BOX SCORES:

We’re five games into spring training, and the Brew Crew is 5-0. Not bad, eh?

Obviously, there have been some things to be happy about.

Carlos Lee has been grabbing the headlines, and he has earned them. In three games, he has hit three monstrous home runs and batted .667. For a slugger like Lee in Spring Training, this isn’t that big of a deal. However, the thing that has me excited is who he hit the homers off of. His first shot came against Dan Meyer, the centerpiece of the Mark Mulder trade for the A’s. Meyer is a potential rookie-of-the-year winner in 2005 and, though I’ve never seen him pitch, is supposed to have some good stuff. Lee’s other two shots came off of Zack Greinke, who I know has very good stuff. Greinke is the Royals’ ace and was the top pitching prospect in baseball before his rookie season, which was a good one, last year. Uecker said that one of Lee’s homers went about 475 feet, but who knows if that’s true? Lee will not play again until the weekend, but don’t worry, he isn’t injured. Instead, worry because he’s going back to Panama to take care of yet another kid he had. The kid isn’t the problem, it’s the potential visa issues.

Matching Lee at every step has been über-prospect Prince Fielder. Fielder started the season off with an opposite-field homer off of Dan Meyer. Fielder’s ability to hit lefties like Meyer has impressed me so far. He also added a single off of another lefty in his next ballgame. All told, Fielder has batted .625 in 8 at-bats.

In addition, Brady Clark has played great. With four extra-base hits, he has just about matched his total from last season. Clark is a huge wildcard on this team, and his play will likely determine how far the Brewers go this season. Clark’s only potential backup is Dave Krynzel, whose plate approach is just not major league ready. That said, Krynzel did have a magnificent 0-0 with 3 BB game to start Spring Training. He is someone to keep an eye on. If he can show that throughout March, he will find himself as the Brewers’ fourth outfielder. His batting history, however, suggests that he will not be ready, thus underscoring the point I made about Clark really needing to keep this up.

The first few games of Spring Training are always my favorites because you really get to see everyone in the Brewers system. Especially in the split squad games, you get to see prospects like Hernan Iribarren, Dick Weeks, Kid Borders (that will never get old), and Grant Richardson play and hold their own against players far more advanced than them. I’ll let you look at the stats to see who’s done what on your own.

Of interest to the major league team, the two lively position battles, shortstop and third base, have been quite lackluster. Branyan and Helms seem to be fighting over who doesn’t have to start, and Jeff Cirillo is doing just enough to keep he useless ass taking at-bats away from the two actually battling for the position. Don’t get me wrong. I definitely would rather have Cirillo here than Helms. On second thought, I don’t want ether. I don’t see them cutting Hall like they should, so he can back up Ruscle Branyan, who really doesn’t need a backup. Hall has made a small claim at the shortstop job because JJ Hardy just cannot hit. If Hall makes the team as a starter, it will not win 70 games this year. Hardy, like the aforementioned Clark, is a wildcard that really needs to come through.

The lively position battle has been the battle for bullpen and starting pitching. I can’t even begin to tell you how many guys are trying out for five bullpen spots. Assume that Adams and Bottalico are going to make the bullpen and go from there. Here is the list of real candidates for three starting positions and five bullpen spots: Vic Santos, Chris Capuano, Ben Hendrickson, Jose Capellan, Rick Helling, Gary Glover, Wes Obermueller, Rigo Beltran, Jeff Bennett, Brooks Kieschnick, Jorge de la Rosa, Justin Lehr, Sam Narron, Chad Paronto, Tommy Phelps, Andy Pratt, Julio Santana, Matt Wise, and Derrick Turnbow. I count 19 guys there. Doesn’t this remind you of last year?

I will make some bold predictions on who will make the team: Capuano will be a starter and de la Rosa a lefty out of the pen. De la Rosa has no minor league options left, so I can almost 100% assure you that he will make the team. Just as I was about ready to give up on him, he threw two scoreless innings today and struck out four with some nasty stuff. The Crew is not going to let him go. This is a total guess, but the remaining 2 starter spots will go to Santos and no one to start the season. Hendrickson will be called up after a few weeks. Also a total guess as to who would fill an estimated five bullpen spots: Bennett, Kieschnick, Lehr, Phelps, Wise, and Turnbow. We’ll see how this situation progresses as camp goes on.

The first cuts are coming, so let’s enjoy the prospect-loaded games while we can. I should note on the pitching end that Jeff Housman and Dana Eveland, two of my personal favorite prospects that will start the year at AAA and AA, respectively, have done a great job so far.

And that’ll just about rap up my first Spring Training review. I hope you all enjoyed and can forgive me for some bouts of brevity. These games have been a very small sample size for players, especially when you put as much weight on historical performance as I do. Regardless, it’s been a great start and let’s hope it keeps up.