Some things to read while acknowledging that these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies may be the greatest ever.

Today's collection of links is actually the largest since the end of the season, so let's get right to it.

If you've been reading the site over the weekend you likely know all of this news, but in case you've been away all weekend, here's what you missed:

• Dale Sveum will be back for 2009 after all, as hitting coach. (as noted in this FanShot)
• Craig Counsell's option for 2009 was declined. He could still return as a free agent, of course.
• Mike Maddux won't be back either, after being "overwhelmed by a huge deal" to take over as pitching coach in Texas. The Brewers reportedly offered him a multi-year deal. (Noted in this FanShot) The Newberg Report has a story from the Rangers' side.
• Joe Dillon also won't be back. The A's claimed him off waivers after the Brewers DFA'd him last week.
• Ken Rosenthal is reporting the Brewers' offer to CC Sabathia was in fact for $100 million, but the contract was for five years, not four. For me, this removes any possibility Sabathia will return. (noted in this FanShot)
• The Brewers have until tomorrow to decide if Mike Cameron will return in 2009.

Now, other stuff. The Fall GM meetings begin today, giving Doug Melvin the first chance to sit across the table from new Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik. Murray Chass seems to think hiring Zduriencik was the wrong decision, mainly because he had a profile of Kim Ng all ready to go. Of course, everyone expects most of the conversation at the meetings to be about Jake Peavy, but it sounds like Hank Blalock's name will come up as well.

One would assume Doug Melvin is at least listening to offers for J.J. Hardy. The Junkball Blues, meanwhile, crunched the numbers to figure out what kind of production would be needed from Hardy and Alcides Escobar to justify moving Hardy to third and Bill Hall out of the lineup.

Planning on making a trip to Vegas? Current odds have the Brewers at 15-to-1 to win the 2009 World Series. The odds would have to get a lot better before I'd be interested. Right now, 15-to-1 is a better shot than 19 other teams have, and tied with the Dodgers and Twins. (h/t Redleg Nation)

Tim Kurkijian says the Sabathia Sweepstakes is the third most interesting story of the offseason. With Sabathia the Brewers had the sixth best starting rotation in all of baseball, according to Beyond the Box Score.

Sabathia, Ray Durham and Russell Branyan all filed for free agency over the weekend, joining these players:

Angels Darren Oliver, Juan Rivera
Athletic Alan Embree
Cub Kerry Wood and also Henry Blanco,
Mariners Raul Ibanez, Willie Bloomquist, Miguel Cairo
Marlins Mark Hendrickson, Arthur Rhodes
Mets Pedro Martinez, Luis Ayala, Tony Armas, Moises Alou, Ricardo Rincon, Ramon Martinez and also Orlando Hernandez
Phillies So Taguchi, Tom Gordon
Pirates Doug Mientkiewicz, Chris Gomez, Jason Michaels, Luis Rivas
Rockies Brian Fuentes, Matt Herges, Livan Hernandez, Adam Melhuse, Scott Podsednik

At this point I feel obligated to remind you that Orlando Hernandez is free to throw the banana for other teams.

FanGraphs has built the All Free Agent Bargain Team. There are some decent players on there, but that team would lose most of the time.

As we look into the future, few things are abolutely certain, but we can say this: despite boatloads of other teams making the exodus from spring training sites in Florida to Arizona, the Red Sox are committed to training in Florida through 2038.

It's a good thing we'll probably have some time to learn to say his name: The Pirates have signed an 18-year-old shortstop from South Africa named Mpho Ngoepe. There has never been a South African player in the major leagues. Have there been any from anywhere in Africa? I do not know.

Indians minor leaguer Randy Newsom's blogs from Venezuela are really making me want to go see a game there.

Finally, let's say you're the Washington Nationals. You lost 102 games in 2008, the franchise's first 100 loss season since 1976. You set a modern era single season record for lowest attendance in a new ballpark. You could count the number of fans listening to your games on the radio or watching them on TV on your fingers and toes. Do you honestly believe people are going to come out in hordes to buy your new jerseys? You're invited to join them at the unveiling Thursday. Bring a friend, otherwise you might be there all alone.

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.