And That

And with the Brewers performance bonuses for guys making the minimum, there will probably be another $300K+ in salary expenses for those guys.

I wouldn't hand Owings a bullpen spot. He'd have to earn it. His FB has gotten progressively worse since he debuted in 2007, and his offspeed stuff has never been great (or maybe even good). Plus, he's a huge FB pitcher. If he was decent with the ball and the bat, you'd have to think about it. I'd like to see him in AAA first, though.

Willie Harris was signed by the Mets yesterday. I agree that he would have been a good idea.

Amazing story. I have to admit that I was skeptical that the original Youtube video wasn't a voiceover.

No problem with giving Weeks $50-60M over 5 years, so as long as the Brewers can take a decent insurance policy out on it.

That projection has the Brewers allowing 154 fewer runs in 2011. The only team in the same area code as far as pitching improvement are the Nationals. Allowing almost a run less per game is a pretty big deal, obviously. It also has the offense getting quite a bit worse, 52 fewer runs. Could be the key to the Brewers' season will be getting solid production out of the offense. 87 wins definitely is within the realm of what I would expect, maybe 3 wins.

He's not healthy. The list of teams willing to both take on a $10M CF who hasn't played a full season's worth of games over the last two years combined and give good value for him may not be non-existent, but it's really, really short. If he proves he's healthy in the first part of the season, the Indians would have a much easier time getting good value while not eating any salary.

When the Rangers DFA'd LHRP Clay Rapada today, I totally thought they had DFA'd LHRP Clay Zavada.

Pitchers and catchers report next month.

You'd think the Indians would wait until his knee is 100% and he shows some of his old form before trading him. As they probably wouldn't get anyone to take on his full 2011 salary right now anyway (unless they received very little back), why not just wait until June-July? In any case, I'm about 99% sure they wouldn't trade him for Gomez or Dickerson and minor league filler.

I noted in the intro that Arlis and Delarosa may likely make full-season clubs as a result of other injuries. And Arlis always seems to spend most of the year on the DL as an extra body. Zarraga is in Brevard.

I asked Jim Callis (of Baseball America) whether the Brewers recent trades pushed the Brewers system down BA's annual organizational rankings, and though the rankings went to press before the Greinke trade, he told me: "They were No. 30 even before the Greinke deal." (tweet) While I think that the Brewers were definitely somewhere in the lower tier of teams, Callis' statement is at least a little alarming. Are the Brewers really in that bad of shape going forward? Are the people that are at least somewhat bullish on the system sugarcoating it? Is Callis wrong?

I'm concerned about the depth, at least for the first half of the season. If the Brewers can make it into June/July healthy on the pitching front, I'd think Rogers, Rivas and maybe Peralta would be ready to step in and be at least competent starters. However, with the Brewers apparently just giving a starting job to Chris Narveson without a single veteran pushing him, I have to think they'll be in trouble if a starter goes down in camp. To that end, I think they'll bring someone in late in January on a minor league deal with an opt-out. It's possible Dave Bush will still be looking for a job. I hope they'd be willing to give Jeff Francis a few million guaranteed if they have room. Or, you know, Chris Capuano.

There's a possibility that Dykstra will change positions yet again if the rosters are aligned like I have them, back to CF, because Khris Davis doesn't project there. There's also a possibility that Kh. Davis could end up in AA. Or both Davises could end up in Brevard. Who knows? My guess is that if Morris plays third, he'll do it on a semi-regular basis. Nowak, Machado and Wilson are all also capable of playing third. Halton could also end up back at Brevard, if the Brewers give up on Morris at third. I've read a few times now that the Brewers might start pushing their prospects a little harder than they have in the past, hence the generous promotions of Kentrail Davis and Logan Schafer. Also wouldn't be surprised to see one or two of Miller, Thornburg, Ross or Nelson in Brevard to open the season, with Heckathorn in AA.

