The Brewers have signed 26-year old righty swinging infielder/outfielder Jason Bourgeios to a minor league contract. He played in 6 games for the White Sox last season and he was 1 for 3 (.333 avg) with a double. Bourgeios also played in 127 games in AAA ball last season and he was 146 for 510 (.286 avg, .739 OPS) with 83 runs scored, 9 homers, 48 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. He has a good chance of making the team as a utility player as he’s very versatile in the field.

The Brewers have signed 25-year old lefty reliever R.J. Swindle to a 1-year contract. Swindle pitched in 3 games for the Phillies last season and he was 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA and a 2.36 WHIP. He allowed 9 hits (2 of which were homers) in only 4.2 innings pitched for the Phillies! The Brewers signed Swindle because of his glowing minor league numbers in 2008. Swindle pitched in 38 games (0 starts) in AA+AAA ball last season and he was 3-1 with 1 save, a 1.53 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. He whiffed 67 batters and only allowed 41 hits in 53 minor league innings last season. This was a risk well worth taking for the Brewers as the price was right.

The Brewers need a lot of help for the pitching staff and they will be shopping for help in free agency. The price tags for Ben Sheets and C.C. Sabathia are probably out of range for the Brewers. With that in mind they will need to find replacements for them. From the left side Randy Johnson, Andy Pettitte and Oliver Perez all make sense but none of them will be cheap. From the right side the Brewers will likely aim lower with Brad Penny, Braden Looper, Paul Byrd and Pedro Martinez being considered. The Brewers also need a closer and that will not be cheap. Kerry Wood, Trevor Hoffman and Brian Fuentes will likely be considered. If the bidding gets too high on those guys look for the Brewers to kick the tires on Luis Ayala, Brandon Lyon and David Weathers. The Brewers could also use some middle men from the right side in the bullpen. Look for Bobby Howry, Chan Ho Park, Tyler Walker, Rudy Seanez, Tyler Walker, Doug Waechter and Mike Timlin to be making visits to Beer Town. The Brewers could also use a lefty in the bullpen and they will consider Joe Beimel, Jeremy Affeldt, Brian Shouse, Arthur Rhodes, Darren Oliver, Dennys Reyes, Alan Embree and Will Ohman. The Brewers could use a veteran utility infielder for the bench but they likely won’t spend a lot of money on one. Jose Castillo, Willie Bloomquist, Pablo Ozuna, Luis Rivas, Miguel Cairo, Alex Cora and Adam Everett will likely all get consideration. The Brewers also need a couple of backup outfielders and they will likely go cheap there also. Scott Podsednik, Jason Michael, Greg Norton, Shannon Stewart, Cory Sullivan and Chris Duffy make sense for the Brewers. The Brewers have a lot of work to do even before the Winter Meetings start in December.

The Brewers have exercised a $10 million dollar option on outfielder Mike Cameron. Cameron played in 120 games for the Brewers last season and he was 108 for 444 (.243 avg, .808 OPS) with 69 runs scored, 25 homers, 70 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. Cameron played very well for the Brewers after his suspension last season and they are expecting him to be even better in 2009. Cameron has now played in 1,680 games in his major league career and he is 1,474 for 5,896 (.250 avg, .788 OPS) with 935 runs scored, 241 homers, 856 RBIs and 289 stolen bases. But, Cameron does have a problem with whiffing as he has done it 1,642 times in his major league career.

The Brewers have hired Ken Macha to manage the team starting in 2009. Macha managed four seasons with the Oakland A’s compiling a 368-280 record (56.8%) during the regular season. He also has a post season record of 5-7 (41.7%) as he had problems matching up with the higher payrolled teams he ran into. Macha replaces Dale Sveum who was 7-5 after replacing Ned Yost in September helping get the Brewers to the playoffs. But it ended badly as the Phillies spanked them 3 games to 1. Sveum will stay on as the batting coach for the Brewers this season.