SB Nation - Jose Ascanio

Ryan Doumit an option in Toronto?

Eli Greenspan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:42:08 -0000

The Pirates reportedly are very willing to move catcher Ryan Doumit, FOXSports.com is reporting. Doumit had a breakout year in 2009 hitting .318 with 15 home runs, but battled injuries in 2009 to hit only .250 in 75 games.

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Ryan Doumit	75	280	31	70	16	0	10	38	20	49	4	0	.250	.299	.414

Doumit will make 3.5 million dollars in 2010 and 5.1 million in 2011, pretty reasonable if he can return to 2008 form.

The Blue Jays could re-sign Rod Barajas as a one year stop gap for catching prospect J.P. Arenciba; however, Arenciba hit .236 with 21 home runs and struck out 114 times to just 26 walks, and needs more seasoning before being expected to play everyday in Toronto. Realistically, he won't be ready to take over until the middle of 2011 or the start of 2012.

Bringing in Doumit to play catcher would be a good stop gap and could provide the Blue Jays with a big bat at a relatively cheap cost. And if Arenciba proves to be ready sooner than expected, then Doumit could be moved to first base or the outfield.

What would it cost the Blue Jays for Doumit? Doumit has only had one season in which he played over 100 games, so the Pirates can't demand too much in return.

The Pirates' bullpen is pretty weak, even if you include injured pitchers Evan Meek and Jose Ascanio in the bullpen. The Blue Jays' bullpen is relatively young and deep, meaning moving one of them in a trade likely wouldn't hurt in the long run.

If the Jays offered Jesse Carlson, they might be able to land the catcher.

At least it's a start.

Pirates Face 40-Man Roster Decisions This Week

Charlie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:00:54 -0000

40-man rosters have to be set by Friday, so expect some fun stuff to happen this week.

The Bucs currently have 36 players on their 40-man roster. That doesn't include Jose Ascanio and Evan Meek, who will both need to be protected by Friday. The Pirates will also have to decide whether to include a number of minor leaguers, any of whom could be selected in the Rule 5 draft in December if they aren't protected:

Brad Lincoln, Gorkys Hernandez, Bryan Morris, Ramon Aguero, Casey Erickson, Michael Dubee, Shelby Ford, Jim Negrych, Kris Watts

Of these, I'd say Lincoln and Hernandez are no-brainers.

Morris is a tricky case; scouts like him a lot and the Pirates certainly paid a pretty penny to get him, but the performance record so far hasn't been there, and it's very hard to see how he could stick on another team's 25-man roster for the entire year.

WTM is a big fan of Aguero, a reliever who spent time with West Virginia, Lynchburg and Altoona last year. Aguero had a nice season in 2009 and has followed that up with a good showing in the Dominican Winter League, but I'm agnostic here. He's almost 25, so he's not a great prospect. Every year the Pirates protect these sorts of marginal pitchers, mostly relievers--Jeff Sues, Dave Davidson, Romulo Sanchez, Luis Munoz, Olivo Astacio, Ronald Belisario, and so on--and never do they seem to get anything out of them. (Ok, Astacio was released because of behavioral issues, and Belisario blossomed with the Dodgers, but still.) The problem with Aguero is that he'd be easier than Morris to hide on a big-league roster for a year, and because he played well this year and has good stuff, there would be reason for a team who selected him to hope he wouldn't end up hurting them too badly. I'd probably protect him, but I don't think we should expect much from him in the long haul.

The other guys, though at least vaguely intriguing, can probably be left off. Erickson is too far from the majors, Dubee doesn't have great stuff, and Ford and Negrych haven't shown enough in the minors. (Negrych might have some vague chance of being taken in the Rule 5 and used as a bench bat.) Watts is only a nominal prospect because he's a catcher.

So let's say three spots will be needed for Lincoln, Hernandez and Aguero, and possibly a fourth for Morris. The Pirates would probably also prefer to leave one spot for their own Rule 5 pick, although they can also dump someone later to make room.

All this means that probably a couple of players will be dumped from the roster this week. Of those, Sues, Anthony Claggett, Justin Thomas, Brian Bixler, and Luis Cruz would all be potential candidates.

Pirates Dump Denny Bautista, Craig Hansen, Chris Bootcheck

Charlie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:22:23 -0000

They're all off the 40-man.

