SB Nation - Callix Crabbe

Lazy Saturday Ex-Brewers Update

TheJay — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:15:07 -0000

On this "unseasonably cool" (a.k.a. comfortable) Saturday in Wisconsin, why not take a look at the way 2009 is going for some Brewers who got away. I could post about guys like Anthony Gwynn, Gabe Kapler, Gabe Gross, and Russell Branyan in the majors, but I want to focus on some of the lesser lights:

Chris Barnwell

Barnwell, called up to Milwaukee for one month in 2006, spent 2008 in Albuquerque for the Marlins and also plays for Team Canada. This year, he started in Houston before being traded to Pittsburgh for sunflower seeds. He's struggled at AAA Indianapolis, hitting just .149/.220/.201 in 172 plate appearances while playing everywhere but behind the plate and on the mound.
Joe Bateman

Ex-Brewers don't retire, they just wind up in Tampa. Bateman is another name to add to the list as he's been plying his trade for AAA Durham. A 29-year-old righty who finally made it to AAA last year while pitching well at every level of the minors, Bateman was picked in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft and went 3-1 with a 2.09 ERA between Huntsville and Nashville last year. This year he has struggled with control, walking 5.6 batters per nine innings, twice his career rate. He's still striking out one guy each inning but all the extra baserunners have his ERA sitting at 4.08 in 35 innings. He has appeared in 26 games and is 4-1 with a save.
Michael Brantley

The player to be named later in the Sabathia trade, center fielder Brantley was an on-base machine in the minors for the Brewers. He hit .319/.395/.398 last year for AA Huntsville at the tender age of 21. This year he's manned the outfield for AAA Columbus. He's hitting .268/.349/.353 with 33 stolen bases (4 CS!). Even if the slash stats aren't eye-popping, a 22-year-old with speed who walks more than he strikes out in AAA is a pretty good PTBNL.
Callix Crabbe

The former third-best second base prospect in the Brewers system (behind Rickie Weeks and Hernan Iribarren) made the majors last year as a Rule 5 pick in San Diego. The diminuitive switch-hitter, listed at 5'7", went 6 for 34 in one month for the Padres while making 3 errors in five games at the keystone. He was offered back to the Brewers and the team accepted, assigning him to Nashville. Jack Zduriencik in Seattle edged out Tampa for Crabbe's services in 2009. Crabbe hasn't done well at AAA Tacoma, though, hitting just .212/.311/.332.

Follow the jump for more!

Joe Dillon

Joltin' Joe spent a season and a month in the Brewers' versatile 25th man role. He did better than you can expect the last guy on the bench to do, putting up a .278/.363/.397 line in 172 Brewers plate appearances. Now 33, he was claimed by the Athletics last winter and traded to Tampa after missing the first month of the season with a back injury. He played in twelve games for Durham before getting called up to the Rays. He's hit .320 in 12 games over six weeks, playing the last bat on the bench and emergency catcher role so popular among AL squads.
Steve Hammond

The Brewers' 6th round pick in the 2005 draft, 27-year-old LHP Hammond worked his way up to AAA Nashville. He struggled mightily in four starts for the Sounds, but went 7-4 with a 3.45 ERA in fifteen starts at Huntsville. He was part of the Ray Durham trade and has not found much success at AAA in the San Francisco organization either. In 19 appearances this year, he is 6-8 with a 5.44 ERA and 1.49 WHIP.
Will Inman

The biggest piece traded away in 2007's Scott Linebrink deadline deal, Inman started out a 3rd round pick in the 2005 draft. Like Brantley, he has made it to AAA at the age of 22. Unlike Brantley, it took some good numbers at AA this year to get him there. In 44 1/3 innings at AA, Inman struck out 36 and walked 8, good for a 3.05 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. Things haven't gone as smoothly at AAA Portland. In 11 starts, Inman has lasted only 60 innings, walking 22 against 36 strikeouts. He has been hittable as well, surrendering 76 base knocks. All of that adds up to a 6.15 ERA and WHIP the wrong side of 1.60.
Zach Jackson

Acquired from Toronto with Dave Bush and Gabe Gross for Lyle Overbay and Ty Taubenheim, Jackson was part of the 2006 Parade of Pitchers. He was pretty well battered in seven starts and didn't appear again in the majors until 2008. He appeared in two forgettable games for the Brewers last year before being traded to Cleveland as part of the CC Sabathia package. He struggled in nine starts for the Indians last year and hasn't done any better this year. His ERA and WHIP in three major leage games sits on the wrong side of 9 and 2, respectively, and he owns a 5.71 ERA and 1.62 WHIP in 69 1/3 innings at AAA.
Brad Nelson

