SB Nation - Ray Durham

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

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

Craig Counsell slides right into the projected 2010 roster.

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, 30 Nov 2009 12:40:38 -0000

by Ted S. Warren - AP

Kevin Millwood: 2010 Brewer?

View full size photo »

Some things to read while opening your disco ball.

It's a bad news-good news kind of morning. The bad news: I've been up sick since 4:15. The good news: I couldn't sleep anyway, so this morning's Mug is early. Enjoy.

Kevin Millwood was the newest name to surface in Rumorville over the weekend, based on a Boston Globe report saying the Brewers had inquired about him. With that said, Rangers GM Jon Daniels said he hasn't spoken to Doug Melvin in weeks. Two things to take away from this:

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe is still a hack and any time spent propagating one of his rumors is time wasted.
"Working the phones" is apparently still not a big part of Doug Melvin's offseason plan.

Edwin Jackson is also still wandering about in Rumorville, as Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports lists the Brewers as one of eight teams that could be interested in acquiring him from the Tigers. D.J. Short of Circling the Bases says Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski will be one of the most popular GMs at next week's Winter Meetings.

Where does Prince Fielder's 2009 season rate among the best in Brewer history? In-Between Hops has it at #4, behind Robin Yount's 1982, Paul Molitor's 1987 and Rollie Fingers' 2001. Notably absent from the top ten: Ryan Braun's 2009.

In the minors:

The Timber Rattlers are looking for your help selecting a third baseman for their 15th anniversary team. Follow the link to learn about the candidates, then jump over to their front page for the poll.
Speaking of the Rattlers, Rattler Radio has a nice note on the offseason of 2009 Rattler Jim Henderson, who's spending the winter in Okotoks, Alberta, helping train the next generation of Canadian baseball players.

No transactions to pass along today, so we'll move straight into the other notes:

If Derek Lowe doesn't become a Brewer this offseason, he might be a Dodger again. There's a new rumor floating around that has Atlanta and Los Angeles potentially swapping bad contracts, with Lowe going to the Dodgers and Juan Pierre to the Braves. Meanwhile, Lowe sounds like he'd prefer to stay in Atlanta.

Every now and then someone asks me for a glossary of statistical terms we frequently use (and misuse) here on BCB. It's a project we'll probably get around to eventually, but in the meantime Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? has a pretty good starting point.

Are you ready to start projecting for 2010? If so, FanGraphs has an opportunity for you to weigh in on players for next season. It could be interesting.

I just heard about it for the first time yesterday, but apparently Cyber Monday is "a tradition worth keeping," so you should head over to the Brewers online store and give them 20% less than all your money. And if you're looking for a gift for a ~~favorite Brewer blogger~~ a guy that writes about the Crew and occasionally doesn't suck, I've got my eye on this and this.

On this date in 1972, Larry Hisle was traded from the Cardinals to the Twins, marking the third time he'd been traded in 13 months. Five years later, Hisle would become a free agent for the first time, sign with the Brewers and finish third in the voting for 1978 AL MVP.

On this date in 1994, the Brewers sent reliever Doug Henry to the Mets for two players to be named later. Nearly a month later, the final PTBNL was announced: Fernando Vina. Vina hit .286/.349/.389 over five seasons as a Brewer.

Happy birthday today to Ray Durham, who turns 38.

Drink up.

In Defense of the General Manager

U-God — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:10:46 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

The man on the right is better at his job than people outside of Chicago give credit for. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Browse more photos »

When OSFIB posted this link today, I found my muse for the off day. As most of our readers (and White Sox fans in general) have probably noticed, ripping on Kenny Williams and calling him a below average GM has almost become accepted as common knowledge outside of the state of Illinois. Even other SBN sites have jumped in on it. The thing is, it hasn't been a correct assumption for a while. Further analysis (and an almost complete GM history) after the jump.