Here's an early projection of next season's rosters. The Brewers were, um, quite active in December so things have changed a lot, especially in the upper minors, since the first projection I put out in September. Again, if a pitcher ended 2010 on the disabled list with a major or undisclosed injury, I didn't include him. I never trust pitchers to get healthy until they are healthy. I left the following position players who finished the past year in A-ball or above out of the projection, though they certainly may make one of the clubs due to injury or trade: George Kottaras, Patrick Arlis, Shawn Riggans, Anderson Delarosa, Mike Roberts, Mike Marseco. All are primarily catchers except for Marseco, and since catchers get hurt more than other position players, one or more of those guys will likely make a club. I would also expect Mike Brownstein to make a full season club if he's recovered all the way from the hamstring tear that caused him to miss all of 2010. Jason Rogers also might be a good bet to make the Wisconsin club. Finally, it looks to me like the Brewers still need an infielder and an outfielder or two for injury protection in the upper minors, so I'd expect to see another couple signings at those positions before camp opens. This was brought up last time, so I'll address it in the prologue: I know that minor league teams use the DH, and in A-ball, they use the DH in all games. I do not project the DH spots, however, because those spots in the lineup are almost always filled on a rotating basis. The Brewers' objective in operating their minor league system is to develop talent for the major league roster; the major league roster has no DH. Therefore, the Brewers do not actively develop DHs (jokes about their MLB defense aside). Therefore they rarely, except for the occasional AAA veteran, keep anyone in the DH spot for an extended period of time unless they are injured. I added a "/DH" to the utility players that will regularly be playing some DH, but again, they won't DH 5 days a week, or even more than a few days a week. The following pitchers were left off the projection, the majority of whom finished 2010 on the DL: Pat Egan, Marco Estrada, Chase Wright, Sam Narron, Mark DiFelice, Jim Henderson, Chris Cody, Brae Wright, Casey Baron, Bobby Bramhall, Rob Wooten, Evan Anundsen, Mark Willinsky, Dexter Bobo, Santo Manzanillo. It's a strong possibility that the Brewers will keep Egan around by trading something to Baltimore for him to retain his rights, but I don't think he has a realistic shot to make the big league team after the signings of Taskashi Saito and Sean Green. Any number of the pitchers that missed most or all of last year - DiFelice, Wooten, Bramhall, Brae Wright, Baron, etc. - could be ready to go for 2011 and likely to make full season clubs, but I can't know that, so I can't include them. Pitchers are much harder to project and slot than hitters - if I'm right on 2/3 of the pitchers right now, I'll be ecstatic. So, take it for what it's worth. If it looks like I missed anyone, let me know. If it looks like I'm wrong, let me know. Thanks! Milwaukee Starting Catcher J. Lucroy Backup Catcher W. Nieves Starting First Baseman P. Fielder Starting Second Baseman R. Weeks Backup Infielder L. Cruz Starting Third Baseman C. McGehee Starting Shortstop Y. Betancourt Backup Infielder C. Counsell Starting Left Fielder R. Braun Starting Center Fielder C. Gomez Backup Outfielder C. Dickerson Starting Right Fielder C. Hart Backup Outfielder B. Boggs Starting Pitcher #1 Z. Greinke Long Relief M. Parra Starting Pitcher #2 Y. Gallardo Middle Relief #1 K. Loe Starting Pitcher #3 S. Marcum Middle Relief #2 L. Hawkins Starting Pitcher #4 R. Wolf Middle Relief #3 S. Green Starting Pitcher #5 C. Narveson Righthanded Setup T. Saito Closer J. Axford Lefthanded Setup Z. Braddock Nashville Starting Catcher M. Rivera Backup Catcher D. Buller Starting First Baseman M. Gamel Starting Second Baseman E. Farris Backup Infielder Z. Wheeler Starting Third Baseman T. Green Starting Shortstop E. Maysonet Backup Utility/DH E. Almonte Starting Left Fielder C. Gindl Starting Center Fielder L. Schafer Backup Outfielder C. Caufield Starting Right Fielder B. Katin Starting Pitcher #1 A. Rivas Long Relief D. Johnson Starting Pitcher #2 M. Rogers Middle Relief #1 J. James Starting Pitcher #3 M. Fiers Middle Relief #2 M. McClendon Starting Pitcher #4 T. Dillard Middle Relief #3 R. Hinton Starting Pitcher #5 J. Butler Righthanded Setup Z. Segovia Closer B. Kintzler Lefthanded Setup M. Stetter Huntsville Starting Catcher M. Maldonado Backup Catcher S. McCraw Starting First Baseman S. Halton Starting Second Baseman M. Cline Backup Infielder A. Machado Starting Third Baseman H. Morris Starting Shortstop S. Miranda Backup Utility/DH C. Nowak Starting Left Fielder L. Haydel Starting Center Fielder E. Komatsu Backup Outfielder S. Wilson Starting Right Fielder Ke. Davis Starting Pitcher #1 C. Scarpetta Long Relief D. Meadows Starting Pitcher #2 W. Peralta Middle Relief #1 M. Bowman Starting Pitcher #3 A. Lamontagne Middle Relief #2 D. Hand Starting Pitcher #4 D. Merklinger Middle Relief #3 M. Ramlow Starting Pitcher #5 Je. Sanchez Setup #1 R. Mercedes Closer C. Frerichs Setup #2 L. Luetge Brevard County Starting Catcher R. Neda Backup Catcher A. Stockfisch Starting First Baseman C. Dennis Backup Catcher S. Zarraga Starting Second Baseman S. Gennett Starting Third Baseman C. Dykstra Backup Infielder Ju. Sanchez Starting Shortstop J. Prince Starting Left Fielder S. Krieger Backup Utility/DH J. Paciorek Starting Center Fielder Kh. Davis Starting Right Fielder B. Kjeldgaard Backup Outfielder P. Fatse Starting Pitcher #1 K. Heckathorn Long Relief/Piggyback E. Nieves Starting Pitcher #2 M. Lasker Long Relief/Piggyback D. Howell Starting Pitcher #3 N. Bucci Middle Relief #1 D. Byrd Starting Pitcher #4 H. Burgos Middle Relief #2 R. Seidel Starting Pitcher #5 T. Watten Setup #1 A. Periard Closer J. Pokorny Setup #2 B. Ritchie Wisconsin Starting Catcher C. Garfield Backup Catcher B. Dean Starting First Baseman C. Hawn Starting Second Baseman S. Vucinich Backup Infielder N. Shaw Starting Third Baseman G. Hopkins Starting Shortstop C. George Backup Utility/DH M. Walker Starting Left Fielder J. Dishon Starting Center Fielder D. Richardson Backup Outfielder K. Allison Starting Right Fielder F. Romero Backup Outfielder R. Garvey Starting Pitcher #1 E. Arnett Long Relief/Piggyback D. Krestalude Starting Pitcher #2 T. Thornburg Long Relief/Piggyback T. Cravy Starting Pitcher #3 M. Miller Middle Relief #1 R. Almonte Starting Pitcher #4 A. Ross Middle Relief #2 E. Frederickson Starting Pitcher #5 J. Nelson Setup #1 E. Marzec Closer B. Garman Setup #2 A. Jones

