What we learned: April 7, 2015

Yesterday's Results

Rockies 10, Brewers 0

In terms of the actual game, it was an Opening Day to forget for the Brewers. Kyle Lohse was hit hard for eight runs on ten hits in 3 1/3 innings. He didn't walk anyone, but only had one strikeout and allowed two home runs. Meanwhile, the team also had three errors as Scooter Gennett, Carlos Gomez, and Adam Lind each made an error during the game. Lind did have a good day at the plate, though, going 3-for-4 on the day.

The other big news from the game came afterwards, as the Brewers announced that Ryan Braun left his Opening Day start after sustaining a rib cage strain. He is currently listed as day-to-day and will be re-evaluated today. It is not believed to be related to the intercostal strain that Braun has had issues with in the past.

Brewers News & Notes

From BCB

• Yesterday was Opening Day, and that always provides a chance to reflect on the baseball season. Noah had some of his own reflections yesterday on what Opening Day means to him.
• With the Opening Day roster set, the Brewers starting payroll for 2015 is also set. Derek took one last look at the payroll yesterday, plugging in all of the final totals for each of the players on the roster.
• Prior to yesterday's game, Derek also released a series preview for the Brewers-Rockies series.
• In FanShots yesterday, Noah has links of Bug Selig warming up for his first pitch, the lineup for the Brewers as they are announced in the pregame ceremony, and a button that the Brewers are wearing to honor Joe Attanasio.
• Finishing up a series from the offseason, I took a quick look at the longest home runs from the 2014 season.

Opening Day

• Nicholas Zettel of Reviewing the Brew finished up his preseason preview series of the NL Central with an overall look at the division on Opening Day.
• Bug Selig threw out the first pitch at yesterday's game as the Brewers officially retired #1 in honor of Bud Selig. Adam McCalvy of Brewers.com has some of the highlights from Selig's day in Milwaukee.
• The contract status of Doug Melvin remains up in the air as the 2015 season gets underway. Adam McCalvy reports that discussions are in progress for an extension, with one big factor being how much longer Melvin wants to be a GM.
• After yesterday's game, Justin Schultz of The First Out At Third took a minute to laugh at all of Kyle Lohse's current stats.
• A new Twitter account called @BrewToons popped up today, and it has a picture depicting how the Brewers Opening Day went.

Other Notes

• Heading to Miller Park any time soon? If you're wondering what music you will hear, Cait Covers the Bases has the complete list of walk-up and entrance music.

Minor League Update

News & Notes

• The Brewer Nation has the complete list of rosters for the Brewers minor-league affiliates as the season begins.
• Looking at the minor-league rosters, Pete Schwichtenberg believes the Timber Rattlers will be a must-see team in 2015 with all three of the top 2014 draft choices on the team.
• Marcus Young of Miller Park Prospects has a preview of the 2015 Biloxi Shuckers.
• Michael Trzinski of Reviewing the Brew began a series looking at the top hitters in Brewers minor-league history with the 2008 season of Mat Gamel.

NL Central Update

• Reds 5, Pirates 2
• Cardinals and Cubs had the day off.

Today's Division Games

• Cardinals (Lance Lynn) @ Cubs (Jake Arrieta) - 7:05 pm
• Pirates and Reds have the day off.

Around Baseball

Roster News

• The Braves designated outfielder Carlos Quentin for assignment.
• The Blue Jays re-signed infielder Ramon Santiago to a minor-league deal.
• The Diamondbacks acquired Victor Reyes from the Braves in exchange for the 75th overall draft pick. This is part of the Trevor Cahill deal from last week.
• The Marlins re-signed RHP Nick Masset to a minor-league deal.
• First baseman Mike Carp declined his minor-league assignment with the Nationals and has decided to become a free agent.
• The Orioles designated RHP Ryan Webb for assignment and selected the contract of catcher Ryan Lavarnway to fill the roster spot.
• The Rangers signed LHP Wandy Rodriguez to a minor-league deal.
• The Red Sox signed RHP Rick Porcello to a four-year, $82.5 million extension.
• Burch Smith of the Rays will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss all of the 2015 season.

Other Notes

• Injuries are at an all-time high to start this season. 115 players are starting the season on the disabled list, up from 101 last year and the high of 110 in 2008. The Athletics and Rangers led with eight players each, while Minnesota is the only team without a player on the DL.
• Prior to Opening Day in Washington yesterday, Rob Manfred announced that the Nationals have been awarded the 2018 All-Star Game.
• As the season begins, Peter Gammons of Gammons Daily looks at the factors that will decide this season and has five questions for each division.
• Bathrooms at Wrigley Field have always been something to joke about, but it may never have been worse than Opening Night. Israel Fahr of Big League Stew reports that the Cubs admit they screwed up with the bathrooms and are taking steps to ensure it doesn't repeat.
• Leave it to the Marlins to mess up on Opening Day. Chris Cwik of Big League Stew notes that Marlins Park had a sixteen minute rain delay after the roof was left open as rain moved through the area. He also notes that the Marlins do not have a meteorologist consultant to help make roof decisions.
• Following yesterday's game, Torii Hunter of the Minnesota Twins criticized umpire Joe West for a call he made during his at-bat bat against Tigers closer Joe Nathan. Rob Neyer of Just a Bit Outside says that while Hunter may be correct, Joe West isn't going anywhere.

Today's Action

The Brewers try to rebound from a rough Opening Day tonight in game two of their series against the Rockies. Jordan Lyles will face Matt Garza in tonight's matchup. First pitch is at 7:10 pm, and Thomas Harding of MLB.com has the preview.