W: J.A. Happ (3-3)
L: Shaun Marcum (2-2)

HR: Jed Lowrie (5)

MVP: Nori Aoki (.156)
LVP: Marcum (-.170)

Win Expectancy Graph

I'm starting to feel as apathetic as the team is playing and lamented so in the game thread. Luckily, Nullact came to the rescue and wrote the recap for me:

"On a warm evening in Houston, two gunslingers faced each other in what was expected to be a fiery showdown. The crows went silent and a tumbleweed blew past. For three and a half innings, neither man blinked. Then in the bottom of the 4th, Marcum drew his pistol half way, it slipped out of his hand, and tumbled forward, discharging as it hit the horse trough, and in the rarest of events, the bullet went through Marcum and eight men in his posse, killing them all."

If only we could be so lucky....

For reals, though...

Marcum had issues in warm ups and it seemed like he might have some sort of tight muscle. There was a flurry of activity in the bullpen, but Marcum started, so apparently he convinced them he was ok. I'm assuming we'll get more information post-game.

I'd complain that the Brewers left 11 men on base, but the Astros left 12.

Brewers were shut out, Marcum gave up four runs in the fourth. The team looked listless and despondent. Brooks Conrad probably shouldn't be the starter at 1B.

It was an uninspiring series in Houston, best left forgotten. Back home and bring on the Twins!

Andy Moye has had a tremendous start to the season with the TimberRattlers and was rewarded with a call up to Brevard County last night.

He was the Pitcher of the Week last week in the Midwest League.

He's 3-0 in his seven starts and also had a clean relief appearance. He had one rough outing in late April, but has managed to keep his ERA down to 1.45. The solo home run he gave up in the sixth inning last night ended a streak of 17 2/3 scoreless innings for Moye.

Manager Matt Erickson says Moye has been the most solid starter on the team and certainly deserves the shot he's getting with the Manatees.

"He’s been probably our most consistent starter here in the last few weeks. Another good outing tonight. A lot of early count outs and commanding the strike zone and he’s definitely deserving of the call up and there’s a need there right now as they’ve had an injury to one of their starters. So he’ll get his opportunity."

As for Moye, he says he's just been trying to stay steady. I asked him what's been working for him:

I just kind of learned to trust myself. You know last year, I gave up kind of a lot of home runs so I worked in the off season developing a two-seamer and just keeping hitters off balance. We’ve got great catchers back there that have really worked with me. I’ve just been able to keep a lot of hitters off balance this and I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing...Once you get in the groove of things you just gotta keep rolling with it and that’s kind of what Ive done. I started pretty good, I had one rough outing but you know after that you have to keep the same mindset. Just keep the ball down and keep hitters off balance. That’s the name of the game."

He said he tries not to look at numbers, so he had no idea that the scoreless streak was so long, but kind of laughed and said it was pretty cool that we was able to take it for so many innings.

______

The return of Nick Ramirez and his bat have been a hot topic around the TRats this week, but in the meantime, Jason Rogers is kind of quietly putting together a solid season at the plate. Erickson disagreed when I said it was quietly - but since no one's really talking about it, I think the description is apt.

Had Ramirez not walked-off last night, Rogers would have been the player of game. He was 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk and two runs scored. He's hitting .296/.386/.458 thus far in the season with four home runs and 28 RBI and Erickson thinks that might improve now that Ramirez is in the lineup to protect him.

"I don’t know how quietly it’s been. He’s – no doubt about it, he’s been our most consistent hitter so far, day in and day out. If there’s one guy on our team that you want at the plate right now to drive in a run, he’s the guy. You know, before Ramirez we were struggling to find someone to hit behind Rogers and then (Greg) Hopkins really had a nice stretch. So now (Ben) McMahan swinging the bat pretty good. So you have Hopkins and McMahan in the middle of the lineup and now you add Ramirez and hopefully that middle of the lineup can produce some runs."

______

Maybe it's just because I'm paying more attention this season, but it's certainly felt like the TimberRattlers have been more aggressive on the base paths - and not just in the Ron Roenicke sort of way.

We're not just talking stolen bases, but going from first to third and forcing their opponents to make plays.The whole thing has felt a bit more cerebral than I'm used to seeing from a single-A team. The players are learning, but sometimes it feels like the only tenets at A ball are "pitch well, hit well, field well." Focusing on more complex reading of plays isn't something I felt like we've seen in years past.

Is it better scouting? Players with better instincts?

I asked Erickson if this was something they talked about during the game and whether his players were making these decisions on their own, or if there was in-game coaching.

"We talk a lot about pre-pitch thought process and anticipation of balls in the dirt and base running is such a huge part of what we try to teach from instructional league with the young players and then into Spring Training especially at the lower levels. We want them to be aggressive on the bases – we kind of give them the keys to the Corvette, so to speak.

We don’t get after them too bad if they make mistakes, aggressive mistakes on the bases. We want them to find out at the early levels what they’re capable of on the bases. And if they’re over-aggressive, we can pull them back. But we want them to find out their limitations.

And when we do that, we put a lot of pressure on the defense. And when the defense knows you’re going to take every extra base you can, that sometimes forces them into mistakes. And that’s something we do day-in, day-out, we constantly preach. Every day, a daily part of our routine is some sort of base running. It’s something that we’ve worked on and something they’ve executed pretty good in competition.

Daily we’re looking for secondary leads. We try to read ball flight from the pitcher to home plate. As soon as they see balls in the dirt from first base, I want them taking off. Whether the catcher goes to his knees and picks it or if he blocks it. If we can get good reads immediately, more often then not we’re going to get into second base and into scoring position. That’s really, no matter how good or bad we think the catcher is.

But there may be times when the third baseman might be struggling or something that we might want to make sure that we’re showing bunt or bunt for base hit more than we normally do, but yeah, there’s a pre-game plan each and every day and we try to execute it."

The way Erickson answered certainly sounds like it's not new philosophy, so maybe I've just been missing it in years past. The follow-up I should have asked, but didn't, was whether the fact that Roenicke is aggressive trickles down to the minor leaguers.

______

The TimberRattlers are, I think, exceeding expectations. They haven't been very good in year's past. They were atop the standings last week and those was the latest date in the season they'd ever held the top spot - in May. So any success from here on out is an improvement. At the moment they're one game back of Beloit.

With the success Rogers and Ramirez are having, it will be interesting to see if they get call ups in the second half of the year, as other guys move up and players sign after the draft. Appleton could be a very different team in August than they are now.

Either way, they've had a penchant for late inning heroics at home and they've been a lot of fun to watch. If you haven't made it up to Appleton yet for a game, make sure you get one on your schedule.

In just seven days back with the TimberRattlers, Nick Ramirez is making his presence known and showing that last year's numbers aren't the type of hitter he plans to be.

After going hitless in his debut, he's had at least one hit in each of the games since, including last night's walk-off single to win the game for the TimberRattlers in the 10th inning. The .250 batting average might not be impressive (and a small sample size), but seeing the ball so well when coming back from injury bodes well for the rest of his season.

