Brew Crew Ball

Winter League Update for 12/18/2009

2009-12-18T12:41:50Z

In Venezuela:

Alcides Escobar went 1-for-4 to Lara, dropping his average to .393.
Mat Gamel went 0-for-3 with a walk and drove in a run for Caracas.

In the Dominican Republic:

Erick Almonte went 1-for-2 with a double, drove in a run and drew three walks. His DWL OBP is up to .478.
Carlos Gomez went 0-for-3 with a walk and stole a base.

In Mexico: Luis Cruz went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring a run and driving one in.

Making Your '00 Face: Backup Outfielder

2009-12-17T22:00:17Z

With the '00's almost behind us, it's time to take a look back and work together to make a BCB All Decade team for the '00s. Each day, we'll tackle a new position, and we'll have our 25 man roster complete sometime around the 1st of the year.

The concept here is pretty simple. Each day, I'll give you a list of candidates: For position players, it's the full list of players who appeared in at least 100 games at the position during the '00s. Here are the players we've selected so far:

First Base: Prince Fielder
Second Base: Rickie Weeks
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy
Third Base: Bill Hall
Corner Outfield: Ryan Braun
Center Field: Mike Cameron
Corner Outfield: Geoff Jenkins
Catcher: Damian Miller
Bench IF: Craig Counsell

Voting for a our backup catcher opened yesterday and will close at 4 pm tomorrow. Today we need to select a fourth outfielder.

Jeromy Burnitz

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2000-2001*
Slash line as a Brewer: .242/.352/.480
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: n/a**
WAR as a Brewer: 4

* - Burnitz was also a Brewer from 1996-1999, but those stats aren't reflected here.
** - FanGraphs only has UZR data dating back to 2002, so Burnitz has no data.

Carlos Lee

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2005-2006
Slash line as a Brewer: .273/.333/.511
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -23 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 2.1

Brady Clark

Seasons as a Brewer: 4, 2003-2006
Slash line as a Brewer: .284/.361/.393
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -1.1 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 5.8

Scott Podsednik

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2003-2004

Slash line as a Brewer: .276/.344/.401
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -11.3 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 8.7

Poll

Who should be the fourth outfielder on our BCB All Decade Team?

The Thursday Thinker: Breaking in early

2009-12-17T18:00:21Z

More photos » by Jeffrey Phelps - AP

Alcides Escobar is much younger than Gregg Zaun.

Browse more photos »

Alcides Escobar turned 23 yesterday, and barring injury he'll likely be the Brewers full-time shortstop next season. Last week we talked about Gregg Zaun, and how rare it is for a player at his advanced age to make 100 appearances as a Brewer. If Escobar plays in 100 games in 2010, he'll become just the 19th Brewer to play that often at age 23 or younger. How many can you name in five minutes?

Again, here are the rules: Post your score in the comments, but do not comment on any specific answer until after 6 pm Central time, so everyone gets a chance to try it out without having it spoiled for them. And, of course, there's no reason to cheat here, because there's no prizes.

This might be the hardest Thinker I've posted to date. If you've only followed the Brewers closely for a few years, don't be surprised if you only get 3-6 of them. If you manage to get them all, though, post your time along with your score in the comments.

Have fun, and don't forget to post your score in the comments!

Thursday's Frosty Mug

2009-12-17T15:09:33Z

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

LaTroy Hawkins and Glenn Robinson faced each other in high school. This is the kind of thing that passes for news in December.

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while trying not to dance.

LaTroy Hawkins was in Milwaukee yesterday for his physical, making his deal official (FanShot). As mentioned previously, he's due $3.5 million in 2010 and $4 million in 2011, plus $550k available if he maximizes his incentives. One thing I didn't know until reading it afterwards: Hawkins grew up in Gary, Indiana and played basketball against former Buck Glenn Robinson.

I've mentioned previously that the bullpen situation is starting to fill up, but realized yesterday that I've been leaving Carlos Villanueva out of all of my projections. As Adam McCalvy noted in his story on Hawkins, the bullpen now has Trevor Hoffman, Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Mitch Stetter, Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva and David Riske, and barring a trade or injury, it looks like Chris Smith, Chris Narveson, Chuck Lofgren and Zack Braddock, among others, are on the outside looking in.

While there may not be much competition for a spot in the bullpen, there will be an interesting race to see who opens the season as the backup catcher. View From Bernie's Chalet handicaps the candidates, and is hoping for George Kottoras to open the season in the majors, with Jonathan Lucroy in AAA and Angel Salome on the trading block. Two quick thoughts on that:

Kottoras is out of options, so unless one of the prospects blows him out of the water this spring, he'll likely make the team.
You can never have too many catchers, so don't be surprised if the Brewers hang onto both Lucroy and Salome and try to work out some kind of rotation in Nashville.

