The Future Helena and Arizona Brewers -- 30th round 3B/OF Dedrick Signs

[battlekow]

Thank you guys for the compliments. Hey, who is Jose Garcia, outfielder? I only know Jose Garcia, pitcher.

[colbyjack]

The Brewers signed a Dominican player by the name of Jose Ricardo Garcia last year as part of their international free agent haul. He is a very physical OF with power potential and some speed that drew a lot of rave reviews from BA and other resources, and was one of two promising Dominican signings to go along with Hitaniel Arias. I just noticed that he's not part of Brewerfan.net's player index page, so I'm not sure if that is an oversight or if something happened to him that I'm not aware of.

 

Speaking of which, I don't expect the Brewers to be as active on this market this year, but you never know given their activity the past three years (Pascual/Peralta in '05, Yohannis Perez in '06, Arias/Garcia last year). BA just reported on some of the top players available this year, and here's their general overview, although few players are mentioned:

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/international-affairs/2008/266316.html

 

Inoa reportedly is getting prepared to get paid crazy money, possibly breaking the $2.4M Wily Mo Pena received several years ago. We're sure to hear more and more about the players eligible to be signed over the next several weeks.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/artman2live/uploads/1/minoa08260200ck.jpg

Michel Inoa, Baseball America

 

Plus, there's word of a Cuban teenager that has defected and has already landed in the states, Dayan Viciedo. If his advisor/agent were smart, he would have defected to the Dominican Republic, where he would have been declared a free agent once filing the paperwork. Since he arrived in Miami, he may not be eligible to sign as a NDFA, as this BA blog points out:

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=1141#more-1141

[battlekow]

Thanks, colby.

Inoa reportedly is getting prepared to get paid crazy money, possibly breaking the $2.4M Wily Mo Pena received several years ago. We're sure to hear more and more about the players eligible to be signed over the next several weeks.

Apparently, the Giants have an oral agreement with Rafael Rodriguez for $2.5M. Rodriguez is the second-rated Dominican outfielder, third-rated international outfielder, and fourth-rated international player overall.

[Mass Haas]

I just noticed that he's not part of Brewerfan.net's player index page, so I'm not sure if that is an oversight or if something happened to him that I'm not aware of.

 

There were a few Latin signings this spring that did not make it into the Brewer media guide. I've been waiting for MiLB.com to add them, so I can get their vitals for the Index page. I'll provide a list of these players later today.

[battlekow]

This quote from an interview with SIU catcher Mark Kelly would seem to indicate that a Cody Adams signing announcement is imminent:

DE: Do you think you could hit Cody Adams?

MK: Oh I'd own Cody! No, he's a good pitcher. I'd love to say it would be a power-power matchup but that's not true either. I'd probably just get a weak single but at least I'd get a hit. It would be interesting, I'd like to think I'd do alright against him but he's pretty good.

DE: He's (Adams) got some big money coming his way now after signing with the Milwaukee Brewers. Does he have any outstanding debts your going to talk to him about paying up now?

MK: Well considering I got him to this point, and I made him what he is today he owes me something! No, I'm just messin.' He's always been a good guy and good teammate and he never let his success get to his head. I'm just happy to see him do well and hopefully he can keep it going.

[Bambis Bombers]

Cody Adams signs

 

Adams signs with Brewers

Link (while active)

 

By Shane McDonough, shaner@qconline.com

In less than a month, former Sherrard High School prep Cody Adams has gone from Southern Illinois University junior to professional baseball player.

Drafted by Milwaukee in the second round (62nd pick overall) of the Major League Baseball draft, Adams signed a contract with the Brewers on Thursday. This weekend, he will join the Helena Brewers in Montana as they start their season Tuesday in the Pioneer League. Helena is one of two Brewers Rookie League teams.

``It took five days to get something hammered out; it's kind of a relief to get it over with,'' said Adams. ``I was getting kind of antsy, I just wanted to get the show on the road.''

Adams did not divulge any contract details. He did say that the numbers compare to, and are even a little better, than what the 62nd pick got in the 2007 draft. That draft pick was Boston infielder Ryan Dent, who inked for a $571,000 signing bonus.

