Courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Also hearing Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy and free agent Rafael Furcal still being mentioned in connection with the Braves again, which leads me to believe the Braves are indeed still at least talking to teams interested in [Yunel] Escobar or deals that might possibly include him.

(Personally, I’d trade him for nothing short of an ace pitcher.)

This Escobar [stats here] seems to be someone to get excited about.  For one, he plays second, shortstop, and third, which means we could be on our way for an all-Escobar infield someday.  He's the same age as Hardy, but was drafted 4 years later (2005 vs. 2001), so he's under team control (and is cheaper) for longer.  Plus, in 833 ABs, he has an OBP of a whopping .373.  That's pretty exciting.

Here's what Rotoworld has to say:

Hardy is more expensive than Yunel Escobar, and it'd likely cost more to acquire him than the Braves would get back if they moved Escobar in another deal. Maybe it'd somehow work out if the Braves were able to trade Escobar for Delmon Young, but that's a long shot, and they'd still have to come up with a way to pry Hardy away. The Brewers would like request either Jair Jurrjens or Tommy Hanson.

Jurrjens is a young starting pitcher with some potential, though he hasn't pitched enough in the majors to indicate what kind of pitcher he'll be. Tommy Hanson is called "an ace in the making" by mlb.com. 

I still don't think Hardy will be traded, given our dearth of defense and Hardy's recent proclamations of wanting to stay in Milwaukee.  Still, Escobar's offensive skills better fit what the Brewers need than do Hardy's.

Currently tenth on Google's depth chart for cheap weird handled mugs.

So I learned to spell Zduriencik just in time to write about his departure. Some bullet points from around the web this morning:

• Tom H.'s initial announcement.
• Between the Green Pillars says thank you.
• The Brew Town Beat expects Zduriencik's replacement to come from within the organization.
• Fire Ned Coletti Now is excited that the Mariners chose Zduriencik and left Kim Ng with the Dodgers.
• U.S.S. Mariner has the opening post for the Zduriencik Era in Seattle.
• Lookout Landing has already given him a cool new nickname, Dr. Zoinks.
• Zduriencik is one of the primary reasons why Bill James ranked the Brewers 6th in young talent. Hopefully he's not the only reason.
• Here's a picture of Jack Z. It didn't occur to me until yesterday that I'd never seen one.

So now a new scouting director can be added to the list of hires needing to be made in the near future. On the managerial front, there's only some news today: The Official Site is reporting Bob Brenly will be interviewed before the end of the week. MLB FanHouse thinks he'd be a good fit. Also, Dale Sveum has had a change of heart and could return to the Brewers if invited.

Today's Sabathia Smorgasbord is an all-you-can-eat awards buffet: Sabathia won the Clutch Performer of the Year award, and also took home Brewers Most Valuable Player, Most Valuable Pitcher and Top Newcomer honors.

Still no word on whether or not the Brewers will exercise their 2009 option on Mike Cameron's contract, but at least one team is watching closely: the Yankees are reportedly interested in making an offer to Cameron if the Brewers set him free.

Beyond the Box Score has Prince Fielder as the 13th best first baseman in baseball in 2008, adding 42 runs with his bat but losing 12 in the field.

So if you've been following my Fall/Winter League updates, you know that Taylor Green left yesterday's game after being hit in the face with a pitch. He has a "minimally displaced" fracture of his nose. What I didn't know until today was that Jeremy Jeffress was injured in the game too, and complained of shoulder discomfort after being shelled in two thirds of an inning of work. Here's a quote from the Official Site's story: Jeffress is pretty much the only stud pitching prospect in the Brewers organization, and he left a fall league game and was diagnosed with shoulder fatigue. Why is there any question about his AFL status? He should've been put on an airplane home the same day. Why would the Brewers even consider letting him pitch again?

This one caught me off guard: Seamheads has a list of the 25 catchers with the best careers. There are 12 catchers enshrined in Cooperstown, but Seamheads says the seventh best catcher of all time is Ted Simmons, who is not a member of the Hall. Also, they rank Jason Kendall as the 19th greatest catcher of all time.

