Four others also not going to be throwing in Maryvale

With Mark Mulder’s official announcement that he does not intend to tryout for the Brewers this spring, the list of starting pitching hopefuls that will be with the Brewers’ major-league club in Maryvale (defined as on the 40-man or given a non-roster invite) sits at eight:

1. Josh Butler
2. Chris Capuano
3. Tim Dillard
4. Marco Estrada
5. John Halama
6. Cameron Loe
7. Chris Narveson
8. Mark Rogers*

*Rogers was not on my original list of Nashville starting pitching/mid-season call-ups from a few weeks ago, as Rogers only pitched at High A Brevard County last year after having last pitched in 2006 for the Manatees and sitting out two years recovering from injuries.  As he is only 23 years old, the Brewers still hope for great things from him…down-the road (see “Prospectus Q&A: Mark Rogers” at BaseballProspectus.com).  The former first-rounder will likely end up in AA Huntsville this year.

Noticeably absent from the 40-man and NRI lists are four others that presumably will only see the minor-league camp:

1. Mike Burns
2. Chris Cody
3. Mike Jones
4. Chris Waters

Burns made 8 starts for the Brewers last season, but his 3-5, 5.75 mark in ’09–plus being 31 years old already–probably means that he is not on new pitching coach Rick Peterson’s radar for this year or next.  Cody, 26, spent time between AA Huntsville and AAA Nashville last year, dropping off at the end of the year to finish 8-8, 4.90.  Jones, 26, made just four starts for the Sounds, going 1-2, 6.53 after starting the season at Brevard County with a 4-0, 4.06, in 7 starts…like Rogers, Jones is a former first-rounder trying to come back for an injury and is likely slated for AA Huntsville this year.  Waters, 29, signed as a free agent from the Orioles in the off-season and went 9-7, 4.49 for Norwalk last season, and is likely a long shot to make the Sounds this season and may only do so if most of the other arms don’t show more promise.

Mulder likely realized that–if he wasn’t 100% healed–that he’d have faced an uphill climb of even making the Sounds in 2010.  Sounds like Mulder might have made the right move.