TooLiveBrew

crossface21 asked the same question in the Transactions Rumors forum... have at it!

Woof. Subtract about 40 degrees from those forecasted highs, & you have your local weather

Just in case anyone hadn't noticed, Ariel Pena has been putting up some eye-catching numbers. 1.93 ERA over his past 10 starts. 1.21 over his past 5, with a 12/36 BB/K ratio over 29.2 IP (& only 1 HR allowed). Suffice it to say he's turned into a must-follow... which is quite reassuring, given how his first 'season' as Brewers property went.

Sounds Fall To Express, 3-2 Nashville Catcher Blake Lalli Homers In Loss Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/3E7lUnl.jpg Blake Davis, archive photo (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) AUDIO: Blake Lalli's Go-Ahead Home Run AUDIO: Blake Davis Scores On Error [ROUND ROCK, Texas] - The Nashville Sounds were held to six hits Sunday night at Dell Diamond on the losing side of a 3-2 contest against the Round Rock Express. Nashville had their best chance to rally in the eighth inning with two men on and none out, but Caleb Gindl hit into a double play to reduce the opportunity. Blake Davis, who singled to lead off the inning, came around to score on a fielding error by Round Rock's shortstop, but that would be Nashville's last run. Another opportunity for the Sounds arose in the ninth, with Hunter Morris on third and only one out, but Morris got caught up in a fielder's choice run down before Davis grounded out to end the game. The Sounds took an initial 1-0 lead in the third inning when Sounds catcher Blake Lalli belted an opposite-field home run to score the first run of the game, but the Express were quick to answer, connecting for a pair of runs in the fourth inning off Sounds starting pitcher Zach Kroenke (2-8). Yangervis Solarte led off with a double down the left-field line and scored on a single from Greg Miclat. Express infielder Mark Teahen followed with an RBI-single to score Joey Butler, who reached on Blake Davis' fielding error earlier in the inning, and give the Express the 2-1 lead. Kroenke worked through seven innings, allowing three runs, one earned, to the Express on eight hits with six strikeouts and two walks. The lefty was charged with the loss, his eighth of the season. Reliever Jesus Sanchez pitched in the eighth for Nashville, holding Express batters to one hit and having three ground out. Recording hits for Nashville were Gindl, Khris Davis, Sean Halton, Lalli, Blake Davis and Morris. Round Rock starter Josh Lindblom (6-0) picked up the win, his sixth, holding the Sounds to one run on four hits through seven innings of work. Cory Burns pitched a scoreless ninth for his 13th save of the year. The Sounds take on the Express again on Monday at 7:05 p.m. Throwing for Nashville will be RHP Johnnie Lowe (0-0, 4.68) opposite Round Rock's RHP Scott Richmond (1-0, 2.40). Baseball returns to Greer Stadium on Monday, June 10, when the Sounds host the Omaha Storm Chasers to a four-game series. Nashville Box Scooter Gennett: 0-3, BB Gindl: 1-4 Kh. Davis: 1-3, BB, CS, PO Morris: 1-2, 2 BB, SB Halton: 1-4 Lalli: 1-4, HR, RBI B. Davis: 1-4, 0/1 CS [pre]Kroenke: 7 IP 8 H 3 R 1 ER 2 BB 6 K WP 96 TP (65 strikes) 9:3 GO:FO[/pre] Nashville PbP Nashville Gameday

Wow, what a catch! Definitely just have to tip the ol' cap on that one. And nice to see that simple, easy swing from Caleb on his three-run shot. Hardly looked like he put much effort into it, and that ball took off.

Seconded

In 2011, Hunter Morris set a Brevard County single-season record with 19 HRs. Nick Ramirez has already hit 12 for the 'Tees so far; I'm guessing he's going to establish a new BC single-season HR record pretty comfortably.

When Fielder ran him over? Iirc Gallardo tried to jump over Reed Johnson, who was sliding headfirst into 1B, and landed on Johnson. I'd link to the video, but MLB.com gives me an error message when I try to click on the video link.

