Some things to read while reinflating.
There wasn't much going on this weekend, so today's top story is this report suggesting Carl Pavano would prefer to stay with the Twins if the offers are equal. This probably means the Brewers won't be able to sign him unless they're willing to offer either a third year or significantly more money. According to this poll from Friday, only 12% of you think offering him a third year would be a good idea.
It still might be a while before Pavano announces his final decision. Jerry Crasnick reports that he's "still evaluating his options and isn't close to a deal with anyone."
The Brewers still appear to be long shots at best in the Zack Greinke sweepstakes, as news came out this weekend that Milwaukee is on his no-trade list. That clause could be waived, of course, but it's one more hurdle that would have to be cleared. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays also appear to be long shots: Buster Olney is reporting that they're not interested in giving up two of their top prospects.
With nothing new coming in over the weekend, Wil Nieves remains the newest Brewer. Adam McCalvy reports that Nieves could earn $775,000 this season if he makes the team, with an additional $45,000 in incentives available. Tom Haudricourt noted that Nieves will battle for the backup catcher job, and has more experience than George Kottaras.
The second-newest Brewer is still Rule 5 pick Patrick Egan. Marc Hulet of The Baseball Analysts broke down the draft and had this to say:
Egan is a tall right-hander that does a nice job of throwing on a downward plane, which helps him produce above-average ground-ball rates. He held up pretty well in the Arizona Fall League but may not strike out enough batters to succeed at the MLB level.
It's been a while since we've had the debate about Rickie Weeks as a leadoff hitter, so now's probably as good a time as any to bring that back. Walk Like a Sabermetrician analyzed 2010 leadoff hitters and found the Brewers were in the top three in "2OPS," "Leadoff Efficiency" and Runs Created per game. Follow the link for an explanation of the stats.
In the minors: It looks like good news might be on the horizon for the Brewers' AA affiliate. After years of poor attendance and failed efforts to build a new stadium, the Huntsville Stars are reportedly going to be sold and moved to a new waterfront stadium in Pensacola, Florida for the 2012 season (FanShot). The Stars' 2010 attendance was the lowest in the Southern League.
Around baseball:
Angels: Signed reliever Scott Downs to a three year, $15 million deal.
Dodgers: Signed infielder Juan Castro to a minor league deal.
Giants: Signed pitcher Waldis Joaquin to a minor league deal.
Mariners: Acquired infielder Brendan Ryan from the Cardinals for a minor league pitcher.
You can't throw a snowball without hitting a former Brewer link this morning:
- Talking Chop recently bumped into Johnny Estrada. They talked about his new pizza place, a possible comeback and his struggles with Post Concussion Syndrome.
- The Hall of Very Good has a look at the Hall of Fame cases of Lenny Harris and Marquis Grissom.
- Bluebird Banter considers the HoF case of Dave Parker.
- Plunk Everyone's latest look at career BACON numbers includes Jason Kendall, Fernando Vina, Gary Sheffield, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount.
- Baseball Reference has a list of 92 players who hit at least 90 home runs in less than 1000 career games: It includes John Jaha, Corey Koskie, Ben Grieve, Jeffrey Hammonds, Dave Nilsson and Franklin Stubbs.
- B-Ref also has a look at the 34 pitchers that have accumulated at least 1000 innings since 2005: When you rank them by ERA+ CC Sabathia comes in third, Doug Davis is 25th, and Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush are 32nd and 33rd, respectively.
It's related to nearly nothing but this Mop Up Duty post on the Vancouver Asahi, a pre-WWII all-Japanese baseball team that was disbanded in the 40s, was easily the most fascinating thing I read all weekend. Excellent work.
On this day in 1999, the Brewers were involved in a rare four team trade along with the Rockies, Devil Rays and A's. They traded away Jeff Cirillo and Scott Karl and received pitchers Jamey Wright and Jimmy Haynes and catcher Henry Blanco.
Happy birthday over the weekend to:
- AZL Brewer Derrick Shaw, who turns 23 today.
- 2000-02 Brewer Mike Buddie, who turned 40 on Sunday.
- 1973-85 and 1986 Brewer Gorman Thomas, who turned 60 on Sunday.
- 1901 Milwaukee Brewer Tully Sparks, who would have turned 136 on Sunday.
- Josh Butler, who turned 26 on Saturday.
- 1959-65 Milwaukee Brave Lee Maye, who would have turned 76 on Saturday.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to label my axes.
Drink up.