Decisions on who will play third base topped Brewers' manager Dave Lopes' list of concerns in a recent teleconference with the media.

"Right now, I don't know who the third baseman will be," Lopes said earlier this week. Tyler Houston, Mark Loretta and Ron Belliard are vying for the right to start at the position or be part of a platoon.

"They will get the opportunity to win the job," Lopes continued. "I think I know what two of them can do, but I'm not sure about Belliard (a second baseman who played third in winter ball.) I want to give them all an opportunity to play down here, so we can see what they bring to the table. Eventually, we'll have to do something."

Each candidate brings positives and negatives to the situation. Houston is a lefthanded bat, with some power, and showed last season he can be a decent defensive third baseman. But, he is injury prone and could contribute considerably to the Brewers' strikeouts.

Loretta is a solid middle infielder, but had some trouble at third base last season. The ball gets to the fielder quicker at third, and Loretta has to adjust. He also was injured much of last season and doesn't have the kind of power you would like to see from a corner infielder.

Belliard has been a disappointment after a good rookie season. He has been nosed out of second base by veteran Eric Young. He is erratic at the plate and in the field, but has potential and is the youngest of the three players.

If I am GM Dean Taylor, I trade Belliard. He makes less than $2 million, a relative bargain by today's standards. Taylor tried to trade Loretta most of the winter, but the veteran's $5 million price tag and injuries cut into his marketability.

Belliard's relative youth also might give him some value in the marketplace. If you deal Belliard, you then could platoon Houston and Loretta, with Luis Lopez as insurance.

The Arizona D-Backs could be looking for a third baseman, after Matt Williams broke his leg earlier this week. Maybe Belliard would interest them.

"I think they are going to give Jay Bell a chance to play there," Lopes said of the D-Backs. "Then, if that doesn't work out they might be in the market."

Lopes said the Brewers are prepared to basically sink or swim with the young trio of starters — Ben Sheets, Nick Neugebauer and Ruben Quevedo.

"They obviously are a key to the future of this team," Lopes said. "We don't have the luxury of saying if these guys don't work out, we're going to go out and get a quality starter. We need to work with them."

That is a bit scary, considering Neugebauer has had a history of arm troubles even though he is barely voting age, and Sheets had to rest his arm for part of last season.

"Staying healthy, for those guys and the whole team is another key," Lopes said.

Righthanded pitcher Paul Rigdon and infielder Marcos Scutaro each agreed to one-year contracts with the Brewers this week.

Rigdon, 26, was 3-5 with a 5.79 ERA in 15 games, all starts, for the Brewers in 2001. He pitched 79.1 innings before being shutdown for the rest of the season with arm problems.

Scutaro, 26, spent his 2001 season with Triple A Indianapolis where he was named Most Valuable Player. He batted .295 with 11 home runs, 50 runs batted in and 11 stolen bases for the Indians.

The Brewers acquired both Rigdon and Scutaro in 1999 from the Cleveland Indians along with first baseman Richie Sexson and pitcher Kane Davis in exchange for pitchers Bob Wickman, Steve Woodard and Jason Bere.

With the two signings, the Brewers climbed to 31 players under contract on their 40-man roster for 2002. Expect the signings to continue for the next few days.

The Brewers held a six-inning intrasquad game at Maryvale Baseball Park earlier this week with Matthews' Monsters defeating Collins' Crushers by a score 3-2.

Jose Hernandez hit the only home run of the game and scored the first run of the afternoon after an epic 12-pitch at-bat. The other Crushers run was driven in by second baseman Marcos Scutaro on a double to rightfield. Scutaro went 2-2 on the afternoon.

Izzy Alcantara and Marcus Jensen, who each collected two hits, led the Monsters offensively.

Spring training games start for real Thursday. They will be in full swing by March 18, when we start the Spring Comes Early special reports in The Brew Crew Review on OMC.