Off-Season Transactions - Prior To Rule 5

[MassBrew]

The dismantling of the Dominican and Venezuelan programs begins with these releases.

 

High Desert closer Bobby Bystrowski was a first-half All-Star, but collapsed in the second half. LHP Tommy Marx' control issues could not be solved.

 

Beloit infielder Keith Bohanan (23rd round, 2002) carried a light stick. Beloit SS Chas Terni was brought in from independent league ball to fill a SS gap for 2003. A mild surprise in Beloit RHP Jason Baker (31st round, 2002), who was serviceable in 2003 and was asked to pitch key innings during the postseason run.

 

By far, the biggest disappointment would be in the release of 3B Taylor McCormack, the 2001 7th round pick. He won't be 21 until October 20th, yet the Brewers saw enough apparently in three seasons in Arizona to cut ties.

 

Two foreign catchers, Germany's Simon Guhring and Nigeria's Gbenga Olayemi, saw their Brewer careers end after two-year stints in Arizona.

 

Here's the complete list:

 Bystrowski, Bobby RHS RELEASED HIGH DESERT 10/7/2003 Marx, Thomas J LHS RELEASED HIGH DESERT 10/7/2003 Baker, Jason L RHR RELEASED BELOIT 10/7/2003 Bohanan, Keith 3B RELEASED BELOIT 10/7/2003 Terni, Charles A SS RELEASED BELOIT 10/7/2003 Cedeno (Moreno), Jonathan RHS RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Chirinos, Jesus A RHS RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Correa, Alexander LHS RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Depaula, Bartolo INF RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Flandes (Concepcion), Wington RHS RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Guhring, Simon D C RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 McCormack, Taylor J 3B RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Mejia, Fausto OF RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Olayemi, Gbenga C RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Pijuan, Ricky 1B RELEASED AZL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Alcantara (Mayi), Wellington INF RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Arias (Campos), Franklin OF RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Arriete (Munoz), Julio OF RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Camacho (Navarro), Luis LHS RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Colon, Ricardo LHS RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 De La Rosa, Rafael INF RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Figueroa, Mallia RHS RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Heredia (Cabral), Domingo RHS RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Ibarra (Lara), Cesar LHS RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Leon (Castillo), Jose C RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Martinez, Miguel LHS RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Montano, Wilber INF RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Uzcategui, Javier INF RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Zerpa, Anderson INF RELEASED DSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Guaimaro, Joel OF RELEASED VSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Millan Garcia, Greg RHS RELEASED VSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Querales (Pena), Jesus INF RELEASED VSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Ramirez (Ramos), Fernando OF RELEASED VSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Rodriguez, Jose INF RELEASED VSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Uzcategui, Norberto INF RELEASED VSL BREWERS 10/7/2003 Zerpa, Robinsson C RELEASED VSL BREWERS 10/7/2003

[MassBrew]

(Note to Brewerfan poster rpms6 -- we posted almost at the same time, within minutes -- I began the offseason thread with this post, so deleted your duplicate, but thanks!)

[colbyjack]

I don't recall there ever being this much turnover at the lower levels of the system. I think it's pretty clear Doug Melvin & Co. are doing some housecleaning, but that's alot of roster spots that are going to have to be filled. Of course, no DSL means all of those guys head straight to AZ.

[MassBrew]

Like Cody McKay did back on October 1st, Indianapolis OF Mark Smith has chosen to take free agency immediately. He was eligible to do so when he was removed from the 40-man roster recently.

 

For the moment, two others eligible to do the same are still listed on the Indianapolis roster, that being RHP Ruben Quevedo and OF Jason Conti. McKay and Smith's names have been removed.

[lend d money]

I'm quite surprised by the release of Jason Baker. He doesn't throw hard enough to make it to the bigs, yet he was probably as good as any Maverick pitcher last year. It will be interesting to see how they round out the High Desert rotation next year.

[Never Outhustled]

Were there any survivors from the DSL bloodbath, as obviously those players would be coming staes side next year.?

[squarepusher]

There are some, check out the VSL and DSL roster pages here at Brewerfan to see who didn't get voted off the island.

[MassBrew]

I'm sorry the stats won't line up perfectly below, but you'll be able to get the gist of things.

 

There were no survivors from this year's Venezuelan League.

