Thursday's Frosty Mug: Another Day's Brewer News, Links And Notes

Some things to read while learning your lesson.

The Brewers have been awful lately but at least we can count on some changes today: Late last night Brewer minor leaguer Darren Byrd tweeted that former teammate and veteran minor league reliever Jim Henderson was on his way to Milwaukee and will join the team today (FanShot). Henderson is 29 years old and is in his tenth professional season, but if he pitches tonight it will be his major league debut. He's posted a 1.69 ERA and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings as Nashville's closer this season.

In addition to Henderson, the Brewers will also be reinstating Jonathan Lucroy from the DL tonight. Lucroy went 3-for-4 and scored three runs for Nashville on Tuesday before going 0-for-3 with an HBP last night, and tweeted this morning that he was waiting for an airplane to Milwaukee. The Brewers will need to open up two spots on the 25 man roster to make room for him and Henderson.

Back on the field, Miller Park Drunk is shoveling dirt on the 2012 season following an 0-6 road trip that concluded with another blown save and another 7-6 loss to the Phillies yesterday. We've got the recap, if you missed it.

My favorite moment from yesterday's game came in the early innings, when Carlos Gomez lined a ball foul down the left field line and ran nearly the full distance around the bases before realizing it wasn't a home run. Baseball Nation has video of the event. Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus timed Gomez's would-be trot at 18.75 seconds.

Gomez's homer would have been his third in as many days. Here are the Brewer home run trots and distances from Monday and Tuesday:

Day	Player	Reported Distance	Hit Tracker Distance	Trot Time
Tuesday	Zack Greinke	375 feet	392 feet	24.91 seconds
Tuesday	Ryan Braun	433 feet	431 feet	22.45 seconds
Tuesday	Aramis Ramirez	385 feet	406 feet	24.23 seconds
Tuesday	Carlos Gomez	382 feet	405 feet	18.69 seconds
Monday	Carlos Gomez	None	404 feet	21.94 seconds

Greinke's trot was the slowest of the day Tuesday.

The Brewers lost yesterday despite a big game from Rickie Weeks, who had four hits and was hit by a pitch in the same game for just the eighth time in franchise history. He also did it in his last four hit game on August 15, 2010. Amazingly enough, the Brewers lost both games.

Other notes from the field:

• Weeks' HBP yesterday was the 102nd of his career, moving him into a tie for 70th on the all time list. Plunk Everyone has more.
• Norichika Aoki didn't play yesterday but it was just a normal off day.
• We've got a look at the game's turning points and a transcript from Ron Roenicke's postgame press conference.
• Yesterday's game was Christmas in July at Citizens Bank Park.

The Brewers are losers of six straight games for the first time this season, but the good news is that they're back home tonight. The bad news is that they're hosting the NL's best and hottest team, the Washington Nationals. Zack Meisel has the MLB.com preview, and noted leisured gentleman Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs gave tonight's Yovani Gallardo/Edwin Jackson matchup a four out of ten on his NERD scale.

The Brewers have an interesting decision to make in their bullpen before tonight's game. Jake Kaplan of MLB.com notes that John Axford pitched two scoreless innings again yesterday and is working his way back into the closer role.

Jeff Bianchi was robbed of a hit in his lone at bat Wednesday and is now 0-for-12 as a Brewer. Ryan Kartje of FS Wisconsin has a story on Bianchi finally getting a chance in the big leagues.

Zack Greinke had a huge day Tuesday, reigniting interest in him on the trade market. Here are today's Greinke/trade market notes:

• Todd Rosiak (behind the JS paywall) quotes Greinke as saying "I really don't look forward to being traded."
• A Phillies official reported that 20 scouts were in attendance for Tuesday's game.
• Doug Melvin appeared on WTMJ this morning and admitted that the team is "taking phone calls" on Greinke.
• Tom Haudricourt is still hearing that the Rangers, Angels, Braves and White Sox are interested, while the Dodgers could be too.
• MLB Trade Rumors has a look at some of the players the Brewers are rumored to be looking to acquire.
• Jon Heyman is reporting that the Brewers' current asking price for Greinke is very high, but one executive said "the Brewers would 'get more realistic' as the deadline draws nearer."
• Jon Morosi of Fox Sports says Greinke's strong outing "renewed interest" in his services.
• This week's BCB Tracking Poll shows that 45% of voters expected Greinke's Tuesday start to be his last as a Brewer.
• Jon Heyman is quoting an NL exec as saying he expects the Brewers to keep Corey Hart.
• Heyman also says the Nationals could use a catcher like George Kottaras.
• Danny Knobler of CBS says the Giants were interested in Francisco Rodriguez until they saw him pitch this week.