Sounds Drop Series Opener In Round Rock, 8-5 Prince, Gindl Homer For Nashville In Losing Effort Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/yBxWLFD.jpg Caleb Gindl (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) AUDIO: Josh Prince HR AUDIO: Caleb Gindl Three-Run HR ROUND ROCK, Texas - The Nashville Sounds opened their road trip on the short end of an 8-5 defeat at the hands of the Round Rock Express on Saturday evening at The Dell Diamond in the opener of a four-game series. The Sounds (17-37) continued their struggles away from Music City, losing for the 17th time in their last 21 road games. Left-hander Martin Perez (2-1) defeated Nashville with a quality start, holding the Sounds to two runs on three hits while striking out five batters of his six frames of action. Nashville pitchers were unable to produce any shutdown innings on the night. Each time the Sounds scored in the top of a frame, Round Rock rallied to score runs of its own in the home half. Round Rock got off to a quick start offensively, jumping on Tyler Thornburg for three first-inning runs. Engel Beltre led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run to right off the right-hander, the outfielder's first roundtripper of the year. Robinson Chirinos (3-for-4) followed Beltre with single before racing all the way home on Chris McGuinness' double off the right field wall to make it a 2-0 contest. McGuinness moved to third on a throwing error by Scooter Gennett on the play and Aaron Cunningham drew a walk to put runners on the corners for Yangervis Solarte, who grounded into a double play to plate the third Express run of the frame as the Sounds minimized the damage in the frame with the twin-killing. Beltre helped the Express with his glove in the second inning, leaping above the wall in center field to rob Hunter Morris of his 11th home run of the year with a spectacular catch. Shortstop Josh Prince (2-for-4) put the Sounds on the board in the third when he led off the frame with a solo homer to left off Perez, his fourth big fly of the year. Round Rock got the run back in the home half of the frame against Thornburg when McGuinness ripped his second two-bagger of the night and later scored on a sacrifice fly to up the Express lead to 4-1. The Sounds got a run back from Perez with a two-out rally against Perez in the fifth. After the first two batters had been retired, Nashville loaded the bases on a Prince bunt single followed by consecutive walks before Perez uncorked a wild pitch to allow Prince to race home to cut the deficit to 4-2. The Round Rock left-hander fanned Gennett, however, to escape the jam with a pair of runners stranded in scoring position. The Express once again answered a Nashville score with a rally of their own in the bottom of the frame, plating two runs in the home half of the fifth to extend the lead to 6-2. Chirinos and Solarte singled to put a pair of runners on board with two outs. Clay Hensley replaced Thornburg on the hill for the Sounds and was greeted by a bloop Jim Adduci RBI single that dropped into shallow right field. Cole Garner made a throwing error on the play to allow Solarte to score from first in unearned fashion. Thornburg (0-7) remained winless on the year as he suffered another loss for the Sounds. He allowed six runs (four earned) on eight hits in his 4 2/3 innings of work to take his fifth defeat in his last seven starts. Caleb Gindl pulled Nashville back within a run with one swing of the bat in the top of the eighth inning, belting a three-run homer to right-center off Express reliever Yoshinori Tateyama. Blake Lalli (single) and Gennett (walk) each scored on the outfielder's sixth roundtripper of the year, which made it a 6-5 contest. For the third time in the contest, Round Rock answered a Nashville score in the top of a frame with one of its own in the home half, netting two insurance runs against Kyle Heckathorn on a sacrifice fly and wild pitch to extend the advantage to 8-5. Express closer Cory Burns slammed the door on the Sounds with a perfect ninth to notch his 12th save. The teams continue the series with a 7:05 p.m. on Sunday evening. Left-hander Zach Kroenke (2-7, 5.18) will start for the Sounds and face Round Rock right-hander Josh Lindlom (5-0, 2.15). Nashville Box The Sounds' 3 through 6 hitters went a combined 0-15 in this one. Ouch. Gennett: 0-3, BB, E (throw) Gindl: 1-4, HR, 3 RBI Prince: 2-4, HR, RBI, SB Lalli: 1-3, BB Garner: 1-2, 2B, BB, PO, E (throw) Thornburg's home ERA currently sits at 3.82, while his road ERA has ballooned to 10.30. This season has been a train wreck so far for Tyler. You just have to hope he can persevere, and that better days are ahead. Nashville PbP Nashville Gameday

Yes -- Alison Brie.