After seven years in the minors and running the gamut from top prospect status to bust and back, Nelson made the Opening Day roster this year. He could never get going, however, and was dropped in mid-May after going 0 for 21 with two walks. Rather than being sent outright to Nashville, he chose free agency and was snapped up by Jack Zduriencik in Seattle. Things have improved for him in Tacoma, but not greatly as he's hitting only .255/.318/.416 with 6 home runs in 151 plate appearances.
Mel Stocker

Called up to the Brewers in late 2007 mostly due to Anthony Gwynn's hamstrings' impeccable sense of timing. The speed demon batted only three times in Milwaukee but swiped four bases as a pinch-runner. Never a great hitter, he has spent 2009 playing for the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, Seattle's AA affiliate. He's put up an unimpressive .235/.336/.348 line in 65 games but has stolen 23 bags in 25 tries.
Lou Palmisano

I wrecked the alphabetical order with this one, but that's okay. "Cap'n Lou" Palmisano was drafted by the Brewers in the third round of the 2003 draft. He had a pretty good campaign for Huntsville in 2007, rapping out a .256/.368/.419 line. Unfortunately, torn cartilege in his left knee required surgery in the spring of 2008, putting his whole season in jeopardy. He did come back as a designated hitter in the low minors late in the year, hitting .297 against the lower-level competition, still impressive coming back from a knee injury. Having been designated for assignment in September, he was eligible for the Rule 5 draft and was snapped up by Houston via Baltimore. He lasted in Houston's major league camp until March 23. He didn't play in the minors before being released in May. Out of affiliated baseball, he signed on with the Sioux City Explorers of the American Association. He hit .257 with six RBI in 25 games before requesting a trade and being shipped to the Pensacola Pelicans. In Pensacola he has gone 7 for 37 with eight walks, giving him a strange overall line of .234/.422/.279 in 111 at bats. Going from major league spring training to the independant leagues in two months is a pretty steep fall and I wish him the best of luck.

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:48:46 -0000

Some things to read while not watching soccer.

So, a quick stroll through Rumorville this morning revealed that there's renewed buzz around Mike Cameron, with the Yankees once again rumored to be seeking his services. Tom H. says nothing is imminent right now. Hopefully that'll be the end of it.

Of course, it's also possible Melvin has been too busy to answer the phone: Yesterday he was unable to work out a trade so Eduardo Morlan has been returned to the Rays. (Also noted in FanShot)

He also had to evaluate new Brewer Wes Littleton, who pitched a 1-2-3 inning in his debut. He's probably not the first Brewer to say something like this about his new surroundings:

As for those familiar faces, there were non-roster outfielder Jason Bourgeois and pitcher Sam Narron, who have neighboring lockers and were once teammates of Littleton in the Rangers' farm system.

Or he could just be holding his breath as Ryan Braun tests out his sore intercostal muscle to see if he can take batting practice and/or play in the WBC semifinals. The Brewers get to make the final call, so don't be surprised if Braun is held out.

This one probably didn't take too much time, but I'd assume there was also some paperwork involved in returning Lorenzo Cain, Jonathan Lucroy and Scott Thorman to minor league camp.

Melvin may not have had time to talk to Ken Macha about his decision to try Jason Kendall in the leadoff spot. (Also noted in FanShot) Yes, Kendall takes some pitches and will draw a walk, but Two-Fisted Slopper notes that Weeks actually did both of those things better than Kendall in 2008. The Book blog has another conversation starter on whether any of this matters all that much.

Also, further down in that Journal Sentinel story is a note on Tony Gwynn, who is expected to play in the field for the first time on Saturday. Don't read too much into it, but there may be a note in there about who Macha likes among his outfield candidates:

The other thing is there are two (reserve) outfield spots. You've got four guys there: Nelson, (Trot) Nixon and the other two guys.

Speaking of Nixon, thanks to TheJay for spotting this note on his number change:

Former Tribe outfielder Trot Nixon has an uphill fight to make the Brewers' roster and thought he needed an edge.

Nixon wore No. 3 on the back of his uniform then abruptly changed to 93.

"I'm just trying to shake things up," he said.