 

In the Dominican, it appears that four position players (no pitchers) survived. The prize seems to be 2B Hernan Iribarren, who has put up an .840 OPS in 426 DSL at-bats.

 

Keep in mind that the Brewers chose not to include their latin league players in this year's media guide. As always with these players, our info is limited to stat lines. But perhaps we'll see some of these names in Arizona.

 

Players in bold below are still with the system. It is suggested that you access Brewerfan's Player Index Page (linked below), and then use the "filter" option to pull up only the DSL players. You'll then be able to view the four Brewerfan Player Profile Pages on these players. For the outfielders you see, it may list LF, CF, or RF. That's just a guess on our part -- squarepusher, we could probably use a generic "OF" designation there.

 

Player Index Page Link:

 

www.brewerfan.net/PlayerIndex.do

 

 BATTERS G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI SH SF HP BB IB SO SB CS DP AVG OBP SLG [b]Amaya, Octavio 46 119 14 26 35 6 0 1 9 3 0 1 12 0 36 4 2 3 .218 .295 .294[/b] Arias, Franklin 48 154 22 34 40 6 0 0 21 3 4 9 25 2 19 12 3 6 .221 .354 .260 Arrieta, Julio 52 198 31 61 78 8 3 1 22 5 2 5 17 0 31 16 10 5 .308 .374 .394 Ciprian, Felix 7 14 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 7 0 0 0 .071 .125 .071 [b]Corredor, Nestor 48 158 17 32 50 9 0 3 23 2 1 6 14 1 33 2 2 3 .203 .291 .316[/b] De La Rosa, Rafael 43 110 29 32 45 8 1 1 17 6 1 3 24 0 27 13 7 2 .291 .428 .409 Franco, Jeison 9 30 9 6 8 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 8 3 0 0 .200 .273 .267 [b]Iribarren, Hernan 52 185 34 66 92 11 6 1 24 6 2 0 20 1 27 13 2 0 .357 .415 .497[/b] Leon, Jose 53 178 27 46 62 10 0 2 34 1 2 3 21 0 16 4 5 6 .258 .343 .348 Lopez, Jonathan 18 27 2 3 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 5 0 0 2 .111 .250 .111 Mateo, Roger 9 28 1 3 4 1 0 0 3 0 1 0 4 0 4 0 0 3 .107 .212 .143 Montano, Wilber 39 96 12 16 18 2 0 0 8 0 3 3 10 0 16 2 2 1 .167 .259 .188 [b]Parejo, Freddy 52 173 20 44 59 5 2 2 22 0 1 4 14 0 24 6 6 3 .254 .323 .341[/b] Uzcategui, Javier 42 104 17 26 32 6 0 0 12 4 0 3 13 1 24 6 2 2 .250 .350 .308 Zerpa, Anderson 37 100 13 18 22 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 13 0 9 2 2 0 .180 .293 .220

[MassBrew]

As we've mentioned all season, minor league contracts expire on October 15th each year. For the Brewers this season, there were 25 players who they did not "control" automatically. Of these 25, they came to terms with three to extend through 2004, as mentioned here last month (RHP's Ben Ford, Jason Childers, and Tim Bausher).

 

The remaining 22 players did not mutually agree to contracts with the Brewers before gaining their free agency. It's likely in some cases, the player would have been willing to re-sign, but the team did not show an interest. For a few others perhaps, the Brewers expressed an interest but the player chose to take his chances elsewhere. The Brewers can still compete with other teams for these players. For instance, infielder Keith Luuloa re-signed in late October last year.

 

The following players are no longer with the organization, according to mlb.com.

 

INDIANAPOLIS:

 

RHP Mike Buddie

RHP Pascual Coco

LHP Derrin Ebert

RHP Roberto Giron

LHP Derek Lee

RHP Robert Marquez

LHP Travis Miller

RHP David Pember

RHP Ruben Quevedo

LHP Nate Teut

 

C Alex Delgado

 

IF Keith Luuloa

2B Richard Paz

3B Wilton Veras

 

OF Jason Conti

1B/OF Doug Jennings

OF Jim Rushford

 

HUNTSVILLE:

 

LHP Jeff Hundley

RHP Ken Ray

 

C Mike Kremblas

 

HIGH DESERT:

 

RHP Aaron Dean

 

OF John Toner

 

The Indianapolis roster is down to only eight players: RHP Francisco Campos (the only Brewer property playing in the Mexican Winter League, which is underway), RHP's Jason Childers, Ben Ford, and John Novinsky, LHP John Foster, IF Steve Scarborough, and OF's Ryan Knox and Pete Zoccolillo. The Brewers' 40-man roster remains at 35 for now.

