Needing space on a full 40-man roster, the Brewers waived right-hander Josh Stinson this week and lost him Friday to the A’s.

The Brewers will add one or perhaps two players to the 40-man roster after Saturday’s exhibition finale at Miller Park. One will be a pitcher — Donovan Hand or Alfredo Figaro — and another could be catcher/first baseman Blake Lalli, if they choose Lalli over outfielder Khris Davis for the final spot on the bench.

Stinson, who is only 25 years old, allowed only one run in 9 1/3 innings for the Brewers last September after going 11-9 with a 3.16 ERA in 29 games at Double-A Huntsville. He was ticketed for the Triple-A Nashville rotation to start this year after a very good Cactus League (1.50 ERA in 10 appearances).

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I wanted to pass along some terrific news from Brewers Minor League coach Al LeBoeuf, who shared his story of perseverance with MLB.com earlier in camp and achieved a personal milestone on Wednesday morning. Struck by a form of blood cancer last year that caused his legs to go numb from the knees down, LeBoeuf walked from his hotel room to the elevator to the lobby on only one crutch.

“That was my goal and I actually did it today for the first time, and I was really excited,” LeBoeuf said. “I know some people have said I’ve been an inspiration to them, but believe me when I tell you, they’ve been an inspiration to me.”

LeBoeuf will take a leave of absence at the start of the season to undergo a stem cell transplant, a previously-planned procedure that is part of his road to recovery. He is aiming to be back on the field by July.

Brewers general manager Doug Melvin extended a kind gesture on Wednesday, offering to send LeBoeuf and his wife on a weekend vacation once LeBoeuf is feeling well enough. He may time that trip to coincide with some Brewers games.

If you want to read the original story about LeBoeuf’s trying year, click here.

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It was a busy morning in Brewers camp, with right-hander Kyle Lohse settling in just as his new teammates began to pack up their lockers.  Some, like Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez, were more than ready for the impending start of the regular season. Others, like Khris Davis, Brandon Kintzler and Mike Fiers, were sweating the team’s final roster decisions.

Here are some notes from amid the bustle:

– Kyle Lohse was immediately popular in his new clubhouse. Brewers pitchers went out to dinner Tuesday at Scottsdale’s City Hall Stakehouse, and Lohse picked up the tab.

“It’s been a crazy two, three days,” said Lohse, who signed a three-year, $33 million contract on Tuesday. “You’re talking about family stuff, too, finding a place to live. … But I got to know some of the guys last night and paid my dues for being late.”

– Lohse said his Tuesday bullpen went well, that he was eager to face Major League hitters for the first time on Thursday (against the Rockies) and that he is hoping to be in the Brewers’ five-man pitching rotation right from the start of the season. That’s a possibility, according to pitching coach Rick Kranitz.

“My plan is to be in that first time through,” Lohse said. “I know they can get by without that, but in all honesty, I’m ready. I’m going to enjoy getting out there [Thursday] and facing the big league guys rather than the college guys I had been facing.”

He got up to 95 pitches in a simulated game against Scottsdale Community College before signing with the Brewers, but will probably be more limited on Thursday against the Rockies.

“I don’t think they’re going to let me go that far because they haven’t seen me,” said Lohse, who mentioned 60 pitches as more realistic. “Until they see it, I have to gain that confidence. We’ll see how it goes.”

– Right-hander Mark Rogers said he was “on board, for sure,” with the Brewers’ decision to place him on the season-opening disabled list, giving Rogers some time to reclaim his missing velocity. The official reason was “shoulder instability, and he met with assistant GM Gord Ash and members of Milwaukee’s athletic training staff on Wednesday morning to set a very specific plan for the next two weeks.

“Like we talked about before, I’m extremely confident my velocity will be back sooner rather than later,” Rogers said. “It’s just a matter of continuing to get stronger and allowing myself the time to get there. I’m feeling better every day. I’m excited to have the opportunity to get stronger, and hopefully be back with the club when the 15 days are up. I just have to listen to my arm.”

Rogers will remain at Maryvale Baseball Park when the rest of the team departs Thursday. Once he’s ready to pitch, the Brewers can keep Rogers on a rehab assignment for up to 30 days.

