The Offi cial Newspaper of the 2018 Milwaukee Brewers Fantasy Camp Thursday, January 25, 2018Volume 12, Issue 6

BY KYLE LOBNER - SEPTEMBER 25, 2017www.shepherdexpress.com

Ryan Braun is the only player still on the Brewers’ 40-man roster who played for either the 2008 or 2011 postseason teams. Looking at the roster from the 2008 team makes it painfully clear that nine years is a long time in baseball terms. Ray Durham, Solomon Torres and Eric Gagne all made their fi nal MLB appearances in the NLDS that year, and nearly all of the 44 players that put on a Brewers uniform that season have since followed them out of baseball. Braun is one of just nine players from that team that are still active, and the list will almost certainly diminish further by this time next year:

J.J. Hardy Hardy appeared in 146 games for the 2008 Brewers and was a big part of their success, posting a career-best .821 on-base plus slugging while playing an above-average defensive shortstop. Since then he’s played in 1100 more games with the Brewers, Twins and Orioles, sticking with the latter organization for seven seasons. Hardy’s play has diminished in recent years, however, and 2017 is the fi nal year on a disastrous three-year, $40 million contract he signed with Baltimore before the 2015 season. That will likely turn out to be his last major league contract, as Hardy is hitting just .212 with a .250 on-base and .305 slugging this season in 68 games.

CC Sabathia Sabathia pitched in just 17 regular season games with Milwaukee in between much longer stints in Cleveland (237 starts) and New York (253 starts), but it’s hard not to fondly remember him as a former Brewer. He’s had an impressive career resurgence in his late 30’s: Baseball Reference estimates he’s been worth 5.5 wins above replacement in his age 35 and 36 seasons (cont. on back)

Where Are They Now?The 2008 Milwaukee

Brewers Playoff Team

Wednesday’s Results

Team Nuts showed Circling the Pillows that they’re not the only team that can score runs. And score they did in winning both games yesterday. In the morning game, the Nuts laid the Pillows to rest with a 20-8 kick in the...ummmm (you know where). The Nuts busted out for 15 hits, with Dan Zier and Mike Bernhardt leading the attack each collecting three hits. Gary Anderson drove in three and Jason Luther drove in two in the loss. In the afternoon contest, He Hate Me gave the Nuts all they could handle, but couldn’t get their fi rst win of the season, falling 13-11. Zier continued his hot hitting for the Nuts with another three-hit game, including a home run which Bernhardt also duplicated. Brad Solomon and Jeff Matthews each had three hits to lead their team in a losing cause. Circling the Pillows got back

after posting a combined value of just 0.7 in the previous three years. Despite his recent run of success, however, it’s hard to believe Sabathia’s MLB tenure will last a lot longer. Among active pitchers, only Bartolo Colon (3308 as compared to Sabathia’s 3305 1/3) has thrown more major league innings.

Carlos Villanueva Villanueva pitched in 47 games and made nine starts for the Brewers in 2008 and is the fi rst player on this list one could categorize as “technically active:” After 11 MLB seasons he crossed the Pacifi c Ocean and spent the 2017 season with the Korean Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles. He posted a 4.27 ERA in 105 1/3 KBP innings in 2017, which was almost three quarters of a run better than the league average (4.98) and a full run better than his team (5.29). Villanueva is still only 33 (will be 34 in November) so he could still pitch for a few more years, but an MLB return seems unlikely after he put up an ERA just under 6 with the Padres in 2016.

Manny Parra If Carlos Villanueva is “technically active,” then perhaps Manny Parra is “barely holding on.” After his fi nal season with the Brewers in 2012 Parra made 150 appearances over three seasons with the Reds but hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2015. Parra was out of baseball for the 2016 season but opened 2017 in AAA with the Cubs, where he posted a 14.09 ERA in 11 relief appearances before getting released. He then caught on with the independent Bridgeport Bluefi sh, where he made nine starts with a 5.87 ERA. It’s unclear if the Bluefi sh will even play in 2018, so Parra’s future with that organization faces multiple challenges and his recent performance is unlikely to earn him another look in affi liated ball.

Tim Dillard Longtime Brewers organizational pitcher Tim Dillard actually pitched in the majors during the regular seasons in both 2008 and 2011 but is not on the Brewers’ 40-man roster and was not called up to the majors following a 2017 season with AAA Colorado Springs, his 15th professional campaign. Dillard is 34 years old and faces minor league free agency again this winter. He’s previously said he’ll play as long as he has a job doing so, but it remains to be seen how much longer that will be.

Hernan Iribarren A Venezuelan native, Iribarren got his fi rst taste of life in the majors in April of 2008 and had two brief stints with Milwaukee, playing 24 games over two seasons. The Brewers lost him on waivers before the 2010 campaign and he played for three organizations before

returning to the majors after a seven-year hiatus with the Reds in 2016. This spring C. Trent Rosecrans wrote a fascinating story for the Cincinnati Enquirer on the role “witchcraft” played in Iribarren’s early career. Iribarren played eight different positions for AAA Louisville in 2017 (including ten games as a pitcher), but did not receive another call to the majors. He turned 33 in June and is a veteran of 14 professional seasons.