Speaking of competitions involving backup catchers, we need your vote to help select a backup catcher for the BCB All Decade Team. As of this writing, Mike Rivera leads Jason Kendall by 15 votes.

At Mike Cameron's press conference in Boston yesterday, we heard some insight for the first time into Ken Macha's feeling toward the running game last season. 2009 was the first time in Cameron's career he's had single-digit stolen bases, and he said he "ran into a little situation where I had to abide by the rules of the manager, even though I’ve been pretty successful, I mean, 80 percent of the time that I’ve ran." Macha has admitted he'll have to open up the running game a little more this season, but this is the first time I can recall hearing a player talk about restraints last season.

Every now and then the Mug provides me an "Ask and you shall receive" moment. Yesterday I asked about differences in attendance at Miller Park based on the starting pitcher, and Wisconsin Sports Tap did the research, discovering no correlation. Many, if not most, Brewer tickets are probably purchased too far in advance to predict starting pitching assignments, so that's likely what I should have expected.

In the minors: FanGraphs unveiled their Top Ten Brewer Prospects yesterday. Alcides Escobar sits atop the list, as he likely will in just about every set of rankings coming out this winter, but Brett Lawrie climbed in front of Mat Gamel for the #2 spot. We'll be doing our Community Prospect Rankings in January, and I'm curious to see where Lawrie will rank there.

Around baseball:

D-Backs: Signed pitcher Rodrigo Lopez to a minor league deal.
Dodgers: Signed infielder Jamey Carroll to a two year deal worth $3.85 million and signed reliever Luis Ayala to a minor league deal.
Orioles: Signed reliever Mike Gonzalez to a two year deal worth $12 million, and third baseman Garrett Atkins to a one year deal.
Rangers: Signed pitcher Geoff Geary and infielder Ray Olmedo to minor league deals.
Tigers: Re-signed infielder Ramon Santiago to a two year deal.

The Blue Jays, Phillies, Mariners and A's also finalized their four way deal involving Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. It's been a time for change in Toronto over the last few months: Jordan Bastian noted that the Rogers Centre features three-story images of Alex Rios, Scott Rolen, B.J. Ryan and Roy Halladay. All four will now need to be removed.

In the interest of keeping conversation going and providing fresh content on the site each day, I occasionally post things that wouldn't be front page-worthy during the season, but keep things lively in December. Occasionally when I do that, someone stops by the comments to make sure I know I'm wasting their time, or ask why we're voting for bench players on the All Decade Team. Yes, I know those posts aren't hard-hitting news, but they beat spending a day ranking and discussing your favorite Pixar movies, like Keith Law and Rob Neyer did yesterday.

Earlier this week he celebrated a birthday, and today former Brewer Matt Kinney is the subject of Lookout Landing's Faces series.

Happy birthday today to 1986 and 1989 Brewer Bryan Clutterbuck, who turns 50.

Drink up.

Winter League Update for 12/17/2009

2009-12-17T12:45:59Z

In Venezuela:

Alcides Escobar went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and scored a run for Lara. His batting average has fallen back to .397.
Mat Gamel went 3-for-6 with a double and a walk for Caracas, scoring a run and driving one in.

In the Dominican Republic:

Erick Almonte went 3-for-4 with a double, a run scored and two RBI on Tuesday.
Carlos Gomez went 0-for-4.

In Mexico: Luis Cruz went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and an RBI last night, ending a nine game hitting streak.

In Puerto Rico: Martin Maldonado went 1-for-3, picking up just his fourth hit in 34 PWL ABs.

Making Your '00 Face: Backup catcher

2009-12-16T22:00:18Z

Voting for a our first bench spot opened yesterday and will close at 4 pm tomorrow. Today we need to select a backup catcher. I've narrowed the list a little, removing three players who did not receive significant support in our initial vote:

Henry Blanco

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2000-2001
Slash line as a Brewer: .222/.303/.268
WAR as a Brewer: 0.6

Mike Rivera

Seasons as a Brewer: 4, 2006-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .260/.333/.423
WAR as a Brewer: 0.6

Johnny Estrada

Seasons as a Brewer: 1, 2007
Slash line as a Brewer: .278/.296/.403
WAR as a Brewer: -1

Jason Kendall

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2008-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .244/.329/.315
WAR as a Brewer: 2.1

Poll

Who should be the backup catcher on our BCB All Decade Team?

Hawkins passes physical, signing is now official

2009-12-16T19:35:49Z

Hawkins passes physical, signing is now official

According to Tyler Barnes' Twitter.

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

2009-12-16T15:16:15Z

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Mark DiFelice hopes to pitch for the Brewers again in 2011.

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while choosing carefully.

Well, this was bound to happen eventually: There's virtually no Brewer news today. Today's top story is the $100,000 minor league deal given to Mark DiFelice, who will spend the 2010 season rehabbing with Brewer trainers in the hope of returning to the mound with the Crew in 2011 (FanShot).

