Eric

Farris

Alex Gonzalez was placed on the paternity leave list late Friday night, so Farris will give Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke an option off the bench for the next couple of days. The 26-year-old isn’t worth considering in fantasy leagues.

Alex Gonzalez is expected to return from the paternity leave list on Tuesday, so Farris will head back down to the minors. He didn’t have any plate appearances during his brief stay with the team.

Farris, 26, will be used as utilityman and pinch-runner. He didn’t have any plate appearances during his brief stay with Brewers earlier this season.

The move cleared him from the 40-man roster. Farris went 1-for-8 in 13 games with the Brewers this season.

Farris was taken by the Mariners from the Brewers in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, and he’s on the move again. The speedster appeared in 14 games with the Brews over the last two seasons.

He did not receive an invitation to spring training. Farris spent all of 2013 between Double- and Triple-A with the Twins, batting just .249/.303/.313 with three homers and 23 stolen bases. The 27-year-old is just minor league depth.

Farris spent all of this past season at Triple-A, hitting .280/.316/.356 with four homers and 16 steals. He can play all over the field and isn’t a bad guy to have around for depth purposes.

Farris, 24, hit just .274/.311/.348 with two home runs in 249 plate appearances this year at the Triple-A level. The infielder will need luck on his side in order to reach the big leagues in 2011.

Farris lasted just one day, getting one at-bat in Thursday’s win over the Cubs. The Brewers have elected to carry Felipe Lopez on the roster instead.

“We want to think about what we want to do,” Melvin said. “With a day game (Thursday), we haven’t had time to sit down with (manager) Ron (Roenicke) and discuss all of our options. This gives us some depth in the infield. We could still bring him up.” Melvin added that the Brewers will “mix and match and hope somebody gets hot” at second base while Rickie Weeks is out. He did not eliminate the possibility of making another trade, but the market is pretty grim. Craig Counsell, Josh Wilson and Eric Farris are the current options at the position.