First, the PECOTA projected standings came out today. The upper half of the NL Central:

That seems about right, doesn't it? Though it's interesting to see that the Brewers have all but eliminated the pitching advantage of the Cubs, but project to be outhit a little by the North Siders. PECOTA thinks the Cubs have added some serious power over the offseason; last year they slugged .422.

SI's Jon Heyman ranks every team's offseason moves, and puts the Brewers at 20:

I know that pieces like this are basically fluff and there isn't room for much analysis, but that said...how 'bout some analysis? Why are any of those signings weird? Which are the good part of the mixed bag and which are the bad? A lot of times, bloggers get ripped on for snarkily tearing apart MSM articles warblogger-style, but articles like Heyman's really just exist to take up space. (side note: come to think of it, if anyone cared enough about my blogging to rip on it, that would be pretty sweet.)

In other news, Ryan Braun donated his ROY bonus to Habitat For Humanities, probably on orders from Prince Fielder for hotdogging it on his home runs. Also, the team avoided arbitration with JJ Hardy, signing him for one year/$2.65M. Sounds good to me.