Those that have read my posts will know exactly where I stand on what Melvin talked about in this interview, that's all I'm gonna say. I honestly can't bring myself to listen to it

Minor correction -- Hellweg struck out 5 batters tonight. But his ERA over his last five starts has been 2.79 (1.50 if you toss out a 5 IP/5 ER performance). He's been very tough on hitters lately, & I think it's time he got a shot in the bigs.

Two more Nashville thoughts: Hunter Morris had one of the best months of his career in May: .311/.402/.635/1.037, 6 HR, 14 RBI, 12:21 BB:K in 74 AB. Imo right now is the perfect time to get his feet wet in the bigs. Corey will be back soon, but not really soon, and 1B has turned into a complete black hole... and is clearly one main reason why the offense has struggled. Let Hunter come up, make his debut, and play everyday. Bat him in the 5-hole in the lineup, and don't pull him for any reason. Just let him play, regardless of the results -- think he can do any worse than the .600 or so OPS we've currently been getting? Reward a young player's success in the minors with a no- to low-pressure shot at two or three weeks in The Show. When Hart is ready to go, send Morris back to Nashville. But give him a shot for right now. I really think Johnny Hellweg deserves a shot in the MLB rotation. In addition to the .198 AVG allowed, he's given up only two HRs over his 56+ IP. His ERA over his past five starts is 2.79, and if you omit his May 21st start (5 ER in 5 IP), that ERA drops to 1.50. Although I really like Figaro's stuff, I think I'd rather see Hellweg in the rotation (& push Alfredo back to an important bullpen role). Johnny's 24 this season, and I think it's important to let him start to acclimate himself to the bigs.

