SB Nation - Peter Zoccolillo

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:32:24 -0000

Casey McGehee is congratulated by Felipe Lopez after hitting a two-run home run Wednesday.

Some things to read while reusing a pizza box.

Casey McGehee had a night to remember last night, hitting the game-winning pinch hit home run just hours after his 2 1/2 year old son Mackail threw out the first pitch, with the help of Prince Fielder. Mackail, McGehee's only child, is battling cerebral palsy. Last October, McGehee's wife Sarah set up a blog and posted about the first two years of Mackail's life. There's only one post, but it's a worthwhile read. (h/t TheJay)

Last night wasn't Manny Parra's best outing, but he managed to straighten things out after a rough start and get through six innings, saving the Brewer bullpen and keeping the team in the game. View From Bernie's Chalet saw some encouraging signs in the performance. Parra did, however, walk home two runs in the second inning, pushing the Brewer season total to 16. The franchise record is 20, and the Brewers may demolish it by the end of August as part of their Shattering Records, Shattering Hearts campaign.

Meanwhile, Doug Melvin continues to scour the market for potential pitching help. Today's notes:

Kevin Correia popped up in Rumorville this morning. He's posted a 4.75 ERA in 21 starts for the Padres, and while they may be looking to unload him, I believe he's also a free agent after the season, which is the type of player the Brewers have said they're not pursuing. Correia signed as a free agent with the Padres in December. (And actually, his new team could still take him to arbitration, since he'll only have about 5 years of service time. Thanks, TheJay!)
Eli Greenspan of MLB Daily Dish thinks the Brewers might be players for Orioles closer George Sherrill, and suggests the Brewers should offer a package with Jake Odorizzi (BCB Prospect #9) as the centerpiece. Odorizzi has a high upside but is also still in rookie ball, so he's probably a little too far from the big leagues to be the centerpiece in a deal.
Jesus Colome, meanwhile, pitched another scoreless inning, allowing a hit and striking out two, while picking up the save in Nashville last night.

At what point does the blame for the Brewers' poor pitching performance in 2009 fall on first year pitching coach Billy Castro? Obviously, injuries are a part of it, but Brewer Paradise Lost crunched the numbers and found a decline in every Brewer starter in 2009, while former Brewer pitching coach Mike Maddux is guiding an exceptional turnaround of the Rangers' staff.

Carlos Villanueva will make his second start on Sunday, giving him another opportunity to prove he belongs in the rotation. Villanueva pitched reasonably well into the fourth inning on Tuesday, and the Brewers don't really have anyone more deserving of the opportunity at this point.

Mike Rivera went 0-for-3 but walked and scored a run last night, meaning Brewer catchers are now 101 games into the season and still have yet to hit a home run. Over at Recondite Baseball, TheJay notes that Brewer catchers and Mets second basemen are the only two positions in baseball yet to go deep.

The Brewer outfielders, though, would probably still play deep against them. The outfielders have been moved back after Doug Melvin noticed the Brewers were giving up an inordinate amount of extra base hits, especially triples. Now, they're more prone to allowing bloop singles but should have fewer balls hit over their heads. I feel the need to correct one note in the article, though:

"Balls are going to fall in front, but in order to score one run with a ball dropping in front of you you're going to need two more hits," Macha said. "With a triple, you're just going to have to put the ball in play."

One of those instances came in Sunday's 10-2 loss to the Braves. With two out in the seventh inning, Atlanta's Garret Anderson lined a single that dropped in front of Brewers right fielder Corey Hart and led to howls of boos for the right fielder.

I was at Sunday's game, and I booed on that play, but I didn't boo because the outfielders were playing deep. I booed because, from my vantage point, it looked like Corey Hart took his time and jogged up to a playable ball, catching it on the hop instead of making a full effort. I don't think I've ever booed defensive positioning.

If you're planning on watching today's game, you'll be witnessing history: "Cowboy" Joe West will be today's home plate umpire, in his 4000th career game.

On Power Rankings:

Beyond the Box Score dropped the Brewers three spots to #22.
MLB FanHouse dropped the Brewers one spot to #20.

Around baseball:

Cubs: Reed Johnson is expected to miss a month after breaking his foot.
Giants: Acquired Freddy Sanchez from the Giants for minor league pitcher Tim Alderson.
Mariners: Acquired Ian Snell and Jack Wilson from the Pirates for Jeff Clement, Ronny Cedeno and three minor leaguers, and traded Wladimir Balentien to the Reds for reliever Robert Manuel.
Orioles: Placed Rich Hill on the DL with shoulder tendinitis or a torn labrum, depending on who you ask.
Phillies: Acquired Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco from the Indians for four prospects.
Rockies: Signed Mike Timlin to a minor league deal.
White Sox: Placed Bartolo Colon on the DL with swelling in his elbow.
Yankees: Acquired reliever Jason Hirsh from the Rockies and released Brett Tomko.