 

Perhaps "minorfan" or another in the know will fill us in as to whether concrete negotiations took place with any of the 22 now ex-Brewers.

[Minorfan]

I highly doubt they made offers to any of these guys. I know they didn't offer my family member a contract.

[igor67]

Kind of disappointed to see Paz on the list. We've debated this somewhat before, but even if he can't play SS particularily well having a bench UT who can post OBP near .400 is someone worth looking at. Some pitchers on the list too that are solid depth guys, but in the minor league FA world there's a lot of guys who can fill that description so I'm not overly concerned.

[brewcru1]

Mass Brew---Ciprian, Franco, and Mateo were released back in June and are no longer with the system. Lopez isn't with them any more either.

[Al the Thinking Man]

Paz, Coco, and Rushford would be the 3 I like to see return.

[squarepusher]

I echo Al's comment as well.... Also, I would have liked to see what Pember and Lee could have done with a major league shot, but I understand the reasons for their release.

[Al the Thinking Man]

I feel Pember will be back, either later when healthy, or something. That's why I didn't include him.

[MassBrew]

Mass Brew---Ciprian, Franco, and Mateo were released back in June and are no longer with the system. Lopez isn't with them any more either.

 

Thanks, brewcru1, I've adjusted the status of the players in "bold" in the post above. Info always appreciated!

[deeswan]

Maybe I missed it, but what is the status of Jason Shelley?

[cheezscott]

where was this list taken from, is there a list for other organizations as well??

[clancyphile]

I'd like to see these guys return:

 

LHP Derek Lee

RHP Pasqual Coco

IF Keith Luuloa

IF Richard Paz

OF Jason Conti

OF Jim Rushford

C Alex Delgado

 

Let Lee contend for one of the rotation slots, have Paz and Luuloa comepte for slots on the bench. Conti would wake a useful 5th OF, and we need Rushford because we're a little short on corner OF prospects.

[DuWayne Steurer]

While Rushford would certainly be useful to fill Indy's roster, I don't think the term "prospect" really applies to him. I would have no problem with Conti in Milwaukee as the 5th OF/defensive replacement, but I don't want to see him get any more than 100/120 PA's.

 

Lee and Coco also fit the "roster filler" tag, but they'd be ok to have around in Indy just to fill the rotation.

[MassBrew]

where was this list taken from, is there a list for other organizations as well??

 

Say what you will about the lack of minor league coverage on the Brewers' own web site, but they do keep all their minor league roster pages accurate to within a day or two (it's actually SportsTicker that updates those pages). We're simply able to monitor the pages day-to-day and take notes when the occasional change is made. So it's one of the several sources we make use of trying to keep up with the transactions.

 

Again, within a week or so, Baseball America will release a list similar to this one from last year:

 

www.baseballamerica.com/t...rfa02.html

 

Maybe I missed it, but what is the status of Jason Shelley?

 

Nice catch, deeswan, as that's one of the first things we checked, too. He's still listed on Huntsville's roster. We were either A.) confused as to whether the Brewers control him for several years down the road or B.) unaware of a one-year contract he may have recently signed to remain in the organization. We'll try to figure things out, but for now, are glad to see his name in place.

[clancyphile]

It would be interesting to see who is available as a six-year FA.

[MassBrew]

The Brewers have dipped into the independent league ranks to ink a new RHP for the organization, initially assigned to High Desert, but expected to vie for a starting spot in Huntsville, as noted in this press release:

 

www.washingtonwildthings....s.cgi?id=2

 

Baseball America 2003 complete numbers on Dave Bradley:

 

www.baseballamerica.com/c...adley%2C+d

[igor67]

Those are some pretty numbers. Jason Shelley part II anyone? Anybody know what he throws?

[molitor fan]

Kind of interesting that Tekulve is the Director for the Pennsylvania team that Bradley plays for.....the former Pirate great packs weight when he says that Bradley is a great pitcher