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There’s still not much happening in terms of Brewers news — that much is clear when Tom Haudricourt is tweeting about the snow (I imagine him these days reclined in his cublicle like Peter in Office Space, playing Tetris with Cheetos scattered across the desk). That means we have to pass the time somehow, [...] - [Read more]

Former Brewer Bill Hall is on the move again. This time, he’s reportedly headed to Boston in a deal for Casey Kotchman. Why does this concern the Brewers? Because Milwaukee is still paying a significant part of his salary this season. When Hall was traded for minor league pitcher Ruben Flores [...] - [Read more]

Tom Haudricourt tweets that Doug Melvin is planning on meeting with Mark Mulder’s agent during next week’s organizational meetings in Phoenix. “Expect a signing,” Haudricourt says. It’s good news to hear, even if it is expected. We’ve been hearing rumors linking the Brewers and Mark Mulder since the start of the offseason, when the [...] - [Read more]

The new year is here, and that means we’re slowly getting closer to the start of Spring Training. Given the fact that there hasn’t been much Brewers news lately, and I’ve been thinking about baseball to keep my mind off the possibility of single-digit highs while I’m home in Wisconsin, here are 10 things [...] - [Read more]

Given there are only 14 Jewish players in the Major Leagues, this probably shouldn’t be a surprise, but Jewish Major Leaguers named Ryan Braun its player of the year on Wednesday. Jewish Major Leaguers is a non-profit organization based out of Massachusetts, so maybe it should be considered a small upset that Kevin Youkilis [...] - [Read more]

Now that Christmas is over, there are still 30 free agent pitchers on the shelf…and 29 GM’s evaluating their worth (I’m assuming the Yankees are finally done adding starters). Here’s the list of who is still available: Erik Bedard, Paul Byrd. Aroldis Chapman, Bartolo Colon, Jose Contreras, Doug Davis, Shawn Estes, Jon Garland, Tom Glavine, [...] - [Read more]

We’ve already gotten the early gifts of Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins, and while they’re nice to have, it’s a little like your grandma getting confused with some of the items on your wishlist and buying you “Free Willy” on DVD instead of “Kill Bill.” It resembles what you really wanted, and you’re not [...] - [Read more]

Claudio Vargas passed his physical, making his one-year deal official. Per Tom Haudricourt, Vargas will make $900,000 in base salary, with a possible additional $400,000 in incentives. As I wrote a couple days ago, the additions of Vargas and LaTroy Hawkins mean there’s likely only one spot open in the pen to start [...] - [Read more]

Before we get into the business of breaking down the possible makeup of the 2010 bullpen, a bit of news: Mark DiFelice, who was non-tendered over the weekend, agreed to a minor league contract with the Crew so he can rehab with the team’s trainers with eyes set on the 2011 season. Considering similar [...] - [Read more]

JSOnline.com’s Tom Haudricourt posted that Doug Melvin has spent his 2010 budget already, so any pitching additions will likely be via the trade route or a low cost, last minute signing (same would be true for the last outfielder spot I imagine). But buried in the post was this quote from Melvin: “I said I’d like to [...] - [Read more]

With Monday’s signing of pitcher Randy Wolf and utility infielder Craig Counsell, Brewers’ GM Doug Melvin seems to only have three spots to fill to round out the 2010 25-man roster: 1. The last pitcher spot 2. A reserve infielder spot 3. A reserve outfielder spot 11 of 12 pitchers’ spots have been filled by Gallardo, [...] - [Read more]

Brewers' GM Doug Melvin and his staff held their traditional "post-mortum" news conference...reading between the lines, Melvin inferred:

1. Prince and Ryan are not going anywhere
2. Melvin wants to add at least 2 "established" starters (presumably, one via free agency and one via trade)
3. They probably won't re-sign Mike Cameron, Jason Kendall, or Felipe Lopez
4. Rickie Weeks is not going anywhere
5. Suppan is slated for the bullpen...unless he somehow has a spectacular spring, I imagine
6. They're still interested in Ben Sheets
7. Alcides Escobar will play short next year and J.J. Hardy will be traded

We've done the bottom of the class.  We've done the average and above average "students."  Now it's time to take a look at the valedictorians of the 2009 squad, if you will -- when we think back about the 2009 season a few years from now, chances are we'll still remember the performances of the following players.  If there's good news for the Brewers after a disappointing season, it's that most of these guys will be around again next year.