The man has made his mistakes and there is no denying that. The Todd Ritchie trade was awful, giving up Ray Durham for Jon Adkins still hurts, and who can forget the confusing multiple trades for Carl Everett and Roberto Alomar. And then there was his unfortunate attacks on Frank Thomas after the Big Hurt had some disparaging remarks towards the only organization he had ever known. The thing is, the man has improved. Over the course of his career he went from the sheep being fleeced to the man holding the shears. Over the past few season Kenny has turned minor leaguers and stable veterans into Freddy Garcia, Jim Thome, Jose Contreras, Javier Vazquez, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Matt Thornton, Orlando Cabrera, and Carlos Quentin. He snagged Bobby Jenks off of waivers from the Angels. He brought A.J. Pierzynski, Tadahito Iguchi, Jermaine Dye, and Orlando Hernandez in as free agents during a time when other teams were more desirable. He kept Paul Konerko, Mark Buehrle, and Jermaine Dye in town when they could have made more money elsewhere. He gave Ozzie Guillen his first chance to manage a baseball team. He played a large part in the magic that was 2005. He took over an ineffective draft plan, and since he started being more hands on with it the Sox have drafted Aaron Poreda, Gordon Beckham, Daniel Hudson, Trayce Thompson, Jared Mitchell, and Jordan Danks. He opened a pipeline to Cuba using Contreras and El Duque that has helped result in Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo.

Does he still have his flaws? Yes. His hands were pretty much tied during the Nick Swisher fiasco. He still tends to get tunnel vision and focus on getting a player no matter what or when (Ken Griffey Jr and Jake Peavy). But he isn't the rube he was back in the day. The article OSFIB linked us compared Kenny Williams to a gambler that loses a good deal of money. I like the gambler comparison, but I really don't see the second half being true. This could be me simply being a homer. I do tend to give KW the benefit of the doubt with his moves, but it's not as if he hasn't earned it. He inherited an okay team with no farm system to speak of. He has given us one losing season, two trips to the playoffs, and improving farm system, and a World Series championship. He's even starting to get more credit from actual journalists, which is nice. Is he the best GM in baseball? No, granted I don't know who I would give that title to. Do I believe he is in the top 10? Yes. The man does his best to make sure we remain competetive every season without completely mortgaging the future. Remember that the next time you read about how big of a stooge or over-aggressive moron Kenny Williams is.

GM History from 2000-2008 courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors

Twins Sign Mark Grudzielanek to Minor League Contract

Jesse — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:37:22 -0000

I'm surprised. Are you surprised? We shouldn't be surprised, it's a quintessential Twins move.

Mark Grudzielanek

#?? / Second Base / Minnesota Twins

Height: 6-1

Weight: 200

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jun 30, 1970

The following occurred between 12:45 and 12:46 pm CDT today:

Jesse: Grudz?
Jesse: Really?
Seth: Ya...just had it confirmed, too.
Jesse: Why am I surprised?

I don't want to set anyone up with the wrong idea here, because there are merits to this signing and I'll get to them later, but honestly: why was I surprised? The Twins organization has done a fantastic job over the years of acquiring veterans in twilight in the hope that they can provide some kind of depth or leadership. I could also add production, but that hasn't always been the case.

These signings have all fallen under one of two categories. Either these veterans were A) washed up and we all knew it (James Baldwin, Jesse Orosco, Juan Castro, Bret Boone, Ruben Sierra, Tony Batista, Phil Nevin, Jeff Cirillo, Ramon Ortiz, Sidney Ponson, Craig Monroe, Livan Hernandez, the return of Eddie Guardado, Luis Ayala, Sean Henn) or B) all things considered weren't a bad gamble (Tom Prince, Rick Reed, Kenny Rogers, Henry Blanco, Jose Offerman, Terry Mulholland, Pat Borders, Mike Redmond, Rondell White, Jason Tyner, Mike Lamb, Adam Everett, R.A. Dickey). Of course, whether or not any of column B actually worked out is another matter altogether. But you're catching my drift, and I didn't even list all of Joe Mauer's third catchers.

Now we can officially add one Mark Grudzielanek to that list. I think the reason this signing surprised me is because Grudz was a free agent. It was almost too easy. Of course if the Twins were in contact with Grudz, you can bet they were probably in contact with Ray Durham, too. Let's get to the actual analysis of this deal.

