Tuesday's Frosty Mug
by KLSnow on Jan 20, 2009 8:46 AM CST
13 comments
Start your preparations now so you'll be ready to hold your breath for the entire WBC, as Ryan Braun is on the roster for Team USA and Yovani Gallardo is on the roster for Team Mexico. Follow the second link to see where seven other Brewers, including R.J. Swindle, Brett Lawrie, Mark DiFelice and Jorge Julio, will be playing. All of these rosters are preliminary, meaning any or all of these players could still pull out. The last thing the 2009 Brewers need is Yovani Gallardo logging high-pressure innings in March.
So what about Adam Dunn? Everyone seems to be talking about him the last few days. Chuckie Hacks wants to know if you'd rather have him or Corey Hart. (If you vote for Hart, you might be the first one.) Conversation on this topic has been going on in the FanShots for days: jihad has a look at what the Brewers would lose defensively if Hart had to move to center, BrewerBlue87 thinks the Brewers should go for it, and Braun Holio already has a home in mind for Corey Hart. Also, KFFL wants to know what happened to Hart in September.
Meanwhile, the bandwagon is starting to fill up with pundits who would like to see the Brewers trade Prince Fielder. Gerry Fraley of The Sporting News just climbed on. Baseball by Paul ranked Fielder as the sixth best fantasy 1B for 2009. If you haven't yet, you should head over and project Fielder for yourself in the BCB Community Projections.
Whatever the Brewers end up doing this offseason, the excuse for not doing more had better not be "lack of resources." Yesterday the team announced they've already sold 1 million tickets for next season. This is the earliest they've ever reached that milestone.
Let's take a quick look around the minors:
- As Jeff noted in a FanShot, Alcides Escobar was 22 runs above average defensively in Huntsville last season.
- Jim Callis of Baseball America says he'd take Alcides Escobar over Rangers prospect Elvis Andrus. The Rangers recently moved Michael Young to third to make room for Andrus.
- If you're feeling retrospective, Hardball Warriors has compiled the last few BA Top 10 lists on one page, for easy perusal.
- Bernie's Crew has profiles up for five minor league free agents the Brewers have recently signed, primarily as depth and filler.
There are several former Brewers making hot stove news today:
- Eric Gagne is either close to a deal with the Twins or just one of several options they're considering, depending on your source.
- Ben Sheets and the Mets are reportedly not close to any kind of agreement: Sheets wants two years, and the Mets are looking for something closer to the incentive-laden one-year deal Brad Penny signed. The Reds are reportedly unlikely to get involved.
- Craig Counsell is reportedly drawing interest from the Mariners. The Brewers are also interested in bringing him back.
- Joe Dillon, who was designated for assignment for the second time this offseason a couple of weeks ago, cleared waivers and is headed to AAA.
D-Backs: Randy Wolf reportedly rejected an offer from the team, about a week after Jon Garland did the same.
Orioles: Signed a six-year, $66 million deal with Nick Markakis, buying out his three arbitration seasons and his first three years of free agency. They also traded Randor Bierd to the Red Sox for reliever David Pauley.
Phillies: Avoided arbitration by signing Ryan Madson to a three-year deal worth $12 million.
Rangers have reportedly reached agreement on a one-year deal with Omar Vizquel.
Reds: Signed Jonny Gomes to a minor league deal.
Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is quickly becoming a popular fellow. First, he spent $46 million on two adjacent houses in Malibu while Manny Ramirez is unsigned. Then, he left early at the Baseball Scouts Dinner, right in the middle of a speech by Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.
Got some time to kill today? AZ Snakepit wants your team of Alphabet All Stars. If you're lacking inspiration or just can't find a player starting with I, Recondite Baseball has the list of baseball's most and least common initials.
Oh, and by all accounts it's hard to make it to the big leagues as a manager, and even harder to win a Manager of the Year Award. But with that said, buying a Manager of the Year Award only costs about $200 on Ebay.
Drink up.
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Boras and Melvin should be putting in arb numbers today
Do those numbers typically leak?
by tcyoung on Jan 20, 2009 9:17 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Sheets
I would give two years to Sheets in this market.
by Magellan on Jan 20, 2009 9:21 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
I don’t worry about Gallardo pitching this early, almost like a Fall League considering he missed most of last season. But I expect it could vamp up for later in the season. Then again…
Anyone know the difference between overall pitch counts for starters, Spring Training compared to the WBC?
by Lavender on Jan 20, 2009 9:49 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
I am very very interested in finding the answer to this question as well
I have just been told that the PITCHf/x cameras will be on in the MLB parks for games played there so hopefully we will have a good answer. I honestly have no idea how hard pitchers are going to work so that should be a fascinating study. Even though I have mostly been MIA here this off season I will definitely be posting an update on at least Gallardo in the WBC.
by dixieflatline on Jan 20, 2009 11:14 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
They had some extremely low pitch count limits in the first WBC...