“I want to get to 100 percent,” he said. “I’m not going to myself any justice, or the club any justice, if I pitch at less than 100 percent. That’s what the goal is for the next couple of weeks.”

– Infielder Donnie Murphy elected his release from a Minor League contract on Wednesday morning. He was informed the day before that he would not make the club, after the Brewers signed Yuniesky Betancourt to a one-year contract pending a physical.

– Jeff Bianchi, who is still dealing with a hip injury, will be placed on the 15-day DL today. He’s a no-go for the Opening Day roster, as expected.

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As if the Kyle Lohse deal were not enough to fill Milwaukee’s talk radio airwaves, the Brewers acquired an old favorite on Tuesday.

Yuniesky Betancourt, the team’s free-swinging starting shortstop in 2011, is a physical exam away from re-signing on a one-year, Major League deal and breaking camp as the Brewers’ utility infielder. He will undergo that physical on Wednesday, and if the deal goes through Betancourt could earn up to $1.4 million, including incentives.

The Brewers have already informed nonroster invitee Donnie Murphy that he is unlikely to make the club in the wake of the Betancourt move. Murphy could ask for his release.

“We signed a veteran guy [in Betancourt] who we have a lot of familiarity with,” Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said. “Since we’re going to have Alex [Gonzalez] play a lot of first base early in the season, Yuni gives us a guy who can play multiple infield positions. He did a really good job last year with Kansas City in that role.”

Betancourt, now 31, had asked for his release from a Minor League contract with the Phillies on Sunday after going 21-for-47 (.447) with 14 RBIs in 18 Grapefruit League games.

Agent Alex Esteban said Betancourt had also expressed interest in the outfield, where Betancourt played for the Cuban National Team before signing with the Mariners in 2005. The Brewers are beginning the season with only four outfielders: starters Ryan Braun, Carlos Gomez and Norichika Aoki and reserve Logan Schafer.

The Brewers were in the market for backup infielders because Jeff Bianchi has been limited to one game since March 2 by a hip injury, and Taylor Green was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a labrum injury in his left hip.

Betancourt batted .228 with seven home runs and 36 RBIs in 215 at-bats last season with the Royals while playing a reserve role. With the Brewers in 2011, he played 156 games and batted .256 with 13 homers and 68 RBIs, then hit .310 in 11 postseason games.

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The Brewers made a flurry of roster moves today:

– Minor League right-hander Jairo Asencio has been traded to the Orioles in exchange for a player to be named. Originally a non-roster invitee to big league camp who was delayed by visa troubles in the Dominican Republic, Asencio made his long-awaited debut on Sunday against the Padres and allowed two runs on a hit and two walks without recording an out.

–Left-hander Miguel De Los Santos was placed on the restricted list and no longer counts against the Brewers 40-man roster limit. He remains in the Dominican Republic awaiting his work visa.

– That left the roster at 39 players even after the Brewers added right-hander Kyle Lohse, who passed a physical and signed his three-year contract.

–Outfielder Caleb Gindl was optioned to Triple-A Nashville but will accompany the Major League team to Milwaukee for its exhibition games against the White Sox on Friday and Saturday. He will then report to Nashville on Sunday.

The Brewers were formulating a plan Monday to place right-hander Mark Rogers on the 15-day disabled list to begin the season, giving him time to build arm strength and re-discover the velocity that escape him this spring.

As of Monday, no roster move was official.

“Wednesday, we’ll have a better plan for what we’re going to do,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “We know what we want to do, we talked to Mark this morning with Doug [Melvin, the team’s GM] and Gord [Ash, assistant GM] and I …

“Mark agrees. There’s no issues, which is a good thing. There’s not shoulder or elbow issues, it’s just building up arm strength. For some reason, some guys take longer. I don’t know why that is.”

Teams are not allowed to place healthy players on the DL, but the Brewers could cite fatigue or weakness for a move with Rogers.

“Whatever doesn’t allow your arm to perform at an obvious high level — there’s something there,” Roenicke said. “He hasn’t got to the place where he needs to be to make an evaluation on him. … There’s something we need to do to build that arm strength, whether it’s more long toss, whether it’s the trainers being in there with him to build up the shoulder.

