Some things to read while leaving the kids at home.
The non-tender deadline has come and gone, and the Brewers will be moving on without the services of Todd Coffey and Joe Inglett. (FanShot) They did tender 2011 contracts to Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Carlos Gomez, Manny Parra, Kameron Loe and Carlos Villanueva.
Money appeared to be the deciding factor in the decision to cut Coffey, who told Tom Haudricourt there are "no hard feelings" between him and the team. Coffey likely would have earned somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million next season.
Joe Inglett appeared to be a bit of a long shot to make the roster in 2011, so the team opted to let him go seek opportunities elsewhere. Doug Melvin left the door open for Inglett to return to Brewer camp as a non-roster invitee if he can't find work elsewhere between now and February.
Meanwhile, the Brewers weren't the only team to non-tender players yesterday. (See the massive transaction list below.) The Brewers Bar has a look at five non-tendered players the Brewers could consider, although the first guy on his list probably isn't someone many of us would want back.
With the tender deadline behind us, we can now turn our full attention ahead to next week's Winter Meetings. Adam McCalvy and Tim Brown of Yahoo have previews of the Brewers' activity in Orlando, with both noting that the Brewers are continuing their search for pitching.
Here's one place the Brewers might find some help: As Backtocali noted in this FanPost, Christina Kahrl of Baseball Prospectus is suggesting the Brewers could trade Mat Gamel and Manny Parra to the Rays for James Shields. I'd make that deal.
One internal option, though, does not appear to be being considered: Adam McCalvy says Doug Melvin would prefer to keep Kameron Loe in the bullpen next season. Loe was a starter for much of his early major league career, and made ten starts for Nashville in 2010 before being called up.
Elsewhere in starter/relievers: In his chat yesterday Keith Law said he thinks both Mark Rogers and Jeremy Jeffress will end up in the bullpen, and he prefers Jeffress over Rogers. (h/t Battlekow) He also noted that he gets that question a lot.
For all the talk about what the Brewers will do this offseason, what would happen if they did nothing at all? Miller Park Drunk has a look at the possibility, and it might not be as bad as you'd think.
It's been a few days since we've discussed new manager Ron Roenicke, so perhaps it's time we stir up that discussion again. Jerry Crasnick of ESPN has a nice profile of Roenicke and his career to date.
The Brewers' annual Clubhouse Sale opened this morning, and John Steinmiller and Caitlin Moyer have a look at some of the items available.
Around baseball:
Angels: Signed reliever Hisanori Takahashi to a two year deal and non-tendered infielder Kevin Frandsen.
Astros: Non-tendered reliever Sammy Gervacio.
Athletics: Non-tendered 1B/DH Jack Cust, outfielder Travis Buck and third baseman Edwin Encarnacion.
Blue Jays: Non-tendered pitcher Jeremy Accardo and outfielder Fred Lewis.
Braves: Re-signed 1B/3B Eric Hinske to a one year, $1.45 million deal with a club option for 2012.
Cubs: Avoided arbitration with infielder Jeff Baker ($1.175 million)
Diamondbacks: Avoided arbitration with pitcher Zach Duke and non-tendered infielder Augie Ojeda, pitchers D.J. Carrasco and Blaine Boyer and outfielder Ryan Church.
Dodgers: Non-tendered catcher Russell Martin, reliever George Sherrill and outfielder Trent Oeltjen.
Giants: Avoided arbitration with infielder Mike Fontenot and non-tendered reliever Chris Ray and outfielder Eugenio Velez.
Indians: Avoided arbitration with pitcher Jensen Lewis (one year, $650,000).
Mariners: Non-tendered pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith and signed pitcher Erik Bedard to a non-guaranteed one year deal.
Marlins: Avoided arbitration with pitcher Burke Badenhop and non-tendered catcher Ronny Paulino and pitcher Jose Veras.
Mets: Non-tendered pitchers John Maine and Sean Green and first baseman Chris Carter.
Nationals: Avoided arbitration with catcher Jesus Flores and infielder Alberto Gonzalez and non-tendered catcher Wil Nieves and pitchers Joel Peralta and Chien-Ming Wang.
Orioles: Non-tendered reliever Matt Albers.
Pirates: Avoided arbitration with pitcher Jeff Karstens ($1.1 million) and non-tendered outfielder Lastings Milledge, pitchers Brian Burres and Donnie Veal and shortstop Argenis Diaz.
Rangers: Non-tendered pitcher Dustin Nippert.
Rays: Non-tendered pitchers J.P. Howell and Lance Cormier, infielder Willy Aybar and catcher Dioner Navarro.
Red Sox: Re-signed catcher Jason Varitek to a one year, $2 million deal.
Rockies: Acquired infielder Jose Lopez from the Mariners for a minor leaguer.
Twins: Avoided arbitration with pitcher Pat Neshek ($625,000) and outfielder Jason Repko ($600,000).
White Sox: Exercised infielder Alexei Ramirez's $2.75 million option for 2011, signed Adam Dunn to a four year, $56 million deal, signed A.J. Pierzynski to a two year, $8 million deal, and non-tendered closer Bobby Jenks.
Yankees: Are expected to sign Mariano Rivera to a two year, $30 million deal.
Today in former Brewers:
- R.J. Swindle has re-signed with the Rays on a minor league deal.
- Seth McClung answered reader questions in his latest post at OnMilwaukee.com.
Each year the Hall of Fame ballot includes a few dozen players, listed alphabetically. That's fine, I guess, but Wezen-ball took a crack at a better format yesterday.
On this day in 1901, the American League dropped the original Milwaukee Brewers, replacing them with the St. Louis Browns.
On this day in 1971, the Brewers traded outfielder Jose Cardenal to the Cubs for pitcher Jim Colborn. Colborn went on to pitch five seasons as a Brewer, winning 20 games and making the All Star team in 1973.
Happy birthday today to:
- AZL Brewer Kevin Berard, who turns 19.
- 2002 Brewer Matt Childers, who turns 32.
- 2004-05 Brewer Gary Glover, who turns 34.
- 1988-95 Brewer Darryl Hamilton, who turns 46.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to brush my teeth.
Drink up.