Elsewhere, Marc Hulet of FanGraphs has a look at the last few Brewer drafts, from a somewhat pessimistic point of view. The Brewer organization is down a bit and there's certainly not a lot of depth to speak of, but I think they deserve a little more credit than that.

I recently contributed to a discussion on the NL Central's moves at the Winter Meetings over at The Nats Blog, along with seven other NL Central sites.

We're continuing to plug away at the BCB All Decade Team. You have until 4 pm today to vote for our final starting outfielder, and 4 pm tomorrow to vote for our first bench infield spot. Geoff Jenkins has a pretty commanding lead in the former, but Craig Counsell's lead is much smaller in the latter. A new vote will open at 4 today.

Around baseball:

Royals: Are expected to sign former Twins pitcher Phil Humber to a minor league deal.
White Sox: Acquired Juan Pierre and cash from the Dodgers for two PTBNL.

Meanwhile, side deals are being struck to go along with the not-yet-official Mariners-Phillies-Blue Jays deal involving Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay: When/if the deal becomes official, the Blue Jays will send outfielder Michael Taylor to the A's for third baseman Brett Wallace, recently acquired in the Matt Holliday deal.

In a financially larger transaction, the Rangers are one large step closer to having a new owner, as Tom Hicks has selected a group of investors including current team president Nolan Ryan to begin negotiations.

Not much else going on, so I guess we can talk about a couple of former Brewers: The B-Ref blog has a look at some of the unique facets of Mike Cameron's career. He's in elite company on some relatively significant all-time lists. The Transaction Oracle projects him to hit .252/.349/.442 in 2010.

Meanwhile, I know I said I'd try to go the rest of the week without mentioning Jason Kendall, but this Transaction Oracle quote is a little too good to pass up:

Seriously, if the Royals gave me $1 million to me to kick Moore in the crotch, they'd be better off from both a financial and a baseball standpoint.

How about a note about a former Brewer catcher that was actually pretty good? Cardboard Gods has a post where at least a couple of paragraphs are about Darrell Porter.

Here's a study I'd like to see someone duplicate for the Brewers: DRaysBay has a look at variations in the 2009 Rays' attendance based on starting pitcher. There's a lot of factors to consider (opponent, day of the week, position in the standings), but I wouldn't be surprised to discover the Brewers lost a fair chunk of attendance on days when Jeff Suppan or Braden Looper pitched down the stretch last season.

Speaking of things someone could duplicate for the Brewers, FishStripes has a Marlins add-on for Firefox. I'm not sure what exactly that entails, but if someone made a Brewer one and it didn't get in the way while I'm trying to work, I'd use it.

It's possible it's just something to do for the sake of pretending to do something, but Bud Selig has formed a committee to consider and address on-field improvements for the game, and one writer (Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune) thinks it might be the first step towards a legitimate challenge of the DH rule. (h/t BBTF) Craig Calcaterra, however, threw some cold water on the theory.

On this day in 1999, the Brewers signed Jose Hernandez to a three year, $10 million deal. Hernandez had one very good season as a Brewer and made the All Star team in 2002, but also struck out 498 times in three seasons, leading the NL in two of his three years.

On this day in 2002, the Brewers traded Ray King to the Braves for Wes Helms and John Foster. Helms spent three years as a Brewer, hitting .268/.335/.425. Somehow, I remember him being much worse than that.

Happy birthday today to:

Alcides Escobar, who turns 23.
2003-2004 Brewer Matt Kinney, who turns 33.
Former Brewer first round pick and 1975 Brewer Tommy Bianco, who turns 57.

Drink up.

Winter League Update for 12/16/2009

2009-12-16T12:45:13Z

In Venezuela: Mat Gamel went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. He's been held hitless in five of eight VWL games.

In Mexico: Luis Cruz went 1-for-4 with a double and a walk, and scored a run for Culiacan.

Making Your '00 Face: Our first backup infielder

2009-12-15T22:00:18Z

First Base: Prince Fielder
Second Base: Rickie Weeks
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy
Third Base: Bill Hall
Corner Outfield: Ryan Braun
Center Field: Mike Cameron
Catcher: Damian Miller

Voting for our final starting outfielder opened yesterday and will close at 4 pm tomorrow. Today we'll select our first backup infielder:

Russell Branyan

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2004-2005, 2008
Slash line as a Brewer: ..248/.351/.526
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -9.1 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 1.7

Craig Counsell

Seasons as a Brewer: 4, 2004, 2007-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .247/.341/.338
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: +8.5 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 5

Jose Hernandez

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2000-2002
Slash line as a Brewer: .261/.324/.434
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: +4.7 runs*
WAR as a Brewer: 5.8

* - FanGraphs only has UZR data dating back to 2002, so only Hernandez's 2002 season is included here.

