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Yes, that is Jason Kendall stealing a base. (AP Photo/John Amis)

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Today the Brewers are off, but there is no shortage of news, links, rumors, speculation, and other intrigue from around baseball.

The Cub Reporter has a draft preview for the Cubs, and because they pick two spots behind the Brewers, you'll recognize names of several players as Brewer draft targets as well. Fangraphs also wrapped up their draft preview series. For some college hitter info, check out this post at Beyond the Boxscore.

After I quickly pass along the details of the Brewers' next fantasy camp, we'll delve into some Brewer issues.

The Junkball Blues looks at situational strategy, baserunning, and small-ball. As discussed in yesterday's post-game thread, I'm fine with what he's been doing. There are situations in which a sacrifice is a decent play, but those situations are very rare. Tom talked about the issue, and Macha's reasoning. Here's more good stuff from CZWief on bunting strategy.

Our own contributor Nicole has a story at her blog with a bunch of pictures from a T-Rats game.

Prince Fielder is hitting very well, and Dave Bush is progressing. Their stats are decent, but I still don't like RBI being referred to as an "individual statistic". And in the notes on the bottom, Mike Cameron will probably just be fined for his ejection in Atlanta for arguing balls and strikes.

This is pretty good, but I find it hard to understand all of the Manny Parra hatred, though. I'll let you know when his BABIP allowed comes below .350, or his strand rate gets back up to 70%, or Chipper Jones stops hitting ridiculous 3-run homers on good splitters down and away. Rambling Al "would have pulled the plug before today", which I would find defensible, but I do find laughable considering his continual mocking of anyone who suggests that Jeff Suppan is a bad pitcher as a "casual". I am completely convinced that Parra has been a better pitcher this season than Jeff Suppan, and I would love to see an argument that explains how Suppan could be considered a better pitcher going forward.

Ladies and gentlemen, Woody Paige. Sometimes I wish Fire Joe Morgan were still around. This edition contains several awesome lines, and it seems to be written in free verse:

Defense: Imagine Willie Mays being cloned in the 1950s, and he and Willie II playing in center and left field. Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez are real deals in the outfield.

So, two above average outfielders both equal Willie Mays? Couldn't he have come up with a comparison to a left fielder?

I would trade Hawpe, Phillips, Garrett Atkins, Ryan Spilborghs, Manuel Corpas, Omar Quintanilla and Jason Hirsh, plus cash and a player or three to be named later, to the Blue Jays for Roy Halladay — Arvada's own, who won a major-league-high 10th game on Sunday.

Besides the utter absurdity of the deal-- hey, lets pretend to trade a bunch of crappy major leaguers and a few average ones for the best pitcher in baseball, video-game style, like he doesn't know any of the Rockies' minor leaguers-- he then suggests that if this deal is turned down, he would offer the same deal to the Nationals for John Lannan or Shairon Martis. So, in terms of Woody Paige Value, Halladay=Lannan=Martis. I feel grateful for Tom Haudricourt.

Livan Hernandez has surprised me and everyone else by not being utterly ineffective this year, and his good start is actually backed up by decent numbers: a 5.35: 2.67 K/BB ratio and 4.22 FIP is far better than, oh, Jeff Suppan's, at 4.81: 4.24 and 6.11 FIP. Hernandez's tERA is also in the low 4 range, while Suppan comes in in the high 5s. But it's a good thing Suppan the stabilizer is in the rotation, because where could we ever find spare parts capable of pitching better than him?

Carlos Marmol pitched innings 27-85, with Austin Wood taking over afterward.

In a not-quite-as-long game, the Dbacks beat the Padres 9-6 in 18 innings. The winning homer by Mark Reynolds was hit off of Padre infielder Josh Wilson, who had already pitched this year... for the Dbacks. Here's the awesome win probabliity graph. Dbacks relievers threw 9 consecutive no-hit innings at one point in the game.

Rob Dibble and Rob Neyer had a Twitter fight about each other's education, the status of the Nationals, and the low strike call to Adam Dunn in Randy Johnson's 300th win. I have no idea why the Giants would start Randy Johnson on three days of rest, in Florida, in his next start tonight.

Negative/backwards baseball cards are always fun. There's even a Brewer error for your time.

The Royals issues were inevitable, but the mainstream media overlooked Dayton Moore's failures. Royals fans deserve better.

Ian Kinsler is the subject of an interesting profile about scouting, the draft, and MLB player development. Good story from the Dallas Online Magazine.

Former Cub Rich Hill had been pitching well, but he reverted back to 2008 form again with a sub-1 inning start. Now there's a pitcher with intellectual problems.

Joe Posnaski discusses Tom Glavine. It is, of course, well-written.

No game today for the Brewers, but there will be at least one post today from me about pitch types and production. Tomorrow is a big day, as the Brewers return home to play the Rockies and the MLB Draft gets underway tomorrow night.