Eye Black

If he approaches Overbay's inaugural season in Milwaukee I would be thrilled. That would go well beyond my expectations and cement his place in the every day line-up. Looking at Baseball Reference, J.T. Snow is another LH hitting 1B who didn't "break out" until his age 27 season. While he had more MLB experience at age 27 (just under 200 games), he put up very similar stats to Mat's in the minors.

Selig made comments at (White) SoxFest this weekend that he still believes the additional wild cards will be in place this year. His actual quote..... “I’m optimistic. I think we’ll have it in 2012,â€

Kind of like last season when they traded for Furcal and I convinced myself he was too old and broken to make an impact even though the pit in my stomach was saying, "Oh $h*t".

My Opening Day lineup card (vs. Wainwright or Carpenter) would read.... Hart - 9Morgan - 8Weeks - 4Braun - 7Ramirez - 5Gamel - 3Lucroy - 2Gonzalez - 6Gallardo - 1 Didn't want to move Braun from the #3 spot, but I like the idea of having 3 guys that posted OBP's greater than .350 last season bat in front of him.

Player of the Year: Rickie WeeksPitcher of the Year: Yovani GallardoRookie of the Year: Norichiki AokiMost Improved Player(s): Kameron Loe / Mat Gamel Biggest Drop-off(s): K-Rod / T-PlushQuestions Answered:1) Who will get the first contract extension? Zack Greinke (5-yr/$78 mil)2) Who will be the first traded away or released (off the expected 25 man roster)? Traded, George Kottaras3) What position in the NL Central will the Brewers finish? Tie for 1st with RedsRecord: 89 - 73

I never imagined I would be so upbeat on the day that Prince officially moved on from Milwaukee. I really enjoyed the past 6 years with Prince, and I am confident I will enjoy the next 9 without him. I genuinely wish Prince and the Tigers well over the next decade, and I will have no problem rooting for them vs. the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, etc. A few thoughts...- Kudos to the Angels and Tigers for making mega deals under-the-radar or as many say, as the "mystery team". They handled negotiations very opposite of the Marlins, who showed their hand early and were even reactive about notifying their own star player of a potential position change. The first reaction is both teams severely overpaid for their new superstar, but the essence of free agency is that the team willing to overpay gets the player. - Somewhere Ryan Madson just threw his hands up in the air. I would have been willing to bet good money that Prince wasn't going to touch the $200 million mark. No matter how much we hate him, Boras is the absolute best at his craft. Looks like at the same time the market for relief pitchers is plummeting, the market for premier sluggers only continues to skyrocket. - There has been so much talk about TV contracts around the league. I haven't heard the Tigers mentioned as a team with an sizable TV contract. Seems like they would be closer to the Brewers in this regard. I realize their owner is worth $2 billion, but still curious what their TV deal is estimated at? Seems like Detroit's population and disposable income has been dropping over the past several years. - If it is true that the Brewers 2010 offer to Prince was countered by Boras at 8 years / $176 million, that now looks like a steal! - I have a good feeling about a Grienke extension getting done. At least I am rooting for it to happen!

It would be hard to beat having Gallardo and Greinke at the top of the rotation for the next few years. According to Jon Heyman the Giants are focusing on extending Matt Cain with a long-term contract. That would be another potential 2012-13 Free Agent off the market, and I have a bad feeling that if the Brewers can't extend Greinke this off-season, he will become too pricey for them next Winter.

Karl Ravech was just throwing out random team names. He has since mentioned three more teams, so I don't think he has any idea where the offers to Oswalt have come from.

It is going to be interesting to see what the Brewers offer Aoki. Its obviously not a guarantee they come to an agreement, but I would be slightly surprised if he returns to Japan. Having accepted a fairly low posting bid and with Lastings Milledge penciled into their 2012 line-up, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows appear to have moved on. By the way, what do you think the Swallows message boards think of Milledge?

The list of projected 2013 Free Agent Starting Pitchers under 30 years old (per mlbtraderumors.com) is pretty short (below). Matt Cain (28) Fausto Carmona (29) - $9MM club option Zack Greinke (28) Scott Feldman (29) - $9.25MM club option with a $600K buyout Cole Hamels (29) Francisco Liriano (29) Brandon McCarthy (29) Anibal Sanchez (29) Barring a 2012 collapse, Greinke appears likely command something North of 5-yrs / 70-million on the open market. Not sure that we are still in a position to extend Greinke this off-season, but I would like to see a good faith offer made to him. I really like the idea of a 1-2 punch of Yo and Zack for years to come.

