Minor Moves: Jim Hoey, Blake Davis, Three Releases

You can add one more reliever to the Brewers' spring training mix, although this one is probably closer to being minor league depth than a likely contributor.

Adam McCalvy is reporting the Brewers have signed 29-year-old righthander Jim Hoey to a minor league deal and invited him to "minor league early camp," which I'm just now learning is an actual thing. Hoey has appeared in 61 games over three major league seasons (2006, '07 and '11) and posted some awful numbers in that small sample size: a 7.02 ERA with 5.5 walks and just 5.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

Hoey pitched in AAA in 2012 for the Blue Jays, posting a 4.60 ERA over 46 appearances for Las Vegas in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. The control issues that have plagued him in the minors were also an issue there, as he walked 6.2 batters per nine innings.

There's some uncertainty around the last few spots in the Brewer bullpen and a fair number of pitchers who will likely compete for them, but we can probably safely assume that Hoey won't be on the major league roster on Opening Day.

Elsewhere in minor league signings, @Mass_Haas was the first I've seen mention the Brewers signing former Orioles shortstop Blake Davis. Davis turned 29 today and has spent most of the last four seasons in AAA with Baltimore. He's a career .264/.316/.365 hitter in 630 minor league games, and hit .254/.323/.390 in 25 games for the Orioles in his major league debut in 2011.

Finally, the Brewers have released three pitchers from the lower levels of the minors:

• 2012 Helena Brewer Elliot Glynn, a 39th round pick from the 2011 draft.
• 2012 Helena Brewer Mike Francisco, a 48th round pick from the 2011 draft.
• 2012 Helena Brewer and Brevard County Manatee Conner Whalen, a former undrafted free agent.