Sorry there's no picture for this post; the only photos that come up in SB Nation's widget when you search for these players' names are shots of hitters homering off them.

Bautista and Bootcheck are no surprise. The big news here is the removal of Hansen, who was one of four players acquired in the Jason Bay deal. Hansen has a nerve disorder that could take years to heal, which is bad enough, but there's also the fact that he was hardly a reliably great pitcher even before that was diagnosed. Perhaps he'll wind up back in the Pirates' minor league system, but they were probably wise to take him off the roster.

These moves should allow the Pirates to move Jose Ascanio and Evan Meek from the 60-day DL back to the 40-man roster. (Hansen was already on the 60-day DL and was not occupying a roster spot; the same is true for Tyler Yates, though I can't imagine he'll be protected.)

The Top 5 White Sox Games of 2009

U-God — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:49:39 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

The Savior wonders if his accomplishments will appear in the list of the season's best games. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

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While the White Sox didn't make the playoffs this year (or finish above .500 for that matter), it never really felt like a chore to watch (at least to me) like 2007 did. Once the season ended (and this lull between playoff rounds began), I started thinking about what games were the best ones from this season. Some caveats: I only went with games we won. I personally don't care much for losses and didn't feel like putting any close, but last second losses in my top 5. Also, this is a pretty subjective exercise, so I don't expect everyone to agree with my choices. Feel free to post your choices in the comments. With that being said, the top 5 games from the 2009 season are after the jump.

5. May 25, @LAA SOX: 17, LAA: 3

The main reason this game makes the cut is the 17 runs were the most the Sox had scored in a game since June 20, 2006. Every starter had a hit, with the Thome, Konerko, and Dye all going yard. The team scored 14 runs through the first five innings, and were only blanked in the sixth and the eighth. The only reason it isn't ranked higher is the game was over by the second inning.

4. April 7, vs. KC SOX: 4, KC:2

Ah, Opening Day. The holiest of all national holidays. We had to wait longer than usual due to a snowout, but the payoff was well worth it. Things looked pretty grim going into the eighth inning, when the worst manager in the AL Central brought in the beloved Kyle Farnsworth. Every now and then, you feel like the baseball game is scripted. When Jim Thome stepped up with two runners on and two outs, it felt like everyone watching knew what would happen next. The season had so much promise back then.

3. April 13, @ DET SOX: 10, DET: 6

While the game itself was fairly unspectacular, the second inning alone insured that it would appear on this list. Leading off, Jermaine Dye would take Zach Miner deep to left-center at 12:23 P.M. for his 300th career homerun. Exactly three minutes later, Paul Konerko would blast one past the left field fence for his 300th as well. This marked the first time in MLB history that two teammates had hit century milestone homeruns back to back. The White Sox even had 7,000 little commemerative figures with a base made to honor the accomplishment (number 4,036 sits proudly on my desk). A normal enough game, but the history makes it pretty special in my eyes.

2. June 27, vs. CHC SOX: 8, CHC: 7

The complete opposite of a pitcher's duel, but an incredibly fun back-and-forth battle throughout gets this game the number two spot on the list. The lead changed hands four times before the Pale Hose tied it up in the eighth on an Alexei Ramirez single. I still remember sitting in left field with my current roommate Dan and wanting the game to come down to Gordon Beckham. Whatever deities may be decided to answer my prayers. With Josh Fields on second and Jayson Nix on first, Gordon Beckham stepped in with two outs. Jose Ascanio's first pitch the the rookie would be crushed into the rightfield gap for our young savior's first walk off hit in the bigs. There was something magical about hearing "Your Love" played before any other victory song.

1. July 23, vs. TB SOX: 5, TB: 0

Was there ever any doubt what game was going to get number one? There have been better articles written than I could ever hope to create. Everything from Fields' grand slam to Wise's miracle catch was fantastic. Even typing this just give me chills. So I'll stop writing about it. Pictures do more justice than I ever could.

Jose Ascanio Has Labrum Surgery

Charlie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:29:46 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

5 months ago: Chicago Cubs pitcher Jose Ascanio touches the dirt on the mound during the ninth inning of an interleague baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Saturday, June 27, 2009. The White Sox won 8-7. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

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Dr. James Andrews performed labrum surgery on Jose Ascanio this morning, the Post-Gazette reports. Ascanio's injury was initially diagnosed as tendinitis and the Pirates had him throwing side sessions with the hope that he'd return in the last week of the season, but we should have known another shoe was going to drop when the Pirates moved him to the 60-day DL last week.

