SB Nation User Blog: roguejim

Rumorville: Roy Halladay

roguejim — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:43:46 -0000

According to MLB Blogger Jordan Bastian, Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi is "willing to entertain trade offers for ace Roy Halladay." Halladay, of course, would be this year's CC Sabathia in terms of true ace stuff: his ERA has been under 3 in three of the past five seasons, and hasn't been above 4 since 2004. (Halladay's stats here.) Halladay has a no-trade clause, but with the Blue Jays languishing in 4th place in the AL East, he's apparently willing to waive it.

More to the point, the Brewers have a serious shot at landing the big righthander:

Although a dozen teams have asked about Halladay, the Brewers are one of seven teams who have expressed "serious" interest.
SI's John Heyman says the Jays might be looking for their shortstop of the future, which would make the Brewers one of three teams at the top of the list.
Doug Melvin, who hates Internet baseball rumors, is open to talking to the Blue Jays about Halladay, who is neither Canadian nor a former Ranger.

One obstacle to a deal is that Halladay's contract runs through 2010, and any time a player is traded in the middle of a contract, he can demand a trade after the season. Cash could be another obstacle: Halladay would be owed another $7+ million for 2009 and $15.75 million for 2010. Plus, we don't know if Halladay would waive his no-trade clause to come to Milwaukee.

Poll

Which shortstop would you more be in favor of trading to land Roy Halladay: Alcides Escobar or JJ Hardy? (Hardy has one more year of arbitration before becoming a free agent after next season.)

Rumorville: Corey Hart

roguejim — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:53:34 -0000

Busta Olney takes a look at possible Atlanta trade partners.

If the Braves were to market [Javier] Vazquez, they could just deal with the Brewers directly. Milwaukee has no need for Escobar, because the Brewers have Alcides Escobar on the rise. Milwaukee would not consider trading Ryan Braun in any deal, and more than likely Prince Fielder would be out of the question (he's a Boras client and the Braves have already been down the path of a Boras-client-type of rental with Mark Teixeira, a situation that didn't pan out).

Hart would be the natural fit, although it's unclear whether he would necessarily be a significant upgrade over Francoeur, given the streaky nature of his offense. "There are times when he just looks like he has no clue," said one longtime talent evaluator. "I've seen him this season when he's looked absolutely lost." Hart, 27, is hitting .246 and nine homers, and if Milwaukee talked about a possible Hart/Vazquez swap, the Brewers would obviously have to include another really nice piece in the deal.

Corey Hart's stats are here. Javier Vazquez's stats are here.

I'm not totally convinced the Braves would require "another really nice piece." For one, Vazquez, like Doug Davis, is pitching out of his mind right now. Before this season, though, only once in Vazquez's post-Expo career had he put up a season ERA less than 4.42. For two, Vazquez is owed roughly $17 million over the rest of this season and 2010. If the Braves are getting another really nice piece, I should hope they're kicking in some cash. (If you're wondering, Hart still has 2 years of arbitration before free agency in 2012.)

In any event, I don't see a move like this particularly likely, as we would be without a right fielder, assuming Gamel can't learn right field over the all star break.

Rumorville: Corey Hart

roguejim — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:49:45 -0000

We haven't had a good rumor in a while, but Ken Rosenthal is here to fix us right up:

The Brewers' quest for pitching could lead to renewed talks with the Braves, who in the past have targeted Brewers right fielder Corey Hart. The Braves would need to clear their own right fielder, Jeff Francoeur, before acquiring Hart, and no team is hot after Francoeur.

Don't mess around with a guy in shades, oh no. (Jim Prisching / Associated Press)

The problem for the Brewers in trading Hart is their lack of a suitable replacement. Still, the Braves are deep in pitching — and could get even deeper if right-hander Tim Hudson returns from Tommy John surgery in mid-August.

Francoeur's stats, such as they are, are here. You'll notice that he hasn't had an OPS north of .660 since 2007, so you can see why the Braves want to be rid of him. Corey Hart's stats are here, and you can see he's performing slightly better than last season. Still, a sub-.800 OPS for a corner outfielder is disappointing.

