April / May / June Transaction Thread

[Mass Haas]

Forgot to mention that in order to make room for the return of R.J. Swindle to Nashville, pitcher Wes Littleton was placed on the Helena roster, in some sort of paper move by the Brewers (scroll to last page of Nashville media notes). We'll see how that unfolds, but Littleton is not on the Nashville roster or D.L. at this time.

[Mass Haas]

Didn't see it mentioned but Wes Littleton is showing on the Helena roster per Baseball America

 

Wow minigoon, a minute apart. But I knew about this yesterday and forgot to post http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif. Thanks!

 

 

[Mass Haas]

From Brian Massey in Huntsville:

The Milwaukee Brewers and Huntsville Stars announced today INF Michael Garciaparra has been activated from the disabled list and promoted to Nashville.

 

Garciaparra will be in uniform for Nashville's game tonight.

 

This will backfill the open roster spot when Carlos Corporan was promoted from AAA, but expect more as the Sounds would still need a catcher to backup Angel Salome.

[Mass Haas]

From Brian Massey in Huntsville:

The Milwaukee Brewers and Huntsville Stars announced today INF Michael Garciaparra has been activated from the disabled list and promoted to Nashville.

 

Garciaparra will be in uniform for Nashville's game tonight.

 

This will backfill the open roster spot when Carlos Corporan was promoted from AAA, but expect more as the Sounds would still need a catcher to backup Angel Salome.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Media Notes:

CORPORAN EARNS FIRST BIG LEAGUE CALL-UP: Catcher Carlos Corporan was promoted to the Major Leagues for the first time in his career today after Brewers catcher Mike Rivera was placed on the disabled list with a left ankle injury. Corporan, who had his contract purchased to fill the final opening on Milwaukee's 40-man roster, was hitting .333 (7-for-21) with three RBIs and seven walks in eight games with the Sounds to start the season. To fill his spot on the Nashville roster, catcher Patrick Arlis has been transferred to the Sounds from Helena. He has yet to appear in a game this season after being signed as a minor league free agent on April 17.

GARCIAPARRA JOINS SOUNDS; ALMONTE PLACED ON TEMPORARY INACTIVE LIST: Infielder Michael Garciaparra has joined the Sounds after beginning the season at the Brewers' extended spring training camp in Arizona. Last season, he hit .340 (35-for-103) in 44 games for Double-A Huntsville. Garciaparra, the younger brother of Oakland A's infielder Nomar Garciaparra, fills the roster spot of infielder Erick Almonte, who has been placed on the Sounds' temporary active list while home in the Dominican Republic to join his wife for the birth of the couple's child.

[battlekow]

Details on the Lambertus suspension from Baseball America:

Major League Baseball announced today that it has suspended Brewers minor league righthander Pedro Lambertus for 50 games. He tested positive for metabolites of Boldenone, a performance-enhancing substance.

The 20-year-old, who signed with the Brewers out of the Dominican Republic in 2006, was 0-1, 4.91 with three strikeouts and three walks through 3 2/3 innings, covering three relief appearances, for low Class A Wisconsin.

[battlekow]

Apparently the Brewers added a ten-game suspension of their own on top of the 50-gamer from MLB:

The Brewers tacked on their own 10-game suspension, according to general manager Doug Melvin.

 

"You're always disappointed when any player is suspended anymore," Melvin said. "They're all educated enough that it shouldn't happen."

[Mass Haas]

To fill the open roster spot at high-A, LHP Zach Braddock has been activated from the Brevard County disabled list, as he's working his way back from nerve-related arm surgery.

 

Sweet! The already most interesting (and productive) affiliate roster thus far gets a nice surprise addition.

[Never Outhustled]

Its very cool seeing Braddock back. His velocity was up last year, but his command was off. Poor command is normal with a bum elbow. Now that its fixed, he could really move this year. His upside is huge.

[Mass Haas]

News via Huntsville:

The Milwaukee Brewers and Huntsville Stars announced today that INF Adam Heether has been assigned to Huntsville.

 

Heether spent parts of the 2005 and 2006 seasons and all of the 2007 season in Huntsville. He spent 2008 and the beginning of this season in Nashville (AAA).

 

Also, yesterday (April 30) the Brewers assigned Stars 1B Chris Errecart to single-A Brevard County.

 

Heether will be in uniform for the Stars for tonight's doubleheader against the Tennessee Smokies.

 

No word yet on a corresponding move for Brevard County to free up that roster spot.

 

You would think Heether would be in line for more AB's in Huntsville, as the AA team gets even more "veteran". Adam must be counting the days until he hits minor league free agency next October and can select an organization that might best provide an opportunity, given that several should be interested for a AAA spot.