Two Jake Peavy notes today: MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that as many as 14 teams may already have inquired about him. Negotiations with Atlanta may have hit a snag, as a potential Opening Day Rotation of Jake, Jair (Jurrjens), Jorge (Campillo) and Jo-Jo (Reyes) would bring into play a little-known MLB rule requiring them to re-sign John Smoltz to be the fifth J.

Oh, and Baseball Reference has updated their similarity scores, so now you can see that Rickie Weeks' career through age 25 has most paralleled the career of Denis Menke, who played for the Milwaukee Braves and never really did anything all that special. Also, Weeks' #10 comp is Dale Sveum.

Drink up.

Here are some things to read while I try to decide if I should buy the new REM album. Geoff from Ducksnorts seems to like it. Seriously? Is this what it's come to? I'm taking musical advice from the guy who writes Ducksnorts?

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

Ned Yost is in his sixth year as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. He's been in baseball for decades. He just now decided that sending a reliever out there four straight days is bad. As a result, Salomon Torres was unavailable yesterday. Kudos to Ned for working out a new strategy...but really, should it take 6 years to get there?

Adam McCalvy wrote the easiest story ever: A profile of Mike Rivera. I'm glad Rivera could fit this into his busy schedule. Topics covered include how to best remove splinters from one's backside, interesting things he's found under the bench, and why playing him more than once annually could turn out to be a good idea.

Yesterday, I mentioned a rumor that the Brewers were considering moving their AA affiliation from Huntsville to Connecticut. The Connecticut Defenders' relationship with the Giants is deteriorating quickly and will likely end soon. After writing that, I was fortunate enough to have this conversation with Joe Perez of the Norwich Bulletin, which lays out the complaints the team has about the Giants. For an alternative view, check out the 12th comment on this post over at McCovey Chronicles, which does a nice job of portraying the other side.

Didn't he just do this? Dayn Perry has made another top ten list of free agent disappointments. Eric Gagne checks in at #7. Barry Zito, signed for 6 more years and over $100 million more, is nowhere to be found.

On injuries:

Braves OF Matt Diaz will miss at least a month with a partial tear of his PCL.
Troy Percival made an appearance on the DL the same day he made an appearance in my mailbox on the cover of The Sporting News.

RotoJunkie has taken over what used to be the Baseball Happenings Weekly Blog Poll. Lance Berkman, Edinson Volquez and Geovany Soto are this week's NL MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year, respectively. Full results here. Here's my ballot:

Rookie of the Year:
1. Geovany Soto
2. Jair Jurrjens
3. Joey Votto

Cy Young:
1. Edinson Volquez
2. Brandon Webb
3. Carlos Zambrano

MVP:
1. Lance Berkman
2. Dan Uggla
3. Chipper Jones

I guess I should've seen this coming, but somehow I had no idea: Randy Johnson tied Roger Clemens on the all-time strikeout list last night. Combine that with 289 wins and he now seems like a pretty clear-cut lock for the Hall of Fame.

Trust a voice of experience, this move won't make things any better: The Rockies are bumping Jorge De La Rosa from the rotation and replacing him with Glendon Rusch.

Bret Boone retired earlier this week and I didn't really treat it as news because he's been out of a job for months. This Ichiro quote about Bret Boone, though, is fun all by itself:

Oh, and the Mariners don't want lesbians making out in their ballpark. (Hat tip to 6-4-2)

The Mug is off tomorrow and Sunday as I continue my quest to drive 100,000 miles in 2008. Drink up.

Y'all know the drill by now.  New team, new series, 5 questions!

John Beamer writes for The Hardball Times, among other online locales.  He was kind enough to take the time to educate us on his favorite team. 

1. The big story of the year in Atlanta seems to be Chipper Jones's amazing start.  Tell us about what Chipper has done so far.

A: Yes, Chipper has been massive this year. To be batting over .400 at this time of year takes a special talent. Many predicted that Jones would slide down the age curve (me included) but as years go by he seems to defy age, although he remains prone to picking up an injury.

