What We Learned: One more day to go

Links from BCB

• The countdown to Opening Day is at 46 days, and camp opens tomorrow. Today's countdown post focuses on #46 Corey Knebel.
• One publication has been more positive about the Brewers than everyone else. Kyle notes that PECOTA predicts a 77 win season for the Brewers, but also gives reasons to not be that optimistic.
• There's still a few hours left to vote for the Brewers #14 prospect. Currently, Monte Harrison has a slight lead of Demi Orimoloye for the spot.

Other Brewers News and Notes

• Continuing in his series of stories prior to spring training, Adam McCalvy lists his projections for the team coming out of camp. Predictions include the batting order, rotation, and bullpen.
• With nine trades done this offseason, Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker evaluates the trades, giving each a grade and evaluating them all as a whole.
• Ariel Pena isn't getting much love this offseason, and there are good reasons for that. He's not as high on the depth charts for various reasons. However, Seth Victor of BP Milwaukee notes that Ariel Pena has done one thing very well in the majors: his swing and miss rate.
• David Schoenfield of ESPN SweetSpot previews spring training with a list of non-roster names to watch in the National League. For the Brewers, Chris Capuano and Will Middlebrooks are his names to watch.
• The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's spring training blog is starting back up. They have an introductory post for the season, introducing this year's writers.

Around Baseball

• Eleven more teams begin their spring training sessions today. Here are the teams reporting today: Angels, Astros, Nationals, Orioles, Padres, Rangers, Red Sox, Reds, Royals, Tigers, and Yankees.
• As camps open, there are still a significant number of free agents on the market. Mike Bates of SB Nation says there is a good reason why they aren't signed: They aren't good enough.
• Several players signed contract extensions early in their careers for security. By doing that, many left money on the table. Craig Edwards of FanGraphs predicts that teams have saved over $500 million through early contract extensions.
• At least one baseball writer is being realistic entering the season. David Schoenfield of ESPN SweetSpot explains why his predictions will be wrong once the season ends.
• Dustin Mazurek of Miller Park Prospects takes a look at the rival rankings of the Cardinals and their top ten prospects.
• The final arbitration case was settled as the Rockies signed second baseman DJ LeMahieu to a two-year, $7.8 million contract. Players ended up winning arbitration cases this year by a 3-1 record.
• The Nationals signed reliever Matt Belisle to a minor-league contract with an invite to spring training.