SB Nation - Mike Rivera

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:09:33 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

LaTroy Hawkins and Glenn Robinson faced each other in high school. This is the kind of thing that passes for news in December.

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Some things to read while trying not to dance.

LaTroy Hawkins was in Milwaukee yesterday for his physical, making his deal official (FanShot). As mentioned previously, he's due $3.5 million in 2010 and $4 million in 2011, plus $550k available if he maximizes his incentives. One thing I didn't know until reading it afterwards: Hawkins grew up in Gary, Indiana and played basketball against former Buck Glenn Robinson.

I've mentioned previously that the bullpen situation is starting to fill up, but realized yesterday that I've been leaving Carlos Villanueva out of all of my projections. As Adam McCalvy noted in his story on Hawkins, the bullpen now has Trevor Hoffman, Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Mitch Stetter, Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva and David Riske, and barring a trade or injury, it looks like Chris Smith, Chris Narveson, Chuck Lofgren and Zack Braddock, among others, are on the outside looking in.

While there may not be much competition for a spot in the bullpen, there will be an interesting race to see who opens the season as the backup catcher. View From Bernie's Chalet handicaps the candidates, and is hoping for George Kottoras to open the season in the majors, with Jonathan Lucroy in AAA and Angel Salome on the trading block. Two quick thoughts on that:

Kottoras is out of options, so unless one of the prospects blows him out of the water this spring, he'll likely make the team.
You can never have too many catchers, so don't be surprised if the Brewers hang onto both Lucroy and Salome and try to work out some kind of rotation in Nashville.

Speaking of competitions involving backup catchers, we need your vote to help select a backup catcher for the BCB All Decade Team. As of this writing, Mike Rivera leads Jason Kendall by 15 votes.

At Mike Cameron's press conference in Boston yesterday, we heard some insight for the first time into Ken Macha's feeling toward the running game last season. 2009 was the first time in Cameron's career he's had single-digit stolen bases, and he said he "ran into a little situation where I had to abide by the rules of the manager, even though I’ve been pretty successful, I mean, 80 percent of the time that I’ve ran." Macha has admitted he'll have to open up the running game a little more this season, but this is the first time I can recall hearing a player talk about restraints last season.

Every now and then the Mug provides me an "Ask and you shall receive" moment. Yesterday I asked about differences in attendance at Miller Park based on the starting pitcher, and Wisconsin Sports Tap did the research, discovering no correlation. Many, if not most, Brewer tickets are probably purchased too far in advance to predict starting pitching assignments, so that's likely what I should have expected.

In the minors: FanGraphs unveiled their Top Ten Brewer Prospects yesterday. Alcides Escobar sits atop the list, as he likely will in just about every set of rankings coming out this winter, but Brett Lawrie climbed in front of Mat Gamel for the #2 spot. We'll be doing our Community Prospect Rankings in January, and I'm curious to see where Lawrie will rank there.

Around baseball:

D-Backs: Signed pitcher Rodrigo Lopez to a minor league deal.
Dodgers: Signed infielder Jamey Carroll to a two year deal worth $3.85 million and signed reliever Luis Ayala to a minor league deal.
Orioles: Signed reliever Mike Gonzalez to a two year deal worth $12 million, and third baseman Garrett Atkins to a one year deal.
Rangers: Signed pitcher Geoff Geary and infielder Ray Olmedo to minor league deals.
Tigers: Re-signed infielder Ramon Santiago to a two year deal.

The Blue Jays, Phillies, Mariners and A's also finalized their four way deal involving Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. It's been a time for change in Toronto over the last few months: Jordan Bastian noted that the Rogers Centre features three-story images of Alex Rios, Scott Rolen, B.J. Ryan and Roy Halladay. All four will now need to be removed.

In the interest of keeping conversation going and providing fresh content on the site each day, I occasionally post things that wouldn't be front page-worthy during the season, but keep things lively in December. Occasionally when I do that, someone stops by the comments to make sure I know I'm wasting their time, or ask why we're voting for bench players on the All Decade Team. Yes, I know those posts aren't hard-hitting news, but they beat spending a day ranking and discussing your favorite Pixar movies, like Keith Law and Rob Neyer did yesterday.

Earlier this week he celebrated a birthday, and today former Brewer Matt Kinney is the subject of Lookout Landing's Faces series.

Happy birthday today to 1986 and 1989 Brewer Bryan Clutterbuck, who turns 50.

Drink up.

Making Your '00 Face: Backup catcher

KLSnow — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:00:18 -0000

With the '00's almost behind us, it's time to take a look back and work together to make a BCB All Decade team for the '00s. Each day, we'll tackle a new position, and we'll have our 25 man roster complete sometime around the 1st of the year.

