Friday- Back to baseball

Some things to read while getting bigger.
 
After four days off for the All Star break, the Brewers finally return to action tonight when they take on the Washington Nationals at 6:05 p.m. at Nationals Park. Kyle Lohse will take on Stephen Strasburg in the unofficial opener of the second half, and Joe Morgan has the MLB.com preview.

In a surprising move, Jean Segura will be back with the team and likely back in the lineup when the Brewers resume play tonight. Segura left the team a week ago following the death of his young son, but is expected to rejoin the Brewers in Washington. Just two days ago the Brewers reported they were having a hard time reaching Segura and didn’t know when he’d be back.

To make room for Segura to be activated off the bereavement list, the Brewers placed Jeff Bianchi on the DL with the sore elbow that kept him out of action over the weekend. Elian Herrera will remain with the team as Segura’s primary backup.

Elsewhere in transactions, the Brewers also reclaimed infielder Irving Falu off waivers from the Padres and optioned him to Nashville. The Padres claimed Falu from the Brewers on June 26 and used him in 11 games, where he went 3-for-20 with three walks. Between two teams he’s now hitting a combined .100/.200/.100 (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging) in 35 major league plate appearances this season.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Falu, the organization designated reliever Kevin Shackelford for assignment. The 25-year-old reliever earned a spot in the Arizona Fall League last season with a 0.92 ERA in 20 relief appearances for AA Huntsville, but has a 6.35 ERA while repeating that level this season and is striking out just 3.2 batters per nine innings.

While we wait for any potential moves, though, the Brewers have some work to do to make up for a rough start to the month of July. Matt Montgomery of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that FanGraphs projections give the Brewers a 45.5 percent chance to make the playoffs, down from 78.2 percent on June 30.

That decline doesn’t mean the Brewers won’t be a good second-half story, however. Will Leitch of Sports on Earth ranked the Brewers as the fifth-most compelling of the 17 teams with a chance to win the World Series, well behind the first place Pirates but also far ahead of the 17th place Cardinals.

When you put it all in perspective, entering the second half in first place in the NL Central and with a roughly 50/50 shot to make the playoffs is a pretty solid outcome for a Brewers team widely predicted to finish fourth in the division. Ryan Topp of Disciples of Uecker has a look at what’s gone right for the Brewers to this point, and Vince Morales of Miller Park Drunk has a collection of both good and bad. Looking ahead, Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel has a look at five storylines that could be keys to the second half.

A hot streak from Carlos Gomez could go a long way to turn things around for this team. Perhaps not surprisingly, Scott Lindholm of Beyond the Box Score has the fringe MVP candidate as one of the outliers on his chart showing center fielders’ production as compared to their salaries. Gomez is making $7 million this season as part of the three-year deal he signed in March of 2013. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he’s also leading all Brewers in the voting for the team’s “WE Energies High-Energy Player of the Year” award.

Elsewhere in low-cost, high-performing players, the Brewers have catcher Jonathan Lucroy. The combination of his offensive breakout this season and his remarkably team-friendly contract landed Lucroy the #14 spot on Dave Cameron of FanGraphs’ list of baseball’s highest trade values. Cameron referred to Lucroy as “one of the quietest true stars in baseball.”

Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy give the Brewers a pair of relatively inexpensive MVP candidates. Steve Engbloom of Call to the Pen left both players out, however, in his poll to determine the National League’s best player in the first half. As such, I voted for “other.”

Gomez and Lucroy both got to play a little baseball in Minnesota this week, but most of their teammates haven’t seen game action since Sunday or before. The Brewers scheduled an optional workout for Thursday at Miller Park but were unable to do anything on the field as the grounds crew worked to get things back in playing shape following Wednesday’s exhibition soccer game. A few players, including Matt Garza and Elian Herrera, threw and/or hit in the batting cages (h/t @Todd_Rosiak on both notes).

Wear and tear from the soccer game should not be a long term issue, however. @MikeVassallo13 has a picture of repair work underway on the field. The Brewers return home to host the Reds on Monday.