“But the nice thing is he threw great for us last year and he hasn’t had any injuries that would get you to question whether this thing is going to comeback. I think he’s going to get his velocity back. I feel very confident about that.”

In other news:

– Carlos Gomez will take one more day to strengthen his stiff back Monday before taking 5-6 at-bats in a Minor League game Tuesday. He said he was feeling much better on Monday morning.

– Infielders Taylor Green and Jeff Bianchi  (each sidelined by hip injuries) played catch and did a basic workout on Monday, Roenicke said. There remains no firm target date for either player’s return.

Bianchi may be the more troubling injury. He’s played only one game since March 2 because of groin and hip ailments.

“It’s hard to figure,” Roenicke said, “because he’s not coming along real fast. Wednesday, I would hope we have a lot better answer on this.”

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News that the Brewers were on the verge of adding a free agent from a fierce division rival was met with glee in Milwaukee’s Spring Training clubhouse on Monday, when word spread that former Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse had agreed to a multi-year contract. Lohse was expected at Maryvale Baseball Park after 10 a.m. Arizona time for a physical exam.

The Cardinals, who would get Draft compensation for losing Lohse, did not confirm the deal. Neither did the Brewers, who will surrender the 17th overall selection in the Draft when the deal is official. Top Milwaukee officials were in the middle of a staff-wide meeting when MLB Network’s Jon Heyman broke the news. After that meeting, general manager Doug Melvin indicated he expected to have news to share after lunch.

“I think everybody was trying to find a high note leaving spring,” said Brewers first baseman Corey Hart. “You’re looking for a spark. This is definitely a spark. I think everybody in here was hoping they would get an established pitcher like that.”

Lohse, 34 years old, went 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA for the Cardinals last season, numbers that added up to a seventh-place standing in the National League’s Cy Young balloting. Lohse pitched to a 55-35 record and a 3.90 ERA in 137 games for St. Louis over the last five seasons.

He has been throwing simulated games in nearby Scottsdale, Ariz., so Lohse should not need much more time to be ready for the regular season. His arrival would give the Brewers some much-needed experience behind Opening Day starter Yovani Gallardo, pushing Marco Estrada, Wily Peralta, Chris Narveson and Mike Fiers down the depth chart.

Lohse, a former 28th-round draftee, has gone 6-8 with a 4.44 ERA in 22 career appearances against the Brewers, and he spent some time in the NL Central with Cincinnati (in 2006 and 2007). Lohse, for his career, has racked up a 118-109 record with a 4.45 ERA in 118 games.

The Brewers will give up their first 2013 Draft pick — No. 17 overall, which, in 2012, was worth $2 million — to sign Lohse. Their first pick will be No. 54.

The Cardinals will receive a comp pick — No. 28 overall, which, in 2012, was worth $1.65 million. They’ll have the No. 19 and 28 picks.

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The Brewers’ bullpen race was pared to four pitchers for two spots Saturday, when the team optioned hard-throwing right-hander Michael Olmsted to Triple-A Nashville.

With Olmsted out of the mix, it left four right-handers vying for two jobs: Donovan Hand, Alfredo Figaro, Brandon Kintzler and Mark Rogers.

“We’re trying to figure who that last spot’s going to be, and there’s a couple other guys that we feel right now are ahead of [Olmsted],” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said.

The Brewers plan to begin the season with a standard, seven-man bullpen, and five spots are spoken for by closer John Axford, left-handers Michael Gonzalez and Tom Gorzelanny and right-handers Burke Badenhop and Jim Henderson.

The picture for the remaining jobs could become clearer when Rogers starts a split-squad game on Sunday against the Rockies at Maryvale Baseball Park. Roenicke will attend that game, and is looking for Rogers to display the sort of mid-90 mph velocity he showed the Brewers last July and August, when Rogers was 3-1 with a 3.92 ERA in seven starts.

The zip on his fastball has been missing this spring, costing Rogers a chance for a spot in the starting rotation. He is out of Minor League options, so Rogers will either have to make the team, be placed on the Opening Day disabled list or be exposed to the waiver wire if the Brewers try to slip him through to the Minors.

