Some things to read while waiting in line to vote. Also, if you were planning on voting for The Pirate Parrot, you should watch this first.

The Brewers actually delivered their formal offer to CC Sabathia yesterday. Ed Valentine who writes about the Yankees for Bugs & Cranks, thinks Sabathia is worth about 6 years, $150 million to the Yankees. That strikes me as about right. Rowland's Office thinks the Braves could sign free agency's best pitcher...but it's Japanese starter Junichi Tazawa, not Sabathia.

MLB Trade Rumors has predicted where the top 50 free agents will end up. He's got CC Sabathia as a Yankee, Ben Sheets as a Brave and Ray Durham as a Diamondback. Perhaps more interestingly, he has Brian Fuentes and Jon Garland as Brewers. Crawfish Boxes says Sheets could rejoin Mike Maddux in Texas.

On the trade front: Buried in this story on Mike Cameron's return, Doug Melvin said he's not talking with the Padres about Jake Peavy. Melvin says he was unwilling to give up young pitching, but it's also possible Peavy would have rejected a trade to Milwaukee, as he appears to have listed seven teams he's willing to play for in 2009.

Here's a deal that would turn some heads: Infield Chatter proposes a three-team deal for the Brewers, Tigers and Rays with the Brewers sending J.J. Hardy to the Tigers and getting Rays SP Andy Sonnanstine and minor leaguer Jeremy Hellickson. The Tigers may be looking to cut payroll.

Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal says the Brewers likely will not move Prince Fielder this offseason and Rick Peterson does not appear to be a candidate for the pitching coach position, which will likely be filled by bullpen coach Bill Castro.

Craig Counsell and Guillermo Mota filed for free agency Monday, joining Francisco Rodriguez, as well as Rafael Furcal, Omar Vizquel, Edgar Renteria, Brandon Lyon, Paul Byrd, former Rays Cliff Floyd and Trever Miller and Reds Corey Patterson, Paul Bako and David Weathers.

One free agent may not be available after all: Scott Boras, who represents Greg Maddux, said Maddux is leaning towards retirement. Maddux has 355 career wins, eighth most all time. If he pitched in 2009 and won ten games, he'd move all the way up to fifth.

The coaching carousel has some names you'll recognize on it this morning: Bleeding Blue and Teal has a list of potential candidates to manage the Mariners, including Ned Yost, Willie Randolph, Bob Brenly and Ted Simmons. If Randolph interviews, it will be his second interview with Zduriencik, who was part of Randolph's interview in Milwaukee. And as for Ted Simmons, he won't sit home even if he doesn't get the Seattle job: he and former Brewer manager Jim Lefebvre recently joined the Padres coaching staff.

Oh, and be careful with #3 pencils.

Drink up. And go vote!

Here are some things to read while waiting for Monday's Mug.

So you may have heard that Ken Macha is the new manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. Reaction from around the web:

• In-Between Hops has some stats showing Macha's tendencies. The Cliff's Notes version: don't expect a lot of base stealing, pinch hitting or sac bunts. I'm ok with most of that. My question, though, is whether those stats are a function of Macha's management style or the environment in which he worked in Oakland.
• Two-Fisted Slopper also uses the numbers to develop an expectation of what's to come.
• The JS Blog has audio from the press conference.
• If you like knowing what was said at press conferences but don't actually like to listen to things, Al also chronicled it for you.
• Ken Rosenthal notes some problems Macha had with his veteran players in Oakland. The Brewers downplay it in this link.
• View From Bernie's Chalet likes the contrast between Macha and Ned Yost.
• The Brew Town Beat likes the move as well, but raises some questions about Macha's relationships and his aversion to small ball.

So now, the next question: what about Mike Maddux? Baseball Musings is reporting that Mike Maddux and Rick Peterson are both considering the jobs in Milwaukee and Texas, and the only question is who ends up where.

We're probably going to hear a bunch of stories like this for a while: "So, now that the Mariners have a GM that used to work for the Brewers, does that mean they'll trade for (Brewer)?" Today's name in the blank is J.J. Hardy. I'm not sure the Mariners could offer anything in return that would be interesting enough for me to be happy about the trade.

