SB Nation - Carlos Villanueva

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.

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:27:44 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

Kevin Correia: 2010 Brewer?

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Some things to read while having Twilight explained to you.

And I'm back. I hope everyone had a great holiday. If you weren't around the web yesterday (and the site stats would suggest you weren't), here's some of the Thanksgiving stuff you missed from around the web:

Wisconsin Sports Tap has a list of Wisconsin sports people and things they're thankful for, including Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Miller Park and Doug Melvin.
The Ghost of Moonlight Graham says Brewer fans should be thankful for Mark Attanasio, and he's absolutely right. Mark A. probably deserves more credit than anyone for creating a winning culture in Milwaukee.
Meanwhile, I had three posts here, with two things I'm thankful for and a Thursday Thinker.

And, once again, thanks to all of you for reading and continuing to check back here as well. Traffic is up over 50% from last November, when the Brewers were coming off a playoff appearance. Actually, we've also seen more visitors in November than we did in all of September, when the Crew was still playing most days. Thanks for helping make this one of the best places on the web to read about and discuss the Brewers.

It's a slow day for Brewer news coming off the holiday, but there are a couple of things I missed this week. First of all, Adam McCalvy had a conversation with John Halama about his attempted return to the major leagues, which Roguejim also noted in this FanPost. Halama is spending the offseason pitching for Licey in the Dominican Winter League, so hopefully we'll be able to monitor his progress in future Winter League Updates.

Earlier in the week, McCalvy also had notes on two pitchers the Brewers might pursue: Justin Duchscherer and Kevin Correia. The Grand National Championships has weighed in in favor of those moves, and says they would go a long way towards restoring his trust in Doug Melvin.

Apparently I'm going to mention McCalvy in every paragraph today: He also has a great look at Brewer Charities under the leadership of new executive director Cecilia Gore.

Speaking of Brewer charities, a while back I mentioned the Brewer Wives' 2010 Pet Calendar, but we weren't sure if it would be available online. It is, as it turns out, so you can help support the Wisconsin Humane Society, even if you can't make it to Milwaukee.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Signed shortstops Alex Gonzalez and John Mcdonald to deals for 2010.
Mariners: Infielder Josh Wilson has refused an outright assignment to the minor leagues and is now a free agent.
Red Sox: Acquired infielder Tug Hulett from the Royals for a PTBNL or cash.

His name doesn't come up as often as the likes of Doug Davis or Jarrod Washburn, but Erik Bedard is another pitcher the Brewers might be pursuing this offseason. If they do decide to make an offer, though, they might be competing with the Orioles for his service. Baseball Musings has a look at what could be a great move for the Orioles: trading two years of Bedard for five players, then getting him back before they were ready to contend anyway.

If you're ready to start filling out a wish list for the Rule 5 Draft at the Winter Meetings, BuccoFans.com has scouting reports of available players from 23 teams. (h/t Crawfish Boxes)

I couldn't find a Brewer birthday today (it's a surprisingly slow day for baseball birthdays overall), so instead I'll wish an early happy birthday to Carlos Villanueva, who turns 26 tomorrow.

Oh, and I do my best to stay as baseball-relevant as possible here, but one fact remains: If you serve mac and cheese at Thanksgiving, and you post a picture, you make the Mug.

Drink up.

Kirbir's Pictures of the Week: Special Season-ending Edition

kirbir — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:00:42 -0000

Well, that's all she wrote. The 2009 season is over for the Brewers. Time to kick back and watch the other teams in the playoffs... unless, of course, Ghost Hunters is on.

Follow the jumps for pictures and McAwesome!

Carlos Villanueva got his only win of the season after starting Saturday. Fortunately (or unfortunately), sometime before Sunday's game, he shaved off the 'stache.

Alcides Escobar tried to make his case for why he should stick around in the majors next year when he barely beat out a tag at first base.

Craig Counsell caught a mid-game Holliday, as the Cardinals left fielder tried to steal a base.

Jody Gerut got an RBI single, proving that's he's worth more than just his awesome at-bat song.

Ryan Braun got his 200th hit of the year via a home run Saturday, becoming only one of four Brewers to do so. Sunday, he stole his 20th base of the season also, becoming only the second Brewer to get 30 HRs and 20 steals in the same season. The other was Tommy Harper in 1971.

