Brew Crew Ball - Brewers trade John Axford to Cardinals for PTBNLLeading the decline of Brewers blogs but with the best Junior Guerra content.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47763/brew_crew_ball-fv.png2013-09-05T12:06:20-05:00http://www.brewcrewball.com/rss/stream/44412052013-09-05T12:06:20-05:002013-09-05T12:06:20-05:00Poll: "Anyone but Yuni" is still our favorite 1B
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DGBjPXIFs_vrn9v-YPeAk8Xmehk=/0x172:3082x2227/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/19025425/20130827_ajl_al8_136.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sport</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beyond that, though, we're undecided about who should start in our weekly poll.</p> <p>This week's Brew Crew Ball Tracking Poll was open from noon Tuesday through the day Wednesday, and received 129 responses. Here are some notable results:</p>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li><span>34% of voters listed <span>Sean Halton</span> as their favorite candidate to serve as the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a>' primary first baseman at this point, while 30% chose <span>Juan Francisco</span> and 23% selected <span>Hunter Morris</span>. The only clear choice was "not Yuni," as <span>Yuniesky Betancourt</span> received 2% of the vote and finished behind "Undecided" and "Someone else."</span></li>
<li><span>52% of voters think the Brewers' current roster expansion (from 25 to 30) is just right, while 37% think more players should be called up.</span></li>
<li><span>72% of voters approve of the <span>John Axford</span>/<span>Michael Blazek</span> trade.</span></li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p>The full results are below.</p>
<p><b>Do you approve of the Brewers' decision to trade reliever John Axford to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a> for reliever Michael Blazek?</b></p>
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr>
<td>Response</td>
<td>Votes</td>
<td>%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>93</td>
<td>72%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>No</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>17%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Undecided</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>11%</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><b>Who should be the Brewers' primary first baseman for the rest of the season?</b></p>
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr>
<td>Response</td>
<td>Votes</td>
<td>%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Yuniesky Betancourt</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>2%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Juan Francisco</td>
<td>39</td>
<td>30%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sean Halton</td>
<td>44</td>
<td>34%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hunter Morris</td>
<td>30</td>
<td>23%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Someone else</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>3%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Undecided</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>7%</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><b>Entering play Tuesday the Brewers will have 30 players on their active roster, having made five September callups. How do you feel about the current roster size?</b></p>
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr>
<td>Response</td>
<td>Votes</td>
<td>%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>It's too small. They should call up more people.</td>
<td>48</td>
<td>37%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>It's too big. They've already called up too many people.</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>2%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>It's just right.</td>
<td>67</td>
<td>52%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Undecided</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>9%</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><b>Do you approve of the job Doug Melvin is doing as General Manager of the Brewers?</b></p>
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr>
<td>Response</td>
<td>Votes</td>
<td>%</td>
<td>Prev</td>
<td>Diff</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>90</td>
<td>70%</td>
<td>67%</td>
<td>+3%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>No</td>
<td>31</td>
<td>24%</td>
<td>23%</td>
<td>+1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Undecided</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>6%</td>
<td>10%</td>
<td>-4%</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><b>Do you approve of the job Ron Roenicke is doing as Manager of the Brewers?</b></p>
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr>
<td>Response</td>
<td>Votes</td>
<td>%</td>
<td>Prev</td>
<td>Diff</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>75</td>
<td>58%</td>
<td>58%</td>
<td>n/c</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>No</td>
<td>35</td>
<td>27%</td>
<td>27%</td>
<td>n/c</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Undecided</td>
<td>19</td>
<td>15%</td>
<td>15%</td>
<td>n/c</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><b>Do you approve of the job Rick Kranitz is doing as Pitching Coach of the Brewers?</b></p>
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr>
<td>Response</td>
<td>Votes</td>
<td>%</td>
<td>Prev</td>
<td>Diff</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>44</td>
<td>34%</td>
<td>39%</td>
<td>-5%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>No</td>
<td>56</td>
<td>43%</td>
<td>35%</td>
<td>+8%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Undecided</td>
<td>29</td>
<td>22%</td>
<td>26%</td>
<td>-4%</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><b>Do you approve of the job Johnny Narron is doing as Hitting Coach of the Brewers?</b></p>
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr>
<td>Response</td>
<td>Votes</td>
<td>%</td>
<td>Prev</td>
<td>Diff</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>64</td>
<td>50%</td>
<td>57%</td>
<td>-7%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>No</td>
<td>31</td>
<td>24%</td>
<td>19%</td>
<td>+5%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Undecided</td>
<td>34</td>
<td>26%</td>
<td>23%</td>
<td>+3%</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><b>Which, if any, of these Brewer executives and/or coaches do you think should be fired?</b></p>
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr>
<td>Response</td>
<td>Votes</td>
<td>%</td>
<td>Prev</td>
<td>Diff</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>General manager Doug Melvin</td>
<td>23</td>
<td>18%</td>
<td>16%</td>
<td>+2%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Manager Ron Roenicke</td>
<td>29</td>
<td>22%</td>
<td>23%</td>
<td>-1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Pitching coach Rick Kranitz</td>
<td>49</td>
<td>38%</td>
<td>33%</td>
<td>+5%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hitting coach Johnny Narron</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>20%</td>
<td>14%</td>
<td>+6%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Third base coach Ed Sedar</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>17%</td>
<td>15%</td>
<td>+2%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Amateur scouting director Bruce Seid</td>
<td>69</td>
<td>53%</td>
<td>45%</td>
<td>+8%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Someone else</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>5%</td>
<td>6%</td>
<td>-1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>None of these</td>
<td>36</td>
<td>28%</td>
<td>32%</td>
<td>-4%</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
https://www.brewcrewball.com/2013/9/5/4698094/poll-anyone-but-yuni-is-still-our-favorite-first-basemanKyle Lobner2013-09-01T09:27:11-05:002013-09-01T09:27:11-05:00Roster moves: Hand in, Rogers out, Blazek waiting?