We're one day closer to the trading deadline and Roy Halladay still has not moved. Jorge Posada thinks the Jays are asking for too much, but that wasn't enough to keep the Beloit Snappers from making an offer.

It's a strange world sometimes. When last we heard from Jose Rijo, he was leaving the Nationals amidst an FBI investigation into a bonus skimming scandal. So, what does one do next after being disgraced and chased off by the Nats? Rijo is running for mayor of San Cristobal. His opponent is Raul Mondesi. (h/t Baseball Musings)

Sometimes, when you sell at the trade deadline you don't get as much back as you'd like. On this day in 2001 the Brewers traded David Weathers for a mystery box that included Ruben Quevedo and Peter Zoccolillo.

Happy birthday today to 2004 Brewer and Timber Rattlers hitting coach Matt Erickson, who turns 34, 1992 Brewer Scott Fletcher, who turns 51, and former Brewers owner Bud Selig, who turns 75 and should celebrate his birthday by announcing his immediate retirement.

Drink up.

The Brewers and the Rule 5 Draft

TheJay — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 06:15:08 -0000

Since major league clubs finalized their reserve lists (also known as 40-man rosters) on November 20, the Internet has been abuzz with speculation about the Rule 5 draft. This year's Rule 5 draft takes place on December 11 at the end of the annual Winter Meetings. So what exactly is the Rule 5 draft and why are people so excited about it? Perhaps more importantly for us, how have the Brewers participated in it over the years?

The Rule 5 draft is intended to move players who may be blocked on talent-rich clubs to clubs who aren't stocked with as many skilled players. It's not a modern invention--the first Rule 5 draft took place all the way back in 1903. Back then, players were subject to the reserve clause, binding them to their teams for as long as the team saw fit. Without a chance to ever freely move from team to team, players could be blocked by established veterans for years. More important in the eyes of many owners, wealthier teams could stockpile good players and keep them in the minors indefinitely, creating a nearly inexhaustible depth chart of talented players and keeping major league talent from less wealthy teams. To combat this stockpiling, the Rule 5 draft was invented. During the draft, teams could select players left unprotected by other teams in the hopes the players would blossom into quality big leaguers. While the draft was (and is) hit or miss, it contained enough diamonds in the rough to keep teams interested.

To prevent teams from completely raiding each other's systems, however, a couple ground rules were laid down: first, there was a fee charged for each pick. Second, each pick had to remain on the drafting team's major league roster for the entire season after the draft. If the drafting team wanted to send the player they selected to the minors for more seasoning, he first had to be offered back to his original team for the waiver price. Sometimes teams would no longer have room for the drafted player to return and they let his new organization keep him, but these two basic rules kept teams from drafting too many players each season.

Those rules are still in place (with enhancements) today. Each Rule 5 draft pick costs $50,000 and must stay on the big league roster for a full season. Ninety days of that season must be spent on the Active List (i.e., not the disabled/military/etc. list). If the player fails to reach that ninety days in his first season with the club, he must stay on the major league roster during the next season until he reaches ninety days. This prevents stashing a guy on the disabled list all year just to keep him in the system. If the drafting team wants to release their pick or send him to the minors, he must clear waivers and then be offered back to his original team for $25,000. If the player's original team chooses not to reclaim him, his new team can treat him as just another player in their system. What has changed over the years are the eligibility requirements for the draft. To be eligible for the Rule 5 draft today, a player:

Must not be on his organization's 40-man roster
If 19 or older on the June 5th before he signed his first contract, must have spent four seasons in the majors or minors.
If 18 or older on the June 5th before he signed his first contract, must have spent five seasons in the majors or minors.

There are also rules governing which teams can select players in the draft: teams select in reverse order of that season's finish and since a Rule 5 draft pick automatically is added to a team's 40-man roster, the team must have an open roster slot in order to pick. For example, the Rockies had 40 players on their 40-man roster at the time of the 1999 Rule 5 draft, so they couldn't make a selection.

In addition to the major league Rule 5 draft described above, there are two minor league phases of the draft. In the AAA phase, players eligible for for the Rule 5 draft but not on a team's 40-man roster or in AAA can be selected for $12,000. In the AA phase, eligible players from below AA can be selected for $4,000. Selected players do not have to be offered back to their original clubs once picked. Usually players picked in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft are roster filler for minor league affiliates, but occasionally future major leaguers are selected. One example is Giants utilityman Eugenio Velez, plucked from the Blue Jays in the AAA phase of the 2005 draft.

So now that we've hashed out all the specifics of who can pick and be picked in the draft, let's look at how the Brewers have used the Rule 5 draft throughout the years. It's easy to find all the selections during the last decade since they're easily accessible online. Unfortunately, complete drafts from before then are not available online, so finding selections becomes a matter of combing through transactions lists and finding guys who eventually made it to the majors. It's safe to assume there were a number of Brewers Rule 5 draft selections from 1970 to the late 1990's that never made it to the majors and thus aren't on those lists. Thus this isn't a complete list of all Brewers Rule 5 picks but it is, I believe, a complete list of Brewers picks (and players bought immediately from other teams) who at some point played in the majors.

Drafted by Brewers				Drafted From Brewers
Name	Position	Year	Picked From	Name	Position	Year	Picked By
Edward Campusano	LHP	2006	CHC	Callix Crabbe	IF	2007	SDP
Marcos Carvajal	RHP	2004	LAD	Ramon Garcia	RHP	1996	HOU
Jeff Bennett	RHP	2003	PIT	Marc Ronan	C	1995	NYY
Enrique Cruz	SS	2002	NYM	Bobby M. Jones	RHP	1994	COL
Matt Ford	RHP	2002	TOR	Tim Fortugno	LHP	1991	CAL
Jorge Sosa	RHP	2001	SEA	Dwayne Hosey	OF	1991	SDP
Ryan Christenson	OF	2001	ARI	Dave Stapleton	LHP	1988	HOU
Matt Williams	RHP	1999	NYY	Gibson Alba	LHP	1987	STL
Al Reyes	RHP	1994	MON	Bob Gibson	RHP	1986	CHW
Jose Mercedes	RHP	1993	BAL	Jeff Parrett	RHP	1985	MON
Graeme Lloyd	LHP	1992	TOR	Willie Lozado	IF	1984	STL
Rob Lukachyk	OF	1991	CHW	Jesus Vega	1B	1977	MIN
Matias Carrillo	LHP	1987	PIT	Ron Tompkins	RHP	1970	CHC
Vicente Palacios	RHP	1986	PIT
Brian Giles	IF	1984	NYM
Jamie Nelson	C	1983	SEA
Mike Warren	RHP	1981	OAK
Tom Candiotti	RHP	1980	KCR
Mark Brouhard	OF	1979	CAL
Ned Yost	C	1977	NYM
Marshall Edwards	OF	1976	OAK
Jeff Yurak	OF	1976	NYM
Aurelio Monteagudo	RHP	1971	KCR

Players in italics were selected during the minor league portion of the draft.

You might be wondering who Edward Campusano and Marcos Carvajal are. They were picked by the Brewers but immediately sold to Detroit and Colorado, respectively. Similarly, Graeme Lloyd was picked by the Phillies and was promptly traded to the Brewers. Obviously, the Brewers have been more active as "buyers" than "sellers" during the Rule 5 draft when it comes to guys who made the majors, especially recently. That's not a big surprise, as bad teams don't usually have much worth taking from their farm system, unless something goes terribly wrong.

The Brewers have also dabbled in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft in the past few years. I could only find full details for those drafts going back to 2002, but here's a quick list of players selected by the Brewers:

Joe Bateman (RHP) in 2007, from San Francisco
Richard Campbell (RHP) in 2007, from Washington
Juan Sandoval (RHP) in 2007, from Seattle
Michael Carlin (1B) in 2006, from Pittsburgh
Steve Bray (RHP) in 2006, from Kansas City
Landon Stockman (RHP) in 2004, from Cleveland
Juan Cerros (RHP) in 2004, from Cincinnati
Ryan Costello (LHP) in 2003, from Toronto
David Manning (RHP) in 2002, from Minnesota

Outside of Bateman, Bray, and maybe Manning, that's a list that makes you say, "who?" See what I meant when I said the minor league portion is used for roster filler? The Brewers didn't lose much in those drafts either: the most notable names are RHP Ben Diggins (2005), LHP John Foster (2003), OF Pete Zoccolillo (2003), and the other RHP Dan Kolb (2004).

So now you know more than you ever thought you would about the Brewers and the Rule 5 draft. Will the Crew pick a player to keep for themselves for the first time in six years? Will anyone from the Brewers system be picked by another team? The answer to both questions is "probably not," but you never know. Anyone the Brewers pick will be able to commiserate with manager Ken Macha, himself a Rule 5 pick in 1978. That player will also join a list that has some surprisingly good names and an awful lot of forgotten ones.

Further Reading on the Rule 5 Draft:
Rule 5 draft information from Baseball America
Hardball Times article about interesting historical Rule 5 picks
Major League Rule 5 draft results back to 1998
A summary of Major League Rule 5
Retrosheet transactions data