Thursday's Frosty Mug: Still Off The Marcum

Some things to read while athletes disappoint you.

We're 41 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Maryvale, and if many of you had your way Shaun Marcum would be one of those in attendance. This week's BCB Tracking Poll showed that about 75% of you would approve if the Brewers brought Marcum back for 2013, although nearly half of you would only take him on a one-year deal. Fellow free agent Joe Saunders and new Indian Brett Myers each drew significantly less positive reactions.

Meanwhile, Marcum is one of several pitchers that have been linked to the Mets. At that link Matthew Cerrone says league insiders have told him Marcum may have to take a one-year deal due to health concerns, and Joe Saunders is "sitting on more than one two-year offer."

Ryan Braun faced a difficult challenge in an attempt to overcome adversity in 2012 and handled it well, nearly repeating as NL MVP and silencing many of his critics. Dakota Schmidt of The Brewers Bar has a post on how Braun stood tall during a turbulent season.

Most of you know I'm not much of a soccer fan, but I still think this effort to translate the Brewer uniform to a soccer kit turned out a pretty cool result. Meanwhile, the Catlantis also has an attempt to forge a new logo complete with a cameo appearance by Rickie Weeks. You can see all five of Jess' logo redesigns here.

Elsewhere in uniform notes, Kevin Kimmes of Cream City Cables has a look at the Brewers that have worn #2. I think Jose Valentin was probably the best one.

In the minors: The Brewers added some veteran depth yesterday by signing two players likely ticketed for Nashville. Shortstop Ozzie Chavez is an eleven-year professional who the Brewers initially signed as an international free agent in 2001, and outfielder Rene Tosoni is a 26-year-old former Twins farmhand with a .262/.348/.398 career batting line.

Around baseball:

Giants: Signed pitcher Scott Proctor to a minor league deal.
Indians: Claimed 1B/OF Russ Canzler off waivers from the Blue Jays and designated pitcher Jeanmar Gomez for assignment.

Today in former Brewers:

• Chris Jensen, author of Baseball State By State, stopped by yesterday to name Jim Gantner Wisconsin's all-time best January-born player as part one of a 12-part series.
• Hank Aaron is the only former Brewer, but as you might expect there are lots of former Milwaukee Braves on Tomahawk Take's Braves All-Decade Team for the 1960's.
• Ted Simmons, Willie Randolph, Jimmy Wynn and Dave Parker (and former Milwaukee Brave Joe Torre) made Baseball Past and Present's 2013 list of the 50 best players not in the Hall of Fame.

Today in baseball economics: The Reds' new contracts with outfielder Ryan Ludwick and third baseman Jack Hannahan are both heavily backloaded and contain money deferred without interest to limit the team's short-term financial obligations.

As Opening Day approaches we're ready for projection season. FanGraphs has opened up their system for you to make your predictions for the 2013 season.

It's not really relevant to anything we usually talk about here, but my favorite read from today is David Brown of Yahoo's look at the effort to expand the game of baseball in Jamaica. There have been a handful of Jamaican-born major leaguers over the years, including former Brewer Devon White.

This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History marks the 18th anniversary of the Pirates selecting (but not signing) Sacramento City College outfielder Greg Vaughn, who would go on to be drafted five times before signing with the Brewers. Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that it's also been 6000 days since the Brewers traded Vaughn to the Padres.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see if plate #2 is still available.

Drink up.