 

Unless this is a move because Chris Errecart needs to DH for a while, Errecart has definitely dropped off, or nearly off, the prospect radar scereen.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Media Notes:

 

'HEE' GONE; ALMONTE REJOINS SOUNDS: Infielder Adam Heether was transferred to Double-A Huntsville this morning after opening the year by batting .375 (9-for-24) in eight games for the Sounds. His departure clears a roster spot for returning infielder Erick Almonte, who was on the Sounds' temporary inactive list for the past two days while home in the Dominican Republic to join his wife for the birth of the couple's child. Almonte has batted .263 (10-for-38) with six RBIs in 15 contests for Nashville in 2009.

[Mass Haas]

To make room for Chris Errecart in Brevard, catcher Brett Whiteside was transferred to extended spring training and the Helena roster.

[Mass Haas]

CF Logan Schafer came out of Wednesday's Brevard County game early on. He chased down a line drive double in the bottom of the first and remained in the game for one more batter after that, but did not take the field in the bottom of the 2nd. It's going to be difficult to learn more given the lack of media coverage in the FSL.

Well, something happened, because Schafer hits the DL, and catcher Brett Whiteside returns to the Brevard roster from Maryvale. Hopefully we'll see Schafer back in one week -- that would be a big blow if he's out a long period of time.

[BrewCrew Fan]

Brett was never sent to Maryvalle but was dropped from the Brevard roster and added to the Helena roster so this made for an easy switch to add him back on the Brevard roster.

[Mass Haas]

MLB.com's Adam McCalvy is doing a great job following up on some of these DL moves for us --

 

Outfield prospect Logan Schafer was placed on the DL at advanced Class A Brevard County on Friday after he tweaked his groin, apparently on a defensive play.

[Mass Haas]

Nick Tyson up, Michael Bowman down at Wisconsin -- click on Chris Mehring's player links for stat pages.

 

Bowman had fared pretty well in four starts, with OK (decent) peripherals, unable to limit the unearned runs when defense fails. So this is a bit of a surprise. Tyson needs to show he can pitch well outside the Pioneer League.

[Never Outhustled]

Thats definately a strange move. There's a pitcher on Wisconson's roster that hasn't earned the right to be there, and Bowman has.

[TheCrew07]

Stepping off of the Bowman bandwagon which I'm firmly planted on and trying to be as objective as possible this moves makes absolutely no sense to me. I think we all know the pitcher that should have moved to make room for Tyson and it wasn't Bowman. Why not move another reliever rather than a SP?

 

If you're going to move a SP why not base it on performance? I just don't see how Bowman's performance warranted this move in anyway. Mike's walks have been his biggest issue, but that's an issue with everyone on the WI staff for the most part. Very confusing move, and one I'm not particularly happy about.

 

On the flip side, I've been wondering all year why Tyson wasn't back in A ball, I was going to ask if I missed a blurb about him getting injured in ST. He's another guy who's K/9 is fantastic but he gets hit around much more than someone with his lofty K totals usually does.

[And That]

Where in the world is Josh Romanski?

[Teatoe993]

Looks like the move is injury related. Click on Chris' link again. he has an update. Looks like they're sending him down instead of the DL.

 

EDIT: Bowman left his last start with a blister. He has been moved to Helena's roster instead of the DL until the situation resolves itself. He will be staying with the team and is hoped to be back soon.

[Mass Haas]

To make room for RHP Wes Littleton's return to the Nashville roster, fellow reliever Juan Sandoval is transferred back to Huntsville after four AAA appearnances.

 

This should mean a corresponding move will be announced later today for the Stars to free up a spot.

[Mass Haas]

Baseball America reports the Brewers have signed 22-year-old RHP Ivan Rusova, by way of the Ukraine, Cuba, Newfoundland, and Toronto (2005 article explains that).

 

Plenty of video available on the kid the Pirates released this past April after a season in his system. He saw time in the Giants' system in 2006 and 2007.

 

Career statistics show 36 walks in 29 innings.

[Mass Haas]

We have no idea why the Brewers are choosing to get creative with temporary assignments to the Helena roster this year (something we don't believe they can do once the Pioneer League season begins), but like Nashville's Wes Littleton earlier, Huntsville RHP Josh Wahpepah has been assigned to Helena in a paper move, to make room for returning reliever Juan Sandoval.

 

Wahpepah last pitched on the 7th (not unusual given all the AA rainouts) and has walked 15 in 17.1 innings. Not sure if he's headed to Maryvale for workouts or whether he'll remain in Huntsville for side sessions with pitching coach John Curtis.

[Mass Haas]

At Brevard, OF Logan Schafer bounces back quickly from a tweaked groin and is activated from the DL. To make room, RHP Rigoberto Almonte is transferred to the Wisconsin roster.

 

No word quite yet on a corresponding roster move for the Timberrattlers.

[Mass Haas]

With Michael Bowman set to be transferred back to the Wisconsin active roster (his blister issue looks to be past him), we could get word of as many as eight roster moves (four players added, four removed) for the TimberRattlers, to open their homestand. I'm sure Chris Mehring will be busy for us later today.