Lots of interesting reading today to keep us busy until we can cheer on Ben Sheets at 7:05 CT tonight. I shall bring on my old friends the bullet points to help us through them all:
- Joe Hamrahi and I conducted an interview with Doug Melvin last week, and it's now posted at Joe's site, Baseball Digest Daily. I really shouldn't take any of the credit, as Joe set it up through his contacts in the Brewers front office, did the interview, and wrote most of the questions. But, uh...I was sitting there while he did it! Make sure to read to the end--Doug shared a funny story to finish it off.
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Dan Kolb should be ready for action starting tonight. I hope, between a strong Ben Sheets and a rested Matt Wise and Derrick Turnbow, we won't need him, but it's great that he's healthy.
- Derrek Lee broke his wrist, and will be out at least a couple of months. I second the thought from Viva El Birdos: even though it makes the path to the postseason that much easier, it sure isn't the sort of thing you like to hinge your playoff prospects on. Derrek is a good guy, a pleasure to watch play, and it's always a shame when guys like that are sidelined for this long.
- Forbes.com has released their annual list of MLB team valuations. Of course, there's little news here: the Brewers are a small-market team; we get pennies for every New York/Boston dollar; you know the drill. Some interesting factoids and features if you're into the business side of things.
- John Sickels does a prospect retrospective of Gary Sheffield. I suppose it wouldn't have hurt to get some of his production in the early 90s, but...what a jerk. Good riddance.
- Marc Normandin has a look at the HOF chances of Luis Gonzalez. Gonzo may become a factor in the NL Central race this year if the Cardinals trade for him to fill their corner OF needs. Gonzo and Jim Edmonds will create interesting issues for HOF voters: they've got good-not-great power numbers in power-happy era, but they both bring so much more to the table. Marc finds that Gonzo will likely be very worthy...but that the writers probably won't agree.
- Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Frank Robinson won his 1,000th career game as manager yesterday. I plan to write a bit more about Frank this weekend: to this generation of baseball fans, he's just a crotchety old manager getting shafted by MLB. He's also, you know, one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Congrats to Frank on the accomplishment--just another one to add to his very long, impressive resume.
Tags: Joe Hamrahi, John Sickels, Frank Robinson, Derrek Lee, Marc Normandin, Jim Edmonds, Doug Melvin, Milwaukee Brewers, Luis Gonzalez, Gary Sheffield, St. Louis Cardinals
Update [2006-4-21 17:39:22 by Jeff]: Quite a coincidence that I mention Edmonds in the context of Luis Gonzalez's Hall of Fame chances. It's no accident: BTB guys Marc Normandin and Dan Scotto are driving that particular bandwagon. Turns out Joe Sheehan wrote today's column on Edmonds's candidacy. It's another in a great string of articles from Sheehan lately--and it's free.