Offseason Moves -- Japanese OF Tatsuya Ozeki

[pogokat]

it would be pretty cool to get house in AAA...but we are pretty much out of slots down there...

 

Melvin is excellent at getting these major league ready replacements at C in AAA...i just wish he would use one of them and fire moeller out of a cannon

[Mass Haas]

Exceedingly good news for fans of RHP Chris Saenz, back in the fold according to the Nashville site -- just made my day with this one:

 

Saenz, 24, sat out the 2005 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery performed on his right elbow in September 2004. The 2001 Brewers draft pick spent the majority of the 2004 campaign with Double-A Huntsville (5-5, 4.15 in 14 GS) but also made his Major League debut on April 24 of that year, allowing just two hits over six innings to earn a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in his lone career ML outing. In four minor league seasons, Saenz has posted a 20-20 record and 4.37 ERA in 99 games (44 starts).

 

RHP Chris Saenz' Career Statistics:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...aenz.shtml

 

On another note, the Brewers have signed another minor league free agent southpaw. Can't wait for the competition among them all to see if a true specialist nugget emerges -- you can't lump former Blue Jay stud prospect Zach Jackson in with the others, relief prospects all, but of course he's also a lefty. So joining Jason Kershner, Shane Nance, Justin Thompson, and Wil Rodriguez is:

 

LHP Clayton Andrews - The 27-year-old southpaw spent the majority of the 2005 season with Salt Lake (AAA-Angels), logging an 8-8 record and 6.31 ERA (86 ER / 122.2 IP) in 28 PCL games (20 starts). Initially selected by Toronto in the third round of the 1996 draft, Andrews joins his fourth organization with the Brewers, following stops in the Blue Jays, Reds, and Angels chains. The 10-year veteran appeared in eight games for Toronto in 2000 (1-2, 10.02).

 

Andrews has been a starting pitcher throughout his career, actually...

 

LHP Clayton Andrews Career Statistics:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...rews.shtml

 

Gord Ash traded a 22-year old Andrews in 2001, as detailed in this article, which also includes a reference to another future Brewer involved in that trade:

 

www.cincypost.com/2001/ma...31401.html

[colbyjack]

I'm very happy to see Saenz back. Thanks for continually scouring those roster reports Mass Haas.

 

House is an interesting possibility. IIRC, he seemed to threaten returning to WVU to resume his QB career almost every year he was in the Pirates' system. Now that he seems to have that part of his career behind him, I wonder if he may re-dedicate himself to baseball, mentally and physically. I don't think there is any question that the guy can hit, despite his year lay-off, so I think I would spend more time figuring what's going on upstairs with him than anything else.

[1e Corbeau]

I, too, am glad to see Saenz back in the fold. He was the one minor league free agent I'd hope we'd retain.

 

I know he had arm (shoulder? elbow?) problems, but can't remember if he had Tommy John or a rotator cuff/labrum repair.

 

Any update on his recovery situation would be greatly appreciated. (perhaps in the Requesting info on injured players thread, as to not hi-jack.) Back to the depth chart spread sheet again...

 

edit: um... d'oh!

 

Thanks, Mass...

[Mass Haas]

Simply re-read the post on Saenz a few posts up -- there's your answer...

[And That]

As I am wont to point out at about this time every year, the Brewers have a lot of pitchers assigned between AAA and the Majors - by my count this time around, 37. IIRC, that's a few fewer than recent years, but that's still a lot for about 24 roster spots and some trickle down to AA.

[Mass Haas]

Playing the 2006 version of Ryan Knox in the Nashville outfield:

 

OF Colin Porter - The 30-year-old journeyman joins his fifth organization in nine seasons with the Brewers in 2006 after splitting last season between the Yankees & Diamondbacks farm systems. In 97 combined games in 2005, the Univ. of Arizona product batted just .181 (57-for-315) with three home runs and 20 RBIs. Porter has spent the majority of the last five seasons at the Triple-A level, adding MLB stints with Houston in 2003 & St. Louis in 2004. The left-handed Porter ranked 6th in the PCL with a .320 average for New Orleans in 2003 and carries a .268 career mark in 878 minor league contests.