Manager Matt Erickson says that Ramirez is benefiting from his stint with the TRats last season:

"He came last year as most green college kids come not knowing what truly to expect in the everyday grind of professional baseball, He was having tremendous success at short season, he came up here and he was humbled pretty good with the bat. I think he’s a beneficiary of being here last year. I think being here last year has helped him in his start here right now...He’ll be a fixture in the middle of our lineup if he stays healthy and hopefully we’ll get some more big at-bats like we did tonight."

Ramirez was drafted in the fourth round of the 2011 Amateur draft . He was the Big West Player of the Year for Cal-State Fullerton in 2011 - as first baseman and as their closer.

He signed quickly after the draft and headed to Helena, but hit so well there (.369 with 8 home run and an OPS of 1.072) that just 22 games later earned himself a promotion to Appleton. Unfortunately he couldn't keep up that torrid pace. He finished the season hitting .197 with three home runs and 23 RBI.

About two weeks before the end of Spring Training, he broke the hamate bone in his right hand, which required surgery. Just seven weeks later, he was in the starting lineup for the Rattlers.

It's been a bit of a whirlwind week for Ramirez, but he's saying all the right things about his approach at the plate.

What's it been like being back? It's only been a week, but you're hitting well.

Yeah, I mean, it's been nice to get off to a better start then last year when I was here, so it's just - this year I kind of have a better understanding of the league and a better understanding of my swing and so it's more of a thing of being a professional baseball player for more than - well I haven't even been in for a year - but just knowing my swing kind of a little bit better and just going out there and not trying to do too much this year and just trying to stay consistent and keep a smooth swing and I think that's helped so far with putting the ball in play and making better contact more frequently, so I'm just going to continue to try to do that.

Did the change in your swing come with offseason or Spring Training work?

Yeah, it kind of came in the off-season where I was hitting every day and then realizing that I don't need to try and swing hard or anything it's just that, I mean I'm big enough that I can just swing easy and the ball is still going to jump off my bat, so it's just at thing of really understanding my swing a little bit better because I don't have a metal bat in my hand anymore, now it's a wood bat so little things are different with that. And especially with pitch selection with a wood bat because now they're going to break, so I had to get used to that with the end of last year and also this offseason and Spring Training helped a little bit. Then I had a little setback with my hamate but then, once that happened it was just kind of - I went to thinking really more about my swing rather than - because I couldn't really do anything, so I would read on professional hitters on what they do and what their approach is, so I think when I got back that really helped a lot.

The hand is fine?

Yes.

Your home run this week was rather impressive. Do you see yourself as a power hitter? Do you think maintaining that power will be an issue?

I don't think it's going to be an issue. I mean, first base, you have to be a power hitter so I think it's expected that those numbers are thrown up, but I mean that's also another thing that can get me into trouble to where I go up there and I want to hit home runs and then the swing starts getting long and loopy so I just have to tell myself to try an stay inside the ball and drive gap to gap and the backspin's going to take care of it.

When you were added to the roster you traveled all day but were still in the lineup that night. The TimberRattlers seem to be happy to have you here.

Yeah, it's nice to be able to know that you're going to fly in and have a whole day of traveling and still be able to make the lineup that same day. It's a lot better than still being in Arizona right now, rehabbing still. SO I'm just excited to have the season start.

Has anyone from the organization talked to you about what the plans are for you in the future?

I don't know, they haven't told me much but I'm just going to go out and do my best and perform every day.

On hitting a walk-off

That’s probably one of the best feelings in baseball, to tell you the truth. Nothing better than seeing your whole team run towards you.

On his approach to his at-bat in the tenth inning that delivered the walk-off single

I got the first two strikes and I stepped out, told myself "alright, we have first and second and the winning run is on second, so a strikeout would be better than a ground ball." So I tried to just – when I made contact tried to lift a little bit so I could stay out of the double play. I was still out in front a little bit, but kept my hands back and hit it over – hit it where they weren’t. I thought I had a chance of getting it over his head and I guess it went father than I thought it was going.

Manager Matt Erickson was pleased with Ramirez's game-winning at-bat:

"He’s a guy with some power, but he’s a guy that can hit. That was evident in that at-bat right there. You know, he might have got caught up in the situation last year and tried to go deep in that situation where we don’t necessarily need a home run – we need a guy with good power to be a good hitter in that situation and he got the two strikes, ball away from him. He stayed to the opposite field instead of pulling off and drove it just far enough to get it over the head of the left fielder."

Big thanks to Nick for taking the time to talk with me. I don' t think this will be last you're hearing from him. You can follow Nick on Twitter @n_ram3314

Last night's TimberRattlers game featured a tribute to Appleton baseball icon Brock Calmes, Carlos Gomez's first rehab start after injuring his hamstring, two TimberRattlers home runs, a call up for the night's starting pitcher, a spectacular diving grab by Max Walla and a walk-off single by Nick Ramirez.. Relive it all with the below album, or you can directly access the slideshow by clicking here.

Timber Rattlers 5, Burlington Bees 4 10 innings May 16, 2012

Carlos Gomez went 0-for-3 with a run scored. I thought he looked rather tentative - he was slow on the bases and didn't really make an effort to get to a ball that fell in shallow center.

Manager Matt Erickson confirmed that:

"To be very honest, I thought he was a little bit timid at first, when he got on the bases going first to third. I asked him how he felt and he said he felt good and I asked him if there was any pain – because if there’s any pain we’d probably get him out of there right away and he said no, no pain, he just hasn’t played in awhile and he wanted to test it out, get a feel for it. But overall at the end he said he got into it a little more as the game went on and he felt pretty good, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings for him."

He also had good things to say about Gomez's influence on the rest of the team:

"Yeah, he’s a great guy. I didn’t know much about him until last year when he came here, we had an extended time with him last year – about what’s planned for his stint here this year. 5 innings, 7 innings, 9 innings. But last year he was great. He comes down on the field and does everything like you’d expect a professional to prepare and it’s good for our young players to see guys like him, who’ve been in the big leagues no for a few years to come down here and continue to get his work in. So yeah, it’s a good influence and he’s a good influence."

And lastly, Erickson's thoughts on the somewhat wild win last night:

"You gotta love those. They like to be dramatic apparently here at home. I thought we had really good control of that game for seven innings and then we lost the strike zone a little bit there in the eighth inning and any time you give up free bases you know it comes back to haunt you. We did a nice job of limiting them, I suppose. You had the bases loaded, no outs and we kept it to three runs and the game tied and they gave us a shot to win late.

Their right fielder made a heck of a catch in right center field and then you know we’re kind of hanging our heads and trying to pump us back up and then Walla goes out there and makes an unbelievable catch in right center. You know both of those balls or if either one of those balls gets down, the game probably ends right there. But two great catches.

