Tuesday's Frosty Mug
by Kyle Lobner on Jan 3, 2012 9:57 AM CST
in Milwaukee Brewers News
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If you took the day off yesterday, then I'd recommend you start this morning by going back and reading yesterday's 1000th Frosty Mug. Consider this your final reminder that we'll be celebrating The Night Of (Approximately) 1000 Mugs tonight at Rounding Third. Hope to see you there.
Some things to read while testing a new recipe.
We're 46 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Maryvale, meaning it's possible we'll have 46 more non-updates on the Ryan Braun situation. Rumors are still circulating that Braun's appeal will not be successful, but Doug Melvin told Adam McCalvy that the team still doesn't know anything, and a Newsday report suggested this whole situation could drag on into spring training. At the end of the day the situation can be summed up with this sentence: I still don't know anything and I'm not confident anyone else is certain about anything either.
Elsewhere in rumor and speculation, here are today's Prince Fielder notes:
- Tom Haudricourt is citing an unnamed MLB official (for the second consecutive day) who said the Nationals are the current favorites to land Fielder.
- Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post says the Nationals plan to stick with Adam LaRoche at first base unless "something extraordinary" happens, but signing Fielder would count as something extraordinary.
- MLB Trade Rumors linked a Ken Rosenthal report suggesting Fielder and Scott Boras might be seeking an opt out clause in his new deal.
- The Baseball Historian says the Giants would benefit the most by adding Fielder.
- Baseball Time In Arlington has another look at how Fielder would impact the plans in Texas.
Today is the last day to go read the Journal Sentinel for free before the pay wall is implemented tomorrow. Our poll is showing that just 8% of you are planning on paying for the paper's content online, and 59% think I should either avoid linking the subscriber-only content or only use it when presented no alternatives.
In the minors:
- Erick Almonte started in right field and went 1-for-4 with a run at Gigantes beat Licey 9-1 in the Dominican Republic playoffs. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
- Mark Hudziak of Yahoo's Fan's View section has a look back at Brewer position players who appeared in Venezuela this winter. (h/t @joe_block)
- Logan Schafer (and his brother Justin) are holding a baseball skills clinic next week in Los Gatos, California.
That's all the Brewer news I've got for today, unless you'd like to help with John Axford's mustache resolution.
I don't have any transactions to report today, so our musical interlude comes via Mark Aaron James:
In former Brewers: Carlos Lee's 2006 season (split between the Brewers and Rangers) was worth 0.9 wins above replacement (rWAR), and High Heat Stats is listing it as the 13th worst season ever for a player who hit .300.
Meanwhile, Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus found a 1953 Baseball Digest article on soon-to-open Milwaukee County Stadium, home of the new Milwaukee Braves.
Today in baseball economics: A recent report suggests that there's been a steady decline in attendance at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown over the last few seasons. Roughly 270,000 people visited the museum in 2011, and that number has gone down each year since 2007.
This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History remembers the first anniversary of Chris Capuano signing with the Mets. Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that it's also been 1000 days since Yovani Gallardo became the only pitcher ever to homer off Randy Johnson.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a second opinion.
Drink up.
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If no one will give him a 7 year deal
The only way to go is an opt out after year three of a five year deal and sign a 4 year deal as a 31 year old. I think boras’ ego is what is preventing this from happening.
When there is a scuffle in Ireland, there’s no need to specifically mention in the news story that alcohol was involved
by Getting Yosted on Jan 3, 2012 7:25 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
Do you really think Prince Fielder is letting Boras dictate things?
Prince wants a lot of money, deserves a lot of money, and Boras is going to get him a lot of money. Boras’s ego doesn’t come into play.
If Plush had to pick Wearwolf or Vampire, I'm a Wearwolf!
Everyone should reach out to Jim Breen today
since you probably can’t read his blog without paying anymore.
No offense to Jim, but I’m not paying for any JSOnline content. I mean I get Craig Calcaterra and Rob Neyer for free…
"If we want to sign a Type A free agent, we would lose a second-round pick, but we don't have a way to get picks back. Our whole Draft process needs to be redone."