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/K08BghSQIQaB1EDLGsvdikEDCBY=/0x170:2700x1970/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/18795795/175801328.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Thearon W. Henderson</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Brewers have added one pitcher to their newly expanded roster, but another could be coming soon.</p> <p>Good morning and welcome to September, where baseball's season-long roster rules make a dramatic shift.</p>
<p><b>Coming in</b></p>
<p>Starting with today's games, the 25-man roster limit is gone and any player on a team's 40-man roster is eligible to be activated and play in major league games. The <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Brewers</a> marked the occasion by recalling <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeVassallo13/status/374165756994273280">reliever Donovan Hand from Nashville</a> moments ago.</p>
<p>Hand has pitched in 21 games for the Brewers this season, including seven starts, and posted a 3.75 ERA over 57.2 innings of work. His peripheral numbers suggest that initial success could be a challenge to maintain: His low strikeout rate (4.7 per nine innings) is a bit of a concern and he's already given up nine home runs in the majors (1.4 per nine innings).</p>
<p>Hand posted a 3.28 ERA over 20 relief appearances for Nashville this season, and pitched a scoreless inning for the Sounds yesterday. It's not known at this point if he'll arrive in time for today's game, but the Brewers already had a locker ready for him last night.</p>
<p><b>Heading out</b></p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Brewers may have reached the end of the road with another longtime prospect. <span>Mark Rogers</span>' minor league rehab assignment expires today and the Brewers <a href="http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/08/brewers-outright-mark-rogers-1.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">have opted to remove him from the 40-man roster</a> instead of activating him. Rogers, who was the #5 overall pick in the 2004 draft, made just 12 minor league appearances across three levels this season and posted a 5.16 ERA over 22.2 innings, walking six batters per nine innings.</p>
<p>Rogers will be a minor league free agent this winter, leaving the door open for a possible return. If this is it for him, though, he leaves the Brewer organization having pitched in eleven MLB games between the 2010 and 2012 seasons.</p>
<p><b>Waiting</b></p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516590&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jsonline.com%2Fblogs%2Fsports%2F221945311.html&referrer=sbnation.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.brewcrewball.com%2F2013%2F9%2F1%2F4682436%2Fbrewers-september-callups" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Tom Haudricourt is speculating</a> that reliever <span>Michael Blazek</span> could be the PTBNL in the <span>John Axford</span> trade. He's 24 years old and appeared in eleven games for St. Louis this season, posting a 6.97 ERA over 10.1 innings with ten walks and ten strikeouts.</p>
<p>Blazek was recently optioned by the <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Cardinals</a> but did not report to a minor league affiliate, leading Haudricourt to believe his status could be in limbo while he waits to clear waivers. It's also possible he didn't report to an affiliate because the Cardinals were planning on immediately recalling him when rosters expand today.</p>
<p>Blazek had a great year in the minors in 2013, posting a 1.97 ERA and striking out 10.2 batters per nine innings over 36 appearances between AA and AAA. Before the season John Sickels rated him as a C prospect, and here's an excerpt from his blurb in <a href="http://www.johnsickels.net">the 2013 Prospect Book</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Blazek was a surprise addition to the 40-man roster this past off-season. A 35th round pick back in 2007 out of high school in Las Vegas, he hasn't shown up on prospect lists given the very deep nature of the Cardinals farm system, plus his own mediocre performance record. However, something clicked last year when he moved into relief at Springfield: He posted a 2.59 ERA with a 60/14 K/BB in 49 innings with just 31 hits allowed. Note the outstanding K/IP and H/IP marks. If he maintains that in 2013, he could slot very nicely into the St. Louis bullpen at some point.</p>
</blockquote>
<h5>EDIT: Blazek is indeed the player the Brewers will receive for Axford, <a href="https://twitter.com/Haudricourt/status/374223671436800000" target="_blank">according to Haudricourt</a>.</h5>
https://www.brewcrewball.com/2013/9/1/4682436/brewers-september-callupsKyle Lobner2013-08-30T15:20:10-05:002013-08-30T15:20:10-05:00Getting melancholy about John Axford