Mark Loretta

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2000-2002*
Slash line as a Brewer: .281/.348/.374
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -2.7 runs**
WAR as a Brewer: 1.8

* - Loretta was also a Brewer from 1995-1999, but those numbers aren't included here.
** - Again, FanGraphs only has UZR data from 2002 forward, so only Loretta's 2002 season is included here.

Ronnie Belliard

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2000-2002*
Slash line as a Brewer: .251/.327/.384
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -6.9 runs**
WAR as a Brewer: 2.9

* - Belliard was also a Brewer in 1998 and 1999. All stats here only reflect his performance from 2000-2009.
** - FanGraphs only has UZR dating back to 2002, so Belliard's 2000 and 2001 performances are not reflected in this total.

Keith Ginter

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2002-2004
Slash line as a Brewer: .257/.344/.448
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -0.9 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 3.1

Eric Young

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2002-2003
Slash line as a Brewer: .271/.340/.392
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -6.7 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 2.6

Junior Spivey

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2004-2005
Slash line as a Brewer: .256/.337/.400
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: +8.2 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 1.2

Richie Sexson

Seasons as a Brewer: 4, 2000-2003
Slash line as a Brewer: .276/.366/.536
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -10.6 runs*
WAR as a Brewer: 10.2

* - FanGraphs only has UZR data since 2002, so this number does not reflect Sexson's 2000 and 2001 performances.

Lyle Overbay

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2004-2005
Slash line as a Brewer: .289/.376/.464
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -12.3 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 4.6

Poll

Which of these players deserves a spot on the bench on the BCB All Decade Team?

Russell Branyan

36 votes

Craig Counsell

178 votes

Jose Hernandez

9 votes

Mark Loretta

44 votes

Ronnie Belliard

2 votes

Keith Ginter

5 votes

Eric Young

0 votes

Junior Spivey

3 votes

Richie Sexson

118 votes

Lyle Overbay

43 votes

438 votes | Poll has closed

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

2009-12-15T15:38:02Z

More photos » by Jeff Curry - AP

Craig Counsell slides right into the projected 2010 roster.

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while she digs for her phone.

It's finally time to back off the comments about Randy Wolf not wanting to be here. Wolf said all the right things in his introductory press conference yesterday, and now actually appears happy to be a Brewer. Jen Lada was also at the press conference, and tweeted four quotes giving a nice feel for Wolf and the organization's excitement to have him.

The Brewers also announced Craig Counsell's new deal yesterday (FanShot). Counsell will earn $2.1 million next season along with some playing time incentives. The Bucky Channel says moves like this one are "crucial when trying to make a smaller market team a contender." Fire Doug Melvin is fine with the move, as long as Counsell doesn't take playing time away from Mat Gamel.

With Wolf and Counsell officially on board and LaTroy Hawkins (physical on Wednesday) and Claudio Vargas (physical on Friday) expected to be added by the end of the week, Adam McCalvy notes that the Brewer 40 man roster is about to be full, which might mark the end of any major Brewer moves in free agency. Two notes on that:

If you're still waiting for the Brewers to sign another starting pitcher, odds are you'll be waiting for a while. Adam McCalvy said Doug Melvin probably regrets comments he made months ago suggesting the Brewers were looking to sign two starters.
Secondly, the 40 man roster may be full, but it's a "soft" full. Room could almost certainly be made by outrighting new acquisition Luis Cruz or Tim Dillard, who would most likely go unclaimed at a time of year when no one has many 40 man spots to spare.

The roster crunch was one of the reasons cited for non-tendering Mike Rivera. Brewed Sports isn't too happy with the decision, and also notes that non-tendering the team's lone returning catcher pokes a hole in arguments used to support starting Jason Kendall last season.

Speaking of crowded situations, you can add David Riske to the list of pitchers to pencil into a bullpen spot to start the season. Doug Melvin said Riske expects to be ready for spring training (FanShot). That's bad news for Chris Smith, Chris Narveson, Zach Braddock and Chuck Lofgren, among others, who now may be fighting for one roster spot. If Mark DiFelice hadn't gone down, they'd all come to Maryvale on the outside looking in. A lot can happen between now and then, of course.

And speaking of Chris Smith, Brewerfan.net asked someone from the Brewer organization to verify some of their option info, and discovered that Smith doesn't have any options left. Obviously, Smith wouldn't be a major loss, but it's possible someone would claim him if he were available.

Meanwhile, we reached the final conclusion of the Mike Cameron era in Milwaukee yesterday, as he agreed to a two year deal with the Red Sox (FanShot). Cameron's strikeouts and one memorable dropped fly ball made him a polarizing talent as a Brewer, but most advanced metrics seem to agree on his significant value, and you'll rarely hear anything negative said about him as a teammate and clubhouse presence. If you missed it last night, Jordan has a goodbye post for him.

