Some things to read while pondering the silver lining of the economic situation.

So the NL Cy Young Award will be announced today. Landon Evanson of Bugs & Cranks and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch both list the argument for CC Sabathia among their points to consider. Goold's post includes a poll, if you're into such things. Baseball Musings has Sabathia third on their imaginary ballot.

Speaking of Sabathia, the JS asked a sports economist at Vanderbilt to estimate how much money Sabathia will get this offseason. The guess: 5 years, $20-25 million. I fully expect the Yankees to have blown that figure out of the water by Friday afternoon, and the Angels and Dodgers could do it as well. Meanwhile, CC is packing up his stuff and waiting to see where he's headed next.

Yesterday, Geovany Soto and Evan Longoria won the NL and AL Rookie of the Year Awards, respectively. As they do annually, the BBWAA did something to lead us to believe they're incapable of handling this task. This year, three writers put Reds SP Edinson Volquez on their ballot despite the fact that he's not a rookie.

The Junkball Blues has six questions about young players on the Brewers and their ability to stop regression in 2009.

Two of those young players, J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun, made Beyond the Box Score's list of the top 50 players in 2008. Hardy is also the subject of very vague trade mumblings involving the Twins.

Another one of those young players is Corey Hart, who rated slightly below average as a defensive right fielder. The Brewers ranked 18th as a team in right field defense.

Baseball Digest Daily says the Brewers have had the fourth best offseason so far. Apparently acquiring Casey McGehee carries a lot of weight. Hiring Bruce Seid as the new amateur scouting director wasn't mentioned.

So two weeks ago, Rick Peterson was mentioned as a possible candidate for the Brewers' pitching coach vacancy, but later dismissed as an option and the team hired Bill Castro from within. Buried, literally in the last paragraph of this Ken Rosenthal column, is a note that sheds some light on the situation:

It's been a few days, I guess, since we've talked about Gabe Kapler. For those of you who felt Kapler could have been a cheap option to replace Mike Cameron, here's something worth noting: Beyond the Box Score estimates his value for 2009 at $6.69 million. I doubt he'll get that, but $4-5 million wouldn't surprise me at all.

Two other awards to announce today: Chris Cody, who split the season between West Virginia and Brevard County and now is pitching in Hawai'i, has been named the Brewers Organizational Pitcher of the Year. Also, Doug Melvin will receive the Nice Guy Award at the annual Red Smith banquet in January in Appleton.

Speaking of Appleton, Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio is already getting excited about the projected Timber Rattlers roster for 2009.

In hot stove news, two trades went through yesterday. First, the A's acquired Matt Holliday from the Rockies for a package including Huston Street, SP Greg Smith and OF Carlos Gonzalez. The A's are now allowed to ring-rang a dong for Matt Holliday. Meanwhile, the Rockies may be looking to flip Huston Street.

Also, the Marlins traded Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham to the Nationals for infielder Emilio Bonifacio and two young prospects.

Elsewhere on the stove:

Angels: Have reportedly decided not to pursue free agent Francisco Rodriguez.
D-Backs: Are reportedly expressing interest in former Astro (and Brewer) Mark Loretta.
Padres: Reportedly withdrew their offer to Trevor Hoffman.

In other news, the Mariners have scheduled initial interviews with seven candidates for their vacant managerial position. Neither Ned Yost nor Willie Randolph are on the list. That could mean they're not candidates, but Chuckie Hacks wonders if Yost is getting a first round bye since he's worked with Zduriencik before. The same thing is possible for Willie Randolph, who interviewed with the Brewers while Zduriencik was still there.

Oh, and Friday is Make Someone Feel Uncomfortable Day. If you really want to do a good job, you should probably start preparing now.

Drink up.

Welcome back to fun time.

Let's open today with a Sabathia Smorgasbord. MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that the Brewers are expecting a counteroffer from CC Sabathia, once he's received offers from other teams. I was worried that counteroffer had come early when I saw this story claiming the Brewers had offered Sabathia $147 million. Turns out the story was from a newspaper in Australia, and $100 million American is about $147 million Australian.

