Monday's Frosty Mug: Evaluating Starting Pitchers

Some things to read while checking your symptoms.

This morning's top story is another look back at the 2012 season: Benjamin Orr of Reviewing the Brew has report card for the Brewers' 2012 starting pitchers. He gives Yovani Gallardo an A- and Marco Estrada a B, but lists Mike Fiers as a C+ following his sudden emergence into the rotation.

Fiers is one of five players on the ballot for the #5 spot in our MVBrewer rankings, but as of this writing Norichika Aoki holds a slight lead over Jonathan Lucroy. Voting will remain open until 1:30 today, and the winner will be unveiled at 2. Corey Hart won the #4 spot on Friday, and you can see his profile here.

Elsewhere in valuable Brewers, the Catlantis has profiled Aramis Ramirez as only they can.

Determining the future of Travis Ishikawa is one of several decisions the Brewers will have to make in the coming months. Ishikawa is eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter, and Colin Bennett of Reviewing the Brew has a look at his case.

Today in free agency:

• The Baseball Historian is predicting the Brewers will re-sign Zack Greinke this winter.
• Meanwhile, Nick Nelson of Twins Daily wonders if Minnesota could sign Greinke.
• Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs wants to know what you think Alex Gonzalez could get as a free agent this winter.

Meanwhile, the Brewers kept reliever Jesus Sanchez from becoming a free agent by adding him to the 40 man roster last week. Colin Bennett of Reviewing the Brew has a profile of the newest Brewer.

In the minors:

• It's still early, but so far the biggest surprise of winter ball might be Brewer infielder/outfielder Josh Prince, who is hitting .391/.481/.391 with four stolen bases for Phoenix in the AFL. Zack Cox of MLB.com has a story on Prince excelling in a leadoff role. Prince had three hits on Saturday, when Seedlings to Stars named him the league's Player of the Day.
• Peter Wardell of Baseball America notes that as many as 76 current AFL players could be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter, although many will be added to 40 man rosters between now and then.
• The Brevard County Manatees announced that they will have live audio broadcasts available for all of their 2013 home games and select road games for the first time since 2007.

We know the Brewers won't be there, but we're still planning on holding a BCB meetup to watch Game One of the World Series at The Tracks Tavern and Grill in Milwaukee on Wednesday. Make plans to join us and RSVP today, if you haven't already. Please let us know if you're planning on attending, as we're trying to get a rough head count.

Around baseball:

Astros: Hired former Orioles manager Dave Trembley and former Marlins hitting coach John Mallee for their 2013 coaching staff.
Athletics: Acquired outfielder Chris Young from the Diamondbacks for shortstop Cliff Pennington and a minor leaguer and announced that pitcher Jeremy Accardo has refused an outright assignment and is now a free agent.
Diamondbacks: Acquired reliever Heath Bell from the Marlins for a minor leaguer, exercised reliever J.J. Putz's $6.5 million contract option for 2013 and designated pitcher Takashi Saito for assignment.
Rangers: Hired former Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan to fill the same role for them.
Red Sox: Hired former Blue Jays manager John Farrell as their new manager and acquired pitcher David Carpenter from Toronto for shortstop Mike Aviles.

The playoffs continued over the weekend as the Giants beat the Cardinals Friday night in St. Louis and again last night in San Francisco to force a winner-take-all Game 7 tonight. Bob Nightengale of USA Today notes that the Giants are 5-0 in elimination games this postseason, but 1-5 in all other games.

Rain has also been a factor in this postseason, as there was an extended delay in an NLCS game in St. Louis and a postponement of an ALCS game in Detroit. There's also rain in the forecast in San Francisco today, but it looks like they'll be able to get the game in.

Just a few days after taking a 3-1 lead in the series it could all be over tonight for new Cardinals manager and former Brewer Mike Matheny. Adam McCalvy remembers the time Matheny was hit in the face by a pitch, didn't fall down and was back in the lineup the next day.

If you've watched more than an inning or so of the 2012 postseason, odds are you've seen a State Farm commercial with former Cubs reliever Kerry Wood pulling Andre Dawson out of the ivy at Wrigley Field. Mike Bernadino of the Chicago Sun Sentinel talked to Dawson about the renewed fame the Hall of Fame outfielder has gotten from the spot.

In baseball economics:

• The Mariners went 75-87 in 2012, have gone 349-461 over the last five seasons and haven't made the playoffs since 2001, but they're raising season ticket prices for almost all seats next season.
  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to Google the answer.

Drink up.