Torn labrums are awful injuries for pitchers, and while the prospects of pitchers who undergo labrum surgery have improved in the past five years or so, it's still a very difficult injury to come back from. All the best to Ascanio in his recovery.

The John Grabow / Tom Gorzelanny deal has gone south quickly. Kevin Hart has mostly pitched poorly, Ascanio is now out, and the third player acquired in the trade, minor league infielder Josh Harrison, posted a .650 OPS at Lynchburg after he arrived. Meanwhile, Grabow has been useful for the Cubs, and Gorzelanny has struck out a batter an inning for them. The Pirates essentially gave up on Gorzelanny in Spring Training this year, but the early indications are that doing so might have been premature.

Bucs Claim Anthony Claggett from Yankees

Charlie — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:32:00 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

Yankees fans mock Claggett, right, after Claggett gives up eight runs against Cleveland on April 18.

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The Pirates have claimed reliever Anthony Claggett, 25, from the Yankees. To make room for him, Jose Ascanio has been moved to the 60-day DL. The Yankees got Claggett in the Gary Sheffield trade with the Tigers a couple years ago. He was, frankly, a big mess for Class AAA Scranton this year--he had a 3.07 ERA, which is fine, but he only struck out 43 batters in 82 innings. Claggett also made a pretty memorable big-league debut earlier this year, allowing a full eight runs in one and two-thirds innings against the Indians April 18.

Claggett has put up stronger strikeout numbers in the past, and he hasn't pitched very long (having grown up as an infielder), so I suppose you could make some case that there's a smidgen of upside here, but his performance record is mediocre and, unlike some of the other head-scratching relief acquisitions Neal Huntington has made, Claggett isn't even supposed to have blazing stuff. He does, however, fit into the Pirates' bizarre trend of grabbing every pitcher they can get their hands on from the high levels of the Yankees system--in addition to Claggett, Ross Ohlendorf, Daniel McCutchen, Jeff Karstens, Eric Hacker and Steven Jackson have all come from there. I like a couple of those pitchers just fine, of course, but the overall pattern is still pretty weird. No harm in it, I suppose, but even in an organization that's starved for relief pitching, this is a pretty bottom-of-the-barrel acquisition.

Daniel McCutchen: It's Time

Charlie — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:19:12 -0000

The Pirates' recent flurry of roster moves (Jose Ascanio has been sent to the DL, Jeff Salazar has been designated for assignment, and Brian Bixler and Denny Bautista have been recalled from Indianapolis) demonstrate that the Bucs badly need relief help right now. There's no indication that Bautista is a legitimate answer; he has a track record of repeated failure in the major leagues, and nothing he's done this year suggests that this time up will be any different. He struck out more than a batter an inning at Indianapolis, true, but he also has walked 34 batters in 48 innings to go along with a 4.88 ERA. He'll also be 29 next week. Even as a placeholder on a floundering team, he's an uninspired choice.

So why not give Dan McCutchen a spot in the 'pen? McCutchen has had an interesting season as a starter for Indianapolis, posting a 3.40 ERA to go with 99 strikeouts in 129.7 innings. More importantly, he's improved to the point of being nearly unhittable over the course of the season--he posted ERAs of 3.74, 4.82 and 4.50 in April, May and June, respectively, but he had a 2.10 ERA in July and now has a 1.35 ERA in August. He has also struck out 36 batters in July and August while walking only four.

There isn't really a rotation spot available for McCutchen right now, but the bullpen is a different story. McCutchen will be 27 in September, so there's no good reason to hold him back if he can be better than one or more of the Pirates' current relievers. That is, his upside as a starter isn't so great to worry about using him as a reliever, and he's not so young that the Pirates should be concerned about service time issues. And it isn't as if the Bucs should be thrilled about their current bullpen.

McCutchen still has flaws--his strikeout rate is still a bit low, and he still allows tons of fly balls. (Of course, Bautista allows tons of flies too.) But the bullpen is, ideally, where flawed pitchers should go, because short outings can mask flaws. If an opportunity presents itself later, the Pirates could still move McCutchen back to the rotation, or use him as a spot starter, but why not give him a shot as a reliever now, while there's opportunity?

