Yesterday was far far too slow on baseball news for a Round 'em Up, but it didn't help that I didn't get more than fifteen minutes at my desk to get you caught up on all of your baseball news. But today I'm back, and there's just enough links out there to make this a satisfying post.
Major League News:
True to form, Doug Melvin has been extremely quiet over the holiday week. Last year he signed Eric Gagne right around this time, but other than that, Doug tends to allow free agents to do their thing over the holidays and take care of business later. But that doesn't mean business hasn't stopped over at Miller Park. It's good to know the city is still behind the Brewers even with CC Sabathia as Season Ticket Holders are up. This is good news, especially if the Brewers struggle this year with such a big salary cut. It'll save money for a sooner push down the road.
Sadly, that's pretty much it at the main sources, but thankfully the blogosphere takes you the rest of the way. KLS over at Brew Crew Ball has your Winter League updates for yesterday and Monday. The Mexican League finished up yesterday and I'm sure KLS will have a review of the Brewers' player performances coming sometime next week. Brendan Katin keeps showing he can hit the cover off the ball when he makes contact. KLS notes that he struck out 16 times over his final nine games while walking just once, but he still finished with a .550 SLG. If I thought Katin could do that in the majors, I'd say Corey Hart is a trade chip, but that's far too risky.
BCB also continues their community voted prospect rankings. So far they have Escobar, Gamel, Jeffress and Salome as their top four with Brett Lawrie getting voted to the five spot today. I just can't vote for a kid who has no minor league experience and is only 18 years old. Look for Lucroy to pick up the six spot, since he's not too many votes behind Lawrie right now, but I think he's above and beyond Lawrie at catcher and should seriously consider second base, where he could fly through the system.
Speaking of prospect lists, Jim here at Bernie's Crew and Ryan over at Right Field Bleachers have continued their dueling prospect lists. Jim suggests Lee Haydel is the #24 prospect, while Ryan chose Cody Adams. Ryan beat Jim to the punch today and has already selected Alex Periard as his #23. I think Alex deserves a little more credit. He's got solid stuff, is only 21 years old and has improved every year in the minors. You have to expect a bit of a drop off when you move up a level at the end of the season, but he was starting to figure things out the more he pitched there. And don't look too hard into his AZL numbers. For a 21 year old pitcher, the AZL was likely used as a feel out period to work on new pitches and approaches towards hitters.
Seamsheads has quite an interesting story about church and baseball in Milwaukee in 1898. It's amazing to think about how far this country and everything within it has progressed over the last century. That includes baseball. I think I'm mostly impressed that the Sentinal has been around for more than 100 years.
Brew Town Beat looks at the Curious Case of Ben Sheets (not Benjamin Button, which is a pretty good movie by the way). They lay a comparison to Brad Penny, which is probably right on, but I doubt Sheets will end up regretting not taking arbitration with Milwaukee. He's going to get a one year $12M deal somewhere. He may even take less guaranteed money for an incentive laden deal.
Other Baseball News:
Remember Claudio Vargas? Of course you do. He was Houdini for a year in Milwaukee. After a rough year last year with the Mets, Claudio was shut down with arm problems, but that hasn't stopped the Dodgers from signing him to a one year incentive laden deal.
Speaking of former Brewers, Derrick Turnbow seems to have quite few suitors despite his arm troubles and mental struggles in 2008. Just goes to show you that live arms are hard to come by, and pretty much any one who throws 95+ can get a job.
It turns out the Reds/Taveras deal is for two years. Oops. Just another mistake by the Reds organization. It looks like they'll be sending another apology letter to their fans again this year.
Don't look now, but the Cubs are about to sign Milton Bradley. Bradley was a beast last year in Texas, going .321/.436/.563 with 22 bombs. The thing is, when Bradly has to play the outfield, he can barely play 100 games. Nevertheless, he's a huge upgrade over Kosuke Fukudome.
And lastly, we here at Bernie's Crew would like to wish you a safe and Happy New Year. We'll see you tomorrow on National Hangover Day.