There were some nice plays. You know we walked the bases loaded and Tommy Toledo got the guy to hit into a double play. You know you try to set them up in those situations, but it doesn’t always get executed. He made the right pitch and Hopkins and Rivera made a nice turn to get us out of that jam and then we got the hit from Walla and the big hit from Ramirez. A lot of things happening in that ballgame. It was a good baseball game."

Happened to see a tweet that Doug Melvin was going to be on WSSP in Milwaukee while I was in the car this morning so I tuned it and it was actually worthwhile.

Some interesting stuff from Melvin, including:

Admitting that they'd inquired about Derrek Lee and that Lee seemed interested, but that there was a difference in opinion on Lee's value.

Saying that they hadn't called on Roy Oswalt since Narveson's injury. Said that in the offseason Oswalt let it be known which two teams he was interested in playing for and that Melvin called, but never got a call back and he took that to mean that Oswalt had no interest in playing for the Brewers and so he's never pursued it further.

When asked about which move he's made that still makes him smile, he said it was the CC Sabathia trade. He said that was partly because it was in-season, versus the offseason acquisitions of Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum. He also said that the Sabathia move basically put the Brewers on the map in terms of other teams' perception of the club.

The key to the Sabathia answer was that he pointed out how Mark Attanasio has created a shift in the way the front off thinks about moves. He said it used to be that folks in the front office would say "Sabathia would never come here" and they'd never make any overtures. Now, with Attanasio, they know nothing is off the table initially and therefore they are making calls they'd never had made before. It's a total shift in club philosophy.

Continue reading this post »

There's no list tonight. There is only one turning point: Mark Kotsay's home run was worth .357 WPA.

Francisco Rodriguez came in for the eighth inning. He got the first out, but then gave up a single to Will Venable and that was worth just .045 WPA. Mark Kotsay came up in a pinch hitting situation and tagged over the right center wall, giving the Padres the lead and the win.

There was not one other play in triple digits. All other plays fell between -.090 and .062.

As seen on FS Wisconsin

Kotsay is a guy you guys went into the off season wanting to resign, right?

Well I certainly would have loved to have back, but I understand when you play a long time and you get a chance to be at home. We talked about it at the end of the year and you know, it's good for he and his family. He's a good player. He's one of those rare guys who can hit when the game's on the line and hit against those top relievers and he gives you a good at-bat.

You said just the other day that (Kotsay's) last season was the best pinch-hit season you've ever seen.

For a guy who went up and gives you a quality at-bat late against good relievers, he's as good as I've seen

What can you say about Frankie. he's kind of having an up and down year so far. Some really good outings and some not so good outings.

It's command. I think his stuff is fine. I think he makes some great pitches and then when he makes a mistake, they're hitting the ball right now. But he's the guy that we need out there. Every time we bring him in, I feel like he's going to do a good job. I've seen him for so long, he's certainly still a great reliever and he's going to be fine.

Was that a change up?

Fast ball

Does his fast ball seem a little bit off right now?

No, his fastball velocity is right where it usually is. He's got a good fastball going right now.

It's just he's not putting them in the right place

Yeah, location. And they're not missing the mistake.

Continue reading this post »

W: Edinson Volquez (1-2)
L: Francisco Rodriguez (0-3)

HR: Mark Kotsay (1)

MVP: Shaun Marcum (+.387)
LVP: Rodriguez (-.345)

Win Probability

Would you like the bad news or the worse news first?

Erstwhile first baseman Matt Gamel, who stopped himself short as to not run into the wall chasing a foul ball has what the Brewers are currently calling a twisted knee.

Gamel grabbed the knee immediately and looked to be in some pain, but after some time on the dirt with the training staff, decided to keep playing. However, he left the on-deck circle during the next half-inning and limped down the dugout steps. An MRI tomorrow will likely let us know his fate.

Francisco Rodriguez made his fourteenth appearance in 24 games and promptly gave up a single and then a pinch-hit home run to Mark Freakin' Kotsay. (Blame me for this, as I totally called it in the game thread.) Those were the only runs of the game.

K-Rod is now 0-3 with a 6.57 ERA.

You can decide which is "bad" and which is "worse." Time will probably tell on both of those.

The Brewers mustered just three hits against former-Red Edinson Volquez.

The lone bright spot was Shaun Marcum going seven strong innings. He was a little shaky to start the game, but settled down somewhere around the third inning and really pounded. He gave up three hits and four walks while striking out six over 102 pitches. Unfortunately for him, he did not play into the final decision.

The scoreless start to the game was the First time the Brewers shut out opponent through 5 innings since 6-0 win on April 7, or so Joe Block said.

Travis Ishikawa, who came in in place of Gamel, struck out looking to end the game. Huston Street got his fourth save of the season.

Edit: Forgot to mention that Ryan Braun swiped career stolen base no. 100 tonight. For more on this, make sure to check back for tonight's Stat of the Night post.

Didn't hear the question...

I think we're going to have to do a lot of thing. To sit back and bash the ball and try to win games...I know some teams do it, but I don't know if we can consitently do that. You know I've talkd to the guys - we'll hit the home runs. I've talk to the guys about gettingon base and hitting some two and three run homers. But our pitching - I think our pitching is going to be great all year. I think our bullpen is going to be really good all year. Sometimes you hate to bring ax in again after he threw all those pitches yesterday when we're up four runs. So - the other guys, I feel confident the other guys are going to get the job done.

could K-Rod close if Ax is tired?

Well we'll look at it, I'll talk to him, he'll go out and play catch tomorrow and see where he is, but yeah, if he's a little worn down, we'll have Frankie do it

Marcum had a high strike ratio and no walks - surprised so sharp this early?

No, I'm not surprised because this is what he did for us last year. He doesn't walk people when he's on. He doesn't walk people. He uses his pitches real efficiently. He gets some easy outs on first and second pitches which most of our guys don't do as well as he does. But he understands - he understands when to change speeds, he understands how to make his ball move both ways on the plate and it makes it very difficult for a team to stay on him and to be able to string together a lot of hits.

Nice to see Aramis have a good night?

Yeah, it was good for Ramy - I know he's fired up. I know the adrenaline is a little different when you come back home and it was nice to see him drive that ball into left center. I tried to get him to relax a little bit and play his game.

Do guys get uptight when they return to their old team?

Fans at Wrigley getting on Nyjer Morgan?

Here? It'll be like that here. I don't think it'll be that way around the league. This crowd is always on him. Last year they were on him the same. He came into town, they were on him. That's part of being a great player.

Verifies that both squeezes were called from the dugout

Did you think about a third squeeze when Lucroy was up?

You think about them all the time. Luc had come up and got a sac fly the time before - so its just a feel of the game. Sometimes you like the players to swing and sometimes you force one in.

W: Shaun Marcum (1-0)
L: Shawn Camp (0-1)
S: John Axford (1)

HR: Weeks (2), Barney (1), LaHair (1)

Fangraphs Win Expectancy Graph

Well it looked like it might be a home run showdown early on, but the story of the night is probably Shaun Marcum. Of course, I wrote that before the ninth inning of doom, so maybe you'll be on board my "OHGODTHISBULLPEN" bandwagon after Manny Parra, Tim Dillard and John Axford all struggled to close out the game.