Of course, there is still a hole at third base. Beyond the Box Score says Russell Branyan was the 20th best third baseman in 2008, generating 11 runs with his bat and saving 2 in the field. Bill Hall doesn't crack the top 25.

Eric Seidman of FanGraphs has been compiling a list of his favorite highlights from this season. His #1 highlight is CC Sabathia. I think an awful lot of us agree.

Sabathia was not one of the five Brewers who filed for free agency yesterday, on the first day of fifteen when it's allowed. I've always felt like filing that early creates the feeling that you can't wait to run out the door. If you haven't read it yet, the five Brewers who did file yesterday were Eric Gagne, Gabe Kapler, Mike Lamb, Ben Sheets and Brian Shouse. Here are some other players that filed for free agency yesterday:

Angels: Mark Teixiera, Garret Anderson, Jon Garland
Braves: Will Ohman, Greg Norton, Julian Tavarez
Cardinals: Braden Looper, Cesar Izturis, Felipe Lopez, Jason LaRue, Ron Villone, Russ Springer
Dodgers: Manny Ramirez, Joe Beimel, Casey Blake, Derek Lowe, Greg Maddux
Marlins: Paul Lo Duca
Mets: Oliver Perez, Damion Easley, Matt Wise
Nationals: Chad Cordero, Ryan Wagner, Pete Orr
Padres: Trevor Hoffman
Reds: Jeremy Affeldt, Mike Lincoln
Twins: Eddie Guardado, Nick Punto, Dennys Reyes

UPDATE: Cubs Ryan Dempster, Jim Edmonds, Chad Fox and Bob Howry filed too.

Also, the White Sox declined Ken Griffey's option and the Tigers declined theirs on Edgar Renteria, so they're free agents too.

One trade has already been made: the Royals acquired 1B Mike Jacobs from the Marlins for RP Leo Nunez. Jacobs has above average power but a sub-.300 OBP.

Finally, how many players that can't handle the glove are in the Brewers' farm system? TheJay noted today that Brendan Katin posted a .926 fielding percentage in AAA this season, in the outfield. How is that possible?

Drink up.

Finally, we're back to regular season baseball...if this break had gone on much longer, I might have started building things out of cardboard.

I've gotten so used to scrolling past JS articles without reading them that I almost missed this Anthony Witrado piece on the trials and tribulations of Prince Fielder, which isn't half bad.

If I asked you to guess which Brewer swings at the most pitches that aren't strikes, would Ryan Braun have been one of your first five guesses? Me either. But Beyond the Box Score has him swinging at 35.28% of balls, which is in the top 10 in all of baseball.

UPDATE: Turns out the stat actually means 35.28% of the pitches he swings at are outside the strike zone. Thanks to Battlekow for correcting my work but ignoring our Scrabble game.

I'm guilty of complaining about it myself, but do the Brewers really struggle to hit bad pitching? Turns out the answer is no.

Would an interview with a sideline reporter normally be interesting enough to make the Mug? No. But Trenni...well, Trenni's a lot smarter than your average sideline reporter.

On injuries:

Aaron Harang's "forearm strain" diagnosis could be a sign of worse things to come.
Orlando Hernandez was pulled from his rehab start with a sore foot after just one inning of throwing the banana.
Scott Kazmir isn't injured, but his next start is being pushed back a couple of days after his unexpected All-Star Game outing.
Tim Lincecum's flulike symptoms turned out to be dehydration, and he should be fine.
Pedro Martinez has been scratched from his start Sunday and received a cortisone shot on his sore groin. Ouch.
Edgar Renteria left last night's game with a sore left hamstring (again).

It's possible the pitching market may dry up well before the trading deadline. Yesterday, the Phillies traded three prospects to the A's for Joe Blanton. Phillies Nation thinks it was the wrong move. In the meantime, does this mean the best pitcher still available is Erik Bedard?

Maybe it's actually Francisco Liriano. He's 7-0 with a 2.73 ERA in his last nine starts in AAA, and he's filed a grievance with the Twins, since his extended stay in AAA will keep him from being arbitration eligible this winter. Ron Gardenhire is not at all happy about the union trying to dictate his roster management.

This would be an even bigger dictation: Major League Baseball is considering taking a break for the Olympics, if baseball returns as an Olympic sport in 2016.

