We sit 45 days away from Opening Day so today we’ll take a look at the man who will wear #45 on his back this season as a member of the Brewers:

Travis Ishikawa.

Travis Takashi Ishikawa is a 6’3″, 225 pound first baseman with an average bat and a great glove.

Ishikawa spent no time in the big leagues in 2011 and the time he spent prior to that was a mixture of starting and entering games as a pinch-hitter and/or defensive replacement. For instance, 2009 was the season with the most big league service time for Ishikawa. He played in 120 games, and fielded in 113 of them. He only got 88 starts that season, but logged 817.1 innings and only had three errors in 803 total chances.

He was designated for assignment by the Giants in March of 2011 and, after clearing waivers, was assigned to Triple-A Fresno. It was at Fresno where Ishikawa hurt his non-throwing shoulder while playing right field. He had surgery and was signed as a minor-league free agent by the Brewers in December.

It is versatility and defensive ability (especially at first base) which will allow him to make the Brewers’ 25-man roster should be do so. Milwaukee is very anxious to get Spring Training underway so that they can find out what they have in Mat Gamel. If Gamel proves capable at first defensively, Ishikawa likely will begin the season at the Brewers Triple-A affiliate, Nashville. He’ll be an insurance policy.

In that scenario, Taylor Green likely heads north with the team. The other way Green makes the team is if he proves to be an adequate defender at first, a position which he doesn’t have a lot of experience, and then they can stash Ishikawa anyway. That’s the beauty of a minor-league contract.

Clearly, though, first base is matter of some competition this spring. We’ll get more into the battle when I preview Gamel though by the time I profile Green the decision might be made.

With position players reporting to Spring Training by the end of this week, however, the watchful eyes of the coaching staff will be paying very close attention to how things unfold before them.

Having lost Prince Fielder in free agency, whomever wins the job will face scrutiny and doubt if they struggle early. Gamel will be given an opportunity, this is certain, but whether Doug Melvin and Ron Roenicke decide that it makes more sense to back themselves up with the better bat or better glove, and what kind of difference exists between the options in those categories, will make the difference.

The other thing working in Ishikawa’s favor is that he’s dealt with a bench role before and the team could decide to keep him over Green simply so that Green gets to play everyday at Nashville.

In other words: Pay attention if you’re interested because this one is far from settled and might not be for some time.

Today, 47 days away from Opening Day, the series takes a look at a pitcher who the Brewers signed as an undrafted free agent in February of 2005, when he was just 19 years old…

Amaury Rivas.

Amaury Keith Rivas (Keith? Really?) is a 6’2″, 217 pound right-handed Starting Pitcher who began and finished the 2011 season with the Nashville Sounds, Triple-A affiliate of the Brewers.

His numbers were not impressive at the highest minor league level, as he posted a season record of 7-12, backed by a 4.72 ERA in 150.2 innings pitched over 28 starts. Over the course of the season, Rivas allowed 151 hits, 88 runs (79 earned), 14 home runs, and 81 walks while striking out only 108 batters. He held opponents to a batting average of .260 and totaled a 1.54 WHIP.

Rivas was a highly-touted prospect in the system for a couple of seasons, in part because of the lack of pitching talent therein but also because of his impressive seasons at High-A Brevard County in 2009 and with Double-A Huntsville in 2010.

The 2009 season as a Manatee was probably Rivas’ best and most encouraging as a professional. It led to the Brewers front office adding Rivas to the 40-man roster prior to the 2009 Rule V Draft.

Since then, however, Rivas appears to possibly be topping out in Triple-A. 2012 could be a very important year for Rivas as he has no real shot to make the Major League roster this season and that will result in his third and final minor league option being burned up. A sub-par year in 2012 could make the next step in Rivas’ career one where he is subjected to waivers and a possible change of venue.

Rivas was the team’s 10th best prospect heading into last season, according to Baseball America which had the following to say about him:

“Rivas’ individual pitches don’t blow hitters or scouts away, but he knows how to pitch and how to set up hitters. He understands the importance of location and works both sides of the plate. Rivas throws his fastball in the low 90s with some boring life and sink. His fastball can reach 95 but straightens out at higher velocities. He developed a feel for a changeup at a young age, and it grades out as his best pitch.”