The Brewers had a four-run lead in the ninth and had to use four relievers to finish out the game. Axford came in with one out and the tying run on deck as the came became a save situation. The first batter faced, Marlon Byrd, bounced one to Aramis Ramiez at third that could have led to a game-ending DP, but the ball ate up Ramirez and everyone was safe. The next batter blooped to right, making it 7-5. Axford then struck out David DeJesus but walked Darwin Barney, putting the winning run on first.

However, Axford made Starlin Castro look silly, striking him out on three pitches - one swinging strike and two looking.

Before the needless drama, though, Marcum pitched a great game. Pulled after six innings at 89 pitches, he allowed three runs on five hits while striking out six. I'm not sure Brewers fans can ask more out of Marcum, especially on a day when the wind was blowing out.

The more pessimistic of Brewer fans got nervous when noted home run giver-upper Marcum had one launched by Barney in just the Cubs second at-bat of the game. In the second, Bryan LaHair's home run left Wrigley Field all together and landed somewhere on Sheffield. But Marcum settled in and had a solid quality start.

Rickie Weeks answered with a laser home run that hugged right inside the left field foul pole that literally took just three seconds to leave the park.

Marcum further proved his usefulness by laying down a perfect bunt to bring Alex Gonzalez home on a suicide squeeze. But RRR wasn't done, as the team scored on a safety squeeze later in the game. Carlos Gomez laid down a perfect bunt and was only out at first because of brilliant play by LaHair. Apparently this was the first time since 1974 that the Brewers have had two successful (run-scoring) squeeze bunts in one game.

Morgan had a decent night at the plate, but lost a ball in the lights, giving (the incredibly slow) Geovany Soto a triple that led to a Cubs run and also got picked off during a double steal attempt.

Ryan Braun was, predictably booed, though not as loudly or near as long as I imagined he would be. Aramis Ramirez, didn't really receive any raspberries from the crowd. The crowd at Wrigley, however, was rather sparse tonight. I imagine the early start in April wasn't too appealing. Expect the booze-soaked bleacher masses to make it worse later in the season.

The quick hook Roenicke had for both Manny Parra and Tim Dillard is a new look from last season, but the use of so many arms in a game that didn't require it could take its toll on an already not-so-strong bullpen. Axford's velocity was up from the long outing yesterday, but still had trouble locating all his pitches.

Good morning folks. Kyle's scheduled to be back tomorrow, so you've made it to the end of this stretch of Guest Muggers. Hopefully it wasn't too painful.

The Brewers take on the Cubs today at 3:05 Central Time.

The Brewers played two split-squad games yesterday and didn't fare too well in either. Check out JP's recap of both here.

The bright spot yesterday was definitely Zach Greinke, who continues to roll this Spring Training. It should also be noted that Aramis Ramirez broke the slump and got his first two hits of ST.

In the other game, however, the pitching struggled as Michael Fiers, Amaury Rivas, Frankie De La Cruz and Tim Dillard all gave up runs in their short appearances.

J-S (behind the paywall) highlighted Greinke's stellar start and said that normally at this point in ST he's usually only throwing fastballs and curveballs, but that this year's he's already worked in the slider and has gotten to the point with his new pitch, the cut fastball, that he's ready to use it in regular season play. Of course Joey Nowak of MLB.com says Greinke is focusing on the curveball earlier than he normally does. Do we care what order he's working on them, as long as he keeps pitching this well?

Nyjer Morgan was back in the lineup yesterday. He missed a few days after being hit in the head with by Barry Zito. He did say that Nyjer was always ok, since it was Tony Plush who was actually plunked.

Baseball Tonight was in Maryvale yesterday. You'll probably already have seen this video of Tim Dillard impersonating Tim Kurkijan. These videos are the "it" thing this ST, but Dillard's is one of the best.
Other than that, they didn't really provide anything you didn't already know - except maybe two possible references to BSOHL - Ramirez and Marcum.

Yovani Gallardo isn't on the docket to pitch today, so they won't match up, but Carrie Muskat and Adam McCalvy have a story on how he and Cubs reliever James Russell grew up together.

Brewer Nation continues the Opening Day countdown with #24 Mat Gamel.

Speaking of Opening Day, the Nashville Sounds would like you to know that they're a month away.

And in more minor league news, the Brevard County Manatees caught Ben Hill's attention with their cleverly named promotion "Rock Out with Your Cookout."

Reviewing the Brew continues their season outlooks with a focus on Carlos Gomez.

Fulfilling my girlie quotient for the day, I'll point out to you that the Brewers are now on Pinterest. I know that means nothing to a lot of you, but I did appreciate the "For the Record Books" board that has collected a lot of the graphics the club has created for different milestones. I'll be saving a few of those to my desktop.

Astros: Signed Catcher Landon Powell to a minor league contract
A's: Claimed Brandon Hicks off waivers

Today in former Brewers (and what might have been), Disciples of Uecker take a look at the career of Dan Haren and realize that he's showing us what the Brewers could have had if Ben Sheets had been able to stay healthy.

While this is news to no Brewer fan that paid any attention last season, it's always exciting to have your instincts validated by math. According to MLB's ClubHouseConfidential, Yuniesky Betancourt saw just 3.16 pitchers per plate appearance in 2011. Yay plate discipline!

The big news in MLB yesterday was that there will be no expanded replay for the coming season. The additional replay required the approval of MLB and the unions representing the umpires and the players and the three sides weren't able to agree.

This is a few days old, but it didn't look like any of the other Guest Muggers linked to it, so I'm sharing it. It's by far my favorite non-Brewers read so far this ST. New Cardinals manager Mike Matheny is ensuring that the ghost of Tony LaRussa's past doesn't desert the Cardinals clubhouse as he spent Saturday evening complaining about a rain delay in the Cards' Grapefruit League game against the Marlins. I may have clapped my hands in glee.

My second favorite is this Spring Training game Mad Lib from NotGraphs. By the end of ST, this is how I imagine we'll be writing game recaps.

In honor of Greinke's Spring Training successes, I give you Minor League Chipotle Tweets on Tumblr.

I, too, had thought that LOOGY was a universal baseball term, but Aaron Gleeman says Ron Gardenhire had no idea what it meant.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, this year marks the first time in history half of 30 MLB teams will have payrolls at least $90 million.

MLB Trade Rumors takes a look at the somewhat new practice of including an opt-out clause in minor league contracts for veteran players. The new CBA actually gives veterans with six or more years of service time a $100,000 bonus if they're sent to the minors by the club. For the Brewers, Cesar Izturis and Corey Patterson fall under this new clause.

The UniNerd in me had to pass on this SI.com slideshow of misspelled MLB uniforms.