The concept here is pretty simple. Each day, I'll give you a list of candidates: For position players, it's the full list of players who appeared in at least 100 games at the position during the '00s. Here are the players we've selected so far:

First Base: Prince Fielder
Second Base: Rickie Weeks
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy
Third Base: Bill Hall
Corner Outfield: Ryan Braun
Center Field: Mike Cameron
Corner Outfield: Geoff Jenkins
Catcher: Damian Miller

Voting for a our first bench spot opened yesterday and will close at 4 pm tomorrow. Today we need to select a backup catcher. I've narrowed the list a little, removing three players who did not receive significant support in our initial vote:

Henry Blanco

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2000-2001
Slash line as a Brewer: .222/.303/.268
WAR as a Brewer: 0.6

Mike Rivera

Seasons as a Brewer: 4, 2006-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .260/.333/.423
WAR as a Brewer: 0.6

Johnny Estrada

Seasons as a Brewer: 1, 2007
Slash line as a Brewer: .278/.296/.403
WAR as a Brewer: -1

Jason Kendall

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2008-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .244/.329/.315
WAR as a Brewer: 2.1

Poll

Who should be the backup catcher on our BCB All Decade Team?

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:38:02 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Curry - AP

Craig Counsell slides right into the projected 2010 roster.

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Some things to read while she digs for her phone.

It's finally time to back off the comments about Randy Wolf not wanting to be here. Wolf said all the right things in his introductory press conference yesterday, and now actually appears happy to be a Brewer. Jen Lada was also at the press conference, and tweeted four quotes giving a nice feel for Wolf and the organization's excitement to have him.

The Brewers also announced Craig Counsell's new deal yesterday (FanShot). Counsell will earn $2.1 million next season along with some playing time incentives. The Bucky Channel says moves like this one are "crucial when trying to make a smaller market team a contender." Fire Doug Melvin is fine with the move, as long as Counsell doesn't take playing time away from Mat Gamel.

With Wolf and Counsell officially on board and LaTroy Hawkins (physical on Wednesday) and Claudio Vargas (physical on Friday) expected to be added by the end of the week, Adam McCalvy notes that the Brewer 40 man roster is about to be full, which might mark the end of any major Brewer moves in free agency. Two notes on that:

If you're still waiting for the Brewers to sign another starting pitcher, odds are you'll be waiting for a while. Adam McCalvy said Doug Melvin probably regrets comments he made months ago suggesting the Brewers were looking to sign two starters.
Secondly, the 40 man roster may be full, but it's a "soft" full. Room could almost certainly be made by outrighting new acquisition Luis Cruz or Tim Dillard, who would most likely go unclaimed at a time of year when no one has many 40 man spots to spare.

The roster crunch was one of the reasons cited for non-tendering Mike Rivera. Brewed Sports isn't too happy with the decision, and also notes that non-tendering the team's lone returning catcher pokes a hole in arguments used to support starting Jason Kendall last season.

Speaking of crowded situations, you can add David Riske to the list of pitchers to pencil into a bullpen spot to start the season. Doug Melvin said Riske expects to be ready for spring training (FanShot). That's bad news for Chris Smith, Chris Narveson, Zach Braddock and Chuck Lofgren, among others, who now may be fighting for one roster spot. If Mark DiFelice hadn't gone down, they'd all come to Maryvale on the outside looking in. A lot can happen between now and then, of course.

And speaking of Chris Smith, Brewerfan.net asked someone from the Brewer organization to verify some of their option info, and discovered that Smith doesn't have any options left. Obviously, Smith wouldn't be a major loss, but it's possible someone would claim him if he were available.

Meanwhile, we reached the final conclusion of the Mike Cameron era in Milwaukee yesterday, as he agreed to a two year deal with the Red Sox (FanShot). Cameron's strikeouts and one memorable dropped fly ball made him a polarizing talent as a Brewer, but most advanced metrics seem to agree on his significant value, and you'll rarely hear anything negative said about him as a teammate and clubhouse presence. If you missed it last night, Jordan has a goodbye post for him.

How lucky are the Brewers to have Ryan Braun? I think we occasionally forget how rare it is for a player to have an impact as immediate as his in the major leagues. Braun hit the second most home runs of any major leaguer in their first 162 games, and also collected the tenth most hits, making him the only player to appear on both lists.

Speaking of luck, Braden Looper's 14 wins last season made him the most unlikely winner in major league history.

Another day, another new poll for our BCB All Decade Team. You have until 4 pm today to select a catcher, and until 4 pm tomorrow to select our final starting outfielder. So far Damian Miller and Geoff Jenkins are leading those votes, respectively.

After looking at the candidates at catcher, I'm starting to wish I had gone this route instead: Camden Chat has an All-Awful lineup for the 2000-2009 Orioles.

