Monday's Frosty Mug

Some things to read while celebrating a defunct car manufacturer.

Last night, as the postgame festivities were underway, I received a text from our own SgtClueLs. He also tweeted the contents:

Greinke. It's your turn now. Wisconsin 2011.

This offseason's sudden and dramatic shift in expectations may not be completely fair, but they got ratcheted up again last night and have to be near record highs at this point. Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com has several Brewers' reactions to the Packers winning the Super Bowl.

Before the Brewers can start work on the Wisconsin dynasty, though, they have some contract issues to resolve. They're running out of time to reach a deal with Shaun Marcum, whose arbitration hearing is scheduled for Thursday. The Twins and Francisco Liriano avoided a hearing by agreeing to a one year, $4.3 million contract over the weekend, and Adam McCalvy says that number may be important to Marcum's case. He's asking for $5 million from the Brewers, who countered at $3 million.

Meanwhile, Gord Ash told Tom Haudricourt that the team is not close to a deal with Rickie Weeks. John Sickels of Minor League Ball has a look back at Weeks' career to date.

As you might expect from someone with an investment background, Mark Attanasio's approach to the Brewer budget is both unique and makes a lot of sense: He told Tom Haudricourt he's letting the level of available talent determine the Brewers' budget.

It seems unlikely, though, that he'd be willing to expand the budget enough to retain Prince Fielder. John Linn of the UWM Post says the Brewers don't need to.

He's been bumped from the #1 spot in the rotation, but Yovani Gallardo is still a pretty important part of the Brewers' title hopes in 2011. Vaughn's Valley ranked him #2 on their list of Brewers Critical to 2011 Success.

The Brewers made a couple of minor moves this weekend, signing Rule 5 pick Pat Egan and Mike McClendon to 2011 contracts. Neither player was eligible for arbitration.

Adam McCalvy emptied his inbox over the weekend, answering questions about the Brewers' defense up the middle, Russell Branyan, Brett Lawrie, prospects, Chris Narveson, Manny Parra, Craig Counsell and Geoff Jenkins.

In the minors:

• The Nashville Sounds sat down with Tim Dillard to discuss his offseason routine and his home in Nashville. Dillard is five wins, 100 innings and 90 strikeouts away from being the Sounds' career leader in all three categories.
• BrewerProspects.com has a profile of Eric Arnett.
• The Timber Rattlers closed out season two of The Offseason with some outtakes and commentary.
• Benjamin Hill of MiLB.com noticed that the Brevard County Manatees are promising a special gift to fans who tell them to "Fear the Sea Cow" at an upcoming Tampa Bay Lightning game.

If you made a list of made-up sports holidays in order of relevance, it's possible "Truck Day" would be the least important date on the list. But it's tomorrow, and I'm still excited about it.

I know I promised to stop spending so much time discussing Mark Kotsay, so today I'm limiting myself to one set of bullet points and burying it down here:

• Kotsay told Adam McCalvy he sees the Brewers as a "perfect fit." That probably has something to do with the Brewers being the only team willing to pay him.
• Reliever Roque Mercedes was designated for assignment to make room for Kotsay (FanShot). It seems unlikely he'll be claimed off waivers, but you never know.
• Tommy Rancel of FanGraphs doesn't understand how Kotsay got a major league deal while Jim Edmonds got an NRI.
  

Around baseball:

Cardinals: Signed Jim Edmonds to a minor league deal (FanShot).
Dodgers: Signed pitcher Ron Mahay to a minor league deal.
Mariners: Signed outfielder Gabe Gross to a minor league deal.
Nationals: Signed pitcher J.D. Martin, catcher Carlos Maldonado, first baseman Kevin Barker and outfielder Laynce Nix to minor league deals.
Orioles: Signed DH Vladimir Guerrero to a one year, $8 million deal.
Rays: Signed pitcher Juan Cruz to a minor league deal.
Red Sox: Signed pitcher Dennys Reyes to a minor league deal.
Royals: Signed third baseman Pedro Feliz to a minor league deal.
White Sox: Signed outfielder Lastings Milledge to a minor league deal.
Yankees: Signed third baseman Eric Chavez and infielder Ronnie Belliard to minor league deals.

One of today's former Brewer notes got me thinking a bit: Royally Speaking is predicting Alcides Escobar will be the 13th Royal shortstop to steal 20 or more bases in a season. Only three Brewers have done it:

Player	Season	SB
Pat Listach	1992	54
Rick Auerbach	1972	24
Robin Yount	1980	20

Elsewhere in former Brewer notes:

• Gregg Zaun, Felipe Lopez, Laynce Nix, Gabe Kapler, Jeff Suppan and Dana Eveland made Dave Cameron of FanGraphs' All-Minor League Contract Team.
• Scott Podsednik made Satchel Price of Beyond the Box Score's list of six interesting free agents.
• Julio Franco is spending the winter managing in Venezuela and hopes to do it in the big leagues someday.

Here's another interesting historical note: With Andy Pettitte's retirement and Jamie Moyer sitting out 2011, Aaron Gleeman of Hardball Talk noted that no active pitchers have 200 wins, and only eight have 150.

Today's most interesting graphic is linked over at Halos Heaven: It's a heat map showing the birthplaces of US-born major leaguers since 1964.

Here are some other notes tied to yesterday's big game:

• Wezen-Ball has a look at the history of baseball in Green Bay.
• Jaymes Langrehr of The Brewers Bar has a look at the Brewer lineup the last time the Packers made the Super Bowl.

You can file this note under "jokes I couldn't resist:" A vandal spray painted the plaque below Harry Caray's statue outside Wrigley Field this weekend. Here's what the Chicago Tribune says they wrote:

Someone spray painted the words "Sox" on the base, as well as a second, not-quite-intelligible word.

I'm not certain, but it's possible "Sox (something unintelligible)" was actually a direct quote from Caray.

With help from Brewerfan.net and the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday to:

• Helena Brewer Seth Lintz, who turns 21 today.
• 2007-09 Brewer Seth McClung, who turns 30 today.
• 1985 Brewer Carlos Ponce, who turns 52 today.
• Helena Brewer Carlos George, who turned 22 on Sunday.
• 2003 Brewer Peter Zoccolillo, who turned 34 on Sunday.
• Green Bay native and 1996-00 Brewer Bob Wickman, who turned 42 on Sunday.
• Helena Brewer Gerald Ogrinc, who turned 23 on Saturday.
• 1954-65 Milwaukee Brave and 1975-76 Brewer Hank Aaron, who turned 77 on Saturday.
• 2004 and 2006 Brewer Ben Hendrickson, who turned 30 on Friday.
• 1986-92 Brewer Dan Plesac, who turned 49 on Friday.
• 1982-83 Brewer Rob Picciolo, who turned 58 on Friday.
• 1977 Brewer Steve Brye, who turned 62 on Friday.

Plesac's birthday was also celebrated at Baseball Digest.

Finally, here's a quick piece of history for today: On this day in 2008, I authored a FanPost titled "Thursday morning reads." It was awful, but people read it anyway so I produced another one the next day and the Frosty Mug was born. Today my writing is still occasionally awful (but less so, I hope), and I'm celebrating my three year Mugiversary. Thank you to all of you who read and comment on it: You're the ones that make this job fun.

And yes, I am left-handed.

Drink up.