Once again, not much happened in free agency.
It's looking more and more likely that the big signing that we're waiting for is not going to happen. Comments from the front office are ones of contentment about the current roster situation. The Brewers did make one signing this week, adding Brad Mills on a minor-league deal. It's another move that is probably not much more than minor league depth, so there is not much to get excited about. They also released minor league player Nick Bucci, who had been struggling with injuries for years and hadn't done much.
The other possibility of making moves has been through trades, but that doesn't look much more likely. The Brewers have been rumored to be interested in Ike Davis with the Mets for weeks, yet nothing has happened. The rumors involved the Brewers trading a pitcher, but the Brewers don't want to trade away any pitchers. Despite this and saying the rumor has been dead for weeks, it keeps popping back up.
If you're going to look at which free agents are still available, make sure to not forget about which free agents have already signed. Some signings are easy to remember while others easily disappear from memory. Kyle put together a Sporcle quiz a few weeks ago to test how well people remember the signings, and then followed up with a list of the most forgotten names on the quiz. It's not likely that any of these names will end up in Milwaukee, but you can always speculate.
The Brewers don't get much respect on Hall of Fame votes.
This isn't much of a surprise, considering that the Brewers have had very few Hall of Fame candidates play over 5+ years ago in Milwaukee. Three players did get elected to the Hall of Fame this year, though as usual, it's what happened outside of the actual results that has people talking. For the Brewers, four former players were nominated and all four did not even cross the 5% threshold to even stay on the ballot. It's going to be a while before the Brewers have relevance in Hall of Fame discussions again, but it's nice to look back and see what players had enough of an impact to be considered for the Hall of Fame.
It doesn't take much to get a Brewers bobblehead.
That's what we found out this week as Scooter Gennett replaced Norichika Aoki in the bobblehead rotation for 2014. Despite less than one season of playing time, he made enough of an impact in that time to earn one. Plus, it helps that most of the other candidates received a bobblehead recently.
Other notes
- The extreme cold that passed through Wisconsin prompted Kyle to review the coldest home game in Brewers history. It didn't approach the level of cold that we saw in Wisconsin in the last week.
- We have another review of winter baseball action from morineko, who recapped the week of 12/29.
Reviewing the Brew Crew Blasts series
The Collection of Mugs
1/6/2014: Welcome back!
1/7/2014: Extra Cold Frosty Mug
1/8/2014: What to expect when you're expecting Jean Segura
1/9/2014: A Hall detour
1/10/2014: Getting pushed back
Test Your Knowledge
The Thursday Thinker: Staying on Second
Saturday Sporcle: Cooperstown Candidates