Today, Adams and his parents, Scott and Diana Adams, will be driving to Milwaukee to watch the Brewers host the Minnesota Twins in an interleague contest and meet with the Brewers' front office staff. Then Adams will make the trip to Montana to start what what he hopes is a quick trip back to Milwaukee - next time in uniform.

[pogokat]

dang, that really was imminent

[Mass Haas]

battlekow's quest of interviewing everyone ever associated with the Brewer organization extends to 2007 draft pick, highly-regarded RHP Cody Scarpetta.

Nice job as always. BrewCrewBall is the beneficiary of your work specifically, but all of us as Brewer diehards.

[DHonks]

also, what about Shane Hill? He was a sleeper of mine, just like Garrison had been

[TheCrew07]

As good as the scouting dept has done Domestically and in Canada, the Latin scouting has really let the team down. They've paid an awfully lot of money, for hardly any returns to this point. I really don't have much faith in those signings anymore, sort of like drafting HS pitchers in the first round....

[Mass Haas]

Part One focuses on Brett Lawrie, Part Two the other selections

 

Jim Powell & Jim Callis, Executive Editor of Baseball America Magazine, Part 1 of 2

 

Jim Powell & Jim Callis, Executive Editor of Baseball America Magazine, Part 2 of 2

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Newest Brewers report to orientation

By Tom Singer / MLB.com

PHOENIX -- If baseball is young dreamers' promised land, the parched sun-baked complex of manicured fields in the middle of a Phoenix suburb is heaven's gate.

They've come from all corners of the map, and from all rungs of last week's First-Year Player Draft, for their professional baptism. They've stepped off a week-long merry-go-round, which began spinning out of control with their names being called during the two days of the Draft, and into the blue "Milwaukee Brewers equipment" T-shirts.

"Now it's like a job," says Maverick Lasker, a right-handed pitcher. "A totally different lifestyle. It's going to be a grind, and this is a chance to learn about it and prepare for it."

"I can't wait to break some bats," Liam Ohlmann, another right-hander, says with the glee of someone who heretofore had only pitched into the rigid arcs of aluminum bats.

It is Friday. It is the first day of a fast-paced two-day mini camp-slash-mixer for the greenest members of the Brewers organization. It is, quite literally, the first day of the professional lives of kids drafted last week.

Not everyone here is a recent draftee; the 60-some participating players include already "veterans" of one of the Brewers' two rookie-league teams, most of them Latin Americans.

And hardly every recent draftee is here. Some, like No. 1 pick Brett Lawrie, the high school catcher from British Columbia, will take a while to sign. Others, like outfielder Cutter Dykstra, simply couldn't arrive in time for the first morning.

But everyone here is getting a crash course in Brewers baseball and in the professional life. This quilt of green diamonds five miles northwest of Chase Field is an Ellis Island, where new emigrees from amateur ball gather before dispersing to various destinations. It is a boot camp in the computer sense of the word "boot": launch.

"It gives everyone a good feel for what to expect," says Reid Nichols, the Brewers' director of player development. "We have all of our [roving Minor League] instructors here, and they talk to everyone. So they all get uniform instructions on the basic way to do things, rather than hearing it from different people once they get to their clubs.

"They learn what we expect -- and what they should expect from us."

The Brewers aren't unique in holding such orientation camps, of course. Concurrently, the A's are having their own a few miles away in Phoenix, for instance. Others flash through Arizona and Florida.

There is a good reason these baseball springboards are barely noticed. They take place in the flash-forward vacuum between the Draft and the start of Rookie League seasons -- sometimes, a span of all of 10 days.

Some of the Brewbabes here will stay right here -- the Maryvale Brewers' Arizona League season begins Monday. Others will be off to Helena, Mont., where the Pioneer League season starts Tuesday.

That gives Nichols and staff precious hours, not days, to learn everything about their new charges for which there is no entry in scouting reports.

"Scouts do a pretty good job these days," says Nichols, an understatement for an organization which has excelled in that area for many years. "We haven't been caught off-guard by many things.