And actually, speaking of awful: Rob Neyer has a ranking of the Top 100 players of the 2000's, and while former Brewers CC Sabathia (#25), Mike Cameron (#36), Ray Durham (#71), Jose Valentin (#88) and Corey Koskie (#92) are on it, Prince Fielder is nowhere to be found.

Around baseball:

Angels: Signed Hideki Matsui to a one year, $6.5 million deal.
Astros: Re-signed outfielder Jason Michaels to a one year deal.
Blue Jays: Signed catcher Ramon Castro to a one year, $1 million deal.
Mariners: Signed catcher Eliezer Alfonzo to a minor league deal.
Marlins: Signed pitcher Clay Hensley to a minor league deal.

Of course, the biggest transaction "announced" yesterday appears to be far from done, and may take several days to be made official: A three way deal would send Roy Halladay to the Phillies, Cliff Lee to the Mariners and prospects to the Blue Jays. You might recognize this trade as one several bloggers mocked Ken Rosenthal for suggesting over the weekend. I guess he knows something after all.

Happy birthday today to 2005-2006 Brewer Rick Helling, who turns 39.

Drink up.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:18:55 -0000

by Jim Prisching - AP

Craig Counsell is expected to re-sign today.

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Some things to read while John Tesh rocks the NBA on NBC theme (h/t Amy K. Nelson).

Randy Wolf is expected to undergo a physical this morning and once he does, expect his contract to become official sometime later today. That might not be today's only announcement, though: the Brewers are also expected to finalize a deal with Craig Counsell today. With Counsell, Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Alcides Escobar, Mat Gamel and Casey McGehee all on the roster, the Brewers' Opening Day infield is probably set, barring injury or trade.

Meanwhile, Mike Rivera is surprised to be looking for work after being non-tendered over the weekend. He thought the decision not to retain Jason Kendall would give him an edge as the only returning catcher familiar with the Brewer pitching staff.

As of this writing, roughly 4% of voters in the poll on your right listed the decision to offer Dave bush a 2010 contract as the one Brewer move from this weekend they would change. That's not exactly a large chunk of the fanbase, but In-Between Hops is taking on that vocal minority, making the case that the Brewers made the right move by giving Bush another shot.

If you missed Morineko's Weekend Mug, follow the link over to it for full coverage of the Brewers' arbitration decisions, and a link to this list of all the non-tenders leaguewide.

Looking back at last week, Jon Heyman ranked the Brewers among the Winter Meeting winners. Meanwhile, Marc Hulet of The Baseball Analysts listed Rule 5 selection Chuck Lofgren in the "Why Bother?" category.

The more I think about it, the more I think Lofgren will have a tough task ahead of him if he's going to make the team out of spring training. With Trevor Hoffman, LaTroy Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Claudio Vargas and Mitch Stetter back, there's only two bullpen spots left that are potentially available (barring injury), and Chris Smith, John Axford, Chris Narveson, Zach Braddock and now Lofgren fighting for them. I like Lofgren's potential and hope the Brewers will get an opportunity to realize it, but right now he might be the third or fourth best lefty in the bullpen competition.

If you have a vague interest in Brewer baseball, but wish there was less analysis and more profanity on this site, then Miller Park Drunk's RUNNING series might be just the ticket for you. Follow these links for bad Prince Fielder jokes, some fan fiction involving Ryan Braun trying to rap, and a vague musical reference to Rickie Weeks.

In the minors: Baseball Intellect has video footage of some at bats featuring Cameron Garfield, Cutter Dykstra and Josh Prince from a Pioneer League game back in July. They're pay-only, but there are worse ways to spend $2.95.

If you were gone this weekend, you didn't miss the opportunity to help select a center fielder and catcher for the BCB All Decade Team. Voting closes at 4 pm today for center fielders and 4 pm tomorrow for catchers. We'll open the voting for the final starting outfield spot later today.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Signed catcher John Buck to a one-year deal worth $2 million, signed Joey Gathright to a minor league deal,
Braves: Signed Matt Diaz to a one year, $2.55 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
D-Backs: Re-signed infielder Augie Ojeda to a one year deal, and avoided arbitration with Blaine Boyer.
Dodgers: Signed pitcher Josh Towers to a minor league deal.
Giants: Signed shortstop-turned-pitcher Tony Pena Jr. to a minor league deal.
Indians: Re-signed pitchers Adam Miller and Anthony Reyes to minor league deals.
Marlins: Signed catcher Ronny Paulino to a one-year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Nationals: Re-signed Scott Olsen to a one year deal. Also signed pitcher Ryan Speier to a minor league deal.
Padres: Signed pitcher Kevin Correia to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Pirates: Signed Ronny Cedeno to a one year, $1.125 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rangers: Signed infielder Esteban German to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rays: Avoided arbitration with catcher Dioner Navarro and pitchers Grant Balfour, Rafael Soriano, Lance Cormier and Randy Choate.
Royals: Avoided arbitration with pitchers Brian Bannister and Kyle Davies. They also signed pitcher Bruce Chen and catcher Vance Wilson to minor league deals.
White Sox: Signed J.J. Putz to a one year deal.