Contract

Minnesota has offered Grudzielanek a minor league deal, and he'll report to a Gulf Coast League squad in Florida. He made $4.5 million with the Kansas City Royals in 2008, but suffice it to say he won't be making anywhere near that much this year. Financial terms haven't been disclosed, but I'd be surprised if it cracks the one million mark. It sounds like he did have offers in the off-season, being a Type B free agent, but he declined those offers.

Age

This is the bit that everyone is going to focus on: Grudz is 39. Most guys are out of the league by this time, whether that's by choice or not, but here's something to keep in mind: even at 38 he was a good player.

Offense

Patience & Discipline: Grudz hasn't really been a guy who walks a lot over the course of his career, but he makes up for that by being a great contact hitter. He makes contact on over 90% of his swings, and goes outside of the zone at right around the league average rate. Again, the walk rates (5% of plate appearances) are low, but Alexi Casilla (6%) and Brendan Harris (7%) aren't walk machines, either. He sees roughly 3.5 pitches per plate appearance.

Power: He's a career .395 slugger, .106 isolated power. As a full-time player he's always been good for plenty of doubles, but as far as the long-ball goes he's a middle infielder. This is a secondary concern for anyone playing second base.

Batted Ball: Grudz is a line-drive hitter. A lot of analysts will say that hitting line drives isn't a repeatable skill, and that might be accurate, but when you're hitting them at a rate that's better than league average year after year after year, something is going well.

Defense

Arm: This has never been a problem. He spent a lot of time at shortstop for the Expos earlier in his career, but for a guy who would be playing exclusively at second base, the arm is fine.

Range: Oddly enough, for a guy who was 38 last season his range didn't fall off too much. The problem is that he is a bit older, and having lost that first step does mean something. That's reflected in defensive metrics like UZR/150, which came in at 5.3 in 2008. Still above average, which is very much in line with Grudzielanek's history, it's just not what it was.

Conclusions

There are a lot of positives here; just not as many as we'd hoped as fans rooting for someone like Freddy Sanchez. This is a move that has zero risk for the Twins, who are still counting on Casilla to get the job done. If Casilla faulters again, it's not as though Minnesota would be wasting a roster spot by calling on Grudzielanek. The biggest focus as far as positives go though, and it's a big one, is this: it's not going to take much to improve on what the Twins have been given from second base this season. If Grudz is ready by the middle of August, comes up and hits .280/.330/.380, that's an improvement. As far as his defense goes, there would have to be something desperately wrong for him to have suddenly turned into a negative player in the field. For a guy like this, his offensive skills may disappear, but the glove will linger on.

What does leave me slightly disappointed is the fact that this is such a by-the-numbers move for the Twins. There's no risk here, but sometimes that's exactly what a team needs for a boost: a risk. A sign that, yes, dammit, this organization believes in you so much that we went out and put our own asses on the line. Sometimes I get the sense that the front office forgets that everything about baseball is a two-way street, it's all a relationship, from the fans to the players to the front office.

Baseball is a business. By that definition, picking up a guy like Grudzielanek is a good move simply because getting a guy to play league average anything at second base constitutes an upgrade. But I just had my sights on something a bit more substantial.

There's still time.

Poll

Which list does Grudz belong on?

A) He's washed up and we all know it.

53 votes

B) All things considered, not a bad signing.

245 votes

C) I've already ordered my "Grudz" jersey.

33 votes

331 votes | Poll has closed

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:07:23 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

Corey Hart, freshly shaved head and all, celebrates Tuesday's victory while J.J. Hardy maintains a safe distance.

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while coming out of your shell.

The main topic of conversation this morning continues to be replacing Rickie Weeks. Ray Durham has been in touch, and Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times thinks Mark DeRosa could be a fit (thanks to 80Badger for the link), but Doug Melvin is focusing on internal options, and as of this writing, 92% of voters in our poll agree with that decision.

Meanwhile, Hernan Iribarren has been called up to fill Weeks' spot on the roster (Also noted in FanShot). Iribarren, who is left handed, did not play last night and likely will not play tonight against lefty Wandy Rodriguez, but could be considered to start on Thursday.

Speaking of Wandy Rodriguez, both Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle and Crawfish Boxes are excited to see his matchup with Yovani Gallardo tonight. Gallardo, meanwhile, is just trying to stay sharp after what was basically a missed turn in the rotation on Friday.

