Some (future) Brewers Are Still Playing

No, I'm not referring to any guys the team might pick up off the six remaining playoff teams. Instead, I'm talking about Brewers farmhands who are toiling away in the hot, hot sun of Arizona and Hawai'i. You've really got to feel for those unfortunate kids, huh?

Anyway, the Hawai'i Winter Baseball league kicked off the 2008 season on September 27. The Brewers assigned some players to the West Oahu CaneFires, a terrifying sounding team if ever I've heard one. Just look at the team logo:

Sizzlin'! Get your hats and T-shirts now!

Five members of the Brewers organization are scorching the Oahu sugar fields, led by Brevard County Manatees turned CaneFires manager Mike Guerrero. The Brewers players that traveled to Hawai'i with Guerrero are Aussie jazz pianist, professional wrestler, and sometimes lefthanded pitcher Chris Cody, outfielder Caleb Gindl, suggestively named lefthanded pitcher Mike Ramlow, and outfielder Logan Schafer. While in Hawai'i, the outfielders will benefit from the hitting tutelage of ex-major leaguer Chris Truby. He may not have his own wallpaper online like Gindl and Schafer's last hitting coach, but I'm sure he's a fine coach nevertheless. The pitchers will be coached by Blaine Beatty, another ex-major leaguer, who spends his summers in the same role with the Orioles A-ball affiliate Frederick Keys.

As you may have noticed by clicking on each player's name, their Hawai'i stats are available on baseball-reference.com. That's not the only place that has them, however. You can also find scores, stats, and even MLB GameDay coverage of the Hawai'i Winter Baseball games at the Hawai'i Winter Baseball page of mlb.com. Pretty cool. Honolulu beat our boys yesterday, but the CaneFires still hold a comfy 2.5 game lead over the North Shore Honu in the HWB West Division with 32 to play. Magic number: 31.

But the real exciting postseason prospect showcase is about to kick off in Arizona. On Tuesday, the Arizona Fall League starts play and some of baseball's top prospects compete for bragging rights and kind scouting reports. Brewers players get to show their stuff in a Peoria Javelinas uniform this year. I guess there's worse things than being a scary peccary:

If you feel like going all-out in your Javelinas fandom, I've got a hat for you. If you're a normal person, I've got a roster for you. The Brewers on the roster are, in alphabetical order:

• Omar Aguilar, RHP
• Lorenzo Cain, OF (as noted by battlekow)
• Mat Gamel, 3B (replaced by Taylor Green, 3B, as noted by battlekow)
  
• Jeremy Jeffress, RHP
• Lou Palmisano, C
• Alexandre Periard, RHP
• Angel Salome, C
• David Welch, LHP
• Brae Wright, LHP

Those names should be familiar to you. I'm sure battlekow's upcoming prospect list update will talk about them and you can see what he said about them (and the two Hawai'i outfielders) back in July by clicking here.

The Javelinas are skippered by Daren Brown, the manager of Seattle AAA affiliate Tacoma and one-time manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Helping Gamel, Palmisano, and Salome make sweet, sweet wood bat music are coaches Henry Cotto (from the Everett AquaSox, another Mariners affiliate) and Ozzie Timmons of Tampa Bay's A ball affiliate, the Columbus Catfish. The pitchers will benefit from the tutelage of Louisville Bats (Cincinnati - AAA) pitching coach Ted Power and Trenton Thunder (NY Yankees - AA) pitching coach Scott Aldred.

The Peoria Javelinas start their season with a game against the Surprise Rafters. I'm not sure why someone would want to be surprised while rafting, but then I'm not the one who names the teams anyway. The game starts at 12:35 Mountain Standard Time, or 2:35 Central Daylight Time. Thanks for the confusion, Arizona. If Hawai'i Winter Baseball has Gameday for its game, I'm sure the AFL does, too. Just like that, you've got something to do on Tuesday when there is no MLB baseball!

While you're waiting for the game to begin, reflect on the bullet dodged by our Hawai'i contingent. Can you imagine playing for a team with this logo?

Mmm. Strapping.

Go CaneFires! Go Javelinas! Make Jack Zduriencik proud!