Visual evidence of yesterday's game:

A ball snuck through the infield while J.J. Hardy was working on his belly flop.
Mike Cameron and a guy who should really put a shirt on both chase a fly ball - Cameron wins.
Cameron also did his best to break up a double play.
Was Prince Fielder congratulating Corey Hart for yet another spring training home run, or for reaching first base on his knees? We may never know.

After a tumultuous few seasons, it sounds like things have finally settled down in Nashville, with the Sounds getting new ownership and spending $2.5 million renovating Greer Stadium with the hopes of repairing a relationship with the city and fans that has been allowed to deteriorate.

Elsewhere in the minors, former Brewer Callix Crabbe and current farmhands Zelous Wheeler and Maverick Lasker are among the 64 players invited to MLB.com's Moniker Madness tournament.

In other camps:

Dodgers: Released Yhency Brazoban.
Giants: Are reportedly in the market for a backup catcher and relief pitching.
Indians: Former top prospect Adam Miller may require surgery to regain movement in his right middle finger, and could miss the entire 2009 season.
Mets: Have reportedly made an offer to Pedro Martinez.
White Sox: May be scouring the trade market looking for a proven center fielder.

Could the Brewers lose a divisional rival in Arizona? Jealous of new facilities built for the White Sox and Dodgers, the Cubs are threatening to leave Mesa if the city doesn't improve HoHoKam park. Sarasota, Florida is being named as an option.

Of course, when you train in Arizona you get spoiled sometimes, with so many things you don't have to worry about anymore. The Rays training complex in Florida, for example, has wild boars roaming the facility at night.

Being generous is a good thing. Forcing generosity onto others is a different problem: Apparently the Dodgers have decided that all new contracts must include a donation to the Dodgers Dream Foundation. Frank McCourt has set himself up for a bunch of $1 donations.

Last year, the Padres were bad. This year, the Padres may also be bad, but Geoff Young says they'll at least be bad in an interesting way.

Oh, and if you're lobbying at the Capitol and you want to have any kind of success, you probably shouldn't snatch wallets while you're there.

Drink up.

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:52:57 -0000

Some things to read while remembering to use the doorbell.

Brian Anderson returned to his blog yesterday and gave us a tidbit of news I haven't seen anywhere else: Brewer pitchers and catchers will report on February 13, which is just 28 days away. Let the countdown commence.

After attending several winter events with Doug Melvin, Anderson had this to say about Ben Sheets:

Free agent Ben Sheets has informed the Brewers that he is going in a different direction.

Meanwhile, the Rangers are calling Sheets a person of interest and John Fay thinks the Reds should also be interested. Sheets is one of MLB FanHouse's dozen unanswered questions.

Several minor league notes to pass along today:

The Diamond Cutter lists Mat Gamel as baseball's #21 prospect.
Bird Land asked Jim Callis of Baseball America to rate the top 30 prospects in the NL Central. The Brewers have three in the top ten and six in the top 30.
Kary Booher of Baseball America has a deeper look at the Brewers' current philosophy regarding Dominican players and how it might change.

And, it's time once again to play "Where are they now?" with minor league transactions:

Chris Barnwell is an Astro.
R.A. Dickey is a Twin.
Randy Choate is a Ray.
Scott Podsednik has been invited to spring training by the Rockies.
Greg Aquino (and Kirk Saarloos) have been signed to minor league deals and invited to spring training by the Indians.
Callix Crabbe and Chris Woodward have been invited to spring training by the Mariners.

So how hard can Trevor Hoffman throw? Turns out he's not sure, since the radar gun at Petco Park may have been fudged. There's no real reason or need to do that.

Are you unemployed for the summer? Do you have high energy and enjoy dressing like a sausage? The Brewers are looking for game-day entertainers to join The Brew Crew.

On the hot stove:

Angels: Signed Chone Figgins to a one-year deal, avoiding arbitration. No word on the terms.
Blue Jays: along with the Marlins, they're reportedly interested in Orlando Cabrera.
Cardinals: Along with the Dodgers, they're reportedly one of the teams showing the most interest in Kris Benson, who will work out for teams in Arizona next week.
Dodgers: May release Andruw Jones as soon as today.
Nationals: signed Josh Towers to a minor league deal.
Padres: May be close to a deal with Omar Vizquel, or may just be having fun seeing how many gritty middle infielders they can be linked to.
Rays: Avoided arbitration with Gabe Gross by agreeing to a one-year, $1.25 million deal.
White Sox: Signed Bartolo Colon to a one-year deal.

Also, Paul Byrd has reportedly decided to sit out the first half of 2009 and hopes to sign a mid-season deal with a contender.