Hardball Chat's latest podcast is all about women in baseball and features some heavy-hitters - baseball historian Dorothy Mills, astrophysicist and expert on fielding, Meredith Wills, the first woman to throw MLB batting practice, Justine Siegal and director of "Throw Like A Girl," Cami Kidder. This is must-listen in my world.

BaseballAmerica looks at the effect of home ballparks on young hitters. Miller Park comes in at No. 5 under Best Parks for Home Runs by Lefthanded Batters. The lack of Prince Fielder in MP will probably have a negative effect on these numbers in the coming years.

Octavio Dotel is making some history this season - when he hits the field for Detroit in the regular season, he'll become the only player to play for 13 major league clubs. All the more stunning is that he's done it in 13 years. He's played with 601 different players, but just one HOF'er - Rickey Henderson.

You don't exactly connect Arkansas and MLB, but 45 percent of inductees into the MLB HOF are connected to Spring baseball in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Now that connection is being commemorated with a Historical Baseball Trail.

The long-awaited decision has been made and apparently nine folks will be inhabiting the MLB Fan Cave. Here they are.

Since there's been a lot that happened since yesterday's Mug - including the press conference and the spate of articles and columns that followed, And since yesterday's Mug is at almost 500 comments, I thought we should give you a new place to discuss the biggest story of our offseason.

I'll start you out with what I think are two must-read articles looking at the science involved in Braun's argument.

The first one will cost you 99 cents at Amazon, but the money goes to the Jimmy Fund and the information contained within is well worth your time and money.

Will Carroll (@injuryexpert on Twitter) has been saying for the past two days that science can explain what happened with Braun's sample and that Braun's team repeatedly showed exactly how Braun's single test showed positive. Download it here.

After you read that, read Chad Moriyama's follow-up piece on Carroll's article.

Share thoughts, other links and celebrations below.

Ok folks, here's the quick and dirty not-directly quoted transcript that I typed up while it was happening. Hopefully we'll get video or a full transcript that I can post or I'll go back and type it word for word.

Continue reading this post »

Opening Day - 42 Days Away

Well folks, it's not quite Greinke-mas, but despite all the hullaballoo and questions that were raised by yesterday's decision that Braun does not have to serve a 50-game suspension, all Brewers fans have to be relieved that the team will not be without it's number one offensive threat and everyday left-fielder. Todd Rosiak points out that this is a best-case scenario for the Brewers.

Let's just jump right in here, there's plenty to cover:

We'll start with all the official statements, since there are kind of a lot of them:

• In case you missed it, here's Braun's.
  
• Here's the official Players Association Statement. Short and sweet and giving us the information that both sides agreed to forgo confidentiality and make the decision public.
• MLB Executive Vice President for Labor Relations Rob Manfred is the one that used the now famous "vehemently disagree" phrasing in condemnation of the results.
• Brewers owner Mark Attanasio also had a short, sweet statement that makes a not-so-subtle jab about the confidentiality breach.

Braun will be meeting the press in Maryvale at noon CST. No word yet on if that will be carried live on local TV or radio. Check back with the site for more Braun coverage at that point.

And here's a list of the basic, initial stories from the major sites reporting the news that the suspension had been overturned.

• MLB
• ESPN
• SI
• Hardball Talk
• Covering a bit more than just the basics is the Journal-Sentinel story.

Braun's teammates were obviously very excited about this turn of events:

• Corey Hart went on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee to discuss the decision. Mostly it's just supportive statements about Braun and a weird comment that he did shirtless cartwheels to celebrate the ruling.
• John Axford and Nyjer Morgan took to Twitter to celebrate and express support, as did multiple other players in the league.
• McCalvy had some quotes from teammates in support of Braun
  - but the most interesting bit in that piece is from new team union rep Chris Narveson (it was Craig Counsell) who said "Put it this way: This isn’t the first time we’ve had issues with the people [in charge of testing] in Milwaukee. There have been other issues with timing." I certainly hope McCalvy or another local reporter follows up on that dig.

I wasn't sure where to put this one because it makes a pretty bold statement about MLB and the results. This column from a Giants writer on NBCSports.com points out how off base MLB is in their handling of the verdict. He points out that these are MLB's own protocols and procedures they're now decrying, that Braun "played by baseball’s rules, he followed baseball’s procedures, he went through baseball’s process, and he was found not guilty" and that "MLB’s reaction, though, shows that for it, testing isn’t about determining a player’s guilt or innocence, it’s about nailing guys."

The biggest debate that's come out of this is whether or not its appropriate to say that Braun won his appeal on a "technicality."

• The Braun camp, obviously, isn't happy with that summation of the events.
• Ron Roenicke Stole My Baseball gives you some scenarios to consider and points out that the chain of custody failure means the whole sample was compromised.
• Craig Calcaterra calls the notion "bull" and points out that the chain of custody procedure is there to protect "integrity and efficacy of the drug testing process."
• On the flip side, however, South Side Sox calls it "The Ryan Braun Loophole" and takes a look at the MLB-MLBPA joint drug agreement, which just happens to be available online. According to their findings in the JDA, correct procedure WAS followed, leaving you to wonder what exactly the arbitrator heard to make him rule otherwise. So what's the correct answer? Unless Das chooses to speak to the media or issue a statement, we may never know.
• Jeff Passan does a similar breakdown
• as does Drew Silva at Hardball Talk.
• Discples of Uecker point out that the failed chain of custody made the situation incredibly uncertain and therefore Das couldn't "ruin a player’s career and reputation" when he couldn't be sure of the integrity of the sample. They also call the victory bittersweet for Braun.
• Will Caroll tweeted that Braun's team showed " Not just WHY it happened, but HOW." Let's hope we get some more information on this.
• It's All About the Money, Stupid points out that a player who tests positive can't call it a technicality, so doing so in the other direction probably isn't valid and points out that drug testing has just two results: atheletes who are caught and those who aren't. So those looking for further resolution are asking too much of the system.

There's plenty more to be found on this topic, including some interesting Twitter conversations, but if I posted everything said on this yesterday, the Mug would be longer than a novel. Suffice to say, one side thinks that this is akin to a murderer getting off because he wasn't read his Miranda rights while the other side points out that Braun's lawyers job wasn't to prove him innocent, but rather to ensure that he wasn't suspended and he argued the course that was most likely to gain him that goal - which isn't an admission of guilt.

The question of where this leaves Braun in terms of public perception was bandied about quite a bit yesterday. It seems like folks should at least wait to see what Braun himself has to say in today's presser.

• Danny Knobler at CBSSports says the system worked and Braun deserves the benefit of the doubt.
• While Jayson Stark at ESPN says the verdict cleared nothing at all.
  
• Tyler Kepner of the New York Times says it was a legal fight and Braun "found a way to win."
• Kevin Baxter at the LA Times does the best job and simply says that Braun still has to face the court of public opinion and is the only one I read that points out that Das has 30 days to provide a written opinion based on his findings. He also has quotes form Braun's HS coach.