 

OF Colin Porter Career Statistics:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...rter.shtml

 

Also, and a tad more interesting:

 

RHP Corey Thurman - Thurman, 27, missed the majority of the 2005 campaign following shoulder surgery, making six August starts for the Florence (Ky.) Freedom of the independent Frontier League (2-3, 4.38). The right-hander, who has been limited to just 16 appearances over the last two years due to the shoulder problems, spent the entire 2002 season as well as a portion of 2003 with the Toronto Blue Jays. A Royals draft pick in 1996, Thurman enters his 11th pro season with his fifth different organization. He carries a 57-55 record and 4.02 ERA in 164 career minor league games (158 starts).

 

RHP Corey Thurman Career Statistics:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...rman.shtml

 

Thanks again to the kickin' Nashville Sounds site for the updates!

[burniebrewer]

Funny thing about the Corey Thurman signing. I had just read Mass' update yesterday and then got a call from my Dad coming home from the airport. He had just gotten back from a vacation at a Dominican Republic resort and Corey was also spending time there. He talked to him a few times and took some pictures with him. Sounds like Corey's got some velocity back after the surgery and is really excited to getting back to pitching.

[dadofandrew]

Porter could spend a couple years as a Mark Sweeney type.

 

Thurman is a nice former prospect to pick up for free.

[biedergb]

The thing that strikes me is that these guys (all the minor league FA's, not just these last two) are nice signing for AAA depth, and maybe a cup of coffee with a terrific spring training or overall season.

But a few years ago we were picking up these players and plugging them into the teams (especially pitchers like Bronswell Patrick, Brad Woodall, and others I have no longer created brain space to remember the names of).

-GBB

[Mass Haas]

More on Thurman --

 

Florence (Ky.) Freedom Press Release:

 

Florence's Starting Pitcher Corey Thurman was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday. He is being assigned to the Brewer's AA affiliate in Huntsville, Alabama.

 

Thurman went 2-3 with a 4.38 ERA. He started out rough when getting signed in August fresh off of shoulder surgery, but he settled down dominating his last 3 starts. Thurman also struck out 38 batters in 37 innings of work.

 

Corey is a former Major League player, the first former MLB player to play in the Frontier League. Thurman pitched for Toronto, until injuring his shoulder. Thurman is the 4th player in Freedom history to be signed by a Major League team. (Kevin Rival, Steve Pickerall, James Morrison are the other 3, all occuring in 2004) Good luck to Corey.

 

RHP Kevin Rival, released early last season, was a Brewer signing.

 

http://espn.go.com/i/mlb/profiles/players/6898.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Catcher J.R. House, whose tryout with Milwaukee was mentioned earlier in this thread, has officially signed with the Astros:

 

Charleston Daily Mail:

 

It's official -- J.R. House is a baseball player again.

 

The former Nitro High School record-setting quarterback has signed a minor league contract with the Houston Astros, one of a handful of Major League teams House worked out for the past couple of weeks.

 

House said he will report to the Astros' big league camp in Kissimmee, Fla., on Feb. 16.

 

The catcher expects to start the season at either Class AAA Round Rock (Texas) or AA Corpus Christi (Texas).

 

"It just depends on how I play," House said. "How rusty I am."

 

Specifics of his contract were not revealed.

 

House, who spent this past fall playing backup quarterback at West Virginia University, hasn't played baseball since the 2004 season, when he batted .288 with 15 homers and 49 RBI in 92 games for Class AAA Nashville, a Pittsburgh farm team.

 

The Pirates released the 26-year-old House, their fifth-round pick in the 1999 draft, prior to the start of the 2005 season. He was coming off shoulder surgery, one of four operations House has undergone since his pro baseball career began.

 

House said his shoulder and arm feel good.

 

House earned late-season call-ups to the Pirates twice -- in 2003 and 2004. He has appeared in six Major League games, with two hits in 10 at-bats.

[brewmann04]

to bad the brewers could have use another catcher in the upper system.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville site:

 

OF Carlos Valderrama - The 28-year-old speedy outfielder has been hampered by injuries throughout his career, having played in more than 100 games just three times in 11 pro seasons. He logged a career-best 130 games with Norwich (AA-Giants) in 2005 (.294, 33 2B, 58 RBI, 29 SB) and has recorded impressive numbers when healthy, posting a career .292 average in 797 games with 230 stolen bases in 291 attempts (79.0%). The Venezuelan was signed by the San Francisco Giants as an undrafted free agent in 1995 and played his first 11 seasons within the organization before inking with the Brewers for 2006. Valderrama has spent the bulk of the last three years at the Double-A level but gained his lone career Triple-A and Major League experience in 2003.