What's interesting about the idea of trading Hart is that we DO have some replacement for him. For one, Frank Catalanatto, who surprisingly is in fact a Brewer, has a career .820 OPS against RHP, whereas he struggles against lefties. Meanwhile, Mat Gamel, who will either be headed to 1B or, you guessed it, right field if he can't stick at third, doesn't seem to have a problem against LHP: in the majors, he has a slightly higher OPS against lefites, and in Nashville he pummelled southpaws. Gerut and McGehee have also seen time in right field.

As to Braves pitching, well, there are two big names that jump out at me right away. The first is Derek Lowe, though I doubt the Brewers want any part of paying Lowe $15 million per season for the next 4 years. Still, Lowe has given up 3 or fewer runs in all but 3 of his 2009 starts, making him someone we definitely could use. A more likely target is former Expo Javier Vazquez, who I thought was washed up 5 years ago, but has turned it around, sporting a 3.18/1.05/.228 line in 2009. He is getting paid $11.5 million for each of 2009 and 2010.

For Corey Hart, keep in mind that this is his first year of arbitration. He's eligible for arbitration in 2010 and 2011, and can be a free agent in 2012 (along with Prince, Rickie, and Todd Coffey).

Assuming Gamel can play in right field, this is an easy way to get him in the lineup more --- after all, we certainly don't want to keep Bill Hall's .197 BA out of the game. Besides, if the sentiment is that Prince isn't going anywhere until 2012, I think right field will be the only place to put Gamel. Moreover, I think it's conceivable that we could make a trade like this without giving up a top prospect like Escobar, given how much money is involved. Although this is (so far) strictly speculation by Rosenthal, I could see some interest in this, at least on the Brewers' end.

The Brewers and Super Secret Spies

roguejim — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:03:02 -0000

The fact that the Brewers' starting rotation is slowly but surely turning into YoGa, Suppan, and a ball of yarn got me thinking about pitchers and trades. All the reports out there are suggesting that there is no Sabathia trade looming on the horizon: not only are we still too early in the season for other teams to throw in the towel, but it doesn't sound like there are difference-making pitchers to be had, especially with Peavy and Bedard on the DL. (Plus, as much as I love it when the Brewers make a deal, I somehow don't see acquiring Doug Davis as the missing piece of our playoff puzzle. And with a lack of other options, whoever lands a pitcher like Davis will be giving up far more than he's worth.)

That got me thinking about the ideal trade candidate.

For a situ like the Brewers are in --- flirting with the playoffs but mostly broke --- you're really looking for someone who (a) once was good, and in the not-too-distant past, but (b) is struggling enough now that he would be both available and not too costly in terms of what you have to give the trading team (while acknowledging that you can address some of the risk/reward with the cash and prospects that inevitable get included).

Of course, trading for a struggling pitcher doesn't do much for you --- after all, the Brewers have plenty of those right now. So what you really need is (c) a way to turn said struggling pitcher back into a productive member of society your pitching staff. This is kind of like what we attributed to the Melvin/Maddux combination: performing the alchemy of turning lemon-flavored Turnbows into lemonade-tasting all-star relievers.

I can see two immediate obstacles with this goal. The first problem is, you would need to be able to identify such a player without him being on your team in the first place, which means someone who knows what he/she is looking for would have to watch lots and lots of videotape. The second problem is, you would need a reason to think that you would be able to fix this person when the other team could not, so it would require some knowledge about other clubs: are they not as dutiful when it comes to reviewing the video, does their pitching coach have a reputation of not clicking with the players, etc. (Keep in mind that if you're in this position in the first place, then you have reason to doubt your own pitching coach: how is it that 3/5 of our rotation has started to totally suck for the past month, and Billy Castro has somehow not been mentioned, either on here or in the newspapers?)

So this is what I've been wondering: do the Brewers --- or any team in baseball, for that matter --- keep track of non-Brewers players throughout the year, especially the struggling ones, with an eye toward fixing them? Or, to come at it from another direction, how were the Brewers able to identify players like DD, Podsednik, and Turnbow as players they could turn into gold? Or is it a truly hit-or-miss sort of thing: for every Podsednik, there is a De La Rosa? Did we get lucky, or was there a plan involved?

In other words, do we have super secret scouts who follow major-league teams, looking for trading deadline bargains? This sounds like mostly idle speculation, but landing someone like Doug Davis was a real godsend. In each of 2004 and 2005, he pitched 200+ innings with an ERA under 4. How much would that be worth now? Because we paid only about $500,000 in 2004 and $2 million in 2005 --- styrofoam peanuts compared to what his performance was actually worth. Finding a diamond in the rough is a major coup, and I'm wondering just what resources are devoted to that very thing. A team willing to spend money on season-long major-league scouting...well, it seems to me they'd have a leg up on finding that diamond.