I'd seen folks on Twitter and in comment sections raise the theory that Bug Selig's connection to the Brewers meant that Braun wouldn't serve a suspension, but Mike Lupica of the NY York Daily News is the first journalist I've seen make that accusation. He also makes it clear that he thinks Braun was acquitted, not exonerated and that Braun "beat the game."

I'm a little shocked by this and surprised I didn't see more chatter of this elsewhere, but the MLBlogs Network Plushdamentals blog actually had this story on Valentine's Day - so nine days prior to Das' ruling. Clearly a case of MORE leaks in this story. I can't imagine that blogger won't get more attention as the smoke clears.

MLB.com columnist Richard Justice says Braun has one chance to truly clear his name and really needs to take the opportunity during his press conference this morning to lay it all out there - his reputation depends on it.

Craig Calcaterra makes the important point that the appeal process went through "isn't designed or even able to determine absolute innocence."

Reviewing the Brew has a list of lessons learned from this whole process.

Monte Poole of the Contra Costa Times points out that regardless of the outcome, both MLB and Braun come out as losers here

I'm not sure how, but this Blue Jays columnist for the Toronto Star comes to the conclusion that "The result is great news for Commissioner Bud Selig and the game's harshly critiqued drug-testing program." Pretty sure that's the only place you'll read those words today.

Believe it or not, there was some other Brewers news yesterday:

Poor Norichika Aoki started off his day so well, but it went pretty downhill from there. Not only did he lost pretty much any chance he had of being a starter, if only for 50 game, but his introductory press conference is a distant memory, despite happening yesterday morning.

• Here are some quotes from his presser. The highlight was that his dad is happy he's in Milwaukee because he likes beer.
• Photos from the presser
• In what might be the most exciting offensive thing he does all season, Aoki hit a homer on just his fourth BP pitch faced.
• Aoki & Weeks might be forming a mutual admiration society. Aoki admitted they don't make second baseman as muscular as Weeks in Japan while Weeks praised Aoki for his quick-handed swing.
• In what was probably a pretty hectic, overwhelming day, a comforting moment for Aoki was probably reuniting with Frankie De La Cruz - the two played together in Japan in 2010.

Rickie Weeks unequivocally doesn't want to hit in the five-hole.

You can ignore the stuff about waiting on a Braun verdict, but there's a few quotes here from Ron Roenicke about K-Rod not yet being in camp. via McCalvy

FS Wisconsin announced they'll be broadcasting 150 of the Brewers 162 regular-season games this year. The full schedule of broadcasts can be found here.

While he nailed the Braun coverage, if you wanted a reason to dislike John Heyman, here you go: he says the Brewers are the third least improved team

The Arctic Tailgate is tomorrow and fans are already lining up and camping out.

Brian Anderson seems to have written a song. I'll leave it at that.

Since reading all of today's Braun back and forth it enough to make your head explode, here's your laugh of the day. How many of these do you think we'll see at Miller Park. Besides the inherent ridiculousness of wearing a 5" heel to a baseball game, there's also the fact that they're suede. I await Miller Park Drunk's thoughts on these.

And in random other news:

Since we're talking drug testing, it might be a good time to point out that the MLB started testing for HGH this year. Apparently the players' union only agreed to testing during Spring Training and the off-season and we may be learning why. Multiple players who have been tested are saying the blood draw left them weak and sick because the draw is six to eight vials of blood. The article goes on to quote a past chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency saying only one vial is needed, but doesn't actually ask or answer the question why MLB is then drawing so many more. Either way, the players are correctly pointing out that losing that much blood would leave them incapable of playing in a game that day.

Dodgers: Claimed Matt Angle off of waivers from Baltimore.

Via Adam McCalvy, here is Braun's Statement on the arbitrator's decision:

Braun statement

Statement from Ryan Braun in response to arbitration decision:

"I am very pleased and relieved by today’s decision.

"It is the first step in restoring my good name and reputation. We were able to get through this because I am innocent and the truth is on our side.

"We provided complete cooperation throughout, despite the highly unusual circumstances.

"I have been an open book, willing to share details from every aspect of my life as part of this investigation, because I have nothing to hide. I have passed over 25 drug tests in my career, including at least three in the past year.

"I would like to thank my family and friends, my teammates, the Brewers organization led by Mark Attanasio, Doug Melvin, Gord Ash and Ron Roenicke, and other players around the league who have expressed their support and our great fans in Milwaukee and around the country who stuck by me and did not rush to judgment.

"I’d also like to offer special thanks to Michael Weiner and the Players Association for believing in me since day one and to my attorneys.

"I’d like to thank my agent Nez Balelo and Terry Prince of CAA Sports and Matthew Hiltzik of Hiltzik Strategies for all of their help and counsel through the process.

"This is not just about one person, but about all current and future players, and thankfully, today the process worked.

"Despite the challenges of this adversarial process, I do appreciate the professionalism demonstrated by the Panel Chair and the Office of the Commissioner.

"As I said before, I’ve always loved and had so much respect for the game of baseball.

"Everything I’ve done in my career has been with that respect and appreciation in mind.

"I look forward to finally being able to speak to the fans and the media on Friday and then returning the focus to baseball and working with my Brewers teammates on defending our National League Central title."

Kyle's off being cooler than us, so you're stuck with me today. Blame Kyle.

Let's start with news destined to make me stabby, CBS Sports has unveiled a fantasy baseball app aimed at women called The Baseball Boyfriend. Not only does it dumb down fantasy baseball to just one player for women, since we're clearly not smart enough to handle a whole roster-full, but it's full of doodle hearts and other ridiculousness, including lots of typos. Seriously, be happy this entire Mug wasn't just me ranting about this crap.

The mini rant is that this, at its base, is actually a pretty good idea - simplifying fantasy sports to make them appeal to a broader audience (of ALL genders.) Unfortunately for CBSSports (who let's be honest, no one uses for Fantasy Sports except when it comes time to fill out a March Madness bracket) they took it in a ridiculous direction, meaning other sites will take the basic idea and run with it while they're stuck being the laughingstock for treating women like they're mindless 13-year-old girls.

Ok, on with the rest of the Margarita...

Brewers news first:

Doug Melvin will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Here's the Brewers.com article. (SgtClueLs is not impressed)

Speaking of our exhalted GM, he was on WSSP. You can hear the full interview here, but the gem is probably him saying that the "Brewers and Shaun Marcum were "a minute and a half away" from arbitration hearing. (h/t @Mass_Haas

Over at The Official Site there is a look at the Brewers Top 20 prospects. Looks like its focusing on Wily Peralta. They also made an All-NL Prospect List. Peralta's the only Brewer on the list.

FanGraphs has their list of Top 10 Worst Transactions of the Winter and the Brewers signing of Aramis Ramirez checks in at #7.

MLB FanCave has announced a Top 50 finalists and is starting online voting. There are two Brewers representatives in the Top 50.

