Brewers acquire five players in Rule 5 Draft

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Brewers today selected five players in the Rule 5 Draft at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Brewers also lost three players at the event.

Right-handed pitcher Eduardo Morlan was selected in the first round (16th overall) of the Major League phase of the draft off the Double-A Montgomery roster of the Tampa Bay Rays. Morlan went 4-2 with a 3.64 ERA and one save in 30 relief appearances with Montgomery last season. He was originally drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the 2004 June Draft.

Right-handed pitcher Mark Holliman was selected in the first round (pick 17) of the Triple-A phase off the Double-A Tennessee roster of the Chicago Cubs. Holliman went 4-5 with a 4.64 ERA in 31 games (18 starts) between Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa last season.

Brewers acquire five players in Rule 5 Draft | brewers.com: Official Info

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Brewers today signed free agent RHP Jorge Julio to a one-year contract and added him to the 40-man roster (now stands at 36). The announcement was made by Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Melvin.

Brewers add Jorge Julio to bullpen | brewers.com: Official Info

The Cardinals selected RHP Russell Haltiwanger in the Triple A-Phase of the Rule 5 today.

Haltiwanger is a 25-year-old relief pitcher who spent 2007 and 2008 with Wilmington (A-Advanced) of the Florida League (Royals). Most notably, in nearly 250 innings he has allowed only 0.7 HRs per 9 innings.

Earlier, in the Major League phase, the Cardinals lost OF Cody Haerther to the Blue Jays. Toronto also selected Haerther last year, but when they placed him on waivers only a few days later, the Cardinals reacquired him.

In round 6, the Giants selected RH reliever Luis Perdomo, who came to the Cardinals in the Anthony Reyes trade last summer.

Both Haerther and Perdomo cost their teams $50,000. Each must remain on his team's 25-man roster for 2009 or be offered back to the Cardinals for $25,000.

The Panthers played exceptionally well against the Bucs on Monday night. Williams and Stewart shredded a Monte Kiffin defense that I thought was invincible. Kiffin is regarded as one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL, so this was definitely a feather in our cap.
The Bucs showed no mercy to the Panthers on their first outing, so this was definitely a revenge factor as well as showing the NFL, the Panthers are a team do deal with!

Hopefully we can keep the win streak going and defeat the Denver Broncos at home Sunday. Then it's off to NY for the Super Bowl Giants, and ending up in New Orleans against the Saints. "Go Panthers"

Note: By clicking on the player's name, you can go to the player's bio page.

St Louis Cardinals - Current 25 Man Roster

TO BE ANNOUNCED ON OPENING DAY - APRIL 6, 2009

Pitchers:

Starters:

Bullpen:

Catchers:

Infielders:

Outfielders:

15 Day DL:

Note: By clicking on the player's name, you can go to the player's bio page.

St Louis Cardinals - Current 25 Man Roster

TO BE ANNOUNCED ON OPENING DAY - APRIL 6, 2009

Pitchers:

Starters:

Bullpen:

Catchers:

Infielders:

Outfielders:

15 Day DL:

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think the running game of the Panthers would shred the defense of a Monte Kiffin. Kiffin is regarded as one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL, bar none, and the Bucs are #4 in defense this year. I know Fox is very happy with the results of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. They played fantastic and Delhomme, even though he was intercepted twice, played very well with passes to Smith and Muhammed. I just hope we hold up the good play and stomp Denver at home. Unfortunately, we have to travel to NY a week later to face the Super Bowl Giants. They're playing fantastic this year and should we knock them off, it would be a tremendous feather in our cap. We finish off with a game against the Saints in their dome, and hopefully we can lock up the NFC division...who knows?

Canadiens blueline just took a significant hit, with this injury.

Early 2 Point Game
Thursday, December 11
7:15pm CT
New Orleans at Chicago

1 Point Games
Sunday, December 14
Noon CT
Tampa Bay at Atlanta
San Francisco at Miami
Seattle at St. Louis
Buffalo at N.Y. Jets
San Diego at Kansas City
Washington at Cincinnati
Tennessee at Houston
Green Bay at Jacksonville
Detroit at Indianapolis

3:05pm CT
Minnesota at Arizona

3:15pm CT
Pittsburgh at Baltimore
Denver at Carolina
New England at Oakland

Late 2 Point Games
7:15pm CT
N.Y. Giants at Dallas

Monday, December 15
7:30pm CT
Cleveland at Philadelphia

ESPN - Sources: New York Mets agree to three-year deal with Francisco Rodriguez

Sources: Mets, K-Rod agree to contract


I'm glad that NY signed him because it eliminates the possibility of the Giants being this foolish. The save is one of the less informative, less reliable stats for determining actual quality, and K-Rod has parlayed that misunderstanding into a fortune for himself. One would think that when Borowski led the AL in saves in 2007 while posting a 5.07 ERA, that might have been a tip that having lots of saves didn't necessarily indicate effective pitching.

Despite his record setting save total, examination of the other stats would tell you that he was actually the fifth or sixth best relief pitcher in the AL last season. Examination of the other stats also reveal that 2008 was in all probability, Rodriguez's worst year in his big league career. His OPS against was .629, the highest he has yielded, his strikeouts per nine innings fell from 12.03 to 10.14. (career mark of 11.70)

Further, Rodriguez is not the sort of closer that is good for more than one inning at a time. in 2008 he made 76 appearances, and pitched just 68 innings. His save record is the product of a flukey number of save chances, of his 76 appearances, all but 7 were save chances. In 2007, Rodriguez pitched one fewer inning, gave up four fewer hits, walked exactly the same number of batters, and struck out 13 more hitters than he did in 2008. He saved 40 games in 200 out of 46 save chances. In 2007 he made 18 appearances where a save was not possible, in 2008 he made only 7 such appearances.

None of this is meant to argue that Rodriguez isn't an excellent pitcher or that he won't bring value to the Mets, rather it is to point out that they are grossly overpaying Francisco. 12 million a year for a guy who will pitch 75 or so innings a year, and a guy whose strikeout data suggests that he is in decline.