While not awe-inspiring, it does point out that there are certain talents with which Rivas has pitched himself to the Triple-A level. He was given the accolade of having the system’s best change up and overall control as recently as 2010.

Unfortunately not everyone has the talent to compete at the highest level of the sport, but even those that do often don’t make the proper adjustments to realize their potential. The path to the bigs is littered with the hopes and dreams of countless ballplayers.

If he doesn’t show a significant improvement/rebound in his performance, he may never get an opportunity to ply his wares in Milwaukee as a Brewer.

The one caveat to writing Rivas off, other than that he’s still in his mid-20s, is that there was speculation that an injury was contributing to Rivas’ poor year. Rivas did end up having right elbow surgery to remove bone spurs. If he comes into camp healthy, as is expected, looking at 2011 with a grain of salt might not be a bad idea.

Then again, if he is deemed healthy and struggles into the season a bit, 2011′s finish will only compound the fears that he might have maxed out and hit his ceiling.

Time will tell. All we can do it watch with an interested eye.

Pitchers and Catchers report today for the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s a symbolic moment for the team and for the coming end of winter, and although this winter has been remarkably mild in Wisconsin, the norm is a long and cold winter up in these parts. Therefore once P&C Day arrives, it makes you feel like there will be spring eventually again in the northern midwest.

Officially reporting today is a man who was drafted at a position (catcher) which would have reported today anyway had he stayed there but he was converted to a pitcher along the way and reports today anyway. That man is the owner of an fantastic Harry Carrey impression along with a sidearm delivery from the right side. Of course, I can only be talking about:

Tim Dillard.

Timothy Charles  Dillard is a 6’4″, 225 lb right-handed pitcher who hails from Sarasota, Florida. He was originally selected in the 34th round of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft. (He and I actually share a birthday as well, for the record, though I am three years his elder.)

Dillard, once he was converted to a pitcher, used to have a standard over-the-top delivery. He experienced decent enough success that he earned a trip to the majors in 2008 but was knocked around a bit, and more so in his short  pretty heavily. Eventually he was sent down and didn’t appear to have a path back to Milwaukee. He then modified his approach and became a sidearm pitcher. It was a way to make him stand out from the pack and help him find his niche.

It worked, and Dillard rejoined the big league club in 2011.

He’s never been a shutdown pitcher and honestly shouldn’t face a left-handed hitter…ever…but he is a useful piece as a long-relief man and situational right-hander.

On a “first division” team, Dillard doesn’t have a true home. He is a tremendous individual (I had the pleasure of chatting with him for a few minutes at a charity event last season), but this organization has better pitchers available as options when everyone is healthy.

Despite that, I decided to profile Dillard for a couple of reasons. First, he’s spent time with the Brewers so people know him, but more so than that is the fact that he’s out of options and, barring injury to one of his colleagues, he’s unlikely to break camp with the club.

That’s significant because to get Dillard back to the minor leagues where he can stay ready to contribute should the injury bug plague the bullpen, he’d have to be exposed to waivers. Dillard has successfully passed through them before, but nothing is guaranteed.

The best chance to Dillard to make the club out of the Spring Training would be if Doug Melvin and Ron Roenicke decide that keeping depth is more important that keeping a better arm. Having said that though, some would argue and Frankie De La Cruz has a better arm and he is also out of options.

In my 25-man roster projection which I’ll be stating on the podcast I plan to record later today, I have only one open bullpen slot to be contested between Dillard, FDLC, Zach Braddock and Brandon Kintzler. Kintzler and Braddock both have options remaining so they could begin the year at Triple-A if the Brewers want to keep that extra depth.

Regardless, Dillard stands to get enough work this spring in order to gauge where he’s at in comparison to the other options for the last spot in the ‘pen. If he doesn’t make the cut but does sneak back through to the minor leagues, Dillard is absolutely an option to be called up when his special type of services are required.

Check it out by clicking here!

Brewers fans, tomorrow we get to state together in a loud, clear, and triumphant voice: “Pitchers and Catchers report!” The four greatest words of the winter will be ours in very short order. I cannot wait to shout it from the mountaintops!

Today, however, is Friday, February 17th. Did you know that Opening Day is on a Friday this year for the Brewers? That means that we’re a multiple of seven away from Opening Day 2012. Indeed, today is 49 days out. We’re exactly a mere seven weeks from the first pitch of the regular season.