The Cratering of a Pitching Staff

roguejim — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:04:15 -0000

It's certainly not a surprise to anyone following the team that our starting pitching over the past month has been "suspect," to put it politely, fueling the recent calls for trades. But how suspect?

Manny Parra: since whittling his ERA down to a Suppanian 4.57 on May 17, Parra had since given up an astounding 31 earned runs in his next 21 1/3 innings, raising his ERA almost 3 full runs in only 5 starts. Wow. Parra is currently on a sabbatical in Nashville.
Braden Looper: it's hard to imagine that Looper had a 2.45 ERA in April (THAT seems a long time ago), and a 4.24 ERA as late as May 29. Since then? 18 earned runs in 20 1/3 innings, raising his ERA just about 1 full run. (Oddly enough, his strikeout : walk ratio in that time period is a nifty 16:2 --- why take a walk when you can hit for extra bases, I guess.)
Dave Bush: on May 19th, his ERA was a fantastic 3.74. Since then? Well...29 earned runs in 28 innings, raising his ERA almost 2 full runs. It's worth noting that he's attributed his recent slide to getting hit by a line drive in Florida on June 4th, even though by then his ERA was already on the way back up, having given up 9 earned runs in his previous 10 2/3 innings.
Jeff Suppan: remarkably, perhaps reveling in the misfortune of his staffmates, Suppan's ERA has been trickling downward: his current ERA, 4.48, is as low as its been all season, and he hasn't given up any home runs in June. That's all fine, of course, when Suppan is your #4/5 guy. When he's your best starter not named Gallardo...hoo boy.
Yovani Gallardo: Gallardo is still doing fine, of course, and his ERA is back under 3, something we haven't seen since April. The only thing of concern to me is the innings pitched: in only 2 of his last 7 starts has YoGa gotten out of even the 6th inning. He's still pitching well, but not offering our overtaxed bullpen a break.

To put it another way:

Brewer pitcher	ERA on May 20*	ERA on June 20
Yovani Gallardo	3.83	2.93
Dave Bush	3.74	5.67
Braden Looper	4.26	5.21
Manny Parra	4.57	7.52
Jeff Suppan	4.63	4.48

Our relievers have been performing admirably all season, but that's not going to continue if we keep asking them to pitch 3+ innings every night. Landing another starting pitcher would be helpful, if Billy Castro can get Looper and Bush turned around and if Gallardo and Suppan are able to keep us in games without killing our bullpen. However, when your 2, 3, and 4 starters all collapse at the same time, it's hard to see how someone like Doug Davis will get us into the playoffs.

*Since May 20, the Brewers have gone 12-17, and as of this writing have fallen into second place.

Poll

Deep down, you think this is Ned Yost's doing, don't you.

Yes

151 votes

I'd never admit to it

80 votes

231 votes | Poll has closed

Rumorville: Let's add a Cub! (w/poll)

roguejim — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:19:29 -0000

Well, a former Cub.

In his article on players who could be on the move, Jayson Stark says Mark DeRosa is becoming "more marketable by the minute." As we've witnessed personally over this past series, DeRosa can hit plenty, going 5 for 15 with 2 home runs against the Brewers. For the season, he's OPSing .827, and hasn't been under .792 since 2005. Plus, he can play 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and both corner outfield positions.

The Brewers need a second-baseman to replace Rickie, who is out for the season, and we're all in agreement that Craig Counsell, as remarkable a season as he's having, can't play everyday. Counsell and McGehee form a nice platoon, although McGehee is nursing multiple injuries himself. I think DeRosa, sporting a nifty .348 OBP, could fit in well at second. For one, his contract for 2009 is $5.5 million, so the Brewers would be on the hook for, say, $3 million --- not peanuts, but probably not out of our range, either. For two, he fits exactly what we need: we want a plus bat in the lineup at second base for the rest of the season, but we don't necessarily need him in 2009, when Rickie will be back.

Plus, c'mon --- tell me you wouldn't love to have DeRosa at second base when we play the Cubs.