Buster Olney says the Giants, who still owe about $100 million to Barry Zito, should pursue Sabathia anyway. Dodger Thoughts takes a look at Sabathia's workload. Beyond the Box Score thinks Sabathia is worth $26 million next season.

In the previous link, Beyond the Box Score rates Ben Sheets' value for 2008 at $14 million. He doesn't earn a penny of that by getting hit by pitches, however, as Recondite Baseball notes that Sheets has the tenth most plate appearances of any active pitcher who's never been plunked. It's probably a good thing he hasn't: a bruise in the wrong place could sideline Sheets for months.

If you missed the news over the weekend, the Brewers have hired Willie Randolph to serve as bench coach and promoted Bill Castro to pitching coach. I did a two-part profile on 2009 Brewer coaches over the weekend, and have a third post lined up for around noon today. Also, the New York Times notes that Randolph can get out of his deal with the Brewers if he gets the opportunity to manage the Mariners.

It's already time to take a look into the crystal ball for 2009. Beyond the Box Score has "Marcel" leaderboards for 2009. I use the quotes because the Marcels are Tangotiger's prediction tool and he didn't actually sign off on these numbers. With that said, the predictions have Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun tied for third in baseball in home runs, Braun fifth and Fielder tenth in slugging, Braun sixth and Fielder eighth in isolated power, and Fielder and Braun tied for tenth in RAA. On the pitching side, CC Sabathia projects to lead baseball in innings pitched, finish fourth in ERA and second in strikeouts.

Three notes on Mike Cameron today: First, Baseball Musings' Probabilistic Model of Range ranks Brewer centerfielders eighth in all of baseball in 2008, but ranks Cameron slightly below average, at 99.16. The Boston Herald is reporting the Yankees are not optimistic about being able to acquire Mike Cameron. And, in a somewhat related note, Baseball Musings dispels the notion that center fielders can pad their fielding stats by hogging fly balls.

I'm not sure who else they would have given it to, but the Brewers officially announced on Sunday that Mat Gamel is the organization's Minor League Player of the Year.

He wasn't listed in today's Fall/Winter League Update because he hasn't appeared in a game yet, but Mike Rivera is playing for the Santurce Cangrejeros (Kangaroos Crab Hunters) in the Puerto Rican Winter League.

Around the hot stove:

Astros: Reportedly are no longer, or maybe never were, a candidate to trade for Jake Peavy.
Braves: Rumor has it Jake Peavy might reject a trade to Atlanta because the players sent to San Diego would weaken the Braves' shot at winning in 2009.
Cardinals: Are no longer pursuing a trade for Matt Holliday.
Marlins: Could be working on a deal to send Scott Olsen to Atlanta.
Nationals: Chad Cordero is reportedly drawing interest from the Angels, Mets, Rangers and Tigers.
Padres: Could be working on a deal to send Khalil Greene to Baltimore.

Of course, if major league free agents and trades are too rich for your blood, you can always be a player in the minor league free agent market. Al has an All Star team of minor league free agents for you to consider.

Thanks to Kirbir, who nominated this blog for the 2008 Web Log Awards. If you're so inclined, feel free to follow the link and second the nomination of this blog and any other sports blogs you feel deserve it.

Oh, and I'm not usually a fan of blue cheese, but this steak with blue cheese sauce and this spinach blue cheese pasta recipe have made me rethink my opinions.

Drink up.

Some things to read while staring out the window waiting for spring.

As noted in the FanShots, the NL Gold Gloves were handed out yesterday. No Brewers were selected. Meanwhile, Baseball Musings' Probabilistic Model of Range ranks Brewer shortstops first in all of baseball, and J.J. Hardy as the best full-time defensive shortstop in baseball. The first award will get more publicity, but the second one is the one with the actual correlation to being good at defense. Rollins, by the way, was about the sixth best full-time shortstop.