Likely throwing that first pitch in the Top of the 1st inning is today’s profiled player:

Yovani Gallardo.

Let me ask you a question, and be honest… Do you realize exactly how rare of a case Yovani Gallardo is for the Milwaukee Brewers?

Drafted by Milwaukee. Developed by Milwaukee. Found success with Milwaukee. And, perhaps most importantly, agreed to stay in Milwaukee on a multi-year contract which keeps Gallardo in Milwaukee through at least the 2014 season. A voidable team option exists at the end of the guaranteed years, so there’s that too.

For all the talent that has fallen short, for all the unrealized potential, for the careers lost to injury…

Gallardo has beaten the odds.

2011 saw the Brewers ace eclipse 200 innings pitched for the first time in his career as he was fourth in the league in starts with 33. It was Gallardo’s third consecutive season with 200 or more strikeouts and he actually improved in nearly every statistical category over his All-Star season of 2010.

In fact, the only noticeable categories where Gallardo worsened were a lower K/9 rate (9.7 down to 9.0) and allowing more than double the home runs (12 vs 27) than the previous campaign.

Otherwise, ERA, walk rate, hit rate, WHIP, K/BB ratio, ERA+, all of these and then some were better. For the record, Gallardo threw 21.2 more innings in 2011 than 2010 and actually issued 16 fewer walks.

In short, the seventh-place finish in the Cy Young Award voting in 2011 was warranted.

Gallardo started three games in the 2011 postseason, winning one, losing one, and taking a no-decision in the third. The loss did come in the NLCS against Gallardo’s personal nemeses the St. Louis Cardinals.

Obviously, despite the division championship belonging to the Brewers, the defending World Champions are the redbirds and how Gallardo adjusts to their lineup in 2012 could go a long way in determining who will be division champions next October.

Assisting in that endeavor was Arte Moreno. No, he’s not the Brewers’ new pitching coach but rather the owner of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who signed away Gallardo’s biggest problem, Albert Pujols. Pujols hit .545 against Gallardo in the 2011 regular season including three home runs. It wasn’t pretty but again, it’s not something that Gallardo has to deal with in 2012.

Cardinals notwithstanding, Gallardo won 17 games in 2011 and posted a line of 3.52 ERA, 193 hits, 92 runs (81 earned), 59 walks, 207 strikeouts, 1.215 WHIP, all in 207.1 innings pitched.

Supported by the best K/BB and BB/9 rates of his career, Gallardo posted a 111 ERA+ and a career best 2.7 WAR.

Gallardo turns 26 years old in 10 days and is just entering his prime. With solid seasons already a part of his track record, and that multi-year contract, Brewers fans have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about 2012 and beyond for the Mexico native.

In fact, ZIPS projection system predicts a very similar 2012 for Gallardo that would result, in part, in 16 wins, a 3.46 ERA and another 200 plus strikeout season. There would be nothing wrong with hitting those projections.

The bottom line for Gallardo is that regardless of the presence of Zack Greinke on this roster, the man we call “Yo” is the number one. A lot of people will tell you that once the season gets underway, it matters very little what the rotation order is. They’ll say that other than whatever personal honor an Opening Day Starting Pitcher takes out of kicking off the season, it doesn’t make a bit of difference. Gallardo is on record as saying he appreciates the faith that it shows by giving him the ball with the chance to start a season on the right foot.

Brewers fans can take solace in the fact that if Gallardo does indeed get the call for Opening Day (and there really isn’t any reason he wouldn’t), the likelihood of starting the year with a victory should be a good one.

Picking out the man who wears number 50 on his back for the Milwaukee Brewers might seem a little like finding the right car at the dealership. Many choices to be sure, but there’s just something about this particular model that makes it stand out.

In this case, those conspicuous features include a bald head, lean body, and most notably a 6’8″ frame.

Of course I can be referring to none other than right-handed relief pitcher:

Kameron Loe.

I’ve been including a picture of each player as I’ve gone through this series, but briefly considered simply putting a picture of the lightning rod in this space and then just including Loe’s picture later in the piece.

It makes sense, doesn’t it? Nobody attracted more heat throughout the year on a Brewers’ mound than did Loe.

Loe pitched in parts of five seasons with the Texas Rangers before spending 2009 pitching professionally in Japan. The Brewers lured him back in 2010 so the upcoming season will be his third with Milwaukee.

