Tuesday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while starting a third party.

One longtime Brewer won't be back with the team next season: Brian McTaggart is reporting that Ed Sedar has accepted a job with the Astros as an outfield and baserunning instructor for their minor leaguers (FanShot). Sedar has been with the Brewer organization since 1992, and filled the same role in the Brewer organization from '92 until 2006. He's been the first base coach for each of the last four seasons.

The Brewers Bar notes that, in addition to his first base coaching duties, Sedar was also responsible for coaching and positioning outfielders and baserunning. Toby Harrmann of Brewerfan.net notes that the Brewers' outfield defense has been below average and failed to improve during his tenure.

In fact, the Brewer defense could improve more or less everywhere. No Brewers appeared in the 2010 Fielding Bible Awards (although Ryan Braun, Alcides Escobar and Carlos Gomez did receive votes), and the Fan Scouting Report suggests the Brewers had the fifth worst team defense in all of baseball last season.

If you hadn't noticed, the World Series ended last night and the hot stove season unofficially kicked off. The Biz of Baseball has the list of 142 players that became free agents after last night's final out, including Dave Bush, Chris Capuano and Craig Counsell. The list includes ten Yankees, Twins and Rays but just one Cub, Pirate and Royal.

Speaking of the World Series, Macleans.ca has an interesting theory on why the Brewers have yet to win one: They say the Brewers, Rangers and Nationals are cursed for leaving Seattle, Washington and Montreal, respectively.

It was another quiet day on the managerial front: Tom Haudricourt says the Brewers are still making calls and gathering references. He did point this out, though: Bobby Valentine's contract with ESPN requires him to give the news to the Worldwide Leader first if he decides to leave.

Meanwhile, Ken Macha could land on his feet after all: MetsBlog notes that his name has come up in conversation about the Mets' vacancy.

In the minors:

• Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com has the Brewers' 2010 Organizational Review, and named outfielder Erik Komatsu and pitcher Kyle Heckathorn as the team's players of the year.
• He's been overshadowed a bit by hot starts from Eric Farris and Caleb Gindl, but Hunter Morris is putting together a solid season in the AFL, and his .325/.378/.475 line is even more impressive when you consider this is his first professional appearance above low A. Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs is using his new SCOUT stat to evaluate AFL hitters, and notes that Morris is the tenth best hitter in the prospect-rich league by that standard.
• John Steinmiller is headed out to Arizona to watch the AFL and has more on the league and the Brewers in it.

Do you have some time on your hands and love the smell of freshly cut grass? Then you might be the ideal candidate for the Brewers' Turf Management Internship.

No transactions today, but I do have a couple of former Brewer notes:

• Davey Lopes, who had been serving as the Phillies' first base coach, will not return next season after the two sides were unable to reach an agreement on a new contract.
• Pat Listach is leaving the Nationals to become the Cubs' bench coach.

Edgar Renteria hit the game-winning home run last night for the Giants and was named World Series MVP. Ben Badler notes that he's the greatest Colombian player in major league history, and it's not even close: B-Ref has Renteria at 31.9 WAR, and he's one of just two Colombian players with more than one (Orlando Cabrera has 18.6). Padres reliever Ernesto Frieri leads all Colombian pitchers with 0.7 WAR.

By the way, here's some fun with small sample sizes and playoff stats:

Renteria is also a former Brevard County Manatee.

Here's another fun postseason fact: Jeff Fletcher noted that each of the last 13 best-of-seven postseason series (dating back to the 2006 NLCS) have either been four game sweeps or 3-1 after four games.

I've recently taken up running, but maybe I should stop: Beyond the Box Score has a study suggesting that pitchers who run more often are less likely to retain velocity than pitchers who don't. Of course, my velocity also isn't anything to write home about.

On this day in 1974 the Brewers acquired Hank Aaron from the Braves in exchange for outfielder Dave May and a minor leaguer. Aaron would go on to play the final two seasons of his major league career and hit his final 22 home runs as a Brewer.

Happy birthday today to:

• Huntsville Star Taylor Green, who turns 24.
• 2000-01 Brewer Paul Rigdon, who turns 35.
• 1984 Brewer Paul Hartzell, who turns 57.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go vote and then watch an old This Week in Baseball.

Drink up.