The All-Star Futures Game is on ESPN2 at 11:30 AM CT (no, not a misprint), with the pregame show airing an hour beforehand. "Third baseman" Mat Gamel, unequivocally the crown jewel of the system, is the only Milwaukee farmhand playing, thought erstwhile Brewers Matt LaPorta and Will Inman are also both on the US team, as is unsigned 2005 draft pick Jake Arrieta.

Brewers Futures Game alumni include Kyle Peterson (1999), Ben Sheets (2000), Nick Neugebauer (2001), Corey Hart (2002), Bill Hall (2002), J.J. Hardy (2003), Dave Krynzel (2003), Prince Fielder (2004), Rickie Weeks (2004), Hernan Iribarren (2005), Nelson Cruz (2005), Ryan Braun (2006), Yovani Gallardo (2006), and Alcides Escobar (2007).

Current or former Brewers who played on in the game prior to joining the organization include Francisco Cordero (Detroit - 1999), Russell Branyan (Cleveland - 1999), Alex Sanchez (Tampa Bay - 1999), Peter Bergeron (Montreal - 1999), Joe Lawrence (Toronto - 1999), Tomo Ohka (Boston - 1999, 2000), Ryan Anderson (Seattle - 1999, 2000), CC Sabathia (Cleveland - 2000), Eric Munson (Detroit - 2000), Mike Rivera (Detroit - 2001), Grant Balfour (Minnesota - 2001), Lyle Overbay (Arizona - 2002), Brett Evert (Atlanta - 2002), Jorge de la Rosa (Boston - 2002, 2003), Chris Narveson (St. Louis - 2003), Jose Capellan (Atlanta - 2004), and Zach Jackson (Toronto - 2005).

Feel free to use this as a game thead, or just to talk about what a studly slugger Gamel is.

Got opinions? Go share them in this week's Fan Opinion Poll. Got half an hour or so to kill and want a quick recap of stuff from around the web? Grab your Frosty Mug.

BDD Recaps
BP Postseason Odds: 84.1 wins and a 20.2% shot at winning the NL Central.

With Ben Sheets returning to the mound and Mike Cameron making his Brewer debut, in Chicago against the Cubs, Tom H. wants to make sure you know today is kind of a big deal.

Thanks to reader Michael M who pointed out that The New York Times did a story on Prince's new eating habits. It's a New York Times story, so it displays all Wisconsinites as raw meat eating savages, but aside from that it's a good read.

The JS Blog notes that Prince hits more than his share of home runs at Wrigley, so this could be a good week for him.

Is Prince the best first baseman in the NL Central? The Cub Reporter wants to know. They're also asking about second basemen.

On injuries:

Hank Blalock has a torn hamstring and is out 3-4 weeks.
Troy Glaus is trying out some clear sunglasses to help him see the ball at night in St. Louis.
Alex Rodriguez has reinjured his quad and is out of the lineup for at least a few more days.
Grady Sizemore has been out since Saturday with a sprained ankle.
John Smoltz will miss his next start and may have to go on the DL with shoulder trouble.

Dusty Baker is drawn to grittiness, but apparently every now and then he incorrectly hears it: He reportedly thought Ryan Freel told him he didn't want to play everyday. That's like saying no to ice cream. Who does that?

As noted below in the minor league report, Nashville lost again last night to drop to 5-18. How long do we give them before we start worrying about the fact that our top minor league affiliate is terrible?

Baseball Happenings has posted the results from this week's Blogpoll for NL MVP. Chase Utley won overwhelmingly, as he probably should.

Baseball Musings asks if the Reds wasted money on Francisco Cordero. He's 4-for-4 in save opportunities, but the Reds have only managed to get him 4 opportunities in 25 games. Speaking of wasted money, the Giants are sending Barry Zito to the bullpen.

Carlos Quentin of the White Sox has been hit by a pitch with the bases loaded 3 times in April. That ties the MLB single season record.

Some days the stars align and everyone's talking about the same thing: Scott Adams, of Dilbert fame, attended a game over the weekend and didn't enjoy the experience. Stephen Dubner, the author of Freakonomics, blogged yesterday about ways to make the game more interesting. Sabernomics picked up on that and added a few suggestions of their own, including one that should've been adopted years ago: eliminate arguing. Confrontational umpires are one of my biggest pet peeves in baseball, so I'd welcome some kind of movement to remind them that no one paid to see them yell back at a manager/player. Baseball is the only sport I'm aware of that tolerates it.

I don't typically read Cardboard Gods, but I'm glad I followed a link there yesterday to catch this post, which is as profound as anything I've read in a long time.

That's all for today. Drink up.

Yes, I know, this is the *second* Reds-Brewers series of the year.  But better late than never.  To acquaint us with the Cincinnatians from a bleeding-Reds-red perspective, our guest is Amanda, a.k.a. Red Hot Mama.  RHM may be the only baseball blog with a category called For the Ladies. 

Anyway, here's what Amanda had to say.

The toothpick has landed.  What are your early impressions of Dusty Baker?

My distaste for Dusty Baker has two dimensions.
 