Sure, Zack Greinke caught heat for his basketball escapades, and Shaun Marcum had his struggles late in the year, but deservedly or not Kameron David Loe caught heat early, often and consistently throughout 2011.

Loe’s 2011 season consisted of 72 appearances in which Loe totaled 72.0 innings pitched, a 3.50 ERA, 65 hits allowed, 30 runs allowed (28 earned), 4 home runs, 18 walks (two of which were intentional), and 61 strikeouts. He also hit two batters. Loe tallied one save and posted a record of 4-7.

He did appear in five games in the 2011 postseason, pitching twice against Arizona and thrice opposing St. Louis. The Cardinals put the only dents into Loe’s ERA by tagging him for four earned runs in Game 2 of the NLCS on October 10, a game which St. Louis won 12-3.

In three of Loe’s appearances he gave up at least three earned runs. Those three appearances combined for 12 earned runs in only 1.1 innings pitched. They were ugly outings and you can’t discount them when analyzing Loe’s season, but to fly off on the other end of the spectrum and try to claim that Loe was terrible more often than not or that he couldn’t ever get anybody out would be just as foolish.

Loe made 54 scoreless appearances and seemed to give up runs in appearances which were bunched together, though not always consecutively. What that means is probably a whole lot of nothing, but the facts remain.

Following the injury to Takashi Saito and kid-gloves approach the Brewers used with LaTroy Hawkins through much of the year, Loe was forced into working a lot of situations he normally wouldn’t have been called upon for. He was pitching to left-handed hitters in high-leverage situations. He was pitching in close and late situations. It cost him and the team.

If you’ve been a faithful reader of the series, you may recall that I mentioned in the Francisco Rodriguez article how when the Brewers acquired K-Rod their bullpen had already lost 20 games. Well, seven of those were Loe’s. To point out another thing, Loe wasn’t the pitcher of record in a loss once Rodriguez was acquired. As the back-end of the bullpen got filled out throughout the year, Loe was able to pitch in situations more suited for his skill level and abilities.

In an ideal world, Loe wouldn’t have to pitch to a left-handed hitter ever. He also would be used situationally in either early bullpen work for full innings for possibly 7th inning work when the match up at the plate works in his favor or the situation dictates a certain kind of pitcher being needed.

The reality of the baseball life is that Loe will be called upon in situations that are, for lack of a better phrase, above his pay grade. So long as those behind him in the bullpen repeat their solid seasons and allow Loe to pitch to his strengths, I expect that Loe will have an even better ratio of quality appearances to awful ones.

Loe’s ratio of ground ball outs to outs recorded in the air was an impressive 2.77 in 2011. That’s aided by the number one pitch in Loe’s repertoire: a sinker which he throws between 88-90 MPH. According to Pitch F/X information, he threw his sinker 78.6 percent of the time in 2011. He secondary pitch was a slider thrown with an average velocity of 79.4 MPH. He threw a handful of change ups but nothing worth noting. Interesting to note is that Pitch F/X said that Loe didn’t throw a straight fastball all season.

The sinker had pretty good movement, breaking down and in to right-handers, and the slider moves enough to where it can be a fair compliment to the sinker. As that 2.77 GO/AO ratio points out, though, the sinker is Loe’s main weapon.

Loe was eligible for salary arbitration this offseason and settled with Milwaukee at a figure of $2.175 million.

With the departure of Hawkins and Saito in free agency, Loe’s veteran leadership will be a welcomed presence. With the addition of Jose Veras via trade, Loe should primarily pitch in those controlled situations which I outlined earlier.

Put it all together and the result will hopefully be a positive contribution to Milwaukee’s efforts to repeat as NL Central Division Champions and take the next step or two in 2012.

Enough opening. Let’s cut right to the chase.

Number 51 on the countdown is the proud owner of one of the best names in the Brewers organization, if not the entirety of baseball:

Zelous Wheeler.

While Zelous Lamar Wheeler only joined Twitter a few short weeks ago, Twitter was the place last season where several of his biggest supporters started a hashtag that permeated the general consciousness of Brewers-themed tweets. That hashtag is #ZealotsForZelous.

A zealot is defined as a fanatic. Therefore the Zealots For Zelous group are some that have high hopes for Wheeler’s future career projections. Let’s take a look at what exactly makes someone a Zealot.

