The Brewers have signed Jason Kendall and Eric Munson to handle the catching chores in 2008 but neither of them is a good defender and that could cause big problems for the Brewers. 34-year old righty swinging Jason Kendall had one of the worst seasons of his major league career and he could be starting to slow down. Kendall played in 137 games last season for the Cubs and A’s. He was 113 of 466 (.242 avg, .610 OPS) with 45 runs scored, 3 homers and 41 RBIs. Pitchers liked to throw to Kendall last season as they had a 3.74 ERA with him behind the plate. But, Kendall only threw out 13 of 124 (10%) baserunners that tried to steal on him last season. Look for Kendall’s play to continue to slide as it appears that the heavy workload he has had in his career is catching up to him.

30-year old lefty swinging Eric Munson has some power but he doesn’t have any other good qualities. He played in 50 games last season for the Astros and he was 31 for 132 (.235 avg, .669 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 4 homers and 15 RBIs. Munson only threw out 10% of the batters trying to steal on him last season and Astros pitchers had a 5.85 ERA with him behind the plate.

31-year old righty swinging Mike Rivera will likely start the season in AAA. He played in 11 games for the Brewers last season and he was 3 for 13 (.231 avg, .978 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 2 homers and 3 RBIs. He threw out 1 of 3 runners trying to steal on him and Brewers pitchers had a 4.38 ERA with him catching. If defense matters at all to the Brewers at catcher, Mike Rivera will get some playing time at some point of the season.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: D

The Brewers have signed 3B/OF Russell Branyan to a minor league contract. Branyan played in 89 games last season for the Padres, Cardinals and Phillies last season and he was 32 for 163 (.196 avg) with 22 runs scored, 10 homers and 26 RBIs. Branyan has now played in 716 games in his major league career and he is 427 for 1,868 (.229 avg, .805 OPS) with 259 runs scored, 121 homers and 300 RBIs. He has also whiffed an amazing 755 times in his career. This was a nice low risk/high reward move for the Brewers as Branyan does have immense power.

The Brewers have lost 22-year old righty starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo for at least the next four weeks after undergoing knee surgery to repair torn cartilage. Gallardo will likely start the season on the D.L. Gallardo pitched in 20 games (17 starts) in his rookie season last year and he was 9-5 with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. The Brewers have plenty of starting pitchers who will vie to replace Gallardo in the rotation until he’s ready to return. Dave Bush, Claudio Vargas, Chris Capuano and Manny Parra will battle for the #3-#5 spots in the rotation behind Ben Sheets and Jeff Suppan. Gallardo will get his job back when he’s healthy as he looks to be one of the better young starting pitchers in baseball in the near future.

The Brewers added a few solid position players and they rebuilt the bullpen which is a good thing. Signing center fielder Mike Cameron was the biggest move the Brewers made in the field. Cameron is an outstanding defender and he gives the Brewers another solid power bat. Bringing in Cameron also allows Bill Hall to move to 3B and Ryan Braun to LF which should improve the defense. Jason Kendall was brought in to start at catcher but he seems to be on the downside of his major league career. Catcher Eric Munson and infielder Abraham Nunez were brought in to help the bench.

The Brewers signed Eric Gagne to a 1-year contract to be the closer. He should be motivated to succeed based on how bad his season ended in Boston. Salomon Torres, David Riske and Guillermo Mota were brought in to work in front of Gagne in the bullpen.

FRONT OFFICE GRADE FOR THE OFF SEASON: B+