Brewer News for December 23rd, 2013

If you’re anything like us, you miss the Brewers too. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Hello again everyone and welcome to the Monday morning edition of Brewer 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.

First base

The Brewers’ hunt for a first baseman still continues on even into the holiday this week. Talks with the New York Mets about Ike Davis have not seemed to gain any more momentum and the Pittsburgh Pirates have even emerged as a possible suitor. However, the Brewers did mention they were interested in Michael Young to take over at first.

Before he truly left for the Seattle Mariners, Corey Hart wrote a one-page thank you ad to the Brewers and their fans in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Hart spent nine years in Milwaukee and signed a one-year deal with incentives totaling up to $13MM in Seattle.

Organization moves

On Saturday, the Brewers released right-handed pitcher Cody Scarpetta. At one time, Scarpetta, 25, was a top prospect in the Brewers’ organization. In 2012, Scarpetta had Tommy John surgery and thus missed the entire season. This past year, Scarpetta managed a 7.15 ERA in Class A.

The Brewers did re-sign right-handers Santo Manzanillo and Johnnie Lowe on Thursday. Manzanillo, 25, started the 2013 season in Double-A Huntsville, but was demoted to Single-A Brevard County by the end of the year. Lowe, 28, fared rather well in Triple-A Nashville, posting a 3.53 ERA and a K/9 of 7.1.

Dominican Winter League

The Winter League ended on Saturday, so we’ll take a look at how some of the Brewers performed. For the Tigres del Licey, first baseman Juan Francisco hit .260/.351/.393 (40 games) with three homers and 24 RBIs. Sean Halton played in only 15 games and managed a slash line of .327/.410/.538 with one home run and 11 RBIs.

Pitching wise for the Licey, Ariel Pena threw in only 1 2/3 innings and was tagged for three runs. Alfredo Figaro was little more effective, posting an ERA of 2.63 in 13.2 innings (seven games) and struck out 13 while walking three.

Elian Herrera played for the Estrellas de Oriente in 27 games and hit .288/.310/.378 while driving in 11 runs. After his Arizona Fall League tenure, Jason Rogers was a part of the Toros del Este for 18 games and wasn’t as sharp, hitting just .235/.304/.314 with one homer and five runs driven in.

Around Reviewing the Brew

In the past week around the site, the staff writers were busy right before the holiday week. Co-editor Justin Schultz talked about Marco Estrada being a sleeper in 2014. Senior staff writer Lou Olsen and staff writer Ryan Connor both touched on the Brewers’ interest in Young. Staff writer David Grant looked at more great moments in Brewers’ facial history history and new staff writer Pete Goodchild wrote about Hunter Morris playing at first base.