BREWERS - 3/19/02

Latest Team Info: The Past week for the Brewers has been pretty good. There is problem on the Brewers front however. Brewers player Elvis Pena is still unable to enter America after being sent back to the Dominican due to his wife having visa problems. Story originally stated that it was Elvis himself who had the visa problems but, that was proven not to be true.

Live from spring training, a position battle is heating up. Who will third base be occupied by? Right now, it is between Ronnie Belliard, Mark Loretta, and Tyler Houston. Word has it that through this Saturday, Tyler Houston is in the lead for the starting spot with a .344 batting average.

With all of the send downs to the minor leagues there are currently 39 players left on the major league spring training camp. That includes 9 non roster invitee’s, 18 pitchers, 3 catchers, nine infielders, and 9 outfielders.

To clear everything up, Curtis Leskanic is NOT the closer of the Milwaukee Brewers. Curtis had a terrible year last year. Even though his excuse was a shoulder injury that forced him to lose his closing spot last year to Mike Dejean, and to have surgery this off season. This year the closing spot will be occupied by Chad Fox. Chad is a man that has battled injury for much of his career. However, he bounced back to be one of the set-up men in baseball last season. Leskanic will be the set-up man. Davey Lopes, made the statement that "Chad is his man. Even when Curtis’s arm is 100% Chad will be his man." With him saying this it seems that Chad controls his own destiny and Curtis has nothing to say about it.

Local Perspective: Want to talk sleepers? Should I give you my sleepers? No, let me tell you who Davey Lopes chose as the sleepers of the Milwaukee Brewers squad. This is straight from the horses mouth. Davey likes what he sees from outfielder Alex Sanchez and pitcher Juan Pena. Regarding Sanchez Davey had the following things to say.

"He’s like a young Kenny Lofton out there."

"I wasn’t a big Sanchez guy last year."

"He had a big swing. His quickness wasn’t good. But, he’s a different kid this year. He’s a little bigger. He’s got a different swing. He came off the bench the other day and hit a triple. I don’t think we’d have expected that last year."

In 12 spring games this year, Sanchez is batting .357 with 2 triples, and a league leading 5 stolen bases. My personal opinion is this guy will be on the opening day roster . He will probably be used as a pinch-hitter/pinch-runner.

Regarding Juan Pena Davey had the following things to say.

"All I can go by is what I’m seeing."

"I like what I am seeing from (Pena). He’s giving us something to think about."

Pena the 27 year old Dominican Republic native has thrown 5 2/3 scoreless innings in four appearances so far.

Injuries:

Nick Neugebauer (P)
INJURY: Mar 12, Shoulder
STATUS: Day-to-day

The young prospect is battling a surgically repaired shoulder this spring. He began to throw to hitters on the side March 10th. He was slated to pitch a simulated game on March 15th.

Jamey Wright (P)
INJURY: Mar 12, Oblique
STATUS: Day-to-day

A strained left Oblique Muscle is giving Jamey trouble. He has missed his last two scheduled starts in the Cactus League. It is still unknown if he is going to make his opening day start. He is likely to be set back in the rotation.

Eric Young (2B)
INJURY: March 12, Knee
STATUS: Day-to-day

Eric Young was hit by a pitch in the knee against the Giants. He sustained a bruised right knee. This means that Ronnie Belliard will be seeing extra work.

Curtis Leskanic (P)
INJURY: Feb 28, Rotator
STATUS: None

Leskanic had shoulder surgery in October of 2001. The Brewers were very hopeful that he would be able to see some time during the last week of spring training. However, that is not the case. His shoulder is giving him trouble and will most likely be out all spring.

On the Farm: ESPN.com special reporter John Sickels feels that the Milwaukee Brewers have one of the weakest farm systems in baseball. He reported that the Brewers should be facing contraction not the Twins or Expos. I will go over his thoughts in the next topic that will follow right below this one. Anyways, there are some bright sides to the Brewers farm system, the best are as followed…..

The following people should be seeing major league action this season.

Nick Neugebauer, RHP: He has a great hard fastball, it normally goes around 95-99 MPH. He has a nasty slider to go along with it. Last year he had poor command over both pitches but, he has improved on that aspect. His down side, he will probably not be ready until early to mid May.

Alex Sanchez, OF: Short but sweet. He is a speedy outfielder. He will be used as a reserve. No more this year.

Jose Mieses, RHP: He has an average fastball and an average curveball. However, he has an unhittable palm ball that he uses to get people out. He suffered a back injury last year that limited him to 11 games.
He can’t be compared to Nick Neugebauer. Nick has better stuff, but Jose has better command.

State of the Brewer’s Farm System: A lot has been said that the Brewers have an absolutely horrible farm system. John Sickel’s even said that the Brewers should be the ones contracted because of it. Awfully stong words. We all know that contraction talks will never be named at the Brewers because, Commisioner Bud Selig owns them. Even if Selig did not own them however, the Brewers would not be contracted because of beautiful Miller Park. Whether you like it or not the Brewers are going to have a future in the MLB. But, with the farm system they have, What kind of future will it be? Of course there is no way we can tell because, constant efforts are being made to improve. When GM Dean Taylor and his staff inherited the system in 1999 they knew they were in for a challenge to repair the broken. They have been putting more money into the draft and have expanded efforts in Latin America. As of now the system remains in similar condition to 1999. Give Dean Taylor time however. He is a genius and will bring respect to the Brewers. However do not expect many prospects to be brought up in the upcoming years.

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Chad Fox (new): With Curtis Leskanic out of the closers position. This man controls the bottom of the ninth for the Milwaukee Brewers. Pick him up now, not many people know he is the closer. He will give up some saves to Mike Dejean but, Fox will have 30+ if everything goes smoothly.

Drop: NONE