Friday's Frosty Mug: Responding to a rumor

Some things to read while deciding how to welcome your new insect overlords...err...guest Frosty Mug writer.

We're 84 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Maryvale and something good has come from the silly rumor started earlier this week.  Doug Melvin spoke with Tom Haudricourt yesterday and had a few interesting things to say.  The first (and not so interesting) thing he mentioned to Tom Haudricourt was that there was "absolutely nothing" to the rumor and he told Haudricourt that the Brewers were contacted by "four or five clubs" about Braun's availability, but the Brewers had not contacted anyone.

Melvin also told Haudricourt that he had met with Braun last weekend and discussed the possibility of moving Braun from left field to right field.  He didn't give any specifics about the rationale behind the move, but said that Braun was receptive to the idea.

On the heels of Haudricourt's talk with Melvin, Adam McCalvy reports Braun was first approached about the move to right field by manager Ron Roenicke a month ago.  Roenicke said a move to right field for Braun would be more about the long-term benefits than the short-term benefits.

While Braun may be unsure of his position next season, most are certain he will be in his customary third spot in the batting order.  Over at Disciples of Uecker, Nicholas Zettel examines what Brewers fans should expect with Braun and Aramis Ramirez presumably returning to third and fourth in the Brewers lineup.

After an up-and-down 2013 season, Brewers fans likely have no idea what to expect out of 23-year-old Johnny Hellweg next season.  Kyle took a look at his year yesterday as part of our player-by-player look back at the 2013 season.  Check back this afternoon to see who we're profiling today.

Brandon at Fangraphs Community Research dissected the effect of "devastating blown saves", which he characterized as any game in which a team blows a lead in the ninth and then goes on to lose.  He didn't find much correlation between devastating blown saves and a team's momentum going forward, but he did find that the Brewers are leading the league since 2000 in devastating blown saves with 63.

In the minors:

• No Brewers took part in Winter League action on Thursday.
• Over at Reviewing the Brew, they brought together the roundtable to discuss Brewers prospects that might surprise fans in the upcoming season.  There weren't really many prospects that they thought could surprise fans, but they were very excited about Jimmy Nelson next season.
• Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio takes a look back at the jerseys the Timber Rattlers sported on Mother's Day in 2010.  1975 Astros jerseys + Mother's Day colorway = pretty slick jerseys.

Around baseball:

Sad news last night as MLB players' union leader Michael Weiner passed away from an inoperable brain tumor.  Weiner made his cancer public 15 months ago, but continued working up until this summer when he was forced to step down as his health deteriorated.  There were many touching pieces written about him last night, but here are just a few from Jerry Crasnick, Ken Rosenthal, and Tyler Kepner.

Diamondbacks: Hired Dave Duncan as special assistant to the general manager and pitching consultant.

Mets: Signed outfielder Chris B. Young to a one-year deal and right-handed pitcher Miguel Socolovich to a minor league deal.

Phillies: Hired Bob McClure to be pitching coach after the position remained vacant for seven months.

Royals: Signed pitcher Jason Vargas to a 4 year, $32 million deal.  To make room for him on the 40-man roster, the Royals designated former Brewer George Kottaras for assignment.

Tigers: Avoided arbitration with left-handed reliever Phil Coke and signed him to a one-year contract with a base salary of $1.9 million.

Since collecting weird memorabilia is something that people do now, Gillette announced that they will be auctioning off "beard balls" of Red Sox players for charity.  These "beard balls" are made with bits of real beard from David Ortiz and Shane Victorino.  So you know they're good.

Today in former Brewers:

• The Twins are interested in adding free agent Chris Capuano after he recorded a 4-7 record with a 4.26 ERA for the Dodgers this past season.
• Jerry Crasnick tweets that there are multiple scouts keeping a close eye on Chris Narveson as he attempts to get healthy and prove his worth this offseason.