Yesterday we handed out grades for the bottom of the Class of 2009 -- those players who earned D's and F's.  Today, we recap a group of players that were more productive, and generally good to have around.  Guys who earned C's were serviceable but most likely replaceable without much cost, while those with B's were good but had something holding them back.  With that much said, here are the grades...be sure to check back tomorrow when I hand out A's to the cream of the crop.  Feel free to comment if you agree/disagree below.

B's
Yovani Gallardo (B): He performed well considering the fact that he was forced into the ace role a year after missing most of the season with a torn ACL.  The high walk totals led to too many short outings, however -- how much of it was nibbling, and how much was it just him hitting a wall late in the season?

Mitch Stetter (B): One of my concerns heading into the season would be how well the Brewers would replace Brian Shouse's old LOOGY role.  Stetter filled in very nicely, and even showed a bit of effectiveness against right-handed batters, increasing his value.  It's always nice to develop your own relievers -- the Brewers got a lot of of value out of him considering his low salary.

Claudio Vargas (B-): It was easy to scoff at the deadline deal that brought Vargas back to Milwaukee -- most were frustrated that Doug Melvin didn't bring in a starter to help the rotation -- but the Human Rain Delay performed admirably as a long reliever, sucking up a lot of innings following short outings from the starters and keeping the team in games.  All in all, Claudio may have found his niche.

Craig Counsell (B+): After the way Counsell fared at the plate the past couple seasons, it was hard to get excited about him coming back, even at the extremely cheap price of $1 million as a utility player.  A new batting stance seems to have done wonders for Craig, as he put up one of the best batting lines of his career without the ridiculous Lightning Rod stance.  He was especially valuable during the time between the Weeks injury and the Lopez trade, and he's performed so well that you have to imagine the club wouldn't mind him coming back next year on a similar 1-year, $1 million deal.

Casey McGehee (B+): Another year, another scrap heap pick up by Doug Melvin that paid huge dividends.  Very few people thought much of the waiver wire pick up late last season -- some Cubs fans even mocked the Brewers for making the move -- but McGehee put together an incredibly unexpected season.  Heading into spring training, how many people thought McGehee would make the 25-man roster, let alone have his name mentioned as a possible Rookie of the Year candidate?  As I've noted before, it's no guarantee that Casey will be back with the club next season, but at the very least he's been another Melvin gamble that's paid off in a big way.

Mike Cameron (B): It's easy to get frustrated with the high number of strikeouts and the low batting average, but Cameron's defense and home run pop has again made him worth the money he's making.  His range isn't what it used to be in center, but there's no doubt he's made Ryan Braun look like a better left fielder, and most fans likely won't realize what they had until he's gone.  Here's to hoping Cameron makes good on his word that he'd be willin to make some sacrifices in salary to stay on with the club -- or, at the very least, he doesn't sign with the Cubs in the offseason.

C's
Seth McClung (C-): Big Red was a valuable part of the bullpen early in the year, essentially filling the role Vargas filled in August and September.  A move to the rotation flamed out badly, though, and one could point to his horrendous start against the Cubs in Wrigley Field as the beginning of the end of the Brewers' season.  I still think he has value as a long reliever, but I doubt many people would mind if he was replaced.

Chris Narveson (C): Narveson's season was nearly a complete mirror image of McClung's -- he flamed out as a long reliever in his first big league stint, but filled in admirably in the rotation when Manny Parra went down with neck spasms.  Narveson hasn't pitched deep into games in his starts, but he's shown enough promise there that he at least has to be considered for a bottom-of-the-rotation spot during spring training next year.  I hesitate to raise his grade too high, due to the fact that you can never fully trust outings in the first and last months of the season. 

Chris Smith (C+): Perfectly acceptable in mop-up duty, and saved quite a few innings from the rest of the bullpen by going two or three innings at a time in a number of appearances.  Also perfectly replaceable, which is why I can't bear to give him a much higher grade than this.

Mark DiFelice (C+): His cutter was unhittable early in the year, even drawing the attention of national writers.  Unfortunately, he was never the same following injury, and finished the year on the 60-day DL.  He's a great story -- here's to hoping that he can recover and again be a big part of the bullpen in 2010.

Frank Catalanotto (C): An afterthought signing, and it could be argued that the Brewers had no intention of playing him in the majors until they ran into injury problems at the big league level.  Far from spectacular, but far from useless in the absence of Corey Hart in August.

Jody Gerut (C-): Gerut was the subject of a lot of criticism early in his tenure as he struggled to get into a groove at the plate as a pinch hitter.  Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, a lot of Gerut's biggest detractors were also big supporters of Tony Gwynn, Jr. and the bad feelings about Gwynn never getting a real shot in Milwaukee may have rubbed off on him.  Gerut came into his own with a hot stretch late in the season, and with a projected salary in the low $1 million range, he wouldn't be a bad option for a cheap stopgap centerfielder if Cameron isn't brought back.