Trevor Hoffman kept things interesting Sunday afternoon, when he walked three batters in a row. He's "pretty close" to becoming a Brewer next season. EDIT: If you haven't seen the news, the Hoff is sticking around. (fanshot)

Prince Fielder hit his final home run of the season Sunday afternoon in the ninth inning. My favorite part about the HR was that it came right after Albert Pujols broke a record by getting his 185th assist of the season. Karma is a beautiful thing.

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures from the whole season. In case you can't tell, Prince is hugging Felipe Lopez and Craiggers is hugging Esky. It's nice to see two players who have been on the team for a while embracing the newer players, despite the short length that those two have been on the team.

Oh, and I couldn't find any recent pictures of Seth McClung. :( This is one of my favorite pictures of McClung from last season. (If you haven't visited, it's also the background on Seth's twitter page)

All pictures, except for the one featuring McAwesome, are from Yahoo! I wanted to apologize for the recent lack of KPotW posts. My classes have proven to be a little more rigorous than I had expected.

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:33:13 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Casey McGehee follows the flight of his home run against the Colorado Rockies in the ninth inning Wednesday.

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Some things to read while searching for giant shoes.

Manny Parra will make his final 2009 start in a few hours before "trying to forget" the 2009 season and moving on. If the impending end of the baseball season and a Manny Parra start weren't enough to depress you today, the former Hackers passed along this note: Three of the worst five starters in Brewer history (by ERA) are in the rotation right now, and project to be again next season.

One of the three, though, is done for 2009: The Brewers have changed plans regarding Dave Bush, who is no longer expected to start on Saturday. With Bush out, Yovani Gallardo shut down, Josh Butler sent home and Mike Burns likely done for the season, Carlos Villanueva could be called upon to start a game this weekend.

Even if the Brewers are short a pitcher or two this weekend, don't expect to see Seth McClung, who has pitched just one inning (ten days ago) since returning from the DL. McClung says he can see the writing on the wall and wonders if he's being set up to fail.

We probably also won't be seeing Corey Hart, who's likely done for the year after suffering compression fractures in the fingers on his right hand while sliding in headfirst on a pickoff move Tuesday (FanShot). If Hart's season is over it'll be another forgettable one, but it's worth noting that he raised his OBP by 35 points this season, out of the "embarrassing" zone and into "could improve." Of course, his power numbers also fell and his OPS is actually down from last season.

Prince Fielder's 44th home run last night was his 100th run of the season, making him the first Brewer ever to reach 100 runs, 100 RBI and 100 walks in a season. The feat has been accomplished 179 times in baseball history, but Fielder and Albert Pujols will likely be the only ones to do it this season.

While all of the playoff races are nearly over and many postseason awards have already been locked up, the NL Rookie of the Year race remains wide open. Over at The Hardball Times, Jeff Sackmann handicaps the field of candidates, and ranks Casey McGehee third.

At least this is the last morning of 2009 where I'll wake up and have to write about another Jeff Suppan start. Suppan was Suppan again last night, but because he hit a batter, Plunk Everyone has an incredible note on him:

Seth Smith got hit by a Jeff Suppan pitch, making Smith the only left fielder batting left handed to score a run after reaching base on a plunk thrown by a right handed pitcher in the month of September this year.

Without the internet, we never would have known.

Are you ready to start looking ahead to the hot stove season? Charlie Marlow has a look at the Brewers' financial commitments for 2010, and some expected arbitration outcomes.

MLB FanHouse dropped the Brewers one spot to 19th in their power rankings.

Around baseball:

Indians: Announced that manager Eric Wedge and his coaching staff will not be retained for 2010.

Jorge Says No! continues to look at upcoming free agents and their likely salaries, and projects Randy Wolf to get three years, $31.5 million this offseason. He also downgraded his projection for Doug Davis to three years, $21 million.

Before the season, we talked about Detroit, Cleveland and a handful of other teams that could struggle economically this season, but the biggest decline may actually be happening in Toronto, where the Jays cut "several dozen jobs" from the business side of their front office following their final home game Sunday. The team also cut 33 jobs in December. There are several franchises in baseball that don't have a lot going for them, but the Blue Jays might have one of the bleaker futures.