After a decade of living in obscurity, Mark DiFelice is suddenly the center of attention. Jeff Passan of Yahoo had a story on him earlier this week, and now he's also profiled in Hardball Cooperative and The Madison Capital Times. Of course, all this attention had to come this week, when DiFelice allowed an earned run for just the second time in 16 appearances.

Speaking of obscurity, Dave Bush is moving towards an obscure record of his own pretty quickly. Bush hit two Astros batters last night to bring his Brewer career total to 46, just three shy of Jamey Wright's franchise record. Bush's seven plunks in 2009 lead the National League. He only hit ten batters in all of 2008.

Mike Hampton started last night's game for the Astros, but left early with a left thumb lasceration. I haven't seen anything on how long he'll be out.

Jeremy Jeffress, the #3 prospect and top pitcher in our Community Prospect Rankings, has been demoted to Brevard County after posting a 15.03 ERA and walking 21 hitters in 11.1 innings over his last four starts. Former top pitching prospect Mike Jones has been promoted to Huntsville to take his place (Also noted in FanShot).

Power rankings, anyone?

The National Post has moved the Brewers from fourth to second in their NL power rankings.
Goatriders of the Apocalypse has moved the Brewers from fourth to first in their NL Central rankings.

Around the league:

Nationals: Placed Elijah Dukes on the DL with a hamstring strain and designated Alex Cintron for assignment.
Reds: Placed reliever Nick Masset on the DL with a strained oblique.

Is 2009 a renaissance for aging catchers? Plunk Everyone noticed that catchers 35 years old or older are catching 17.3% of games this season, the second highest total since 1960.

Take a deep breath, everyone. Stephen Strasburg, who is almost certain to be the #1 pick in June's draft and is dominating college hitters at San Diego State, is not expected to make his MLB debut this season. I've heard all the hype about him being the "greatest prospect ever" and whatnot, but seriously, let's let this guy make his pro debut before we slot him into the Nationals' rotation.

Giants pitcher Noah Lowry's long and winding road back to the big leagues continues. Lowry is scheduled for surgery to have a rib removed to address thoracic outlet syndrome. His agent, meanwhile, has called the Giants out for failing to correctly diagnose Lowry's ailment the first time.

The road is just as long and winding, but maybe a little darker, for Khalil Greene. Greene is getting some extra time off to address an anxiety issue. Greene has admitted to "punishing himself physically," and others have expressed concern about the severity of the punishment. Greene missed a fair portion of last season after breaking his hand punching an equipment trunk.

Oh, and no matter what I do, I never seem to get a cheering section quite like Tigers outfielder Clete Thomas.

Drink up.

Replacing Rickie Weeks: Internal vs External Options

KLSnow — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:00:17 -0000

Now that we've had almost 24 hours to digest the news that Rickie Weeks will likely miss the rest of 2009, we're starting to see more and more conversation about the options to play second base every day. Buster Olney says the Brewers will look at what they have first:

A baseball source made it clear Monday night that the Brewers will first examine internal options. First and foremost of those is Craig Counsell, whose chances of keeping the job might improve if Mat Gamel upgrades the Brewers' offense with how he hits at third base, and Gamel mashed a homer Monday night. The Brewers, the source says, "are not looking outside yet."

(Thanks to Battlekow, who linked this note in today's Mug comments.)

At first glance, this seems somewhat illogical. Ray Durham and Mark Grudzielanek, two proven major league second basemen, are sitting at home while Casey McGehee, Craig Counsell and others compete for an everyday spot. It seems like the Brewers should already be on the phone with one of these guys. But there's three factors that complicate matters here and make it anything but a clear cut decision:

Time. Both Durham and Grudzielanek are free agents, and neither went to camp with a team this spring. That means neither of them could sign today and play tomorrow: they'd need some time to get ready. If either of these guys signed today, they'd probably report to extended spring training in Arizona on Thursday or so, spend a week to ten days there, then go to Nashville for a couple of weeks, then report to the Brewers. All that means it'd be a month before they'd be ready to contribute. By then, Alcides Escobar might be ready to make the jump to the big leagues anyway.