Alcides Escobar Escobar made his MLB debut in September of 2008 at just 21 years old, so he’s easily the youngest player on this list and perhaps the most likely to have a major league career that extends on past the short-term future. 2017 was his tenth MLB season and he’s already led all of baseball in games played three different times (including this year), but he won’t turn 31 until December. The Royals signed Escobar to a long-term extension in 2012 that expires this winter, so he’s going to become a free agent in a couple of months. He’ll almost certainly fi nd work but it could be interesting to see how teams value him: He’s played in an average of 157 games per year over the last seven seasons (including all 155 Royals games this season) and is a plus defender but his offense has been dreadful (a career .294 on-base percentage with very little power). For the last two years FanGraphs has rated him at just slightly above replacement level.

Yovani Gallardo After a May injury Gallardo worked his way back from injury to make one September start for the 2008 Brewers that helped them reach the postseason, and he started Milwaukee’s fi rst playoff game in 26 years. He’s had a nice career since, pitching nearly 1600 innings with a 3.98 ERA. Since the Brewers traded Gallardo in January of 2015, however, his career has taken a bit of a downturn: He’s pitched for three teams over the last three seasons and posted ERAs of 5.42 and 5.72 with Baltimore and Seattle in 2016 and 2017, respectively. With the Mariners he’s been bumped from the rotation and asked to pitch in relief for the fi rst time since 2007. Gallardo is only 31 years old but could face an uphill battle to fi nd an opportunity to pitch in 2018 if Seattle declines his $13 million team option, which they almost certainly will. Kyle Lobner covers the Milwaukee Brewers in the Shepherd Express’ weekly On Deck Circle column. He has written about the Brewers and Minor League Baseball since 2008.

Footnote: I ommitted a couple of paragraphs from the beginning and end of the original article which didn’t affect the story.

to their winning ways, making Dilly Dilly look silly silly, beating them 10-1. Terry Jannsen went 4 for 4 in the win, while John Hagenow got two hits in the loss. Hall & Sheets won both their contests, beating Dilly Dilly, 5-3 and Semper Fi, 17-13. In their morning win over Dilly Dilly, Steve Hepp had two hits and Chris Greatens hit a two-run homer. Steve Grover and Mike Buelow each had two hits and drove in one run apiece in the defeat. In their four-run afternoon victory over Semper Fi, fi ve players had three or more hits, including Kevin Brunner and Greatens, who each had four knocks. Ben Albregts knocked in two runs, and Wade Kretsinger, Scott Spaeth, and Joe Kuborn each had three hits in a losing effort. Semper Fi kept He Hate Me from their fi rst ‘W’ in the win

column with a 9-1 victory. Will He Hate Me get off the schneid today? Who will face each other in tomorrow’s championship game? All will be answered later today.

And Down The Stretch They Come!

Batting AverageLeaderboard

Fantasy Camp StandingsAfter 6 games

W L

Team Nuts 5 1

Circling the Pillows 4 2

Semper Fi 4 2

Hall & Sheets 4 2

Dilly Dilly 1 5

He Hate Me 0 6

Morning Games

Team Nuts - 20 Circling the Pillows - 8

Hall & Sheets - 5Dilly Dilly - 3

He Hate Me - 1Semper Fi - 9

Afternoon Games

Semper Fi - 13 Hall & Sheets - 17

He Hate Me - 11Team Nuts - 13

Dilly Dilly - 1Circling the Pillows - 10

Phot

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Name Team Name BAWade Kretsinger Semper Fi .778Kevin Brunner Hall & Sheets .733

Joe Kuborn Semper Fi .722Paul Ybarra Semper Fi .722Erick Scott Team Nuts .706Dan Zier Team Nuts .706

Mike Bernhardt Team Nuts .688Nick Inderdahl Hall & Sheets .688Gary Anderson Circling the Pillows .684

Justin Brouchoud Dilly Dilly .643Don Quinones Team Nuts .625

Ron Schoenbach Team Nuts .625Rob Cook He Hate Me .615

Karl Zacharias Dilly Dilly .600Chris Greatens Hall & Sheets .588Terry Jannsen Circling the Pillows .579

Steve Lendosky Circling the Pillows .579Ken Wolf Circling the Pillows .579

Mike Buelow Dilly Dilly .571Tim Webber Hall & Sheets .563

Michael Arnold Circling the Pillows .550

Tony Galatte He Hate Me .538Brad Solomon He Hate Me .538John Hagenow Dilly Dilly .533

Cletus Rataichek He Hate Me .533Andy Scholbe Semper Fi .526Robert Slak Semper Fi .526

Timothy Duex Hall & Sheets .500Steve Grover Dilly Dilly .500Jason Holtz Circling the Pillows .500

Jeff Matthews He Hate Me .500Chris Peters Hall & Sheets .500

Geoff Rulland Dilly Dilly .500Scott Spaeth Semper Fi .500

A BIG THANK YOU TO SCOTT ABRAMS FOR COMPILING THE STATS.

returning to the majors after a seven-year hiatus with the Reds in

10th Anniversary

Snapshots of DILLY DILLY

Snapshots of SEMPER FI