Some things to read while cooking the best ballpark food.
Today is the ninth day of the offseason for the Milwaukee Brewers, and this morning, several 2014 Brewers woke up for the first time as the proud owner of this season’s local BBWAA awards.
Seven writers who covered the Brewers this season submitted ballots for the team honors, and all seven of them selected Jonathan Lucroy as the Crew’s Most Valuable Player. Despite spending much of the season squatting behind home plate, Lucroy led the Brewers in games played, batting average and hits, and tied a franchise record with 53 doubles. He also won the team’s “Good Guy” award for the second consecutive season.
Wily Peralta was voted the organization’s top pitcher, being named first on six of the seven ballots. Peralta led the Brewers in innings pitched, strikeouts and quality starts in his age 25 season. Mike Fiers received the other first-place vote despite only pitching about half the season in the majors. Perhaps not surprisingly, Lucroy and Peralta were specifically mentioned as “the good” in Jim Owczarski of OnMilwaukee.com’s season review.
Zach Duke joined Jonathan Lucroy as Brewers winning a pair of awards, collecting the team’s “Unsung Hero” and “Top Newcomer” honors. Duke struck out over 11 batters per nine innings and posted a 2.45 ERA in his first season as a full-time reliever in the majors, and finished seventh in the National League with 74 appearances. Duke was one of four players to receive a first-place vote for Unsung Hero, while Francisco Rodriguez finished second in the voting for top newcomer, stretching the definition of “newcomer.” Steven Jewell of Reviewing the Brew says Matt Garza should have won the latter award.
Duke joined the Brewers on a minor league contract before the season, but will likely have a different experience on the free agent market this winter. Derek Harvey of Brew Crew Ball has more on Duke and the other four Brewers scheduled to become free agents following the World Series. Jeff Todd of MLB Trade Rumors has a preview of fellow reliever Francisco Rodriguez’s pending return to the market.
Yovani Gallardo didn’t win any BBWAA awards this season, but he is a nominee for another honor: He’s one of 10 players among the finalists for the Hutch Award, which is named after former MLB pitcher and manager Fred Hutchinson, who died of lung cancer. The award, first presented in 1965, is given out to “a Major League Baseball player who demonstrates the honor, courage and dedication that Fred Hutchinson exemplified.”
Gallardo was one of the top row of signatures in the full-page Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ad the Brewers took out to thank their fans last week. Caitlin Moyer has the full “key” to help you locate your favorite Brewer’s message on the page. That link helped solve a mystery for @Rubie_Q:
So it WAS Schafer who dropped the “true fans” line in the ad thanking Brewer fans for their support this year. pic.twitter.com/n20p4lnnRQ
— Rubie Q (@Rubie_Q) October 7, 2014
Meanwhile, Ryan Braun was shut out of the 2014 awards but has high hopes for a bounce-back campaign in 2015. Enrique Bakemeyer of The Brewers Bar has a look at what we know about the cryotherapy procedure Braun had performed on his thumb last week.
Unless something significant changes during the winter, Mike Fiers will have to win a spot in the rotation in the spring despite having been excellent in the majors in the second half of the 2014 season. Fiers talked to Andrew Gruman of FS Wisconsin about earning his way back to the big leagues this season and knowing he’ll have to prove himself all over again next spring.
Kyle Lohse, meanwhile, can almost certainly be penciled into a spot in the 2015 rotation. He’s going to need a new place to stay while the team is in Maryvale, though, as he recently put his Scottsdale home on the market for $3.925 million.
Maybe Adam LaRoche can buy Lohse’s old digs: Noah Jarosh of Brew Crew Ball is the latest to look at the possibility that the Brewers could sign the Nationals first baseman. Meanwhile, BCB user TWreck suggests the Crew look at former A’s first baseman Daric Barton.
It’s not quite enough to buy a multimillion dollar spring training home, but most Brewers fans could have made $400 if they’d been contestants on Jeopardy! on Monday. Caitlin Moyer has video of the Brewers’ retro logo making an appearance as a clue, the second time the team has been a correct answer on the show this season.
