SB Nation - Jayson Durocher

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:12:04 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Ronny Cedeno was one of three Pirates to homer last night. Before the game, it had been 53 innings since any Pirate had hit one.

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while building two forts.

The Brewers allowed nine runs to the Pirates last night, the 25th time in 41 games they've allowed an opponent to score at least five runs. Some pther notes:

The Pirates home run in the second inning last night was their first in 53 innings.
As Tom H. notes, the Pirates had gone more than 400 innings without scoring five runs in an inning, and 699 innings without recording seven hits. They did both in the third last night.

With that said, the Brewer offense has improved a bit. After getting a few games and a nice small sample size, management is evaluating the results of the pitcher batting eighth. Here's some quick analysis, if they need the help:

When the pitcher bats eighth and Mike Rivera starts: 2-0
When the pitcher bats eighth and Jason Kendall starts: 1-3

Speaking of Kendall, Tristarscoop has found a good use for the Brewers' complaint line. Kendall did not, however, make Miller Park Drunk's list of reasons to leave early.

The deadline for signing 2009 draft picks has come and gone, and the Brewers agreed to terms yesterday with Supplemental pick Kentrail Davis, 4th round pick Brooks Hall and 16th round pick Scooter Gennett. The Brewers went over slot on all three picks, spending roughly $2.2 million on the three players, but managed to sign each of their top 23 picks from the June draft. I'll have a little more on the draft later today. In the meantime, here's a hometown paper story on Brooks Hall.

Is it too early to start looking ahead to free agency? Maybe, but Eli Greenspan of MLB Daily Dish thinks the Brewers should pursue Jason Marquis and Jarrod Washburn this offseason.

On Power Rankings and playoff odds:

WhatifSports moved the Brewers up from 20th to 17th in their rankings.
CoolStandings has the Brewers' playoff chances at 2%.
MLB Playoff Odds has the Brewers at 1.1%.

Around baseball:

Braves: Placed Nate McLouth on the DL with a sore hamstring.
Mets: Alex Cora will undergo surgery to repair torn ligaments in his thumbs and miss the rest of the season.
Nationals: Designated pitcher Logan Kensing for assignment.
Rangers: Released Vicente Padilla.
Red Sox: Released John Smoltz.
Tigers: Acquired Aubrey Huff from the Orioles for a low level pitching prospect and designated pitcher Chris Lambert for assignment.
Yankees: Russ Ortiz exercised a clause in his contract allowing him to become a free agent.

As the draft signing deadline passed with several picks receiving major league contracts, it's time for another note on baseball roster rules: U.S.S. Mariner has a primer on what it means for a prospect to get a major league deal.

One of the prospects receiving such a deal was Stephen Strasburg, which is why the Nats had to clear a roster spot yesterday. Obviously, Strasburg's deal is being covered ad nauseum elsewhere, but here are notes about it I found interesting:

Prince Fielder is on Sam Mellinger's list of players making less than Strasburg in 2009.
The Biz of Baseball estimates that Scott Boras, agent for Strasburg and four other first round picks who signed yesterday (and one who didn't), took home over $2 million in commission on yesterday's deals.
Thankfully, the Nationals won't need this jersey.

His last name is Gwynn so many won't notice, but Ducksnorts points out that Tony Gwynn Jr. has regressed to the mean a bit in San Diego, hitting just .252/.310/.299 since the All Star Break.

Do you live in Atlanta and like pancakes? Then you might be interested in the guest speaker at Atlanta's Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast on August 29th. Get there early if you want coffee.

On this day in 1997, the Brewers were one-hit by future Brewer Rick Helling. Fernando Vina picked up the only hit, and was caught stealing. In 1999 Dale Sveum, in the last season of his major league career, had one of the best days of his career, homering from both sides of the plate as the Pirates beat the Reds, 12-6.

Happy birthday today to Jayson Durocher, who appeared in 45 games for the Brewers between 2002 and 2003 and turns 35 today.

Oh, and I'm thinking of changing the site name to Brew Crew Ball and Sons. Your thoughts?

Drink up.

The Brewer Advent Calendar #9: Mark DiFelice

KLSnow — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:00:13 -0000

Behind door #9 we find...Mark DiFelice!

via farm4.static.flickr.com

It took Mark DiFelice 10 minor league seasons and 4 organizations to get there, but he made it to the big leagues in 2008 and put together a nice debut season. DiFelice was shelled in his debut at Fenway (three runs on five hits in one inning), but after that he settled down and posted a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings the rest of the way.

All told, even including the rough outing at Fenway, DiFelice posted an ERA+ of 153 for 2008. Only six players in Brewer history have posted a higher ERA+ in their ML debut season:

Pitcher	Season	IP	ERA	ERA+
Doug Henry	1991	36	1.00	402
Dave Stapleton	1987	14.2	1.84	250
Jose Mercedes	1994	31	2.32	217
Jayson Durocher	2002	48	1.88	217
Jaime Cocanower	1983	30	1.80	208
Al Reyes	1995	33.1	2.43	204
Mark DiFelice	2008	19	2.84	153

Mr. Melvin's Rangers

TheJay — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 04:45:51 -0000

An ongoing joke these days goes that whenever the Brewers sign a free agent or pick up a player on waivers, there's some connection between that player and Doug Melvin's time as the GM of the Texas Rangers. The latest example of this connection can be found in the minor league contract given to outfielder Jason Bourgeois. Bourgeois was selected by the Rangers in the 2nd round of the 2000 draft while Melvin was GM and spent five seasons in the Texas system. After bouncing around the minors for a couple more years he finally got a taste of the majors with the White Sox last season. He's been signed to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.