2009 Big-League Losses: Not a Good Way to Judge Rebuilding Efforts

Charlie — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:43:33 -0000

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

It's not Charlie Morton's fault the Pirates have played badly.

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I thought this bit from Dejan Kovacevic was interesting:

As noted in my Sunday piece, half of the 26 players acquired in Neal Huntington's many recent trades are on the current major league roster. That, obviously, is not all of them, and waiting for top-flight players such as Tim Alderson and Jose Tabata to arrive would be the fairest way to assess those. Still, 13 trade acquisitions is more than half the roster, which means the current roster will have to be something more than an unmitigated disaster for those trades, as a whole, to begin to look good.

Um, why? If the best players acquired in those trades are still in the minors, and if the major league roster has been pretty close to "an unmitigated disaster" for 17 years before the trades, and if most of the players Huntington acquired are young anyway, why should he be held to that standard?

Reading between the lines a little, I assume this line of thinking stems from the Pirates' play since the trades. I don't think Huntington should get a free pass by any stretch, and the Pirates' poor recent play disappoints me too. But it seems strange, in a week where we're getting very good news from the minors on a more or less daily basis, to focus too heavily on a handful of busted games at the major league level.

Of the thirteen Huntington trade acquisitions currently on the 25-man roster, more than half (Charlie Morton, Kevin Hart, Joel Hanrahan, Delwyn Young, Ross Ohlendorf, Ronny Cedeno, Evan Meek) have performed pretty well for the team, and others (Andy LaRoche, Jason Jaramillo, Jeff Karstens) have been at least serviceable. The only ones who have been outright disastrous by any stretch are Jose Ascanio (who's pitched all of two innings), Brandon Moss (for whom "disastrous" doesn't seem quite fair, given the quality of his defense), and Lastings Milledge. That's it.

Milledge has been a disappointment to me so far. And the Jason Bay trade continues to be a bad one. But to judge the guys who've been acquired in trades by the poor performance of the entire roster, when half the guys who were acquired aren't even on the roster and those who are on the roster aren't actually playing that badly, seems very strange to me. Let's take a more nuanced, long-term view, please.

Deadline acquisition Jeff Clement has posted a 1239 OPS for Indianapolis so far. Another recent trade acquisition, Jose Tabata, has a .922 OPS there in a small sample, despite only turning 21 this week. Last year's top pick, Pedro Alvarez, is tearing the cover off the ball at Altoona. Tim Alderson has pitched well in two starts there. Jeff Locke, acquired in the Nate McLouth deal, has pitched well in three straight starts for Lynchburg. New Lynchburg infielder Josh Harrison, acquired in the John Grabow deal, has hit well too, and Nathan Adcock, acquired from Seattle in the Jack Wilson deal, has had two good appearances there. Huntington acquisitions Tony Sanchez, Hunter Strickland, Brett Lorin, Robbie Grossman and Casey Erickson have all played well for West Virginia. The Bucs have spent millions in the past couple weeks on a number of talented high school pitchers. Today, two of them, Trent Stevenson and Zachary Fuesser, pitched four innings of shutout ball for Bradenton; it was Stevenson's pro debut.

My point is not that all these players will turn out to be good, or that things are all peaches and cream right now. My point is that, in a week where we've gotten so much good news from the minors and from a number of Huntington's trade acquisitions in particular, it seems like an extremely strange time to call out Huntington's trade acquisitions. The ones already in the bigs have actually, as a group, been decent, and the ones in the minors, along with a number of Huntington draftees, have played very well--better than I'd expected, in fact.

Losses at the big-league level stink. I hate them; we all hate them. But this has actually been a very good week in Pirates baseball, not a bad one. Blaming the new guys for the "unmitigated disaster" that the big-league team has recently been is silly, not only because they aren't primarily to blame but because most of the best ones aren't even there yet. And trying to "assess" the trades based on only a week or two of bad big-league play seems sillier still.