In the minors: Today is the Opening Day for the 2014 Arizona Fall League, and several players from the Brewers organization will take part as members of the Glendale Desert Dogs. Teddy Cahill of MLB.com has a preview of the league and a look at some of the special rules that will be used as an experiment to improve the pace of play.
Around baseball:
Cubs: Claimed pitcher Joseph Ortiz off waivers from the Rangers.
Meanwhile, both NLDS matchups continue tonight after no one was eliminated on Monday. The Nationals beat the Giants 4-1 to avoid getting swept in San Francisco, and the Cardinals rode some late heroics from second baseman Kolten Wong to a 3-1 win over the Dodgers. Both San Francisco and St. Louis hold 2-1 leads in their respective best-of-five series.
The Division Series round could end today, as both the Dodgers and Nationals face elimination games. Los Angeles will face St. Louis at Busch Stadium at 4 p.m. with Clayton Kershaw taking the mound against Shelby Miller, and Washington will take on San Francisco in the nightcap at 8 p.m. with Gio Gonzalez facing Ryan Vogelsong.
Yadier Molina will almost certainly be behind the plate for tonight’s Cardinals game, as Major League Baseball opted to not suspend him for shoving umpire Jerry Meals during a confrontation with the Dodgers on Friday.
Monday night’s late-inning drama was just the latest in a series of exciting finishes to games this October. Ben Lindbergh of Grantland has a look at why the postseason has been so exciting this year.
If you’re watching tonight’s playoff games, here’s something to keep an eye out for: David G. Temple of FanGraphs has a comprehensive look at the postseason strike zone called through Sunday’s action.
The Royals will likely be watching tonight’s NL action as they wait for the ALCS to open this weekend. Max Rieper of Royals Review has a look at the history of teams with less than 90 regular season wins who have reached their league’s championship series.
Meanwhile, the month of October is a good time for some players to have offseason surgery and maximize their opportunities to rehab before reporting to spring training in February. This year players aren’t the only ones having work done: Pirates manager Clint Hurdle had his hip replaced on Monday and is expected to complete a full recovery before his team reports to Bradenton.
If you’re a major league general manager and you’d like to do some free agent shopping before the market officially opens after the World Series, there are a handful of options for you to consider. MLB Trade Rumors has a list of 43 players who have been outrighted off 40-man rosters and elected to become free agents since the end of the regular season, meaning they won’t have to wait until after the World Series to sign with new teams. The list includes former Brewers Corey Hart and Josh Stinson.
Elsewhere today in former Brewers:
- Paul Molitor remains a top candidate to manage the Twins next season, although former Twin Doug Mientkiewicz is also rumored to be in the running at this point.
- Michael Trzinski of Reviewing the Brew opened a five-part series on Brewers history with a look at the 1970’s.
- 2014 AZL Brewer Taylor Stark, who turns 23.
- 2014 Nashville Sound Hunter Morris, who turns 26.
- 1995-97 Brewer Tim Unroe, who turns 44.
- 2000 Brewer Jim Bruske, who turns 50.
- Scott Roberts, the Brewers’ first pick in the 1981 draft (47th overall), who turns 55.
- 1978-79 Brewer Andy Replogle, who would have turned 61.
- Seattle Pilot Dick Bates, who turns 69.
- 1971 Brewer Jose Cardenal, who turns 71 (Today In Brewer History).
- Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer John O’Donoghue, who turns 75.
- Berlin, Wis. native and UW-Madison alum Fred Liese, who would have turned 129. Liese played in the majors as a member of the 1910 Boston Doves (Braves).
Today is also the third anniversary of one of the biggest wins in franchise history, as the 2011 Brewers beat the Diamondbacks 3-2 in 10 innings to clinch an NLDS victory and advance in the playoffs. Follow the link for that event’s entry in Today In Brewer History at Brew Crew Ball.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, the wedding is back on.
Drink up.
Don’t forget to follow Kyle on Twitter @BrewFrostyMug, and check out and “like” the Mug’s Facebook page. The Frosty Mug runs mornings Monday-Friday and is brought to you by Legends of the Field, a sports memorabilia company you can trust.
