This morning, Rotoworld passes on two names that the Brewers have been linked with in this last week before the deadline:

• Arthur Rhodes, 38-year-old Mariners LOOGY
• Brian Giles, Padres outfielder

Uh...what?  Let's start with Giles.  I just...don't...get it.  Giles would cost a few million for the rest of the season, and there's a $3MM buyout on his '09 option.  Would we seriously spend that money for a platoon partner for Corey?  Giles has played some center in his career, but I strongly doubt the offensive improvement would outweigh the loss of Cameron's glove.

Someone, please explain this to me.  Maybe it's a miscommunication, the Brewers are looking at a reliever or two, or the Padres are just blatantly trying to drive up the price and hope nobody notices.

Rhodes makes more sense, but only a bit.  He's having a good year, though he's been far from consistent the last few seasons.  Since 2002, his ERA+'s by season have been 182, 103, 89, 202, 88, 150.  Once upon a time, he was a dominant reliever (think Damaso Marte, or even a lefty version of Salomon Torres), but now he's limited to situational duties.  He's averaging less than 2/3 of an inning per appearance.  Oddly, his splits against righties have been excellent the last few years, but that might just be a function of managers only letting him pitch against the weaker ones.

If the club picks up Rhodes--who wouldn't be very expensive in money or prospects--the logical roster moves would be to dump Mota or demote Villanueva.  (I suppose we could demote Bush and keep McClung in the rotation, but we couldn't do the reverse, as Bigseth is out of options.)  I'm sure Ned would love having a second veteran lefty, but I'm not convinced any of those scenarios is an improvement. 

I suspect all of this news is just a reflection of the Brewers doing due diligence on everybody out there, and the new prominence the Crew has in the national media.  I suppose Yankees and Mets fans are used to this stuff--if somebody's out there, the rumors start flowing.