Wednesday's Frosty Mug: We Need A Little Greinkemas

Some things to read while doing the next best thing.

The Brewers are bringing back 2012's full major league coaching staff for 2013, and for the most part that lack of change will also extend to the minors. The Brewers announced next season's minor league coaches yesterday and nearly all of last year's staff returns in the same role. Follow that link for quotes from Wisconsin manager and Appleton native Matt Erickson on getting to spend another season close to home.

Meanwhile, in free agency:

• Reports indicate the market is down to two teams for Edwin Jackson, and the Brewers aren't one of them.
• Bill Ladson of MLB.com has a list of five teams rumored to be in on reliever J.P. Howell, and the Brewers aren't there either.
• Jose Veras has signed a one year, $1.85 million deal with the Astros.

If the Brewers don't make a move to bring in another starting pitcher, they'll almost certainly have to rely heavily on Mike Fiers in the 2013 rotation. Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker has a look at Fiers' release point and how it may have changed as the season went along in 2012.

Corey Hart's power stroke, however, remained consistent as he hit 30 home runs for the second time in three seasons. One of those homers was the longest of his career and the fourth longest hit by a Brewer in 2012.

In the minors:

• Martin Maldonado was one of five Brewers in action in the Caribbean last night and had a pair of hits in Mayaguez's 7-2 win over Ponce. You can read about that and more in today's Winter League Recap.
• The Janesville Gazette's "Peace and Glove" blog has a Twitter interview with 2012 Wisconsin and Brevard County reliever Tommy Toledo.
• 2011 36th round pick Mitch Conner took to Twitter yesterday to announce his retirement due to shoulder issues. Conner missed the entire 2012 season due to injury.
• The Brewers have reportedly signed Dominican outfielder Geraldy Martinez for $50,000.

Around baseball:

Indians: Designated 1B/OF Russ Canzler for assignment.
Mets: Acquired outfielder Collin Cowgill from the Athletics for a minor leaguer.

In former Brewers: Charlie O'Brien, Troy O'Leary, Jeff D'Amico, J.J. Hardy and B.J. Surhoff are among the players honored on Value Over Replacement Grit's "All-Punctuation Mark" Team.

Today in baseball economics: Ballpark revenues at Citi Field in New York have fallen steadily each year since the park opened in 2009, and were down to $118.6 million in 2012. The Mets drew 2.2 million fans this season. (h/t MetsBlog)

Today's most interesting sabermetric study comes from Matthew Carruth of FanGraphs, who looks at how baseball's strike zone changes based on the hitter's handedness and count. The change is really pretty notable.

There's so much history today we're going to have to break out the bullet points:

• This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History marks eleven-year Brewer Bill Wegman's 50th birthday.
• Today is, as noted above, also the second anniversary of the 2010 trade that brought Zack Greinke to Milwaukee. We covered that event in Today In Brewer History last year.
• Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that it's also Mike Fetters and Russell Branyan's birthday.
• Finally, Plunk Everyone notes that Branyan and James Mouton are among the top five most-plunked batters born on December 19.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find my camera.

Drink up.