Minor Transactions, May, Bausher to Beloit; Thread Closed

[MassBrew]

From Indyindians.com:

 

ROSTER MOVES: The Indians have added righthanded reliever Robert Marquez and lefthander Nate Teut. Marquez was with Somerset in the independent Atlantic League, but had not pitched yet this season (season started Thursday). Marquez was second on the Indians last season with 47 relief appearances. He went 4-7 with a 3.82 ERA and 8 saves. Teut had combined to go 0-4 with a 9.50 ERA in five starts between Albuquerque and Iowa (Marlins and Cubs organizations).

 

Look for squarepusher to add Teut to the Transaction Archive and the Player Index later on this evening. Thanks, Brian, as I'll be away for a bit.

 

Nate Teut Profile:

 

tsf.waymoresports.thestar...r.cgi?2531

 

Robert Marquez' 2002 numbers with Indy:

 

www.brewerfan.net/ViewPla...ayerId=219

[madbad2000]

Well I'm going to go out on a limb here, pulling an Al, and working from memory alone. I believe Nate Teut pitched for the Marlins against Milwaukee. I also believe it was the day of Fanfest last year. Just a funny coincidence seeing as how he only pitched in 2 games.

[MassBrew]

LHP Nate Teut was actually purchased from the Cubs' Iowa AAA team, where he had recently signed.

[Al the Thinking Man]

Well I'm going to go out on a limb here, pulling an Al, and working from memory alone.

 

I pulled an Al once, I had to ice it and stay off of it for a whole week!

[madbad2000]

I pulled an Al once, I had to ice it and stay off of it for a whole week!

 

 

I had to reread that one....pulled AN al...not pulled you know....thought you were going Mike Nicolas on us. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eek.gif

[Al the Thinking Man]

I took a shot. They all can't be winners.

[MassBrew]

Technically, these moves are from March...

 

The Brewers finally managed to arrange for SportsTicker to get a Helena roster onto their own site. Of course, we've always had it here, but based on the Brewers' own posting, we were able to cross-check, which prompted us to ask about the following players, and the Brewers were kind enough to give us an immediate response -- thanks!!

 

RHP Carl Michaels - Voluntarily Retired during Spring Training

 

That's too bad, as the 21-year-old from South Africa had posted decent numbers in Arizona, Ogden, and Beloit with a 3.31 ERA, 59 K's and only 14 BB's in 65.1 IP over the past two seasons. With the earlier release of fellow South African Paul Bell, 17-year-old infielder Jonathan Phillips will be the only player from this untapped player pool in the organization this spring. Maybe Michaels was homesick....

 

SS Wilber Montano - DSL roster for 03; initially this newcomer was assigned to the Arizona roster

 

C Matt Serafini - Released during Spring Training

 

The 23-year-old Serafini, the Brewers' 43rd round pick in 2001, apparently became a victim of the young catcher crunch in the system...

 

LHP Julio Jimenez - Released during Spring Training

 

The 21-year-old Dominican had a 3.75 ERA in 127.1 IP over four seasons, three in Dominican ball (the first two in the Reds' system), and one season in Arizona. We're guessing that his 101 walks in those 127.1 IP had something to do with this release, despite good H/IP and K/IP ratios.

[MassBrew]

Surprisingly, OF Stephen Hunt has been placed on the voluntarily retired list, off of the Helena roster.

 

Hunt was the Brewers' 35th round draft pick in 2001 out of Chandler-Gilbert Communtiy College in Arizona, which has been a pipeline for Brewer farmhands recently. He wasn't signed until just prior to the 2002 draft as a "draft and follow" candidate. Hunt, now 21 years old, then went on to have a nice year with the Arizona Rookie League team, hitting .290 with an .847 OPS. Late in the year, he tag-teamed with Steve Moss to give the Ogden Pioneer League team some late-season help.

 

The rookie levels of the Brewers' system will need an infusion of outfield help via the draft. Currently, Manuel Melo, Tommy Carrow, and Francisco Plasencia are on the Helena roster. There are four young OF's on the Arizona roster, with Dallas Bates, who saw significant time with Arizona last year, the most likely candidate to help out in Helena.

 

It's not worth speculating at this time about the reasons behind Hunt's retirement. Maybe we'll see him back at some point.

 

Stephen Hunt Brewerfan Player Profile Page:

 

www.brewerfan.net/ViewPla...ayerId=314

[igor67]

Wow that is a surprise, I see no baseball reason for him to have retired. Hopefully we see him back soon.

[brewfan]

Maybe they just don`t show enough confidence in the players being drafted in 2001 and staying in extended can be a bit much, they need to move them if they have done well the year before after all, they all want to be prospects.

[MassBrew]

Brief Huntsville Press Release:

Summarizes the catcher / OF shake-up, as discussed elsewhere on the Minor League Forum...

 

www.huntsvillestars.com/n...?newsid=59

[igor67]

And so the slide into prospect oblivion continues for Cristian. Well here's to hoping that DJ and Kade can keep on stinging the ball. Is this kind of like the Yankees making a deadline deal for the best catcher and RF on the market. With JJ's return is it premature to say Huntsville has things almost locked up in the first half?

[squarepusher]

Brewers signed LHP Travis Miller to a minor league contract, and assigned him to AAA Indianapolis.