It seems like far fewer teams actually view themselves as "sellers" each year than are labeled as sellers by the media or fans leading up to the trading deadline. A more likely scenario will hopefully involve the Brewers using their embarrassment of riches in OF depth to add a final piece to the roster or pick-up some prospects.

Haha, actually saw that explained earlier today in Jim Caple's article on espn.com.... Darvish pitched seven seasons for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, who play in the Sapporo Dome and are owned by the Nippon-Ham company. In other words, he pitched for the "Fighters" of "Nippon-Ham," not the "Ham Fighters," a mistake Americans often make. "Everybody probably thinks you're out there beating up pigs," said Dodgers bench coach Trey Hillman, who managed Nippon Ham in 2003-07 and Darvish from '05-'07.

Which makes me wonder how far $51.7 million goes for a team like the Nippon-Ham Fighters? Is anyone familiar with what an average annual payroll is (in U.S. dollars) for a Japanese professional baseball club?

There are actually 12 Interleague games in the first 22 games Braun will be back (Royals, Twins, Blue Jays, White Sox). I agree that after the first 80 games you would have a pretty good idea about which direction to go in the OF and at 1B. Also, I agree that Ichiro comparisons are more silly than practical. That being said I still smile when I look at Ichiro's stats the year he turned 30 years old (2004). That season he finished with 262 hits and posted a .372 BA and a .414 OBP. *EDIT: Sorry, Blue Jays series is at HOME.

I started this off-season with a gut feeling Prince was going to end up in Los Angeles, well Orange County with the Angels. Since that was blown out of the water with the Pujols signing, I now believe Seattle will put together the best offer for Prince. Unlike Pujols who turned down a more lucrative offer from the Marlins before signing with the Angels, I have a feeling Fielder will take the absolute maximum $$$ offer put on the table. I could see him turning down a 7-yr/$165 offer from a team like the Rangers to instead sign a 7-yr/$175 offer with a team like the Mariners or Orioles. I think his desire to get paid maximum dollar amount probably outweighs his need to be with a seemingly better team/organization. There is obviously nothing wrong with taking the highest offer since it is the purpose of Free Agency, there just seems to be something refreshing when a guy takes more into consideration than strictly money. As long as he goes to an A.L. team, I will enjoy watching him play for years to come.

Assuming the Hart to 1B thought process, I wouldn't mind moving Morgan to RF and looking for a replacement in CF. It looks very likely that BJ Upton will be traded this off-season (will be a free agent in 2013). Not sure exactly what it would take to get him for one year, and I doubt the Brewers would be willing to give up what the Rays will ask (not to mention adding his $7 million in salary next year), but I could get excited about a Braun, Upton, Morgan OF next year.

In some respects I would compare Lawrie to how I once felt about Gary Sheffield as a Brewer. He has undeniable talent, but a different organization may be a better fit. I do think Lawrie will end up being one of the faces of the franchise in Toronto. In fact I hope he does (would love to see Toronto win that division in the future over either Evil Empire). Either way, the trade allowed the Brewers to bring in a much needed pitching piece that has helped fortify them into a playoff caliber team. If this team ends up making the playoffs and having some success in the post-season, I think the trade has to be considered a success regardless of Lawrie's future success. The point is, without adding Marcum and Grienke to this team I don't think we would be enjoying so much of the 2011 season, which is likely the last time (outside of an All Star Game) that we will get to watch Ryan, Rickie, and Prince all play together.

One advantage I would give the Cardinals over the next month (during August) is that their longest streak between days off is 10 games. The Brewers on the other hand will play 17 games in 16 days (August 9-24). The Brewers actually have more days off for the remainder of the season (7 days off for the Brewers vs. only 5 for the Cardinals), it just doesn't seem like they are very well spread out at times.

The Astros are on the verge of sending Michael Bourn to the Braves this morning, which does have to make you wonder how Barmes became their "untouchable"?

Omar Infante fits the description, not sure if he is still being considered available.

According to Orioles (Baltimore Sun) beat writer Dan Connolly, the Brewers, Cardinals, Tigers, and Rangers all had scouts watching Jeremy Guthrie's 7 inning, 4 hit, 1 run performance in the Bronx tonight. Does it make sense at this point to acquire another starter? It would allow Brewers to possibly move Narveson to the bullpen.

Is it possible that Green isn't part of the Mets deal, but may not be a Brewer by the end of the weekend?