Zack Greinke left for the Angels. George Kottaras left for Oakland.

Then, something strange happened: nothing.

The Non-Waiver Trade Deadline has officially washed over Major League Baseball, and though there were plenty of big deals going down across both leagues – the Brewers weren’t in on one of them.

Why?

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What we haven’t talked about is the fact that the Brewers actually lost three players in the deal. Of course, we all know the Crew lost Greinke, but in turn, the corresponding prospects forced the hand of Milwaukee to deal out two current Milwaukee Minor Leaguers: Brock Kjeldgaard and Edwin Maysonet.

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At times this year, it’s B-R-E-W-E-R-S.

Anchored by another great pitching performance by Randy Wolf – his second strong outing in a row – ended in another no-decision and another one-run  loss, this time in extra innings.

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AAA superstar and 0-22 Brewer, Brooks Conrad. (Image: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE)

two torpid months for the Brewers, but chose against it for the sake of not wanting to jinx anything else and, considering the boys here at RtB have already covered every injury imaginable, any injury summation would simply be me palavering.

After a healthy stretch of a week or so that, miraculously enough, saw no Brewers get hit with injury, a four-game stretch at the end of last week was as painful for fans as it was for the players who hit the disabled list. Three players managed to hit the 15-day DL in a span of four games; starting pitcher Marco Estrada strained his right quadriceps rounding first on a two-run double and won’t be back until late June at the earliest; backup-turned-starting shortstop-because-of-Alex-Gonzalez’s-ACL-tear Cesar Izturis hit the DL on Friday with a strained left hamstring rounding third base; and first baseman Travis Ishikawa was placed on the DL with a strained rib cage before Sunday’s game.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Aramis Ramirez, Kameron Loe, and George Kottaras are all day-to-day with seperate injuries. Awesome.

The 2012 Brewers are showing shades of being the real-life, non-animated, Michael Jordan-less, injury-riddled Tune Squad from the hit 90′s film Space Jam. Don’t look now or Bill Murray may be making an appearance in middle relief, to which Mr. Swackhammer–err…Dale Sveum–calls out, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! I didn’t know Dan Aykroyd was in this picture!”

At this rate, Murray may actually be making a visit to the home clubhouse in Milwaukee; I mean, if Brooks Conrad can suit up, I’m sure there is cap space for Murray, as well. After batting 0-22, Conrad was sent back down to AAA Nashville, only to be recalled yet again due to the injuries.

Speaking of Nashville, it seems that the entire AAA roster may be called up in the near future. The active roster for the Brewers already has included nine players that weren’t on the Opening Day roster…and we’re not even out of May: Mike McClendon, Juan Perez, Brooks Conrad, Taylor Green, Edwin Maysonet, Cody Ransom, Eric Farris, Wily Peralta, and Vinnie Chulk.

As the season progresses (especially if the injuries continue at this rate), more and more guys from Nashville will be putting on the Brewer blue. In fact, another name (possibly Mike Fiers or Peralta) may be added to that list before Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers, as someone must fill in for what would be Estrada’s start.

Here are some players currently in Nashville that we may see in Miller Park in the near future:

Mike Fiers, RHP

The starting pitcher is not one of the top two or three pitching prospects, but, at the moment, may be the most “Big League ready”. Thus far he holds a 4.42 era with the Sounds in AAA and may be called up to make his first Major League start on Tuesday.

Peralta made his Major League debut earlier this season against Colorado. (Image: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE)

Wily Peralta, RHP

Widely considered Milwaukee’s top prospect, Peralta has been struggling mightily at AAA. He holds a 1-6 record and 6.52 era and is coming off an eight-run shellacking on Sunday, so he is no longer the favorite to make Tuesday’s start, but we will probably see him again this season.

Jeff Bianchi, SS

The name has crept up on us in 2012, but Bianchi has moved his way up from AA Huntsville to AAA and is hitting .350 with the Sounds and .351 between both teams. He is somewhat of a dark horse to be promoted, but may be next in line on the left side of the infield with a solid glove and above-average bat.