How lucky are the Brewers to have Ryan Braun? I think we occasionally forget how rare it is for a player to have an impact as immediate as his in the major leagues. Braun hit the second most home runs of any major leaguer in their first 162 games, and also collected the tenth most hits, making him the only player to appear on both lists.

Speaking of luck, Braden Looper's 14 wins last season made him the most unlikely winner in major league history.

Another day, another new poll for our BCB All Decade Team. You have until 4 pm today to select a catcher, and until 4 pm tomorrow to select our final starting outfielder. So far Damian Miller and Geoff Jenkins are leading those votes, respectively.

After looking at the candidates at catcher, I'm starting to wish I had gone this route instead: Camden Chat has an All-Awful lineup for the 2000-2009 Orioles.

And actually, speaking of awful: Rob Neyer has a ranking of the Top 100 players of the 2000's, and while former Brewers CC Sabathia (#25), Mike Cameron (#36), Ray Durham (#71), Jose Valentin (#88) and Corey Koskie (#92) are on it, Prince Fielder is nowhere to be found.

Around baseball:

Angels: Signed Hideki Matsui to a one year, $6.5 million deal.
Astros: Re-signed outfielder Jason Michaels to a one year deal.
Blue Jays: Signed catcher Ramon Castro to a one year, $1 million deal.
Mariners: Signed catcher Eliezer Alfonzo to a minor league deal.
Marlins: Signed pitcher Clay Hensley to a minor league deal.

Of course, the biggest transaction "announced" yesterday appears to be far from done, and may take several days to be made official: A three way deal would send Roy Halladay to the Phillies, Cliff Lee to the Mariners and prospects to the Blue Jays. You might recognize this trade as one several bloggers mocked Ken Rosenthal for suggesting over the weekend. I guess he knows something after all.

Happy birthday today to 2005-2006 Brewer Rick Helling, who turns 39.

Drink up.

Winter League Update for 12/15/2009

2009-12-15T12:52:46Z

In Venezuela: Alcides Escobar went 4-for-5 with three doubles and scored a run. That raised his VWL batting average to .408.

On the leaderboards, Escobar's batting average is the best in the VWL by 27 points (ahead of Mets catcher Josh Thole, who has already gone home). He's one of just four players batting over .360. His .445 OBP, .973 OPS and 12 stolen bases are also in the league's top five.

Goodbye Mike Cameron

2009-12-15T02:58:01Z

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Hammerin' Mike Cameron is now a Boston Red Sock.

Browse more photos »

Maybe most wouldn't find Cameron to be worthy of a goodbye post, but let's take a moment to recognize the value that this remarkable player brought to the Brewers over the past two years.

He accumulated WARs of 4.1 and 4.3 in his two seasons with Milwaukee. 8.4 over the past two years puts him just behind Ryan Braun (8.8) and Prince Fielder (9.5) for the team lead over that span of time. Cameron was the Brewers' third most productive player over the past two years, and now he's gone, with little fanfare.

That's a common trend for him in his career. The Red Sox will be his seventh team. As an elite center fielder with a .347 career wOBA, he's been underrated for far too long and it's good for him that he will play some of the final years of his career on a big stage in Boston.

Congratulations to Mike for securing a 2-year deal. Hopefully Red Sox fans will learn to appreciate his skillset as we did. The 1 year, $6 million deal with a $10 million option that Cameron signed in 2008 will go down as one of Doug Melvin's finest acquisitions.

The price and situation were not right for Cameron's return, based on the way Melvin decided to build the team for this year. But Cameron will go down as a big part of Brewer history as one of the most important parts of the playoff team of 2008, and a key player of the most awesome baseball game most of us have ever seen. And how awesome is the untucking tradition that he brought to Milwaukee?

It's a shame that the Brewers won't be picking up any draft picks out of the signing, but at some point complaining is futile. Good luck, Mike Cameron. You are truly one of the smoothest center fielders I have ever had the pleasure of watching.

Making Your '00 Face: Final starting outfielder

2009-12-14T22:00:18Z

First Base: Prince Fielder
Second Base: Rickie Weeks
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy
Third Base: Bill Hall
Corner Outfield: Ryan Braun
Center Field: Mike Cameron

Voting for a catcher opened yesterday and will close at 4 pm tomorrow. Today we need to select our final outfielder. I've narrowed the list a little, removing some players who did not receive significant support in their first time on the ballot:

Jeromy Burnitz

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2000-2001*
Slash line as a Brewer: .242/.352/.480
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: n/a**
WAR as a Brewer: 4

* - Burnitz was also a Brewer from 1996-1999, but those stats aren't reflected here.
** - FanGraphs only has UZR data dating back to 2002, so Burnitz has no data.