Personally, I prefer to evaluate trades based on the information available when they were made, since the futures of baseball players are inherently unpredictable and all you can do, as a GM, is to position yourself so that you're likely to be on the crest of the wave rather than being smashed by it. But if we're going to evaluate trades based on the results, and only at the big-league level, well jeez, shouldn't we wait a little while for those to come in? Kovacevic notes that "waiting for top-flight players such as Tim Alderson and Jose Tabata to arrive would be the fairest way to assess" the trades. Well, no kidding. If we're going to assess the trades based on big-league results, waiting for the best players to actually play in the big leagues would, in fact, be the only fair way to assess them.

Land Shark Stadium? - Cubs vs. Marlins Preview, Friday 7/31, 6:10 CT

Al — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:00:11 -0000

More photos » by John Smierciak - AP

Write your own caption.

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I did not know this until I started looking up info on the Marlins for this series, but about three months ago, Dolphin Stadium, where the Marlins play, was renamed "Land Shark Stadium":

Miami, FL – Friday, May 8, 2009: Owner and Managing General Partner of The Miami Dolphins, Stephen M. Ross, and celebrated singer songwriter Jimmy Buffett have today announced that Dolphin Stadium will be renamed Land Shark Stadium. This unique branding will bring Buffett’s Margaritaville and Land Shark themes to enhance the game-day experience for Dolphans.

Today Jimmy will unveil the new lyrics to his iconic song "FINS", written expressly for the team and all Dolphin fans in South Florida. In addition, in recognition of this unprecedented relationship, the stadium will be renamed Land Shark Stadium.

Note, there is not a single mention of the Marlins in that entire press release. I'll bet the Marlins ownership is extremely happy that they will be, at last, getting their own new stadium in 2012. ~~Joe Robbie~~ ~~Pro Player~~ ~~Dolphin~~ Land Shark Stadium is, hands down, the worst stadium for baseball I have ever been to.

That said, let's win this series. The Cubs won two of three in south Florida last year; a repeat would be very welcome.

For those of you who complain about the state of the Cubs' farm system, note that there have been no fewer than seven pitchers who have pitched for the Cubs this year who started the season at Iowa: Randy Wells, Jose Ascanio, Kevin Hart, Jeff Samardzija, Jason Waddell, Jeff Stevens and Mitch Atkins. Most of those pitchers, particularly Wells and the just-traded Hart, have made significant positive contributions. Add to that list position players Jake Fox, Sam Fuld, Andres Blanco and Bobby Scales, and that makes 11 Cub minor leaguers who have helped the major league team win this year. Most of them aren't going to be superstars or even everyday players -- but I don't think you could name another team that's gotten as much help from its minor league system as the Cubs have in 2009.

Lineup via Twittermyer, who also notes that Soriano is just getting a day off because he is hitless vs. Volstad:

Fukudome, cf; Theriot, ss; Lee, 1b; Ramirez, 3b; Bradley, rf; Fox, lf; Fontenot, 3b; Hill, c; Harden, p

Today's Starting Pitchers


Rich Harden Cubs	vs.	Chris Volstad Marlins

7-6	W-L	8-9
4.55	ERA	4.44
104	SO	86
38	BB	39
18	HR	21
vs. Fla	--	vs. Cubs

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Rich Harden	7-6	18	17	0	0	0	0	93.0	86	52	47	18	38	104	4.55	1.33

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Chris Volstad	8-9	22	21	1	1	0	0	125.2	120	66	62	21	39	86	4.44	1.27

Chris Volstad has pitched well in three career starts vs. the Cubs (2.84 ERA) but has three no-decisions to show for them. His last outing vs. the Cubs was April 30 at Wrigley Field, a boxscore you probably don't want to look at. Mike Fontenot is the Cub who has hit him best -- 4-for-8, a HR.

Since the All-Star break Rich Harden has been the guy we got last year -- 2-0 with a 0.95 ERA, 21 strikeouts and two walks in 19 innings. Keep up the good work! Harden also has three starts vs. tonight's opponent, though with a 4.40 ERA; he pitched poorly against the Marlins at Wrigley Field on May 1. Only two Marlins have homered off him: Dan Uggla and Jeremy Hermida.

The Cubs are back to cable-only today, CSN Chicago and FSN Florida. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Marlins site Fish Stripes.

Overflow comment threads will post today at 7:15 pm, 8:15 pm and 9 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:39:34 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

Mike Cameron is safe at home off a Jason Kendall single as Wil Nieves cannot get the tag in the seventh inning Thursday.

