I bet right now, Doug Melvin is at a yard sale somewhere, going through other people's post-Christmas discards to see what he could fix up (and turn into a starting pitcher).

MLBtraderumors.com looked at the free agent bargains and busts from 2008, and unsurprisingly, you-know-who was right there in the mix.

Top Ten Bargains

1. Willie Harris: +$14.6MM (paid $800K, worth $15.4MM)
2. Mike Cameron: +12.55MM
3. Jerry Hairston Jr.: +10.375MM
4. Milton Bradley: +10.3MM
5. Eric Hinske: +$8MM
6. Aaron Miles: +$6.9MM
7. Rod Barajas: +$6.2MM
8. Cesar Izturis: +$5.25MM
9. Russell Branyan: +$4.8MM
10. Pedro Feliz: +$4.4MM

Two players, in the top nine! 

Cameron is particularly interesting: if I'm reading this right, he was worth about $18 million ($18.05 million - $5.50 million in salary = $12.55 million).  New York Yankees, please pay attention: even with a $10 million salary, he'd still have qualified as the fifth-best bargain in baseball.  (You dopes.)  Last season was Cameron's most valuable season in his career.

Melvin was in fact singled out for his resourcefulness:

Doug Melvin and the Brewers came out almost $20MM ahead with their signings of Cameron, Branyan, and Jason Kendall. 

There were no 2008 Brewers on the Top 10 Busts list, although Mike Lamb sheepishly checks in at #4.  THAT would be a neat trick: if Doug Melvin could turn a 2008 Bust into a 2009 Bargain.  It's also interesting that we lost one of our Bargains to free agency, tried to trade our other Bargain, and signed a 2008 Bust.

Finally, a surprising and apt observation:

Of the eight free agent hitters who cost $10MM or more in 2008, six did not earn their salary. 

Though I'm sure Doug knows that already.  In fact, I'll go ask him --- he's rummaging through my recycling bin right now.