Meanwhile, the market heated up immediately for Yankees non-tender Chien-Ming Wang, with Ken Rosenthal reporting that six teams have already expressed interest. He doesn't list the teams, but I wouldn't be surprised to discover the Brewers are one of them.

I promise, I'm not going to mention it every time someone says something new about Jason Kendall. In fact, I might try to go the rest of the week without mentioning him at all. With that said, I thought these three links about him were interesting:

Joe Posnanski has a look at the potential Opening Day lineup for the 2010 Royals, now including Kendall.
He also compares Kendall to a superball on the field at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
Reminding us all how far and how fast Kendall has fallen, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? named Kendall the Pirate Catcher of the Decade.

Weeks ago I linked to a post from minor league veteran Garrett Broshuis, mentioning the challenges in finding quality, healthy food in minor league clubhouses. It looks like that problem may be on its way to being resolved: After discussing it at the Winter Meetings, several teams are making an effort to provide healthier options, and remove the constant flow of junk.

If you're a fan of sabermetrics, or just want to learn more about them, I've got two links for you today:

TangoTiger has a look at OPS+, and some minor adjustments that could be made to it to make it more useful than some other advanced metrics.
That post links to this one, Big League Stew's beginner's guide to wOBA. I learned a fair amount by reading that one.

Gorman Thomas celebrated a birthday over the weekend, and while this probably isn't what he had in mind for a gift, David Chalk of Seventh Inning 'Stache has inducted him into the MLB Mustache Hall of Fame.

On this day in 1998, the Brewers acquired Alex Ochoa from the Twins for a minor leaguer named Darrell Nicholas. Ochoa spent one season as a Brewer, hitting .300/.404/.466 before being traded to the Reds for Mark Sweeney after the season.

Happy birthday today to:

Former Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer Greg Goossen, who turns 64.
Dave Nilsson, who appeared in 837 games as a Brewer and turns 40.
Marcus Jensen, who appeared in 18 games over two tours as a Brewer and turns 37.

Sean Forman, founder of Baseball Reference, is also celebrating his birthday today. You can help him celebrate by sponsoring a page. I know someone around here will want this one.

Drink up.

Making Your '00 Face: Catcher

KLSnow — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:00:16 -0000

First Base: Prince Fielder
Second Base: Rickie Weeks
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy
Third Base: Bill Hall
Outfield: Ryan Braun

Voting for center field opened yesterday and will close at 4 pm tomorrow. Today we'll unveil the candidates at catcher:

Henry Blanco

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2000-2001
Slash line as a Brewer: .222/.303/.268
WAR as a Brewer: 0.6

Raul Casanova

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2000-2002
Slash line as a Brewer: .241/.311/.406
WAR as a Brewer: 0.1

Eddie Perez

Seasons as a Brewer: 1, 2003
Slash line as a Brewer: .271/.304/.420
WAR as a Brewer: -0.1

Chad Moeller

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2004-2006
Slash line as a Brewer: .204/.257/.319
WAR as a Brewer: -4

Damian Miller

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2005-2007
Slash line as a Brewer: .257/.324/.391
WAR as a Brewer: 1.2

Mike Rivera

Seasons as a Brewer: 4, 2006-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .260/.333/.423
WAR as a Brewer: 0.6

Johnny Estrada

Seasons as a Brewer: 1, 2007
Slash line as a Brewer: .278/.296/.403
WAR as a Brewer: -1

Jason Kendall

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2008-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .244/.329/.315
WAR as a Brewer: 2.1

Poll

Who should be the catcher on the BCB All Decade Team?

Raul Casanova

4 votes

Henry Blanco

11 votes

Eddie Perez

5 votes

Chad Moeller

9 votes

Damian Miller

392 votes

Mike Rivera

20 votes

Johnny Estrada

22 votes

Jason Kendall

70 votes

533 votes | Poll has closed

Late-Night Weekend Mug

morineko — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:57:54 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

Hopefully Mike Rivera will end up as a backup with a team with a catcher willing to rest every fifth day.

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This weekend's big news is related to the non-tender deadline. As seen in this FanShot, Mark DiFelice, Seth McClung and Mike Rivera were not tendered contracts by the Brewers. Adam McCalvy's article implies that the team was crowded with options for the bullpen and behind the plate and McClung and Rivera were squeezed out. DiFelice may later be signed to a minor league contract in order to rehab with the team, but this hasn't happened yet.