For once, the Yankees were frugal: They've signed Richie Sexson, but only for a pro-rated share of the $390,000 league minimum salary.

The All-Star Game pulled in a bit more than $390,000 in ad revenue. Marketwatch takes a look at the relationship between television and baseball, and how the All-Star Game coverage has changed over the years.

Royals beat writer Sam Mellinger has hardly slept for days and just got done sitting in a really uncomfortable seat at Yankee Stadium for several days, but wanted to take a moment to tell us all about the stresses of being a writer. I've emailed him and offered to trade jobs, if he's interested.

Oh, and if you're not sure what you're eating today, try out the Wheel of Lunch.

Drink up.

So...1-2 in the Sabathia era.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

For the first day since the Sabathia trade, he's not the big story today. Instead, everyone's talking about Guillermo Mota. Following another poor performance last night, In-Between Hops wondered if it was time to put him on the DL and see if he could figure it out with some time off. But, as noted in the Fanshots, Tom H. is taking the next step and calling for a head to roll. Yes, you read that right. The blogs are calling for a prolonged approach to preserve a potentially useful long-term part of the equation, and the mainstream media is providing the knee jerk reaction. I had to read it twice to be sure, too.

Ned Yost is concerned about Ryan Braun screwing up his approach in the Home Run Derby. Thankfully, I still have this link to use to show those concerns aren't backed up by much evidence.

Likely fueled by the Sabathia deal, the Brewers have moved up from 11th to 8th in the most recent Bugs and Cranks Power Rankings.

If you'd like to see video of the drunken frat boys that give all Brewer fans a bad name, check out Big League Stew's video review of tailgating at Miller Park.

On injuries:

Mets P Tony Armas Jr. has been placed on the DL with a pulled abdominal muscle.
Mariners SP Miguel Batista left yesterday's start after 23 pitches with a sore groin.
Aaron Harang has been scratched from his start Sunday, according to Jim Powell.
Blue Jays SP Dustin McGowan left his start early Tuesday and has been placed on the DL with a sore shoulder.
Mark Mulder's comeback only lasted one third of an inning last night.
Edgar Renteria was pulled from last night's game with a mild hamstring strain and is day-to-day.
Rockies OF Ryan Spilborghs has been placed on the DL with a strained oblique.

The other day I mentioned that Padres Assistant GM Paul DePodesta reached out to the fans for insight on how to handle the trading deadline. A couple of interesting follow-up notes: First, Tangotiger asks if DePodesta or Padres fans are delusional, leading to a conversation between he and I in the comments. Then, DePodesta gathered the responses and posted a follow-up note, clarifying some of the misconceptions commenters had about possibilities and taking a candid look at the situation at hand. I still think DePodesta is doing a good job of doing his due diligence with his fans before waving the white flag, and if all front offices did this when their teams were underperforming, they'd save themselves a fair amount of fan backlash.

Now without their ace, the Indians are free to go into all-out freefall, and have lost 10 straight.

For teams who lost out on the Sabathia and Harden sweepstakes, all hope is not lost: Apparently a new group of bidders is forming to vie for the services of Nelson Cruz. Is the market for AAAA outfielders really that thin?

Yesterday, I mentioned a post on Spitting Seeds about the Reds move to sync their radio broadcasts with TV, so fans watching the games can choose which announcers they'd like to listen to. Big League Stew picked up on the story and added this tidbit: syncing broadcasts may be great for fans at home, but creates a long delay for fans who brought headphones to the ballpark. I tend to favor enhancing the experience for fans at home, because a) there's more of them, and b) the fans who brought headphones to the park likely aren't missing much, they're already at the game.

Several years ago, I spent one season as the play-by-play voice of a high school basketball team. Every now and then, I'd see a handful of fans in the crowd wearing headphones, listening to my broadcast. I was happy to have the listeners, without question, but I still don't understand why watching the game wasn't enough, and they needed a 17-year-old to tell them about it.

A lot of people say baseball is too slow and boring. In response, Major League Baseball has found a way to show them what slow and boring really sounds like. They've invited Josh Groban to perform at the All Star Game. My fiancee insists he has the "voice of an angel." If my mental image of an angel had Josh Groban's voice, I'd be pretty weirded out.

Oh, and by the way, ummm...Italian Spiderman?

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!