Corey Hart (C-): For whatever reason, Corey's seemed like a completely different player following his All-Star game appearance last year, and has struggled to find many hot streaks at the plate.  He lost about a month with an emergency appendectomy, which you can't blame him for, but even before the injury he wasn't living up to expectations.  It's crazy that about 18 months ago, many thought of him as being untouchable in trade talks, and now we're trying to figure out ways to pry pitching from the Braves by using him in mock trade offers.
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There were a lot of disappointments during the 2009 season, but the following players were especially mediocre and/or disappointing.  Despite the large amount of unfulfilled expectations, only two players earned F's for the year, and it's probably not too hard to figure out who they are.  As always, feel free to chime in with your comments below.

As trying as the past couple months have been for Brewers fans to endure, it's still a sad sight to see the season end.  The good news?  The team continued to play hard until Game 162 was in the books, capping off a three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.  In many ways, the season finale was the 2009 season in a nutshell: short outing from the starter (Suppan pulled after a couple innings) with a big lead surrendered late in the game.

While the series had no significance to the Brewers other than where they'll end up drafting next June, they did manage to rain on St. Louis' parade by dealing the Cards crucial defeats that prevented them from clinching homefield advantage throughout the NL playoffs.  You're welcome, Los Angeles.

While many in the state of Wisconsin will now turn their full attention to football -- I hear there's a big game tomorrow night -- forgive me if I spend a little while reflecting on the 2009 season and looking ahead to what the team can do to improve in 2010.  As bad as the team has been at times this year, the fact that they managed to crack the 80-win barrier for the 4th time in the past 5 years is still a positive sign.

Beginning tomorrow, I'll start handing out season grades to the players from this year's squad.  We'll start tomorrow with the bottom of the class -- those receiving D's and F's for the year -- but to whet your appetite, here are players who earned "incompletes" for the 2009 season.  For multiple reasons, we didn't get to see enough of them for me to formulate a solid grade:

John Axford - Seems to have some good stuff, it's just a matter of gaining control.  Kind of reminds me of Derrick Turnbow in a way.
Josh Butler - Didn't get much of a chance with the big league club this year, but here's to hoping he can compete for a rotation spot next year.  Performed well enough in the minors to make the Gabe Gross trade seem pretty fair.
David Riske - Lost to surgery.  It's a shame this free agent signing hasn't worked out, because it actually seemed like a solid deal at the time.  Now the Brewers would be lucky to get much of anything out of him.
Alcides Escobar - Has shown flashes of that electric speed and defense already.  I think we're ready to see it on a full-time basis next season.
Mat Gamel - Struggled to hit consistently with the big league club, but it doesn't help that he spent a lot of time riding the bench.  I still think of him as the best hitting prospect the team has, and has extra value considering he hits left-handed on a predominantly right-handed team.
Jason Bourgeois - Hope he's enjoyed the cup of coffee, because there's no real reason for him to see the big leagues next year. 
Corey Patterson - A little part of me died every time I saw him in the leadoff spot.  I can appreciate the numbers he put up in Triple A, but it's pretty clear to everyone now that he'll never be much more than a Triple A All-Star.
Rickie Weeks - One of the saddest stories of the 2009 season.  Weeks finally seemed to be coming into his own when another wrist gave out.  Here's to hoping he can bounce back next year and it doesn't take as long for him to get his confidence back this time.
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Brewers' GM Doug Melvin confirmed to JSOnline.com writer Tom Haudricourt that Brewers' manager Ken Macha would return in 2010.  Bench coach Willie Randolph and hitting coach Dale Sveum were also asked to return, while interim pitching coach Chris Bosio was not offered a contract with the parent club, opening the way for Macha to choose his former pitching coach Rick Peterson...who, ironically, was also Randolph's pitching coach while he was managing the Mets.  Bullpen coach Stan Kyles was also not offered a contract, while base coaches Ed Sedar and Brad Fischer were also retained.

In the interview, Melvin noted that:

Pitching has been our problem.  We need to make sure we look and get the right people in the right decisions. I don't want this to drag on. I want those people to be part of our decisions.  We can't have starting pitchers with 5.00 ERAs.  It just doesn't add up to a winning season.

The rumor mill was buzzing today, with Fox Sports reporting that Rick Peterson may be in line to become the Brewers' next pitching coach.  Among other things, Peterson is known for helping develop the "Big Three" in Oakland (Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Tim Hudson) and resurrecting the careers of talented-yet-struggling pitchers like Oliver Perez.

