Wednesday's Frosty Mug: Five New Brewers

Some things to read while replacing your lost hat.

Yesterday was the deadline for teams to add minor league players to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, and the Brewers loaded up by adding five players for the first time: Pitchers Nick Bucci and Hiram Burgos, outfielder Khris Davis, infielder Scooter Gennett and recent AFL standout Josh Prince. Noah has more on all five players in his recap of the move last night.

By virtue of being added to the roster, all five players will be in major league camp next spring. None are likely to win a job on the Opening Day roster, though, and all five have three minor league options remaining.

Meanwhile, reliever and recent free agent signee Zack Kroenke is not on the 40-man roster and is not expected to be invited to major league camp, but his agent Joshua Kusnick says he'd bet money Kroenke will be in Milwaukee sometime during the 2013 season.

Kameron Loe, however, probably won't be back in Milwaukee. We profiled the workhorse reliever yesterday in the day's installment of Lesser Brewers. That series is off this afternoon and will return either later this week or early next.

Now that the most recent roster deadline has passed, it's possible we won't see a lot of Brewer transaction news until the Winter Meetings December 3-6 in Nashville. Nick Michalski of The Brewers Bar is encouraging Doug Melvin to wait for better deals to come to him.

Since we've got some time to kill while waiting for more transactions, maybe we can debate Ryan Braun's NL MVP second place finish? Braun told Adam McCalvy the voters got it right when they picked Giants catcher Buster Posey.

Carlos Gomez had a career year in 2012, but can he parlay it into continued success in what's likely to be even more playing time in 2013? Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker penned an open letter to Gomez yesterday.

If you'd like some Gomez memorabilia, you might be able to find it when the Brewers hold their annual clubhouse sale on November 30 and December 1. I've never been, but I know some of you go every year.

Around baseball:

Athletics: Designated infielder Brandon Hicks and pitcher Jim Miller for assignment.
Blue Jays: Designated pitcher Cory Wade, infielder Mike McCoy and first baseman Mike McDade for assignment.
Cubs: Acquired pitcher Barret Loux and a PTBNL from the Rangers for a minor league pitcher and designated first baseman Bryan LaHair for assignment.
Diamondbacks: Acquired pitcher Matt Reynolds from the Rockies for infielder Ryan Wheeler.
Indians: Designated pitcher Fabio Martinez for assignment and signed outfielders Matt Carson and Cedric Hunter to minor league deals.
Mariners: Designated infielder Chone Figgins and outfielder Scott Cousins for assignment and acquired infielder Robert Andino from the Orioles for outfielder Trayvon Robinson.
Mets: Signed outfielder Jamie Hoffmann and pitchers Scott Rice and Carlos Torres to minor league deals.
Padres: Designated pitcher Cory Burns for assignment.
Red Sox: Designated third baseman Danny Valencia, infielder Ivan De Jesus and pitchers Sandy Rosario, David Carpenter and Zach Stewart for assignment.
Royals: Designated pitchers Vin Mazzaro, Ryan Verdugo and Chris Volstad, catchers Brayan Pena and Adam Moore, infielder Clint Robinson and outfielder Derrick Robinson for assignment and signed pitcher Jeremy Guthrie to a three year, $25 million deal.
Tigers: Released outfielder Ryan Raburn.
Yankees: Claimed pitcher Mickey Storey off waivers from the Astros, signed pitcher David Herndon to a minor league deal and re-signed pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to a one year, $15 million deal.

Fans who consistently watched the 2012 Brewers may not believe this, but Glenn DuPaul of The Hardball Timesmakes a strong case that relief pitching across baseball has improved significantly over the past few years. Runs allowed per nine innings by relievers was under 4 last season for the first time in half a decade.

If you're a cynical baseball fan who thinks all these guys are just in it for the money and don't care about the fans, Ichiro remains a counterargument to your theory. Big League Stew has a great story on the gifts he recently sent out to the woman who ran the "Ichimeter" in right field during the Japanese outfielder's tenure in Seattle.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm done making things.

Drink up.