 

Carlos Valderrama Career Statistics:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...rama.shtml

 

The signings of outfield vets like Valderrama and Colin Porter speak to the lack of depth and productivity in Huntsville's outfield in 2005.

 

By the way, this Carlos is the baseball player:

 

http://www.mlb.com/sf/photo/2001_news/ph_news_valderramac2_288_120101.jpg

 

and not the wild-haired soccer legend:

 

http://www.planetworldcup.com/LEGENDS/valderrama.jpg

[ja002h]

Heck with Johnny Damon, I want that guy!

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers have signed RHP Steve Palazzolo. This will be the soon-to-be 24-year-old Palazzolo's first taste of affiliated ball, having pitched in the independent ranks in 2004 (Florence KY, Frontier League) and with more success in relief in 2005 with Worcester (MA) of the Can-Am League. Palazzolo was signed out of a recent tryout camp in Maryvale hosted by the Brewers to which he had received an invite.

 

Palazzolo is 6'10", 260 pounds! How about the Brewers place him on the same team as Eric "Mega" Thomas this spring?

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.worcestertornadoes.co...s/?id=3230

 

January 27, 2006 - Worcester, MA?The Worcester Tornadoes are pleased to announce that Steve Palazzolo; a key component to the Tornadoes championship run, has signed with the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

 

Palazzolo, 23, a native of North Reading, Massachusetts is making his first appearance in affiliated baseball after only two professional seasons.

 

Taking an unconventional route after graduating from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, whom he helped to four consecutive Northeast 10 championships and two appearances in the NCAA Division II World Series, Steve started his professional career with the Florence Freedom of the independent Frontier League. However, some of the best accomplishments of his young career occurred after joining the Tornadoes for the 2005 season.

 

As a member of the Can-Am champions, Steve compiled a record of 2 wins and 1 loss with an earned run average of 3.15; in addition Palazzolo compiled an impressive 43 strikeouts in just over 54 innings of work.

 

As he begins his career in affiliated baseball, Steve mentioned that he ?has no regrets about playing in the independent leagues first?. As well he would like to ?thank the fans and organization from Alan Stone, Bradly Michals, and Rich Gedman for giving me the opportunity in Worcester?; and although he looks ?forward to giving my all for the Brewers, I wouldn?t trade my experience with the Tornadoes for anything?.

 

The Tornadoes wouldn?t trade their experiences with the young right-hander for the world either; and though they are sad to lose a key member of their squad they wish the very best for Palazzolo, one of the class acts of professional baseball.

 

Steve Palazzolo Professional Ststistics (Independent Ball):

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...zolo.shtml

 

http://worcestertornadoes.com.ismmedia.com/ISM2/NewsManager/486.jpeg

 

http://worcestertornadoes.com.ismmedia.com/ISM2/PlayerManager/246.jpeg.300.jpeg

[dadofandrew]

You can't teach size or velocity.

[Mass Haas]

We seem to say this every January / February, and there's just no point in even trying to project pitching staffs at AAA and AA given the number of arms in camp -- here's the latest, courtesy of the Sounds:

 

RHP Josue Matos - Matos, who split the 2005 season between the Blue Jays and Phillies organizations, has spent portions of the last three years at the Triple-A level (15-16, 5.74 ERA in 66 career Class AAA games). The 10-year veteran joins his fourth different organization with the Brewers in 2006. In 30 games (14 starts) among his three clubs in 2005, Matos posted an 8-4 record and 4.17 ERA (48 ER / 103.2 IP).

 

Matos will be 28 years old this March.

 

RHP Josue Matos Career Statistics:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...tos-.shtml

[brewmann04]

Melvin looking for that diamond in the rough aagain.

bet he will find one

[dadofandrew]

712 K's in 770 innings...the guy must throw hard.

[thumperden]

He also must be throwing the ball up. Take a look at his HR against. One about every 5 innings.

[Mass Haas]

Certainly one of the more interesting signings of the off-season is RHP Joe Winkelsas. The now 32-year-old Buffalo native appeared in exactly one big league game (1999) during his eight-year stint in the Braves' system. After time in the White Sox organization and independent ball in 2004, Winkelsas retired early in the 2005 season and accepted a coaching position at Niagara University, only to try out for the Brewers this winter in Maryvale and earn a contract.

 

This linked story and text is from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, August 2003:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...lsas.shtml

 

Former Braves minor leaguer Joe Winkelsas laments a career sabotaged before it began

By Kyle Hightower

 

When Joe Winkelsas meditates, he sees vivid visions of a forgettable past.