Age. Durham is 37 years old. Grudzielanek is 38. Even if the Brewers signed one of these guys and invested all the time and effort into getting them ready for the big leagues, there's no guarantee they'll be able to perform at a high level once they get there. Durham was projected to be around a .255/.333/.409 hitter in 2009, and Grudzielanek was about the same, around .280/.330/.400. These numbers aren't embarassing, but they're not very good either, and there's a decent chance one or a combination of the four of Casey McGehee, Hernan Iribarren, Jason Bourgeois and Craig Counsell could perform at that level.

Money. Ray Durham made $7 million or more each of the last five seasons. Grudzielanek just finished a run with the Royals that paid him $12.5 million over three years. I don't know what Grudz received for offers this offseason, but Durham turned down $850,000 and the opportunity to win the everyday job with the Nationals this spring. If it costs the Brewers $2.5-3 million to convince one of these guys to dust off their glove and come on board, that may eliminate any budget flexibility the Brewers had been saving for a move at the trade deadline.

The more I think about it, the less I like the idea of signing one of these guys. What do you think?

Poll

How should the Brewers replace Rickie Weeks?

Internal options

618 votes

External options

49 votes

667 votes | Poll has closed

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:32:44 -0000

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

Rickie Weeks tosses his bat to his eventual replacement (not pictured).

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while getting ready for your photo shoot.

The Summer of Rickie Weeks was suddenly and abruptly canceled yesterday, leaving many of us wondering where we go from here. Willie Randolph, who spent most of the spring working with Weeks to improve his game, called the news "depressing", and Cory Provus notes that the news came just a week after Ken Macha called Weeks "his kind of player."

So where do the Brewers go from here? Adam McCalvy lists five internal options to fill in the void at second base. As of this writing, about 30% of voters in the poll on your right think Craig Counsell should take over, with 22% voting for Bill Hall and 18% hoping Doug Melvin is on the phone with Ray Durham. Casey McGehee is expected to start tonight and tomorrow, as the Astros send lefties Mike Hampton and Wandy Rodriguez to the mound. The Brewers are also expected to call up Hernan Iribarren from Nashville, but the move has not yet been announced.

How valuable was Weeks this season? On top of already having nine home runs and being on pace for 100 RBI, he was also the second most valuable defensive second baseman in baseball, according to FanGraphs. Mike Cameron is still the most valuable defensive center fielder, but the Brewers as a team have dropped from second to fifth.

Last night's game had a couple of milestones in it: Of course, Mat Gamel hit his first major league home run, but Jason Kendall also picked up his 2000th hit, becoming just the eighth catcher to do so. Baseball Reference looks at the eight catchers who accomplished the feat, and one stat jumps out: each of the other seven catchers hit at least 248 home runs, and Ted Simmons is the only one with less than 300. Jason Kendall has 73 career homers.

We've known for a few days now that Brad Nelson would not be back, but now we also know where he's headed: Nelson has signed a minor league deal with the Mariners and will report to AAA Tacoma. Hopefully Brad can rebound from a tough start to 2009 and have a nice major league career in the AL, where the Brewers won't have to face him very often.

Down in the minors, Taylor Green is off to a hot start in his rehab assignment with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. He's expected to be called up to Huntsville soon, but Rattlers manager Jeff Isom is hoping to dodge that phone call.

Elsewhere in the minors, the Astros have released former Brewer Lou Palmisano. Cap'n Lou was picked in the Rule 5 draft by the Orioles, traded to the Astros, and then offered back to the Brewers. The Brewers decided not to take him back.

On power rankings:

Whatifsports has moved the Brewers up from tenth to fifth in their rankings.
Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star has moved the Brewers from eighth to third.

Here's one more way you can help the Brewers own Pittsburgh: The Racing Sausages are up against the Racing Pierogies in Home Run Derby's Mascot Challenge. Head on over there and vote for the sausages.

Around the league:

A's: Reliever Dan Giese has been placed on the DL with irritation in his ulnar nerve.
Mets: Carlos Delgado will miss at least two months after undergoing hip surgery, Alex Cora has been placed on the DL with a sprained thumb ligament and, once again, Nelson Figueroa has been designated for assignment.
Nationals: 26-year-old reliever Ryan Wagner, who had been pitching in AAA, has decided to retire.
Phillies: Signed Paul Bako to a minor league deal.
Pirates: Claimed reliever Steven Jackson off waivers from the Yankees.
Rockies: Designated reliever Steven Register, who had been pitching in AAA, for assignment.
Twins: Placed starter Glen Perkins on the DL with elbow inflammation.

