want to be very cautious about," Rickey said "That's what I'm doing."

One jump that the Brewers have seemed to do pretty well with is jumping Wisconsin to get to Brevard. They correctly identified RHP's Jorge Ortega and Kaleb Earls to do so last year, and UT Nathan Orf the year prior.

This is how Baseball America thinks things may play out (full article): Colorado Springs moves to the new park in San Antonio (once ballpark is ready) and becomes a Rangers Triple-A affiliate. The Sky Sox’s current affiliation agreement with the Brewers expires after 2016, though the Rangers’ contract with Round Rock currently goes through 2018. The Double-A Missions move to the new park in Amarillo; the affiliation with the Padres expires after the 2016 season (the Padres had no comment about the reported shift) Triple-A Round Rock, where Nolan Ryan is part of the ownership group, switches affiliations from Rangers to Astros. Fresno, the current Astros affiliate, comes free (its PDC expires after the ’16 season) and could be a landing spot for the Brewers. This leaves Colorado Springs with a ballpark (although one that consistently draws some of the Pacific Coast League’s smallest crowds), but no team. The Gazette, however, theorizes that the Pioneer League’s Helena club (Rookie-level Brewers), also owned by Elmore, could move in there and fill the void. *** To be honest, that last statement about Helena is very speculative, it makes little sense logistically in terms of Pioneer League travel.

Sky Sox Release Statement on Potential Move Reports Thursday surfaced that Triple-A baseball could be leaving Colorado Springs. The Elmore sports group has owned the Sky Sox organization since 1981. They also currently own the San Antonio Missions, a Double-A team. There were reports that the owners were set to meet with the city council in San Antonio announcing their mission to bring a Triple-A team to the city. The Sky Sox released the following statement Thursday afternoon: The Elmore Sports Group and Sky Sox have been loyal and dedicated members serving the CS community for 28 years. We love Colorado Springs and certainly have a desire to keep baseball in Colorado Springs With that said, If the City of San Antonio, the 37th largest TV market in the country calls and says they would like to talk about a downtown stadium and the possibility of bringing Triple A Baseball to San Antonio, it would be imprudent as business owners not to listen. That is where we are right now. This is a process, there is no deal in place, no downtown ballpark and no agreement of any kind with any city. We don’t know frankly what is going to happen at this point but if or when discussions do take place they would be the beginning of the process, not the end. And if anything were to materialize from the discussions it would be well off into the distant future. In the meantime, as always its business as usual for the Sky Sox. We begin our 29th season here in CS on April 15th. We have a fantastic team of young prospects joining us this year that should give us one of the most exciting seasons in years along with the best promotional calendar we have ever created. 2016 is going to be a fantastic season ahead.

AUDIO via the Mike Heller Show Thurs. 3/31 (with Ted Davis) : Adam Rygg (@BrewerNation) -- go to the 18:45 minute mark *** AUDIO via WSSP 105.7 FM Thurs. 3/31: C.J. Nitkowski of MLB Network Radio *** AUDIO via The Bill Michaels Show Thurs. 3/31: Former Brewer Paul Wagner *** VIDEOS: Latest from the Brewers' site

Via @Brewers PD - Thursday's games -- Col Springs tied Charlotte, 0-0. Guerra, Barnes, Ross, and Goforth combined on the shutout, allowing just four hits. Birmingham scored twice in the 10th to defeat Biloxi, 4-2. Wren, Lara, & Clark all had doubles for the Shuckers. Brevard was a 7-5 winner over Winston Salem. Cuas had a 4x4 day w/2 RBI and run. Iskenderian was 2x3 with a 3B, 3 RBI, R. Kannapolis down WIS, 5-3. Isan Diaz homered, while Miguel Diaz struck out 5 in four IP. Sharkey and Gatewood both had two hits for the TRats

Thanks for sharing that, I had recently discovered the Patty Duke Show on MeTV, and had seen neither the Roseanne clip nor the Emmy speech.

