MLB Opening Day Frosty Mug

Some things to read while trying. 

It’s been a long winter, but it’ll feel much more like spring when the Brewers open the 2014 regular season against the Atlanta Braves at Miller Park at 1:10 p.m. today. Yovani Gallardo will face Julio Teheran in the opener, and Paul Casella has the MLB.com preview. 

In a few hours, the ballpark will be full, but even at 6 a.m., it was already abuzz with activity. @jstein1981 has a photo from what appears to be a commercial shoot involving the Racing Sausages.

We’re still a few hours away from it being official, but Tom Haudricourt has the likely first lineup of the season:

Projected #Brewers lineup for opener: CF Gomez, SS Segura, RF Braun, 3B Ramirez, C Lucroy, LF Davis, 1B Overbay, 2B Gennett, P Gallardo.

— Tom (@Haudricourt) March 31, 2014

There’s been some concern over the last few days, but it looks like Jean Segura will be in the lineup. Segura was able to complete some throwing drills before Saturday’s exhibition game, and the Brewers have opted not to place him on the DL. In a related note, Kevin Kimmes of Cream City Cables has a preview of the Brewers shortstops for 2014. 

Segura will be a key part of the defense behind Yovani Gallardo, who makes his fifth consecutive Opening Day start. We’ve got a fair collection of notes on him this morning:

• Mark Townsend of Big League Stew ranked Gallardo as baseball’s 20th best Opening Day starter this season. 
• Gallardo told Joe DiGiovanni of MLB.com his curveball is the best it’s ever been this spring. 
• Gallardo’s second strikeout today will be the 1,082nd of his career, moving him past Teddy Higuera and into sole possession of second place on the Brewers all-time list. (h/t @MikeVassallo13)
• The Brewers Tumblr has a quote from Gallardo about getting the ball to start the season.

Meanwhile in right field, Ryan Braun will be back in the Brewers lineup for the first time since July. Mike Oz of Big League Stew listed Braun’s return (and the emergence of Hank the dog) as one of his 30 things you need to know for Opening Day.

At least one writer appears to think Braun will have no problems bouncing back from a long layoff. As part of their bold predictions for the 2014 season, You Can’t Predict Baseball suggested Braun could have his best season ever according to the advanced metric OPS+. He’s also one home run away from tying Geoff Jenkins for third on the Brewers all-time list. (h/t @MikeVassallo13)

Rickie Weeks is not expected to be in today’s lineup, as Scooter Gennett is likely to get the start at second base and bat eighth. If Weeks enters the game later, though, this could be something to watch for: Plunk Everyone notes that his six career Opening Day hit by pitches are the most in MLB history.

Will Smith, Zach Duke and Wei-Chung Wang also won’t start today’s game, but if needed, all three could be available to pitch in relief. Over the weekend, Ron Roenicke confirmed the plan for his three bullpen lefties: Smith is to be used in late relief, Duke as a situational lefty and Wang in long relief. Speaking of long relief, Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker has a preview of the lower-leverage arms in the Brewers bullpen.

Whoever pitches today won’t have to worry about the weather: Despite a forecast calling for a game-time temperature in the 50s, the Brewers have already announced the roof will be closed at Miller Park today.

The Brewers play at night tomorrow but have a day game again on Wednesday to wrap up the Braves series. Matt Garza is scheduled to pitch that game, looking to rebound from an up-and-down spring that ended with a rough outing against the Royals on Friday. He told Todd Rosiak that his delivery was off in that start, and mentioned his unfamiliarity with the layout of the home clubhouse at Miller Park.

In the minors:

• The minor league season opens on Thursday, and yesterday, the Nashville Sounds announced their tentative roster. They currently have 28 players listed and will need to cut down to 25. Miller Park Prospects has a preview of their season.
• @Haudricourt notes that the Brewers, who don’t have a lefty in their major league rotation, also don’t have one in Nashville. 
• Now that Jean Segura won’t have to open the season on the DL, infielder Elian Herrera is one of the players ticketed for Nashville. He’s also the subject of the latest installment of “Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers” at The Brewer Nation.
• Nicholas Ian Allen of Seedlings to Stars has a preview of the North Division of the AA Southern League, including the Huntsville Stars.
• That Stars team will include 2011 first round pick Taylor Jungmann, who will start the season in AA for the second consecutive year. (h/t @Haudricourt)
• Brevard County has also released its roster, which includes top prospects Tyrone Taylor and Victor Roache.
• Wisconsin’s roster has yet to be released, but when it is, 2013 Pioneer League MVP Michael Ratterree is likely to be on it. Ratterree homered off Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie in the exhibition game at Miller Park on Saturday.
• Unfortunately, you won’t find top prospect Nicky Delmonico on any of those rosters. @Haudricourt reports that he hasn’t played this spring and is dealing with “personal issues.”
• 2009 second round pick Max Walla also isn’t on those rosters, but he’ll be in the minors somewhere this year attempting to convert to being a pitcher (h/t @Mass_Haas). Walla is a career .246/.312/.344 (AVG/OBP/SLG) hitter across five professional seasons and has never advanced past Low-A Wisconsin.
• Last week, we mentioned that the Brewers had released 11 minor leaguers, including a few onetime top draft picks. @Mass_Haas has more details on the new free agents.
• Miller Park Prospects has stories on a pair of corner infielders from the low minors: Garrett Cooper and David Denson.

