Last call

• Brewers general manager Doug Melvin has said that any young player on the bubble of a big league roster is well-served by playing Winter Ball to prepare for Spring Training. Segura looks like the latest example.

"Winter Ball has helped a lot of young guys," Segura said. "You face the top competition. You face a lot of guys throwing over 95, 100 [mph], guys who throw slow breaking balls and sliders. This is a good league when you have a chance to make a team in the big leagues."

Barring a complete collapse in Spring Training, Segura's spot was safe. But his stint with the Gigantes in the Dominican Winter League is getting credit for Segura's better-than-expected start to the season, which led to a spot on the National League All-Star team.

• The Brewers will host the Reds beginning Monday, with Cincinnati right-hander Homer Bailey pitching for the first time since he no-hit the Giants at Great American Ball Park on Tuesday. The Reds drafted Bailey seventh overall in 2004, two picks after the Brewers took Mark Rogers, a fellow right-hander whose career is currently stalled by a shoulder issue. The Brewers liked both leading up to that Draft, but picked Rogers because he fared far better on a psychological profile than Bailey, who told the interviewer he was more interested in hunting and fishing than baseball.