From Cot's, here are the SS's who are FA's at the end of 2011 (as of right now, anyway... guys with asterisks have an option): Shortstops Jason Bartlett TB Yuniesky Betancourt KC * Rafael Furcal LAD J.J. Hardy BAL John McDonald TOR Augie Ojeda ARZ Jose Reyes NYM Ramon Santiago DET Marco Scutaro BOS * Jack Wilson SEA Furcal is the best of the bunch, but if Detroit falls out of contention, the Brewers could do worse than Ramon Santiago.

For me at least, Wooten has to pitch again in game action before I'll consider adding him back to my list. He's an older reliever without great velocity. Guys like that have to be pitching to be on the radar.

Schafer would have to have a great spring training to break camp in AAA. I think Komatsu almost might have a better shot. It's possible all three of them end up in AA, or two of the three end up in AAA. Schafer will play CF wherever he ends up. If Komatsu isn't on the same team as Logan, Erik likely plays CF. The only way Gindl will get a lot of time in CF is if he's not on the same team as either.

I'm thoroughly surprised by the number of votes the third option is not getting.

Schafer is the superior fielder, possibly a good deal superior. I like Komatsu's plate skills a little more. Being that Komatsu has more recently been healthy, I'll take him right now, but I think it's a pretty close call. If they both stay healthy in 2011, it'll make for a very interesting race. If they both hit the same going forward, I'd take Schafer for his defense. Gindl probably can't play CF long term, which really puts a limit on his value. He could end up a tweener if the power doesn't show back up.

Courtesy the Brewers official Twitter feed, they have signed veteran reliever Sean Green to a 1-year deal. Green does not throw extremely hard, but he gets a ton of ground balls - a lot more than Kameron Loe does, actually. He missed most of the 2010 campaign with fractured ribs. Green was recently non-tendered by the Mets. Fangraphs stats. The Twitter link also notes that the Counsell signing is official.

I don't think that's true. Just means we're not favorites to win the division. But you can definitely not vote.

To me, an option just saying we're "Favorites to make the post-season" implies we're either favorites to win the division or wild card. That's why that's not an option.

On the left-hand side menu, there should be a "iTunes DJ" option. Connect to the appropriate source and fiddle with settings.

I worded the question strongly on purpose. I don't think there's any doubt they are contenders.