"But these next couple of days, we'll have individual sit-downs with the guys ... find out about their families, where and how they grew up, their lives at home. We try to gather any personal info that could affect them."

The skull sessions can wait. The skill sessions take precedence.

Now, they disperse to fields with Hall of Fame names -- Rollie Fingers Field, Don Sutton Field, Robin Yount Field, Paul Molitor Field -- to begin the blending process.

Individual skills which caught scouts' eyes now undergo the mesh test. Second basemen and shortstops -- Is there a combination that could remain intact for the next 15 years? Who knows? -- orchestrate for the first time.

Fielding drills proceed under game situations, without a lot of chatter. There are a lot of kicked grounders, dropped throws, other muffs; it's about as smooth as sandpaper.

For "repeaters," the clock has slowed down.

"I learned a lot of things last year but, now, this is just a chance to ease back into the flow," says Joey Paciorek, a corner infielder who batted .281 in 40 games last summer in the Arizona League.

For others, the novelty still glows as bright as the sun.

"What I'm really looking forward to is my first professional game under the lights," says Ohlmann, the 20th-round pick out of Manchester Community College in Connecticut. "Where I'm from, we didn't play any night games."

Nor, any games following 110-degree days. Ohlmann will also stay here and pitch in the Arizona League.

As will Lasker, who is cool with the heat. He lives about 20 miles away, a product of Phoenix's O'Connor High School. He is named after the Tom Cruise character in "Top Gun" -- not, one must admit, bad karma for a pitcher.

"To me, 'professional' means everything is run the right way. And no excuses," says Lasker, taken with the Brewers' fifth-round pick. "You've got to be very responsible. You've got to take care of your own business, because you won't have someone else helping you anymore."

Various things pave that transitional road. Some are tangible, such as the metal-to-wood switch to which Ohlmann had alluded. That transition actually can be more drastic for pitchers than for batters, who customarily rehearse for it by using wood in batting practice as they approach the Draft.

"In college and high school, pitchers tend to pitch away from contact, because of the aluminum bats," explains Nichols. "Here, we encourage them to pitch to contact, to trust their stuff."

But most of the slippery footing is mental.

"I'm preparing myself for the season, for the mental regimen," Ohlmann says. "It will be completely different from what you find in college. I know that going in. Being here gives me a chance to learn a lot about what I can expect."

And what he can look forward to.

Ohlmann's zealous anticipation of turning some bats into splinters was relayed to the steward farmer of this bumper crop.

"Good," Nichols beams. "That's what we like to hear. That's the attitude we want from pitchers."

Cutter Dykstra could open the Pioneer League season with Helena. (Photo by Larry Goren/Long Beach State)

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2008/06/14/eUoMHqBg.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Nice, that last article was a good read.

Starting in a day or two, we'll kick off the "Your 2008 Helena Brewers" and "Your 2008 Arizona Brewers" individual threads.

[Mass Haas]

So far, MiLB.com has added a few Player Pages -- assigned to Helena (it appears, this is still a fluid situation) are RHP's Michael Bowman and Mark Willinsky, catcher Derrick Alfonso, infielders John Delaney and Jose Duran, and outfielder Cutter Dykstra.

 

Those are the only MiLB.com pages thus far from the new draft crop.

 

It's also the first confirmation of 6th round pick Jose Duran signing, which was expected after Texas A&M's elimination from College World Series play.

 

More on Jose Duran, including colbyjack's Brewerfan.net Scouting Report, can be found here

[Mass Haas]

From the Toronto Sun:

Sarnia right-hander pitcher Nick Bucci of Team Ontario received a $50,000 US signing bonus from the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

Bucci was drafted in the 18th round.

[uwisfan]

Pretty good, but this line needs some work:

It is a boot camp in the computer sense of the word "boot": launch.

[dadofandrew]

Sending Cutter to Helena seems to be an immediate signal that the Brewers really like him, and think he will progress quickly for a HS kid.

[twobrewers]

Nice read on the Scarpetta interview.