I believe I've mentioned before that home runs are way up this season, although I haven't seen it reported recently. On the other side, though, Baseball Reference notes that there has not been a single three-HR game in 2009, and this is the farthest into the season we've gone without one since 1993.

Oh, and I don't have my new house yet (and won't for another month), but I already have a gardening idea.

Drink up.

The Milwaukee Brewers' Last Trade With Each Team

TheJay — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:48:24 -0000

More photos » by H. Rumph Jr - AP

A long time ago, in a league 98 miles away, this guy was part of the Brewers' last trade with the Yankees.

Browse more photos »

One of my favorite parts of each year's team media guide is the page listing the Brewers' last trade with all the other major league teams. Maybe it's because it's so esoteric, maybe it's because of all the "some-team-wanted-him?" thoughts it prompts, or maybe it's the idea that for years Brewers and Mariners management had a bitter blood feud getting in the way of amicable trading. I don't know. Either way, let's take a trip down memory lane, transaction-style:

(note: PTBNL below stands for "Player to be Named Later," defined here)

The Milwaukee Brewers' Last Trade With...

Arizona Diamondbacks - 11/25/2006
Traded LHP Doug Davis, LHP Dana Eveland, and OF Dave Krynzel for C Johnny Estrada, RHP Claudio Vargas, and RHP Greg Aquino
Atlanta Braves - 12/7/2005
Traded RHP Wes Obermueller for RHP Dan Kolb
Chicago Cubs - 8/31/2004
Traded OF Ben Grieve for LHP Andy Pratt and cash
Cincinnati Reds - 1/14/2000
Traded OF Alex Ochoa for OF Mark Sweeney and a PTBNL (RHP Gene Altman)
Colorado Rockies - 12/13/2004
Traded RHP Marcos Carvajal in exchange for cash
Florida Marlins - 11/25/1996
Traded RHP Eddie Collins for LHP Joel Adamson
Houston Astros - 9/11/2007
Traded RHP Dennis Sarfate for cash
Los Angeles Dodgers - 3/26/2007
Traded OF Brady Clark and cash for RHP Elmer Dessens
New York Mets - 11/20/2007
Traded C Johnny Estrada for RHP Guillermo Mota
Philadelphia Phillies - 7/28/2006
Traded RHP Wilfrido Laureano for 3B David Bell
Pittsburgh Pirates - 12/7/2007
Traded RHP Marino Salas and RHP Kevin Roberts for RHP Salomon Torres
St. Louis Cardinals - 8/22/2003
Traded RHP Mike DeJean for two PTBNL (RHP Mike Crudale and RHP John Novinsky)
San Diego Padres - 7/25/2007
Traded LHP Joe Thatcher, RHP Will Inman, and LHP Steve Garrison for RHP Scott Linebrink
San Francisco Giants - 7/20/2008
Traded OF Darren Ford and LHP Steve Hammond for 2B Ray Durham
Washington Nationals - 9/4/2007
Traded a PTBNL (1B Andrew Lefave) for LHP Ray King

The AL teams are after the jump.

