Bench: The Brewers have an experienced bench with Craig Counsell, Jody Gerut, and quite possibly Jim Edmonds. Counsell will turn 40 this summer, but had a great year last year and was courted by many teams this offseason. But he stayed loyal to his hometown team and reupped with the Brewers for yet another season. Gerut was not so good in the first half last year after getting traded for Tony Gwynn Jr., but was pretty consistent in the 2nd half. Edmonds is a non-roster invitee hoping to revive his career as a 4th or 5th outfielder. Beyond them, there are a few spots open for competition. George Kottaras, Angel Salome, and Jonathan Lucroy will compete for the backup catching position and Mat Gamel, Hernan Iribarren, Adam Heether, and Joe Inglett will compete for a backup infield spot. If Edmonds wins a spot, only one of these infielders will make the team, but two may make it if Edmonds proves to be a distant memory. Prospect Lorenzo Cain is also on the 40 man roster and has an outside shot at a bench spot, but most agree he needs much more time in the minors.
Non-Roster Invitees: The most prominent pitchers on this list are Zach Braddock (pictured), a 22-yr old lefty prospect, Chris Smith and Tim Dillard, who both pitched with the Brewers last year, and Chris Capuano, who is coming back from numerous surgeries. Also invited to camp are two of last year's top draft picks, Eric Arnett and Kyle Heckathorn, but they don't really have any chance to make the team. Scot Schoeneweis, Kameron Loe, John Halama, and A.J. Murray are all trying to resurrect their careers with the Brewers. As for catchers, the Brewers always invite a large amount to camp, since there are always so many pitchers in camp. Of the three, Lucroy very could make the major league team and Matt Treanor is trying to make a comeback, but Martin Maldonado will just be in camp until a few rounds of cuts are complete. There are no infield NRI, so we finally, move to the outfield. Here we have Edmonds, Trent Oeltjen, Logan Schafer, and Adam Stern. Oeltjen, claimed off of waivers from the Diamondbacks, is considered a long-shot to make the team and Stern has fared well in the minors, but is already 30 years old. Schafer is one of the Brewers best CF prospects and while he most likely won't make the team, it should be interesting to see how he performs up against better competition.Check back tomorrow for my final post, prospects!
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