Tuesday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while getting that deep clean feeling.

It didn't happen until August, but the Brewers have finally begun selling off spare parts, dealing Jim Edmonds to the Reds for outfielder Chris Dickerson (FanShot). Dickerson has spent most of the 2010 season rehabbing a wrist injury, but is a 28 year old with a career .274/.367/.421 line in 466 major league PAs, and as Tom Haudricourt noted, he's under team control through the 2014 season.

Here's reaction to the trade from around the web:

• Pat Andriola of FanGraphs says it wasn't a poor trade for either team, but thinks the Reds may have overpaid.
• Brewers Daily says "landing Dickerson was an excellent acquisition for the Brewers."
• View From Bernie's Chalet prefers Dickerson to Jody Gerut.
• EMoney from Quevedo at the Buffet is in favor of the deal.
• Disciples of Uecker says everyone won.
• Reaction around the Reds blogosphere is somewhat mixed.
• The official site has Edmonds' teammates' reaction.
• John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer has Edmonds' reaction.
• Craig Calcaterra notes that Edmonds has played for four of six NL Central teams.
• Eric Karabell of ESPN.com says Lorenzo Cain is the big winner in this deal. (h/t Jordan Schelling)

On the field, the Brewers stumbled to another disappointing loss last night, as John Axford blew a one run lead in the ninth (with his first multi-walk outing of the season) and Trevor Hoffman blew it wide open in the tenth, inspiring one Brewer fan to create this statement on the Brewer season (h/t Morineko).

The tenth inning also featured some curious intentional walk decisions. The Brewers Bar has a look at them.

Acquiring Dickerson might have been a good move, but getting him to Milwaukee sounds like a comedy of errors. While Jim Edmonds arrived in Cincinnati last night in time to start for the Reds, Dickerson missed his flight and didn't arrive at Miller Park until the tenth inning. Dickerson hasn't played since Tuesday while dealing with a death in the family, but has also known about the possibility of a trade since Ryan Braun alerted him days ago, so I'm not sure what the explanation will be.

Dickerson's absence came at the worst possible time, as both Ryan Braun and Corey Hart missed last night's game with injuries. Braun is dealing with a contusion on his left wrist and was seen wearing a splint in the dugout last night. Ken Macha said "it may be several days" before he's healthy enough to return. Hart, meanwhile, is dealing with a sore back, but was healthy enough to pinch hit in the ninth inning last night.

The roster crunch forced Ken Macha to go with a somewhat bizarre lineup last night, with Joe Inglett in left, Alcides Escobar in right and Escobar and Craig Counsell batting #1 and 2, with Rickie Weeks in the 3 spot. Escobar and Counsell combined to go 1-for-8 with a walk.

Another day, another conversation about HBPs. Three Brewers were hit by pitches last night. Plunk Everyone has much more, but here are the three tidbits that jumped out at me:

• Fielder was hit for the 19th time, tying Rickie Weeks for the major league lead.
• With last night's loss the Brewers dropped to 4-1 in games where they've been hit three times.
• Weeks and Fielder need one more HBP each to become the first teammates with 20 HBP since 1911.
  

Other notes from the field:

• The Brewers had eight hits last night, all singles.
• Stephen Drew, Lorenzo Cain and Trevor Hoffman are leading FanGraphs' Star of the Game voting.
• Here are the MLB.com video highlights.
• The Diamondbacks have won five of seven games, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today notes that interim manager Kirk Gibson is making a strong case to keep the job.

Braun might have been out of the lineup last night, but he was still the NL Player of the Week last week, after hitting .538 with a .586 OBP.

Might we finally be seeing an actual shift in organizational strategy on pitchers? These comments from Mark Attanasio to Don Walker of the JS over the weekend might suggest that the team is changing their approach to throwing money at free agents, and looking to rework the pitching staff via trade.

