Author Archives: mlblogsmrhardball

When you are tagged as a versatile player for your coaches, it means
they trust your capability of doing many things competently. That’s what
Chris Chambliss, manager of the Charlotte Knights, said about Josh
Kroeger. He also said is feeling comfortable with Kroeger playing any
position in the outfield, first base, or designated hitter as well.

Josh Kroeger, a 27 years native of Davenport, Iowa, went to spring
training with the White Sox as a non-roster invitee and signed a minor
league contract through 2010 to play with the triple-A affiliate
Charlotte Knights. He was selected in the fourth round by the Arizona
Diamondbacks in the 2000 first-year player draft. He appeared in 22
major league games with Arizona in 2004 and has been playing in the
minors with Philadelphia, the Chicago Cubs, and the White Sox since
then.

Kroeger has a .284 AVG in his 10 year professional career. In 2009,
he played winter league in Venezuela with the team Leones del Caracas
helping them to win the championship and a spot in the Caribbean Series
2010. He played in 43 games as an outfielder for the Venezuelan team
hitting .289 with 12 doubles, three triples, four home runs and 23
RBI. He was a “key player to win the championship” said one of the front
office executives from Leones del Caracas. When I asked Kroeger if he
wants to come back and played winter league, he said: “I would like it,
I’m sure will.” He also commented that the Venezuelan team called and
wants him back for 2010-2011 season.

His expectations for this season are improving on his defense and
being more productive as a contact hitter. In the 2010 season Kroeger is
leading the Charlotte Knights in home runs (two) and is second in RBI
(eight).

Normal
0

false
false
false

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

In his first start of the season for the Chicago
White Sox AAA affiliate the RHP Carlos Torres made a very strong pitching
appearance. He threw six shutouts innings with four hits, a walk and eight
strikeouts to earn the win for the Charlotte Knights.

The 26 years old pitcher from Santa Cruz, CA
was drafted in the 15th round by the Chicago White Sox in 2004. In 2009 his
impressive numbers gave him a chance to play with the major team last September.

His Minor League record last season of 10-4, 2.39
ERA and 130 SO in 128 innings, allowed him to earn awards like MLB.com AAA
starting pitcher of the year, INT League Post-Season All-Star and INT
Mid-season All-Star. He registered a 1-2, in eight games, 28.1 innings, 6.04
ERA and 22 strikeouts during his major league debut in 2009.

Torres was sent to AAA by the White Sox at the
end of the spring training just a week before 2010 season started keeping
him in the 40-man roster and ready for a call to play with the big team.

What we expect from Carlos Torres is to maintain
his very controlled pitching style, mixing his throws and speed in order to be
effective for six or more innings on every start.

He will probably make his next appearance during the
team home opening season week beginning on April 15^th at Knight Stadium
in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

With a sell out crowd of 10.212 the Chicago White Sox played and exhibition game against its AAA affiliate Charlotte Knights. Jake Peavy as a starting pitcher for Chicago took the loss and Jeff Marquez for Charlotte earned the win. Manager Ozzie Guillen said during his media session that he feels confident with his roster and believe he has a better team now than the 2005 World Series Champion. Also commented that some of the players assigned to AAA have the potential and deserve to be with the big team but unfortunately there are not spots available for them at this moment. He mentioned that AAA manager Chris Chambliss will have a talented group that will be the future of the Organization.         

Omar Vizquel (Chicago White Sox)

Could he be a 12 Gold Glove winner?

With just two more weeks of Spring Training the Chicago White Sox have reduced their number of players to thirty two in major league camp after seven more were cut today. Catcher Tyler Flowers and right-handed pitcher Carlos Torres were optioned to Triple-A Charlotte, while right-handed pitcher Ryan Braun, outfielders Jordan Danks and Josh Kroeger and infielders Brent Morel and C.J. Retherford were reassigned to Minor League camp.

These are the latest cuts made for the Chicago White Sox that have been sent to AAA affiliate Charlotte Knights. Three of them will be wearing the Knights uniform for the first time, Viciedo and Santeliz promoted from AA, Dolsi and Hynick were playing for other organizations in 2009.

RHP Jeff Marquez played 11 games for AAA Charlotte Knights in 2009.

OF Stefan Gartrell played 31 games for AAA Charlotte Knights and 101 games for Birmingham Barons in 2009.

INF Dayan Viciedo played 130 games for AA Birmingham Barons in 2009.

RHP Clevelan Santeliz played 40 games for AA Birmingham Barons in 2009.

RHP Lucas Harrell played 11 games for AAA Charlotte Knights and 14 games for Birmingham Barons in 2009.

RHP Freddy Dolsi played 39 games for AAA Toledo Mud Hens in 2009.

RHP Jhonny Nunez played 16 games for AAA Charlotte Knights and 26 for Birmingham Barons in 2009.

RHP Brian Omogrosso 4 games for AAA Charlotte Knights and 13 games for Birmingham Barons in 2009.

RHP Brandon Hynick 1 game for AAA Charlotte Knights and 26 games for Colorado Springs Sky Sox.

When the Milwaukee Brewers decide to start the offseason moves I would say that being a veteran was the main requirement. With the addition of Randy Wolf (32yrs) and Doug Davies (33yrs) to the starting rotation, the age average is 29.8 years old and could be close to 31 at the end of the season. This rotation is also including Yovani Gallardo (23yrs), Jeff Suppan (34yrs), Manny Parra (27 yrs) and Dave Bush (30yrs). LaTroy Hawkins (38yrs), David Riske (32yrs), Claudio Vargas (31yrs) and Trevor Hoffman (42yrs) complete the group of experimented pitchers in the bullpen that will see heading the 2010 season.

This combination of a veteran group of pitchers with a relatively younger and healthy lineup might be the key to finish in the top of their division. However, spring training will be a challenge for Manny Parra being inconsistent on his two first full seasons, Bush and Suppan coming out of injuries and Chris Naverson who made good numbers in few appearances as a starter is also looking for a spot in the rotation.

With the departure of Mike Cameron the Brewers offense lost a valuable power hitter but add some speed on Carlos Gomez as the new Centerfielder and Alcides Escobar (2009-2010 Venezuelan Winter League Champion Bat) playing as the regular shortstop. Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun will have the command of the team helped by the explosives but sometimes inconsistent bats of Weeks, Hart and McGeehe.

Defense was an issue last season and coaches are really focused on deal with that specific situation. Milwaukee finishes #20 on fielding percentages in MLB and had the worst record in caught stolen percentage 21%. They just caught 21 of 82 base runners during the season. Greg Zaun on his new role as regular catcher will have a lot of work to do, but he is not the only one in charge of the base runners because pitchers also have the same responsibility to make those numbers better in 2010.    

The Brewers GM Doug Melvin is optimistic about his club and very confident with Macha as the team manager and Rick Peterson as the new pitching coach who worked with Macha in Oakland back in 2006. 

This is what I think is the probable Brewers rotation and lineup for 2010:

1Yovani Gallardo

2Randy Wolf

3Doug Davies

4Jeff Suppan

5Manny Parra

5Dave Bush 

1.Rickie Weeks, 2B
2.Casey McGehee, 3B
3.Ryan Braun, LF
4.Prince Fielder,1B
5.Corey Hart, RF
6.Gregg Zaun, C
7.Carlos Gomez, CF
8.Alcides Escobar, SS

9.Pitcher

Read the rest of this entry →