Brewing in Milwaukee

Big news out of Wisconsin today as the Brewers signed a lefthanded pitcher who goes by his first two initials. That's right, it's R.J. Swindle! Swindle made his major league debut for the Phillies this July, celebrating his 25th birthday by allowing two runs over three innings against the Mets -- he gave up a homer to David Wright on the seventh pitch of his career, but did well in lefty-lefty matchups, striking out Carlos Delgado twice, and getting Brian Schneider to pop up. He also struck out Wright in their second encounter. Swindle then made two appearances against the Diamondbacks, neither effective, before leaving to pitch for Canada in the Olympics. Despite putting up decent numbers out of the bullpen throughout his minor-league career, including a 1.98 ERA for Triple-A Lehigh Valley this year, Swindle has been released by the Red Sox and Yankees already in his career, and the Phillies let him walk. Swindle has 17 strikeouts in 17 innings in the Venezuelan Winter League. He's got a ... (link)