Marco Estrada called up, Kintzler sent to Nashville

     There has been so much speculation as to who would fill the void left by Zach “Crash the Boards” Greinke in the starting rotation.  From what Tom Haudricourt is reporting this morning, it sounds like we need speculate no more. 

Last night, after Yo’s heroic performance against the Braves, Brandon Kintzler was informed that he would be relocated to Nashville for some Triple-A work. Kintzler had a terrific spring and was one of the clubs biggest surprises.   Something tells me that Brandon will be back with the Brewers at some point this season, but for now they need another starting pitcher so someone had to go.

     Immediately after last night’s game, it was already being speculated that it would be Marco Estrada getting the call to start in place of Zack-a-Shaq.  This morning it was confirmed by none other than Tom Haudricourt (that dude is everywhere).  Estrada had a terrific tryout during the last few weeks of spring training.  Thanks to that stellar audition, Estrada will be getting the start tonight against the Hotlanta Braves. 

Something you may not know about Estrada, he was not even invited to the big league camp this season.  That means that someone had to be cleared from the 40 man roster to make room for Marco.  The team designated pitcher Dan Merklinger for assignment this morning in order to get Estrada on the mound.  It is pretty impressive that this kid went from not being invited to the party, to hosting it in just a couple of weeks.  We will have to see how he responds.  Hopefully he will follow in Yo’s footsteps rather than Randy Wolf’s.

Some of us remember Marco from last season.  He appeared in 7 games with the Crew and started one.  His ERA was a blustery 9.53 in those 7 appearances.  Eventually he went on the DL (shoulder) and was never heard from again.  He also has some big league experience from his time with the Washington Nationals, but those numbers are just about as bad as his numbers from last year……so we will just let it go.

Notes from Yesterday 

• Mark Kotsay got the start in RF yesterday and continued his amazing 0 for the season streak.  I can not figure out why Roenicke continues to trot him out there everyday, when you have Erick Almonte riding the pine.  Plus, Brandon Boggs is siting in Tennessee collecting dust. 
• Yo Gallardo was a one man wrecking ball yesterday.  Hopefully this will get the team back on track, but sadly Yo can not pitch everyday……so scoring 1 run every game is not going to cut it.  
• I love having Nyjer Morgan in the lineup.  If Roenicke and Co. are dedicated to Carlos Gomez as the CF, then Morgan needs to be starting in RF batting in the #2 spot.  His career OBP is reason enough for this change to happen.  Gomez should be lower in the order.  End of discussion.
• When is Jonathan Lucroy coming back?  Watching Nieves and Kottaras is just depressing.  We might as well have a pitcher batting in that slot, we would probably get the same amount of production.  Nieves is batting .250 and Kottaras is batting .143.
• Prince Fielder left 7 runners on base yesterday, which is 2 more than the rest of the team combined.  Clearly Prince did not get the memo that this is a contract year for him and if he doesn’t perform he can kiss the $180 million dollar contract he is looking for goodbye.  At this point Roenicke might want to consider moving Prince into the 3 slot and putting Braun in the 4 spot. 
• Ryan Braun continues to be the best player on this team.  Yesterday he reached bas on every single AB.  2 hits and 2 walks. 
• The easiest way for the Brewers to win games is to keep the bullpen out of the equation.  My concern is, who else can throw complete games in this rotation.  Shaq Greinke is probably the only other guy who could consistently go 9 innings. 

YesterdayAdam McCalvy of MLB.com tweeted a comment about “Brewers are Bizarro”.  Which I think sounds lie a terrific nickname for this team so far. The BIZARRO BREWERS.  

Many of you read my article yesterday about how things could be worse, Jaymes Langrehr over at the Brewers Bar had a similar mentality.

Everyone keep sending the Brew Crew those good vibrations.  It seemed to work for last night, so if we all work together maybe we can pull out another W.  2-4 is way better than 1-5.

Be on the lookout for a new staff member to Reviewing the Brew.  I can not release his name and whereabouts as of this time, but in the coming days he will be revealed to you.  If you or someone you know might be interested in contributing to the greatest Brewers blog known to man-kind, drop us a line.  We are always looking……

Now, if you would all excuse me, my Yovani Gallardo shrine isn’t going to build itself……..or is it?