San Antonio Triple-A Announcement Expected By Kevin Reichard, BallparkDigest.com Key takeaway from the article: Of course, the announcement will begin speculation about a potential team move. The assumption is that the Sky Sox would be moved, but that’s probably a premature assumption. There are potentially PCL teams on the market, so we’ll let the process play out. Another key note from outside the article: The Brewers PDC with Colorado Springs currently only runs through 2016. (Current MiLB PDC affiliation status page)

Brewers announced the signing of 27-year-old 6'6", 235 lb. RHP Stephen Kohlscheen (Baseball Reference page) Wednesday, just a few days after the Padres released him. Kohlscheen was the secondary piece traded by the Mariners to San Diego, along with OF Abraham Almonte, for OF Chris Denorfia in 2014. Kohlscheen had been drafted out of Auburn in the 45th round out of Auburn by the Mariners in 2010. From the time of that trade: Kohlscheen's primary strength is that he throws strikes with his sinking fastball, which he throws in the 91-93 mph range. His ability to pound the strike zone has resulted in a 9.8 K/9 in his minor league career. That ratio is down to 9.3 after a tough 2015, as evidenced by his numbers linked above. The current voice of the Biloxi Shuckers, Chris Harris, was a AA broadcaster for the Mariners previously (tweet): "Spent parts of 2012-2014 with Stephen. A big right-hander that adds some bullpen depth. Great guy and nice addition." Also from the time of the 2014 trade, via MiLB.com: Stephen Kohlscheen was in the midst of his first turn at Triple-A ball at the time of Thursday's deal. The 6-foot-6 right-handed reliever posted a 2.25 ERA with 33 strikeouts and only four walks in 32 innings at Double-A Jackson, where he was named a Southern League All-Star before a June promotion. His numbers at Tacoma (3.28 ERA, 22 strikeouts, six walks in 24 2/3 innings) have slipped some but have been solid for the most part.

More Brewer farmhand releases -- Turning 22 this April, RHP Joshua Torres was an undrafted 18-year-old signing out of Puerto Rico, and after two summers in the DSL, came stateside and was the Arizona Rookie League ERA champ in 2014 with a 1.92 mark (1.10 WHIP). Torres was among the 2015 Timber Rattlers who skipped Helena to begin 2015, and struggled before finding his way down to Montana in June, where he settled in nicely. Based purely on numbers, this release surprises, but obviously more than raw numbers is analyzed by the development team. *** A defensively versatile switch-hitting IF/OF, 22-year-old Francisco Castillo stuck with the Timber Rattlers for all of 2015 upon his early May call-up from extended spring training. This was his 5th season in the system, signed as a teenager out of the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately for Castillo, his 2015 numbers with Wisconsin matched his tough 2014 figures (.528 OPS / .524 OPS). There have been lots of system goodbyes to members of that truly struggling 2015 Rattler squad, speaking of which... *** LHP Luis Ortega was actually a trade acquisition, from the Red Sox in November 2013 for RHP Burke Badenhop. Other than shiny ERA's masked by the allowance of many unearned runs in two summers in the Sox system, it was tough to see much to like from Ortega from the start, and a review of 2014-2015 numbers with the Crew are tough on the eyes. Ortega turns 23 this April. *** 20-year-old middle infielder Daniel Leonardo spent three seasons in the Brewers' system, one in his native Dominican Republic, and two in Maryvale. Listed at 5'9", 168 as of this spring, all 22 of the switch-hitting Leonardo's hits in 2015 were singles. *** Here's wishing these young men well in future endeavors, imagine it's often especially tough for the very young Latin players when released.

Brewer player release: Corner OF Jose Pena, just-turned 23, was a $400,000 Dominican signing at the July 2nd signing period of 2009, having turned 16 years old that March. It appeared Pena had broken out in 2012, his first stateside season after two in the DSL, but had plateaued low since. Bruce Seid upon the signing: "It's official. He signed," Seid said. "We're real happy that we got Jose Pena. We've been watching him for some time and had him at a couple of workouts, and [brewers general manager] Doug Melvin was down here and saw him. We've been really able to cover the bases on Jose Pena." Some steps remain. Pena must pass a physical, plus Major League Baseball's official background check that verifies players' ages. Pena just turned 16 in March, and Seid expected no problems in that process. Pena, 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, is a right-handed hitter described by Seid as a polished hitter with power and projectability. "He's a great 'make-up' kid," Seid said. "He's someone who looks you in the eye and takes instruction well. Overall, the package is good in terms of ability, power, athleticism and make-up." Pena was compared in scouting circles at the time to Jermaine Dye and Juan Gonzalez and wowed scouts in a showcase against the Canadian Junior National Team. He was considered the 6th best talent out of that signing period, and it was thought to be "a bargain" for the Brewers to net him at that price. BA's Ben Badler on Pena: By the way, Eliopoulos did not sign out of high school that year, and never pitched in pro ball. His sad death at age 21 is covered here.