Disciples of Uecker started a series ranking the Brewers organization's Top 30 prospects. Yesterday's post of players 21-30 can be found here. I'm pretty surprised they have Brock Kjelgaard all the way down at 28. And here's 11-20.

The Brewers hired a new groundskeeper to take over the job after the passing of Gary Vanden Berg. Justin Scott comes from Kansas City and - my favorite part - has a BS in Plant Science/Turfgrass Management from Missouri.

The Brewer Nation is doing a countdown to Opening Day by jersey number. Today's highlights John Axford.

It's Insider, so I didn't get to read the whole thing, but Buster Olney is saying that Doug Melvin reiterated that the team is committed to giving Mat Gamel at first.

John Sickels is an authority on minor league players and he's taking the time to go back and look at how successful some of the pitchers he rated have become. He's narrowed down the parameters and overall, he did a pretty damn good job. Relevant to realize you should probably put stock in his projections. Both Zach Greinke and K-Rod make the list.

Bradley Woodrum at FanGraphs categorized MLB teams based on his opinion of their SABR leanings - he says the Brewers are an "In-Between Organization."

I'm not sure if Kyle posted this already, but here's a pretty interesting look at Racine native Chad Harbach, author of The Art of Fielding.

It probably says a lot about the rest of the unsigned arbitration-eligible players that one of the top ten most prominent cases left is the Brewers case with Jose Veras. (h/t MLB Trade Rumors)

If you're a really big Ryan Braun's Graffito fan and you find yourself in Wellington, FL (outside West Palm Beach) you're in luck! There's apparently a new one there.

Today in former Brewers:

Bill Hall signed a minor-league contract with the New York Yankees. The contract comes with an invitation to Spring Training. If he makes the 40-man roster, he gets $600,000. He announced his singing on Twitter. Best reaction goes to @Brandon_Warne with his suggestion of how Hall might handle Yankees Roll Call.

Former Brewer minor-leaguer Brett Lawrie's tweets are apparently so difficult for Jays fans to understand that one of them has started a Twitter account to translate them for the greater public.

In today's obvious news is obvious, ESPN published a story that Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski is confident in Prince Fielder. As if the 9-year, $214 million contract was a sign of that.

Dodgers: Avoided arbitration with Clayton Kershaw as he agreed to a two-year, $19 million contract. That leaves his third arbitration-eligible.
Oakland: Extended general manager Billy Beane's contract through 2019. A's beat writer Susan Slusser thinks that's a sign the Athletics are getting a new stadium.
Rangers: Signed Elvis Andrus to a three-year, $15 million deal.
Red Sox: Signed 17-year-old Australian Daniel McGrath

And in the rest of interesting baseball news...

This is my must-read of the day: A 17-year-old is the front line of Negro League research and has been for a few years. He's making friends with former-players and helping them get their pensions.

FanGraphs has their list of the 10 Best Transactions of the Winter - the Brewers aren't on the list.

The example in this piece on The Book is about the Super Bowl, but the gist of the article looks at how to correctly use win-expectancy graphs. Interesting, IMO.

One of the most linked-to and talked about articles yesterday was this Hardball Times piece looking at how payroll and wins are tied together and gives you some historical perspective on it.

Also at Hardball Times is this David Wade piece explaining why he's against replay in baseball.

I can't be the only one who looks at this Angels billboard of Pujols and doesn't think the A stands for Albert.

Baseball Prospectus has released their 2012 PECOTA forecasts, and they've tweaked their formula slightly to give more weight to a player's history/performance and less to regression. The article breaks down all the changes and I have to admit that the math problems make my head hurt. But for those of you so inclined, I'm sure it will be super-interesting.

Given the story about Baseball Boyfriend - Smart move by SABR to take this opportunity to remind you that they have a Women in Baseball newsletter - archived here.

We've finally made it to the end of Jonah Keri's The Extra 2%, so we'll talk about the last couple of chapters, discuss our thoughts on the book overall and spend some time deciding how to proceed and take suggestions for the next book.

Hit the comments to start discussing.

After some site wonkiness and a postponement, last week's discussion was a little tepid. Those chapters weren't exactly discussion-inciting. So let's hope the new information presented in today's chapters leave everyone a little more chatty.

Don't forget to read the final three chapters (and the epilogue) and come back next week Tuesday at 7 pm CST.

UPDATE: It's already 7:20 and the site slowness issues seem to be continuing, so we're going to push this discussion back to tomorrow night. Meet us back here at 7 pm Wednesday and hopefully we can pick up where we left off. - KL

Well, we'll give this a shot - the site is being a bit wonky and if we don't feel like folks are able to get in, we'll postpone this discussion to another day.

But in the meantime, let's assume we'll get a chance to talk about Chapter 4-6 tonight.

Don't forget to read Chapters 7-9 and come back next week Tuesday at 7 pm CST.

Since he spent just 12 days in the majors this season, the biggest story about Mat Gamel in 2011 was the comments Sound manager Don Money made about him in September.

Money came up to help coach the Brewers in September, Adam McCalvy asked him whether Gamel would make a good major leaguer and Money's answers were surprisingly frank and derogatory.

"If he can get his head right, and that's the thing," Money said. "He's hard-headed. He doesn't carry himself well. You have to carry yourself like a professional, and he doesn't do it and I've said it to him."

"The big question is, can he play it every day? Well, he can play first, but can he hit enough?" Money said. "That's the big 'if.'"

To be fair, it wasn't just Gamel he called out - Money had some negative remarks about Caleb Gindl and Mike McClendon, as well.

But the thoughts of a player's AAA manager probably tell you a lot about how the organization views Gamel and likely don't bode well for Gamel's future as a Brewers starter. He was passed over for Taylor Green when the Brewers wanted a left-handed bat on the bench in September and October and his major league numbers have failed to live up to the promise of his minor league ones.

For his short time in the majors, Gamel was called up on June 27 as the Brewers entered the start of the Interleague part of their schedule.Though it was assumed he was brought up to DH, he actually started two games at first, DH'd two games and started at third for one game during Interleague. He stayed with the club for another week, getting two starts at third against Arizona and Cincinnati while also.

The Brewers made it very clear in Spring Training that Gamel was being sent down to learn how to play first base, so it was somewhat surprising when he was started at third three times during his short stint with the major league club.

Prior to being called up, Gamel was hitting 321 with 18 home runs and 58 RBI, with a .380 on-base percentage and .577 slugging percentage in AAA. Unfortunately, that didn't carry over to Milwaukee, where he hit just .115 (3 for 26) with no home runs and two RBI in 10 games.

Many thought Gamel would be called up in September when rosters expanded, but the team stuck with Taylor Green as the left-handed bat on the bench.

In explanation, Doug Melvin said: "We didn't think we could get him enough at-bats to make it worthwhile. There were some other guys on that club such as (outfielder) Caleb Gindl and (pitchers) Wily Peralta and Michael Fiers who had big years but we didn't think they'd get to play, either."