In the minors:

• The affiliates went 2-3 last night, with Wisconsin getting home runs from Khris Davis and Chris Dennis en route to a 9-6 win over Clinton. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
• Mark Rogers had a rough outing for Huntsville on Sunday and was nearly immediately placed on the DL, which caused many to fear the worst. You can take a deep breath, though: Rogers is just dealing with a blister.
• Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus recently called Jake Odorizzi "one of the better arms in (the Midwest) league."
• Odorizzi was #2 behind Brett Lawrie in Bernie's Crew's August top 30 prospects.
• Here's a rare Kieschnick Alert: Battlekow noted that Huntsville outfielder Chuckie Caufield has pitched in five games this season and has allowed just one hit in 3.2 innings. He's also hitting .277/.364/.426.
• Wisconsin is letting fans bring their dog to the park on Sunday. I'm planning on bringing Gorman, so get your tickets now if you've ever wanted to meet him (or me, I guess).

I know a lot of people don't like Bud Selig and the monument will likely be defaced and vandalized more than once, but if you're interested in honoring one of the key figures in bringing baseball to Milwaukee and keeping it there then mark your calendar for August 24, when the Brewers will unveil Selig's statue outside Miller Park.

The next statue should be Molitor's. The B-Ref blog notes that Molitor is third all time with 20 "perfect games" as a hitter, and eleven of those games came as a Brewer. Molitor is the leadoff hitter and third baseman on View From Bernie's Chalet's all time Brewer roster.

On power rankings:

• MLB FanHouse has the Brewers at 17, up eight spots.
• Craig Calcaterra has the Brewers at 21, holding steady.

Here's the latest on the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame:

• Bucky's 5th Quarter nominated Alan Ameche and Chris Chelios.
• Brew Hoop nominated Oscar Robertson.
• Acme Packing Company closed out their nominations with Reggie White.

I don't usually promote other sites' events in the Mug, but I'll make an exception for this one. I was already planning on attending Miller Park Drunk's Pants Party at the end of the month, but I'm even more excited about it now that I know they'll be serving "Drunken Polish Sausage Mac n Cheese."

Around baseball:

Cubs: Placed catcher Geovany Soto on the DL with a shoulder sprain and placed Derrek Lee on the bereavement list.
Dodgers: Designated outfielder Garret Anderson for assignment and signed pitcher Geoff Geary to a minor league deal.
Giants: Designated pitcher Todd Wellemeyer for assignment.
Mariners: Fired manager Don Wakamatsu.
Nationals: Placed pitcher Ross Detwiler on the DL with a hip injury.
Rays: Placed pitchers Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis on the DL with strained shoulders.

The Dodgers DFA'd Anderson to make room for Jay Gibbons, who will make his first major league appearance since appearing in the Mitchell Report. Craig Calcaterra wonders if Gibbons is planning on living up to his promise to make a donation to the Dodgers' team charity.

I don't spend a lot of time on spring training facility drama unless it affects the Brewers, but this could have a minor impact: The Nationals are considering leaving Space Coast Stadium in Viera for greener pastures, and Space Coast Baseball has a look at how this could impact the Brevard County Manatees, who also use the park.

Brandon Phillips is taking a lot of heat this week for some comments about the Cardinals he probably should have kept to himself, but I'll give him credit for saying what a lot of us have been thinking:

"I’d play against these guys on one leg," Phillips told Hal McCoy, a columnist for the Dayton Daily News. "We have to beat these guys. All they do is b—- and moan about everything, all of them. They’re little b——s, all of them. I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals."

It's only fitting that the Phillips story would come out on the same day as this one about Chris Carpenter berating Brendan Ryan for taking too long to get ready for the first inning.

Happy birthday over the (long) weekend to:

• 1996-97 Brewer Chuckie Carr, who turns 43 today.
• 1997 Brewer Gerald Williams, who turns 44 today.
• Helena Brewer Mike Brownstein, who turned 23 yesterday.
• 2008 Brewer Mike Lamb, who turned 35 yesterday.
• 1995-99 Brewer Scott Karl, who turned 39 yesterday.
• 1994-95 and 2000 Brewer Bob Scanlan, who turned 44 yesterday.
• 1986 and 1988 Brewer Jim Adduci, who turned 51 yesterday.
• First base coach Ed Sedar, who turned 49 on Sunday.
• Doug Melvin, who turned 58 on Sunday.
• 1954-57 Milwaukee Brave Ray Crone, who turned 79 on Saturday.

I know today's Mug is late, so I saved a few minutes by not seeking out a closing joke. Then I lost those few minutes when I misspelled "saved" about seven times in a row.

Drink up.