Geoff Jenkins

Seasons as a Brewer: 8, 2000-2007*
Slash line as a Brewer: .276/.348/.496
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: +12.7 runs**
WAR as a Brewer: 15.2

* - Jenkins was also a Brewer from 1998-1999.
** - Data only includes 2002-2007 seasons.

Carlos Lee

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2005-2006
Slash line as a Brewer: .273/.333/.511
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -23 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 2.1

Brady Clark

Seasons as a Brewer: 4, 2003-2006
Slash line as a Brewer: .284/.361/.393
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -1.1 runs
WAR as a Brewer: 5.8

Scott Podsednik

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2003-2004
Slash line as a Brewer: .276/.344/.401
UZR (Fielding) as a Brewer: -11.3 runs

WAR as a Brewer: 8.7

Poll

Who should be the third outfielder on our BCB All Decade Team?

Jeromy Burnitz

15 votes

Geoff Jenkins

419 votes

Carlos Lee

67 votes

Brady Clark

4 votes

Scott Podsednik

14 votes

519 votes | Poll has closed

Counsell re-signed

2009-12-14T19:28:21Z

Counsell re-signed

1 year, $2.1M, bonuses up to $500k additional.

Wolf official also, makes $9.25M in 2010.

Make Your Case: Help with my Hall of Fame ballot

2009-12-14T18:00:30Z

Sometimes I procrastinate. I'd guess most people do. In this case, though, I've procrastinated too long on something you might be interested in helping me out with, so I'm turning to you to help me sort through it.

My SBN Hall of Fame ballot is due tomorrow, and for some reason I didn't find the time to start working on it until this morning. At first glance after looking over the ballot, I've narrowed it down to three groups:

Voting Yes:
Roberto Alomar
Bert Blyleven
Edgar Martinez
Mark McGwire
Tim Raines
Lee Smith

On the Fence, and could be convinced to go either way:
Andre Dawson
Barry Larkin
Fred McGriff
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy

Not considering:
Kevin Appier
Harold Baines
Ellis Burks
Andres Galarraga
Pat Hentgen
Mike Jackson
Eric Karros
Ray Lankford
Don Mattingly
Dave Parker
Shane Reynolds
David Segui
Alan Trammell
Robin Ventura
Todd Zeile

Now, I'm asking you to help me figure it out from here. Make your case in the comments if you think someone from my "On the Fence" list should or shouldn't be in the Hall, or if you think I've made an error in one of the other lists.

Let me make it perfectly clear: this is my ballot, not a community ballot. I'm not going to count votes or anything like that to determine who shows up on my ballot. I will, however, read all the comments in this thread and take them into consideration before making my final decision tonight.

Monday's Frosty Mug

2009-12-14T15:18:55Z

by Jim Prisching - AP

Craig Counsell is expected to re-sign today.

View full size photo »

Some things to read while John Tesh rocks the NBA on NBC theme (h/t Amy K. Nelson).

Randy Wolf is expected to undergo a physical this morning and once he does, expect his contract to become official sometime later today. That might not be today's only announcement, though: the Brewers are also expected to finalize a deal with Craig Counsell today. With Counsell, Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Alcides Escobar, Mat Gamel and Casey McGehee all on the roster, the Brewers' Opening Day infield is probably set, barring injury or trade.

Meanwhile, Mike Rivera is surprised to be looking for work after being non-tendered over the weekend. He thought the decision not to retain Jason Kendall would give him an edge as the only returning catcher familiar with the Brewer pitching staff.

As of this writing, roughly 4% of voters in the poll on your right listed the decision to offer Dave bush a 2010 contract as the one Brewer move from this weekend they would change. That's not exactly a large chunk of the fanbase, but In-Between Hops is taking on that vocal minority, making the case that the Brewers made the right move by giving Bush another shot.

If you missed Morineko's Weekend Mug, follow the link over to it for full coverage of the Brewers' arbitration decisions, and a link to this list of all the non-tenders leaguewide.

Looking back at last week, Jon Heyman ranked the Brewers among the Winter Meeting winners. Meanwhile, Marc Hulet of The Baseball Analysts listed Rule 5 selection Chuck Lofgren in the "Why Bother?" category.

The more I think about it, the more I think Lofgren will have a tough task ahead of him if he's going to make the team out of spring training. With Trevor Hoffman, LaTroy Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Claudio Vargas and Mitch Stetter back, there's only two bullpen spots left that are potentially available (barring injury), and Chris Smith, John Axford, Chris Narveson, Zach Braddock and now Lofgren fighting for them. I like Lofgren's potential and hope the Brewers will get an opportunity to realize it, but right now he might be the third or fourth best lefty in the bullpen competition.

