Friday's Frosty Mug: Moving Day 2

Some things to read while dropping by.

The 2013 post-season roster cleaning took an unexpected turn yesterday afternoon when the Cubs claimed Mat Gamel off waivers. The Brewers had been trying to outright Gamel off the 40-man roster, but were hoping to re-sign him as a minor league free agent this winter.

Being claimed by the Cubs wraps up a pretty strange ride for Gamel as a Brewer. The former top prospect has appeared in 106 games for Milwaukee since 2008 but hit just .229/.305/.367 while moving around between positions and generally failing to gain traction. He hasn't played in a professional game since tearing his ACL the first time early in the 2012 season.

Gamel and Taylor Green were both on waivers at the same time earlier this week, but Green didn't find any takers and was outrighted to AAA (h/t @MikeVasallo13). He has the right to reject the assignment and become a free agent.

Green wasn't the only Brewer outrighted yesterday: The organization also removed outfielder Josh Prince and pitcher Nick Bucci from the 40-man roster (h/t @MikeVassallo13). Neither player is eligible to become a minor league free agent, but both will now be unprotected in this winter's Rule 5 draft.

Health has been the issue for Bucci, a one-time top pitching prospect limited to just two thirds of an inning in 2013 and just eleven professional appearances over the last two seasons. The former 18th round pick in the 2008 draft is still only 23, though.

Prince's prospect status has come full circle in a pretty short period of time. He was relatively unheralded as a minor leaguer before having a huge campaign in the Arizona Fall League a year ago, earning a spot on the 40-man roster and eight games in the big leagues earlier this season, including four games as a pinch runner. He hit just .237/.338/.268 in 115 games for Nashville in 2013, though.

Prince's status in the organization probably wasn't helped by Khris Davis' meteoric rise in 2013. Ryan Connor of Reviewing the Brew has a look at what we can expect from Davis going forward and says, "while Davis' profile is far from the prototypical, the Brewers should be spending 2014 evaluating what they have in him."

As things stand right now Alfredo Figaro projects to be a member of the 2014 Brewers, but a lot can change in a few months. Justin Schultz of Reviewing the Brew gave Figaro a C+ for his first season in Milwaukee.

Earlier this week we learned that the entire 2013 Brewers coaching staff will return for 2014, and this week's Brew Crew Ball Tracking Poll suggests that most of you are ok with that. The poll also shows that we're split as a community between calling 2013 a minor and major failure.

I'm guessing Dave Radcliffe of Yahoo would learn towards the "major" side in that dispute. He has a list of five reasons this season was a failure.

But at least we can all cling to this: James Gentile of The Hardball Times has a list of the 2013 season's most costly errors, and the Brewers are nowhere to be found.

Around baseball:

Cardinals: Claimed outfielder Joey Butler off waivers from the Rangers and designated pitcher Victor Marte for assignment.
Reds: Manager Dusty Baker will not return for the 2014 season.
Royals: Have hired former Cubs manager Dale Sveum for an unspecified coaching position.

The Cardinals won the NL Central (and took a 1-0 lead in the NLDS last night) despite having used 12 different starting pitchers this season. That prompted Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker to take a look at the common belief that you make the playoffs with dependable performances from your rotation.

Today in former Brewers:

• Zack Greinke will be on the mound tonight when the Dodgers look to build upon their 1-0 series lead over the Braves in the NLDS. USA Today captured some classic Greinke moments in a story yesterday, although the best part is well down the page in the "brace for the truth" section. (h/t @jpcadorin)
• Greinke's 2011 teammate Jerry Hairston Jr. is also on the Dodgers, but we won't be seeing him tonight: He's been left off their playoff roster.
• I had almost forgotten that Francisco Rodriguez was a Brewer earlier this season. Camden Chat has a look back at his dreadful run as an Oriole.

If the above story wasn't enough Greinke for you, we've got more in our Tweet of the Day:

Greinke revealed his pregame routine for GM 2: "Wake up, eat breakfast, go to the bathroom, come to the ballpark." #insidebaseball

— Anthony Castrovince (@castrovince) October 3, 2013

And in baseball economics: The Braves hosted their first playoff game of the season last night and drew 43,021 fans, well short of a sellout (h/t @BNightengale). Turner Field holds 49,586, according to Wikipedia.

This really isn't relevant to the Brewers in any way, but today's best infographic comes from Flip Flop Fly Ball and features a look at the various uniforms the Indians wore over the course of the 2013 season. I'd love to see someone do something similar for the 2013 Brewers.

Today In Brewer History was off this morning, but I probably should have written about 1977-80 Brewer Lary Sorensen's 58th birthday. Plunk Everyone notes that his 31 career hit batsmen are the fourth most ever for a pitcher born on October 4.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready for a fight.

Drink up.