Thursday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while Kenny Loggins ruins Christmas.

I took a day off and missed two additions to the 40-man roster: The Brewers have signed reliever Sean Green to a one year, non-guaranteed deal that could be worth $875,000 (FanShot) and claimed reliever Roque Mercedes off waivers from the Diamondbacks (FanShot).

Let's start with Green: He's a former Met and Mariner with a career 4.36 ERA in 250 relief appearances. He pitched in 11 games for the Mets last year, missing most of the season with a ribcage injury. He's 31 years old and has 196 strikeouts and 127 walks in 258 career innings.

Mercedes, meanwhile, is coming back to the Brewer organization after being traded as part of the Felipe Lopez deal in 2009. He's 24 and pitched in relief in AA Mobile last season, posting a 4.36 ERA with 45 strikeouts and 24 walks in 53.2 innings.

With Craig Counsell, Green and Mercedes, the Brewers now have 39 players on their 40-man roster.

We've got some great Zack Greinke-related stuff today:

• Lucas Apostoleris of Beyond the Box Score has a look at Greinke's arsenal, which includes two fastballs, a slider, a changeup and a curve with a wide variety of possible speeds.
• Harry Pavlidis of the Hardball Times has a look at Greinke's increased use of his changeup in 2010.
• Buster Olney says the Brewers now have baseball's sixth best rotation, and the best in the Central.
• The Brewers sold 1100 season tickets in the 24 hours after the deal was announced.
• Caitlin Moyer has a look at the frenzy the Greinke deal has stirred up in the organization's Consumer Marketing Department.

If you didn't already know, having Zack Greinke in Milwaukee is going to be fun. The Kansas City Star has a collection of some of Greinke's most notable quotes from his time with the Royals. No, the burrito quote isn't included but yes, I've heard it. (h/t Rob Neyer) Dick Kaegel of MLB.com also has a great profile. (h/t McCalvy)

So the Brewers are 2011 playoff contenders with three 2010 Opening Day starters in their rotation, and they have Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo locked up long term. Would you rather have that, or the Royals' loaded farm system with virtually no hope of contending in 2011? Amazingly, roughly 75% of Royals Review readers say they prefer the latter.

I'm guessing that post is a candidate to be added to Jaymes Langrehr of The Brewers Bar's list of Brewer Festivus Grievances.

Yuniesky Betancourt is also a prime candidate for most grievance lists. Here's the stuff people are saying about him today:

• The Brewers Bar has an in-depth look at Betancourt's weaknesses in the field.
• Not having to watch Betancourt play is the Brewer entry on Call to the Pen's mock Christmas list.
• Brewers Mix paints a pretty grim picture for the potential infield defense.
• R.J. Anderson of FanGraphs suggests the Brewers could platoon Betancourt and Craig Counsell, with Counsell getting starts against right-handed pitching. Tom Tango loves the idea.
• Even Craig Counsell's fake Twitter is piling on.
  

Carlos Gomez is also a featured target, but Toby Harrmann of Brewerfan.net says maybe it's not as bad as some of us think. Adam McCalvy noted that Gomez could earn an extra $100,000 by making 525 plate appearances in 2011. He made 318 last season.

If you'd like less "airing of grievances" and more "heart warming," I'd strongly recommend this week's installment of The Offseason.

Elsewhere in the minors:

• Baseball Prospectus ranked the Brewers' top 20 prospects, and lists Mark Rogers #1.
• The Hardball Times unveiled their Brewer top ten, and Rogers is also #1 there.
• Diamond Futures ranked the Brewer farm system as baseball's 29th best, and lists Caleb Gindl as the organization's #1 prospect.
  

Finally, here's some good news: Adam McCalvy talked to Bob Uecker about his rough 2010 and learned that, while Uecker is passing on his normal holiday trip to Wisconsin, he still expects to be back at full speed by spring training.

Looking for something to do this afternoon? John Axford is chatting with fans at Brewers.com.

Any BCB'ers in the Orlando area? Jonathan Lucroy is holding an autograph signing on Sunday to benefit his high school's athletic department.

Around baseball:

Astros: Signed pitcher Gustavo Chacin to a minor league deal.
Blue Jays: Signed outfielder Corey Patterson to a minor league deal.
Dodgers: Designated pitcher Brent Leach for assignment.
Nationals: Signed reliever Sean Burnett to a two year, $3.7 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
Padres: Acquired catcher Rob Johnson from the Mariners for a PTBNL or cash.
Pirates: Designated pitcher Joe Martinez for assignment.
Red Sox: Designated infielder Brent Dlugach for assignment.

Here are a couple of interesting baseball economics notes:

• The Biz of Baseball notes that revenue sharing in 2010 totaled $404 million, down from $433 million last year.
• Beyond the Box Score considers the case of twelve starting pitchers who signed one year deals last offseason and finds that three did well, four didn't do as well and five were disasters. Doug Davis falls into the last category.

Here's today's former Brewer notes:

• Adam McCalvy doesn't think the Brewers will try to bring back Todd Coffey.
• 2010 third base coach Brad Fischer is headed back to the Pirates organization, where he'll serve as an advisor to the player development staff.
  

This isn't what "season of giving" is supposed to mean: Apparently Chipper Jones is spending part of his offseason dry-heaving on his neighbor's lawn.

There won't be a Thursday Thinker this week (it got bumped to Tuesday), but here's a Sporcle quiz to fill the gap if needed: I was able to name 157 of the All Star starters since 2000. (h/t Lone Star Ball)

On this day in 2000, the Brewers signed outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds to a three year deal. Hammonds would go on to appear in just 187 games as a Brewer, hitting .248/.321/.398. Baseball Reference estimates his total value for the three seasons at 0.1 WAR.

With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday to:

• 2008-09 Brewer Brad Nelson, who turns 28 today.
• 2009 Brewer Jesus Colome, who turns 33 today.
• 1970-74 Brewer Dave May, who turns 67 today.
• 2003-05 Brewer Wes Obermueller, who turned 34 yesterday.
• 1992 Brewer Andy Allanson, who turned 49 yesterday.

Also, on Tuesday I missed the birthday of 1958-60 Milwaukee Brave Bob Rush, who turned 85.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm not done with this doorstop (h/t Aaron Gleeman).

Drink up.