23-year old righty swinging shortstop Alcides Escobar played so well after a late season call up in 2009 that the Brewers felt safe in trading J.J. Hardy to the Twins over the winter for CF Carlos Gomez. Escobar played in 38 games in 2009 for the Brewers and he was 38 of 125 (.304 avg, .701 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 1 homer, 11 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. This season though, Escobar has been a disappointment. He has played in 122 games this year for the Brewers and he is 108 of 431 (.251 avg, .645 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 3 homers, 38 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. The Brewers need more from Escobar if he is going to be considered the SS of the future.

31-year old lefty Chris Capuano has had a few major operations in his major league career but he keeps coming back. He has pitched in 17 games (2 starts) for the Brewers this year and he is 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. He has whiffed 28 batters while only walking 8 in 29 innings for the Brewers. The Brewers hope that Capuano has a strong and healthy end to the season so they can pencil him in for the 2011 starting rotation.

The Brewers have released 33-year old righty reliever David Riske. Riske had Tommy John Surgery in 2009 and the Brewers decided that they didn’t think he would be able to ever help them again. Riske pitched in 69 games (0 starts) in his three years with the Brewers and he was 1-2 with 2 saves, a 5.40 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. This was addition by subtraction for the Brewers.

42-year old righty Trevor Hoffman has worked himself back into a time share with rookie 27-year old righty John Axford for the closer’s role in Milwaukee. I think this really has more to do with Hoffman getting near 600 saves (he has 598) than with the way he has been pitching. Hoffman has pitched in 41 games (0 starts) this year and he is 2-6 with 7 saves, a 6.69 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP. Hoffman looked like toast the first two months of the season. He was 1-3 with 5 saves, a 10.69 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP which is the reason he lost his closers’ job. He gave up a stunning 7 homers in only 16 innings in April and May. But in the last three months has has been a lot better. Since June 1st, Hoffman is 1-3 with 1 save, a 3.91 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. Hoffman also is keeping the ball in the yard as he has only given up 1 homer in the last three months (23 innings). Still, Hoffman does not deserve to close based on Axford’s pitching. Axford has pitched in 37 games (0 starts) this year and he is 7-1 with 18 saves, a 2.74 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. He has whiffed 50 batters while only allowing 34 hits in 42 2/3 innings this year.

The Brewers activated 32-year old lefty swinging Jody Gerut off the D.L. and then they released him. Gerut played in 32 games for the Brewers this year and he was 14 of 71 (.197 avg, .596 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 8 RBIs. He played in 117 games in parts of two years with the Brewers and he was 52 of 232 (.224 avg, .650 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 7 homers, 29 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Brewers won’t miss Gerut too much as he wasn’t part of the future.