Baltimore Orioles - 7/16/1999
Traded a PTBNL (RHP Al Reyes) for RHP Rocky Coppinger
Boston Red Sox - 7/31/1998
Traded IF Eddy Diaz for RHP Joe Hudson
Chicago White Sox - 12/13/2004
Traded OF Scott Podsednik, RHP Luis Vizcaino and a PTBNL (IF Travis Hinton) for LF Carlos Lee
Cleveland Indians - 7/7/2008
Traded OF Matt LaPorta, LHP Zach Jackson, RHP Rob Bryson, and a PTBNL (OF Michael Brantley) for LHP CC Sabathia
Detroit Tigers - 7/1/2007
Traded RHP Jose Capellan for LHP Chris Cody
Kansas City Royals - 3/27/2007
Traded RHP Ben Hendrickson for a Marxist Empire
LAnaheim Angels - 7/31/2002
Traded OF Alex Ochoa and C Sal Fasano for C Jorge Fabregas and 2 PTBNL (RHP Pedro Liriano and IF John Raburn)
Minnesota Twins - 11/15/2002
Traded RHP Gerry Oakes and RHP Matt Yeatman for RHP Matt Kinney and C Javier Valentin
New York Yankees - 8/23/1996
Traded IF Pat Listach and LHP Graeme Lloyd for OF Gerald Williams and RHP Bob Wickman
Oakland Athletics - 5/23/2007
Traded RHP Alec Zumwalt for cash.
Seattle Mariners - 5/19/2005
Traded C Pat Borders for cash.
Tampa Bay Rays - 4/22/2008
Traded OF Gabe Gross for RHP Josh Butler
Texas Rangers - 7/28/2006
Traded OF Carlos Lee and OF Nelson Cruz for RHP Francisco Cordero, LHP Julian Cordero, OF Kevin Mench, and OF Laynce Nix
Toronto Blue Jays - 1/6/2006
Traded RHP Brian Wolfe for 3B Corey Koskie

This information comes out of the Brewers' 2009 Media Guide. I believe all listed trades include someone on the 40-man roster for one of the teams. Any errors are mine in transcription or not diligently checking MLB's work.

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:56:33 -0000

Some things to read while searching for a can of black paint.

Since the news broke that Ben Sheets will have surgery and miss most of 2009, there's been some speculation that the Brewers may try to offer him a two-year deal at a bargain price while hoping he bounces back. Adam McCalvy ended that speculation yesterday. Barring a sudden and dramatic turn, Sheets' Brewer career is over.

Braden Looper's deal is worth $4.75 million and has a mutual option for 2010, although I haven't seen the price tag on it yet. Brew City Sports has Seth McClung's reaction, but Gareth is even less impressed.

With Braden Looper in the fold, Baseball Prospectus predicts the Brewers will win 85 games, which would leave them ten games behind the Cubs and 3 games back of the Braves and Phillies, who would tie for the NL Wild Card. Looper adds two wins to the projection.

I have two bobble head notes today. First, The Brew Town Beat is one of several blogs questioning the curious choice of Jeff Suppan for a bobble head. Meanwhile, in the comments of this post on the promotional schedule, Trent Durrington raises an interesting point: with the exception of the brat, all the 2009 bobble heads are white, despite the Brewers being one of the more diverse teams in baseball.

MLB FanHouse's Better Know a Prospect series covered the Brewer system yesterday, with Mat Gamel, Alcides Escobar and Angel Salome profiled. The more I look at the Brewer roster heading into camp, the more I'm certain all three guys will spend at least a large portion of 2009 in AAA. I've got a post on that scheduled for later today. Meanwhile, Sean (Chone) Smith has a post at The Hardball Times discussing minor league defense, and Alcides Escobar draws a mention.

On the hot stove:

Angels: Are reportedly clearing roster space to make room for Bobby Abreu.
Blue Jays: Acquired former #1 overall pick Matt Bush from the Padres for a PTBNL.
Dodgers: Signed Eric Milton to a minor league deal.
Giants: Signed Ramon Ortiz to a minor league deal.
Mets: Re-signed Jose Valentin to a minor league deal.
Rays: Won their arbitration case with Dioner Navarro, who will make $2.1 million this season.
Rockies: Signed Randy Flores to a minor league deal.
Royals: Signed Jamey Wright to a minor league deal.
White Sox: Signed Ben Broussard to a minor league deal.

Baseball America noticed that, with the deal listed above, the Blue Jays will enter camp with 27 pitchers and just 13 position players on their 40 man roster. The Brewers, for comparison purposes, will have 22 if they drop a position player to add Braden Looper.

Earlier this week, I mentioned that Ray Durham was complaining about not receiving any offers this offseason. The Nationals offered Durham a shot to be their starting second baseman, and he turned it down. Durham is 37 years old and has made $7 million or more each of the last five seasons despite being a part-time player (fewer than 500 at bats) in all of them. If he's looking for similar money in this market, which can't even find money like that for Adam Dunn, then perhaps it is time for him to retire.