"With the team we have, he's not going to get at-bats, especially with Prince at first base. Prince wants to play every day. We've got Taylor Green here and he's been swinging the bat well, so we think we're covered if we need an extra left-handed pinch-hitter."

Let's get underway with our discussion about the first few chapters of Jonah Keri's "The Extra 2%."

These first few chapters focus on the movement to get a team to St. Petersburg as well as how initial owner Vincent Naimoli and initial GM Chuck LaMar failed to put a good product on the field.

Just a reminder that we'll do this again next week - same time, same place. So read chapter 4-6 for next Tuesday.

Head into the comments to start talking about it....

Taylor Green appeared in just 20 games this season, so the story on him is probably that it wasn't more. As Casey McGehee's struggles lasted later and later into the season, many readers were calling for a Taylor Green call up. He was hitting extremely well in Nashville and folks were getting might antsy with Casey's lack of production.

Green finally received the promotion on August 26.

At that point, McGehee was hitting.241/.294/.356 with 10 home runs while Green, at Triple-A Nashville, was hitting .335/.413/.575 with 21 home runs.

Of course, that didn't seem to matter. McGehee still started 17 games in September and October, while Green started just seven. Jerry Hairston, Jr. got the starts down the stretch and Taylor Green was left to rot on the bench.

He ended up with 10 hits over 37 at-bats. Worries about whether his production would carry over to the majors were basically put to rest when he started the season getting six hits in his first six games - just the second Brewer to ever do that.

Green did get a post-season roster spot over Josh Wilson, something many didn't believe would be the case when the call up with made. He had two post-season PH at-bats and was also inserted as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning in game 2 of the NLCS.

Green became the first Brewer ever to be named the Brewers Minor League Player of the Year twice. He won this year and was also given the award in 2007. Despite spending the final two months in the majors, Green was named to the honorable mention of Project Prospect's Top Ten AAA position players list.

Takashi Saito doesn't really come with a highlight reel, so his season recap isn't too exciting. Though he missed almost three months due to various injuries, when he was on the field for the Brewers, he was solid, reliable and dependable - all things you like to see out of your back end relievers.

When you sign a 40-something year old reliever, that comes with injury risk and Saito did spend time on the 60-day DL this season. He started the season poorly, with an 0-1 record and 9.00 ERA prior to being placed on the DL April 6 with a left-hamstring sprain. While prepping to come back from the hamstring sprain, he left a rehabilitation outing April 28 with a left oblique strain. It got worse from there, as he was later scratched from a June 12 rehab appearance with upper back tightness.

Saito, who turns 42 in February, posted a 2.03 ERA and 23/9 K/BB ratio over 26 2/3 innings this season. Those stats, however, include his terrible open to the season. If you adjust to when he came off the DL, after returning in July he posted a 1.46 ERA and .186 opponents’ batting average in 25 innings.

He gave up four hits, but no runs, in six postseason appearances.

Contract Status: Saito's a Type A free agent, but as part of his contract he Brewers agreed not to offer him arbitration. His 2011 contract was $1.75 million for one year. 

Its possible (though not probable) that this was Saito's last season in the majors. Despite good numbers, the injury risk is always there. The Brewers agreed not to offer him arbitration - the means other teams can sign him without having to forfeit a draft pick, which makes him more attractive. It also probably saved the Brewers from overpaying for him through arbitration. It's likely Saito would have taken whatever was offered because it would have guaranteed him a one-year contract for next season. However, Jon Heyman predicts he'll get two years, $10 million. Sounds like no one is quite sure what will happen with Saito.

It's likely that the new collective bargaining agreement (that may be announced today) would have Saito downgraded to a Type-B free agent.

Best Game: On July 20, the Brewers were deep in their hunt for first place, but had earned a reputation for being incapable of winning on the road. The team lost Carlos Gomez to a broken clavicle this game, but took a 2-0 lead into the 8th. Unfortunately, K-Rod couldn't hold the lead and the D-Backs tied it. Saito took the ninth and had a shaky start, giving up a double and then moving the runner to third with a wild pitch with nobody out. However, from there he induced two groundouts to third, holding the runner. He intentionally walked Kelly Johnson and got pinch hitter Sean Burroughs to fly out to center, holding the lead. The Brewers then put up three runs in the 10th, giving Saito the win.

You can see Saito get the final out of the inning at 1:44 of this video

Hopefully everyone has had a chance to procure "The Extra 2%" by Jonah Keri. Let's go ahead and get started with our  book club. The book is 12 chapters, so I'm thinking we'll split it into four, three chapter portions. That's 62 pages to read by next week.

Then we'll meet here next Tuesday night at 7 pm CST to talk about what we read.

The book club thus far is in its infancy and we're just trying to figure out ways to make it work, so if any of the above doesn't make sense to you or you have suggestions, please pass them along. We want the book club to something you enjoy and come back for, so we want it to meet your specifications - more pages or less pages each time? Different meeting time? Different format? Tell us what you think.

See everybody next Tuesday after having read Chapters 1-3!

There are two things you'll remember about George Kottaras from 2011: that he was Randy Wolf's unofficial personal catcher and he hit for the cycle (Three, if you're one of our female readers and you saw this video that featured his pecs at 1:26).

The problem with Kottaras being Wolf's personal catcher is that it often coincided with him facing a lefty at the plate and he's pretty awful against LHP. Like .174/.208/.304 awful. Whereas Jonathan Lucroy has hit .288/.313/.494 over his career against LHP.

Kottaras has just a 14% caught stealing rate meaning the Brewers were a little concerned about his defense - so much so that they sent him down in late April, keeping Wil Nieves on the roster when Jonathan Lucroy returned from the DL. The Nieves trial lasted til mid-July, when Kottaras was brought back from Nashville.

Ron Roenicke wasn't as scared to use Kottaras as a bat off the bench as other managers have been and he often used Kottaras as a pinch hitter late in games. His best PH appearance of the season came on July 2, when he came on as a pinch-hitter in the 9th and drove in the game-winning run. The Brewers had been down 7-0 in the game and scored four in the ninth to rally to win 8-7 over the Twins.

Contract Status: Kottaras made $440,000 last year and is first-year arbitration eligible. MLB Trade Rumors is predicting him to receive $800,000 through arbitration.

Best Game: Just seven Brewers in history have hit for the cycle and the last three have been bench players - Chad Moeller, Jody Gerut and on September 3, George Kottaras. Coincidentally, it was the first four-hit game of Kottaras' career.

Kottaras was able to get the cycle thanks to the deep center field at Houston's Minute Maid Park - in another stadium, it would've likely been a three home-run game, a separate, but not as highly-celebrated, feat. His triple knocked around on Tal's hill and his single hit at the base of the wall and hopped over for a ground-rule, otherwise it wouldn't have been a double.

It was also notable because Kottaras started, but Randy Wolf wasn't the pitcher. Roenicke loaded the lineup with lefties against Bud Norris, so Kottaras got the start over Jonathan Lucroy.