A big part of the reason the Brewers are selling at the trade deadline is a terrible performance from a bullpen that now leads the NL in blown saves. Ryan Smith of Cream City Cables compared the 2012 relievers to the worst bullpens of all time.

Shaun Marcum's injury situation also isn't helping. He threw a bullpen session Tuesday and Ron Roenicke was pleased with the outing but the team still hasn't announced their plans for him going forward.

Aramis Ramirez went 0-for-5 and left seven men on base yesterday but entered the game hitting .351/.398/.545 in July. He's moved all the way up to second on Justin Hull of Losers Bracket's Brewer Player Power Rankings.

In the minors:

• Tom Haudricourt notes that Brandon Kintzler has gone ten straight outings without allowing a run for Huntsville.
• Huntsville manager Darnell Coles will serve as the hitting coach for the Arizona Fall League's Phoenix Desert Dogs this October. The team will be comprised of minor leaguers from the A's, Braves, Brewers, Marlins and Rays organizations.
• Bob Brainerd of Time Warner Cable Sports 32 has a profile of Wisconsin outfielder Max Walla, and the Appleton Post Crescent has a profile of fellow Wisconsin outfielder Lance Roenicke.
• Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has interviews with Jonathan Lucroy and Sounds pitching coach Fred Dabney.

If you'd like more Brewer coverage today but you're sick of reading, I appeared yesterday on "From The Phans" on CBS Radio in Philadelphia. The archived audio is available here.

Finally, congratulations are due out this morning to MadtownTim, yesterday's winner in our SB Nation Pick 6 contest. Here's the full leaderboard:

Rank	Player	Points
1	MadtownTim	80.2
2	brewcrew.fan03	78.7
3	Badger Boy in Vail	73.5
4	gobrew23	63.5
5	MisterInformative	61.5
6	Megalomaniac	60.0
7	takeapitchcarlos	59.3
8	bfarr112	56.5
9	Uhhhhdel	54.5
10	Mike2k33	53.5

Today's action starts at 11:35, so you're running out of time to make your picks for today. And, of course, a new series brings a new set of Prognostikeggers.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Placed catcher J.P. Arencibia on the DL with a broken hand.
Cardinals: Designated pitcher Chuckie Fick for assignment.
Dodgers: Acquired infielder Hanley Ramirez and reliever Randy Choate from the Marlins for pitcher Nathan Eovaldi and a minor leaguer.
Indians: Acquired infielder Brent Lillibridge from the Red Sox for a minor league pitcher and designated outfielder Aaron Cunningham for assignment.
Phillies: Signed pitcher Cole Hamels to a six year, $144 million contract extension.
Pirates: Acquired pitcher Wandy Rodriguez from the Astros for three minor leaguers.
Rays: Acquired third basebal Ryan Roberts from the Diamondbacks for a minor leaguer and designated DH Hideki Matsui for assignment.
Rockies: Placed first baseman Jason Giambi on the DL with a viral infection.
Yankees: Placed third baseman Alex Rodriguez on the DL with a fractured hand.

With the Rodriguez move done, the Astros have successfully traded all five of their highest paid players from the Opening Day roster.

Meanwhile, the Ryan Dempster saga continues. Carson Cistulli of NotGraphs captured audio of Bob Uecker and Joe Block revealing the real reason for the delay during Tuesday's game.

In baseball economics: Ichiro's trade from the Mariners to the Yankees this week created a mad dash for his Mariner merchandise in Japan. I doubt that will happen when/if Zack Greinke is traded.

Today in former Brewers:

• Jason Kendall has called off his comeback attempt and will retire. He was in AA with the Royals after missing most of the last two years due to injury.
• Francisco Cordero blew his first two save opportunities after joining the Astros.
• 1994 Brewer Brian Harper is managing Daytona in the Florida State League (his tenth managerial season) and will be a hitting coach in the AFL.
• Richard Barbieri of The Hardball Times has CC Sabathia as a starting pitcher on his All July Birthday team.
  

This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History marks Mat Gamel's 27th birthday. It's also 1994 Brewer Jody Reed's 50th birthday, and Plunk Everyone notes that his 30 career HBP are the third most ever for a player born on July 26.

Now, if you'll excuse me, none of these fit.

Drink up.