Tom Haudricourt spoke with McClung about the situation. He also notes that the Brewers have a tentative agreement to bring back Craig Counsell for 2010.

Matthew Pouliot believes that the Brewers should have non-tendered Jody Gerut and David Bush in order to save the team money that could go towards a better starting pitcher.

Our general non-tendered players open thread is here; there are loads of players set adrift for various reasons. The helpful bloggers at MLB Trade Rumors have compiled a big list of players. Circling the Bases has another list, pointing out injured players. One of the non-injured non-tenders happens to be Gabe Gross, just in case the Brewers may need yet another 4th outfielder to add to the amazing collection of them that's being built up this offseason. The 40-man will probably be at 40 after Counsell and Vargas sign, however.

The Brewers made a stealth minor league signing when we weren't looking, per Baseball America's weekly minor league transactions; it's A.J. Murray, a left-handed pitcher who has spent his entire career in the Rangers organization. He has major league experience and has been a starter before but he spent 2009 as a reliever. He missed all of 2004 and 2006 with shoulder injuries.

Around the Brewers blogosphere:

View from Bernie's Chalet thinks the Brewers have more work to do after the Winter Meetings, especially in regards to the starting pitching.
A Girl's View of the Brewers is happy with the Winter Meetings pitching moves but believes the Brewers need to upgrade the fourth outfielder position.
Lange at Wisconsin Sports Tap will be missing McClung, remembering the 2008 playoff run.

Kevin Correia, constant object of our delight and speculation, re-signed with the Padres on a one-year contract. Doug Melvin asked the Padres about trading for him but they decided to keep him.

If there's one thing in which the Brewers players in winter ball are exceptionally skilled, it's being hit by pitches. Carlos Gomez, Brendan Katin and Adam Heether look like worthy successors to Jason Kendall if their winter performance is any indication.

Speaking of Kendall, Joe Posnanski sees his signing as just one of the invariably bad moves the Royals could have made with the catcher position for 2010.

Don't forget to vote for the BCB all-decade team's center fielder before 4PM today.

I don't have a baseball book of the week this week, as I haven't read any baseball books since my last Mug. I did pick up a copy of Bill James' The Baseball Book 1990. The 1990 Draft Adviser section is a definite precursor to all the snarky comments in the Baseball Prospectus books. The only comment relevant to current players is the one about John Smoltz: "There is every likelihood that Smoltz will win 200 games in the major leagues." Well, that was right on. If you're more interested in current baseball, Keith Olbermann has an advance review of Dirk Hayhurst's new book (release date March 2010.)

Today in Brewers history, back in 1980, they acquired Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons, and Pete Vuckovich in a trade with the Cardinals.

Happy birthday to Gorman Thomas, who turned 59 on the 12th.

The Weekend Mug, now with more Australians! And another Canadian!

NoahJ — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:12:07 -0000

After trading J.J. Hardy, Doug Melvin realized he had to win back the hearts of Wisconsin women everywhere. Enter Oeltjen.

View full size photo »

Some things to read while on a social networking site far, far away.

So far this is my second week doing the weekend post. My first weekend was immediately after the Carlos Gomez trade, and this weekend comes after the Brewers announce signing Gregg Zaun. It's my turn again the weekend following Christmas, so maybe Brewers fans can be expecting a Christmas present from Doug Melvin and the gang.

About the Zaun signing:

Adam McCalvy tells us that Zaun was assured the starting catching spot. Zaun has played more than 110 games only once in his career and more than 100 games four times, and he's not getting any younger. There should be plenty of opportunities for whoever the backup catcher should be.
Right Field Bleachers thinks that backup will be either Mike Rivera or George Kottaras, with the idea being another year of minor league polishing for Angel Salome and Jonathon Lucroy.
In Between Hops likens Zaun to a cheaper Jason Kendall. Neither is very good at hitting (some would claim they are atrocious), but over the last three years, Zaun has been Kendalls slight superior in OBP and has been significantly better slugging. Zaun did this in close to half of the plate appearances of Kendall.
I think that View From Bernie's Chalet is more excited about the end of the Jason Kendall era than for the signing of Zaun.
Brewers! Brewers! Keep Turning Up the Heat! finds the signing to be strange and suggests that Milwaukee had enough readily available options. Personally, I prefer having someone like Zaun around. I don't think that Rivera would be a viable option to start the whole season, and the other options (Kottaras, Lucroy and Salome) are all younger and could really struggle, particularly Lucroy who would be skipping triple-A. I think that I would like Lucroy to either back up Zaun for the first couple months of the season (like I said, there should be plenty of opportunities) or for him to be called up sometime in June provided he isn't massively struggling in Nashville. Gradually working in what appears to be the heir apparent to the Catchers position seems like a much better idea than throwing him straight into the fire.
And the Grand National Championships thinks this is the most logical move in the history of sports.
Oh, and if I ever met Gregg Zaun, he does not look like a guy I would want to piss off.