 

Indianapolis Press Release:

 

www.indyindians.com/press..._1103.html

 

Travis Miller Brewerfan.net Player Profile:

 

www.brewerfan.net/ViewPla...ayerId=535

[clancyphile]

The other thing that does is that it will allow Brian Foster to be the #1 catcher at High Desert, and from Jim Powell's comments in the chat, Foster is the best defensive catcher in the system. It seems as if they're trying to maximize the ABs for both him and Kade Johnson.

[MassBrew]

The other thing that does is that it will allow Brian Foster to be the #1 catcher at High Desert, and from Jim Powell's comments in the chat, Foster is the best defensive catcher in the system.

 

We discussed earlier that while Foster may be OK and eventually more-than-OK defensively, guys like Joel Alvarado and Pedro Esparragoza are ahead of guys like Johnson and Foster in terms of defense. In fact, the Link Report for Sunday's games includes the Daily Press High Desert game story in which Manager Tim Blackwell discusses Alvarado's defensive and game-calling skills:

 

Catcher Joel Alvarado made his first start in High Desert since 2001, a year in which he spent the second half of the season with the Mavs.

 

Alvarado, sent down from Huntsville went 1-for-5 at the plate with an RBI, scoring fellow newbie Cristian Guerrero from second on an RBI single in the fourth. But perhaps the biggest impression he left was the one many may not have noticed.

 

"Joel brings his catching and his game-calling ability to this team," Blackwell said. "I think that was evident in today's ballgame. We have some guys like (Brian) Foster and (Froilan) Villanueva that can hopefully go to school by watching and learning from him."

 

When Brian Foster makes contact, the ball manages to find the gap or goes over the fence. Otherwise, the 21-year-old has managed wonderfully for a 42nd round pick, but is still very much a work-in-progress.

[MassBrew]

The Brewers exposed High Desert OF Cristian Guerrero to waivers, apparently to free up a 40-man roster spot. He almost cleared, getting snagged by Seattle. He'll stay in the California League for now, assigned to Inland Empire (San Bernadino).

 

High Desert can't catch a break. Their outfield situation is thin to begin with, not in terms of talent so much, but just in bodies. It'll be plenty of Belcher, Morris, and Boyd for now, and Johnny Raburn better keep his OF glove handy. Nobody at Beloit (Hinton, Bibbs, Moss, Carter, Mendez) seems a likely candidate for promotion at the moment.

 

In other news, RHP J.M. Gold has landed back on the disabled list (and the Brewers chose to expose Guerrero?). Anyway, that move will allow SS Ozzie Chavez to fill that roster spot shortly; of course, the Guerrero replacement is still pending.

[Psolo]

The only thing that makes me sad about losing Guerrero is that no one in the organization was (outwardly) willing to acknowledge his dive in potential & try to get something for him when his name might have snagged a marginal prospect or two. Perhaps the change in scenery will help him rejuvenate.

[Al the Thinking Man]

In other news, RHP J.M. Gold has landed back on the disabled list (and the Brewers chose to expose Guerrero?).

 

I'm positive I can count all the sub 22 year-olds who have been injured almost nonstop that had above average major league careers on Captain Hook's right hand. Gold's "potential" is as a reliever, if that. The idea that he's still protected is laughable, and it has been for almost 2 full years.

 

Guerrero has an athlete's chance, but I don't see him as more than a reserve.

[MassBrew]

Indianapolis RHP Francisco Campos was outrighted, apparently cleared waivers, and will remain with the Indy ball club. Down to a 38-man roster, it seems...

[Never Outhustled]

Why the need to clear 2 spots on the 40 man roster? Is there a trade in the works?

[MavsWinn]

Would clearing a roster spot or two have anything to do with adding Jim Rushford back to the Indy lineup??

[MassBrew]

Texas released outfielder Jim Rushford from AAA Oklahoma, who was struggling, hitting .190/.271/.262 in 84 at-bats.

 

Nice scoop, MavsWinn, as apparently Rushford is on his way to Indy to perhaps recapture some of the magic of the past two years.

 

A perfect example of why a player should never burn any bridges when he leaves an organization; you never know when you might need to return.

 

No word yet on any corresponding move to make room on the Indianapolis roster.

[igor67]

Quibble all you want but I'm happy to see some more roster cleaning. If nothing else I'd bet other players with more to offer get put through waivers in the coming days/ months. And it's nice to have Rushford back. Now featuring the Indianopolis Indians in the movie Minorr League http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[MassBrew]

From Beloit:

 

Snappers activated INF Josh Murray off the disabled list effective today. RHP Khalid Ballouli was placed on the disabled list with a right shoulder strain, also effective today, 5/14.

 

We'll try to get some injury updates on other fronts as well. Beloit RHP Jason Baker made two spot starts early on, but has been sidelined since, without technically going on the DL. It also would be nice to get updates on Snapper RHP Jon Steitz (On the DL), and hopefully David Weiser will have more for us on RHP's Ben Diggins and Matt Hammons in his Friday report.

 

We did learn that LHP Justin Gordon is OK (leg strain), and is scheduled to start one of the games in High Desert's doubleheader on Friday the 16th.

[Al the Thinking Man]

To clear something up, Rushford will sign a minor league contract with Indy, so he will not be placed on the 40 man roster, to answer Mavs' question.

 

I'm glad to have Jim back also. He's got a better chance at spending a few years in the bigs than Guerrero does.