Ever wanted to own the AAA affiliate of a division rival? The Cardinals plans to buy their affiliate in Memphis have fallen through and the team will likely be back on the market.

If you didn't know this one, you should look at a map more often: Seattle is pretty far away from every other MLB franchise. U.S.S. Mariner has a look at what this means for their travel plans, and ponders the impact it might have on the team's performance.

Oh, and Shysterball doesn't sound too excited about an evening with Harmon Killebrew.

Drink up.

The Brewers and the Rule 5 Draft

TheJay — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 06:15:08 -0000

Since major league clubs finalized their reserve lists (also known as 40-man rosters) on November 20, the Internet has been abuzz with speculation about the Rule 5 draft. This year's Rule 5 draft takes place on December 11 at the end of the annual Winter Meetings. So what exactly is the Rule 5 draft and why are people so excited about it? Perhaps more importantly for us, how have the Brewers participated in it over the years?

The Rule 5 draft is intended to move players who may be blocked on talent-rich clubs to clubs who aren't stocked with as many skilled players. It's not a modern invention--the first Rule 5 draft took place all the way back in 1903. Back then, players were subject to the reserve clause, binding them to their teams for as long as the team saw fit. Without a chance to ever freely move from team to team, players could be blocked by established veterans for years. More important in the eyes of many owners, wealthier teams could stockpile good players and keep them in the minors indefinitely, creating a nearly inexhaustible depth chart of talented players and keeping major league talent from less wealthy teams. To combat this stockpiling, the Rule 5 draft was invented. During the draft, teams could select players left unprotected by other teams in the hopes the players would blossom into quality big leaguers. While the draft was (and is) hit or miss, it contained enough diamonds in the rough to keep teams interested.

To prevent teams from completely raiding each other's systems, however, a couple ground rules were laid down: first, there was a fee charged for each pick. Second, each pick had to remain on the drafting team's major league roster for the entire season after the draft. If the drafting team wanted to send the player they selected to the minors for more seasoning, he first had to be offered back to his original team for the waiver price. Sometimes teams would no longer have room for the drafted player to return and they let his new organization keep him, but these two basic rules kept teams from drafting too many players each season.

Those rules are still in place (with enhancements) today. Each Rule 5 draft pick costs $50,000 and must stay on the big league roster for a full season. Ninety days of that season must be spent on the Active List (i.e., not the disabled/military/etc. list). If the player fails to reach that ninety days in his first season with the club, he must stay on the major league roster during the next season until he reaches ninety days. This prevents stashing a guy on the disabled list all year just to keep him in the system. If the drafting team wants to release their pick or send him to the minors, he must clear waivers and then be offered back to his original team for $25,000. If the player's original team chooses not to reclaim him, his new team can treat him as just another player in their system. What has changed over the years are the eligibility requirements for the draft. To be eligible for the Rule 5 draft today, a player:

Must not be on his organization's 40-man roster
If 19 or older on the June 5th before he signed his first contract, must have spent four seasons in the majors or minors.
If 18 or older on the June 5th before he signed his first contract, must have spent five seasons in the majors or minors.

There are also rules governing which teams can select players in the draft: teams select in reverse order of that season's finish and since a Rule 5 draft pick automatically is added to a team's 40-man roster, the team must have an open roster slot in order to pick. For example, the Rockies had 40 players on their 40-man roster at the time of the 1999 Rule 5 draft, so they couldn't make a selection.

In addition to the major league Rule 5 draft described above, there are two minor league phases of the draft. In the AAA phase, players eligible for for the Rule 5 draft but not on a team's 40-man roster or in AAA can be selected for $12,000. In the AA phase, eligible players from below AA can be selected for $4,000. Selected players do not have to be offered back to their original clubs once picked. Usually players picked in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft are roster filler for minor league affiliates, but occasionally future major leaguers are selected. One example is Giants utilityman Eugenio Velez, plucked from the Blue Jays in the AAA phase of the 2005 draft.

So now that we've hashed out all the specifics of who can pick and be picked in the draft, let's look at how the Brewers have used the Rule 5 draft throughout the years. It's easy to find all the selections during the last decade since they're easily accessible online. Unfortunately, complete drafts from before then are not available online, so finding selections becomes a matter of combing through transactions lists and finding guys who eventually made it to the majors. It's safe to assume there were a number of Brewers Rule 5 draft selections from 1970 to the late 1990's that never made it to the majors and thus aren't on those lists. Thus this isn't a complete list of all Brewers Rule 5 picks but it is, I believe, a complete list of Brewers picks (and players bought immediately from other teams) who at some point played in the majors.