~Doug Melvin
"Something always good seems to happen when he's in there. Numbers matched up good."
~RRR
JSO paywall
I wonder if this means McCalvy will start getting more info. Doug Melvin tends to go to Haudricourt first when he has news to convey. Seriously, when do you see a one on one interview with DM and just about anyone other than Haudricourt? I assume that is because JS has the biggest audience. Now that the JS is going under a paywall, maybe he’ll start phoning McCalvy more often
Haudricourt will still have a much larger audience than McCalvy
The JS has 350,000+ print subscribers, and all of them will have access to Haudricourt’s stuff online. Even if only a fraction of those people actually read it online, we still have all the people who will read it only in print, plus all of the non-subscribers who will read his posts as part of the 20 clicks a month they get for free. That will dwarf McCalvy’s audience. Plus, the institutional clout of big newspapers still counts for a lot over web-only writers (even though it shouldn’t) with a lot of older-school people like Melvin.
by Cheeseandcorn on Jan 3, 2012 11:19 AM CST up reply actions
I hope so.
McCalvy’s been on the beat for a decade now, and he’s earned his stripes as a solid reporter.
by Cheeseandcorn on Jan 3, 2012 11:35 AM CST up reply actions
When was the last time TH conveyed any news?
He’s usually just confirming stuff we’ve already heard elsewhere much earlier. Not a knock on TH, the game has just changed with Twitter and the Internet.
If Plush had to pick Wearwolf or Vampire, I'm a Wearwolf!
by SRB on Jan 3, 2012 2:37 PM CST up reply actions
Speaking of Twitter, McCalvy's got another uphill battle there.
MLB.com doesn’t let him post info to twitter until he puts it in the article, because they want the site visits.
And, in turn, lose site visits as their beat writers are scooped by every single other sports writer in the business
Very forward thinking, MLB.
The more I hear about some of these outdated policies...
…the more I realize that MLB needs an infusion of youth at the highest levels. MLB is so concerned about tradition that it’s hurting them more and more each year.
Contributor on Brew Crew Ball, Commissioner of Prognostikeggers, Owner of a broken sarcasm detector
by -JP- on Jan 3, 2012 3:11 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Jack Tweeted something to this effect earlier today:
Basbeall has an old-people problem at nearly every institutional level.
Having your cranky and feeble grandpa as the commissioner
And his cronies in top positions all over the game, a big reason for that.
This is pretty much a problem everywhere, not just in sports.
fka "warwick5s"
by DEUCE SLUICE on Jan 3, 2012 8:19 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
The CBA seems to support the statement.
Having the draftees paid a little closer to the norm of the past: Check
Making sure that the draftees don’t have much economical power: Check
Making sure that the draftees humble themselves in the minors first: Check
Go ahead, make my day.
by ilikeburritos on Jan 3, 2012 6:28 PM CST up reply actions
But how do you recruit younger fans?
Overall, baseball is an old man’s sport. I imagine only golf has an older audience than baseball. Do you try to pursue a more youthful fanbase with advertising and rules changes to speed up the game at the cost of alienating your bread and butter old people fanbase?
Baseball is generally moving in the wrong direction. As the fanbase ages, the active fanbase deteriorates and attendance issues are only going to get worse over time. As with horse racing and boxing before it, you can stick with what you got there and fade away slowly or take a gamble and try to reinvent your sport which hasn’t really worked out for professional bowling.
If you believed baseball to be all but doomed to fade away over the long term regardless of what you do (like professional bowling), then it makes a lot of sense to (a) concentrate on your existing fanbase and (b) concentrate your resources on maintaining your sport’s popularity in the largest U.S. markets. Both horse racing and boxing have done this to some extent and they both exist today; they’re shadows of their former glory, but they’re still around.
I honestly think baseball is doomed to fade away. Baseball is boring. I watch 100 games each year and I think it’s boring. I also don’t think there’s anything MLB can do to make the game less boring. It’s an inherently deliberate game and there just isn’t a place for that in the future.