IIRC it was something like 60 in first-round matches, then ramped up a bit for later rounds. I seem to recall that the limits would be back this year, though not quite as restrictive, but the last time I read something about it must have been months ago. So, grain of salt and all that.
by Zeyes on Jan 20, 2009 11:55 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
60 pitches is still a lot
At a time when a guy would only be pitching 2 innings if he was in regular camp.
I don't specifically articulate my motives, because that wouldn't travel as well as a boo does.
by KLSnow on Jan 20, 2009 1:26 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Well, it wasn't mandatory to throw 60 pitches. :)
Keep in mind that the limits were put in place for all teams, not just the American squad or those with a lot of major leaguers. Those with mostly “international” talent weren’t necessarily affected to the same degree due to differing season schedules etc, but still subject to the pitch counts. Anyway, I’d have to check the box scores from back then, but I think most managers went easy on their MLB pitchers, at least in the first round where IIRC basically nobody pitched more than three innings.
by Zeyes on Jan 20, 2009 5:13 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Fielder Trade Talk
I’m getting tired of it. The Fraley article is just plain annoying. Although the headline says the Brewers MUST TRADE FIELDER NOW!!!!, the article isn’t really even about that. As far as I can decipher, Fraley makes three seeminly unrelated points in the article.
1) Fielder is fat.
2) Fielder will make millions of dollars in 2008.
3) Fielder has not produced as much as Ryan Howard.
Why does that add up to TRADE FIELDER NOW!!!?
Yes, he is heavy. I worry that conditioning could effect Fielder’s production and playing time down the road. But right now he’s 25. Even accounting for the extra pounds, he is not in a decline phase.
Yes, he is going to make more money, probably about $8 million. Carlos Delgado made $16M last year. Derek Lee made $13M. Aubrey Huff made $8M.
It would be great if the Brewers had eight position players in their 3rd MLB year, OPSing between .850 and .1000, and making $750K. Even better if they had 8 prospects behind them, tearing up AA and ready to come up in September. Until that happens, I’ll take Prince Fielder, one of the best young power hitters in the game. He OPSed about .880 in an “off” year last year.
He won’t be playing in Milwaukee in 2012. But until then he’s got three more years to slug .550 in middle of the lineup.
Prospects are great. Prospects who have already developed into outstanding major leaguers are even better. They help teams win championships.
Don't try to do too much with it. Just take the ball the other way.
by shooty babitt on Jan 20, 2009 10:06 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
I really like Escobar and I have for quite some time
Yet I still feel that BA in particular likes him a little too much. After seeing him last year it is clear to me that his eye at the plate has improved greatly from when I saw him in low A ball but he is never going to draw a lot of walks and while the ball does jump off his bat his body still is rather stringy. If his power increases it likely will be at the cost of some range (which right now is exceptional, best of any player the Brewers have). He is going to be a good player, maybe very good, but he is going to have some holes in his game.
by dixieflatline on Jan 20, 2009 11:12 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Couldn't agree more.
I have an unreasonable dislike of Bill Hall.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Jan 20, 2009 6:55 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Gord Ash on the radio
Anyone really interested can go over to www.espnmilwaukee.com, click on audio and listen to the actual appearance. Can you have an appearance on the radio?
Anyway a fair number of interesting comments along with the talk of old Canadian rock bands. The front office debated whether to offer Benny arbitration! They were surprised when he turned it down! It sounded as if they have had some discussion with his agent in the interim and they are determined to get a multi-year deal and responded “no thanks.”
Without saying so, it sounded as if he expects Prince to lose weight.
He sounded pretty positive about Bush’s development as a pitcher.
There was some other stuff and if I think of anything I’ll post it.
by ol Pete on Jan 20, 2009 2:29 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Fielder will be at the Uecker Winter Warm-Up this weekend
The photo opts with the players should help us find out if Fielder is in fact on board with a little weight loss. anyone going to be at the events?
by MadJimiBrewha on Jan 20, 2009 8:37 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
St. Louis
|
91 | 71 | .561 | 0 | Lost 6 |
|
Chicago
|
83 | 78 | .515 | 7.5 | Lost 1 |
|
Milwaukee
|
80 | 82 | .493 | 11 | Won 3 |
|
Cincinnati
|
78 | 84 | .481 | 13 | Won 2 |
|
Houston
|
74 | 88 | .456 | 17 | Lost 3 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
62 | 99 | .385 | 28.5 | Lost 2 |
(updated 11.8.2009 at 10:18 AM CST)
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
