Waiver Wire Acquisitions

After looking at the Brewers' trade acquisitions yesterday, today I am looking at who they have picked up via the waiver wire over the last year.  Players in bold are still with the Milwaukee organization.

Neil Ramirez, P from White Sox
Michael Kirkman, P from Padres (Colorado Springs)
Sean Nolin, P from Oakland (Milwaukee, Disabled)
Josmil Pinto, C from Padres (Colorado Springs)
Andy Wilkins, 1B from Rangers (Colorado Springs)
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, OF from Mets (Milwaukee)
Junior Guerra, P from White Sox (Milwaukee)
Cesar Jimenez, P from Phillies
Preston Guilmet, P from Tigers
Matt Dominguez, IF from Astros

Brewers' Trade Acquisitions

In an attempt to catch myself up with the Brewers, I took a look at all the trades that they have made in about the last year.  It was interesting to see who they have brought in as they work on rebuilding.
Players in bold are players acquired. (Players current assignment is in parenthesis.)

Gerardo Parra to Baltimore

Zach Davies, P (Milwaukee)

Jonathan Broxton to St. Louis

Mallik Collymore, OF (Brevard County)

Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers to Houston

Josh Hader, P (Colorado Springs)
Adrian Houser, P (Biloxi)
Brett Phillips, OF (Biloxi)
Domingo Santana, OF (Milwaukee-Disabled List)

Aramis Ramirez to Pittsburgh

Yhonathan Barrios, P (Milwaukee-Disabled List)

Neal Cotts to Minnesota

PTBNL (I have not been able to find who the PTBNL was)

Luis Sardinas to Seattle

Ramon Flores, OF (Milwaukee)

Cy Sneed to Houston

Jonathan Villar, SS (Milwaukee)

Franklin Rodriguez to Detroit

Javier Betancourt, IF (Biloxi)
Manny Pina, C (Colorado Springs)

Jason Rogers to Pittsburgh

Keon Broxton, OF (Milwaukee)
Trey Supak, P (Helena)

Cash to Boston

Garin Cecchini, IF (Colorado Springs)

Adam Lind to Seattle

Carlos Herrera, P (AZL Brewers)
Daniel Missaki, P (AZL Brewers)
Freddy Peralta, P (Wisconsin)

Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner to Arizona

Chase Anderson, P (Milwaukee)
Isan Diaz, SS (Wisconsin)
Aaron Hill, IF (Milwaukee)

Trevor Seidenberger to San Diego

Rymer Liriano, OF (Milwaukee-Disabled List)

Khris Davis to Oakland

Bubba Derby, P (Brevard County)
Jacob Nottingham, C (Biloxi)

Which Brewers Could be Headed to San Diego?

With the All-Star Game scheduled to take place in just 15 days in San Diego, I am wondering which Brewers will be on the National League team for the game.  Here are a few possibilities.

Ryan Braun, OF.  The obvious first choice.  Braun is in fifth place in fan balloting.  With a .324 batting average and .924 OPS, Braun could well be up for his seventh mid-summer classic.

Jonathan Lucroy, C. Lucroy could be primed for his second trip to the ASG.  He is batting almost .300 with 10 home runs.

Jeremy Jeffress, P. The Brewers' closer has 21 saves in 22 opportunities and an ERA under 3.

Jonathan Villar, SS. Villar is batting almost .300, and he leads the National League in stolen bases.

TWO LONGSHOTS:

Zach Davies and Junior Guerra. The rookie pitchers haven't done enough to merit an ASC pick. However, if the MLB had a Rookie Game as part of the festivities, these two would be there.

Ya'll Come Back Now, Ya Hear

I haven't been to a baseball game in Milwaukee since 1992.  Of course, since that time I have lived in Texas, Japan and Texas again so the trip to Wisconsin would have been quite substantial.

However, a few big league teams haven't played in Milwaukee for over a decade, and they have been flying all over the country for games during that time.

Here's a listing of the last time each American League team played at Miller Park.

Baltimore- 5/28/2014
Boston- 6/8/2003
Chicago- 5/13/2015
Cleveland- 7/22/2015
Detroit- 6/21/2006
Houston-4/10/2016
Kansas City-6/16/2015
Los Angeles-5/4/2016
Minnesota-4/21/2016
New York-5/11/2014
Oakland-6/5/2013
Seattle-6/27/2010
Tampa Bay-6/22/2011
Texas-5/8/2013
Toronto-8/20/2014

A Long Time Between Road Trips

The Brewers are in Oakland this week.  It was pointed out online that Milwaukee hadn't played a game in Oakland since 2002.  The revelation of this fact made me wonder how long it has been since the Brewers have visited other American League towns.  Here are the dates of the Brewers' most recent road game against each AL team.