I can see two downsides off the bat (so to speak): for one, any money or prospects we have to give up to land DeRosa would mean money and prospects NOT available to land a pitcher, which we probably are more in desperate need of right now. (Rambling Al suggests getting a reliever, which might not be a bad idea, given how few starting pitchers there are presently available, and how spent our relief corpse is.) Moreover, it would probably mean Gamel would go back to Nashville, as Counsell and McGehee are too good to not have on the team, and Bill Hall is too expensive to cut. (Keep in mind too that Counsell is our backup at shortstop; the only other person with meaningful time to back up Hardy is Bill Hall, who hasn't played short since 2006 and is sporting a .201 average right now.) Although Gamel offers more than Hall right now, I can get behind a Hall/McGehee platoon, with Counsell backing up DeRosa and Hardy.

Poll

DeRosa or DeNosa?

Yes!

44 votes

Yes, but only if we will still get the much-needed pitching help

192 votes

Yes, but only if we get to keep Mat Gamel

93 votes

No: any victory achieved with an ex-Cub is automatically tainted

75 votes

404 votes | Poll has closed

Looting the Suck-os

roguejim — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:26:38 -0000

OK, OK, so we need a starting pitcher. Our underrated pitching staff is showing some cracks and --- in typical Brewer fashion --- all at the same time. Moustache has suggested that it's hard to work a trade for a pitcher now, because so many teams are still in it. We'll just see about that!

I am going to argue that any team that is 8 games or greater under .500 is not going to make the playoffs. (Could they make the playoffs? Of course --- it's the middle of June, for the love of Sixto. But will they? No.) That gives us 6 teams we could be talking to already.

Washington Nationals (16-45). Amazingly, this team is 20 games out of first, and it's only the middle of June. They have exactly one (1) starting pitcher with an ERA under 5. His name is John Lannan, and he has pretty good numbers (3.51, 1.42, .267), especially given his age (24). His WHIP is a little high, thanks to a touch of walk-itis, but he has career and 2009 ERAs under 4. If you check out his Yahoo! team photo as well, you'll see he has the look you'd expect of someone playing for the Nationals: a little sad, a little resigned. He only has a little more than one year of ML service, so he doesn't have any outrageous salary demands or anything, though he's far younger than your typical DM acquisition.
Arizona Diamondbacks (27-37). Boy, do the D-Backs have pitching: Arizona has three starters with ERAs under 4, and none of them are named Brandon Webb. Dan Haren is putting up Sabathia Eckersley numbers this season (WHIP of 0.81, BAA .188, ERA 2.20, almost a K/IP), and Max Scherzer is doing amazingly well for someone drafted only three years ago. Still, it's pitcher #3 that I'm sure Doug Melvin is already salivating over: our good buddy, double-D, Doug Davis. Not only is he a former Brewer (twice!), but he's pitching for his next contract, with a 3.65 ERA and 1.33 WHIP, far and away better than anything he's done since 2005. It would be a true Sabathia replacement, as he is a free agent at the end of the season. (And just think how excited sportswriters will be to say we're replacing CC with DD!) Frankly, I'd be disappointed if we didn't bring in a true stud like Haren, but bringing in DD (once again) is a move that Melvin would make subconsciously, kind of like breathing or blinking. DD is making $8.75 million this season, so salary would be a concern.
Baltimore Orioles (27-36). Baltimore has had some trouble with pitching this season: already they have had to use 9 starters, and 40 of the 63 games were started by pitchers with an ERA currently over 5.5. (This is where Rambling Al would remind us of the value of Jeff Suppan, which I'd grudgingly concede.) They have two starters who would be useful, Koji Uehara and Brad Bergesen, but both are pitching their first ML seasons in 2009, and I can't imagine Moustache would make a trade for a rookie.
Oakland Athletics (27-35). Oakland is the current home of ol' BCB fan favorite, Dana Eveland, so maybe they would like to do us a solid and lend us a starting pitcher. They have two of interest. Dallas Braden is a lefty drafted in 2004 who (unlike Eveland) seems to have figured out how to pitch, having lowered his ERA and WHIP in each of the past two years. So far this year, he has a 3.33 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. The impeccably named Josh Outman isn't quite there in ERA (3.43), but his 1.14 WHIP and .209 BAA are outstanding. Trading for either would cost us a mint, though, plus Oakland probably doesn't realize yet that they won't make the playoffs (which they won't).
Cleveland Indians (29-37). The team we're up against tonight also finds itself 8 games under .500, having lost to us last night in bullpen-exhausting, gut-wrenching, extra-inning fashion. (Hey, we've all been there.) Since we're already in the same ballpark, Doug can stroll on over and ask about AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee (aka Cliffly). After scuffling in 2006 and 2007, Cliff figured something out in 2008, having posted a 2.54 ERA and 1.11 WHIP last season. The numbers aren't far off this year either, 2.88 and 1.33, respectively. The Indians would be in a perfect position to trade him, too, as Lee is under team control (thanks to an $8 million option) through 2010. He would be pricey, and the Indians' asking price would only begin with Escobar or Gamel. Excuse me as I put on my tinfoil hat: if you hear any whispers of DM offering JJ a long-term deal now, even (especially?) when Hardy's numbers aren't so hot, it could be just laying the groundwork for trading Escobar for a player like Cliffly.
Kansas City Royals (28-34). Technically, the Royals are only 6 games under .500, but still. It's the Royals. Besides, they have perhaps BCB's favorite player never to wear a Brewer uniform, Zach Grienke. Grienke only has a 1.72 ERA and 0.99 WHIP; his ERA for this season is more than 2 runs below his career average. Although any of the pitchers discussed here would be helpful, only Grienke and Cliffly would be a Sabathia-level replacement in terms of quality. A Grienke deal might be tough to pull off, though: not only would he cost the Brewers a boatload (both in prospects and money, as he just signed a $38 million, 4-year extension through 2012), but Grienke also has limited no-trade protection until 2011. It's funny to consider a no-trade clause when you're already on the Royals.