While we're on the subject of awards, here's two more: CC Sabathia finished fourth in the voting, behind Tim Lincecum, Johan Santana and Brandon Webb in the SB Nation NL Cy Young Voting. Sabathia took third, behind Lincecum and Santana, in Baseball Prospectus' awards.

Also, as noted in the FanShots, CC Sabathia is still telling friends he won't play in New York.

As I write this, 72% of voters in the poll think bringing Mike Cameron back for 2009 was the right decision, with 15% voting no and 12% voting for cheese. That's about what I expected public opinion to be, which is why I was surprised to see almost 60% of voters at JSOnline vote no.

If you are one of the small percentage of BCB readers (or large percentage of JS readers) who want Cameron gone, then you'll be happy to note the rumor that he could be traded to the Yankees for Melky Cabrera and pitching. I guess Cabrera is young and cheap, but for this deal to make sense to me it'd have to net a lot of pitching.

We haven't talked about Corey Hart in a while. According to Beyond the Box Score, Gabe Gross and Nelson Cruz were among the top 25 right fielders in 2008, but Corey Hart was not.

Hot stove notes:

Brave Elmer Dessens filed for free agency.
Dodger Brad Penny had his option for 2009 declined. Also, Russell Martin may not be on the move after all, even for a package that could have netted Scott Olsen and Dan Uggla.
Marlin Scott Olsen could be acquired for a catcher - the Marlins have targeted Ranger Max Ramirez.
White Sox Javier Vazquez and Nick Swisher are reportedly on the trading block.

Drink up.

So, fresh off a four game sweep of the Nats, the Brewers are headed out to the West Coast. Get ready to adjust your sleep cycle to Pacific time.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to forget last year's San Diego-Los Angeles road trip, where the Brewers dropped five straight on their way to a season-high six game losing streak. So in my mind three wins on this six game trip would be a real victory. Here's the Official site's series preview.

The Padres will play tonight's game without bench coach Craig Colbert, who was suspended for a game for arguing with the umpires. The circumstances of the argument seem a little odd: Any Padres fans out there, or anyone who saw the game for that matter, who can explain what happened that caused the umpires to refuse a double switch?

While the Padres are playing without their bench coach, the Brewers will continue to play without Ryan Braun, who still isn't sure when he'll be ready to return. Here's a thought: if he's having back problems and you're not sure when he'll be able to play again, why are you putting him on a plane to San Diego today? I'm sure a cross-country flight is just what he needs right now.

On the plus side, Statistically Speaking accidentally discovered that Braun has the highest career OPS in history among players who have never led their team in the stat.

There are two things worth noting in this Nationals Journal post on the sweep: First, Garrett Mock is only the second pitcher all season to record 9 strikeouts in a game where he failed to pitch 5 full innings. Second, he also had this to say after the game: Whatifsports new MLB Power Rankings have the Brewers at third, and the reconfigured (again) Whisnant rankings have them 9th.

On injuries:

Evan Longoria has been placed on the DL with a fractured wrist and should miss around 3 weeks.
Marlins SP Scott Olsen rolled his ankle in his last start and could miss a start Thursday.
Marlins RP Doug Waechter hasn't pitched since Wednesday with shoulder stiffness.
Rangers closer C.J. Wilson is having arthroscopic surgery on his elbow and is done for the year.

In easily the biggest non-Brewer news of the day, the Diamondbacks traded a minor leaguer and two players to be named to the Reds for Adam Dunn. Redleg Nation reports one of those players to be named later could be Micah Owings or Max Scherzer. Getting one of them for a six-week rental of Adam Dunn would be a pretty good deal.

Baseball Digest Daily takes a look at the declining numbers of Kosuke Fukudome. I hadn't noticed, but the trends are certainly there. Also declining: the spirits of two Cubs fans who faced a judge yesterday for a parking lot assault at Miller Park. Anyone heard how that turned out?

