What we learned this week: December 28, 2013

With the holidays here, it was a quiet week for the Brewers and the site. Take a break from twiddling your thumbs and let them rest while reading about the few things that did happen this week.

Getting nothing is better than getting something.

This may be a bad way to open up a post for those of you who love getting presents, but it can be true. Not all gifts are good. Some of the shiniest toys out there do less than you think, and then break on you after a small amount of use. Brewers fans know this feeling after they got a shiny contract on Christmas Eve 2006, as Jeff Suppan signed with the Brewers. Of course, that gift didn't end up being as good as advertised. Fred Hofstetter looked back at that contract earlier this week, and argued why you should be happy with getting nothing instead of a last-minute present that you will regret.

We never stop saying good-bye.

Despite it being a week of joy, there were two farewells that were said this week. The first of those came on Wednesday, when one of the original Brewers, Mike Hegan, passed away. He had been with the organization when it was founded in Seattle and came to Milwaukee when they moved, then returned after a few seasons with the Athletics. He also holds a spot in Brewers history as the first Brewer to hit for the cycle.

The other goodbye was not said to a person, but to a facility. Candlestick Park, current home of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, hosted it's last sporting event on Monday night. It had also been a baseball facility at one time, and both the Milwaukee Braves and Brewers played some games there. On Friday, Kyle recapped some of Milwaukee's history at Candlestick Park, and had some thoughts about the loss of historic ballparks. While it hasn't been used for baseball in a while, it's another facility that's about to disappear.

Quick Notes

- Long-time Brewers nemesis Rickey Henderson turned 54 on Wednesday.
- The Brewers cleared a spot on the 40-man roster by outrighting Michael Olmsted to Nashville.
- The winter leagues are still going on and morineko has a review of the stats from the week of 12/15.

The Collection of Mugs

12/23/2013: A gift that keeps on giving
12/24/2013: Making room for gifts
12/26/2013: Back to business
12/27/2013: If everything goes right

Test Your Knowledge

The Thursday Thinker: Doing some post-holiday shopping