Results tagged ‘ Chris Bosio ’
Wolf to debut; big day for Capuano
I’m at the home half of the Brewers’ split-squad action today as the Brewers face the Giants at Maryvale Baseball Park. Randy Wolf is set for his unofficial Brewers debut, and fellow lefty Chris Capuano will follow in his first Major League game action in just short of two years. He’s attempting the difficult comeback from a second Tommy John surgery and said this morning that he was feeling some jitters.
Brewers consider Halama for Minor League deal
The Brewers told John Halama’s agent that they will have a scout in the stands for the former big league left-hander’s start in the Dominican Republic on Friday night, and Halama hopes to strike a Minor League deal with Milwaukee by early next week. <p/>
The Brewers are seeking starting pitching depth this winter and Halama, 37, wants to reunite with pitching coach Rick Peterson and manager Ken Macha. The trio was together in Oakland in 2003, Macha’s first year as A’s manager and Peterson’s final year as that team’s pitching coach.
Halama would also be rejoining Brewers advance scout Chris Bosio, who was a special assignment coach for Seattle during part of Halama’s four-year run with the Mariners.
“He really wants to pitch for the Brewers,” agent Joe Rosario said. “He would love to reunite with both Macha and Peterson.”
Brewers Latin American scouting coordinator Fernando Arango is to attend Halama’s start for Aguilas against Licey on Friday night. It’s a rematch of Nov. 15, when Halama pitched seven innings and allowed two Licey runs on six hits with five strikeouts and no walks.
In his first six winter league starts, he was 3-2 with a 1.66 ERA and 21 strikeouts versus two walks. Both of Halama’s losses came in 1-0 games.
Halama pitched for seven Major League teams in parts of nine seasons from 1998-2006. He’s 56-48 with a 4.65 ERA in the Majors, but his career was derailed after a stint with the Orioles in 2006, in part by a contentious divorce.
He began the 2009 season with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the independent Atlantic League and was 8-1 with a 1.96 ERA in 69 innings, drawing the interest of the Braves. At Triple-A Gwinnett, Halama was 4-7 with a 4.48 ERA in 13 starts and three relief appearances, but much of the damage was done in a pair of relief outings July 7 and 12, when Halama relieved rehabbing Braves JoJo Reyes.
As a starter, Halama had a 3.69 ERA last season at Triple-A. He turns 38 on Feb. 22.
“He spent the last two years pitching his butt off to get to where he is now,” Rosario said. “He’s big league-ready. He just wants an invite to [Spring Training] camp to show that he belongs and he feels like Milwaukee is the way to go.”
*
Follow Brew Beat on Twitter.
Bosio back as advance scout
Chris Bosio will be back with the Brewers in 2010, though he probably won’t spend much time at Miller Park.
Bosio, who finished 2009 as Milwaukee’s interim pitching coach and was one of three finalists for the permanent job, will instead travel ahead of the team in a newly-created advance scouting position meant to enhance the video-based system already in place. Bosio served a similar role for the Mariners late in the 2001 season.
“We talked about a number of different things, but this was the one we talked about at the most length,” Bosio said, referring to his discussions with Brewers general manager Doug Melvin. “I enjoy breaking down the game and trying to help us win.”
Friday’s appointment came 10 days after the team announced Bosio would not return as pitching coach — that job went to organizational newcomer Rick Peterson — but would be back in a role to be determined. Bosio could have gone to the post he held at the start of 2009 as Triple-A Nashville’s pitching coach, but took the scouting job instead.
The Brewers for years have relied on a video system for their advance scouting reports on opponents. Bosio will work closely with Karl Mueller, the Brewers manager of advance scouting and baseball research, to help to fill what manager Ken Macha called “holes” in that system by seeing upcoming opponents in person. He’ll talk to coaches and fellow scouts about everything from managerial tendencies to who’s swinging a hot bat.
How Bosio’s reports will fit into the current system and the precise details of his travel schedule remain to be ironed-out with Melvin.
“It’s another step in my career, another role that interests me,” Bosio said. “I’m thrilled that the organization was looking at me to fill it.”
Understandably, he would be been more thrilled to be retained as the pitching coach. Bosio took over that job on an interim basis on Aug. 12 when Bill Castro was dismissed. Castro had spent 17 years as Milwaukee’s bullpen coach but lasted only 4 1/2 regular-season months as the pitching coach.
The Brewers finished the year with a 4.83 ERA, next-to-last in the National League, and tied for last in the Major Leagues with a 5.37 starters’ ERA. Bosio inherited a staff still riddled with injuries.
“[Returning as the pitching coach] was my first choice, but they wanted to make a change,” he said. “Change happens in baseball. That’s one thing that’s the same whether you’re a player or a coach.
“It was a hell of an opportunity and I tried to make the most of it,” he said. “I enjoyed it, being a guy from Wisconsin and a former Brewer.”
Bosio, who lives near Appleton, Wis., just north of Milwaukee, was the Brewers’ second-round Draft pick in 1982 and pitched for the team in the big leagues from 1986-92.
“Now my responsibility is different, but I’m going to go work just as hard,” he said.
Adam McCalvy
Recent Comments