Before we get there though, let’s lay the groundwork. Wheeler is listed at 5’10″ and 220 pounds. For the sake of comparison, Rickie Weeks was most recently listed at 5’10″ and 215 pounds. Wheeler was born on January 16, 1987 in Alabama. He bats and throws right-handed and plays mostly third base.

Wheeler was drafted by the Brewers out of Wallace State Community College in the 19th round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. This is the same draft that has given the Brewers organization Jonathan Lucroy, Caleb Gindl, Eric Farris, Dan Merklinger, and Cody Scarpetta.

Listed as a third baseman when the Brewers drafted him, Wheeler has maintained his defensive spot during his rise through the minor leagues. Wheeler manned the hot corner for both Double-A Huntsville and Triple-A Nashville during 2011, compiling similar lines at each locale. In Huntsville, where he spent the majority of 2011, Wheeler compiled 62 hits and scored 34 runs while he put together a .272/.377/.465 line filled out with 20 doubles, 8 home runs, 32 RBI, 7 stolen bases (in 7 attempts), 30 walks and 49 strikeouts in 228 at-bats. As for Nashville, in 51 at-bats Wheeler hit safely 14 times and put up .275/.383/.431, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 6 RBI, 9 walks and 8 strikeouts.

Also encouraging, despite the small sample size with Nashville, is that Wheeler’s walk-rate and strikeout-rate were both better in Triple-A. His ISO, wOBA and wRC+ were worse, but again, small sample size can be argued on both sides.

He then spent some time with the Peoria Javelinas in the Arizona Fall League where he got 56 more at-bats, posting a .276/.358/.397 line with 16 hits, 15 runs scored, 8 runs batted in, 7 walks and 14 strikeouts in 16 games. All of that hard work and consistency paid off in the form of being added to the 40-man roster last fall. What that means in the short term is that when Wheeler begins the 2012 season assigned to the minor league affiliate, it’ll cost one of his three minor league options to get him there.

Wheeler did play a little first base in the Arizona Fall League, for the record. It’s likely that the majority of Wheeler’s defensive plays in 2012 will still be at third. Wheeler is blocked at his natural third base position, however, by both recent Brewers signee Aramis Ramirez and fellow prospect Taylor Green who finished 2011 on Milwaukee’s 25-man playoff roster. That won’t stop Wheeler from continuing to work on his game at whatever affiliate he does start the new season with.

There is some doubt as to where Wheeler will begin 2012 because although he did start the season with Triple-A Nashville in 2011, he only played with Double-A Huntsville from June 29th through the end of the season. He also missed nearly two months of the year due to an injury suffered in the second game of the season. Wheeler was hurt in a collision at home plate, a collision which resulted in a torn PCL in Wheeler’s right knee.

After being added to the 40-man roster, however, if Taylor Green wins a backup infielder spot with Milwaukee, it’d be a safe bet to put Wheeler in at third base for the Sounds on a roster projection.

Wheeler isn’t merely a consistent bat with no defense. In fact, coming into the 2011 season, Baseball America labeled Wheeler as the Brewers prospect with the best infield arm. He picks the ball well and makes strong, accurate throws. Wheeler isn’t resting on those laurels though. He wants to be a super utility player that can handle any defensive position. He said that he even started catching a little bit recently because he’s simply wants to get in the lineup and contribute.

It’s that kind of attitude and commitment that will win him fans in Milwaukee, both in the stands and in the front office.

Or perhaps I should say that those qualities will be earning him some more zealots.

Today however, and for the next seven days following today, a player wears the number in question. That would make it eight straight for “Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers”, a stretch which shall not be broken this year and which is only duplicated once, but this stretch includes a non-roster invitee to Spring Training who I’m still debating on whether to profile. Unless I hear an outcry of want, that player, Juan Perez who was assigned #46 when the Brewers acquired him, probably won’t be previewed.

I won’t be holding my breath while waiting for his fan base to cry out in support, but I still haven’t officially made up my mind. After all, I strive to preview players on the 40-man roster and/or those who could contribute to the 25-man roster at some point in 2012. The only thing working in Perez’ favor is his handedness.

But enough about those other members of the Brewers organization; as it is 52 days until Opening Day, we are here today to discuss the player who wears 52:

Cody Scarpetta.