Drafted by Brewers				Drafted From Brewers
Name	Position	Year	Picked From	Name	Position	Year	Picked By
Edward Campusano	LHP	2006	CHC	Callix Crabbe	IF	2007	SDP
Marcos Carvajal	RHP	2004	LAD	Ramon Garcia	RHP	1996	HOU
Jeff Bennett	RHP	2003	PIT	Marc Ronan	C	1995	NYY
Enrique Cruz	SS	2002	NYM	Bobby M. Jones	RHP	1994	COL
Matt Ford	RHP	2002	TOR	Tim Fortugno	LHP	1991	CAL
Jorge Sosa	RHP	2001	SEA	Dwayne Hosey	OF	1991	SDP
Ryan Christenson	OF	2001	ARI	Dave Stapleton	LHP	1988	HOU
Matt Williams	RHP	1999	NYY	Gibson Alba	LHP	1987	STL
Al Reyes	RHP	1994	MON	Bob Gibson	RHP	1986	CHW
Jose Mercedes	RHP	1993	BAL	Jeff Parrett	RHP	1985	MON
Graeme Lloyd	LHP	1992	TOR	Willie Lozado	IF	1984	STL
Rob Lukachyk	OF	1991	CHW	Jesus Vega	1B	1977	MIN
Matias Carrillo	LHP	1987	PIT	Ron Tompkins	RHP	1970	CHC
Vicente Palacios	RHP	1986	PIT
Brian Giles	IF	1984	NYM
Jamie Nelson	C	1983	SEA
Mike Warren	RHP	1981	OAK
Tom Candiotti	RHP	1980	KCR
Mark Brouhard	OF	1979	CAL
Ned Yost	C	1977	NYM
Marshall Edwards	OF	1976	OAK
Jeff Yurak	OF	1976	NYM
Aurelio Monteagudo	RHP	1971	KCR

Players in italics were selected during the minor league portion of the draft.

You might be wondering who Edward Campusano and Marcos Carvajal are. They were picked by the Brewers but immediately sold to Detroit and Colorado, respectively. Similarly, Graeme Lloyd was picked by the Phillies and was promptly traded to the Brewers. Obviously, the Brewers have been more active as "buyers" than "sellers" during the Rule 5 draft when it comes to guys who made the majors, especially recently. That's not a big surprise, as bad teams don't usually have much worth taking from their farm system, unless something goes terribly wrong.

The Brewers have also dabbled in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft in the past few years. I could only find full details for those drafts going back to 2002, but here's a quick list of players selected by the Brewers:

Joe Bateman (RHP) in 2007, from San Francisco
Richard Campbell (RHP) in 2007, from Washington
Juan Sandoval (RHP) in 2007, from Seattle
Michael Carlin (1B) in 2006, from Pittsburgh
Steve Bray (RHP) in 2006, from Kansas City
Landon Stockman (RHP) in 2004, from Cleveland
Juan Cerros (RHP) in 2004, from Cincinnati
Ryan Costello (LHP) in 2003, from Toronto
David Manning (RHP) in 2002, from Minnesota

Outside of Bateman, Bray, and maybe Manning, that's a list that makes you say, "who?" See what I meant when I said the minor league portion is used for roster filler? The Brewers didn't lose much in those drafts either: the most notable names are RHP Ben Diggins (2005), LHP John Foster (2003), OF Pete Zoccolillo (2003), and the other RHP Dan Kolb (2004).

So now you know more than you ever thought you would about the Brewers and the Rule 5 draft. Will the Crew pick a player to keep for themselves for the first time in six years? Will anyone from the Brewers system be picked by another team? The answer to both questions is "probably not," but you never know. Anyone the Brewers pick will be able to commiserate with manager Ken Macha, himself a Rule 5 pick in 1978. That player will also join a list that has some surprisingly good names and an awful lot of forgotten ones.

Further Reading on the Rule 5 Draft:
Rule 5 draft information from Baseball America
Hardball Times article about interesting historical Rule 5 picks
Major League Rule 5 draft results back to 1998
A summary of Major League Rule 5
Retrosheet transactions data

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:59:30 -0000

Some things to read while making excuses for not doing anything today.