If you have a vague interest in Brewer baseball, but wish there was less analysis and more profanity on this site, then Miller Park Drunk's RUNNING series might be just the ticket for you. Follow these links for bad Prince Fielder jokes, some fan fiction involving Ryan Braun trying to rap, and a vague musical reference to Rickie Weeks.

In the minors: Baseball Intellect has video footage of some at bats featuring Cameron Garfield, Cutter Dykstra and Josh Prince from a Pioneer League game back in July. They're pay-only, but there are worse ways to spend $2.95.

If you were gone this weekend, you didn't miss the opportunity to help select a center fielder and catcher for the BCB All Decade Team. Voting closes at 4 pm today for center fielders and 4 pm tomorrow for catchers. We'll open the voting for the final starting outfield spot later today.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Signed catcher John Buck to a one-year deal worth $2 million, signed Joey Gathright to a minor league deal,
Braves: Signed Matt Diaz to a one year, $2.55 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
D-Backs: Re-signed infielder Augie Ojeda to a one year deal, and avoided arbitration with Blaine Boyer.
Dodgers: Signed pitcher Josh Towers to a minor league deal.
Giants: Signed shortstop-turned-pitcher Tony Pena Jr. to a minor league deal.
Indians: Re-signed pitchers Adam Miller and Anthony Reyes to minor league deals.
Marlins: Signed catcher Ronny Paulino to a one-year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Nationals: Re-signed Scott Olsen to a one year deal. Also signed pitcher Ryan Speier to a minor league deal.
Padres: Signed pitcher Kevin Correia to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Pirates: Signed Ronny Cedeno to a one year, $1.125 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rangers: Signed infielder Esteban German to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rays: Avoided arbitration with catcher Dioner Navarro and pitchers Grant Balfour, Rafael Soriano, Lance Cormier and Randy Choate.
Royals: Avoided arbitration with pitchers Brian Bannister and Kyle Davies. They also signed pitcher Bruce Chen and catcher Vance Wilson to minor league deals.
White Sox: Signed J.J. Putz to a one year deal.

Meanwhile, the market heated up immediately for Yankees non-tender Chien-Ming Wang, with Ken Rosenthal reporting that six teams have already expressed interest. He doesn't list the teams, but I wouldn't be surprised to discover the Brewers are one of them.

I promise, I'm not going to mention it every time someone says something new about Jason Kendall. In fact, I might try to go the rest of the week without mentioning him at all. With that said, I thought these three links about him were interesting:

Joe Posnanski has a look at the potential Opening Day lineup for the 2010 Royals, now including Kendall.
He also compares Kendall to a superball on the field at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
Reminding us all how far and how fast Kendall has fallen, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? named Kendall the Pirate Catcher of the Decade.

Weeks ago I linked to a post from minor league veteran Garrett Broshuis, mentioning the challenges in finding quality, healthy food in minor league clubhouses. It looks like that problem may be on its way to being resolved: After discussing it at the Winter Meetings, several teams are making an effort to provide healthier options, and remove the constant flow of junk.

If you're a fan of sabermetrics, or just want to learn more about them, I've got two links for you today:

TangoTiger has a look at OPS+, and some minor adjustments that could be made to it to make it more useful than some other advanced metrics.
That post links to this one, Big League Stew's beginner's guide to wOBA. I learned a fair amount by reading that one.

Gorman Thomas celebrated a birthday over the weekend, and while this probably isn't what he had in mind for a gift, David Chalk of Seventh Inning 'Stache has inducted him into the MLB Mustache Hall of Fame.

On this day in 1998, the Brewers acquired Alex Ochoa from the Twins for a minor leaguer named Darrell Nicholas. Ochoa spent one season as a Brewer, hitting .300/.404/.466 before being traded to the Reds for Mark Sweeney after the season.

Happy birthday today to:

Former Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer Greg Goossen, who turns 64.
Dave Nilsson, who appeared in 837 games as a Brewer and turns 40.
Marcus Jensen, who appeared in 18 games over two tours as a Brewer and turns 37.

Sean Forman, founder of Baseball Reference, is also celebrating his birthday today. You can help him celebrate by sponsoring a page. I know someone around here will want this one.

Drink up.

Winter League Update for 12/14/2009

2009-12-14T12:13:18Z

In Venezuela:

Alcides Escobar went 4-for-13 over the weekend with a triple, a caught stealing and two runs scored. He's now hitting .394/.433/.496 in 147 PAs.
Mat Gamel went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk and scored a run for Caracas yesterday. He's hitting .227/.261/.591 in 23 PAs.

In the Dominican Republic:

Erick Almonte went 0-for-2 with three walks on Friday. He's hitting .326/.463/.457 in 172 PAs, and leads all qualified Dominican batters in OBP by 50 points.
Carlos Gomez went 1-for-3 with a double on Friday, stole a base and scored two runs. He's hitting .333/.429/.453 in 82 PAs, with seven stolen bases in eight attempts.
Juan Sandoval pitched a scoreless inning on Thursday. He's posted a 3.68 ERA in 14.2 innings.

