Tuesday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while checking your indicator lights.

Perhaps the Brewers aren't done making moves after all. Ken Rosenthal and Tom Haudricourt are in agreement that the Brewers will sign one of the three of Doug Davis, Jarrod Washburn and Jon Garland before spring training. Melvin also plans to meet with Mark Mulder next week. If the Brewers sign Mulder and one of the three listed above it could create a really interesting spring training scenario, with all of these starters competing for spots:

Yovani Gallardo
Manny Parra
Randy Wolf
Davis/Washburn/Garland
David Bush
Jeff Suppan
Chris Narveson
Kameron Loe
Chris Capuano
John Halama
Chris Waters
Mike Burns
Josh Butler
Chris Cody

That's 14 pitchers, and you can make a solid case that all of them should be starting in AAA or above. It'll be interesting to see how the organization finds innings for all of these guys this spring, and how their assignments are handled when camp breaks.

It's a big news day in the minors, so let's jump straight to that:

• John Sickels unveiled his top 20 Brewer prospects yesterday (FanShot). He rated Alcides Escobar as a B and the Brewers' second-best prospect, behind Brett Lawrie. He's considering changing the grade, so stop over there and weigh in if you'd like to encourage him one way or another.
• Harry Pavlidis of The Hardball Times has developed a set of criteria to use to predict which pitching prospects will have major league success, and one of his 29 pitchers is Evan Anundsen, who spent the 2009 season with Brevard County.
• It certainly feels too early for this, but Morisato has his first 2010 mock draft up, and he has the Brewers drafting Bryce Brentz, an outfielder out of Middle Tennessee State.
• Maybe someone can help us confirm it, but Lisa Winston of MiLB.com says she's "positive" Angel Salome makes an appearance at the end of Sugar. I have yet to see the movie.
  

Over the next few days we'll probably have some arbitration news. Today is the first day of the ten day window for players and teams to file their arbitration requests. Once those figures are in, the midpoint usually becomes pretty clear and deals start getting struck. If you've lost track of your calendar, John & Cait have a list of the important remaining offseason dates, including February 10 (Truck Day).

Adam McCalvy cleared out his inbox yesterday, and has notes on Mark Mulder, Mat Gamel, Rickie Weeks, the running game, and uniform plans.

I had planned to open the final vote for the BCB All Decade Team yesterday, but the plans got changed a bit when we needed a runoff vote between Curtis Leskanic, Carlos Villanueva and Seth McClung to determine the sixth member of the bullpen. That vote runs until 4 today and, barring another tie, voting for the final roster spot will open at that point.

Around baseball:

Indians: Signed outfielder Shelley Duncan to a minor league deal.
Pirates: Signed pitchers Tyler Yates, Brian Burres and Neal Cotts to minor league deals.
Red Sox: Signed Adrian Beltre to a one year, $9 million deal with a player option for 2011.
Royals: Signed pitcher John Parrish to a minor league deal.

Here's a slammed-together update on some other free agent pitchers and former Brewers:

• Jarrod Washburn, once considered a top target for the Brewers, is now hoping to return to Seattle. 
• According to his agent, 15 teams have inquired regarding Chien-Ming Wang. One can probably assume the Brewers are one of them.
• Ken Rosenthal recently raised the possibility that Ben Sheets could sign with the Cubs, but Bruce Miles of the Chicago Daily Herald says Sheets' demands don't fit in the Cubs' budget, so the best they'd probably offer is a low-base, incentive laden deal, and they might wait a month before even doing that.
• Elsewhere in former Brewer news, Jason Kendall was one of just 13 players in all of baseball last season to pick up an extra base hit in less than 5% of his plate appearances (Tony Gwynn also made the list). If you're looking for something ironic to wear to Miller Park next season, this Jason Kendall jersey might be appropriate. 
• Dave Pinto is into the C's in his Players A to Z series, and came across Frank Catalanotto yesterday. Catman is still looking for work and Pinto says he wouldn't be surprised if he's out of baseball soon.

Yesterday I mentioned the results of the SBN Hall of Fame voting, where Bert Blyleven was the only player to reach 75%. I'm also a voter in the IBWAA, and Blyleven was the only player to reach 75% in their balloting as well.

Elsewhere in awards, Beyond the Box Score announced their plans yesterday to give out awards for the internet's best sabermetric writing. Follow that link for the general concept, and check back there over the coming days if you're interested in nominating your favorite blogs.

Wondering what makes a solid #2 hitter? Or perhaps you've always wanted to identify baseball's most productive #6 hitter? Walk Like a Sabermetrician has crunched the numbers for you. I think I've mentioned it before but it's worth repeating: Prince Fielder was baseball's best cleanup hitter last season, and the #4 spot in the Brewer lineup was the second most productive in all of baseball.

'Tis the season for crazy ideas. Last week I mentioned an idea to address some of baseball's revenue disparity by adding a third team in New York. South Side Sox used that as a jumping off point for a proposal to add two expansion teams and split each league up into four four-team divisions. Under their plan, the new-look NL Central would feature the Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals and Rockies.

On this day in 1999, Robin Yount was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame alongside fellow first-balloters George Brett and Nolan Ryan. It was the first time in the Hall's history that three first-timers had been elected in the same year.

Happy birthday today to:

• Ruben Quevedo, who turns 31.
• Juan Nieves, who turns 45. 
• Jim Gantner, who turns 57.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm taking a grapefruit to lunch.

Drink up.