In the weeks following the end of the regular season, we'll probably spend a fair amount of time discussing prospects before eventually re-evaluating our Community Prospect Rankings. When we do, I'm guessing this will come up: Baseball America has compiled the average stats for every minor league, to show which leagues are hitter and pitcher-friendly. The PCL was pretty hitter-friendly this season, while the FSL and Midwest Leagues favored pitchers and the Southern League was close to neutral.

Looking for a history lesson today? Wezen-ball has a look back at the expansion teams of 1969, the process that led to their creation and their successes and failures. This post also has an interesting look at how the NL franchises ended up in San Diego and Montreal.

If you have MLB.tv and you're looking for something else to watch this weekend, here's something: Former Brewer knuckleballer Steve Sparks will be filling in on FS Houston broadcasts this weekend.

That's all I have for you today, unless you need tips on smelling nice.

Drink up.

Phillies 9, Brewers 4

KLSnow — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:19:46 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Ryan Braun can't come up with a ball hit to the wall by Ben Francisco during the fourth inning Thursday.

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W: J.A. Happ (11-4)
L: Jeff Suppan (7-11)

HR: Jimmy Rollins (20)

MVP: Jason Kendall (+.080)
LVP: Jeff Suppan (-.362)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

Jeff Suppan reminded us all that he's still Jeff Suppan tonight, allowing 14 baserunners and eight runs in 4.1 innings and taking the Brewers out of the game early for the third time in four nights.

From there, the bright spots were few and far between:

Jason Kendall had two hits, including a triple, and was hit by a pitch.
Carlos Villanueva pitched well in relief, pitching two perfect innings and striking out four.
John Axford needed just seven pitches to retire the side in the ninth.

Those are your silver linings, I guess. Jody Gerut also came inches from a grand slam in the eighth inning, but was robbed at the wall.

With the loss, the Brewers dropped to 38-40 on the season at home, meaning they'll need to sweep the remaining three games in the series to avoid posting a losing record in 2009 at Miller Park.

Brewers 6, Astros 0

KLSnow — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:58:53 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

Yovani Gallardo pitches during the first inning Sunday. Gallardo and three relievers combined to shut out the Astros.

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W: Yovani Gallardo (13-12)
L: Felipe Paulino (2-10)

HR: Corey Hart (12), Prince Fielder (40), Jody Gerut (8)

MVP: Yovani Gallardo (+.216)
LVP: Casey McGehee (-.036)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

If you missed today's game to watch some other sport, you missed a bunch of milestones at Miller Park:

Yovani Gallardo, making his final start of the 2009 season, struck out seven batters in five innings. That leaves him with a season total of 204. He's just the fourth Brewer ever to record 200 strikeouts in a season.
Prince Fielder hit his 40th home run in the first inning, making him just the second Brewer in franchise history to reach 40 home runs twice. He also drew a walk in the fifth inning, becoming the first Brewer ever to reach 100 in a season. He drew his 101st in the eighth.
Ryan Braun picked up two hits today, and his fifth inning single was the 500th hit of his career.
Corey Patterson also singled in the fifth, picking up his first Brewer hit. He was later picked off.

Yovani Gallardo and three Brewer relievers didn't need much run support today, but the Brewer bats got them enough. The Brewers scored four runs off Felipe Paulino in the game, all on home runs, and added two more in the eighth while the Brewers combined to shut out the Astros. Remarkably, it's the ninth time the Astros have scored one run or less in 15 Paulino starts this season. Gallardo's final line: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K.

Carlos Villanueva (sixth inning), Chris Smith (seventh and eighth innings) and Mike Burns (ninth inning) combined to complete the shutout. With the win, the Brewers have won eight of their last ten games to inch back to within one game of .500.

Brewers 7, Cubs 4

KLSnow — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:12:31 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

Jody Gerut hits a grand slam during the fourth inning Thursday.

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W: Dave Bush (5-7)
L: Randy Wells (10-9)
S: Trevor Hoffman (33)

HR: Jody Gerut (7)

MVP: Jody Gerut (+.412)
LVP: Mat Gamel (-.133)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

And, after a couple of rough days, the Brewers escaped Wrigley with a split.

They did it, surprisingly enough, behind the power of Jody Gerut, whose grand slam in the fourth inning was the game's only home run, and turned a 2-1 Cubs lead into a 5-2 Brewer advantage. Gerut went 1-for-2 with a walk in the game, and was pinch hit for by Corey Hart in the seventh inning.