The Pacific Coast League is kind of a strange case, as the league now includes teams on the coast, as the name would imply, but also in Iowa, Nashville, New Orleans and Omaha. As a result, when the price of airfare goes up, their travel budgets become a concern. They're supposedly considering an extreme unbalanced schedule next season, because spending a full season playing most of your games against 3 other teams is exactly what big league clubs want their top prospects to do.

Recondite Baseball explores the history of the single baseball rule that even the smartest baseball fans frequently can't explain.

Oh, and if you were about to finish construction on a brand new ballpark, would you want a second-rate summer football league to come in and tear up your grass in July and August? Me either, but apparently Fred Wilpon does.

Drink up.

Here's a tradition I'd like to see more of.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

You can either stop holding your breath, or prepare to hold it for 15 more days: the Brewers' deadline to make a decision on Jeff Weaver has been extended to June 15.

Apparently David Riske has no new structural damage, but is taking longer than expected to recover. That's bad news all around. Of course, Salomon Torres is pretty excited about getting to close games.

So last night the Brewers got 3 hits and won. That's a stark contrast from August 24, 2002, when they got 20 hits and lost, tying the tenth highest hit total in a nine inning loss of all time. Recondite Baseball has the full list at that link. Or, you could stay here and watch me struggle with bad segues and awkward linking.

In the fanposts yesterday, Greg8370 mentioned a report that the Brewers might be looking to move their AA team to the Eastern League, and had been mentioned as a candidate to play home games in Norwich, CT. After a brief search this morning, I found the column mentioning it. Sounds like the Defenders are having some real problems with the Giants organization, mainly tied to the fact that the Giants don't like the ballpark dimensions, and also don't like playing 30-degree home games. I think I'd stick with Huntsville. I emailed the reporter, though, to see where he got the rumor from.

UPDATE: I've been in touch with Joe Perez, the writer from the Norwich Bulletin. You can see our conversation here .

So yesterday afternoon I had a moment to kill, and I got an email from the Brewers. They really wanted me to vote (25 times) to get some Brewers in the starting lineup of the All-Star Game. They've also posted a story about how close Braun is to only being 4 spots back of the leaders. So I sat down with the stats, picked out the best candidate at each position...and didn't vote for a single Brewer. Here's the ballot I clicked and reclicked and submitted 25 times:

AL:
C: Joe Mauer
1B: Kevin Youkilis
2B: Ian Kinsler
3B: Joe Crede
SS: Michael Young
OF: Milton Bradley
OF: Josh Hamilton
OF: Magglio Ordonez
DH: David Ortiz

NL:
C: Brian McCann
1B: Lance Berkman
2B: Dan Uggla
3B: Chipper Jones
SS: Hanley Ramirez
OF: Nate McLouth
OF: Pat Burrell
OF: Adam Dunn

On injuries:

Pirates P Zach Duke will get an extra day before his next start to allow a blister to heal.
Carlos Guillen is battling some hemorrhoids his manager seems a little too eager to talk about.
Marlins P Scott Olsen still isn't getting velocity back after an exceptionally long outing against the Brewers weeks ago.
Troy Percival collapsed falling off the mound last night and has a tight hamstring. Grant Balfour may be called up in his place.
A's OF Ryan Sweeney had to be taken to the hospital for X-rays after fouling a ball off his foot.
Frank Thomas may be headed to the DL after an MRI on his strained right quad revealed major inflammation.
Blue Jays C Gregg Zaun has been placed on the DL with inflammation in his elbow.

Does the price include my computer and rent for mom's basement? The Juiced Sports Blog ranks the 100 most valuable sports blogs.

It didn't crack the top 100, but I think this post is pretty valuable: The Padres recently acquired Cha Seung Baek, and Paul DePodesta discusses the move.

Oh, and a hydrochloric acid spill is a pretty good reason to suspend a game.

Drink up.