 

He can see himself coming home from another bar fight at 4 a.m. --- drunk, blood on his face. Bacon grease on the corner of his mouth from eating at a restaurant whose name he can't even remember. Hair all messed up. Drool everywhere.

 

He remembers how he used to wake up on those mornings and amble toward the mirror for a look at the damage. He didn't just leave the mirror and put his shirt on. He'd always clean up first before facing another day.

 

These visions are the gift and curse for the former Greenville Braves relief pitcher.

 

As career-minor leaguers go, Winkelsas has been no ordinary Joe off the field. He spent eight minor league seasons with a Braves organization that held his hand through drug rehabilitation and countless injuries when anybody else probably would have shown him the door.

 

"Joe showed in the past that he has value. One thing no one knows is when a player has reached his peak," said Dayton Moore, Braves director of player personnel. "As scouts and administrators we have to make decisions, but nobody can predict when a player has finished developing."

 

But the Braves decided on July 10 that Winkelsas had finished developing with their organization, and when he was finally released, Winkelsas cried. Not just because it ended his baseball connection with the Braves, but because it ended a relationship with a club that treated him like a son when they really had no reason to.

 

When Winkelsas meditates and looks back on his life, the moments are clear. He can see himself floundering in his first and only shot to pitch for Atlanta in the major leagues. It was April 10, 1999. He lasted all of one-third of an inning. He gave up four hits and left with a 54.00 major-league ERA.

 

But that ERA is minuscule compared to the emotional puddles he has plodded through: trying to love a mother who spent most of his teenage years in prison; trying to reconnect with his biological father after discovering at 15 he was adopted; trying to kick an addiction to marijuana that tortured his career.

 

"This game is nothing but fellowship," Winkelsas said. "It's nothing but change. It's a game of failure. . . . Everything you go through in life is taught in this game."

 

And so he can't abandon the game. Not yet. At 29, Winkelsas is a grandpa by minor league standards. Four years have passed since his lone shot in the big leagues, but he still talks of playing his best baseball one day. He still dreams of pitching in the majors even after the Braves, the organization he calls the best in baseball, released him after his appearing in 239 minor-league games and going 22-26 with 54 saves and a 3.24 ERA in 327.2 innings.

 

"In order for baseball to end for me, all 30 teams will have to not want to invite me back to camp," he said. "Eight years with one team is not the norm. The Braves have kept me around through drug rehab, quitting in '96 because I'd rather smoke pot than play ball. All of it --- they took me back. They're not like every organization."

 

So Winkelsas is not bitter. In fact, he's thankful. And still hopeful.

 

Talented but headstrong

 

Every morning, no matter how tired or bruised from the previous day, Winkelsas meditates and exercises in front of a mirror and looks both his past and present in the face. He see the scars of his past, physical and emotional. The surgeries, the heartache, and the burdens of the dreams are never more than two feet in front of him.

 

Winkelsas loved two things when he entered the Braves farm system as a free agent in 1996: baseball and marijuana. But probably in the reverse order.

 

Philadelphia drafted him a year into his college career, but he never signed. Winkelsas continued playing for Joe Baxter at the University of South Carolina-Salkehatchie, a small junior college in the USC system.

 

When Baxter came to Greenville for a home series earlier this year, he hugged his former player, and they gabbed about the past, particularly when Baxter made Winkelsas dig ditches since wind sprints didn't work as a disciplinary measure. He tells Joey how he's the best pitcher he's ever coached.

 

"A lot of what he's had to overcome, he's now seeing the reasons of why I pushed him," Baxter said. "It's more than wins and losses. . . . He's an example of one of the best parts of this job --- impacting lives."

 

As a freshman as USC-S, Winkelsas threw 90-92 mph, but after surgery for bone spurs in his pitching arm, he was down to 83-86 mph. And there was the continued marijuana use.

 

Despite leading junior college Division II in ERA as a sophomore, Winkelsas wasn't drafted.

 

"The scouts probably knew that I had problems with drugs --- because they know everything," Winkelsas said. "No one would take me except for the Atlanta Braves."

 

A shocking discovery at 15

 

The prospect of not making it in baseball is tough for the 6-foot-1, 185-pound pitcher to ponder, as were many things for Winkelsas growing up in Buffalo, N.Y.

 

When he was 15, Mariann Winkelsas had just divorced his father, Ken, after one of her stints in prison on drug-related charges. She was on a binge. Joe hadn't heard from her in days. He went to her dresser looking for clues.

