Brewers this and that

With all the other hullaballoo, I wasn't sure where to include these, so here's a few more quick hits on the Brewers.

*We declined our 2009 option on Craig Counsell. While I'll agree that Craig is clutch and he was a solid left-handed option off the bench and often a better option than Bill Hall at third, he was not worth the millions we paid him this year and the $3.4 million that option was worth. Presumably, he and the teams are now in renegotiation talks. Counsell's been around a while and is from Whitefish Bay, so my guess is he'll take a severe pay cut to finish out his career in the comforts of home.

*We DFA'd Joe Dillion when we signed former Cub Casey McGehee last week. Dillion was claimed off waivers by the Oakland A's. We'll miss ya Crazy Joe Dillon! Prince will miss using your bat.

*Dale Sveum will be the new hitting coach next season. Apparently Sveum ASKED Macha if he could be the hitting coach and Macha agreed. Sveum learned how to switch hit when he was a player, so that knowledge should come in handy. It will be interesting to see how much his hitting philosophy comes into play versus Macha's in terms of their new roles. Macha, as part of the Billy Beane A's, was notoriously anti-small-ball whereas Sveum stressed small-ball from the moment he took over as interim manager. Could be an interesting battle of philosophies and wills.

*Over in Seattle, Jack Z fired the Mariners' chief scout and hired two guys out of Milwaukee. The Brewers will now need to compensate for the loss of Tony Blengino and Tom McNamara as well as Jack Z.