 

I've been wondering what he has been up to. I was pretty excited to see the Brewers draft him last year. It is unfortunate that one of his first impressions of the Brewers was having his contract voided and renewed for a less amount - but hopefully he won't hold a grudge.

[Mass Haas]

BrewCrewBall Interviews 14th round catcher Corey Kemp

 

battlekow's been relentless this week, much appreciated...

[battlekow]

Tom Haudricourt with some draft pick news:

The Brewers have made a practice of signing their first-round draft picks as soon as possible and getting their pro careers started. That might not happen this year with Canadian prep catcher Brett Lawrie, taken with the 16th pick

Lawrie is committed to playing for the Canadian national team in the World Junior Baseball Championship in Edmonton from July 25 to Aug. 3. The junior team will gather July 13 to start preparing for that tournament, including a series of exhibition games.

There's also a chance Lawrie would be asked to play for Team Canada in the Olympics in Beijing in August. At 18, he would be quite young for that squad, which will be picked over the next week or so.

And there's also the matter of the Aug. 15 signing deadline for all draft picks, a measure enacted last year to avoid prolonged holdouts.

"One way or another, it's going to be a busy summer for Brett," said his agent, Dan Lawson.

If Lawrie doesn't sign immediately, the Brewers have the comfort of knowing he'll be competing in international competition with wood bats, an invaluable experience. Lawson made it clear he expects his client to come to terms at some point.

The 17th player selected, California first baseman David Cooper, recently signed with Toronto for $1.5 million. Lawrie can be expected to top that figure because he has the leverage of a scholarship to Arizona State.

The Brewers signed the second of their first-round supplemental picks, San Francisco left-hander Evan Frederickson (35th overall), for $1.01 million, according to Baseball America. Second-round pick Cutter Dykstra (54th) signed for $737,000, according to BA.

The Brewers' other second-round pick, prep right-hander Seth Lintz of Lewisburg, Tenn., told his hometown newspaper that he received $900,000 to turn down his scholarship to Kentucky.

[Mass Haas]

Haudricourt's blurb about Seth Lintz truly cracks me up. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eyes.gif He writes below --

The Brewers' other second-round pick, prep right-hander Seth Lintz of Lewisburg, Tenn., told his hometown newspaper that he received $900,000 to turn down his scholarship to Kentucky.

Below is the copy and paste article and photo I took from an obscure google search as soon as it went online last Tuesday:

Lintz will sign with Milwaukee Brewers
Anthony S. Puca, Marshall (TN) Tribune Staff Writer

Marshall County High School's Seth Lintz will become the latest in a long line of Tiger baseball players to sign a major league baseball contract after being drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of the MLB draft.

Lintz, selected fifty third overall, won 23 games in his last two years and sported an 11-1 record with an earned run average of 1.33 in his senior season. He will sign on the dotted line Friday for $900,000 and a provision for a fully paid college education at the institution of his choice.

More, including colbyjack's Brewerfan.net Scouting Report, can be found here

Seth Lintz is off to Phoenix to begin his quest to reach the major leagues after signing with the Milwaukee Brewers this week.
Tribune photo by Louis J. Scheuchenzuber

http://www.marshalltribune.com/photos/11/54/35/1154353-H.jpg

Late Tuesday evening, Adam McCalvy wrote the following -- Adam has acknowledged that he enjoys getting these off-the-beaten-path links from sites such as ours:

According to the Marshall County (Tenn.) Tribune, second-round pick Seth Lintz, a prep right-hander, will sign later this week for $900,000 and a college education on the Brewers' tab.

Now also on Tuesday morning, I sent Haudricourt a note. I rarely email him, in fact, I can't remember the last time I reached out to him on anything, but with the new JS blog in place, and I've also enjoyed his archived twice-every-weekday radio stints, I figured he'd appreciate the heads up on Lintz. So I sent him this note:

Just posted on our minor league forum (about Lintz).

I'm sure the Brewers are thrilled that the kid let the numbers slip out to his hometown paper, considering there are so many other high picks to sign.

