Zelous Wheeler was yesterday's winner, so here's where we stand:

1. Wily Peralta
2. Taylor Jungmann
3. Tyler Thornburg
4. Taylor Green
5. Jed Bradley
6. Scooter Gennett
7. Logan Schafer
8. Michael Fiers
9. Jorge Lopez
10. Caleb Gindl
11. Cody Scarpetta
12. Kentrail Davis
13. Santo Manzanillo
14. Orlando Arcia
15. Zelous Wheeler

The nominees for the #16 spot are:

Eric Arnett
Nick Bucci
Khris Davis
Drew Gagnon
David Goforth
Hunter Morris
Jimmy Nelson
Nick Ramirez
Michael Reed
D'Vontrey Richardson

Follow the jump for more on the candidates, then vote in the poll below.

Continue reading this post »

Some things to read while expanding your vocabulary.

We're 11 days from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, and one more Brewer minor leaguer received a late camp invitation yesterday: BCB Community Prospect #3 Tyler Thornburg will be in big league camp for the first time, wearing #70. Thornburg was a third round pick in 2010 and posted a 2.57 ERA over 156.2 innings between Wisconsin and Brevard County last season, striking out 10.5 batters per nine. He also appeared in three games in the Arizona Fall League.

After about a week of listening to gloom and doom from baseball's various national analysts, David Schoenfield of ESPN has turned the tide the other way a bit: He previewed the NL Central position-by-position and arrived with the Brewers as the best of its six teams. If you like your previews with less analysis and more haiku, Babes Love Baseball has exactly what you're looking for.

Zack Greinke (as #2 starter) was one of several Brewer pitchers to come up #1 in Schoenfield's position rankings. At Disciples of Uecker, Jack Moore compares the players the Brewers gave up to acquire Greinke to the hauls of talent the Cubs and Reds had to give up for Matt Garza and Mat Latos.

We still don't know the outcome of Ryan Braun's appeal, but we do know he'll be on the cover of the 2012 media guide along with Carlos Gomez and Nyjer Morgan. Apparently someone in the front office learned to use Photoshop this winter.

Speaking of Braun, his potential meeting with 2011 NY Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw and MVP runner-up Matt Kemp when the Brewers host the Dodgers on April 17 is one of John Schlegel of MLB.com's most intriguing moments of early 2012.

In the minors:

• Seedlings To Stars created an All-Prospect Team for the Brewers, and the picture isn't as grim as you'd expect.
• Three Brewer batters combined to go 0-for-9 last night, but at least Sergio Miranda walked twice in Puerto Rico's 4-3 win over Mexico. You can read about that and more in today's Winter League Notes.
• The Brewer Nation's "Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers" series continues with a profile of Wily Peralta.
• The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers borrowed a speech from "Miracle" for their latest video to promote their Opening Day bobbleheads.

As of this writing Zelous Wheeler has a ten vote lead on Nick Bucci and Jimmy Nelson for the #15 spot in our Community Prospect Rankings. Voting will remain open until 1 today, and the voting for the #16 spot will begin at 2.

Around baseball:

Astros: Signed outfielder Justin Ruggiano to a minor league deal.
Cardinals: Signed infielder Alex Cora to a minor league deal.
Cubs: Claimed infielder Adrian Cardenas off waivers from the Athletics and designated infielder Blake DeWitt for assignment.
Dodgers: Designated infielder Russ Mitchell for assignment.
Mariners: Signed pitchers Hong-Chih Kuo and Shawn Camp to one year deals and designated catcher Chris Gimenez and outfielder Mike Wilson for assignment.
Nationals: Signed third baseman Mark Teahen to a minor league deal.
Rangers: Signed first baseman/outfielder Conor Jackson and pitcher Joe Beimel to minor league deals.

In former Brewers:

• Chicken Friars is hoping Mark Kotsay can provide some veteran leadership for the Padres in 2012.
• Mitch Stetter says you should never trust a cat, including Frank Catalanotto.

This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History remembers Jeff Cirillo's 2005 return to Milwaukee as a free agent. Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that it's also been 4000 days since Devon White was traded to the Brewers and 20,000 days since Hank Aaron's worst game as a major leaguer.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm working on my flexibility.

Drink up.

Dominican Republic L 7-0 vs Venezuela; Puerto Rico W 4-3 vs Mexico

Third baseman Jeff Cirillo was one of the best Brewers of the 90's, batting .307/.384/.453 during his first six major league seasons and appearing in over 150 games each year between 1996 and 1999. It was tough to see Cirillo go when he was traded to the Rockies before the 2000 season, but little did we know at the time that before it all was over he'd be back. On this day in 2005 the Brewers re-signed him as a free agent.

Cirillo had been gone five years and played for three different franchises since the Brewers traded him in 1999: He was very good for two years in Colorado but struggled mightily as a member of the Mariners and Padres. During his return to the team he performed admirably, hitting .304/.371/.420 over 189 games in a utility role. He eventually finished his time in Milwaukee with exactly 1000 career hits, the tenth most in franchise history.

With help from Brewerfan.net and the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:

• Wisconsin Timber Rattler Seth Lintz, who turns 22.
• Seth McClung, who turns 31.
• 1985 Brewer Carlos Ponce, who turns 53.
• 1957-59 Milwaukee Brave Juan Pizarro, who turns 75.

Orlando Arcia came from behind to win over the weekend, so here's where we stand:

1. Wily Peralta
2. Taylor Jungmann
3. Tyler Thornburg
4. Taylor Green
5. Jed Bradley
6. Scooter Gennett
7. Logan Schafer
8. Michael Fiers
9. Jorge Lopez
10. Caleb Gindl
11. Cody Scarpetta
12. Kentrail Davis
13. Santo Manzanillo
14. Orlando Arcia

The nominees for the #15 spot are:

Eric Arnett
Nick Bucci
Khris Davis
Drew Gagnon
David Goforth
Hunter Morris
Jimmy Nelson
Michael Reed
D'Vontrey Richardson
Zelous Wheeler

Follow the jump for more on the candidates, then vote in the poll below.

Continue reading this post »

Some things to read while demonstrating poor taste.

We're 12 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, and we're starting yet another week without any level of certainty regarding Ryan Braun's situation.Tom Haudricourt (behind the JS paywall) is reporting that the arbitration panel handling his case has a 25 day window to render a judgment, which expires a week from today.

The Brewers did cross one item off of their to-do list on Friday, signing Shaun Marcum to a one year, $7.725 million deal just before the two sides were scheduled for an arbitration hearing (FanShot). The deal represents the exact midpoint between the two sides and leaves Jose Veras as the Brewers' only potential case. Veras and the team are only $375,000 apart but the team is reporting no progress in negotiations. Adam McCalvy speculates that their hearing is likely sometime between today and the 18th, when pitchers and catchers report to Maryvale.

In less newsworthy transactions, the Brewers have also signed Frankie De La Cruz, Santo Manzanillo, Eric Farris, Mat Gamel, Taylor Green, Zelous Wheeler and Logan Schafer to 2012 contracts. All seven have less than three years of major league service time so they'll likely make near the league minimum (which is going up to $480,000 this season) for their time in the majors.

Coming into camp it looks like the Brewer bullpen will be more or less set, with John Axford, Francisco Rodriguez Kameron Loe, Zach Braddock, Manny Parra and Marco Estrada coming back and joined by Jose Veras. The situation may not be that simple, though, and Reviewing The Brew has a look at what could happen.

Speaking of bullpen candidates, The Brewer Nation continued their "Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers" series with profiles of Brandon Kintzler and Frankie De La Cruz.

They're not often credited as the reasons for the Brewers exceeding expectations in 2011, but Baseball Daily Digest notes that both Corey Hart and Yovani Gallardo outperformed their PECOTA projections last season by a fair amount.

Finally, the Brewers wrapped up last week's bobblehead announcements by naming Aramis Ramirez as the final honoree: His bobbles will be distributed against the Mets on September 16.

In the minors:

• Seedlings to Stars compiled the results of six top 100 prospect lists and noted that six Brewers made appearances on at least one, but no one appeared on more than three. They also say Wily Peralta might be "the most under-appreciated prospect in the game."
• Hiram Burgos allowed just one run on four hits and struck out six over five innings but was the tough luck-loser as Mexico beat Puerto Rico 7-0 in the Caribbean World Series. You can read about that and more in today's Winter League Notes.
• Cream City Cables has an interview with Nashville second baseman Eric Farris. (h/t @Mass_Haas)

It looks like voting for the #14 spot in our Community Prospect Rankings is going to come down to the wire, as Zelous Wheeler leads Orlando Arcia by one vote as of this writing. You have until 1 pm today to weigh in, and voting for #15 will open at 2.

Today's lone prediction/power ranking comes from The Baseball Index, who predicts the Brewers will finish third in the Central behind the Cardinals (division winner) and Reds (Wild Card).

Looking back, Jon Baas stopped by this weekend to offer an update on his Milwaukee Brewers Replay project, which has now used Baseball Mogul to re-simulate the 2011 season through June. This month's most significant development might be Mat Gamel's breakout performance.

Around baseball:

Dodgers: Signed pitcher Todd Coffey to a one year, $1.3 million deal with a club option for 2013.
Marlins: Lost their arbitration case with pitcher Anibal Sanchez, who will make $8 million in 2012.
Nationals: Re-signed outfielder Rick Ankiel to a minor league deal.
Orioles: Designated pitcher Clay Rapada for assignment and released pitcher Rick VandenHurk.
Pirates: Signed pitcher Brian Tallet to a minor league deal.
Rays: Won their arbitration case with pitcher Jeff Niemann, who will receive $2.75 million in 2012.
Red Sox: Signed pitcher Alfredo Aceves to a one year, $1.2 million deal to avoid arbitration.
Rockies: Acquired pitcher Jeremy Guthrie from the Orioles for pitchers Matt Lindstrom and Jason Hammel and signed reliever Matt Belisle to a one year contract extension that will pay him $4.3 million in 2013.

Last week I mentioned that 2012 could be a bad year for baseball in several cities, as nine teams are projected to have a 10% or better chance of losing 100 games. I guess it's only fair that I present this opposing view: Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports says 2012 could be the best season ever.

In former Brewers:

• The Cecil/Prince Fielder situation took another turn for the worse this weekend when Cecil said he was planning to "take the high road" while being inducted into the Ted Williams Hitters Hall of Fame, but then proceeded to publicly bash his son anyway.
• Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times has a great post today on one-hitters, which mentions that Jerry Hairston Jr. has provided the single hit in a game for three different teams. Follow the link for notes featuring Ben Oglivie, Paul Molitor, Charlie Moore and James Mouton.
• High Heat Stats also notes that Hairston's eighth inning HBP on September 26 was tied for the tenth most valuable plunk in all of baseball in 2011.
• Carson Cistulli of NotGraphs remembers the time Glenn Braggs broke a bat across his back.
• Baseball America has a story on Craig Counsell's transition to the front office, but it's subscriber-only.

Sunday's edition of Today In Brewer History celebrated Hank Aaron's 78th birthday, and Plunk Everyone notes that his 32 career HBP are the third most ever for a batter born on February 5. This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History celebrates Bob Wickman's 42nd birthday.

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's in my head again.

Drink up.

Puerto Rico L 7-0 at Venezuela; Dominican Republic W 2-0 at Mexico