Results tagged ‘ Casey McGehee ’
Rivera on the DL, Corporan on the way up
The Brewers decided to place backup catcher Mike Rivera on the 15-day disabled list after Wednesday’s win over the Pirates. A visit with head team physician William Raasch revealed that Rivera’s left ankle injury was “more serious than that thought,” according to the player.
Rivera characterized his injury as a high ankle sprain. The Brewers were still referring to it as a simple, Grade 1 sprain, when they announced the roster move. The corresponding move would be announced later Wednesday or at some point on Thursday, according to a club spokesperson.
(That move came just after 6 p.m. CT. The Brewers will promote Carlos Corporan from Nashville and add him to the 40-man roster.)
The only other catcher on the 40-man roster is Angel Salome, who is hitting just .182 at Triple-A Nashville and missed much of Spring Training with a back injury. Triple-A backup Corporan is much more familiar with the Brewers’ staff because he stayed with the big league club all the way through its exhibition games in Los Angeles just before the start of the regular season.
Weeks out; McGehee manning second
Second baseman Rickie Weeks may have been clipped by shortstop J.J. Hardy before both players hit the dirt on a funky play behind second base in the first inning, and Weeks has just been replaced in the game by Casey McGehee.
Weeks and Hardy converged on a Chase Utley ground ball, with Hardy ranging past second base to scoop up the baseball before tumbling in the dirt as Utley reached on an infield hit. Weeks was headed the opposite direction and he tumbled, too, but was slow to get up.
Weeks finished the inning in the field but was replaced by McGehee in the bottom of the second.
Wrapping a bow on Spring Training
Was Brad Nelson trying to make one final bid for the Opening Day roster with his go-ahead, three run home run in Saturday’s Spring Training finale?
“Truthfully, honestly, yeah!” a wide-smiling Nelson said after the Brewers capped their exhibition season with a 7-4 win at Dodger Stadium. “When you haven’t heard anything, why not?”
He finally did hear after the game that he had cracked Milwaukee’s Opening Day roster. It was an emotional moment for a player drafted in 2001 who had climbed to the top of the Brewers’ prospect chart, fallen back down and now has climbed back to the big leagues.
General manager Doug Melvin congratulated other players in person Saturday night including outfielder Chris Duffy, whose contract will be purchased from Triple-A Nashville on Sunday to complete the 25-man roster. Also making the cut, as expected, was infielder Casey McGehee, who will switch from uniform No. 52 to No. 14 for the regular season.
The Brewers finished the spring slate with a record of 22-10-3, including 16-3-1 over their final 20 games, 10-1 over their final 11 and 4-0 to end the ledger. They once again came from behind on Saturday after relievers Todd Coffey and David Riske combined to throw 64 pitches over the first two innings as the Dodgers took a 3-0 lead. Seth McClung threw 30 more pitches in the third inning and Jorge Julio threw 24 pitches in the fourth.
Dave Bush, appearing in relief to tune up for a probable inning of work on Opening Day (his first start does not come until April 11) finally settled things down in the fifth inning with a nine-pitch, seven-strike frame.
“I wanted to encourage everybody to throw their off-speed pitches, their change-ups,” manager Ken Macha said. “[Coffey] didn’t throw any until the end. Riske threw 13 straight fastballs [in one stretch]. … The other guys all mixed their pitches.”
The Brewers rallied with three runs in the seventh inning and four more in the ninth. Craig Counsell hit a tying RBI single before Nelson crushed a three-run homer to straightaway center field.
Lamb won't make the cut
A Brewers clubhouse attendant pulled Mike Lamb off the practice field on Tuesday just minutes before the Brewers began their daily stretch, and when Lamb met inside with general manager Doug Melvin and manager Ken Macha, he was told that he will not make the team’s Opening Day roster.
What happens next is up to Lamb. The Brewers will place him on waivers by 1 p.m. CT on Wednesday, but it is unclear whether he will be on release waivers or outright waivers. The answer depends on whether Lamb is willing to accept a job at Triple-A Nashville should he clear.
“There are some things I talked to his agent and to Mike about that will come into play tomorrow,” general manager Doug Melvin said. “We may know tonight and get back to you.”
Lamb was hitting .250 in the Cactus League (13-for-52) with two home runs and 12 RBIs. He racked up six of those RBIs in his last four games, including a pinch-hit, three-run homer on Friday night against the Rangers and another three-RBI performance on Monday against the Mariners.
Melvin said the final decisions have yet to be made, but the departure of Lamb certainly bodes well for Casey McGehee, who is hitting .370 this spring with six homers and 15 RBIs. He hit a game-winning, two-run homer to beat the Mariners on Monday.
Besides his gaudy Cactus League numbers, McGehee brings to the table a right-handed bat for a Brewers bench stocked with lefties. He had proven an above-average defender at third base and has shown he’s capable at first base, second base and the outfield as well. He also has catching experience, and could give Macha more flexibility at that position.
Hall suffers Crew's first spring injury
The Brewers did not get through Day 1 of Spring Training without the first injury news of the year.
Bill Hall, the frontrunner at start at third base, was diagnosed with a partial tear of his left calf muscle on Friday and will be sidelined 4-6 weeks for rehabilitation. Hall was injured while doing conditioning work before the start of Spring Training.
Assuming his rehab progresses on schedule, Hall still could be ready in time for the Brewers’ April 7 season-opener in San Francisco. Hall underwent offseason Lasik surgery and was hoping for a bounce-back season after two down years. His best season was 2005, when Hall mostly played shortstop and belted 35 homers while hitting .270 and driving in 85 runs.
Third base is a position of relative depth for the Brewers, who have Mike Lamb back for 2009 as well as utility man Craig Counsell, who started 38 games at third in 2008. Both bat left-handed, as does prospect Mat Gamel, though the Brewers may prefer to send Gamel to Triple-A Nashville to continue work on his defense. The top right-handed option is Casey McGehee, an offseason waiver claim from the Cubs.
UPDATE at 1:48 p.m. CT: Just got off the phone with assistant GM Gord Ash, who said Hall felt a “pop” in his calf during a working Thursday at a private training facility in the Phoenix area. He called head athletic trainer Roger Caplinger and underwent an MRI scan on Friday morning.
Asked about Hall’s availability for Opening Day, Ash said this: “We’ll know better about that [Saturday] when we see him for his physical. He’s recovered fast from injuries before, but to recover enough from this injury to get onto the field could be 30-45 days, so he might be touch and go.”
As for Plan B should Hall miss the start of the season: “We have a lot of choices. … These things will sort themselves out. You don’t like to start camp with an injury, but it is part of the game, no question, and we’ll adjust.”
Ash said Hall was the team’s only health concern that came to light ahead of Saturday’s physicals.
Adam McCalvy
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