Also from the Grand National Championships, they believe that re-signing Craig Counsell--who Doug Melvin has made an offer to--would be a bad idea and suggests signing someone like Esteban German instead. If we were to go with someone else, I think that going with someone in house (like Adam Heether) would be just as good as signing someone from outside the organization. I also think that a player like Craig Counsell is a boon to any team, though, and would serve as a very very good mentor to Alcides Escobar.

The Brewers also signed former Diamondback and full-time Australian Trent ~~Durrington~~ Oltjean...whichever. Brew City Sports tried to reach him for comment, but unfortunately, Oltjean was too busy doing Australian type activities. Oltjean is expected to provide protection for Ryan Braun in the cuteness batting order after the departure of J.J. Hardy.

For those hoping that the Brewers decide to pursue Brad Penny, the bad news is that he rejected a one year offer to stay with the GIants. So it looks like any team that wants to sign him would either have to offer multiple years or a pretty significant--and guarenteed--amount of money for one year.

In Between Hops reminds us again of the comparison that can be made between Casey McGehee and Bill Hall.

Around the Majors:
Atlanta Braves: Rafael Soriano is considering accepting their offer of arbitration.
Chicago Cubs: Could announce a signing of Mike Cameron as soon as Monday.
Houston Astros: Signed former Giant Ryan Sadowski
Kansas City Royals: Signed Cuban lefty Noel Arguelles
Minnesota Twins: Signed 16 year old Dominican Shortstop Miguel Sano.
Seattle Mariners and Jack Z: Signed Chone Figgins to a $36MM, 4 year deal.

If you were disappointed when they announced they were shutting down production, good news! A movie adaptation of Moneyball is going to be back underway!

Oh, and potentially the most exciting news of the day, Metsblog cites Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus as saying that there will be two big announcements at the winter meetings that will be way bigger than "any player signing or news made during". I don't have any idea what it could be, so feel free to speculate.

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:20:53 -0000

More photos » by Charles Krupa - AP

George Kottaras, right, spent the 2009 season in Boston backing up Jason Varitek, left, and Victor Martinez.

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Some things to read while getting the dog more fiber.

While it's hardly Earth-shattering, the Brewers made an interesting move yesterday, claiming catcher George Kottaras off waivers from Boston (FanShot). Kottaras is 26 and a former top prospect in the Padres organization. He reportedly requested his release, as he wasn't going to get much playing time with both Jason Varitek and Victor Martinez back in Boston next season. Here's a quick list of things to know about him:

He appeared in three games for the Red Sox in 2008, but saw his first significant MLB action in 2009, when he hit .237/.308/.387 in 107 PAs (45 games).
He's spent parts of the last four seasons in AAA, hitting .239/.331/.424.
He's out of options, so he'll either have to make the team in spring training or be placed on waivers.
He's left handed. The other three Brewer catchers on the 40-man roster (Mike Rivera, Angel Salome and Jonathan Lucroy) are all righties.

Doug Melvin acknowledged that this move was made for depth, not because he sees Kottaras as a front line catcher in 2010. With that said, this move probably isn't good news for Mike Rivera. Rivera is 33 and eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason, and the Brewers may see Kottaras as a player who could provide similar production for less money. With that said, Brew City Sports isn't too excited about him.

Kottaras wasn't the only player added to the roster yesterday: Lorenzo Cain and pitcher Amaury Rivas were also added to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft in December (FanShot). The Brewers still have four open spots on the roster, so they could feasibly add another player or two before tomorrow's deadline.

Unless another waiver claim comes up, it could be a quiet day today. Doug Melvin said the Brewers aren't likely to reach a deal with any of their pending free agents before they're allowed to negotiate with other teams tomorrow.

The neverending saga of Mark Mulder continues. Today, Tom H. says it would be a huge upset if Mark Mulder isn't a Brewer next spring. The only thing that moves slower than these negotiations is another Brewer free agent, Claudio Vargas.

Meanwhile, the field of contenders might be narrowing for Jarrod Washburn. Larry Larue of The Tacoma News Tribune says Washburn has expressed interest in playing for the Brewers, but is also considering the Twins and wouldn't mind returning to the Mariners (FanShot).

On another free agent front with mild Brewer interest: The OC Register has a poll asking readers where John Lackey will sign. As of this writing, the Brewers were tied for ninth in the voting.

As for moves that have already been made, Rubie Q is still not happy about the J.J. Hardy deal, but Miller Park Drunk takes a look at the similarities between Hardy's career path and the path of one of his top comparisons.

