Some things to read after realizing that Ozzie Guillen must read Brew Crew Ball.
It's a slow week in the offseason, so this ought to be a pretty short one. The biggest news of the past couple days is probably the Friday deadline for teams to add minor leaguers eligible for the Rule 5 draft to the 40 man roster to protect them from being taken. The Brewers had already added Eric Farris, Dan Merklinger and Wily Peralta to their 40 man on Wednesday and didn't make any other moves before the deadline. The Brewers now have 37 players on their forty man roster and players like Taylor Green, Brendan Katin and Chris Cody are in danger of being selected in the Rule 5 on December 9.
Eric Farris, by the way, led his Arizon Fall League team in hitting, batting .351 in seventeen games. You can follow that link to find how all the Brewers prospects that played in the AFL performed, including Jeremy Jeffress, who answers questions in the official sites "Six Pack" and doesn't really say anything interesting. Jeffress was also number seven in Jonathon Mayos list of 20 prospects that stood out in the AFL.
Jeffress played eight games at Brevard County last year. Battlekow reports that they will be resurfacing their field going into 2011.
And Tom H has another look at Prince Fielder and the odds that he will be traded, calling it a "no-win situation" for Doug Melvin.
Around the league:
Indians: Shin-Soo Choo has avoided mandatory military service by helping South Korea win a gold medal in the Asian Games
Pirates: Designated Zach Duke, Andy Laroche and Delwyn Young for assignment
Tigers: Signed pitcher Alberto Alburquerque
Rangers: Signed Barret Loux
The biggest news around baseball the last couple days is the Houston Astros have officially been put up for sale by current owner Drayton McLane. Mark Cuban, who seems to always be a candidate to buy for sale sports teams, has already said he has no interest in purchasing the Astros.
In the past year, three Independent leagues have been losing teams and were struggling to put together full schedules for the upcoming season. Now, the Northern League, the United League, and the Golden League are merging together to form the North American League. The new league hopes to field 16 teams, which will still require several expansion teams.
That's all I've got, unless you want to give yourself pink-eye.