Some things to read while frosting your zombie.

The Brewers are expected to hold a press conference later today to officially introduce Rick Peterson as their new pitching coach (FanShot). I'll give the Brewers at least this much credit: I'm still not sure how I feel about the move, but at least they acknowledged a problem and made one.

The Hardball Times has Part 2 of their 2009 awards up, this time focusing on the hitters, and Prince Fielder is acknowledged as both a champion of the three true outcomes and a runner up for the NL's Best Player Award.

Meanwhile, it's tough to find a pitcher who was less consequential in 2009 than Chris Smith. Smith had the third lowest average leverage in FanGraphs' list of 2009's top mop-up relievers.

At least Smith was pretty good in that role, though: Brew City Sports is down to four competitors in their tournament to determine who sucked the most in theirs.

At the moment he's probably the most likely candidate to open next season at third base, but The Junkball Blues makes the case for trading Casey McGehee this winter, and I still think that would be the best decision.

The Nashville Sounds' website has a look back at Josh Butler's unlikely season. In just a matter of months, Butler went from repeating Brevard County to earning a surprise September callup from the Brewers, and now is continuing to pitch in the AFL this fall.

Beyond the Box Score has a look back at the 2009 NL Central, and what went right and wrong for the Brewers and their divisional rivals.

There's only one transaction note to pass along today:

Mariners: Kenji Johjima has decided to forfeit the remaining years on his contract with the Mariners and return to Japan.

Speaking of catchers, The Crawfish Boxes noted a story glorifying the "game calling ability" and other unquantifiable attributes frequently attached to Brad Ausmus. At least Ausmus has a sense of humor about his offensive abilities, though:

Ausmus is hitting .293 this year. When asked to explain why he is hitting so much better this season, the Ivy League educated Ausmus replies, "Small Sample Size."

It's mean, but I'll admit I laughed when I learned Stubhub accidentally sent an ad for playoff tickets to Cub fans. Apparently the ad was unintentionally sent to fans of several teams, including the Mets.

Yesterday I mentioned a blog post from minor leaguer Garrett Broshuis, detailing some of the financial challenges minor leaguers face while trying to earn their way to the minor leaguers. Today he details what he'd like teams to do about it, and I think his requests seem pretty reasonable.

I've brought it up before, but I'll mention it again because I've got a new great read on it: Aaron Gleeman has a link to a story on the 35th anniversary of Tommy John's ligament replacement surgery.

Apparently I missed the story when it was unveiled in June (I was in the middle of wedding/honeymoon/move month), but Seamheads has a nice look at a monument built to honor the original Milwaukee Brewers, who spent one season playing at the corner of Lloyd and 16th St. before moving to St. Louis to become the Browns, and eventually the Baltimore Orioles. On this day in 1901, seven players, including future Hall of Famer Jesse Burkett, left the Cardinals to join the Browns, who went 78-58 in their first year in St. Louis, finishing second in the American League.

And, of course, on this day in 1982 the Cardinals came from behind to beat the Brewers, 6-3, in Game 7 of the World Series.

That's all I have for you today, unless you wanted to read a joke about Yankees fans or hear about Joe Posnanski's rough day.

Drink up.