An excellent offensive middle infield on today's Birthday Team. A sneaky-good roster.

C: Joe Tipton
1B: John Mayberry Sr.
2B/Manager: Joe Gordon
3B: Jamey Carroll
SS: John Valentin
LF: Manny Mota
CF: Alex Rios
RF: Larry Twitchell

SP: George Mogridge
SP: Kevin Tapani
SP: Sherry Smith
SP: Bruce Kison
SP: Shawn Estes
RP: Bob Miller

General Manager: Lou Gorman
Fun Names: Zip Zabel, Didi Gregorius

From Wikipedia:

In the 1961 MLB Expansion Draft held on October 10, 1961, the New York Mets picked Miller as one of three players they selected from the Cardinals, joining catcher Chris Cannizzaro and outfielder Jim Hickman. Miller was one of four players selected by the team from a premium pool of players at the top $125,000 draft price. One of two pitchers on the team's inaugural squad sharing the name Bob Miller, Mets manager Casey Stengel would call this Bob Miller by the name "Nelson", either out of confusion or in order to distinguish him from Bob G. Miller.

joining catcher Chris Cannizzaro Canzoneri

FF

Up at THT: Upcoming managerial milestones in 2013

Birthday Boy Bruce Kison went 31-12 in the regular season after September 1, and topped that by going 5-1 in postseason play.

It appears Matt Gamel's season is already over after re-injuring his knee.

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said candidates to play first until Hart returns include Alex Gonzalez, Hunter Morris, Bobby Crosby, Taylor Green and Sean Halton.

If Alex Gonzalez (or Crosby or Halton) is playing 1B, then something has gone very seriously wrong.

Has Lyle Overbay signed yet? Casey Kotchman? Aubrey Huff and Carlos Lee are available, as is I imagine Alfonso Soriano.

Overbay (BOS) and Kotchman (MIA) signed minor league deals.

Kotchman signed a minor-league deal with Miami last week.

I didn't realize Hunter Morris hit so well in AA. Seems like he'd be a strong candidate to get the first shot. Bobby Crosby can't be a serious response.

If I remember correctly Bobby Crosby couldn't hit well enough to take the Pirates SS job away from Ronny Cedeno. That was three years ago.

D-Back DSL pitchers Erick Leal and Jesus Castillo (both CBW signees, I imagine) deal to Cubs for speedy OF Tony Campana. (per Ben Badler)

Birthday League Update:

February 5           78  43  .645 ----  
February 6           74  41  .643  1.0        
January 31           71  45  .612  4.5  
February 1           65  50  .565 10.0        
February 10          65  52  .556 11.0

News and Notes:
* February 17 has won nine games in a row. February 10 has won seven straight.
* February 19 has lost seven games in a row.
* February 21 went 8-19 in July, which was their best month since going 11-18 in April.
* Steve Sax (January 29) stole five bases on July 22.
* Babe Ruth (February 6) Dominance Update: Ruth leads the league in R (123), HR (45), RBI (96), BB (109), IBB (17), longest hitting streak (20), SLG (.801), OBP (.492), RC/27 (16.2), TB (326), HR vs LHP (12), HR vs RHP (33), Wins (18), Win Pct (1.000), ERA (1.52), CG (13), H/9 (6.06), and Opp BA (.188). He's sort of making a mockery of this whole endeavor.
* Charlie Jamieson (February 7) leads the league with 153 hits.
* Honus Wagner (February 24) leads the league with 43 doubles.
* Ben Oglivie (February 11) over the last ten days: 20-for-40, 12 RBI, 4 HR.
* Chet Lemon (February 12) over the last ten days: 15-for-26, 10 RBI, 2 HR.
* Sergio Mitre (February 16) over the last ten days: 15 IP, 25 H, 9 BB, 16 ER, 3 losses.

Box scores, stats, standings, and leaderboards here.

Overbay is pretty much penned in by MLB Depth Charts as the opening day backup 1B/PH in Boston. MLBTR claims he is willing to help out in OF if the Sox trade for Mike Carp (DFA'd by Seattle).

Regarding this El Paso Herald page of the day, a note about a player featured in a Bill James Historical Abstract award, showing he was an early model for New Yorkers tendency to walk all over Kansas Citians.

Paul Krichell, the former Brownie catcher and proprietor of a cafe in the Bronx here, bobbed up at the Hotel McAlpin with the announcement that he was a holdout. Not exactly that, but Krichell dislikes his transfer to the Kansas City (American association) team. Like all New Yorkers, Krichell wants to be able to "make" this town a few times each season. For that reason he is making an effort to be transferred to some International league team. Krichell threatens to be a café manager 12 months of the season unless he is shifted to this section of the country.

The holdout didn't work.