sorry about that, but I just found Christina Kahrl's take on the Brewers' off season.  Again, no link possible, so enjoy

What Do They Need? They need pitching, especially starting pitching. Despite pushing their way into the playoff picture the last two seasons, the Brewers' bid on future contention is highly contingent on their ability to retain or replace at least one of their free-agent aces, CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets. The despair creeping into GM Doug Melvin's public pronouncements on the subject of Sabathia betray a sense of how fragile their immediate odds on keeping up with the Cubs are.

What Do They Have? Even if last year's decision to go for broke didn't engender some fondness for Beertown in Sabathia, there's enough good stuff in-house or on the way up to nevertheless leave Brewers fans relatively optimistic about the picture over the next several seasons, if not so much over 2009. With shortstop Alcides Escobar, catcher Angel Salome, and slugger Mat Gamel all nearly ready, an outstanding young core in the lineup is about to become better still.

What Are They Likely To Do? They'll offer every cent they can to try and keep Sabathia, because Sheets won't fill the bill, nor will any of the other realistic alternatives on the market. Failing that, 2009 becomes a bit of a re-gearing year for the the franchise. Either way, they'll dangle Escobar because they already have a slick-fielding shortstop with some sock in J.J. Hardy, and offering either around would be their best tack in trade talks. Whatever the outcome on Sabathia, they'll wind up taking their chances on the lead-gloved Gamel as their third baseman, and await the arrival of Salome to provide an upgrade on Jason Kendall behind the plate.

What Should They Do? Signing Kerry Wood to make the rivalry with Wrigleyville's nine that much more of a grudge match would make things interesting. With the surplus of young talent in the organization, sneaking into the Peavy negotiations might be plausible, if only because the Padres need young talent. As far as additional action items, they need to make Mike Cameron a Yankee before the Bombers think the better of it. If they settle for young pitching and Melky Cabrera, they're still left to deal with the question of whether and when Rickie Weeks is ever going to settle in; if they put together a package to get Robinson Cano, they can solve that by making Weeks their center fielder. Whether they keep Sabathia or not, they need to take a risk on a journeyman starter from among Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, or Jon Lieber to help round out a rotation otherwise stocked with question marks.

According to Tom H, the Giants and Angels are going to throw out bids for the services of one Giant Hot Dog (in Prince's eyes). 

via www.theonion.com

Now in my estimation, the bidding is going to get beyond the crew's means. It may be time to start seriously consider plan B... sign a #2 for behind Gallardo and a closer.  Who that might be, I have no clue.  I'm focused on Football right now, so I'll leave it to the rest of you to postulate

I'd put a link if I could, but I'm not allowed to on here.  It's on the JS's Brewers Blog.  Enjoy

As a whole, yesterday was amazing, but I really think some things need to be emphasized in the wake of everything that happened:

- Dale Sveum has one of the shiniest dome's I've ever seen.  It was blinding.  He must have some really good wax. 

- In addition, he is either really loud, or was very drunk. 

- Melvin acted as if he had just broken up with an abusive girlfriend who he really loved, yet found cheating.  He was bordering on despondent, and it was almost an embarrasment in my skewed point of view.

- Attanasio was truly the star, he acted like the father who just told his son, "I told you that bitch was no good."  And with all his blinking, I definately picked up on the morse code message he was sending.  A translation for you

D-O-N-T  L-E-T  T-H-E  D-O-O-R  H-I-T  Y-O-U  I-N  T-H-E  A-S-S  O-N  T-H-E  W-A-Y  O-U-T  N-E-D-L-Y

Loud and clear Mark, I gotcha.

Can't wait to see the video on today's press conference

I know there is a morotorium on playoff talk, but this is bad news, so I think it's ok.  The Brewers lost every coin flip for a playoff entry game there was.  Well, that's not true.  in the event of a tie for the division, they will play the Cubs at Miller Park.  Every single Wild Card Tie possible we will have to travel to.  This includes Philly (where we played so well last night), Houston (really?  Houston?  Huh.), and St. Louis.  So for all those that voted tails (which won by a 51-49 margin on Brewers.com), kindly get fucked.  End of transmission.

Amazing year for both, and quite the accomplishment for them.  here is the breakdown...

3B Mat Gamel • Brewers
Through the first three months of the season, the 23-year-old Gamel looked like a future batting champion in the making. The lefty batter was hitting .383 with 15 homers at Double-A Huntsville as July dawned, but a precipitous fall (.228/.300/.350 in 197 at-bats thereafter) took a bite out of Gamel's season totals. He still ranked fourth in the minors with 281 total bases and seventh in with 172 hits and 99 runs scored. A late charge by Mike Moustakas (Royals), the Midwest League's home run champ at age 19, nearly surpassed Gamel.