Dave Bush was only ok today, allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk in 5.2 innings, but for the second straight day the bullpen had the answer, as Todd Coffey, Carlos Villanueva, Claudio Vargas and Trevor Hoffman combined to pitch 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to close out the game.

Mat Gamel, Mike Rivera and Alcides Escobar started in the 6-8 spots today and went a combined 1-for-10 with a walk, but that single drove in two runs for Mike Rivera, and gave the Brewers some late breathing room.

Cubs 13, Brewers 7

KLSnow — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:28:46 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Mike Cameron provided a rare bright spot tonight. Everything else pretty much sucked.

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W: Aaron Heilman (3-3)
L: Yovani Gallardo (12-12)

HR: Geovany Soto (11)

MVP: Mike Cameron (+.185)
LVP: Yovani Gallardo (-.350)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

So much for the wind blowing in.

Despite hitting just one home run, the Cubs managed 13 runs on eleven hits, twelve walks and three hit batsmen tonight and, after keeping it interesting in the early innings, blew away the Brewers tonight. Perhaps tonight's biggest story was the game's painstaking pace: It was played in a brisk 3 hours and 17 minutes.

The Brewers fell behind 4-0 early, but managed to score five in the fifth, capped by a bases loaded single by Mike Cameron to take a brief lead at 5-4. The Cubs responded by scoring a run in the bottom half, five more in the sixth and two more in the seventh.

Yovani Gallardo didn't have much going for him tonight. For the sixth straight appearance, Gallardo threw 100+ pitches but couldn't last past the sixth inning, allowing seven runs on 12 baserunners in just 5.1 innings. Todd Coffey and Carlos Villanueva couldn't do much better. On the up side, John Axford made his major league debut in the eighth inning, and proceeded to load the bases and walk in a run, the Brewers' 19th of the season, one short of the franchise record.

At the plate, Alcides Escobar picked up his first major league triple, and Frank Catalanotto (who briefly played second base) also tripled in the ninth, but the Brewers managed just six other hits, with no Brewer collecting more than one. For the Cubs, two players finished the game with four walks: Derrek Lee and Ryan Theriot.

Brewers 5, D-Backs 3

KLSnow — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:27:38 -0000

More photos » by AARON J. LATHAM - AP

Prince Fielder hits a solo home run in the fourth inning Sunday.

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W: Carlos Villanueva (3-10)
L: Daniel Schlereth (0-4)
S: Trevor Hoffman (32)

HR: Prince Fielder (39), Chris Young (13)

MVP: Claudio Vargas (+.288)
LVP: Mitch Stetter (-.203)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

Hey look, a sweep!

Seven Brewer pitchers combined to hold the D-Backs to three runs today, and the Brewer bats came together to make it stand up. Chris Narveson started and pitched very well through three innings, but allowed the first three batters he faced in the fourth to reach, forcing Ken Macha to go to the bullpen early, and the problem got worse when Mark DiFelice left with a shoulder strain.

After that, though, the bullpen held the D-Backs in place the rest of the way. Chris Smith and Carlos Villanueva combined to pitch 2.2 scoreless innings, and after Mitch Stetter allowed three hits in the seventh, Claudio Vargas came in and pitched out of a bases loaded, one out jam. Trevor Hoffman pitched a scoreless ninth for his 32nd save.

At the plate, Prince Fielder gave the Brewers an early 1-0 lead with a solo home run, tying Cecil Cooper's franchise record with 126 RBI. That was all the offense the Brewers could muster until the seventh, when Alcides Escobar hit a two run single to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead. The Brewers went on to score four in the seventh and the game was decided.

The Brewers had eight hits in the game today, but Fielder, Escobar and Felipe Lopez accounted for six of them. Ryan Braun went 0-for-5, going hitless for just the second time in eleven September contests.

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:05:23 -0000

by Morry Gash - AP

Despite his struggles last night, Trevor Hoffman has still been great as a Brewer this season.

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Some things to read while searching for respect.

Sorry this morning's Mug is a little late: I was at last night's game and got home shortly after 1:30, so my normal 6:15 alarm was out of the question. The Mug will be back at its regular time tomorrow.