Down in the minors, we have stadium news in Appleton, where the Timber Rattlers are doing some renovations this offseason. They're moving the bullpens into the outfield to add some new seats (including an All-You-Can-Eat section), and adding a sand beach general admission area in right field.

No transactions of note today, so I'll move straight into the other notes:

Zach Greinke recently won the AL Cy Young Award, surprising no one, with an incredible season. Keep Turning up The Heat! compared Greinke's 2009 season to Ben Sheets' 2004 performance, and it's closer than you might think.

If you have hours to kill and would love to read Rollie Fingers talking about all things baseball (and his new book), then this Dugout Doctors interview was written with you in mind.

Just a few weeks ago, I mentioned the debut of the Florida Winter Baseball League, and the possibility that it could be a game-changer for American players looking for the opportunity to sharpen their skills without leaving the US. As it turns out, the Caribbean leagues won't have much to worry about, as FWBL has canceled the remainder of the season after just 15 games. So much for that idea.

Maybe the new goal can be "no games in November:" Bud Selig is reportedly looking into the possibility of eliminating some postseason off days to attempt to move things along a bit.

On this day in 1976, the Brewers signed Sal Bando as a free agent. Bando spent the final five seasons of his career in Milwaukee, hitting .250/.335/.382. He would later return as GM and spend most of the 90's digging a hole the Brewers would need another decade to dig out of.

No Brewer birthdays today, but happy birthday to the other Joe Morgan, who played in 13 games for the 1959 Milwaukee Braves and turns 79.

Oh, and every high school newspaper reporter makes this mistake once, but apparently some don't learn from it: Calling a player an idiot in "not for print" notes in your story is never a good idea.

Drink up.

Let's wait on Jonathan Lucroy

KLSnow — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:00:39 -0000

by Darren Hauck - AP

Jason Kendall's ability to get hit by pitches isn't a good enough reason to bring him back for 2010, at any price.

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All of a sudden, after two years of sticking with Jason Kendall, the Brewers look like they're ready to make a move behind the plate. Frankly, it's about time. Earlier this week, Doug Melvin told Arn Tellem (who represents Jason Kendall) not to expect a $5 million offer to return to the Brewers next season. That's a lot nicer than what I would have said, but I'm ok with any steps taken to imply Kendall won't be starting 130+ games for the Brewers again next season.

At the same time, Jonathan Lucroy is having a very nice run in the AFL after an impressive season in Huntsville (where he hit .267/.380/.417), and Doug Melvin is starting to speak publicly about the possibility that Lucroy could make the jump directly to the big leagues next season. Melvin has compared Lucroy to Russell Martin, Chris Snyder and Kurt Suzuki, who all made the jump directly from AA to the majors at catcher, and did so with some level of success.

Now, it's possible Melvin is just posturing, as he's been known to do in the past: In January, for example, Melvin said the Brewers were out of money, then signed Braden Looper less than two weeks later. It's entirely possible that Melvin is raising the possibility that he'll go forward with the assets he has in an effort to get Kendall to lower his asking price, at which point the two sides will agree to a deal and I will probably vomit. Any to-do list for this offseason should include the following line: "Do not re-sign Jason Kendall, at any price, for any role."

With that said, I'm not sure Jonathan Lucroy is the answer either, at least not yet: He's 23 years old, but he's had just two full seasons as a professional. Yes, he's posted a .380 career minor league OBP, but he's also never played above AA. And while he is hitting pretty well against elite competition in the Arizona Fall League, we have to be careful not to put too much weight into what happens down there: Lucroy is hitting .366/.364/.585, but the AFL is one of the most hitter friendly places on Earth, with a .281/.357/.441 league average. Also, Lucroy's AFL numbers cover all of 42 plate appearances, so there's a sample size issue.

I know I've ranted against this in similar situations in the past, but service time also needs to be a consideration here. The Brewers have six years with Jonathan Lucroy under their control as a major leaguer. If he's not ready and they bring him up to the big leagues, that's one of those six seasons down the drain. If they wait until they've got more proof he's prepared to compete at this level, they could get six productive seasons out of him.

As good as Lucroy has been in the minors, I don't think you can make a convincing enough case that he'll be an immediately productive major leaguer. He has a low level of experience at the highest levels of the minors, and his most notable successes have been in relatively small sample sizes. I think he'd benefit from a few months or even a full season in AAA, and if I were in charge that's where he'd start 2009.