Looking ahead a few days, a large contingent of Brewers fans will likely miss a portion of Saturday’s game in Boston. The Brewers and Red Sox will play at 6:10 p.m. Central time, and the Badgers’ Final Four game is scheduled to tip off around 7:49 p.m. You can list @AdamMcCalvy among those rooting for a quick game from a Red Sox team notorious for slow play.

Saturday’s game is one of 18 Saturday night Brewers contests in 2014. Over the weekend, JP of Brew Crew Ball posted a breakdown of the Brewers’ schedule by day of the week through the season. A quick summary: Plan nights out and other major life events for Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights, and plan on spending Tuesday and Friday in front of the TV (or at the ballpark).

The last day before the season is always a big one for predictions, projections, power rankings and previews:

• Walk Like A Sabermetrician is picking the Brewers to finish second in the NL Central and win a Wild Card berth. 
• Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish has the Brewers finishing third, ahead of the Pirates but behind the Wild Card-winning Cincinnati Reds. 
• Craig Edwards of Viva El Birdos, a St. Louis Cardinals site, says, “The most likely outcome is a few injuries here or there or some players not performing to expectations resulting in a record somewhere around .500.”
• Scott Lindholm of Beyond the Box Score says the Brewers “probably won’t” be in the hunt for a Wild Card.
• The writing staff at FanGraphs would appear to agree, as just one of their 31 contributors is picking the Brewers to reach the postseason.
• All five contributors at Big League Stew are predicting the Brewers will finish fourth in the Central.
• David Pinto of Baseball Musings used Wins Above Replacement (WAR) projections to predict a fourth-place finish.
• Dugout Perspective has the Brewers 11th in their preseason NL power rankings.
• Tim Brown of Yahoo has the Brewers 24th in his power rankings and makes a terrible pun about Hank the dog. 
• Value Over Replacement Grit has a very pessimistic season preview haiku.

Around baseball:

Angels: Signed outfielder Mike Trout to a six-year, $144.5 million contract extension 
Athletics: Designated outfielder Michael Taylor for assignment. 
Blue Jays: Placed pitcher Casey Janssen on the DL with a back injury.
Cubs: Placed pitchers Jake Arrieta (shoulder), Kyuji Fujikawa (elbow) and James McDonald (shoulder) on the DL and designated pitcher Alberto Cabrera for assignment.
Dodgers: Placed pitcher Clayton Kershaw on the DL with a back injury. 
Giants: Designated outfielder Roger Kieschnick for assignment. 
Indians: Signed catcher Yan Gomes to a six-year, $23 million extension with club options for 2020 and 2021, signed reliever Mark Lowe and catcher George Kottaras to minor league deals, and designated pitchers Preston Guilmet, Frank Herrmann and Colt Hynes for assignment. 
Mets: Placed pitcher Jon Niese on the DL with elbow inflammation. 
Nationals: Placed pitcher Doug Fister on the DL with a lat strain. 
Orioles: Designated pitcher Mike Belfiore for assignment. 
Phillies: Re-signed infielder Ronny Cedeno to a minor league deal and acquired infielder Jayson Nix from the Rays for cash. 
Pirates: Designated P Vin Mazzaro for assignment. 
Rangers: Placed pitcher Yu Darvish on the DL with a stiff neck, claimed catcher Chris Gimenez off waivers from the A’s and designated pitcher P Michael Kirkman and infielder Adam Rosales for assignment.
Rays: Re-signed pitcher Erik Bedard and signed infielder Mike Fontenot to minor league deals. 
Red Sox: Released reliever Francisco Cordero.
Reds: Designated pitcher Pedro Beato for assignment. 
Rockies: Placed pitcher Jhoulys Chacin on the DL with a shoulder strain. 
Twins: Placed reliever Brian Duensing on the paternity list. 
White Sox: Placed infielders Gordon Beckham (oblique strain) and Jeff Keppinger (shoulder surgery) on the DL and re-signed pitcher Mitchell Boggs to a minor league deal. 

Today in former Brewers:

• Carlos Villanueva has won a spot in the rotation with the Cubs.
• Jay Greenberg of MLB.com talked to Travis Ishikawa about winning a job with the Pirates.
• Nick Michalski of The Brewers Bar has an interview with Rob Deer. 

Today in baseball economics: The Cardinals are the latest team to follow the trend of major league clubs purchasing their desirable minor league affiliates to avoid the risk of losing them to another franchise. Their purchase of the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds was finalized over the weekend.

Finally, with help from the B-Ref Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday today to:

• 1975-76 Brewer Tom Hausman, who turns 61.
• Menasha, Wis., native and 1954-55 Milwaukee Brave Dave Koslo, who would have turned 94.

 
Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to hit the road again.

Drink up.

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