The Brewers have had Melvin-era Rangers contribute greatly since Melvin joined the Brewers after the 2002 season. Consider Gabe Kapler last year, Doug Davis, Dan Kolb, Francisco Cordero, and so on. So this begs the question, how many ex-Rangers has Doug Melvin picked up while in Milwaukee? Luckily, it's possible to use minor league rosters, draft reports, and other transactions information to put together a list.

Doug Melvin was hired as the General Manager of the Texas Rangers on October 10, 1994. He remained in that role until October 7, 2001. During that time he guided the team to three division championships, oversaw seven drafts, and was part of the massive Alex Rodriguez free agent signing. After spending much of the 2002 season with the Red Sox as a consultant, Melvin was hired as the 8th General Manager in Brewers history on September 25, 2002. I trust we're all sufficiently aware of his accomplishments in that role.

Of all the Rangers and Brewers to come and go under Melvin's leadership, it turns out only twenty-nine overlap. Of those, fifteen have played in the major leagues for the Brewers, no doubt increasing the perception of Melvin favoring Rangers re-treads. Here are the lucky twenty-nine, with those who reached the majors for Milwaukee in bold:

Name	Position	Years with Rangers	Years with Brewers
Justin Backsmeyer	RHP	1998-2001	2003
Jason Bourgeois	2B/OF	2000-2004	2009
Royce Clayton	SS	1998-2000	2003
Jason Conti*	OF	1998	2003
Francisco Cordero	RHP	2000-2006	2006-2007
Tim Crabtree	RHP	1998-2001	2003
Doug Davis	LHP	1996-2003	2003-2006
R.A. Dickey	RHP	1996-2006	2007
Richie Gardner	RHP	2001 draft, did not sign	2008
Rick Helling	RHP	1992-2001	2005-2006
Gabe Kapler	OF	2000-2002	2008
Dan Kolb	RHP	1995-2002	2003-2004, 2006
Mike Lamb	3B	1997-2003	2008
Chris Magruder	OF	2001	2004-2005
David Manning	LHP	1992-1998	2003
Ruben Mateo	OF	1994-2001	2007
Kevin Mench	OF	1999-2006	2006-2007
Chris Michalak*	LHP	1998, 2001-2002	2004
Warren Morris	RHP	1996-1998	2005
Laynce Nix	OF	2000-2006	2006-2008
Scott Podsednik	OF	1994-1995, 1998-2000	2003-2004
Andy Pratt	LHP	1998-2001	2004-2006
Erasmo Ramirez	LHP	2001-2006	2008
Reggie Rivard	RHP	2000-2003	2004
Julio Santana	RHP	1990-1998	2005
Scott Sheldon	IF	1998-2001	2004
Junior Spivey*	2B	1998	2004-2005
Keith Stamler	RHP	2000-2005	2005
Lee Stevens	1B	1996-1999	2003
Justin Thompson	LHP	2000-2005	2006

* - Conti, Michalak, and Spivey spent 1998 playing for the Rangers' AA affiliate even though they were Diamondbacks prospects. Arizona, as an expansion team, did not have an AA affiliate that season.

Okay, so maybe Conti and Spivey shouldn't count because they weren't ever truly Rangers farmhands despite spending a season with the Texas staff. Ditto for Gardner since Melvin probably only got a cursory report on him after the draft. Still, though, it's quite a list of Melvin-era Rangers turned Brewers.

For those interested in how Melvin acquired these guys while in Texas, here's the breakdown:

Thirteen of the players listed were drafted or signed their first contract while Melvin was the Rangers GM.
Seven (Clayton, Cordero, Crabtree, Kapler, Magruder, Ramirez, and Thompson) were acquired via trade.
Four (Helling, Manning, Podsednik, and Santana) were already with the Rangers when he took over.
As mentioned, Conti and Spivey were really Arizona prospects who were loaned to the Rangers system.
Scott Sheldon and Lee Stevens were signed as free agents.
Chris Michalak was a waiver claim.

Since drafting players from your previous organization isn't possible, naturally you begin to focus more on other ways to acquire them. Here's how Doug Melvin acquired his ex-Rangers as Brewers GM:

A full nineteen of the twenty-nine players were signed as free agents.
Six (Conti, Cordero, Mench, Nix, Pratt, and Spivey) were picked up through trades.
Richie Gardner, Mike Lamb, and Scott Podsednik were waiver claims.
David Manning was a Rule 5 pick in 2003.

So there you have it. Over ten percent (15 of 144) of the players to appear in the majors with Milwaukee since 2003 spent time under Melvin in Texas. Jason Bourgeois will attempt to continue the tradition next year. Looking at the list of minor league free agents, I get the feeling he won't be alone...