In the minors:

• On Thursday the Brewers signed pitcher and longtime Yankees farmhand Manny Barreda to a minor league deal (h/t @AdamMcCalvy). Barreda is 25 and in his eighth professional season, but only his second above A-ball. He had a 3.40 ERA in 50 1/3 innings for AA Trenton this season, striking out 10.4 batters per nine innings.
• Back on the field, the affiliates went 3-3 on Thursday with one of the wins coming from Helena, where first baseman Sthervin Matos went 3-for-5 with two home runs and six RBI in the H-Brewers’ 15-7 win over Orem. You can read about all of the day’s action in today’s edition of Minor League Notes at Brew Crew Ball.
• Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio has postgame audio, highlights and more from Wisconsin’s 8-2 loss to Bowling Green, which snapped their four-game winning streak.
• Greg Pearson of the Journal Sentinel has a story on the variety of team names in the Brewers organization, which features some unusual selections in the Sounds, Manatees and Timber Rattlers.
• With that said, it sounds like the Brewers and Sounds could part ways following this season. Brewerfan.net has the details on a rumored affiliation shuffle that would bump the Brewers out of Nashville’s new ballpark and likely send their AAA affiliate to Fresno, California.

Back in the majors, if you watch the games this weekend you might notice a pair of unfamiliar faces around the team. As part of the Wounded Warrior Project, combat veterans Brian Schultz and Shane Kruchten are traveling with the team to Washington and will be in uniform for the games.

Bob Uecker will also be back on the air this weekend, and on Thursday night he was featured in an MLB Network documentary titled “Mr. Baseball.” I didn’t get a chance to watch the whole thing, but the bits and pieces I’ve seen looked remarkably well done.

Today in power rankings:

• Nats Insider has the Brewers as baseball’s ninth-best team, down five spots from last week.
• Tim Brown of Yahoo dropped them even further, going from second to tenth.

If you’d like more Brewers coverage today but you’re sick of reading, my weekly appearance on The Home Stretch with Justin Hull on 95.3 WSCO in Appleton has been archived and can be heard here. This was Justin’s final week hosting the show, as Marques Pfaff (who joined us in-studio) takes over on Monday.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Claimed pitcher Brad Mills off waivers from the Athletics and designated pitcher Deck McGuire for assignment.
Rangers: Designated first baseman Carlos Pena for assignment.
Rays: Placed catcher Ryan Hanigan on the DL with an oblique strain.
Reds: Acquired reliever Dylan Axelrod from the White Sox.
White Sox: Signed pitcher Chien-Ming Wang to a minor league deal.
Yankees: Signed pitcher Rich Hill to a minor league deal.

The entire NL Central was off on Thursday for the final day of the All Star break, but here’s a reminder on today’s standings and probables:

Today in former Brewers: Paul Sullivan of Sully Baseball did a great thing by creating an “In Memoriam” video that MLB could and probably should have produced for the All Star Game, looking at the all-time greats that passed away between the games in 2013 and 2014. Mike Hegan and George Scott are in it, as are longtime Milwaukee Braves Andy Pafko and Johnny Logan (h/t Hardball Talk).

The Brewers have 32 regular season home games remaining, and if you attend one you could be one of the final fans to enter Miller Park without walking through a metal detector. Major League Baseball is requiring every team to install magnetometers by the beginning of the 2015 season.

Today in baseball economics: Wendy Thurm of FanGraphs has a look at local TV ratings as compared to previous years and found that about 54,000 households are watching each Brewers game this season, up from about 41,000 last season. That’s a 31% increase, but the Marlins are doing a little better at 38%.

It’s relevant to nothing, but it’s possible today’s most fascinating long read comes from Erik Malinowski of Fox Sports. He has a story on former scout and longtime youth baseball coach Tom Emanski, whose coaching videos (and the associated commercials) are iconic for a generation of fans (h/t BBTF).

Finally, with help from the Baseball Reference Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday today to:

• 2001-08 Brewer Ben Sheets, who turns 36 (Today In Brewer History).
• 1997 Brewer Antone Williamson, the #4 overall pick in the 1994 draft, who turns 41.
• Butch Edge, the Brewers’ first round pick (#6 overall) in the 1974 draft, who turns 58.
• Hall of Famer and 1960-65 Milwaukee Brave Joe Torre, who turns 74.

Today is also the 44th anniversary of second baseman Ted Kubiak setting a franchise record by driving in seven runs in a 10-5 win over the Red Sox in 1970, and the 50th anniversary of Warren Spahn recording career strikeout #5000 in the Milwaukee Braves’ 8-2 loss to the Pirates in 1964. Follow the links for those events’ respective entries in Today In Brewer History at Brew Crew Ball.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to call someone.

Drink up.

Don’t forget to follow Kyle on Twitter @BrewFrostyMug, and check out and “like” the Mug’s Facebook page. The Frosty Mug runs mornings Monday-Friday and is brought to you by Legends of the Field, a sports memorabilia company you can trust.