Brewer Daily News For March 5th: Braun off to WBC, Harang piques interest

Good morning folks and I hope you’re all having a great Tuesday morning. In today’s edition of Brewer Daily News, we’ll take a look at Ryan Braun as he goes to play for Team USA. In the next bit of news, veteran pitcher Aaron Harang has the interest of both the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles, so could we see the Brew Crew make a move?

Ryan Braun hopes that 2013 will be just as good as 2011 and 2012. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

After battling a left-knee injury, Braun looks ready to go for the World Baseball Classic as he reported to Team USA on Sunday. Braun, who is coming off of another tremendous year in 2012, will look to carry over some of that power into the rest of the WBC. Braun had this to say regarding the tournament:

"“Nothing is guaranteed in this game. In a three-game round-robin tournament, anything can happen. Every team has plenty of major-league players. There’s a lot of talent out there, but the goal is to win the tournament.” – via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"

Braun will join teammate Jonathan Lucroy for Team USA as the duo are a couple of the many Brewers competing in this year’s WBC. Team USA’s first game is this Friday against Team Mexico.

As the Brewers continue to repair the damage from last year, Harang may be a part of the reconstruction. The 34 year-old righty will be heading into his 12th year of Major League Baseball and this time, the Orioles and Brewers have interest in him according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Harang, who is a career 105-104 pitcher with a 4.19 ERA has had decent seasons in the past two years. The Brewers’ search for a veteran could end here if they sign Harang.

Last year, Harang pitched with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that now has a surplus of starting pitchers including ex-Brewer Zack Greinke. In 2012, Harang had a 10-10 record with a 3.61 ERA and struck out 131 batters in 179.2 innings of work. A good portion of Harang’s career was spent in Cincinnati so the Brewers are no stranger to him and he has a career 5-2 record inside Miller Park with a 4.86 ERA.

The Brewers may or may not be put off with Harang’s age, but his success as of late is something that could provide useful to the team. Harang would probably be a two or three in the rotation, leaving Mike Fiers and Chris Narveson for the bottom of the rotation.