 

Instead, he found pictures of himself at Ken's and Mariann's wedding. Joe had uncovered a lie. His parents had told him they wed before he was born, but they had married three years after his birth. This discovery led to an even more shocking one: The man he knew all his life as his biological father had actually adopted him. He met his biological father, Joe Privitera, through a phone call at age 16.

 

In the confusion, Joe Winkelsas smoked his first joint.

 

"It was a pretty awkward time in my life," Winkelsas said. "Drugs were a way out. I was fighting with all my friends. So all the shame and the guilt and the resentment and the anger and the bitterness and the fear --- I had to hide that in some way. So I did."

 

All the while, he continued to rip up the baseball diamonds that were fast becoming his only refuge.

 

Call-up was chance for vindication

 

After spring training in 1999, Winkelsas was the last player cut from the Atlanta Braves' 40-man roster. His surprise call-up in April was in some ways a small chance for vindication.

 

Mark Wohlers, the closer at the time, was having trouble throwing strikes. So Winkelsas was there "not to embarrass them on national television," he said.

 

He entered the clubhouse and spoke with Braves manager Bobby Cox.

 

"Joe, you're here for six days," he remembered Cox saying. "We need you for six days. You can strike out the side or give up 15 home runs, but you'll be here for six days because you gotta pitch in Double-A."

 

In his only game, Winkelsas remembers every pitch, every pitch count, everything that resulted in the 54.00 ERA that is on his career major-league stat line.

 

He retired one batter --- on a sacrifice bunt.

 

"I thank God everyday that Chipper [Jones] took the sacrifice bunt because if I would have taken it I probably would have thrown it into the stands," Winkelsas said. "That's how [unsettled] I was on that hill."

 

The shot of lifetime blown, Winkelsas was sent back to the minors. Two months later, his wife, Therese, gave birth to his son, Jackson. A year later, he was in Triple-A Richmond with an out-of-control marijuana habit.

 

"I'd go to sleep with it," he said. "I'd wake up with it."

 

Near the end of that season, the Braves placed him on the disabled list and sent him to drug rehab in Atlanta. For five weeks, he shared tears and the pitfalls of his life to strangers.

 

"With my addiction, I was cheating my wife, I was cheating baseball, and I was cheating a chance to be a father to my son," he said. "That was the greatest experience of my life. I realized that I had a lot of tears built up in my life that I'd never shed."

 

Today, Winkelsas seems to be moving forward with that part of his life. His mother accepted Christ in prison and has reconciled with her son. He still has a good relationship with Ken Winkelsas and has even developed a "brother-type relationship" with Joe Privitera.

 

But in a modest apartment in Greenville, Winkelsas now plays a different, yet familiar, game. He teaches his son to fly in two-to-three second intervals. Tossing Jackson in the air, the boy rebounds off the bed and explodes in laughter.

 

At the child's insistence, his father does it again. Again he bounces off the forgiving mattress, but this time his neck and shoulder aren't so giving and he erupts in tears.

 

Mom comforts her son and tells Dad that he can't be so rough. He's not big enough, she says. Jackson is approaching 4 and is scared of fireworks and elevators. But not of learning to fly with his dad.

 

"I really hurt him this morning," Winkelsas says shaking his head.

 

He rubs his son's head. Jackson hugs his Dad.

 

They will try flying again tomorrow maybe.

 

And Daddy will try pitching tomorrow.

 

Maybe.

 

RHP Joe Winkelsas Career Statistics:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...lsas.shtml

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers have signed right-fielder Ron Acuna to a minor league free agent contract. Acuna is relatively young (turns 25 this week, Wednesday the 1st), but began his lengthy Mets organization career in 1996 at age 15. He spent last year at AA in the Blue Jays' organization, his first season out of the Mets' system.

 

The very good mets.scout.com network has this more than detailed summary of Acuna's skills, dated November 2004. His lack of power considering his frame and otherwise toolsy makeup is mind-boggling (this link is well worth the read):

 

mets.scout.com/2/317503.html

 

RF Ron Acuna Career Statistics:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...cuna.shtml

[Brian the Automator]

[ Certainly one of the more interesting signings of the off-season is RHP Joe Winkelsas. The now 32-year-old Buffalo native appeared in exactly one big league game (1999) during his eight-year stint in the Braves' system. ]

 

So is Joe "Good King" Winkelsas too obvious, or not obvious enough?

[ja002h]

I think it's juuuust right. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif