On this day in 2010 there weren't a lot of pleasant things said about Corey Hart in this space. Hart was a 2008 NL All Star but had regressed mightily since that point, hitting just .239/.263/.396 after the break that season and following it up with a .260/.335/.418 performance in 2009 with just 12 home runs. There weren't many of us excited about Hart's recent performance, and that was made all the worse when he won his arbitration hearing against the team and was awarded a $4.8 million salary for the upcoming season.

The troubles with Hart carried on into spring training: Amid concerns that he was playing with less than 20/20 eyesight Hart struggled in Cactus League play and actually lost the Opening Day starting job to recent acquisition Jim Edmonds. Hart rebounded fast, however, and went on to hit a career-high 31 home runs and make an All Star appearance despite the fact that he wasn't even on the ballot.

Before this day two years ago, Hart was a .273/.326/.470 career hitter. He's hit .284/.348/.518 since, and now paying $4.8 million for his services in 2010 doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore.

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

• AZL Brewer Alejandro Mendoza, who turns 20.
• 2010 Brewer Adam Stern, who turns 32.

On this day in 1994, just a few days before Brewer pitchers and catchers were scheduled to report to spring training, Robin Yount announced his retirement.

He was only 38 years old but Yount had already played 20 major league seasons, debuting as an 18-year-old shortstop in 1974 and finishing up as an outfielder in 1993. Yount had hit .258/.326/.379 while playing primarily center field in his final season and recorded the final 117 of his franchise record 3142 hits.

Yount retired as a two-time American League MVP (1982 as a shortstop and 1989 as an outfielder), a three time Silver Slugger, a three time All Star and a one time Gold Glover. He led the league in doubles and triples twice each, and led the AL with 210 hits in 1982. He's still the Brewer all-time leader in nearly every category.

With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:

• 2006 Brewer Chris Mabeus, who turns 33.
• 1978-86 Brewer Ben Oglivie, who turns 63.
• 1972-73 Brewer Ollie Brown, who turns 68.

The 2012 BCB Community Prospect Rankings wrapped up yesterday with D' Vontrey Richardson edging out the field for the #17 spot. Here's the final list:

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
16. Nick Bucci
17. D' Vontrey Richardson

I wanted to take a moment today to look at how our rankings compare to a dozen others we've seen around the internet this winter, so I've compiled a composite ranking using their results. I'll post a table with the full outcome after the jump, but here are the salient points:

• Wily Peralta is about as close to a consensus #1 as you'll see. Of the 12 rankings surveyed he was #1 nine times, #2 once and #3 two times. Adding in our first place vote, he scored 645 out of 650 possible points.
• The other rankings would seem to imply that we missed the boat on Jimmy Nelson (the average of the other rankings has him #10 overall), David Goforth (#11 overall) and Hunter Morris (#16 overall).
• We're higher than the average on Zelous Wheeler (we have him 15th, the others have him 26th), Nick Bucci (16th v 20th) and Michael Fiers (8th v 12th).

Follow the jump for the full results and a composite list of the Brewers' top 50 prospects.

Continue reading this post »

Some things to read while staying in.

We're eight days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Maryvale, but we still may not be any closer to closure regarding Ryan Braun. The arbitrator's 25-day window to render a decision expires on Monday, but Jon Heyman is reporting that they could ask for more time. Tom Haudricourt says they could be treating the opening of training camp as a goal.

It's time once again for a daily reminder that this entire process is absurd. I know there are a lot of moving parts in play here, but the fact that Major League Baseball needs more time to render a decision on something that happened five months ago should be embarrassing for all involved. 25 days should have been more than enough time to gather the facts in play and reach a decision. Instead, it looks like there's a strong chance we're going to spend at least another week in limbo.

Moving on, yesterday I mentioned that the Brewer equipment truck had departed for Arizona, a sure sign that spring is on the way. The Official Site has more (including video) from the festivities.

Once spring training opens a lot of eyes are going to be focused on Mat Gamel, entering spring training for the first time as a likely regular. Cream City Cables has a preview for his 2012 season. Gamel is also the subject of one of Wilber's Way's top five storylines of the spring.

It sounds like Kameron Loe is already in Arizona: One of his first posts on his new Twitter account mentioned throwing his first bullpen session of the spring.

Elsewhere in the bullpen, Francisco Rodriguez is the latest Brewer featured in Brewer Nation's "Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers" series.

Finally, the Brewers made a few minor transactions yesterday: Caleb Gindl, Brock Kjeldgaard, Amaury Rivas and Cody Scarpetta have all signed their 2012 contracts. All four players have less than three years of major league service time and will likely make the league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster.

In the minors:

• Disciples of Uecker finished their list of the Brewers' top 30 prospects by posting their top ten yesterday. Wily Peralta checks in at #1.
• Also at Disciples of Uecker, Ryan Topp has a look at the state of the farm.
  

If you'd like more Brewer content this morning but you're sick of reading, here are today's options:

• The Huntsville Stars have an interview with first baseman Hunter Morris.
• @Mass_Haas has links to archived audio from Logan Schafer and Brewer VP of Communications Tyler Barnes' appearances on WSSP.
• The View From Bernie's Chalet podcast is up and discusses top prospects and Zack Greinke.
  

Today in predictions and projections: Climbing Tal's Hill is picking the Brewers to finish third in the Central.

Around baseball:

Orioles: Won their arbitration case with pitcher Brad Bergesen (who will make $800,000 in 2012) and signed first baseman Nick Johnson to a minor league deal.
Rangers: Signed outfielder Nelson Cruz to a two year, $16 million deal to avoid arbitration.
Royals: Signed outfielder Alex Gordon to a one year, $4.8 million deal to avoid arbitration.
Twins: Claimed outfielder Darin Mastroianni off waivers from the Blue Jays and designated pitcher Esmerling Vasquez for assignment.

This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History remembers a 1971 trade that sent future 20 game winner Al Dowling to the Dodgers for journeyman outfielder Andy Kosco. Today is also Cesar Izturis' 32nd birthday, and Plunk Everyone notes that his 22 HBP are the fourth most all time for a batter born on February 10.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get this fixed.

Drink up.

On this day in 1971 the Brewers executed a trade, sending pitcher Al Downing to the Dodgers for outfielder Andy Kosco. Downing had only been a Brewer for a few months, but had gone 2-10 in seventeen appearances despite posting a 3.34 ERA.

Of course, the Brewers couldn't have known that Dowling, who was 29, was about to have the best year of his life. He was a 20-game winner for the Dodgers that year, posting a 2.68 ERA in a career-high 262.1 innings, completing 12 games and leading the NL with five shutouts. He finished third in the NL Cy Young voting in his first of seven seasons as a Dodger.

Andy Kosco, meanwhile, was hardly in Milwaukee long enough to unpack his bags. He appeared in 98 games for the 1971 team and hit .227/.291/.379 before being traded to the Angels after the season. Between 1968 and 1973 Kosco was traded five times in less than five years.

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

• AZL Brewer Jorge Lopez, who turns 19.
• 2010 Brewer Luis Cruz, who turns 28.
• Recent minor league free agent signee Cesar Izturis, who turns 32.
• 1999 Brewer Eddie Zosky, who turns 44.
• 1965 Milwaukee Brave Billy O'Dell, who turns 79.

All the prospect lists coming out before spring training got me thinking about how the cycle of young Brewer pitchers is starting to swing back toward the upper levels of the minors. Last year, at least, Taylor Green and Mat Gamel were really the only big names who had a good shot at coming up from AAA and producing in season. Sure, Michael Fiers got his 2 innings in September, but this year there's a handful of pitchers who could see some big league action in case of need in the bullpen or (and hopefully not) injury to the big league rotation. The last significant Brewer starting pitcher prospect to make it to the majors was Yovani Gallardo. Mark Rogers showed signs of hope 2 years ago before falling off most prospect lists this year. With this flood of solid, and some high-upside, arms approaching the top of the minors it's time to get excited again about possibly seeing some of these guys in action during the season. I'm sure many of us remember the day Gallardo was called up like it's yesterday, there's just something exciting about a new pitcher, and it's infinitely more exciting than the carousel of folks like Sean Green, Jorge Julio, Elmer Dessens, Julian Tavarez, and Claudio Vargas types we've been subjected to in the past couple of years. It's just so much more fun to have a neat prospect be the long man. I make no claims on being an expert on who actually might be at the top of the list for a callup in case of injury or ineffectiveness in the current bullpen, and it might well depend on performance this season, but I'll try my hand at a few options.

Wily Peralta, 6'2", 240, age 22, finished 2011 at AAA. He's the #1 prospect in our own community rankings and the Disciples of Uecker Prospect Rankings revealed this week. There's not much to not like with Peralta, who throws hard, gets strikeouts, and kept the BB/9 rate in the 3s last year. He did most of his work (120 innings) at AA in 2011, and pitched 31 stellar innings at AAA to close out the season. The knocks on Peralta coming through the system were his lack of stamina to go deep in games, raw secondary pitches, and lack of control. He's managed to drop his walk rate, develop his pitches, and go deep into games while maintaining velocity, and there aren't any knocks on him anymore. On a team with a pitching staff less strong than the Brewers (for example, every Brewers team before 2011-2012) he'd be a lock as a midseason callup if he throws well to start the year. I'd think he'd be option number 1 if a starter went down for a significant period of time (as you'd think Marco Estrada would be the short-term spot starter, if need be). Either way, I think Peralta will force his way on to the staff one way or another by the end of the season, even in the bullpen if that's the only spot available, if he pitches anything like he did in 2011. I sure hope he's not needed in the starting rotation, but his middle to high 90s fastball could be an asset out of the pen in August, September and October. I'd say the odds are he pitches a significant amount of innings for the Brewers in 2012.

Tyler Thornburg, 5'11", 185, age 23, finished 2011 at A+. He split 2011 between Wisconsin and Brevard County and had a great season, striking out over 11 per 9 innings and walking only 3.8. He's shot to the top of a couple of prospect lists, he's at 3 in the BCB ratings and 4 in the DoU list. Scouts have had issues with Thornburg's size and penciled him into the bullpen ever since he was drafted, but that's not fair to him yet because he has done nothing but produce. The problem with Thornburg right now is that his high 90s fastball tends to trail off later in games. He will most likely spend all of his age 23 season at AA but could be in line for a promotion to AAA if he pitches well in his first assignment. He's a college-drafted pitcher, so there's no reason to slow him down if he overmatches his competition. In the long run it makes sense to give Thornburg every chance to be a starter, in the short term he could certainly be an option out of the bullpen as a late-season callup if the need arises. I'd say the chances of Thornburg making his major league debut in 2011 aren't that great, but they aren't zero either. Hopefully, he won't need to.

Cody Scarpetta, 6'3", 244, age 23, finished 2011 at AA. Scarpetta had a solid season in 2011 but it wasn't the kind of season he needed to make a convincing case that he deserved a shot in the big leagues this season. He sits at 11 in the BCB community rankings and 10 in the DoU rankings. Scarpetta has a big fastball and a nice-looking curveball, but only managed 7.5 K to 4.4 BB per 9 innings last year at AA. He put up a 3.85 ERA, matching his 2010 total, but also has yet to top 128 innings in his career. 2012 is a big year for Scarpetta. He has to stay on the 40-man roster, so he's automatically going to be considered for a callup when a pitcher is needed. However, he needs to really establish that he deserves a shot at the big league level. I could certainly see Scarpetta spending some time in 2012 in the majors as a long man if a couple of guys in the bullpen go down mid-season.

Taylor Jungmann, 6'6", 220, age 22, didn't pitch in the minors in 2011. Jungmann has been projected by most to begin 2011 at A+, but that might well be a short stop for him if the competition is a bit too easy. Jungmann is a typical, workhorse, advanced college pitcher with a fastball that can get ground balls-- a kind of guy who should be able to dominate at high A at age 22. We will likely see him at AA at some point in 2012. When he was drafted, Jungmann was considered one of those guys who could play in the majors the year or year after he was drafted. Fortunately, the Brewers won't need a pitcher that badly this season to force the issue. In case of emergency, however, Jungmann isn't a bad guy to have stashed at AA late in the season-- if injury issues forced 2 starters out of the rotation at the same time, Jungmann might well be on the list of pitchers to consider to come up and fill in. The only clear-cuts I see ahead of him would be Marco Estrada and Wily Peralta, and likely Michael Fiers. I kind of heavily doubt that Jungmann makes his major league debut this season, but it's not as if it is out of the question.

Finally, I want to mention Michael Fiers, who made his major league debut with a couple of scoreless innings this past September. If everyone's healthy he's not going to make the opening day roster, but he's most likely the first guy to be called up if a pitcher is needed. There's plenty to be excited about with Fiers as well, but my point in this post is that instead of relying on some AAAA pitchers to come up and fill holes as the Brewers have had to do in the past (or even to fill out their roster out of spring training), there's going to be legitimate competition amongst prospects who are close to ready for the final spots on the major league roster. And if somebody goes down, it's not going to be Rick Helling coming up from AAA to make the next 3 starts, it's going to be a legitimate prospect. That's exciting and reassuring that the kind of depth is there to make a big run this year.

On Saturday, Brewer all-time saves leader Dan Plesac turned 50 years old. Plesac accumulated 133 saves over seven seasons as a Brewer en route to 158 for his career. That's tied for the 66th most all time. How many of the 65 pitchers ahead of him can you name in ten minutes?

The rules remain the same: Post your score in the comments but do not comment on any specific answer until after 6 pm Central time, so everyone gets a chance to try it out without having it spoiled for them. And, of course, there's no reason to cheat here, because there aren't any prizes.

I will be absolutely stunned if anyone can get all of these without cheating. If you do, be sure to post your time along with your score in the comments.

Have fun, and don't forget to post your score in the comments!

If you've finished that one and you're looking for more Brewer Sporcle today, here are this offseason's other quizzes:

• Name the Brewers who have been worth -10 runs or less defensively in a season.
• Name the Brewers who have played at least 740 games at one position.
• Name the Brewers with career OBPs above .333.
• Name the last 25 players the BBWAA has elected to the Hall of Fame.
• Name the Brewers who have hit 23 or more home runs since 2005.
• Name the Brewers who have hit for an overcycle.
• Name the Brewers from unlikely places.
• Name the Brewer third baseman since 1998.
• Name the highest paid Brewers by season.
• Name the Brewers who have appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot since 2009.
• Name the Brewers whose first or last name started with T.
• Name the 2011 Brewers: By playing time or by clues.
• Name the shortstops that have played in at least 149 games in a season since 2007.
• Name the Brewer single-season record holders for games played by position.
• Name the Brewers who have pitched at least 70 innings in a season with an ERA under 2.