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Some things to read while I spend all day playing Bookworm.

Dreams really do come true, at least for The Bucky Channell, as the Brewers will open play today without both Bill Hall and Jeff Suppan on the active roster. Hall was optioned to AAA to get some consistent at bats to work on his swing, and Sheffield's House is reporting he was later traded to the Toppers' Pizza Softball Team. Hernan Iribarren will be called up before tonight's game to take Hall's place on the roster.

Suppan, meanwhile, is on the DL with a strained oblique. The Brewers haven't made a corresponding move to fill his roster spot, but Doug Melvin says he doesn't expect to fill it via trade. Chase Wright, who could have been a candidate to make a spot start on Saturday, started for Nashville last night, so he's likely out of the equation. Unless I'm mistaken, Chris Cody is scheduled to pitch for the Sounds tonight, and could also be a candidate.

The downfall of Jeff Suppan and Bill Hall, combined with the lost season of Chris Capuano and the disappointing year by J.J. Hardy have led View From Bernie's Chalet to wonder if the four Brewers made a mistake by appearing on "The Young and the Restless" in 2007.

Meanwhile, the Brewers are left clinging to a .500 record, heading off on the dreaded west coast road trip. You may want to try to catch an afternoon nap today, if you can: The Brewers play at 9:05 five of the next six days.

Once every few days, especially when Mike Cameron isn't hitting well, someone in the game thread asks how Tony Gwynn Jr. is doing in San Diego. Before you ask, here you go: Gwynn got off to a hot start for the Padres, but Quevedo at the Buffet reports that he's hitting just .240/.291/.312 with 21 strikeouts and one stolen base since June 21.

Around the minors:

The Brewers appear to have reached a deal to lure 2009 draft pick D'Vontrey Richardson away from playing football at Florida State. Richardson was a fifth round pick, believed to be seeking a bonus well above slot money.
The Timber Rattlers are struggling a bit lately, but Brett Christopherson of the Appleton Post-Crescent thinks the Brewers could help the team by promoting two prospects from Helena: BCB #9 prospect Jake Odorizzi and 2009 third round pick Josh Prince.

The Brewers dropped from 18th to 20th in Yahoo's Power Rankings.

Around the league:

Astros: Released Russ Ortiz.
Braves: Released reliever Jeff Bennett.
Cubs: Acquired John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny from the Pirates for pitchers Kevin Hart, Jose Ascanio and a minor leaguer.
Dodgers: Acquired George Sherrill from the Orioles for two prospects.
Mets: Designated Elmer Dessens for assignment.
Rays: Claimed catcher Jose Lobaton off waivers from the Padres.
Royals: Acquired outfielder Josh Anderson from the Tigers for cash.

Russ Ortiz and Kevin Hart were the starting pitchers in yesterday's Cubs-Astros game, and as 6-4-2 notes, neither were on their respective teams' active roster by the end of the day.

It's the busiest day of the year for trade rumor peddlers and the like, and for one man, business is booming: Tyler Maas of Bugs & Cranks profiles Elliott James, the guy who photoshops the caps of their new teams onto traded players.

At Inside the Majors, former Blue Jays assistant GM Bart Given answers more reader questions about life in a front office. Today, we have questions on cash payments made as part of trades, using players on the DL as part of trades, and using text messages and email to negotiate deals.

Remember umpire Bill Hohn (and his mustache), and the issues the Brewers had with him a couple of weeks ago? He's back in the news today for fist-bumping Marlins catcher John Baker following Wednesday's game, where he ejected both Bobby Cox and Brian McCann. Can we just replace these guys with machines and get it over with?

This isn't one of the brightest days for "This Day in Brewer History:" On this day in 1990, the Brewers were the losing team as Nolan Ryan won his 300th game. And on this day in 1996, the Brewers traded Greg Vaughn to the Padres for Bryce Florie, Marc Newfield and Ron Villone. Vaughn went on to hit 50 home runs for the Padres in 1998. Newfield played two below average seasons as a Brewer and was done in the majors at 25. Villone pitched in 50 games for the Brewers in 1997, and Florie appeared in 32.

Oh, and take a moment today to consider the plight of unnamed sources.

Drink up.