So, sometime around the sixth inning of last night's game, I got an email from a Cubs fan, offering a thank you for taking 3 of 4 from the Cardinals. Just to make sure he didn't get too far ahead of himself, I sent him this.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

Obviously, it's smiles all around after Dave Bush put up a nice performance last night and Ryan Braun's bat sent a couple more baseballs screaming into the masses. But, in the JS Online game story, there's still a hint of Ned being Ned:

Kudos to Anthony Witrado for publishing that exchange and coming through with more than just the "it's early" refrain.

Adam Charles at Bugs and Cranks thinks last night's game was just part of an elaborate plot by Tony LaRussa. We're still waiting for the twist.

The Grand National Championships has a quick rant on bullpen management and closers. I will give credit to Ned for pitching Gagne in a non-save situation last night and giving him an opportunity to straighten himself out.

Last night's game didn't involve a save situation, but it did involve two teams going closer by committee. Baseball Musings asks what happens if it works.

Not only did Dave Bush pick up his first win of the season last night, he also qualified to start in row 7 of the Hank Aaron 755, Big League Stew's race for players with NASCAR names.

The Padres have designated Rule 5 pick Callix Crabbe for assignment (also noted here in the Fanshots), meaning the Brewers could have him back. Al doesn't seem to think they'll be interested, but it's middle infield depth, how could they not be?

On injuries:

Rafael Furcal will miss the upcoming series with the Brewers after being placed on the DL with a lower back injury.
Marlins P Scott Olsen isn't hurt, but he was having a hard time regaining velocity after his 8 2/3 inning, 121 pitch outing against the Brewers last week.

Here's pretty much all you need to know about Dayn Perry: He thinks Carlos Zambrano should win the Cy Young even though Brandon Webb is 8-0, has thrown more innings, struck out more batters and has a lower WHIP. I know compiling award ballots can be hard, but writing Webb in for Cy Young is a no-brainer at this point.

Apparently he hits other teams, too: Lance Berkman had stretches last week where he went 16-for-20 and 19-for-25. That second feat had only been accomplished once in the last 50 years.

David Sloane is the agent for Carlos Delgado. He's making Delgado a lot of money, but the Mets 1B is his only client. Why, you ask? Because he's insane.

Oh, and here's video of an unassisted triple play.

Drink up.

Well, this is a surprise.  If we had looked at the schedule in spring training and guessed which team would come into the series with a better record, we probably would've been wrong.  Let's hope that by the time the Brewers leave Miami, we'll be right again.

It's on the east coast, so game time is 6:10 CT.

The matchup tonight is Jeff Suppan and Scott Olsen.  Olsen more or less dominated us last time out--7.1 IP, no runs.  Then again, he did walk five guys.  Suppan, well, he's gotta be better than he was last time.  Here's the BR Game Preview, with all of that stuff and much, much more.

Project-a-tron isn't offering any numbers tonight, just forecasting the following:

• Rickie Weeks will strike out, and look bad doing so.
• The Brewers will leave men on base in multiple innings, further suggesting that they really aren't trying hard enough.
• A reliever will give up a run.
• Somehow, against all odds, the Crew will win the game.

Go Brewers!

Quick notes from around the web before I leave for another day on the road and the Sounds/Royals game in Omaha tomorrow. They wouldn't postpone a Sunday game because it's cold, would they? They did it last night.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps
BP Posteason Odds: 84.1 wins and 21.7%.

Quick rant to get us started: I hate the retro uniforms. Two reasons:

1) I think reliving the Ball-and-Glove Era has been ridiculously overdone in an effort to distract fans from what has frequently been a below-average on field product in the last decade. That's not necessary anymore.
2) It feels like we lose EVERY TIME we have a Retro Day. Does anyone have the stats on this?

Marlins P Scott Olsen was apparently displeased by the quality of the mound last night. Considering Gagne had to stop mid-inning to scrape crap out of his cleats, I'm guessing there's something to it.

