Some things to read while upgrading your phone.
The Milwaukee Brewers were off on Monday but resume play in Toronto this afternoon, where they’ll take on the Blue Jays at 12:07 p.m. in a Canada Day matinee. @joe_block has a picture of preparations for the holiday festivities, which are surely near and dear to the heart of a proud Canadian, Brewers GM Doug Melvin. Marco Estrada will face Drew Hutchison once the game actually starts, and David Adler has the MLB.com preview.
This week’s series is a bit of a homecoming for first base coach Garth Iorg, who played for Toronto from 1978-87 and coached with the Blue Jays in 1996 and again in 2001 and 2002 (h/t @MikeVassallo13). The Brewers were the first visiting team ever in the Rogers Centre (then known as the SkyDome) in 1989, but haven’t visited since 2005 (both notes also via @MikeVassallo13).
The Brewers enter play today at 51-33, which is six games better than they were at this point in the 2011 season. That team went on to set a franchise record with 96 wins, and Adam McCalvy has a comparison of the two performances.
Jonathan Lucroy will likely be in the lineup today for the first time since being named the Brewers’ Player of the Month for June. Lucroy hit .359/.427/.602 (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging) in his 26 June appearances and drove in 20 runs. Matt Garza was also named Pitcher of the Month after posting a 2.88 ERA over six starts.
Lucroy may only be a few days away from learning his plans for the All-Star break. @AdamMcCalvy notes that the 2014 All-Star rosters will be unveiled Sunday night, but players typically learn if they’ve been selected earlier in the day.
The non-waiver trade deadline is four weeks from Thursday, so the rumor mill is likely to start heating up soon. Many fans would like the Brewers to find a new home for Rickie Weeks before the month is out, but Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (via Brew Crew Ball) says the Blue Jays are not interested and have doubts regarding Weeks’ defensive abilities. For what it’s worth, @ChrisCotillo reports the Brewers had a scout in attendance for Monday night’s Cubs/Red Sox game.
Of course, Weeks is available largely due to the emergence of Scooter Gennett, who has been one of baseball’s best offensive second basemen in his first full MLB season. Rob Neyer of Fox Sports talked to Doug Melvin about prospect writers who have been “wrong” about Gennett to this point, and called out Keith Law of ESPN for having been one of them.
With that said, whether or not Law was actually wrong is a matter of opinion. Law has said he expects Gennett to be a bench/utility player in the majors, and while Gennett has played well, the Brewers have still limited him to part-time duty by taking him out of the lineup against lefties. Jaymes Langrehr nails this point home in the Tweet of the Day:
So basically, nobody’s really wrong on Scooter yet. Can’t we just enjoy watching him kill RHP without screaming about who was wrong?
— Jaymes Langrehr (@JaymesL) June 30, 2014
It’s also worth noting that Law was one of the first prospect evaluators to really draw much attention to Wily Peralta, writing about him in 2010 before his stock started to climb. This year, Law was also higher than most on Brevard County outfielder Michael Reed, who is putting up a .415 OBP in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League. So, despite the occasional accusation that Law “hates” the Brewers, he’s been higher than some on some prospects and lower than some on others. All told, this seems like a weird fight for Melvin to be picking in public, and I’m really not sure what he gains by airing this laundry. mpbMKE has a pretty well-reasoned reaction to the kerfluffle in the FanPosts at Brew Crew Ball.
Speaking of Peralta, he’s quickly developed into one of the Brewers’ better starting pitchers this season. Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story about how Peralta is learning to keep his emotions in check on the mound.
In the minors:
- Wednesday is July 2, the first day of a new international signing period, and the Brewers are still expected to make a major splash by signing Dominican infielder/outfielder Gilbert Lara. Ryan Topp of Disciples of Uecker has the latest on the situation.
- The affiliates went 1-4 on Monday, with the lone win coming from Nashville, where the Sounds got a home run from Sean Halton en route to a 9-4 win over Memphis. You can read about all of the day’s action in the Brewerfan.net Link Report.