Martin Maldonado, C

The starting catcher for Nashville is only hitting .198 this season, but has shown promise in spring training and in winter leagues. He’s also next in line at catcher, and with Kottaras day-to-day, he could aggravate his injury and easily find himself on the DL, thus promoting Maldonado.

Logan Schafer, OF

The speedy Schafer had a chance at making the Opening Day roster until Ryan Braun won his appeal. In the meantime, Schafer has shown surprising power in Nashville with five homers and 12 doubles.

Eric Farris, IF

14 steals in 17 attempts this season for the former Reviewing the Brew interviewee. Rickie Weeks gets injured seemingly every season, so .271-hitting Farris would be the logical replacement there.

Either the market is extremely shallow, or the Brewers really see something in him. I’m not sold.

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Ron Roenicke has more on his plate than expected so far this season. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE

Well…at least not everyone has torn their ACL or injured their shoulder. With the devastating blows of losing Chris Narveson, Mat Gamel and now Alex Gonzalez for the season, the Brewers ship is being roughed up in the sea that is the NL Central. The pitching is still trying to get on track all while the offense struggles to survive without two everyday batters. Last night’s loss to the Reds shows that Marco Estrada has not really adapted to the starting role, and in a rotation with our four main starters having a rough go of things, the fifth man role becomes all that more crucial. So, the pitching will eventually figure their problems (well hopefully), but the reconstruction of the line-up is a new task for Ron Roenicke.

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Oct 5, 2011; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez (right) celebrates with teammate George Kottaras after hitting a two run home run in the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks during game four of the 2011 NLDS at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

In 2011, the Brewers went to great lengths to fill their bench with aging veterans to help the team.  From what I saw this off-season, the team ran out of money, so they could only afford one or two old guys.  From my personal standpoint, this is excellent news.  Veterans should be starters, not bench warmers.  You need to have the young guys getting some opportunities to play in the big leagues, thus your bench should be littered with promising young talent. 

Over the past few seasons, the Brewers have gotten away from that.  Thanks to K-Rod and some well deserved raises, the team did not have the funds to add three to four players worthless players to fill the bench.  Since that is the case, lets meet the some potential bench candidates for the 2012 Crew.

So, here are our options and who I think will be on the opening day roster.

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- Josh Wilson and Mark DeFelice were both out-righted to Triple-A this afternoon.  This move takes them off of the Brewers 40-man roster.  This move is not surprising to anyone.  Wilson should be thankful he has a job at all and DeFelice was nothing more than a stop gap this season.  These two men were moved from the 40-man roster to make room for…

- Brandon Kintzler and Manny Parra were both reinstated from the DL (Kintzler was on 15 day, Parra was on 60 day).  Manny Parra did not make an appearance this entire season, unless you count Spring Training.  Kintzler showed some promise this season, but he also showed some Jeff Suppan. 

- Who knew?  Apparently, Chris Narveson had surgery on his left hip after the Brewers were bounced from postseason play.  Did anyone else know that he was having hip troubles?  Maybe that is why Roenicke refused to throw Narveson in Game 6 of the NLCS…but I doubt it.  As of now, there is no word as to the extent or type of injury.  Tom Haudricort is reporting that Narveson will be ready in time for Spring Training. 

- The Brewers also took it upon themselves to re-sign middle infielder Edwin Maysonet to a minor-league deal.  His deal comes complete with money and an invite to spring training.  Maysonet spent his entire 2011 season playing in Nashville, were he hit .290 and committed 23 errors.  The batting average is nice, but that seems like a lot of errors for a guy who is 30 years old and still in the minor leagues.  I am a bit surprised that Maysonet was so high on the teams radar and Brandon Boggs was not. 

That’s all for now.  But, with the World Series ending as soon as tomorrow, we are going to see a lot of roster adjustments over the next few weeks.

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