But, on the positive side, statheads are calling the Kendall experience a success. It's still April, of course.

Speaking of statheads, TangoTiger has done the math and determined that an NL pitcher's value is based 86% on his pitching and 14% on his hitting. If those numbers are accurate, they put Ben Sheets' complete inability to hit (and nonchalance about it) in a slightly different perspective, at least for me.

Baseball Digest Daily thinks the Brewers could make a "franchise defining trade" by reaching out to the Indians re: C.C. Sabathia. It seems unlikely on pretty much every level. I think Two Fisted Slopper would suggest including Tony Gwynn in such a trade, though.

The Brewers are up in Minor League Ball's mock draft, and you can go vote on who they should take.

Brief Alphabetical Morning Injury Reports:

Jermaine Dye was held out of last night's game with a strained groin.
Troy Glaus left last night's Cardinals game. He's having difficulty seeing at night.
Orioles P Adam Loewen is on the DL with elbow soreness.
Gary Sheffield's shoulder problems reportedly have him considering retirement.

That's all I've got for today. Jeff will be filling in with the Plastic Cup tomorrow so I can get some sleep before the game/drive home. If you have something to include in a future Mug, drop it in the comments.

Drink up.

Suffice to say that while the records are the same, these teams are very different.  For instance, all of their center fielders are young and gritty, and the overall salary of their bullpen is less than what's in my jar of coins.

The matchup for the opener tonight at 7:05 CT is Scott Olsen vs. Yovani Gallardo.  It's tough not to get excited about a Gallardo start, and while Olsen is off to a good start, his 2007 ERA of 5.81 promises good things for Brewers fans as well. 

Here's the BR Game Preview.   Project-a-tron is down for site maintenance.

Go Brewers!

Well, the Cubs lost yesterday too, so we're still two games back entering a 3 game series with the Fish tonight. Come and get your Mug.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps
BP Postseason Odds: 85.1 wins and a 22.6% shot at winning the Central.

If you haven't yet, go vote in this week's Fan Opinion Poll. And even if you have voted, go check out the results, which show a pretty interesting one week shift in Ned Yost's approval rating.

I'd never heard Scott Olsen called "Mr. Furious" before, but he's starting for the Marlins tonight, and Bugs and Cranks called him that, so I'll go with it.

The Junkball Blues thinks Rickie Weeks is on an upturn. That'd be nice.

The Official Site reports that Chris Capuano has begun a throwing program in his effort to avoid his second Tommy John surgery. Best wishes to him, but after a full ineffective year WITH the appropriate ligaments and whatnot, I can't imagine him coming back to be effective without them.

It must be a slow news day: Bugs and Cranks is pulling out old baseball cards featuring Troy O'Leary and Matt Mieske.

Today's Brief Alphabetical Morning (BAM) Injury Reports are sponsored by the letter C and the number 2:

Rangers C Adam Melhuse has a bruised hand and could head to the DL.
Mets C Brian Schneider has an infected left thumb and will be placed on the DL.

Related to the Melhuse injury: I took a friend to the Iowa Cubs/Oklahoma Redhawks AAA game in Des Moines last weekend. She didn't really know much about baseball, but was a big fan of Jarrod Saltalamacchia, based purely on his very large name. Sometimes you take what you can get.

Maybe they've been watching the Brewers: The A's tried out a lineup with nine right handed hitters last night against the Twins. It seemed to work. It certainly worked better than anything Ryan Howard has tried in April.

The market for closers grows as we speak: Gaslamp Ball is ready to pull the plug on Trevor Hoffman.

Former Brewer notes: The Mets have DFA's Brady Clark, and the Nats have sent Ray King back to AAA.

If either of them (or you) are looking for work, The Twins are hiring an administrative assistant. Job duties include receiving AND opening mail. I frequently struggle with the second one.

That's all for today. If you've got something to throw into tomorrow's Mug, drop it in the comments.

Drink up.