This is incredibly stupid.

I think what's even more stupid than the idea (why on Earth would the Brewers want to move back into the AL?), is that the commentors don't know that it's impossible to schedule an odd-numbered team league.  Idiots!

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Crossposted from my silly blog (RSS-it already)

It's that time of year again when beat writers dust off their math and attempt to calculate an official baseball team's payroll for the season.  Like it matters much, all it does is heighten expectations (logically:  higher payroll from PY = more wins this year).

Haudricourt from the JS came up with a number close to $73mm, which isn't all that bad.  However, I came up with a number of close to $77mm based off of the wonderful Cot's Baseball Contracts numbers and my own gumption.  Obviously, neither number will actually be the final number as players are cut, signed to different deals (in the Brewers case, their glut of young position players), or should finish arbitration any day now (ie Hardy).  First, the key:

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I don't know how I feel about this:

Free-agent center fielder Mike Cameron has reached preliminary agreement with the Brewers on a one-year contract with a club option for 2009, according to major-league sources.

The deal is pending a physical.

...

The addition of Cameron likely will result in the Brewers moving Bill Hall to third base and Ryan Braun to left field.

[bumped by Roy Oswalt, Carlos Zambrano, et al.]

[UPDATE: I'll link to it in the comments, but the financials look surprisingly reasonable: about $5.5 million for 2008, and a club option for $10 million in 2009, with a $750,000 buyout. It also looks like we'll go with Gwoss (Grynn?) in center during the suspension. --- roguejim]

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I'm trying to contain my rage, but as I was on the elliptical machine watching yet another Turnbow meltdown, it came to me...

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For whatever reason, I relented and subjected myself to a Baseball Tonight.  As excruciating as it was, Peter Gammons, the lone voice of reason, came on and said that Ben Sheets will not be pitching for the Brewers before 9/1.  I don't think he has any other information.

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Cross posted at my fledgling and underwhelming blog:

Rarely do I watch the local news, but when I do, I dare them to the "humor me" with something remotely interesting and not the most recent, wretched sensationalist garbage on videotape.  Sometimes I get home right before the national news (which I still watch), so I catch the last few minutes of sports on WTMJ.  Usually it's the latest update on the Packers (even in May and June), but tonight they were live at Miller Park.

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(This would have been more timely had I gotten my act together last night, but, tough cookies.)

The typical Brewers fan may not recall 6/4/03 as a momentous date, but to me, it's what signified the rebirth of my favorite team.

Coming off an atrocious 106 loss season, the team finally hired a man hereto fore known as our savior Doug Melvin.  Unlike his predecessors (Sal Bando, Dean Taylor), Melvin actually was a real live and successful general manager with a few division titles to his credit.  He knew how to build a team, he know how to find players.  And, near and dear to my heart, he knew how to recognize a bad investment.

Over the winter of 2002/2003, Melvin made some minor moves (setting in motion the red paper clip project with Scott Podsednik), but to the casual fan it was the same old deal, just without signing the bloated underwhelming free agent.  Melvin had a plan, and he knew the plan would take a while, but what he didn't know were the clowns standing in his way.

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I will be Tivo-ing the draft Thursday to see how it's presented on ESPN and how non-excited I will be when it comes to the Brewers pick.  I guess the question is not who you would pick, but what would you be looking for?

I am not a draft expert, but having paged through the year-by-year (PDF) of the first rounds, it looks like you're really cheating death by selecting a high school pitcher.  I understand teams want to capture lightning in a bottle, but wouldn't a surer thing be selecting a college pitcher?  

As far as the Brewers outlook, I do not think they need to draft any hitters unless there is a solid catcher available.  The infield is supposedly set, and outfielders can be had.  A college pitcher could be ready in three years, a high school pitcher in five ... I would say a college pitcher is the way to go.  Who, I don't know because I find it difficult to follow college baseball.

I have faith in Team Canada and fully expect them to pick the best available.  They've had extraordinary success in their picks thus far.

Sickels' mock draft has the Brewers picking Jarrod Parker, RHP, Indiana HS.  Just what the team needs, another HS pitcher.

MLB Press Box's official info page.  Let me know if you can see it, it used to be off limits but they have done some tweaking of the site this year.

[editor's note, by Jeff] Thanks, nmc, for posting this. Personally, I'd love to see Matt Wieters (power-hitting college catcher) fall to #7, but I don't think it'll happen: I've seen him projected as high as #2.

Every baseball fan has heard of and possibly seen This Week in Baseball, the goofy show before the Fox game of the week which is an 80% subsidiary of the Pepsi corporation.  Sometimes it actually shows highlights from the previous week, but for the most part it features ruminations of players mic-ed up watching others highlights, features on newer players that aren't interesting (aside from Tim Hudson jumping out of a closet to scare Eddie Perez), and reflections on the past (which is conveniently crammed down our throats by the powers at MLB Corporate).  Oh, and they sometimes expound on how the game keeps kids out of poverty in poor countries and shady parts of LA.  Ok.

Well, it used to be a good show.  In fact, it used to be the only way normal people could get highlights outside of their local teams if they didn't want to pay fledgling cable networks.  This is the 30th year of This Week in Baseball and ESPN Classic has been airing olde tyme episodes showing us what we all long for in a highlights program.

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From the LA Times via MLB Trade Rumors:

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that with injuries to Howie Kendrick and Garrett Anderson and poor performance by Shea Hillenbrand, the Angels are stepping up their efforts to improve their anemic offense via the trade market.  Reportedly, the Angels are kicking the tires on several players, including "Colorado third baseman Garrett Atkins and outfielders Brad Hawpe and Jeff Baker, outfielders Kevin Mench (Milwaukee), Jacque Jones (Chicago Cubs), Pat Burrell (Philadelphia) and Emil Brown (Kansas City), and third basemen Morgan Ensberg (Houston) and Edwin Encarnacion (Cincinnati)."

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