I was gone all weekend at a kickball tournament in Eau Claire (took 3rd!) this weekend, so I didn’t get much time to pay attention to the Brewers this weekend. Quite a bit happened while I was away, it appears, and there’s quite a bit to talk about regardless now that September callups are coming up today.

Now that J.J. Hardy is finally getting called back to the team, it’s official that the Brewers have deceptively played with his service time in order to delay the beginning of free agency. Quite a bit has already been made of delaying Hardy’s service time… to paraphrase, these few weeks in the minor leagues have limited Hardy’s major league service time so that his arbitration years extend beyond next year. If he would’ve stayed in the majors, he’d hit free agnecy at the end of next year. Now that they kept him in the minors, he doesn’t hit free agency until the end of 2011.

This is an obvious attempt to bolster his trade value in an otherwise down year, now that Alcides Escobar appears headed for the role of full-time shortstop. Two years of great defense and an average bat under controlled prices is still an extremely valuable commodity and I don’t blame Melvin for getting what they could for Hardy after he posted a down year. While I’m not as down on him as Rambling Al is, but when you have a similarly attractive option for $4 million cheaper, then you trade the more expendable piece. Melvin could probably pull some strings and work a trade with the Giants for Jonathan Sanchez — Edgar Renteria isn’t doing it for them and they could get rid of him if they ate some of his salary, and GM Brian Sabean doesn’t really have the best trade history in the world. It’d make next year’s rotation Gallardo-Sanchez-Parra-Bush-Suppan, which would be formidable with next year’s bats. That’s speculation for the offseason, though, and should stay that way until rumors start to swirl.

The stories coming out of Brewers camp now that Hardy’s getting called back have painted the organization as being cold and unforgiving while J.J. feels lost and betrayed by getting sent down to the minors, but both he and his agent have to realize that baseball is a business, and businesses must do everything to maximize revenue and value among their products… especially when the value of those products are going south. Adding an additional cheap year to his contract could mean the difference between getting a prospect and a major-league ready starter for next year.

On the other hand, I’d be angry to hear the organization screwed me out of millions of dollars myself, so I’m not going to expect Hardy to go on one of his patented hot streaks, as other things will probably still be on his mind.

As for other callups today, they’ll also definitely pull up Chris Smith, Mike Burns, and probably Tim Dillard for some pitching help. Along with Hardy, expect Mat Gamel to see some playing time after re-learning how to tear the cover off the ball in AAA, as well as Hernan Iribarren and Corey Hart when he returns from the DL. It’d be decent to get Angel Salome back up too…although I don’t know how much playing time he’ll get, he’ll definitely be able to take a few things in from working with Jason Kendall frequently, since the only knock on his abilities so far has been that he lacks the proper instincts and knowledge that catchers usually have. But, he’s been injured and hasn’t seen action recently, so who knows how patient the Brewers will be with him.

Really, Salome and Gamel are the only two players I’m excited to see get called up here, as the rest are non-prospects just stuck on the 40-man for some added depth. When next year and 2011 come and we start seeing the likes of Jonathan Lucroy, Brett Lawrie, and others… then color me really excited for September callups.

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milwaukee brewers by Cody