An increased emphasis on defense, where Durham is substandard, probably isn't helping his case either. FanGraphs wonders how far down this road baseball can reasonably go.

It's a little early in the day (still pre-coffee) for me to be trying to understand new statistical research, but Tangotiger's notes on the impact of events, sorted by position in the lineup, are interesting enough that I may come back to it once my brain is fully functional.

First, though, I may need to call and cancel my XM subscription: the AP is reporting Sirius-XM is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which likely means they won't make their scheduled payment to Major League Baseball, which will in turn likely be the end of live game broadcasts on the service.

If you missed it yesterday, be sure to stop by this post to sign up to win one of ten WhatIfSports gift certificates as part of the Brewer Advent Calendar. I've got another giveaway today, so check back around noon to sign up for that one too.

Oh, and it sounds like the Brewers got out of High Desert and the California League at the right time.

Drink up.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:34:34 -0000

Good morning and welcome to year two of the Frosty Mug. Thanks to everyone for all the comments on Saturday's Mugiversary post. It's always good to feel loved.

The Brewers added a little more depth to the rotation over the weekend, signing Matt Ginter to a minor league deal. Ginter started four games for the Indians in 2008 after the Sabathia trade, and posted an ERA over 5. He's almost certainly ticketed for AAA, and didn't even receive an invitation to spring training.

If you're looking to learn more about the backup plans for the rotation, Tom H. has quick profiles of Mark DiFelice, Ginter, Sam Narron, Lindsay Gulin, Chris Narveson and Chase Wright. Assuming none of them make the roster, the Brewers could have four lefty starters (Narron, Gulin, Narveson and Wright) in Nashville to open the season.

As part of the JS Spring Training preview, Tom H. has ten questions for the Brewers to answer this spring. There's nothing groundbreaking there, but it's a nice recap.

Jonathan Mayo of MiLB.com has scouting reports up for players 6-10 in MiLB.com's top 50 prospect rankings. #8 is Alcides Escobar.

Rich Lederer of Baseball Analysts has a cool graph up classifying starting pitchers by K and ground ball rates. Both Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan are on the wrong side of the graph, but he does mention Manny Parra as someone who could have a breakout season in 2009.

The hot stove didn't even get warm for some players this winter: As noted in this FanShot, Ray Durham has not received a single offer this offseason and is considering retirement. My guess is a spring training injury will leave someone an opening at second base, and his phone will ring.

Maybe Durham should hold a public workout, those seem to draw interest: The Brewers are reportedly one of eleven teams that may attend Chad Cordero's workout on February 19.

Elsewhere on the hot stove:

Braves: Have offered Tom Glavine a contract worth $1-2 million for 2009. Glavine made $9 million in 2008.
D-Backs: Signed Tom Gordon to a one year deal worth $500,000.
Dodgers: Signed Randy Wolf to a one year deal worth $5 million, which is $1 million less than the Brewers will pay Trevor Hoffman.
Giants: Have a minor league offer on the table for Rich Aurilia.
Phillies: Signed Ryan Howard to a three year deal worth $54 million. They've also reportedly offered minor league deals to Joe Borowski and Rudy Seanez.
Rangers: Signed Andruw Jones to a minor league deal, meaning Jon Heyman was right when he mentioned it last week. They also signed Brendan Donnelly to a minor league deal.
Rays: Signed reliever Winston Abreu to a minor league deal.
Twins: Signed Luis Ayala to a one year deal for $1.3 million.

The first arbitration hearing has been held, with Shawn Hill of the Nationals winning his case. He'll make $775,000 in 2009. The Nationals offered $500,000. The $275,000 difference was the second smallest figure among the 19 remaining arbitration cases.

How many players would you guess played major and minor league baseball in 2008? The correct answer is 8833, significantly more than I would have guessed. Tangotiger has a csv file of all of them, if you want it.

Last week we discussed the financial value of Bug Selig, who made over $18 million between October of 2006 and 2007. Scott Van Pelt of ESPN took that debate to the next level, making personal remarks about Selig that have led to his suspension from his ESPN Radio show.

Oh, and I missed Friday's 30th birthday of Big League Chew.

Drink up.