It's possible I just have terrible luck. Including yesterday's game, I've attended three this season, and now I've seen Corey Patterson start in center field and lead off twice. Joe Posnanski wonders if batting Patterson leadoff on back-to-back days is a felony. Walkoff Walk has a shirt we may all need to own. Patterson went 0-for-3 with three swinging strikeouts, and still has yet to hit the ball out of the infield as a Brewer. By the way, the Brewers are now 0-3 in games I've attended this season.

Last night's game wasn't big on results but it was high in excitement. Manny Parra left the game after just one inning with neck spasms, and the Brewers ended up tying a franchise record by using eight pitchers in a nine-inning game. Carlos Villanueva pitched three brilliant innings in relief, prompting Casa de Machado to wonder if the Brewers were better off without Manny. It was also the first time I'd seen Trevor Hoffman pitch in person, and no matter what Joe Posnanski says, that's cooler than seeing REO Speedwagon at the State Fair.

With that said, it ended up being just another loss for the Brewers, who now need to win their last 24 games to match last season's 90-72 mark.

Corey Hart was activated from the DL yesterday (and added to the roster along with Mat Gamel), but was unable to start due to "heavy legs" after playing the full game in New Orleans the night before. Hart will likely start today, freeing up Jody Gerut to take over in center. I'm not sure what I'll do if Corey Patterson gets a third consecutive start.

As I mentioned above, Mat Gamel was recalled yesterday, but don't expect to see much of him in the remaining weeks. Casey McGehee will see most of the time at third down the stretch, and while he's probably earned that right, it'd be nice for the Brewers to get Gamel some ABs in an effort to evaluate his ability to contribute next season.

It appears the Brewers won't call up a third catcher after all. Adam McCalvy says the Brewers never had plans to call up Angel Salome, and doesn't feel like he's part of the plans for 2010, either. Every day I feel like we get a little closer to another 120+ starts and sub-.300 slugging percentage for Jason Kendall.

Michael Hunt talked to Doug Melvin, who says he's going to be more aggressive in his pursuit of pitching this offseason. Normally that's the type of information Melvin would keep close to the vest, so I wonder if he's starting to feel internal or external pressure.

Did the Brewers make a mistake by releasing Jesus Colome earlier this week? Zach Sanders of Baseball Digest Daily thinks someone will be happy they gave him a shot in 2010.

Mike Cameron still isn't expected back until Friday at the earliest, but he'll have some work to do when he gets back: Baseball Reference's leaderboards have him 20 behind Jim Thome for most strikeouts this decade. Jason Kendall has a 17 plunk lead on Jason Giambi for most '00 HBPs.

In the minors:

Brevard County finished the season with the fifth best record in all of minor league baseball, but also canceled 13 games this season due to rainouts or wet grounds. With that said, they're down 1-0 in the first round of the FSL playoffs and face an elimination game tonight. Wisconsin finished 58-81, winning just one of their last ten games to finish tied for the ninth worst minor league record.
Josh Butler is the prospect of the week over at Between the Green Pillars.

Around baseball:

Nationals: Designated reliever Jorge Sosa for assignment.
Tigers: Closer Fernando Rodney has been suspended for three games for firing a baseball into the press box over the weekend.

Dusty Baker gets a lot of blame for destroying the careers of young pitchers, but does Nationals interim manager Jim Riggleman deserve it too? Fire Jim Bowden has a look at Riggleman's history with Geremi Gonzalez and Kerry Wood, and more recent statements and actions with Jordan Zimmermann and Craig Stammen.

This is the kind of buy-low opportunity the Brewers should be all over, if it becomes available: DRaysBay thinks the Rays might non-tender catcher Dioner Navarro this offseason. Navarro is having a terrible year at the plate in 2009, but was an All Star in 2008 and is still young enough to bounce back.

As if the Blue Jays didn't have enough problems with baseball's toughest division, financial issues and inept management, new aviation rules have left them seeking alternatives to their charter plane service, and forced them to find alternative transportation to a recent series in Detroit.

On this date in 1992, Robin Yount went 1-for-5 with a single, the 3000th hit of his major league career. On this date in 2007, Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun went back-to-back-to-back to start the game against the Reds, and the Brewers won 10-5.

Happy birthday today to Todd Coffey, who turns 29, and happy belated birthday to Logan Schafer, who won the Florida State League batting title this season and turned 23 yesterday.

Drink up.