To be fair he isn't doing anything new this year that he wasn't doing last year. Sure he has made contact more frequently and belted a couple more long balls but it is the same old Chipper -- patience at the plate waiting for the right pitch (actually his ability to read a pitch seems to be better than in previous years but luck is playing a role), and when he gets his smacking it as hard as he physically can.

To be honest we Braves fans are hoping he can finally secure that batting title he deserves. If he continues to hit over .400 for the remainder of the season I'll eat my Internet cable.

Q: The surprise on the other side of the bat has been Jair Jurrjens, who came over in the Renteria trade.  Is Jurrjens the real deal?  Do you miss Renteria at all?

A: Jurrjens has certainly suprised this year. Coming into the season it wasn't even certain he'd get a spot on the rotation. However, I'd be looking for that sub 3 ERA to slip closer to 4 come the season end. His WHIP is in line with his career mark but the astonishing thing in 2008 is his home run rate. He has only given up one long ball in sixty odd innings -- a phenomenal ratio and one, I don't think, he'll be able to keep up.

As for missing Renteria, not so far! Edgar is having a poor season judging by the way he played at the Ted. Perhaps the AL really is that much harder but I suspect age and luck are catching up with him. Yunel Escobar is doing a nice job for us and is a lot younger and cheaper -- I'd take him every day of the week.

Q: Help us understand your bullpen situation.  It appears that a team of surgeons attacked your pen, and now you've got a bunch of guys nobody's ever heard of.  (Except Jeff Bennett!  We remember Jeff Bennett, though not all that fondly.)

A: You can say that again. It is a blood bath out there - in fact I'm looking down at your next question as I type this. And Jeff Bennett is holding the fort. He has racked up the most innings in relief and doesn't have the world's worst ERA (about 3.60 at the time of writing).

Bobby Cox has always had a flair for building a solid pen from no-hopers and this year doesn't look too different. Jorge Campillo has been simply sensational this year, especially given his previous form for the Mariners.

The weak link remains the closer. Until Soriano and Mike Gonzalez get back we won't have the power at the sharp end of the bullpen. That is part of the reason why we have lost so many close games this year. Manny Acosta is our save leader at 3 -- urgh.

Q: The Braves are 2-12 in one-run games.  Some of that must be luck, but when you get too much luck--either good or bad--you have to start wondering whether there's more to it than that, right?  Are you worried about the team record in one-run games, or is it just a fluke that will make the division title a little harder to come by?

A: Man ... don't remind me of that stat. If we split those games in line with our pythag record we'd hold a commanding lead in the division.

I firmly believe that the lack of a decent closer plays a role and that has certainly cost us a couple of games. On other occasions the hitters just don't seem to be able to get it done. We can be three runs behind, score two and not get the third -- it is frustrating.

I'm a firm believer that luck should even itself out in the end. I don't expect us to get that record back in the black but I wouldn't be surprised if we go better than .500 on 1-run games hereon in.

Who knows perhaps we'll sneak a couple of close ones from the Brew Crew!

Q: Brewers fans hear a lot about Bobby Cox, since he is Ned Yost's mentor and all.  The difference appears to be that Cox is good while Ned is...at least not as good.  What do you think makes Cox such a successful manager?

A: Easy question Jeff. There is only one reason why Bobby is so successful and that is people management. He inspires and demands loyalty from everyone: players, front office officials, bat boys .... everyone. He also repays that loyalty.

That's one of the reasons why he has been ejected so often. He goes up to argue to protect his players and stick up for them. Players appreciate it and will always play their socks off for Bobby.

Of course it helps that he is managing (largely) a winning team but when do you ever hear of discontent from the players? Never. From the fans occasional but not the players. In fact that is one reason why some fans don't like him so much. His unswerving loyalty can blind him to obvious decisions such as playing Frenchy game in game out when the kid shows no plate discipline.

Still for all his faults I wouldn't swap him for the world -- there is too much dross out there!

Thanks John!

So, at least Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks are heating up, right?

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

There's not much out there this morning that I (or someone else) haven't already told you about. We've covered that Gagne has biceps tendinitis and won't throw again until at least Sunday.

