LHP Scott Schoeneweis Released; Latest -- Joins Red Sox (and makes the team)

[Mass Haas]

Rotoworld update

A bit of a relief, actually, for most Brewer fans. Hopefully Scott has a good life ahead with his kids despite the loss of his wife last summer.

[sheethead]

I would be relieved if Stetter was showing better this spring. I didn't think Schoeneweis was going to make the club, but I wish I had more confidence in a situational lefty at this point.

[endaround]

Really don't know why they decided to play around with Stetter's delivery point.

[JohnBriggs12]

I would be relieved if Stetter was showing better this spring. I didn't think Schoeneweis was going to make the club, but I wish I had more confidence in a situational lefty at this point.

I'm not concerned. Braddock showed enough this spring to be a viable alternative if Stetter struggles (and I think he'll be all right) and at least either Parra or Narveson is going to be in the pen.. Right now it looks like it's down to Suppan or Villanueva for the 12th pitcher and they're leaning toward Suppan because Villanueva has options.

 

Schoeneweis will probably find a job somewhere. Old lefty relievers generally do.

[And That]

Schoeneweis is upset over his release.

 

He certainly deserves the right to be pissed off about being released, but he seems to be blaming this at least in part on the stigma of his wife dying last year. I don't know about that.

 

"I'm a big-league player," he said. "My wife died last year. That has

nothing to do with me as a baseball player. To have to start over and be

penalized doesn't make sense to me."

[JohnBriggs12]

Schoeneweis is upset over his release.

 

He certainly deserves the right to be pissed off about being released, but he seems to be blaming this at least in part on the stigma of his wife dying last year. I don't know about that.

 

"I'm a big-league player," he said. "My wife died last year. That has

nothing to do with me as a baseball player. To have to start over and be

penalized doesn't make sense to me."

He should have done his homework prior to signing with the Brewers. He never had an inside track on a job. Brewers pen was pretty full when he signed and they had 7 guys vying for rotation spots including 2 lefties with no options. Brewers did him a favor by showcasing him at least.

[battlekow]

He certainly deserves the right to be pissed off about being released, but he seems to be blaming this at least in part on the stigma of his wife dying last year. I don't know about that.

Reading the rest of his quotes -- "I'm not out of shape; I'm not injured. I had something happen off the

field that I couldn't control. There should be a job out there for me

somewhere." -- it sounds like he's saying that his poor performance last year was because of the death of his wife and that he's still the same somewhat-effective LOOGY-licious pitcher he's always been. Maybe he is, but as has been said, the Brewers already have a few newer and better models. Anyway, I don't think he's making an argument that he's being discriminated against because of his wife's death.

[endaround]

If Beimel had to take a minor league deal despite being a better LOOGY Schoenweiss was always going to have trouble.

[And That]

Anyway, I don't think he's making an argument that he's being discriminated against because of his wife's death.

From McCalvy's blog:

 

"I appreciate the platform to come in and realize those things and

to realize that I am a better version of myself than I have been for the

last three or four years. It's just ironic that I can't get a job

because my wife died. It doesn't make much sense to me."

 

I don't know if discriminated is the right word, but it looks to me like he feels there is a stigma about the situation that is keeping him from getting a job.

[Diskono]

I didn't know Cardinals hats were made out of tin foil.

[TooLiveBrew]

From McCalvy's blog:

 

"The only regret I have is that I wasted a month of my time," Schoeneweis said while packing his bags at Maryvale Baseball Park. "I didn't have a chance to make the team. That's what I learned today."

...

"I'm a big league pitcher and I shouldn't have to prove anything," Schoeneweis said. "This will be my 12th year in the big leagues and I wasn't injured [last season], I wasn't out of the game because my skills diminished. I just had to prove to myself that I wanted to play and [be sure] it was OK with my family. I am OK with all of those things.

The sense of delusion here on Schoenweis's part is strange to me. As JB noted, most fans could see from the start that there was no readily-identifiable role for Scott here. On top of that, he 'shouldn't have to prove anything'? That's just an off-putting sense of entitlement to me. I know (kinda) what he meant, but that's a bit of a slap in the face to other players out there. This isn't Mariano Rivera here.

