The free agency season is upon us, ladies and gents.  I have quite the plethora of links to trudge through this afternoon.  Hopefully, these will give you something to mull over while at work.

• Let us pause for a second to revel in the greatness of Ryan Braun.  The young left fielder keeps adding to his record-breaking Brewers career by adding a Silver Slugger to his hardware case.  Should we review?  Braun has won the NL Rookie of the Year award, signed a lucrative, yet team-friendly contract, and has now pulled in a Silver Slugger award.  He is not too bad of a player, is he?
• Rumor has it that the Milwaukee Brewers offered CC Sabathia $100MM over five years.  The New York Yankees trumped that deal with an offer believed to be between $140-142MM.  I have not heard how many hears that is for, but the obvious point remains that it dwarf Milwaukee's deal by quite a bit.  The scary thing is that the Yankees will undoubtedly increase that offer after other teams jump into the mix.  The Mets are rumored to be interested, but only perhaps to raise the price tag for the Yanks.
• ESPN.com's Keith Law has his free agent rankings out.  They are a breath of fresh air in a pool of rankings that are overvaluing relievers and closers.  Since it is "insider only," however, I've just included a link from MLB Trade Rumors that gives the highlights.  Jeremy Affeldt could be a steal this offseason.  At the same time, however, many teams feel this way.  The left-hander will get a bigger deal than expected.  Felipe Lopez is also an enigma in these rankings.  His stint with the Cardinals at the end of the season absolutely skyrocketed him up the charts, especially in a weak middle infield market.
• Brewed Sports wants Doug Melvin to sign Kerry Wood and Randy Johnson this offseason.  Wood is interesting, but it will depend on the length of the contract.  Plus, is Doug Melvin willing to give up a first-round pick for Wood's services?  The injury risk is still there, so I doubt Melvin will pony up the cash and a first-round pick for an unreliable arm.  Three years for Johnson?  He is still a strikeout machine at 44-years old, but I believe he will take a one-to-two year deal at about $10-13MM per.  I know Johnson has said that he likes Milwaukee's fanbase.  I do not think that will be enough to land Johnson in Milwaukee.  Melvin wants to go younger in 2009.  (h/t Brew Crew Ball)
• Al from Al's Rumblings believes that a Bill Hall for Mark Teahen from the Kansas City Royals makes tons of sense.  It would fill needs for both teams, but the Royals are probably unlikely to take on Hall's contract without the Crew kicking some money into the deal.  Teahen would provide the Crew with a left-handed bat and passable (maybe) defense at the hot corner.  For the Brewers and Doug Melvin to make this trade, they sincerely have to believe that Teahen's regression last season is an abberation.  He will likely bounce back a bit, as his BABIP was absolutely horrendous between May and August.
• The Milwaukee Brewers picked up Salomon Torres' option yesterday, which keeps him under Milwaukee's control if he wishes to unretire before the season starts.  Good move.  The main site, then, has a preview of what Melvin plans to do with the bullpen for the 2009 season.  Understandably, Melvin is not too worried about the holes in the pen, as there are plenty of arms on the free agent market.  That is the least of his worries at the moment.
• Right Field Bleachers discusses who the Brewers should sign to a long-term contract.  The most popular choice was J.J. Hardy, who will not be as affordable in a long-term contract as many people believe.  It is my firm belief that Hardy is more valuable to the Crew going year-to-year and flipping him for prospects/MLB-ready talent after this season.  It will clearly be unpopular with the fanbase, but it is how the Crew will continue to produce good talent from the pipeline.  How else is Doug Melvin going to procure young pitching? 
  
  I personally love the idea of signing Yovani Gallardo to a long-term contract, however.  Why?  The contract can largely be fashioned after Ryan Braun's contract last season, except it would be cheaper.  Yo has not won any awards, nor has he completed a full season.  There is no doubt in anyone's minds, however, that Yo will be a main cog in Milwaukee's rotation for years to come.  Should DM wait for Yo to put up numbers this year and shell more money out afterwards, or should he act preemptively and secure Yo for pennies on the dollar? 
  