Jim G.
www.brewerfan.net

So earlier this (Saturday) afternoon, Haudricourt emails me this -- now keep in mind this is four days after we posted the article, and four days after MLB.com's McCalvy acknowledged the article.

The only problem with putting something on your website like that without fact checking it is that it might not be true. The Brewers deny that they've reached a deal with Lintz.

And now, just a few hours later, Haudricourt, copied for emphasis from earlier in this post, writes:

The Brewers' other second-round pick, prep right-hander Seth Lintz of Lewisburg, Tenn., told his hometown newspaper that he received $900,000 to turn down his scholarship to Kentucky.

Gee, Tom, how is that any different from what we did, except that it's 108 hours after we posted it?

I'm not paid to do this. I enjoy following the Brewers, both at the big league level and at their minor league system. If I see something that I find useful, I figure it's an extra two minutes to post it online for others to learn as well. I don't need to fact-check a direct quote from another reputable news organization -- it wasn't as if I linked to or copied from a political blog, now was it, Tom?

And for the record, earlier this morning, before I heard from Tom today, I emailed Anthony S. Puca of the Marshall County Tribune. I did so because in his original article he stated "read the entire story in Wednesday's edition of the Tribune." Now it looks like that newspaper may not place all the articles from its sports section online each day, so I emailed Mr. Puca this morning asking if a follow-up ran, and if it did, could he please email me the contents, because I had been checking back to that newspaper's site all week. I did not hear back from him today.

So I'm confused. What "facts" did Haudricourt check before writing that tonight? He tells me the Brewers deny reaching a deal with Lintz, but that's apparently only for me to know and not all his readers, because he conveniently didn't get that into his column on time.

Just for old times sake -- from Baseball America, December 3, 2003, in the middle of a perfectly good chat when he could have oh-so-very-easily just ignored this question yet chose to include it, and well, yes, the rest is history:

Q:	Jim from Columbia, MO asks: How can you have any credibility on these choices when you are a beat writer for the team?
http://www.baseballamerica.com/chat/assets/space_clear.gif
A:	Tom Haudricourt: What kind of question is that? You're questioning my credibility? I've covered the Brewers for all but two years since 1985. Who knows their system better than me? I talk with the BA guys all the time to make sure we're on the same page. Jim Callis and I talked extensively about how to rank the top prospects this year, who should be No. 1, etc. I have written for BA for many, many years and consider myself a pretty good authority on their farm system. I think the editors at BA agree or they wouldn't ask me to do the prospect lists. If you don't think I can be a harsh critic or discerning writer, just ask the Brewers. Sorry you have such a low opinion of beat writers. And besides, I'm just as much a national writer as a beat writer, sharing duties with Drew Olson. If you know somebody in the baseball writing profession who knows the Brewers and their system better than Drew and myself, I'd like to know who it is.

By the way, I'm not the Jim from Colombia, MO, but I wish I was.

[battlekow]

I like this new, nasty side of you, Mass.

[twobrewers]

It's comical to me that Haudricourt and Yost are not at all friendly with each other - since they both have very similar temperments.

 

Haudricourt gets very testy with his readers...a lot.

[colbyjack]

Jim, that's awesome. My already low opinion of Tom H creeped a few notches lower. How he is employed to do what he does still amazes me, and to me it shows you how little the MJS cares about their Brewers coverage. I'm guessing the Brewers vs. the Packers is similar to the Patriots vs. the Red Sox in Bean Town, even with the Patriots amazing success the past several years.

 

Can you imagine Jim Goulart as the Brewers beat writer? Not only is Mass consistent, but he clearly has a knack for words and writing in general and would absolutely school Tom H if he were in a similar position.

 

And with all due respect to one Mr. Jim Callis, just because you consult with him in regards to prospects doesn't really mean anything.

[Mass Haas]

The thing that amazes me is that Tom apparently fact-checked with the Brewers tonight on the Lintz signing, but only after he included the blurb in his column. So I learn of the denial via his email but none of his readers do. And he's taking us to task? Classic.

 

He must have had a very unique Journalism 101 class to employ that tactic.