We open today with a Sabathia Smorgasbord:

Ken Davidoff, via MLB Trade Rumors, reports the Yankees might be willing to raise their offer to $150 million over six seasons if another team, like the Angels, offers Sabathia $130 million.
Rob Neyer says replacing Jon Garland with Sabathia would make the Angels 3-4 wins better next season, which doesn't sound like much but becomes more relevant when you realize the 2008 Angels already won 100 games. And if Jon Garland is as bad as projected in 2009, the difference is even bigger.
Everyone loves CC. Absolutely everyone. Not only is he friends with LeBron James, Mike Cameron and Nick Swisher, but Buster Olney says his best friend in baseball is David Riske.
Sabathia's midseason acquisition and the jersey rush that followed are probably a big part of the reason the Brewers sold more named jerseys than any other team in 2008.
FanGraphs says Sabathia had the single greatest pitching performance in 2008. (Ben Sheets had the second best.)
Kenny Doyle of Dugout Central says the Braves need CC Sabathia...because he's black. I tend to think he's valuable for reasons that extend beyond his skin color.
Over 10,000 people have voted, and so far the Yankees hold a slight edge in Ken Rosenthal's poll on CC Sabathia's destination.
Sabathia was second on The Brew Town Beat's Top Ten List of things to be thankful for.
Sabathia also made Big League Stew's list of 101 things, along with Ryan Braun's nickname, Bob Uecker, and the food and tailgating at Miller Park.

Of course, there is other movement on the free agent market. These two pieces of news were so huge, for example, that the mainstream media just assumed you knew about them and passed by: Mel Stocker is a Mariner and Callix Crabbe might be too.

Since they haven't signed any Type A or B free agents (yet), the Brewers still project to draft 27th in the 2009 draft. With two Type A free agents (Sabathia and Sheets) still out there, they stand to pick up several extra early picks.

Here's a mishmash of one sentence notes falling under the heading of "bullpen:"

The Rockies are reportedly targeting Brian Shouse.
Seth McClung made the final four candidates in FanGraphs' search for 2009's best mop up pitcher.
Salomon Torres hasn't officially retired yet. He still needs to turn in the paperwork.

Baseball Musings takes a look at how defense affected pitchers in 2008. Sabathia, Ben Sheets and Dave Bush were helped the most by the Brewer defense, while Carlos Villanueva was the only Brewer to be hurt by it.

While I'm on the subject of defense: I know fielding percentages and error counts are not the only or the best way to measure defensive ability, but Vinny Rottino, Brendan Katin and Tony Gwynn were all among the bottom of AAA in terms of fielding percentage and among the leaders in errors. Just saying.

I hope everyone remembered yesterday to be thankful for R.J. Swindle. He's Canadian, so his Thanksgiving is actually the second Monday in October, but Independent Baseball Chatter says he has extra reason to be thankful this season anyway.

If Balking Traditionalism's 2009 pitching projections are accurate, we may not have as much Brewer success to be thankful for at this time next year.

Rowland's Office thinks the Braves are making a mistake pursuing A.J. Burnett if the price is five years, $75 million, comparing Burnett to Pete Harnisch. He thinks the Braves should pursue Ben Sheets instead.

And if free agent pitching is too expensive for you, Baseball Analysts takes a look at some pitchers available in the Rule 5 Draft.

I didn't collect as many hot stove links as I normally do today, but here are a few:

Braves: Mike Hampton is reportedly shopping for a one year deal, but wants a straight salary, not an incentive-based deal. I can't believe I'm saying this, but on a one year deal he might be worthy of consideration.
Mets: The team is likely just posturing, but has publicly stated Brian Fuentes' request for a 3 year, $30-$33 million deal seems "a bit high."
Phillies: Matt Stairs is most likely the only current major leaguer spending the offseason coaching high school hockey in Maine.

So, if you're reading the Mug this morning, it's probably safe to assume you skipped the long lines and insanity of Black Friday shopping. If you did, and you're still looking for gifts, might I suggest a shiny new Wisconsin Timber Rattler hat? I'd wear one.

Finally, I've made a point of keeping my work and this blog separate for most of my tenure here, but today it's for a good cause so I'll break the rule. I've been ring announcing pro wrestling shows for 3XWrestling in Des Moines for the last 2 1/2 years, and tonight we have a show in Des Moines as a toy drive for Toys for Tots. If you're located somewhere near Des Moines and looking for something to do tonight, c'mon out with a new, unopened toy and help support a great cause. Even if you're not near Des Moines, Toys for Tots is a great cause to support, as is Child's Play, which is helping two hospitals in Wisconsin this year.

Drink up.