However, that doesn't change the fact that the Brewers need a catcher now. In my ideal world, here's how the Brewers would handle the catching position this offseason:

1. Make a serious effort to sign Yorvit Torrealba. Torrealba isn't an elite catcher (he's hit .258/.316/.394 over the last four seasons as a Rockie), but he might be the best one available on the free agent market, and he's capable enough to hold down the job until Lucroy is ready to take it over. The Rockies recently declined his option for 2010, and he turned down a 2 year, $4.5 million offer to remain with the team. Here's the deal I'd offer him:

Two years, $6 million base salary, club option for third year at $5 million, $500k buyout.
$250,000 incentives each season for starting 80 and 100 games, and $500,000 for starting 120.
Option year vests if Torrealba starts 200 or more games in the first two seasons of the deal.

By making this deal, the Brewers would spend less money on a catcher than they have over the previous two seasons, but would have a viable long-term insurance policy at the position. Meanwhile, Torrealba has a reason to work to retain his spot in front of the prospects. If he starts enough games to make the 2012 option vest, it will be because neither Angel Salome or Lucroy have emerged as a viable replacement. If that happens, the Brewers will probably need Yorvit to hang around for a third year anyway.

If this deal went through, I would recoup some of the expenditure by non-tendering Mike Rivera. I like Rivera and I don't think he's been given the opportunity he's deserved to prove he can contribute as a Brewer, but Ken Macha doesn't appear interested in giving him an opportunity to be a full time player, and Rivera figures to make about $1 million in arbitration.

2. Split time 60/40 between the veteran and Angel Salome. It's time to put up or shut up for Salome. If Lucroy starts the season in AAA, then there's no place to put Salome except on the big league roster, to either prove he belongs or not. As such, I'd divide the rotation, assigning Angel to two pitchers, and see what he can do with consistent playing time in the major leagues. Allowing Salome to catch 2-3 times a week (and perhaps DH during interleague play) should be enough playing time for the Brewers to see what they have with him and also keep whichever veteran remains (Rivera or Torrealba) rested and sharp.

I'm not sure the Brewers see it this way, though. In the article linked above about Kendall's return, Adam McCalvy said "neither Melvin nor Brewers manager Ken Macha have indicated that they view Rivera as a 130-plus start player." In all of baseball last season, there were only six catchers who caught 130 games. Most teams split time between players at the catcher position. There's no reason why the Brewers couldn't let a veteran like Rivera or Torrealba catch 100 games, and someone like Salome handle the other 62.

3. Reevaluate after the season. Unless injury, ineffectiveness or an extremely hot start by Lucroy come into play, I'd leave him down in AAA until September, call him up as a third catcher for the stretch run, and wait to make a decision regarding his future until after the season. In either of the above scenarios, the veteran catcher and Salome are under team control for 2011. If the front office feels Lucroy is ready to take over, then they have one of baseball's greatest problems: Two capable catchers. If he's not, they still have a viable catching tandem to start 2011, and can afford to be patient.

I like Lucroy as much as the next guy, but I don't think there's any reason to rush him at this point. I think the Brewers should be patient, max out his development and take the necessary steps to fill the gap until he's ready. They should also not re-sign Jason Kendall.

Poll

What do you think of my plan for Brewer catchers next season?

I like and/or could live with this plan.

193 votes

I'm not a big fan of this plan, but we could do worse.

62 votes

I disagree with your plan, and think Lucroy is ready now.

70 votes

I disagree with your plan, and think the Brewers should bring Kendall back.

13 votes

Damn it KL, crap like this is a perfect example of how you're ruining this site. Jeff Sackmann never would have written something like this.

44 votes

382 votes | Poll has closed

Looking Back at Community Projections: First Basemen

KLSnow — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:00:35 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Curry - AP

Prince Fielder's 2009 numbers look even better when compared to what we expected.

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Projections:

Prince Fielder
Projected: .284/.380/.547
Actual: .299/.412/.602

Obviously, we all got significantly more than we bargained for from Fielder this season. Not only did he start all 162 games and pick every Brewer at bat at first base, he slugged over .600, a full 25 points above the most optimistic of the 13 projections, and surpassed our OBP expectations by 32 points as well.

Playing time:

Player	Projected %	Actual %	Diff
Prince Fielder	93%	100%	+7%
Brad Nelson	3.5%	0%	-3.5%
Mike Lamb	2.2%	0%	-2.2%
Mike Rivera	1.3%	0%	-1.3%

I'd say this is pretty self-explanatory. While all of us expected Fielder to play close to full time, none of us expected him to take every plate appearance by a Brewer first baseman this season. Brad Nelson was off the roster early, Mike Lamb didn't even make the team out of spring training and Mike Rivera never saw time at first. Casey McGehee was the only other Brewer to play there this season: He played four innings defensively and did not bat.

Overall:

	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Projected	.282	.376	.538	.927
Actual	.299	.412	.602	1.014
Difference	+.017	+.036	+.066	+.087