Some things to read while filling the tub.
There was no new news on the managerial front yesterday, but there was some old news that Tom Haudricourt just got around to: He notes that former Orioles interim manager Juan Samuel has expressed interest in the Brewer job (which I mentioned in Wednesday's Mug).
I'll admit, I don't follow the Orioles closely enough to know much about how Samuel ran the team during his stint at the helm this season. I know his 17-34 record as manager looks pretty bad, but as TheJay noted it's actually an improvement over where they were when he took over.
I've spent a fair portion of this week collecting scouting reports and thoughts on various potential managerial candidates for a series that will open this afternoon. If you like managerial speculation, today would be a good day to stick around.
Speaking of speculation: Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated thinks Bob Melvin is the favorite to win the job, and predicts Prince Fielder will open the season with the Brewers in 2011.
Elsewhere, Jim Breen of Bernie's Crew has a look at this offseason's crop of free agent pitchers and makes an interesting case for both Rockies lefty Jeff Francis and Padres righthander Kevin Correia. Neither had very good seasons in 2010, but both had solid peripheral numbers and could be interesting buy-low candidates.
Award season is upon us, but I'll admit that until this morning I hadn't been thinking to check the bottom of people's MVP ballots for Brewers. Oysta Buns has Ryan Braun eighth on their ballot.
On the other end of the spectrum, Brew City Sports invites you to cast your vote for your least favorite Brewers in the round of 32 for the 2010 Hendies.
In the minors:
- Baseball America unveiled their list of the top 20 prospects in the Southern League yesterday, and Brett Lawrie (#5) is the only Brewer mentioned.
- When evaluating position players in the minors, I typically end up mentioning their slash line (AVG/OBP/SLG), but it's important to remember that it only tells part of the story. Baseball America has the list of league averages for the minors to use to put those performances in perspective.
If you weren't around here yesterday, you missed the return of the Thursday Thinker. If you were around yesterday and you're still looking for more Sporcle, I highly recommend this quiz looking for the Brewer Opening Day lineups since 1991. I got 156.
No transactions today.
No matter what else happens, it seems like we can't get through a single round of the playoffs without some level of umpiring controversy. By now you've most likely heard about this week's bad calls, so I'll just skip ahead to the most interesting responses:
- Jeff Passan of Yahoo noted that Hunter Wendelstadt's strike zone was pretty far from the rulebook, but It's About The Money notes that it was also relatively consistent.
- This could actually help: The MLBPA is working to set up a meeting this offseason to discuss umpiring and accountability.
- As is typically the case, Joe Posnanski has a post you should read on the topic.
The Rays were one of the teams victimized by a bad call yesterday, but after seeing this I don't feel so bad for them anymore: Ben Badler noted that two pitchers that appeared in their game two loss (starter James Shields and reliever Chad Qualls) ranked 619 and 634 out of 635 pitchers in WAR.
Meanwhile, the Braves dodged a bullet: Tommy Hanson, who is expected to start game two of their series with the Giants tonight, was struck in the eye during batting practice yesterday. Hanson apparently avoided serious injury and is still expected to start.
The Phillies and Reds return to action tonight, and Brian Anderson will once again have the call for TBS. Jaymes Langrehr of The Brewers Bar credits Anderson with doing a great job with the call of Roy Halladay's no-hitter on Wednesday.
Today's lone former Brewer note comes from UmpBump, where Hank Aaron was rated the second greatest right fielder of all time as part of their Crowdsourcing the Greats series.
Happy birthday today to:
- 1982-83 Brewer Bob Skube, who turns 53.
- 1977 Brewer Ed Kirkpatrick, who turns 66.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you'd like to make a pinball road trip.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my inbox.
Drink up.