In Mexico: Luis Cruz went 6-for-12 over the weekend with a double, a walk and three home runs, one in each game. He scored five runs and drove in five. All told, he's hitting .331/.369/.479 in 174 PAs, and is riding an eight game hitting streak.

In Puerto Rico:

Martin Maldonado went 0-for-3 on Friday. He's 0-for his last 11 and hitting .097/.200/.097 in 33 PAs.
Hiram Burgos started yesterday and pitched four innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out five. He's posted a 2.60 ERA in 27.2 innings in the PWL, walking five and striking out 21.

Making Your '00 Face: Catcher

2009-12-13T22:00:16Z

First Base: Prince Fielder
Second Base: Rickie Weeks
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy
Third Base: Bill Hall
Outfield: Ryan Braun

Voting for center field opened yesterday and will close at 4 pm tomorrow. Today we'll unveil the candidates at catcher:

Henry Blanco

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2000-2001
Slash line as a Brewer: .222/.303/.268
WAR as a Brewer: 0.6

Raul Casanova

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2000-2002
Slash line as a Brewer: .241/.311/.406
WAR as a Brewer: 0.1

Eddie Perez

Seasons as a Brewer: 1, 2003
Slash line as a Brewer: .271/.304/.420
WAR as a Brewer: -0.1

Chad Moeller

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2004-2006
Slash line as a Brewer: .204/.257/.319
WAR as a Brewer: -4

Damian Miller

Seasons as a Brewer: 3, 2005-2007
Slash line as a Brewer: .257/.324/.391
WAR as a Brewer: 1.2

Mike Rivera

Seasons as a Brewer: 4, 2006-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .260/.333/.423
WAR as a Brewer: 0.6

Johnny Estrada

Seasons as a Brewer: 1, 2007
Slash line as a Brewer: .278/.296/.403
WAR as a Brewer: -1

Jason Kendall

Seasons as a Brewer: 2, 2008-2009
Slash line as a Brewer: .244/.329/.315
WAR as a Brewer: 2.1

Poll

Who should be the catcher on the BCB All Decade Team?

Raul Casanova

4 votes

Henry Blanco

11 votes

Eddie Perez

5 votes

Chad Moeller

9 votes

Damian Miller

392 votes

Mike Rivera

20 votes

Johnny Estrada

22 votes

Jason Kendall

70 votes

533 votes | Poll has closed

This Week in Twitter (T.W.I.T.): Getting one last laugh out of Jason Kendall

2009-12-13T19:00:17Z

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

Jason Kendall and Jeff Suppan: One down, one to go.

Browse more photos »

So, as you've probably heard, Jason Kendall signed a two year contract with the Royals over the weekend, and shortly thereafter, the #jasonkendallfacts hashtag on Twitter was born. The movement can probably be largely attributed to Keith Law, but dozens of people have weighed in with their own Jason Kendall Facts. Here are a few of my favorites:

@matthewrjohnson Jason Kendall once collaborated with 50 Cent to make the hit song G.I.D.P.

@themattgalloway Jason Kendall collects more soft singles than the average full-time stripper.

@voteformelhuse 3/3 Molina brothers agree that Jason Kendall is the easiest catcher in MLB to steal off of.

@themattgalloway Jason Kendall is the reason Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN. He just couldn't stand covering him anymore.

@keithlaw Nihilism: The belief that life is just a series of Jason Kendall at bats.

@hardbraun Jason Kendall has infield fly rule power.

@juristblog Jason Kendall has never used performance-enhancing drugs - according to an ad campaign for performance-enhancing drugs.

@atmeiller Shaves with a cheese grater, and towels off with sand paper. #GRIT

@djpeck21 Jason Kendall is the inspiration for 2 cereals: Kendall Krunch and Cinnamon Toast Suck

@keithlaw Brian Wilson saw Jason Kendall hit and wouldn't get out of bed for a year.

@jposnanski Pujols, Mauer, Ichiro, Holliday and Jeter all have higher BATTING AVERAGES than JK's SLG PCT since 2005

@kevin_goldstein Spent some time looking for a reason to be contrarian and justify the Jason Kendall signing in light of the #JasonKendallFacts -- I failed.

@dempseysarmy Everytime Zack Greinke looks in for a sign, he will ruefully mutter "I can't believe this shit."

@markelderallen In wake of "transgressions," Royals GM Dayton Moore pleads for "privacy for the Royals family to have time to heal"

@abpow Someone watching Jason Kendall bat was the inspiration for Edward Munch's "The Scream"

@keithlaw Jason Kendall has so little power that when the Royals signed him, all the lights in Kansas City went out.

@robneyer Jason Kendall will not be the worst hitter in the Royal lineup.