While Peterson would probably be the best pitching coach the Brewers have had since Mike Maddux left town, how much could we possibly expect him to improve the pitching staff?  In order for Peterson to work his magic, he has to have some talent to work with -- outside of Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra, and arguably Dave Bush (I remain a fan of Bush's...that curveball is just too pretty when everything's clicking), there isn't much to work with.  Peterson and Willie Randolph lost their jobs with the Mets largely because the pitching staff was a mess -- while Peterson was able to work out a couple of Perez's kinks, the lefty was still inconsistent under his watch (of course, since Peterson was fired, Perez has completely fallen off a cliff...take that for what it's worth).

Bill Castro was lauded for his performance when the team was pitching well in the early months of the season.  When injuries and regression to the mean caught up with them, suddenly Castro was constantly criticized and eventually fired.  Chris Bosio was praised for his work with Manny Parra in Triple A when Parra returned to the big league club with a string of very strong starts.  When Bosio became the big league pitching coach and Parra struggled with the rest of the team, his performance was criticized.  The front office currently claims that Bosio will have a fair chance to interview for the full-time job this winter, but if there's any validity to this rumor, it appears as though Bosio will also be shown the door.

It's the natural cycle of things for pitching and hitting coaches in the majors.  They're easy targets despite the fact that they don't have much to do with the performance on the field.  The top flight coaches -- those like Peterson or Dave Duncan -- do seem to have a small effect on a few pitchers, but rarely are the results sustainable.  We've seen this first hand with how Jeff Suppan and Braden Looper have fared after learning under the "genius" of Duncan in St. Louis. 

Could Rick Peterson have a positive effect on the Brewers' pitching staff?  Sure.  If he's the next guy to hold the job, I especially hope he can teach Gallardo and Parra to stop trying to strike everyone out, which in turn leads to less walks.  But don't expect him to work miracles with the piles of stale crap that are Suppan and Looper (if he returns).  Even if the Brewers hire Peterson, the pitching improvements cannot stop there.  Doug Melvin & Co. still need to find a way to add depth, otherwise they'll be right back to square one next year the minute someone gets hurt.
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The 2009 Milwaukee Brewers played their final game at Miller Park this season, finishing with a loss to bring the home portion of their schedule to 40-41.  This means that the Brewers will have to finish 41-40 on the road to reach .500, or go 4-2 on this final 6-game road trip in Denver and St. Louis.

While I think the team did about as well as many of us thought that they would--hover just around .500 after losing CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets--disappointment that the team couldn't maintain last year's success is being felt by most fans...especially when you consider they years that Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun had.

One thing is clear--some pieces need to be replaced...particularly in the starting rotation.  How and when they unfold remains a mystery--while Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra have been relatively steady for their age, Jeff Suppan, Braden Looper, and Dave Bush are all expendable.  However, Suppan has a huge contract for 2010 that no other team will want to touch (except the Cubs' if they are really that interested in dumping Milton Bradley), and Dave Bush is viewed as a workhorse, despite being inconsistent.  And all indications are that Doug Melvin will exercise the Brewers' option on Braden Looper for 2010.  Internal candidates are few and far between, although Chris Narveson is likely to get two more starts and--if he pitches well in those two meaningless starts--certainly has made a case to be considered for starting next year.

After an off day, Brew Crew fans still have Bob Uecker on the radio before the playoffs begin...and, of course, I think there might be a big football game next week to look forward to as well.
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According to SI.com's Jon Heyman, Ken Macha is expected to return as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers next season, with one caveat -- he likely won't be getting an extension.

That would make Macha a lame duck manager in 2010, which would go against everything we've come to expect from GM Doug Melvin.  We're talking about the guy who quietly gave Ned Yost a (largely undeserved) contract extension after the 2007 collapse just to avoid having Yost enter the 2008 season in the last year of his deal.

While Macha seems to be returning, Heyman's source makes it seem like that won't be the case for pitching coach Chris Bosio.  It makes sense that Bosio would be given an interview and a chance to keep the job in the offseason, but we're being given the impression that he won't be brought back.  Whether or not that's fair is up to debate -- as interim pitching coach, it's certainly not Bosio's fault that the team had little-to-no starting pitching depth, but he's the easy target for "improvement."

Considering how the team has struggled to get comfortable under Macha's watch, it's hard to feel good about this report.  The only comfort to be gained is that Macha should and probably will be on a very short leash on 2010. 
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