We've also covered that Ned is still here, even though Dayn Perry thinks he should be fired, Scott Miller of CBS Sportsline lists him second (behind Willie Randolph) on his list of managers on the hot seat, and some guy named Eli lists him second on his list of managers to be fired, behind M's manager John McLaren.

So, since it's a slow news day, here's a stat to think about instead:

Johnny Estrada, April 2007: .312/.346/.455
Johnny Estrada, May 2007: .236/.244/.449

Jason Kendall, April 2008: .301/.366/.398
Jason Kendall, May 2008: .224/.314/.290

On injuries:

Moises Alou is back on the DL with a strained calf, meaning Raul Casanova is back in the big leagues.
Twins SS Adam Everett has been placed on the DL with a strained shoulder.
Nats OF Austin Kearns is out 3-4 weeks after surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow.
Phillies OF Jayson Werth left last night's game with an oblique strain.
Padres P Chris Young has been placed on the DL with a broken nose after being hit by a line drive Wednesday.

The results from the most recent Baseball Happenings blogpoll have been posted. Josh Hamilton takes home the AL MVP this week, with Cliff Lee winning the AL Cy Young and Jacoby Ellsbury winning Rookie of the Year. Full results here. Here's the ballot I cast:

MVP:
1. Josh Hamilton
2. Kevin Youkilis
3. Carlos Quentin

Cy Young:
1. Cliff Lee
2. Daisuke Matsuzaka
3. Shaun Marcum

Rookies:
1. Greg Smith
2. Jacoby Ellsbury
3. David Murphy

Maybe I'm just an NL guy, but I think the NL Rookie of the Year race is far more interesting, with Fukudome, Geovany Soto and Jair Jurrjens, who Braves beat writer Dave O'Brien thinks might be the best rookie of them all.

Astros 3B Ty Wigginton is tough. But can his toughness be matched by a Houston Chronicle writer? Click here to find out!

Oh, and here's a story about the inaugral "All-you-can-eat day" at the Metrodome.

The Mug is off tomorrow, Sunday and Monday for the holiday weekend. Drink up.

So the Brewers win, the Cardinals lose, the Cubs lose, and they appear to be signing Jim Edmonds. That's win-win-win-win if I ever saw it.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

The circle of life continues: Chris Capuano will have Tommy John surgery as soon as Thursday, giving up the effort to come back without it. Also on Thursday, 2006 first round pick Jeremy Jeffress will return from his 50-game drug suspension and report to Brevard County.

Beyond that, it's kind of a slow day for Brewer news. Baseball Analysts, though, did take a look at players looking to avoid a sophomore slump, including one guy you may have heard of who's hit 6 extra base hits in 3 days.

On injuries:

Milton Bradley was held out of last night's Rangers game with a sore shoulder.
J.D. Drew injured his wrist making a sliding catch and is day-to-day.
A's 2B Mark Ellis missed last night's game with a hamstring injury, and will miss a few more.
O's C Ramon Hernandez missed last night's game with a sprained left wrist.
Reds SS Jeff Keppinger fouled a ball off his knee last night and has a fractured kneecap.
O's 3B Melvin Mora was hit by a ball in warmups yesterday and missed last night's game.

If you haven't been paying attention, Lance Berkman is pretty hot right now. He's hitting .605 in his last 11 games, and has scored a run in 15 straight games, leaving him 2 games shy of tying the NL record Rickie Weeks tied earlier this season.

Berkman also won this week's BaseballHappenings blogpoll for NL MVP. Brandon Webb ran away from the field in the Cy Young voting, and Geovany Soto dominated the Rookie voting. Here's the ballot I cast:

MVP:
1. Lance Berkman
2. Chase Utley
3. Chipper Jones

Cy Young:
1. Brandon Webb
2. Edinson Volquez
3. Carlos Zambrano

Rookie of the Year:
1. Geovany Soto
2. Jair Jurrjens
3. Kosuke Fukudome

Click the link above for the full results.

A rare former Brewer trifecta happened yesterday: The Mets designated Nelson Figueroa for assignment, called up Claudio Vargas and activated Matt Wise from the DL in the same day.

Oh, and here's a story about Tigers P Nate Robertson's unrequited love for bats.

Drink up.