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/j_U0lXwuBg0kCQW9fM-R6NyHs5E=/0x0:1000x667/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/18709127/128774469.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Jonathan Daniel</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As John Axford walks out the door, he takes a little piece of Brewer history with him.</p> <p>By now you've probably heard that the <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Brewers</a> announced a trade this morning, sending <span>John Axford</span> to the <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Cardinals</a> for a player to be named later. The analytical part of my brain thinks it's a good decision, especially if <a href="https://twitter.com/Haudricourt/status/373475376946622464">Tom Haudricourt is right</a> when he says the Brewers were almost certainly going to non-tender the veteran reliever this winter. Getting something, anything of value for a player who was otherwise going to leave for nothing is a good move. We won't know how good, of course, until we see what the Brewers get back.</p>
<p>In the meantime, though, the emotional part of my brain went into my closet and dug out a 2011 NL Central Championship t-shirt. With Axford gone, consider for a moment the 25 players who appeared in a game as a Brewer in that postseason, less than 24 months ago:</p>
<p><b>Gone: </b><span>Casey McGehee</span>, <span>Craig Counsell</span>, Francisco Rodriguez, <span>George Kottaras</span>, Jerry Hairston Jr., John Axford, <span>Kameron Loe</span>, <span>LaTroy Hawkins</span>, <span>Mark Kotsay</span>, <span>Nyjer Morgan</span>, <span>Prince Fielder</span>, <span>Randy Wolf</span>, <span>Shaun Marcum</span>, <span>Takashi Saito</span>, <span>Zack Greinke</span>.</p>
<p><b>Still here: </b><span>Carlos Gomez</span>, <span>Jonathan Lucroy</span>, <span>Marco Estrada</span>, <span>Rickie Weeks</span> (out for season), Ryan Braun (out for season), <span>Taylor Green</span> (out for season), <span>Yovani Gallardo</span></p>
<p><b>Possibly on the way out: </b><span>Chris Narveson</span> (due to become a minor league free agent), <span>Corey Hart</span> (out for season, free agent after season)</p>
<p><b>Gone, then back again: </b><span>Yuniesky Betancourt</span></p>
<p>15 members of the best Brewer team of my lifetime are already gone, less than two years after the team's final game, and two more may be gone after <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-series" class="sbn-auto-link">the World Series</a>. Even among the players who are still here, three are out for the season, one stands a strong chance of being traded this winter (Gallardo) and one is Yuniesky Betancourt.</p>
<p>Thinking about it this way makes October of 2011 feel really far away. We'll always remember the great moments from that season, but the players involved have largely moved on. That's how things work in the world of sports, of course, and there's not much that can be done to prevent it. But that knowledge isn't enough to keep me from getting a little nostalgic today as one of the key players from that team walks out the door for the last time.</p>
https://www.brewcrewball.com/2013/8/30/4677058/brewers-john-axford-trade-reactionKyle Lobner2013-08-30T10:26:16-05:002013-08-30T10:26:16-05:00Brewers trade John Axford to Cardinals for PTBNL
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aD3CjMO82cQLra_uouk1FS5gLJM=/0x184:3227x2335/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/18690289/20130824_kkt_bk2_338.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And like that, the Axford era in Milwaukee was over.</p> <p>Last night Tom Haudricourt reported the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> were working on a deal to trade a reliever, and it turns out he was right: This morning they announced they've dealt <span>John Axford</span> to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a> for a player to be named later.</p>
<p>Axford will likely always be best remembered for his lights-out stretch as a closer during the Brewers' NL Central championship run in 2011, where he set a franchise record with 46 saves. He's struggled to live up to that expectation since then, though, posting a 4.57 ERA over 137 appearances since the start of the 2012 season. He's recorded 35 saves over the last two years but has been removed from the closer role for at least part of each of those seasons.</p>
<p>Axford (106) and Dan Plesac (133) are the only Brewers in franchise history to record over 100 saves. He's eighth on the Brewer all-time list with 268 games pitched, and sixth with 268 relief appearances. Among pitchers who threw at least 250 innings, Axford is the only Brewer ever to record more than ten strikeouts per nine innings (10.87).</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewGruman/status/373465315759628288">Andrew Gruman is reporting</a> that <span>Alfredo Figaro</span> will rejoin the team to fill Axford's roster spot.</p>
<p>As for the return for Axford, all we know at this point is that we don't know much right now. <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamMcCalvy/status/373473525295628289">Adam McCalvy talked to Doug Melvin</a> and wasn't able to get any kind of confirmation about the type of player coming back, but Melvin did say he expects to name the player next week.</p>
https://www.brewcrewball.com/2013/8/30/4675986/brewers-cardinals-john-axford-tradeKyle Lobner