Tuesday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while I try to get Psycho Killer out of my head.

As noted in this Rumorville post, the Brewers now seem less likely to sign Braden Looper. Yahoo's Tim Brown (via MLB Trade Rumors) says Looper might be on the Dodgers' radar. I've been holding back on saying this for a while, but it seems like the time has come to make my final offer: If the Brewers sign Braden Looper, I will buy a Looper jersey.

Elsewhere on MLBTR is the news that the Brewers and A's "are big on" Mark Mulder. I'm all for buying low and taking a chance on a guy with a high upside, as long as we're not depending on 200 innings from a guy who's thrown 106 over the last three seasons. (Also noted in Rumorville)

Yesterday was the first day for players to file for arbitration. Tom H. thinks Prince Fielder will get at least $6.7 million, which seems about right. It also seems unlikely that the two sides will agree to a deal before arbitration.

Baseball by Paul has finished his ranking of the top 100 outfielders, with Ryan Braun checking in at #2, behind only Grady Sizemore.

I seem to recall hearing this weeks ago, but the news has gained steam again this week: Jim Powell is under consideration to be the new radio voice of the Braves. Powell can be a little preachy at times, but there are definitely worse guys out there and I'll miss him if he's gone.

Among former Brewers on the hot stove:

• The Twins appear interested in Guillermo Mota.
• We all know the Rangers are interested in Ben Sheets, but they may also be interested in bringing Eric Gagne back.

Elsewhere on the hot stove:

Braves: Despite reports to the contrary, they are still in the race for Kenshin Kawakami.
Cardinals: Signed lefty reliever Royce Ring.
Cubs: Their rumored deal with Milton Bradley is for three years, $30 million.
Dodgers: The downward spiral continues for Andruw Jones, who was hitting just .148 and has left his winter ball team.
Mets: Are reportedly not interested in increasing their 3-year, $36 million offer to Derek Lowe.
Nationals: Signed reliever Wil Ledezma.
Rays: Signed Pat Burrell to a two year deal. Jeff Suppan is excited to have him out of the NL.
Reds: May be interested in Oliver Perez.

There's some interesting rumblings going on in regards to recent PED suspensions. Yesterday J.C. Romero and new Yankee Sergio Mitre were both suspended for 50 games for using a banned supplement, but in this case it's possible they took precautions to make sure it wasn't banned, and were failed by the system. Mitre likely won't pitch in 2009 anyway as he recovers from surgery, but Romero might miss a third of the season due to someone else's failures.

If you've got half an hour to kill this morning and you've already watched the Nieves no-hitter, Jayson Stark has his annual Strange but True column up. There's only one Brewer note in there, but it's still good stuff.

Couldn't baseball pick a better ambassador? The first foreigner ever to manage in South Korea is former Brewer manager Jerry Royster, and somehow that feat earned him an invitation to Barack Obama's inaugration.

Carl Pohlad, the owner of the Minnesota Twins perhaps best known for offering the team up for contraction in 2001, died yesterday at the age of 93.

Oh, and here are some odd choices for entrance music for closers. (h/t BBTF)

Drink up.