Brewer Daily News for November 25th, 2013

Here’s what happened in the world of Brewers in the past week. Mandatory Credit- Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Hello again everyone and welcome to the Monday morning edition of Brewer Daily News. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the news from the past week and reviewing what all happened in the world of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Free-agency

First of all, the Brewers and free-agent first baseman Corey Hart have not been any closer in their talks. In fact, other teams like the Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays have shown interest in him as he explores free-agency.

However, a deal almost seems likely with Hart and Milwaukee as they do not have any options for first base other than Juan Francisco who struggled for most of this past season. With the holiday later this week, it’s doubtful any deal with Hart will be made at the current time and it may be pushed into December.

Transactions

Last Wednesday the Brew Crew added a few players to their 40-man roster as they protected them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft. The team added first baseman Hunter Morris, outfielder Jason Rogers and right-handed pitchers Kevin Shackelford and Brooks Hall to their roster.

The other transaction from last week happened on Friday when the team traded reliever Burke Badenhop to the Boston Red Sox for 20-year-old pitcher Luis Ortega. This season, Badenhop was 2-3 with an ERA of 3.47 in 62.1 innings (63 appearances) and had a K/9 of 6.1 with a BB/9 of 1.7.

Rumors

One of the bigger stories to come out of Milwaukee dealt with that of outfielder Ryan Braun. Early last week, a New York Mets’ blogger posted an article speculating on whether or not the Brewers would trade Braun to the Mets in exchange for Ike Davis. Brewers’ general manager Doug Melvin instantly shot down the idea saying that the team would not trade him.

As for Braun who will be eligible to come back for Opening Day next season, he may be playing from a different position. Braun has been open to the idea of switching from left field to right as the team transitions Norichika Aoki and Khris Davis to left.

Winter League

In the Dominican Winter League, the Brewers’ players are chugging along. Juan Francisco was 5-for-20 in the last week while Elian Herrera went 6-for-17. Reliever Alfredo Figaro did well, pitching six scoreless innings while striking out five since last Monday. Sean Halton and Ariel Pena have not played in the past week.

RtB articles

Around the website this past week, Justin Schultz wrote his monthly Five Things I Know I Think while Lou Olsen ranted on Major League Baseball. Ryan Connor looked at the infield defense while David Grant made his best case scenarios for the corner positions.