First, there's the fact that the Reds promised a full-fledged manager search and then proceeded to hire the first guy with major league experience who walked through the door, even though they'd just witnessed first hand the travesty that was his tenure at Chicago. This isn't exactly Dusty's fault, unless his charm and charisma are literally impossible to resist. In which case, well, that's just different then.
 
Second, there's the fact that he over-loves the veterans, thinks OBP is overrated, and fails to set his team up to win. He sends Edwin Encarnacion up to bunt. He leads off with Corey Patterson. He fails to ever get ejected from games. It's just not right.
 
On the positive side, I did see him wearing a cowl during spring training games, which is a bold fashion move. You've got to admire that.

Somehow, the Brewers came away from Johnny Cueto's second start with a win, but that doesn't mean we in Brewers Nation weren't impressed.  He's almost freakishly good for a rookie, especially one who hasn't gotten the press of a Hughes or a Gallardo.  Is there anything that could stop this guy?

Can't talk about it. Don't want to jinx it.
 
Speaking of prospects, Joey Votto is getting a shot, while Jay Bruce is stuck in Triple-A.  Does that concern you?  Do you see Bruce making an impact this year, or will Dusty stick with his veterans?

Votto is almost 25 while Bruce just turned 21. Bruce also started last season in A ball and only ended the season with the AAA Bats because injuries had decimated their outfield. That being said, he still hit at every level, and I imagine we'll see him sooner than later. Especially with Edwin Encarnacion struggling to start the season (and being everyone's favorite whipping boy for the team), a 25-man roster spot may be available before September, but I wouldn't be particularly dismayed not to see him until then.
 
The bullpen was not exactly a strong point for the Reds last year, and you've at least partially addressed that problem by signing Francisco Cordero.  (Thanks!  We didn't *really* want to promise him fifty million bucks.)  Do you the current group is good enough to be the bullpen of a contending team?

Probably not.  Jeremy Affeldt and Jared Burton have been OK. and Cordero's been pretty good. Mike  Lincoln's numbers have been OK, but in my imagination he's always getting smacked around. I must have seen him get tagged a lot at some pivotal moment in my brain growth so it's really stuck with me.

Todd Coffey is the team Trekkie, devoted Jell-o lover , and the man who introduced Cincinnati to the banana and mayonnaise sandwich. You want him to do well, but he just doesn't.

Kent Mercker  is a smart, funny guy, and it's sort of amazing that he came back into baseball at age 40 after taking last year off. Even though he's well rested, though, in his LOOGY role his not so much an impact player.  And it seems like David Weathers has been surprising people with his quality at his age for three years. I'm not sure how long it can last.
 
As the fan of a division rival, I was sorry to see Adam Dunn's option picked up; as a fan of rational thinking, I was relieved.  Do the Reds have a chance of keeping him around?  Do they even want to?  If the team sputters in the early going, is there a chance he could be flipped at the deadline?

Trade rumors about Adam Dunn swirl constantly. When the team makes any comment about it at all, it's to talk about how important he is to the Reds organization and how they plan to have him around for the long-term. I think that the Reds would make a deal for him if the right incentive were offered, but I doubt that anyone would be willing to part with as much as it would take to get Dunner.
 
As for Dunn's willingness to stay in Cincinnati if it were up to him, I bet he is. Unless, of course, that organization who owns his heart were to come around with an offer. That organization being "any football team."

Thanks Amanda!

Admit it, you're excited: You want to see Johnny Cueto just as much as the next guy.

Of course, you'd also like to see Cueto's first drubbing.

Mr. Haudricourt has the lineups; just click here.  Gwynn is still hurting, so Gross is batting second, while everything else is as per usual, with Suppan on the mound.  The JS Blog also has an interview with Cordero.

I've kept playing with my game-prediction spreadsheet.  Here's what it considers so far, using ZiPS projections for all players:

• OBP and SLG for all starting position players -- that, plus the starting lineups, gives us an run estimation for each offense.  (It would be nice to incorporate platoon splits, but that's a ways off.)
  
• IP and RA (run average--not just earned runs) for both starters--using those, we predict how many innings the starter will last and how many runs they'll give up in that time.
• RA for every member of both bullpens.  This is the weakest part of my model. I just average the RA's for all relievers to get a bullpen RA.  I figure the bullpen will pitch the number of innings that the starter doesn't (good assumption, that one) and use the collective RA to figure out how many runs the bullpens will allow.
• Park factors.  ZiPS are park adjusted, so the Brewers numbers are right, but I need to adjust the Reds runs and runs allowed to Miller Park.
• Home field advantage.  Historically, the home team wins about 54% of the time.   I do something a little bit (but not much) more sophisticated than just tacking on 4% to the home team's win expectancy.

Shove all that into a spreadsheet, find the expected run totals, and generate a win expectancy for both teams.  Today, your projected final score is:

• Brewers 5.21
• Reds 3.95
• Brewers win expectancy: 65%

To which I say, "Stupid spreadsheet!  Don't you know the Cueto is the most awesome rookie pitcher ever?"  Well, ZiPS isn't ready to anoint Cueto a Hall of Famer just yet, so neither is my spreadsheet.

Go Brewers!