I'm still betting on Doug Davis, though as more teams fall out of the race (yes I'm talking about you, Houston, Pittsburgh, and San Diego), some more options will open up. With Peavy out of the picture (possible season-ending ankle surgery), there isn't much high-priced talent out there; moreover, the would-be sellers will get a lot more for Cliffly and Grienke at the trading deadline than the middle of June.

Poll

Call it in the air:

Double-D

81 votes

No Double-D

191 votes

272 votes | Poll has closed

Rumorville: ??? (with poll)

roguejim — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:24:12 -0000

It's on Al's Ramblings. It's on Brewerfan.net. It's on Bernie's Crew. We haven't seen a rumor like this since the Alex Ochoa/Greg Maddux debacle of Aught-two.

They're all reporting the same thing: someone on the Brewers is being traded for someone else. Maybe.

Now I know some Rumorville readers like to delve deep and wallow in the details of a trade like this. How will we compensate for the departure of, umm, someone? How will, err, that new guy fit in with the rest of the team?

As for the names being bandied about...

Al astutely noted that Mike Rivera was used as a pinch-hitter yesterday instead of JJ Hardy. Both Seattle and San Diego could use a shortstop. In return, the rumor is we'd be getting a starting pitcher, maybe the likes of Erik Bedard or Cliffly.
Brewerfan.net is dreaming of Jake Peavy and Roy Halladay
Bernie's Crew dismisses Jake Peavy, but thinks Cliffly might be a possibility, with Manny Parra perhaps on the way out.

None of the more official sources (Tom Haudricourt, Adam McCalvey) has anything, nor does MLB Trade Rumors.

It's tough to evaluate the validity of such a rumor, with Macha benching many of the starters in yesterday's game. One interesting angle to explore is that this trade is going down so soon after the draft. That could be just a coincidence, but...

Poll

Should we trade our guy for that guy over there?

Yes

108 votes

No

36 votes

Only if we can include Jeff Suppan

141 votes

285 votes | Poll has closed

Friday's Frosty Mimosa

roguejim — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:07:10 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

'I spy, with my little eye, something that is...a gopherball to Ian Stewart." (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while mustering enthusiasm for a team on a losing streak.

Hidden behind the hoopla of the baseball draft is that the Brewers are on a bit of a slide, having lost a season-high four in a row and seven of their last ten. If you're looking for a silver lining, though, these losses are far from blowouts: Thursday's 5-4 loss to the Rockies is the 5th straight where the winning margin was by only one or two runs; by comparison, each of their 3 June wins were by three runs or more. Plus, the rest of the NL Central has so far been unable to take advantage, with the Crew maintaining a half game lead in the division.

