Monday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while getting your vitamins and minerals.

Yovani Gallardo came into yesterday's game saying he was still feeling strong and he showed it on the mound, needing just 77 pitches to complete five innings and pick up his 13th victory in his final start of the season. Gallardo says he will accept the role as ace of the Brewers' staff next season, when he will still be just 24 years old.

Perhaps Trevor Hoffman will still be closing out Gallardo's wins in 2010. A few days after Hoffman said he'd like to remain a Brewer, Doug Melvin confirmed his interest as well. Perhaps the two sides will work something out soon.

Hoffman is still projected to be a Type A free agent in the most recent Elias Rankings, as is Felipe Lopez. Here's something I don't think we've discussed before: David Weathers projects to be a Type B free agent. It probably doesn't matter, though, as the Brewers would have to decline his option and offer him arbitration to receive any compensation for him. Weathers is making $3.9 million this season, and likely won't receive much less than that in arbitration.

Speaking of free agents, Matthew Pouliot of Circling the Bases is ranking the 111 free agents-to-be this offseason, and Jason Kendall checks in at #109. David Weathers and Craig Counsell are ranked 86 and 85, respectively.

It was a big weekend for Prince Fielder, who picked up his franchise record 127th RBI on Saturday night, and followed it up with his 40th home run and 100th walk on Sunday. The entire team was on the field for a ceremony honoring Fielder before yesterday's game, as was Astros manager and previous record holder Cecil Cooper.

Seth McClung has been activated from the DL but has yet to appear in a game. In the meantime, he's been passing the time on Twitter (FanShot). He's only been active for a few days, but he's already posted his thoughts on waiting to get into games, nicknames, Prince Fielder, Trevor Hoffman, Todd Coffey's contract incentives, the fans in Milwaukee, living with dyslexia, fantasy football, and this site. He's already much better with Twitter than Nick Barnett.

We might see McClung tonight, but we won't see Milton Bradley. The Cubs suspended Bradley for the remainder of the season for conduct detrimental to the team after he told a reporter "you understand why they haven’t won in 100 years here." Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald says the Cubs feel like a great weight has been lifted off their shoulders.

I looked at these numbers yesterday and can't decide if they're worth anything: maybe you can help me. Yovani Gallardo and Jeff Suppan are among the bottom ten in baseball in percentage of two-strike pitches fouled off. Any thoughts on how/why that happens?

In the minors:

• The future of baseball in Huntsville remains in question, but Mark McCarter of the Huntsville Times asked some tough questions of Stars GM Buck Rogers in an attempt to shed some light on it. The interview gives a nice feel of the challenges facing the Stars and the small staff they have facing them. (h/t Rattler Radio)
• Caleb Gindl may have vaulted into the upper echelon of Brewer prospects this season, but hopefully he learned something as well. Gindl missed Brevard County's brief playoff appearance with a broken hand, and it was recently revealed that the broken hand was sustained punching a door in frustration after grounding into a double play.

Since moving on with the Mariners, Bill Hall has hit just .221/.262/.379, and now he's starting to draw negative attention from people you don't want to draw it from: U.S.S. Mariner called out Hall for a lack of effort on a fly ball over the weekend.

From a past bad contract to a potential future one: Joel Pineiro is one of the free agent pitchers the Brewers may look into this offseason, but Jorge Says No! thinks he'll get a four year/$40 million deal, which is an awful lot to commit to a guy who's had one good season in his last five tries.

You probably didn't need a reason to be depressed on a Monday morning, but if you did, here's one: MLB Playoff Odds has released their most recent projections, and they give the Yankees and Red Sox a combined 51.2% chance of winning the World Series. Once the Brewers are eliminated and the playoffs begin, I'll be rooting for everyone else.

If that didn't depress you, perhaps your surprising lack of baseball knowledge will. It was pretty early this morning (and before caffeine) when I took this quiz, but I was still only able to name five of the 25 MLB win leaders by last initial. And, after seeing the results, I wouldn't have gotten several of them even if I'd had all day.

Zack Greinke isn't on that list but, as Joe Posnanski notes, he's on a better one: He's one of just nine pitchers in MLB history to pitch 200 innings with an ERA+ over 200 and 200 strikeouts. He's in incredibly elite company in that club.

The Reds have a nice group of young pitchers, and a manager with a reputation for ruining them. So how is it possible that Homer Bailey wants to pitch more? That one blew my mind.

Today we have another sad reminder that, no matter how excited you are about a prospect, and no matter how "can't miss" he is, something can always go wrong. Giants prospect Angel Villalona is a suspect in a murder in the Dominican Republic. Villalona is 19 years old and was given a $2.1 million signing bonus in 2007.

On this day in 1998, Jason Kendall stole his 26th base, setting a new National League record for catchers. The Pirates lost anyway, 8-1 to the Giants.

What do you give the man who could have had everything but smoked it all away? Today is Jeremy Jeffress' 22nd birthday. Also, happy birthday to Doug Davis, who seems like he should be much older than 34.

Oh, and maybe MS Word knows something the Royals don't.

Drink up.