Brew Crew Report -- 8/30/03

Geoff Jenkins Injury: It happened again. One half of the core of the Brewers franchise went down to an injury for the third straight season. Each time, it has been the same half. Geoffrey Scott Jenkins was lost for the season on Thursday sliding into home plate in the Brewers 10th straight victory. A 4-3 Brewers win against the Cincinnati Reds. Jenkins, who homered for the fourth straight game, was hitting .475 with six home runs and 18 RBIs over the streak. Because of his recent streak, he has raised his batting average around 20 points over the last month.

The injury has been diagnosed as a fracture of the D.I.P joint in his left thumb. (Between the knuckle and the fingernail) On Friday, Jenkins traveled back to Milwaukee to see Dr. William Raasch who put his thumb in a splint and will re-examine him on Monday. Doctors are hoping to wrap the thumb in a cast but surgery does remain an option. “If the bone is still displaced or more displaced, then they’ll have to go in to surgically repair it,” Brewers spokesman Jon Greenberg said.

Jenkins will join the Brewers for their upcoming home stand on Monday afternoon. He will help Ned Yost to manage. “I told him he could help me manage….We’re going to need him around. He’s a big, big, big part of our team. His leadership, his work ethic, will still be around here.”

Jenkins’ season ended with him hitting .296 with 28 home runs and 95 RBIs. The 95 RBIs are a career high for him. Aside from his offensive success, he proved this season that he is a “great” defensive Left Fielder. He did not commit an error, and is in the top 5 in outfield assists.

Brady Clark to start in Left Field: With Geoff out, Brady is in. He is hitting .298 with three home runs and 32 RBIs. He will bat in front of Richie Sexson who will be left alone in the cleanup spot on his trek to playing all 162 games. Brady, who puts the ball into play will not supply the lineup with the power that Jenkins did, however he will get on base. That leaves Sexson, Vander Wal, and Helms to drive him in.

Jason Conti Called up: September is all about expanding rosters, however the Brewers didn’t want to start doing it in August. To take the place of Geoff Jenkins on the active roster, the Brewers called up OF Jason Conti. Jason played well the last time he was called up when Helms was injured, he homered and threw a runner out at home in his first game for the Brewers.

The Brewers 10 game Winning streak: During the run, Brewers hitters batted .301 with 20 home runs, 46 extra-base hits and scored an average of 6.8 runs per game. The pitching staff boasted a 2.97 ERA over the 10 games. The Chicago Cubs ended the Brewers winning streak on Friday. That victory should be credited to the great pitching of Matt Clement who went the distance and solely slammed the door on the Brewers. The winning streak was the Brewers longest since May of 1988. Only the Arizona Diamondbacks have manufactured a longer winning streak then the Brewers this season, the D-backs won 12 in a row in June. That streak (12 in a row) would have meant free hamburgers for everyone in Milwaukee from the local chain, “George Webbs.”

Baseball, and Skimpy orange shorts: Everyone remembers Lou Pinella and his bleach blonde hair earlier in the season with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays won three in a row. What would the Brewers coaching staff do if the Brewers won 10 in a row? We found out after the extra-inning win against the Reds.

From Cincinnati to Chicago, the Brewers coaching staff wore Hooters Girls Uniforms. Skimpy Orange Shorts and cut-off white shirts look great on waitresses at Hooters restaurants, but they look awful on the coaching staff who promised to don the outfits. “There was nothing sexy about any of us,” Yost said. Yost, his coaches, and bullpen catcher Marcus Hanel wore the get-ups from the clubhouse in Cincinnati all the way to the hotel room in Chicago. Yost tip-toed to his hotel room and thought that he made it without anymore embarrassment, but ran into a group of four ladies waiting for the elevator. “I said, I lost a bet, ladies.” Yost cracked.

A long Brewers Journey: Whenever you heard a peep from someone out of the clubhouse that the 2003 Milwaukee Brewers were a better, more fundamentally sound baseball club then they were a year ago, skeptics would righteously cite the standings as valid proof that nothing had changed. And from the myopic point of view, the cynics were right as long as another 100-loss season could be projected.

For 10 years, you have heard that the Brewers were slowly but surely changing the losing culture that had utterly eroded the franchises credibility.

The hottest team in baseball right now, is the Milwaukee Brewers. Just having a 10 game winning streak snapped and going an overall 11-1 in their last 12 games, the Brewers are over .500 (20-19) since the All-Star Break. In New York, a 20-19 record would be worrisome to Yankees fans, to Brewers fans it is cause for a celebration who’s team is technically mathematically eliminated from competing following the end of Spring Training.