[LS Brewer]

I am no organizational-apologist but what is it with these aged-veterans and their sense of entitlement? Where does Schoenweis get the idea that he is somehow owed a spot on the roster? He cannot possibly think that he is more valuable than Parra and/or Narveson, one of whom will be the second lefty in the 'pen this year. I find it incredible that he can be in the league this long and not understand how things are.

[Thurston Fluff]

dude has had a tough year or so. It took my sister in law more than a year to think clearly after my brother died. After a year of basically revolving around a tragedy it's not all that easy to just move on without letting it effect the daily thought process more than it should.

I'm pretty willing to give him a pass on this. I think it's less entitlement than it is being forced to think/deal about something day in day out every hour of the day for a year then not being able to shut that thought process out all at once.

Good luck Scott I hope you catch on somewhere else. More than that I hope you reach a sense of normalcy sometime soon so you can truly move on as well.

[zzzmanwitz]

Yeah, this is a pretty weak response. Its not like no other teams will see him pitch. If he did well enough to be picked up by another team, he will be.

[RockCoCougars]

I'm glad to see this move. I think this has something more to do with his 83 mph fastball than his wife. He might be a good guy going through a tough time, but the goal here is to win baseball games. Hopefully this is a good sign that Suppan is next.

[AJAY]

It can't be easy to lose your wife and then lose your job too. I can appreciate the difficult transition he is going through, and I am sure he is very frustrated at how much his life has changed so quickly. However, I don't agree with his assessment of the situation. The Brewers have a much deeper pitching staff this year, and Schoeneweis was clearly not going to win a roster spot. He knew what the competition was heading into spring training, and perhaps he should have signed a minor league deal with another team that wasn't as deep in competition. I still hope he finds something and I wish him well. Give the Brewers credit for releasing early so that he still has time to audition for another team. By the way, he needs to pitch better too.

[hawing]

I wonder how many minutes elapsed between Scott getting the news and a reporter asking him what he thought. I know I wouldn't necessarily be thinking the most level-headed thoughts in the immediate aftermath of that kind of news (particularly not if the last year had gone as horribly for me as it has for him).

[MNBrew]

I appreciate the complexity & difficulty of SS's situation. But for a guy that signed a minor-league contract, and did so that late in the off-season, it should've been incredibly obvious that he had no inside track on anything. But he had as good a shot of making the Brewers as he did making about any other team. The saddest thing about the situation is that he just plain pitched poorly (of course, it's also sad, the fact that he can't see that as being why he's not still battling for a spot on the Brewers' roster).

 

Nice idea to bring him to camp. Multiple scenarios existed where he could've made the team. It's just that none of those really came close to happening.

[Invader3K]

Guy just sounds like he either needs some sort of counseling, or to just retire and try a new career. It obviously sucks what has happened to him in his personal life, but that doesn't entitle him to a job on a professional baseball team.

[Diskono]

If we want to get into spring training stats, he did have 10 strikeouts to only 2 walks in those 7 innings. He probably would have been given more serious consideration if he were only competing against Stetter, but he was really competing with Parra and Narveson too.

 

Therefore, he should blame Jeff Suppan for his release.

[Nottso]

Therefore, he should blame Jeff Suppan for his release.

I predict that that will end up as someone's signatue in the near future.

[CheezWizHed]

Therefore, he should blame Jeff Suppan for his release.

That with his 6+ ERA in ST and a career ERA of 4.97... Not exactly what you look for in a BP arm, let alone a LOOGY...

[Thurston Fluff]

But for a guy that signed a minor-league contract, and did so that late in the off-season, it should've been incredibly obvious that he had no inside track on anything.

 

I think that was more or less his complaint. He thought he shouldn't have been a late off season, non roster invitee type of guy. Obviously he was pretty busy in his own world so perhaps that is why he didn't notice it wasn't his wife's death that made him such. 38 year old loogys with a career 4.97 ERA are non roster invitees these past couple years. In years past he would have been an automatic guaranteed 3 year contract type.

[TooLiveBrew]

Not exactly what you look for in a BP arm, let alone a LOOGY...

 

His career slash line vs. LHB is pretty good, though -- .227/.301/.304/.606

[MessiahRp]

Per Ian Browne, the Red Sox signed Schoeneweis to a minor league deal with an invite to camp. Also they released Brian Shouse last week.

 

http://browniepoints.mlblogs.com/