- Wisconsin lost 4-3 to Burlington on Monday. I was in attendance and wrote a full recap, in addition to quick profiles of second baseman Chris McFarland and first baseman Garrett Cooper. Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio also has highlights and more, and Brad Krause of Miller Park Prospects has a photo gallery.
- Brevard County shortstop Orlando Arcia has been on a tear lately and was named the Florida State League Player of the Week after hitting .485 with 13 RBIs last week. Adam Berry of MLB.com talked to him about his recent success.
- Berry isn’t the only MLB.com writer covering a Brewers prospect, though: Bernie Pleskoff also has a story on Huntsville first baseman Nick Ramirez, who leads the Stars and is third in the Southern League with 15 home runs.
- Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Sounds manager Rick Sweet.
- Zack Eldridge of The Michigan City News-Dispatch has a story on 2014 fifth-round pick Dustin DeMuth’s professional debut.
- Tabby Soigner of The Monroe News-Star also has a story on sixth-round pick David Burkhalter (h/t @Mass_Haas).
- ESPN has the Brewers holding steady as the second-best team in baseball.
- Jonah Keri of Grantland also has them second, same as a week ago.
- Call to the Pen downgraded the Brewers from second to fourth.
Around baseball:
Angels: Released pitcher Joel Pineiro, who was suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance.
Astros: Designated pitcher Jerome Williams for assignment.
Braves: Placed catcher Evan Gattis on the DL with a bulging thoracic disc.
Marlins: Acquired reliever Donnie Joseph from the Royals for cash.
Orioles: Third baseman Manny Machado lost his appeal and will be suspended five games for throwing his bat on June 8. Also, Rule 5 pick Michael Almanzar has been designated for assignment.
Rays: Claimed pitcher Cory Burns off waivers from the Rangers and designated pitcher Angel Sanchez for assignment.
Rockies: Placed pitcher Jhoulys Chacin on the DL with shoulder inflammation.
Royals: Signed outfielder Raul Ibanez, and designated outfielder Justin Maxwell and infielder Pedro Ciriaco for assignment.
Around baseball yesterday, the big story was Deadspin finding a leak of 10 months’ worth of the Astros internal notes regarding trade talks with various teams. The headline names involved were Giancarlo Stanton, Bud Norris and Ichiro Suzuki, while the Brewers were not mentioned.
Let’s go around the NL Central:
- The Reds got seven innings from Mat Latos and he allowed one run on a single hit, but it was not enough in their 1-0 loss to the Padres. This was the second time this season the Padres have won a game on just one hit.
- Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of Chicago’s 2-0 win over the Red Sox. The last Cubs pitcher to throw a no-hitter was Carlos Zambrano against the Astros at Miller Park in 2008, when a hurricane forced the game to be relocated from Houston.
- The Brewers, Cardinals and Pirates were off on Monday.
| Team | W | L | GB | Today | Matchup |
| Brewers | 51 | 33 | — | @ Blue Jays, 12:07 p.m. | Marco Estrada vs Drew Hutchison |
| Cardinals | 44 | 39 | 6.5 | @ Giants, 9:15 p.m. | Marco Gonzalez vs Tim Lincecum |
| Reds | 43 | 39 | 7 | @ Padres, 9:10 p.m. | Mike Leake vs Ian Kennedy |
| Pirates | 42 | 40 | 8 | vs Diamondbacks, 6:05 p.m. | Jeff Locke vs Wade Miley |
| Cubs | 35 | 46 | 14.5 | @ Red Sox, 6:10 p.m. | Edwin Jackson vs Clay Buchholz |
Finally, with help from the Baseball Reference Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday to 2005 Brewer Nelson Cruz, who turns 34. Plunk Everyone notes that his 19 career HBP are the third-most ever for a position player born on July 1.
Today is also the 15th anniversary of the Brewers beating the Cubs 19-12 at Wrigley Field in 1999 and the 31st anniversary of the Brewers signing Puerto Rican pitcher Juan Nieves – who would later go on to author the only no-hitter in franchise history – as an amateur free agent in 1983. 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 find out where Howie’s serving breakfast.
Drink up.
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