The catch had already earned him $10,000 in a fishing tournament and placed his name in the state record book. Now it has labeled Roger Hellen of Franksville as something else – world record holder.

If you’re a baseball fan and you’ve never been to Spring Training, you owe it to yourself to go. Trust me on this, you’ll have the time of your life and wonder why it took you so long to get there. If you’re an Angels fan and you live in Southern California, you can easily drive to Tempe, Arizona in five or six hours. I’m telling you; it’s worth the …

At the end of the award voting, I decided that since the Baseball Bloggers Alliance had come along so quickly, it might be nice to get an idea of who was actually in the group. To that end, I’m working through the roster and asking ten questions of each member. The first five are standard, while the last five are a little more personalized. Hopefully this will …

Jonathan Lucroy is perhaps the current favorite to start behind the plate for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2010.  The young man hit .267/.380/.418 for the Huntsville Stars and just finished representing the Brewers in the Arizona Fall League.
Jonathan was kind enough to be interviewed via email over the past couple of days.
Be sure to check out more Brewers news and analysis from Jim Breen at Bernie’s Crew.

Tom Haudricourt works with Baseball America on their annual Top 10 Prospect rankings.
He was courteous enough to post an advanced copy of the composite rankings on his blog:
1. SS Alcides Escobar
2. 2B Brett Lawrie
3. 3B Mat Gamel (doesn’t qualify as rookie for MLB in 2010)
4. RHP Eric Arnett
5. C Jonathan Lucroy
6. OF Kentrail Davis
7. LHP Zach Braddock
8. OF Lorenzo Cain
9. RHP Jake Odorizzi
10. RHP Kyle Heckathorn
Take note that Milwaukee’s Top 10 includes three prospects that were drafted in the 2009 First-Year …

Not too long ago I posted about the “I-94 swap” of J. J. Hardy for Carlos Gomez. At the time I presumed that Gomez would have another year prior to arbitration, but as it turned out, he squeaked into that magical “super two” class by the hair on his chinny-chin-chin. Of the 210 players up for arbitration this winter, only Mike Fontenot and Dustin Nippert have less service time than …

I discussed the possibility of the Orioles trading for JJ Hardy previously, and it looks like that potential move is off the table now as the Brewers have dealt him to the Twins for outfielder Carlos Gomez. Is that an offer the O’s could have or should have beaten?

Jon Heyman and Tom Haudricourt both see the Milwaukee Brewers as serious suitors for Jarrod Washburn this offseason.
Doug Melvin and the Brewers seriously pursued Washburn this past summer as a trade candidate, so the organization obviously believes he can augment the starting rotation (as if that would be overly difficult).  The lefty also is a Wisconsin native.  The argument is that Washburn may wish to pitch close to home to end his …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel recapped and graded the individual performances of every Brewer that saw significant playing time throughout the season.
Grading is extremely subjective, so no “true” grade for any one player exists.  Still, some of the grades doled out by the Milwaukee JS were a tad bit misguided and need to be addressed.
Be sure to check out more Brewers news and analysis from Jim Breen at Bernie’s Crew.

In perhaps one of the most organization-defining offseasons Doug Melvin has ever faced, the team attempted to solidify the back-end of the bullpen by resigning Trevor Hoffman to a one-year, $8MM deal.
The contract also has a mutual option for 2011.
Hoffman was previously unwilling to include an option on his previous contract with Milwaukee, as he was unsure how he would like the team and the surrounding city.  That changed after he …

Now that the Milwaukee Brewers have officially completed their 2009 season, news of more and more players with minor injuries continue to come to light.
Casey McGehee will undergo surgery this afternoon to clean out some “loose bodies” from his right knee.  The potential NL Rookie of the Year has been playing through the pain since the All-Star Break, but the knee problems significantly lessened his range at third and his …

Jeff Cirillo accomplished plenty in his 14 year Major League career…read what he had to say about finally making it to the playoffs in his final season and his brief stint playing ball in Mexico.

Casey McGehee has been the surprise of the season for Milwaukee. But can he sustain his production into the 2010 season?

After the Brewers’ starters failed to pitch more than two innings in each of the previous two games, rookie Chris Narveson took the mound on Wednesday evening and twirled an absolute gem against the Cubs.