Working as a starting pitcher for each of 23 appearances in 2011 as a member of the Double-A Huntsville Stars, Cody Michael Payne Scarpetta posted a season linescore of 8-5, 3.85 ERA, 100 H, 61 R (50 ER), 8 HR, 61 BB, 98 K, 1.38 WHIP over 117.0 innings pitched. He held opponents to a .234 batting average.

Scarpetta’s play in the first half of the minor league season earned him a reward of sorts. With a bit of an overworked bullpen just before the Major League All-Star Game break, Milwaukee officially optioned Mat Gamel back to the minor leagues on July 10, 2011 and called up Scarpetta for a game that same night against the Cincinnati Reds.

With the game tightly contested the entire way (eventually won by the Brewers with a bottom of the ninth walk-off from Craig Counsell), Scarpetta didn’t enter the game and therefore has no official Major League career to speak of yet. The fact remains that Scarpetta was in uniform for the game and no doubt learned plenty from his 24-hour tour of Milwaukee.

The level of performance that earned him that one-day callup would not carry over to the 2011 Arizona Fall League where, in five appearances (four starts) as a member of the Peoria Javelinas, Scarpetta lost three games and allowed 16 earned runs on 13 walks and 14 hits, two of which were home runs, in just 7.1 innings pitched. That was bad for an ERA of 19.64 and a WHIP of 3.68!

Small sample size or not, and regardless of the fact that the AFL is littered with on-the-cusp talent, it’s clear that Scarpetta simply didn’t have much of anything to offer in Arizona. The future remains bright enough for Scarpetta, though, and he likely could contribute out of the bullpen if needed in 2012.

For a look at how he got to this point, let’s go back and review Scarpetta’s early years as a professional.

Scarpetta was originally drafted in the 11^th round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft out of Guilford High School and forewent a commitment to Creighton University to sign with the Brewers organization. In an odd circumstance, Scarpetta (who is still only 23 years old today) had his original deal voided because of an injury and when the team resigned him it was forced to add him to the 40-man roster at the end of the same year (2008) or risk losing him to the Rule V Draft.

What that also means is that Scarpetta’s minor league options began having to be used up immediately to keep him in the system beginning with the 2009 season. Normally a player has three options but with the unique circumstances of Scarpetta’s situation, the league granted a fourth minor league option to the Brewers on Scarpetta therefore allowing them to stash him in the minors for one more year before doing so would require exposing him to waivers first.

As you can surmise, 2012 will be an important year in Scarpetta’s development as his final minor league option will be used.

Scarpetta will be working on a fastball that’s already been described as “very good” and sits in the low 90s, a plus curveball that was described as “the best in the system” by Baseball America prior to the 2011 season and a changeup which, while improved, is still developing. He’ll need all three of those pitches to profile well if he’s to get a legitimate shot at joining a Brewers rotation that could, technically, have four openings in 2013. As it stands today, Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum will both be free agents at the end of 2012, Randy Wolf could become of a free agent if the Brewers decline their 2013 option and Chris Narveson becomes arbitration-eligible prior to the 2013 season which could always lead to a non-tender if Narveson doesn’t perform well enough this year.

Preparing for that final step, Scarpetta will take the next step in 2012 by most likely beginning the year in the rotation for the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. If he doesn’t start in Triple-A, he’ll likely be one of the first looks for an early-season promotion thereto.

To be successful at the highest minor league level, Scarpetta will have to overcome the command and delivery issues that have some baseball people saying that his best (or possibly only) path to the majors is a complete dedication to the bullpen. It’s been said that Scarpetta has “enough stuff” to start, but you have to be able to control that stuff to be successful at starting.

Listed at 6’3” and 244 pounds, Scarpetta has good size and a build that should hold up well throughout a season regardless as to his eventual role. Naturally everyone in Milwaukee hopes Scarpetta can be an effective contributor in the rotation, but again it remains to be seen if he’s got those kinds of chops.

With pitchers and catchers set to officially report to Spring Training in just five days, and all the uncertainty beginning in 2013 both individually and with the big league pitching staff, the most important season so far in Cody Scarpetta’s career is about to get underway.

What he does with it could make all the difference.

The owner of jersey 54 is none other than recent 40-man roster addition and outfield prospect:

Caleb Gindl.

Caleb Charles Gindl was drafted by the Brewers out of high school in the 5th round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. He has risen steadily through the minor-league system.

