Milwaukee has garned the services of an NL All-Star receiver (circa 2004) in a deal broken down by the Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt.

The Brewers acquired starting catcher Johnny Estrada, right-hander Claudio Vargas and reliever Greg Aquino from Arizona in exchange for left-hander Doug Davis and minor-leaguers Dana Eveland and David Krynzel.

The key to the deal for the Brewers is Estrada, 30, who batted .302 with 11 home runs and 71 RBI in 115 games last season. Damian Miller, who began the year as the Brewers’ No. 1 catcher, was banged up throughout the second half and played sparingly, hitting .207 with one homer and 10 RBI.

Estrada, who batted .329 left-handed and .272 right-handed last season, is a free swinger who doesn’t walk much (13 times in 414 at-bats) but also puts the ball in play (40 strikeouts). The Brewers have been one of the top strikeout teams in the league in recent seasons, and GM Bob Melvin cited that factor in his interest in Estrada.

Melvin said he was not looking to trade Davis, but the Diamondbacks were short of left-handed pitching and asked for him in any deal for Estrada. Melvin, in turn, asked for a starting pitcher back, and Vargas was included in the trade.

Davis, 31, was a fixture in the Brewers’ rotation since late in the 2003 season. He went 37-36 in 111 starts, never missing a turn while surpassing 200 innings in each of his three full seasons with the club.

6-4-2
, as their practice, reports that today marks the 44th birthday of Chuck Finley. Though I neglected to send Chuck a card this year, it is probably consolation enough knowing that Tawney Kitaen might soon be incarcerated.

If you’re a Pirates fan bummed out over your team’s recent inactivity, buck up. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Dean Kovacevic ID’s a number of players that oughta be on the club’s wishlist, including Adam Dunn (too expensive), Aubrey Huff (supposedly, not on the Bucs’ radar) and Kip Wells (said to be unwilling to return).

Barry Bonds’ agent Jeff Borris, as quoted by the New York Times’ Murray Chass.

œTeams I™m having discussions with are having their managers and players call Barry to urge him to play in their cities.

The above statement leads me to conclude one of the following :

1) Borris — whose Beverly Hills Sports Council is strangely without a web presence — is suffering from the same delusional thinking as the guy who claims he’s leading an invisible posse of anti-CSTB zealots.
2) he’s totally full of shit.
3) both of the above.

I’ve neglected to check out Bobby Valentine’s site for a few weeks, so I missed the introduction of Bobby V’s new line of actionwear.

I don’t wanna be mean, but even David Wright would think twice before wearing this.