There are a lot of old people in baseball, but catering to the old people may be the best way to keep it around until only the most major of major cities can support teams.
Really? I would guess that baseball has a younger fan base than any major sport except maybe basketball.
If Plush had to pick Wearwolf or Vampire, I'm a Wearwolf!
According to a 2010 study by Scarborough Sports Marketing, MLB has the oldest fan base (by a healthy margin) of the 6 major pro sports
MLS is unsurprisingly the youngest fanbase, NFL is right in the middle. The NHL actually has the largest percentage of female fans, narrowly edging MLB. Most surprising perhaps, NASCAR actually has the richest fans.
Age 18-34
MLB – 28.0%; MLS – 37.8%; NASCAR – 29.4%; NFL – 31.9%; NHL – 29.6%; NBA – 33.4%
Age 35-49
MLB – 28.8%; MLS – 31.8%; NASCAR – 30.0%; NFL – 28.9%; NHL – 29.1%; NBA – 32.1%
Age 50+
MLB – 43.1%; MLS – 30.4%; NASCAR – 40.6%; NFL – 39.2%; NHL – 41.3%; NBA – 34.4%
"Well they can't test for LSD, so I started frying on weekends"
Thanks for the facts
I had forgotten about NASCAR and I’m surprised hockey’s fanbase is as old as it is.
I'm not
It’s a very expensive sport to play as a child that has a very regionalized audience. Combine the fact that fewer kids throughout the country play it, with the fact that it’s the only one of the 6 that does not have it’s games aired on ESPN and you have a sport that is really struggling to gain new fans.
"Well they can't test for LSD, so I started frying on weekends"
In MLB's defense
Aside from stupid policies like this, some of their web backbone is so good that other sports have borrowed from them.
REWIND YOURSELF!
You're right about that.
MLBAM has been on the cutting edge for over a decade. MLB must not be aware of their existence.
Unless I have a sudden change of heart before tonight, I won't be there for the event.
I just don’t feel like driving for around 3 hours tonight after work. I’ll stay here in Madison, though if anyone has a computer and is chatting from there (which is probably doubtful), I’d jump in to say hi.
Contributor on Brew Crew Ball, Commissioner of Prognostikeggers, Owner of a broken sarcasm detector
I will try to logon briefly after my "so you are having a baby" class
I hate Yuni.
by BrewCrewBrian on Jan 3, 2012 2:11 PM CST up reply actions
Brewers ZIPS projections
up here. Gamel’s number one comparison as Big Papi…
BCB Fantasy Football 2011 winner (Swansons League)
"LOLOL I LOVE YUNI!!!!": ThroughBeingCool
Greinke's ultimately projected to be part of the 3000 strikeout club
And Yo is 54 strikeouts away from being part of it too.
And someone wrote in leetspeak for one of the players.
Go ahead, make my day.
by ilikeburritos on Jan 3, 2012 6:26 PM CST up reply actions
Nyjer Morgan projection makes no sense.
OPS 50 points below career average and 100 points below 2011 numbers? It must try to equalize everybody’s BABIP or something.
If Plush had to pick Wearwolf or Vampire, I'm a Wearwolf!
Braun is projected to hit under .300 as well
Even though he’s been over .300 (and well over) for the last 3 seasons. I’m not trusting ZIPS on this one.
Also, Fielder is playing 154 games for the Brewers next season!
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati
|
27 | 20 | .574 | 0 | Won 2 |
|
St. Louis
|
26 | 22 | .541 | 1.5 | Won 1 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
23 | 24 | .489 | 4 | Won 3 |
|
Houston
|
22 | 24 | .478 | 4.5 | Lost 1 |
|
Milwaukee
|
19 | 27 | .413 | 7.5 | Lost 1 |
|
Chicago
|
15 | 32 | .319 | 12 | Lost 12 |
(updated 5.27.2012 at 6:11 PM CDT)
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