“I think it’s important to see exactly where he is [and how that impacts] our next decisions,” Roenicke said.

The Brewers have been puzzled by Rogers’ spring struggles, Roenicke said, and have been unable to find any medical explanation.

“I don’t want to say it’s health, but we need to get the velocity back,” Roenicke said. “Whether that’s health or whether that’s building up arm strength, I can’t answer that exactly. But we need to get the velocity back.”

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The Brewers traded Minor League reliever Darren Byrd to the A’s on Wednesday for third baseman Stephen Parker, a 25-year-old left-handed hitter who will head to Triple-A Nashville.

Parker was Oakland’s fifth-round Draft pick in 2009 out of BYU, and has batted .277 with 43 home runs and 262 RBIs in four professional seasons. His best year was 2010 in the hitter-friendly Class A California League, when Parker hit .296 with 21 home runs and 98 RBIs.

Last season, Parker batted .256 with seven home runs and 47 RBIs in 99 games with Triple-A Sacramento. The Brewers had an opening at Nashville after veteran infielder Bobby Crosby elected free agency on Monday.

Byrd, 26 is a right-hander who has pitched exclusively in relief at Double-A Huntsville in the past two seasons. He briefly pitched in Milwaukee’s big league camp before the team returned him to the Minors on March 7.

In another transaction on Wednesday, the Brewers moved first baseman Mat Gamel to the 60-day disabled list. He will miss a second straight season after re-tearing the ACL in his right knee and undergoing another surgery.

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The Brewers released Bobby Crosby from his Minor League contract on Monday, ending Crosby’s bid for a comeback after two years out of baseball.

Crosby, 33, got a late start because of a thigh injury and then struggled to knock off the rust. He appeared at first base, third base and shortstop but batted .188 with no home runs or RBIs in seven Cactus League games.

“We wanted to let him know ahead of time that his chances of making the club were slim at this point,” general manager Doug Melvin said. “Then he talked to his agent and we talked about Triple-A or whatever, but in the end he decided to take his release. He may try to pursue [a deal] with other clubs. …

“It’s hard to come back from two years [away], but he was OK. He could have still continued to play, but all this comes down to timing. We’ve got 11 games left, so our [regular] guys are going to be playing more.”

Crosby’s agent, Paul Cohen, said Crosby hoped to continue his comeback with another club, and appreciated the Brewers making their call on Crosby before the end of camp.

Neither of the Brewers’ comeback candidates worked out. They also extended a nonroster invitation to right-hander Kelvim Escobar, who has made only one Major League appearance since 2007. But the Brewers were troubled by Escobar’s shoulder and released him March 10.

Crosby was not the only Brewers’ bench contender enduring an unproductive spring. Fellow nonroster veteran Donnie Murphy entered Monday batting .219 with two extra-base hits in 32 at-bats. Taylor Green was hitting .121. Jeff Bianchi has been limited to one game since March 2 by groin and hip flexor injuries.

If Bianchi can get healthy and Green can start hitting, they would have excellent chances to make the Opening Day cut because both are on the 40-man roster. Green is a two-time Brewers Minor League player of the year.

“That’s hitting. Sometimes you struggle for a while and it’s hard to get out of it,” manager Ron Roenicke said of Green’s spring slump. “He was in a role with us that he just started to swing well before he went to the [World Baseball Classic], and I think in one game in the WBC he hit well but he came back here and wasn’t swinging like he did before he left. He’s pressing to make the team, like everybody is. Hopefully, he starts swinging it like we know he can, and he’ll be one of those guys at the end we have to make a decision on.”

The same goes for Bianchi, who had to withdraw from Italy’s World Baseball Classic entry because of a groin strain that sidelined him two weeks. He returned for two at-bats against the Reds on Saturday before Roenicke revealed a new injury to Bianchi’s hip.

“We’re hoping to get him back on the field and get him enough at-bats here to be able to make a decision on him before we start [the season],” Roenicke said. “Hopefully, he will be a guy we’re talking about those last couple of days.”

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