After signing in 2007, Gindl spent the balance of the year in the Pioneer League with the rookie ball Helena Brewers. Gindl started 2008 in Low-A ball with the West Virgina Power and played the entire season there. 2009 was spent entirely in High-A as a Brevard County Manatee. Double-A was Gindl’s home for all of 2010. In keeping with tradition, Gindl spent one full season with only one club and at a level higher than he player the previous year. In other words, Gindl’s 2011 season was as a member of the Nashville Sounds.

Chances are that 2012 will break Gindl’s streak. Even if there happens to be an open spot in the outfield at Miller Park for a while to begin the season, and even if Gindl wins the 5th outfielder spot on the 25-man roster, there will be five outfielders on the roster for the majority of the season which means that Gindl will assuredly see time in Nashville this year. (I personally believe that any opening in the outfield will be filled by Logan Schafer, but that’s neither here nor there for the purposes of this article.)

Gindl stands 5’9″, a height that has many scouts questioning the chances for his game to translate to a big league level. Then again, that same stature had people questioning his ability to succeed at Triple-A, and at Double-A. Gindl has proven the doubters wrong at every step, even to the point where national baseball writers are taking notice and saying that he stands a good chance to win the top backup outfielder spot, whether that’s with Milwaukee or not, to begin the season.

The major thing working against Gindl is that he doesn’t really have a fit right now in a major league outfield. His offense profiles as a center fielder but his defense will probably restrict him to playing the corners. His professional career batting average rounds up to .300 and he sports an .845 OPS. Gindl hasn’t been very consistent over his minor league career year-over-year, but some of that is to be expected since he’s spent each year in a different league and against different pitchers.

Gindl has been said be without good stolen-base speed but is a fair base runner that can stretch some long singles into doubles. He has been improving his contact and walk rates and I’ve read plenty about how he possesses enough arm to play right field at the big league level.

If Gindl does break camp with the Brewers, it’ll be interesting to see how he is utilized off the bench. He bats left-handed so there’s no real platoon advantage to be had should they shift Corey Hart to first base against a tough left-handed pitcher later in the season.

The bottom line for Gindl is that barring something catastrophic, he’ll break his advancement streak this year. Another round of seasoning at Nashville can only benefit the Florida native and, like Logan Schafer before him, even if nothing opens up all season in Milwaukee a strong effort could definitely earn him a September call up for his first taste of the show.

Without question is that Caleb Gindl is a name to keep an eye out for when you’re reading through Spring Training reports over the next few weeks.

It looks even better when you work out a situation with the player’s agent to completely remove the vesting option.

It looks better still when the two players-to-be-named-later in the deal going to the trading partner are a guy you picked up off waivers and who performed terribly for you and another low-level pitching prospect that wasn’t exactly on anybody’s radar.

Then when your team goes on to dominate over a lengthy stretch of the season, win its division and advance deep into the playoffs, in no small part because of the dominance of the back end of the bullpen to which the acquisition was added…

That’s the stuff that contract extensions for General Managers are made of.

While it didn’t directly lead to additional years added onto Brewers GM Doug Melvin’s contract, any fan of the Milwaukee Brewers will recognize that all of this rhetoric describes the deal struck late in the evening on July 12, 2011. The deal that resulted in the Brewers acquiring a premium bullpen arm which they utilized as a setup man for incumbent closer John Axford, of course, means we’re profiling #57 on our countdown to Opening Day:

Francisco Rodriguez.

Last July I wrote the following in this space:

“General Manager Doug Melvin has fired the first salvo in the coming race for superiority in the National League Central Division.

Francisco Rodriguez is now a member of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Given that Milwaukee was owner of 20 losses by members of its bullpen (worst in MLB to this point), it was about as obvious as Prince Fielder’s winning of the All-Star Game MVP tonight that the Brewers needed help. Boy did Melvin ever deliver.

Rodriguez comes to Milwaukee with a 3.16 ERA and 23 saves (of 26 chances) in 42 games.

K-Rod also brings with him to Milwaukee a thirst for winning and an ability to set up should the Brewers choose to have him fill that role.”

I certainly seemed to know what I was talking about. K-Rod was used as the primary setup man to John Axford for the balance of the season following his acquisition. This resulted in many victories being nailed down that, as I referenced in the quote from last year, otherwise may very well have been lost because of the shaky setup options early in the year.