  I do understand that locking up a pitcher in a long-term contract is a big and serious risk to take, but the reward could be huge in just a couple seasons when Yo will be demanding big bucks in arbitration.  Melvin needs to be creative in building this team for the future.  Yo should be an significant portion of that plan.
• Beyond the Box Score analyzes the numbers of wins created or lost by a team's manager.  The formula computes that Ned Yost cost the Brewers .0364 runs over the 2008 season.  That is more evidence supporting my theory that managers actually do not affect the game as much as fans believe they do.  They are merely a figurehead that serves as a scapegoat when teams are doing poorly.  That is obviously a simplistic and overly-generalized statement, but it gets the idea across quite well.
• The Chicago Cubs swapped the hard-throwing Jose Ceda for the injury waiting to happen, Kevin Gregg.  Let's look at this a little closer.  The Cubs gave away six years of a potentially dominating closer for one-year of a reliever who is worse than Kerry Wood.  I am at a loss to explain why Chicago would have done this, except this means Carlos Marmol will be moving to the closer's role.  I am perhaps more excited about this move for the Brewers.  The Cubbies are wasting their best and most versatile arm by relegating him to ninth inning duties.  Nice move.
• Keith Law from ESPN.com says that the Marlins got away with a steal here.  I completely agree.  Gregg should be nothing more than a middle reliever/set-up man at best, while Ceda will have the chance to step into the Marlins' bullpen immediately.  I love it when Keith Law criticizes the Chicago Cubs.
• Right Field Bleachers has some unpopular opinions about what the Brewers should accomplish this winter.  The first involves signing Brad Penny.  No, no, no, no, NO.  The right-handed fireballer has seen a drop in his velocity due to a shoulder injury.  The best part of this is that Penny may still need surgery on that shoulder.  Doug Melvin, if you are reading (which he obviously is), do not touch Penny.  Do not even think about him.
  
  Eric Hinske would be intriguing, but I believe he's going to go somewhere in the AL.  I would love to see Carl Pavano in a Brewers uniform, but only if Doug Melvin could swing a one (maybe two) year deal this winter.  No one should go near Pavano with a long-term deal.  The closer idea that Tyler puts forth?  Agreed.  Wholeheartedly.
• The New York Yankees traded for Nick Swisher from the Chicago White Sox for three players, including Wilson Betemit.  I would have to believe this puts a bit of a damper on the prospects of Mike Cameron going to the Big Apple.  Even though I actually have heard that the New York Mets might be interested in Cameron patrolling the outfield with Carlos Beltran once again.  
• The Brew Town Beat has the Ten Worst Contracts handed out by Milwaukee franchises.  There are plenty of Milwaukee Bucks on the list, but Jeffrey Hammonds checks in at numer one.  I suppose that was not the best idea, was it?
• Brew Crew Ball has their Fall/Winter League Update for yesterday.  Lorenzo Cain continues to light it up in the desert, while Sam Narron has apparently lost all feel for pitching effectively on the mound.  Narron should bounce back eventually, but much of his luster after a pretty good 2008 season has faded away.
• Baseball Musings has a link to a Washington Post article that explains how the Nationals should approach Mark Teixeira this offseason.  After reading the pitch, Tex may have a tough time saying no if Washington is willing to put a ten-year deal on the table.  If I were Teixeira, however, my question to the management would be: Why do you have a gluttony of outfield and first base options while never spending any money on your starting rotation or bullpen?
• The Baseball Analysts take a look at the Rookie of the Year voting.  The NL list is a little ridiculous.  Who thought Edinson Volquez was a rookie?  Should they not check these sorts of things?  Why did Kosuke Fukudome get any votes whatsoever?  I could probably throw him a low-and-away change-up, and he would look completely foolish swinging one-handed at it.  Good thing sportswriters actually pay attention to things.