Baltimore- June 15, 2003
Los Angeles Angels- June 16, 2010
New York Yankees- June 30, 2011
Chicago White Sox- June 24, 2012
Houston-June 20, 2013
#Seattle- August 11, 2013
#Texas- August 14, 2013
Boston- April 16, 2014
Toronto- July 2, 2014
Tampa Bay- July 30, 2014
Detroit- May 20, 2015
Kansas City- June 18, 2015
Cleveland- August 26, 2015
Minnesota- April 19, 2016
Oakland- June 22, 2016

#- The Brewers are scheduled to play at Seattle and Texas later in the 2016 season.

Skeeters to Appreciate Teachers Again

NOTE: Thursday's game has been postponed.  The Skeeters will make up the game as part of a doubleheader on Saturday.

The Sugar Land Skeeters are appreciating local teachers again.  Local teachers with a valid teacher's ID will receive two free tickets to the team's game against Southern Maryland on Thursday, June 23. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:05 at Constellation Field.

The Skeeters held a similar promotion on June 2.

Brewers Disabled List Update

11 different players have spent time on the Disabled List for the Brewers this season.  Going into Wednesday's game, seven players are injured.  These seem like relatively high numbers to me, and reading them led me to crunch some numbers.

Through today, Brewers players will have spent 573 on the disabled list.  Since this is day 74 of the season, that means that Milwaukee has been missing an average of 7.74 players a day to injury.  

From a monetary standpoint, according to my calculations, the Brewers have spent about $6.74 million to this point on players on the disabled list.  That figure is about 25% of the team's over-all payroll to this point in the season.

Players who have been/are disabled
Players in  bold are still on the disabled list

Yhonathan Barrios, P
Michael Blazek, P
Chris Capuano, P
Matt Garza, P
Scooter Gennett, IF
Zack Jones, P
Corey Knebel, P
Rymer Liriano, OF
Sean Nolin, P
Domingo Santana, OF
Will Smith, P

How About Zach Davies?

As I continue my summer fling following the Brewers, it has been interesting to see the progress of rookie pitcher Zach Davies.  Since the start of May, Davies has won five consecutive decisions and posted an ERA of 2.55.  Will be intriguing to keep an eye on the 23 year old right-hander.

Four Hall of Famers Were Born in Wisconsin

During the first round of the draft last night, someone online pointed out that two players from Wisconsin were drafted on the first day.  I don't know if this occurrence is unprecedented, but it did make me wonder how many Wisconsin natives have made it to the big leagues.

Here's a few of the names that I came across in a quick look. Feel free to add more.

The Hall of Famers
Burleigh Grimes
Addie Joss
Kid Nichols
Al Simmons

The Brewers or Braves
Jerry Augustine
Jim Gantner
Willie Mueller
Bob Uecker
Bob Wickman

Two More Arms on the Way

While the Brewers' starters have impressed the last two nights at Miller Park, two more arms have taken steps bringing them closer to Milwaukee.

Yesterday, it was announced that left-hander Josh Hader has been promoted to AAA Colorado Springs.  Hader, 22, posted an 0.95 ERA in 11 starts for Biloxi.  He was acquired from Houston as part of the Carlos Gomez trade in 2015.

Today, veteran Matt Garza is scheduled to make his final rehab start for Low A Wisconsin.  Garza has not pitched for Milwaukee yet this season.

My Summer Fling? Brewers baseball

I am two weeks into summer vacation after my first year back as a classroom teacher.  I have about two months here in Houston to rest my brain and prepare for another group of math and science-learning 9 and 10 year olds to come into my classroom.  

One item on my to do list is to be a Brewers fan for the summer. Why is this?

1.  I went to college in Milwaukee (graduated in 1991) and attended numerous Brewers games during the school year at County Stadium. After growing up in a National League town, the Brewers became my American League team of choice. However, I never stayed in Wisconsin during the summer and missed the dog days of outdoor baseball. 

2. The Brewers are in a rebuilding mode.  The player development portion of baseball, which has always been intriguing to me, is a big part of Brewers baseball at the moment. 

3. I am looking for excuses to buy bratwurst the next time I go to the grocery store here in Houston.

Just so my intentions are clear, my plan is to pay attention to the organization until the trade deadline. After that, it will be time to return my focus to my classroom here in Texas.  However, I am not completely ruling out a road trip to Arlington in September when the Brewers face the Rangers.  

Having said that, I begin my summer fling with the Brewers.

2016 Spartan Football Schedule

August 25, vs. Austin, Barnett, 7
September 1, vs. Wisdom(formerly Lee HS), Dyer, 7
September 9, vs. Sam Houston, Dyer, 7
September 16, vs. Kipp Generations, Dyer, 7
September 22, vs. Worthing#, Delmar, 7
September 30, vs. North Forest#, Cowart, 7
October 15, vs. Washington#, Delmar, 1
October 22, vs. Yates#, Barnett, 1
October 28, vs. Kashmere#, Dyer, 7
November 5, vs. Wheatley#, Cowart, 1

#-District Game