The loss at the hands of the Rockies continues what seems to me to be something of an anomaly: the Brewers have been involved in an inordinate amount of series sweeps over the last 6+ weeks. Starting on April 27th, the Brewers have played in 14 series, and half of them resulted in a sweep. Of the seven sweeps, the Cream City Crushers were the sweep-er 5 times and the sweep-ee only twice.

One person who isn't concerned about the Brewers' slide: Tim Brown at Yahoo! has the Crew at 6th place in his power rankings. Tom Haudricourt isn't panicking either, though Michael Hunt says it can't get worse.

The Brewer faithful seem pretty optimistic: in a JSOnline poll of nearly 3000, 83% feel the Brewers will be in the postseason.

If you don't like the small ball, you'll love this promotion: starting on June 15th, the Brewers will play Dollars for Dingers: for each home run the Brewers hit from June 15-25, the team will deduct $1 from the price of a $28 loge ticket for the July 7th and 8th games against the Cardinals. One week-long power binge, and we're talking free tickets.

Rambling Al smells a trade brewing, perhaps involving JJ Hardy for a starting pitcher. You can make the argument that Parra is still with the main club because we don't have a head-and-shoulders-better replacement (all apologies to Son of Clung). Al speculates that Erik Bedard might be a possibility, though Geoff Baker at the Seattle Times worries that trading Bedard would alienate the fan base. I wonder: wouldn't Russell Branyan be an attractive sell-high candidate for the Ms?

Bernie's Crew and BrewerFan.net are also in on the speculation, and are thinking Bedard or Cliff Lee but not Jake Peavy. There's also speculation that Melvin has a back-up trade in the works if the first one falls through, both for starting pitching. The timing would be a little odd, given that our starters have been pretty good (though not pitching deep into games), and our offense has been struggling. (Oof.)

Peter Gammons has noted that former Brewer Minor League Player of the Year Nelson Cruz is "seemingly a lock" to make the American League All-Star team. No, thanks, we'll upgrade to Kevin Mench.

Brian Anderson wants kids to know that each of them is special. Remember, Dash, everyone is special...which means no one is.

Don't forget to vote the Brewers into the All-Star Game. As of Wednesday, only Ryan Braun has enough votes to start, though Jason Kendall is 4th in the NL for catcher. Voting ends on July 2nd; let's make a mockery of the ASG and get Jason in there.

DRAFT RESULTS

Now that the draft is over, it's fun to pore over who we picked, like coming home from church on Christmas morning so you can play with your new toys. You can access a list of all of our new can't-miss prospects here, including scouting reports for the top 5 players. Two of our 53 picks hail from Wisconsin: Cullen Sexton from Stevens Point Area High School, with pick 1126, and Brad Schreiber from Kimberly High School, with pick 1276. Tom H. is tracking other Wisconsinites who were drafted as well.

As you undoubtedly have already seen, Battlekow has started his terrific BCB Interview series, including one with top pick Eric Arnett. Click here for a list of all of Tom Snyder's BK's interviews, plus one with pick 796 Felix Rutledge coming up later on Friday.

MLB.com writer Cash Kruth has noted one big difference between scouting director Bruce Seid from his predecessor: while Jack Zduriencik often went with high-ceiling/high-risk high school athletes, Seid seems to prefer collegians, who accounted for 21 of the Brewers' first 30 picks.

Adam McCalvey has a cute story on 12-year-old Aaron Ash, and his tryout as future Brewer scouting director.

If you like your prospects a little older, Between the Green Pillars is scouting some of the bigger names in our minor league system. Last week was Cody Scarpetta.

Ever wanted to pick the brain of Zack Minasian, the Coordinator of Pro Scouting/Manager of Minor League Personnel for the Brewers? Well, here's your chance.

COMING UP

On deck, the Brewers resume interleague play at home against the White Sox. Jeff Suppan takes on Clayton Richard, game time 8:05. The game is on in HD on FSN.

Good luck trying to get to sleep when a big trade might be in the works. Drink up!

Go eat a salad!

roguejim — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:24:20 -0000

If you're looking to score a free Brewers ticket, or a $14 voucher to one of the pricier seats, Applebee's has you covered. For the next couple of weeks, if you purchase an item off of their special menu, they'll give you a voucher good for a terrace reserved seat for any Monday-Thursday game for the next month or so.

Of course, you'll have to eat at Applebee's, but that's a small price to pay, IMHO. I recommend the apple walnut chicken salad.