A few tidbits today:
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Here's my Hardball Times article, which turned into a manifesto about where prospect analysis ought to be going.
- Russ Luzinski covers a Doug Melvin chat at an event last night. What bothers me about Doug is stuff like this. Russ asked a couple good questions, and Melvin says:
After answering my second question, Melvin pointed to me and said, "You know a lot about baseball. You know baseball." For a Brewer geek like as myself, that was quite the honor.Now, Russ does know a lot about baseball--I'm not at all pointing this out to criticize him. But Doug always makes these comments where he sounds surprised that fans might actually be knowledgeable. I mean, knowledgeable beyond thinking that Carlos Lee is teh awesome.
- Our old buddy (I mean "buddy" in the "good riddance, buddy" sense) Glendon Rusch has been released by the Cubs. He's going to get a minor league deal somewhere. The Brewers are almost certainly going to sign a veteran starter as rotation insurance. Let's hope that the twain shall not meet.
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Arthur Rhodes has signed a minor-league deal with the Mariners. Maybe he wanted to go there, since he has a history in Seattle, but I wish we had gotten in on this. I would've even given him a major league deal. He was #5 of my list of Free Agents (Still) Worth Watching earlier this month, and I stand by that judgement. I think he'll be better than Brian Shouse this year, possibly much better. It'd be a risk, but not as big as Shouse will be.
- Speaking of the Mariners, it looks like Jeff Weaver is going to sign there, too. (Same article as the Rhodes one linked above.) That leaves the Cards one starter short, especially if they leave Adam Wainwright in the pen. I'm sure Walt Jocketty will figure something out, but there aren't a whole lot of options left, and teams aren't about to start trading pitching when spring training (=injuries) is right around the corner. Maybe Glendon will sign with St. Louis!