I would think that 38-year old switch-hitting Gregg Zaun will play at least 3/5 of the games behind the plate for the Brewers in 2010 with George Kottaras, Matt Treanor and Angel Salome battling it out this spring to see who catches the rest of the time. Zaun is still a decent player as he showed last season especially after getting traded to the Rays in the midst of a playoff race showing that he still has something left in the gas tank. Zaun played in 90 games for the Orioles & Rays last season and he was 68 for 262 (.260 avg, .761 OPS) with 34 runs scored, 8 homers and 27 RBIs. Zaun is still a decent defensive catcher despite his advancing age. He had 6 errors and 2 passed balls in only 83 games behind the plate last season for the Rays & Orioles. He threw out 19% of runners trying to steal against him last season and pitchers had a 5.07 ERA with him behind the plate.

26-year old lefty swinging George Kottaras is probably the favorite to win the back-up catcher job for the Brewers this season. He played in 45 games for the Red Sox last season and he was 22 for 93 (.237 avg, .695 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 1 homer and 10 RBIs. He did whiff 25 times for the Red Sox and the Brewers would like him to make more contact than that in 2010. Kottaras only made 1 error in 39 games behind the plate but he had 8 passed balls. In his defense he was knuckleballer Tim Wakefield’s personal catcher for most of the year last season which explains the passed balls so I will give him a mulligan on those. He only threw out 13% of the runners trying to steal on him last season and Red Sox’ pitchers had a 5.38 ERA when throwing to him.

33-year old righty swinging Matt Treanor had a year to forget in 2009 as he missed most if it due to injury. He played in only 4 games for the Tigers last season and he was 0 for 13 (.000 avg, .071 OPS). He has been a poor hitter his whole career with a batting average of .232 with a very weak OPS of .629 so don’t expect him to hit much at all if he makes the Brewers. He didn’t make any errors or have any passed balls in 32 innings behind the plate for the Tigers last season. Treanor was 0 for 4 in throwing out runners trying to steal on him and Tigers’ pitchers had a 5.91 ERA with him behind the plate. He has the reputation of being a good defensive catcher but I think he’s merely average and it doesn’t make up for his weak bat.

23-year old right swinging rookie Angel Salome is probably the catcher the Brewers want to team Zaun with but he will need a good spring. He played in 82 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 81 for 283 (.286 avg, .748 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 6 homers and 44 RBIs. He was 0 for 3 in three games with the Brewers in 2008 (his only major league action to this point in his career). It would really help Salome’s development to learn all year from a catcher like Gregg Zaun.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2010: D+

The Brewers have signed 34-year old lefty starting pitcher Doug Davis to a 1-year, $4.25 million dollar deal with a mutual option for the 2011 season worth $6.5 million dollar deal with a $1 million dollar buyout. Davis pitched in 34 games (all starts) for the Diamondbacks last season and he was 9-14 with a 4.12 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. He has now pitched in 289 games (269 starts) in his major league career and he is 90-97 with a 4.31 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. Davis is returning to the team where he pitched his best baseball during the 2003-06 seasons. He has pitched in 111 games (all starts) in his career with the Brewers and he is 37-36 with a 3.92 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. I like this signing for the Brewers as Davis will give them an innings eater at the back end of the starting rotation.

The Brewers have signed 30-year old righty swinging outfielder Norris Hopper to a minor league deal. Hopper played in 106 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 115 for 409 (.281 avg, .667 OPS) with 49 runs scored, 0 homers, 35 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. He has also played in 3 years in his major league career appearing in 168 games in which he is 125 for 396 (.316 avg, .738 OPS) with 60 runs scored, 1 homer, 20 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He will have a good shot of making the Brewers’ bench if he has a strong spring.

The Brewers once had a nickname of Harvey’s Wall Bangers which was because manager Harvey Kuenn was putting out a line-up with a ton of power for a while. Gorman Thomas was one of those guys for sure. He was often a all or nothing hitter for the Brewers. From 1978-1982 he was crushing the ball for the Brewers. Over those five years, Thomas played in 716 games in which he was 630 for 2,567 (.245 avg) with 395 runs scored, 175 homers and 491 RBIs. He led the American League in homers in both 1979 (45) and 1982 (39). Thomas played 11 years for the Brewers in which he was 815 of 3,544 (.230 avg, .786 OPS) with 524 runs scored, 208 homers, 605 RBIs and 38 stolen bases. To prove he was all or nothing all you have to know is that he whiffed 1,033 times in his career. Thomas is still #9 in runs scored, #3 in homers and #6 in RBIs in Brewers’ history.

The Milwaukee Brewers were thrifty spenders over the winter as far as the starting line-up is concerned. If the season started next week the starting line-up would look like this:

C-Gregg Zaun
1B-Prince Fielder
2B-Rickie Weeks
SS-Alcides Escobar
3B-Casey McGehee
LF-Ryan Braun
CF-Carlos Gomez
RF-Corey Hart

The two biggest keys to this line-up will be Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez. The Brewers need Weeks to be healthy for the whole season and they need Gomez to get on base enough to make his speed a weapon. The Brewers would also like to see rookie catcher Angel Salome beat out George Kottaras and Matt Treanor for the back-up job and possible platoon mate with Gregg Zaun behind the plate.