Following the trade, Rodriguez pitched 29.0 innings in 31 games during the regular season. Those innings saw him allow six runs on 23 hits and 10 walks (1.44 WHIP). K-Rod also struck out more than a batter an inning (33 K) while with Milwaukee and tallied 17 holds.

In the postseason, K-Rod gave up on one run in 5.0 innings pitched (1.80 ERA), striking out eight, walking four and allowing five hits.

So with as good as Rodriguez was for the Brewers in 2011, and with a mutual contract option being in play, a casual fan might think that retaining K-Rod would be the no-brainer of the offseason. However, the salary that the mutual option called for was incredibly cost-prohibitive for the Brewers. Therefore, the right-hander was allowed to become a free agent.

Perhaps as a gamble counting on K-Rod’s desire to close games and his agent Scott Boras’ ego to find his players lucrative deals, the Brewers offered salary arbitration to Rodriguez. This offer, when declined, would garner extra draft picks in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft for Milwaukee when K-Rod signed with another team.

This didn’t happen exactly the way that some had predicted.

Rodriguez did apparently have a multi-year offer from San Diego to close games at some point during the offseason, but shortly before the deadline to accept salary arbitration, the deal fell apart. This lead to Boras accepting salary arbitration, a move that while the Brewers claimed they were prepared for, they couldn’t have truly expected it.

Many fans and media members alike immediately worried about the salary that K-Rod might get in an arbitration situation. After all, he had made over $13 million in base salary in 2011. Could Rodriguez get $14 million? $15 million? After all, he had performed very well and performance is usually rewarded with a raise in the arbitration process.

I was never concerned. As archived somewhere in the timeline of my Twitter timeline and on more than one Facebook post, I surmised that his salary would go down for three reasons: First, K-Rod’s last contract was drafted in an off-season of lucrative deals. Second, he wasn’t filling the same role on this arbitrated contract year as he was when he received his last contract. Third, even if you argued that he’d be a closer if not for Axford’s presence (which is true), this was an off-season flooded with closers which resulted in lower than you might otherwise expect deals being signed.

Jonathan Papelbon will average over $10 million on his new deal with Philadelphia, Heath Bell will average $9 million, and even fellow Boras client Ryan Madson only got $8.5 million on a one-year deal with Cincinnati. In other words, the market did not dictate a salary north of $13 million for a setup man…even a great one like Rodriguez.

So, the Brewers and Boras settled on a one-year deal which will pay K-Rod $8 million with up to $625 thousand in incentives.

With all of this positive, though, there is also some negative to remember.

Late last year, Rodriguez said to the media that he was unhappy with the Brewers front office because he was lead to believe that he’d have opportunities to close from time to time. With Axford’s dominance (as summarized a couple of days ago in Axford’s entry) it just never became a defensible option. Rodriguez was probably playing a bit of self-glossing because at the time he was planning on going into free agency as a closer in a couple of months. He was reminding GMs out there that he viewed himself as a closer and that closing is what he wanted to do.

Of course, with any confident and self-assured player (as all elite athletes are to some degree), there is always going to be a certain amount of looking out for number one.  Was it perhaps a bit of poor timing in the middle of a pennant race? Yes, but I also believe that K-Rod wasn’t saying what he said in an attempt to disrupt the Milwaukee clubhouse. He was simply hoping to position himself favorably in the coming hot stove season.

Media and fans didn’t take it that way, as a rule, and simply saw a complainer that wasn’t being a team player. Questions came up continually about why K-Rod would do such a thing when he did it. Sentiment was so strong about it, in fact, that when K-Rod accepted arbitration the prevailing commentary was that he gave up all rights to complaining about his setup role for the entire season.

With that, I wholeheartedly agree. He was traded into a setup role in 2011. I understood his frustration when he voiced it. In 2012, however, he chose money and setting up. It was his call, he made it, and now it’s on him as a professional to accept it and play hard in it.

But like I wrote seven months ago, if there’s one thing that I’m sure about Francisco Rodriguez, it’s that he has an unquenchable thirst to win. Money aside, role aside, politics and chemistry aside, K-Rod wants in 2012 what we all want in 2012: a World Series Championship.

Rest assured that he’ll give it everything he’s got to make that a reality.