Some things to read while maintaining a healthy attitude.
We're one day away from the deadline to tender arbitration-eligible players, and the Brewers still haven't tipped their hand regarding their plans. There's plenty of speculation out there, though:
- Tom Haudricourt has divided the eight eligible players into three tiers, with Joe Inglett, Carlos Villanueva and Todd Coffey on the "possible non-tender" line.
- Jaymes Langrehr of The Brewers Bar would tender everyone not named Todd Coffey.
- Jim Breen of Bernie's Crew says keeping Coffey around wouldn't be the best use of the Brewers' money, but he could still be effective in 2011.
I guess you can count this as one vote for "keeping everyone:" Miller Park Drunk presents a plan for the Brewers to go all in next season.
No "go all in" plan is complete unless it includes signing Derek Jeter, though. TOTALLY FAKE BASEBALL CARDS has his Brewer card (and one for 29 other teams) ready. (h/t BBTF)
Projection season continues as Dan Szymborski unveiled the Brewers' 2011 ZiPS projections yesterday. There's a lot in there and I won't spoil it all here, but I will say I think he's a little high on Mat Gamel, Alcides Escobar and Marco Estrada and probably a little low on Lorenzo Cain, Chris Narveson and Kameron Loe.
Ryan Braun's Waterfront Grill hasn't been as successful as he was probably hoping for, and now it's closed temporarily to implement "changes to its menu, its management team and its interior." (FanShot) I asked this in the comments of the FanShot but I'll ask it again here: Has anyone actually been there?
Braun's Lake Geneva restaurant is still open, and he'll be there on Saturday once he's done serving as the Grand Marshal in the city's Christmas parade.
Around baseball:
Astros: Avoided arbitration with catcher Humberto Quintero, who will earn $1 million in 2011.
Cardinals: Acquired infielder Ryan Theriot from the Dodgers for pitcher Blake Hawksworth, and signed pitcher Brian Tallet.
Blue Jays: Reliever Jason Frasor accepted the team's offer of arbitration.
Giants: Signed shortstop Miguel Tejada to a one year, $6.5 million deal.
Rangers: Signed Japanese reliever Yoshinori Tateyama to a one year major league deal with club options for 2012 and 2013. Also, reliever Frank Francisco accepted the team's offer of arbitration.
I have a quick correction from yesterday's Mug: Jorge De La Rosa's contract, which I had reported as a three year, $30 million deal, is actually a two year, $21.5 million deal with both club and player options for 2013. If either side exercises the option then the value of the deal will actually be $31.5 million.
If you hadn't already guessed, that's much more than JDLR is worth. Buster Olney is reporting, though, that it wasn't the highest offer he received.
As of late last night, the deadline for free agents to accept arbitration from their former teams has come and gone. Aaron Gleeman of Hardball Talk notes that it was a somewhat uneventful deadline, as only two of 27 players accepted their teams' offers. He also notes that six of the last seven players to accept offers in this situation have been relievers, exposing a flaw in the compensation system.
Fixing the flaw Gleeman mentioned would be one easy adjustment to the compensation system, but Dave Cameron of FanGraphs thinks we should scrap the system altogether.
Discussion continues on plans to expand the playoffs. It's probably still safe to assume the format will change in 2012, but Jeff Passan of Yahoo makes a strong case against the adjustment.
It's only fair, though, that we also present the other side. It's About The Money makes the case that, while many people don't favor this plan, it wouldn't actually be "bad for baseball."
Another day, another set of Rule 5 draft previews: Pro Ball NW has a look at five more potential candidates, and Bucs Dugout has the list of 25 players Baseball America is previewing behind their pay wall.
The argument for and against public funding of sports facilities is one that we'll likely always have with us, and it's my opinion that there are strong cases to be made for and against it. The Cardinals and the city of St. Louis appear to be adding some fuel to the anti fire, though: The Cardinals may or may not be meeting contractual terms they agreed to when the city of St. Louis built them the new Busch Stadium, and the city doesn't appear interested in finding out.
I haven't seen any updates on Ken Macha's plans for 2011, but at least @notkenmacha is still around, weighing in on current events.
Happy birthday today to:
- Helena Brewer Shea Vucinich, who turns 22.
- 1990-91 Brewer Julio Machado, who turns 45.
- 1988-90 Brewer Tom Filer, who turns 54.
- 1976-82 Brewer pitching coach Cal McLish, who would have turned 85.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to the bank.
Drink up.