SS Alcides Escobar • Brewers
Mostly because of his youth, the Rangers' Elvis Andrus, 19, gets most of the attention as the top shortstop prospect from Venezuela. But it's Escobar, perhaps the best defender in the minors, who is the paradigm. And at age 21, the righthanded hitter may just be getting started. A strong runner, Escobar emphatically added the stolen base to his game this season (with 34), while his 179 hits ranked third in the minors and his 95 runs scored ranked 14th. It wasn't easy relegating Brandon Wood (Angels) and his 31 homers and improved plate discipline to the second team, but he lost points for repeating the Triple-A Pacific Coast League and for getting an assist from some of the best hitter's parks in the minors.

LaPorta also made the list, and that was it as far as Brewers related guys

LINK

The only rumor I hear with the Brewers attached is the Rangers giving us Eddie Guardado for... nothing mentioned yet, but they are looking for pitching prospects. 

according to Rosenthal at Fox Sports, the Griffey to the white sox deal is done.  It apparently includes Lance Broadway according to 670 the Score in chicago.

Other rumors I've seen around:

It wouldn't be a good trade deadline post without Manny talk.  Here's what i understand.  Red Sox get Bay, Prospects from Marlins including OF Mike Stanton. Pirates get Hermida and John Grabow.  Marlins get Manny.  Feel free to correct the hell out of this.

The Braves are looking to unload Will Ohman.  no destinations discussed from what I've seen.

The Dodgers are trying to pry Greg Maddox from the Padres,

The M's, desparate to make a move, are still asking too much for Jarrod Washburn, but may be lowering their asking price.

Feel free to conitinue with things you hear

Today is one of my favorite times of the year.  The time to dream about the future.  Because we have 6 picks in the first 62, this will be the time where we shoot up the BA rankings with proper dreaming.  Here's how the mocks have us with the 16th pick:

Goldstien at BP: Jason Castro, C, Stanford

Law at Espin: Castro

Mayo at MLB.com: Castro

Callis at BA: Brett Lawrie, 3B/C (though also mentioned Christian Friedrich, LHP, Eastern Kentucky and Brett Wallace 1B/3B, Arizona St)

Haudricourt: lists 3 names that he's hearing: Lawrie, Wallace, and CT Prep SS Anthony Hewitt

McCalvy has not made a prediction from what I've seen.   

as previously mentioned on here, Yost did an interview with BP.  My personal favorite part...

DL: Ted Simmons is your bench coach here. How similarly do the two of you think about the game of baseball?

NY: Well, if you’ve ever talked to Teddy, you understand that his baseball education is--probably the best thing for me to say is that he’s got a master’s degree while I might have a junior college degree.

I agree whole heartedly nedly.  Here is the rest of the interview:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7565

BP took 5 minutes to talk with Ted Simmons about his life, the hall of fame, and our favorite topic, stats analysis (BTW, does everyone else remember when Tobias Funke refered to himself as a combination analyst and therapist, known as an analrapist?).   anyway, here's an excerpt.

DL:  How does the game differ on the field?

TS:  I think it has changed dramatically with the statistical analysis that’s come about and applied itself at the major league level and at the minor league level.  You have a whole group of people who have identified, and recognized, statistical trends that are directly applicable to the field.  Whether it’s offensively, pitching, or defensively, there are applications that exist now because of the ability to convey information quickly — things you can take on a daily basis and apply in a game.  There’s no question that’s been the biggest change.

DL:  Have you adapted well to the statistical revolution, or do you view yourself as more of an old-school baseball guy?

TS:  I think that dinosaurs die hard, and they die fast.  If one doesn’t take the best of the objective perspective, and the best of the subjective perspective, and incorporate the two into one place — however one has to do it — if you’re not prepared to do that, you’ll soon be out.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=871

I can't wait for him to take over as manager.

http://www.myfoxmilwaukee.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6368144&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

I hope you were able to get down there for your exam. I just hope they don't get Gagne to do it.  Have you seen the size of that guy's fingers?  No wonder his change is so wicked. 

TOO MANY JOKES... MUST HOLD BACK ON SOME...

alright, one more...

It's too bad they aren't having pap-smear day, you know the ladies would be lined up around the block at the thought of JJ Hardy working down there.