It goes to show that there is fan support in Milwaukee, a recent surge has the Crew dragging in nearly 35,000 a night at Miller Park. There are no pennants to be captured, no divisions to be won, just good baseball to be played by a statistically bad baseball team this season.

As of now, 70 wins is possible. “That would be an awesome start for us,” Yost said on his pregame radio show Wednesday Night, “but we don’t want to limit ourselves to 70 wins.”

For the ole’ faithful Brewer fans, that is the way right answer.

A Close Look: If you don’t think that the Brewers are better then last year, all you have to do is look at the records. Last season, at this time, the Brewers were 46-86, this year they are 58-76, an 11 game difference for the better. They ended last season 56-106 overall. They are currently on pace to be 71-91, which will keep getting better if they play well the final month.

Brewers Acquire Crudale: As part of the Brewers trade for Mike Dejean the Brewers acquired RHP Mike Crudale from the St. Louis Cardinals as one of the two players to be named later. Last season, Crudale, 26, went 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA in 49 Appearances. This season, for the Cards he went 0-1 with a 1.64 ERA in 12 outings. He did struggle in the minors this season with a 5-5 record with a 5.52 ERA with six saves in 32 outings for AAA Memphis. The teams have until September 15th, to name the second player.

Sexson/Jenkins contract situation: Who wants to talk about your best players surfing the Free Agent Market or being traded in order to avoid losing them, and only gaining draft picks as compensation. However, the Brewers are in that situation. Both Jenkins and Sexson have their contracts end following the 2004 season. Next year, Jenkins base salary jumps from $5 Million to $8.25 Million as Sexsons’ base jumps from $5 Million to $8.6 Million. There is a possibility of the Brewers re-signing both, which is what the Club wants to do. With Jeffrey Hammonds, Curtis Leskanic, Eric Young, Mike Dejean, and Todd Ritchie off the payroll and the club expected to pass on the options of Glendon Rusch and Royce Clayton, approximately $20 Million will be shed after buyout provisions.

Before Jenkins injury, he shed his light on the situation. “That’s exciting to hear. It would be selfish of me to worry about that now with the season still going but that’s great that they want to keep me,” said Jenkins. “I think we have a good core of players here and I’d like to stay.”

I like it here; I like everything about it.” Sexson said. “Ultimately you want the opportunity to win, and I think we can win here. We’re headed in the right direction.”

The Brewers wont overpay to keep either player. With several highly regarded prospects at first-base in the organization including Brad Nelson and Prince Fielder, they have future coverage for Sexson. The system is not overloaded with top outfield prospects, however.

As of how it looks now, both parties want the other to remain in their future. I guess it all depends on if they buy into each others plans. With Geoff’s injury, discussion with him should start immediately. Ned Yost went on to say, “With Geoff being injured. He wont be traded anytime soon.” Take that how you want.

Bill Hall: Bill Hall has played great of late. He has won games, even though making stupid mistakes making those games closer then they should be. He has struggled defensively although making contact when needed. Billy Hall is what many people see as the SS of the future for the Brewers. Many see the Brewers having Hall at short, Weeks at second, Hart at third, Gwynn in Center, and Fielder at first. Maybe I am being optimistic by saying this, but I also see that as well. However, he may have to duel it out with Keith Ginter or dare I say it, Enrique Cruz in the future.

Major Honors in the Minors: The Brewers’ minor league system boasts three league MVPs. Double-A Huntsville’s Corey Hart was named MVP of the Southern League. Single-A Beloit’s Prince Fielder was named MVP of the Midwest League and rookie-level Helena’s Lou Palmisano, a first-round pick in 2003 who missed the last month of the season with injury, was named MVP of the Pioneer League. Hart’s honor was the most recent, announced on Friday. The lanky third baseman entered the weekend batting .303 with 13 home runs and 90 RBIs for the playoff-bound Huntsville.

September Call-ups: The Brewers will meet Monday to figure out who they will call-up for the final month of the season. One of the most intriguing call-ups could be LHP Luis Martinez who is 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA for AAA Indianapolis (Seven Starts) after being promoted from Huntsville.

Bad Stat: For much of the season, C Eddie Perez had been a pleasant surprise. However, over the last 21 days he has really struggled. In his last 30 at-bats, he has 1 hit. That makes his batting average over that period a terrible .034.

Correspondent Update: Remember to send all Brewers thoughts and questions to glee@fantasyinfocentral.com . I appologize for the long time since a real Brewers update but, I updated you on everything I felt you needed to know. Get those e-mails in to me if any question arises.