Sounds Win Game and Series, 3-1 Hellweg Picks Up Win In Seven-Inning Quality Start; Wooten Saves Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/zV2mu6W.jpg Johnny Hellweg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) AUDIO: Josh Prince Drives In Go-Ahead Run AUDIO: Anderson De La Rosa Singles For Insurance AUDIO: Sounds Win; Wooten Saves NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds overcame an early deficit Friday night at Greer Stadium to defeat the visiting Iowa Cubs, 3-1, and pick up their first winning series of the year. The victory is Nashville's third consecutive and marks the team's longest streak of the season. Tied 1-1 in the seventh, the Sounds attacked Iowa's starting pitcher Yoanner Negrin (0-2) for two runs, which proved to be the difference. Stephen Parker, 2-for-4, led off the inning with a single into right field and scored the go-ahead run on Josh Prince's double to the left-field corner. Negrin proceeded to walk Hunter Morris, 0-for-2, before catcher Anderson De La Rosa knocked a soft single through the infield to score Prince for the insurance run. Sounds starting pitcher Johnny Hellweg (4-4) kept the Cubs in check through seven innings of work, allowing Iowa just one run on five hits. He picked up his fourth win of the season, fanning five and walking two. Hellweg has picked up the win in three of his last four starts. The seven-inning effort from Hellweg, who entered the game with the third-lowest average against mark among starting PCL pitchers (.198), is a season-best for the hurler and is his fourth quality start of the season. [It really had seemed to me that, lately, teams weren't hitting Hellweg well, and his AVG allowed supports that. It will probably always be a big 'if' for him, but if Hellweg can keep his walks in check, he has a chance to really make an impact. If the Brewers had better SP depth, I could see making Johnny a lights-out reliever... but since they don't, I think a callup at some point this season for a shot in the rotation makes a lot of sense.] Travis Webb and Tim Dillard combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning and set the stage for Rob Wooten to pick up his eighth save. Sounds shortstop Blake Davis got the Sounds offense going in the sixth inning with a leadoff double, which broke up a stretch of 12 consecutive Nashville batter's retired by Negrin and led to the game-tying run. Hellweg helped his cause on the next play by pushing a bunt to Brad Nelson, who threw the ball to third, but not before Davis got there safely. Covering third and still looking for an out, Donnie Murphy chucked the ball across the diamond over first base, trying to get Hellweg, which scored Davis to make it 1-1 on the error. Negrin, who had only thrown 58 pitches through six innings, delivered 18 in the seventh, and left the inning before recording the first out. Negrin was charged with the loss, his second. The Cubs plated their only run in the third inning via Dave Sappelt's sacrifice-fly. The fly ball to right field scored Logan Watkins, who singled to lead off the inning. The Sounds head south Saturday to begin an eight-game road trip that takes them to Round Rock, Texas for a four-game series against the Express (Rangers affiliate) before heading to Memphis to take on the cross-state rival Redbirds (Cardinals affiliate). Throwing on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. for Nashville will be RHP Tyler Thornburg (0-6, 6.66) opposite Round Rock's LHP Martin Perez (1-1, 3.00). Baseball returns to Greer Stadium on Monday, June 10, when the Sounds host the Omaha Storm Chasers to a four-game series. Nashville Box Gindl: 1-4, 2B (lineout, strikeout, groundout) Parker: 2-4 Prince: 1-4, 2B, RBI Morris: 0-2, BB (groundout, lineout) De La Rosa: 1-3, RBI Davis: 1-3, 2B [pre]Hellweg: 7 IP 5 H 1 R 1 ER 2 BB 5 K WP 101 TP (62 strikes) 12:1 GO:FO[/pre] Nashville PbP Hellweg's start: Iowa Top of the 1st -Logan Watkins grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. -Brian Bogusevic singles on a ground ball to left fielder Josh Prince. -Dave Sappelt pops out to second baseman Scooter Gennett. -Brad Nelson singles on a line drive to center fielder Caleb Gindl. Brian Bogusevic to 3rd. -Donnie Murphy strikes out swinging. Iowa Top of the 2nd -Ian Stewart doubles (4) on a line drive to center fielder Caleb Gindl. -Darnell McDonald grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. Ian Stewart to 3rd. -Luis Flores reaches on a fielder's choice out, shortstop Blake Davis to catcher Anderson De La Rosa to third baseman Stephen Parker. Ian Stewart out at home. Luis Flores to 2nd. -Yoanner Negrin grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. Iowa Top of the 3rd -Logan Watkins singles on a line drive to left fielder Josh Prince. -Brian Bogusevic singles on a ground ball to right fielder Khris Davis. Logan Watkins to 3rd. -Dave Sappelt out on a sacrifice fly to right fielder Khris Davis. Logan Watkins scores. -Brad Nelson grounds out, pitcher Johnny Hellweg to first baseman Hunter Morris. Brian Bogusevic to 2nd. -Donnie Murphy strikes out swinging. Iowa Top of the 4th -Ian Stewart lines out to right fielder Khris Davis. -Darnell McDonald grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. -Luis Flores grounds out, third baseman Stephen Parker to first baseman Hunter Morris. Iowa Top of the 5th -Yoanner Negrin called out on strikes. -Logan Watkins walks. -Brian Bogusevic grounds into a force out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to shortstop Blake Davis. Logan Watkins out at 2nd. Brian Bogusevic to 1st. -Dave Sappelt grounds into a force out, shortstop Blake Davis to second baseman Scooter Gennett. Brian Bogusevic out at 2nd. Iowa Top of the 6th -Brad Nelson grounds out to first baseman Hunter Morris. -Donnie Murphy grounds out, shortstop Blake Davis to first baseman Hunter Morris. -Ian Stewart strikes out swinging. Iowa Top of the 7th -Darnell McDonald walks. -Luis Flores pops out to shortstop Blake Davis. -With Yoanner Negrin batting, wild pitch by Johnny Hellweg, Darnell McDonald to 2nd. -Yoanner Negrin reaches on a fielder's choice out, pitcher Johnny Hellweg to third baseman Stephen Parker to shortstop Blake Davis to pitcher Johnny Hellweg. Darnell McDonald out at 3rd. Yoanner Negrin to 2nd. -Logan Watkins called out on strikes. Nashville Gameday

Tonight, Hellweg turned in what was likely his best start of the season so far. With the way the big club's rotation hasn't been working, I'm sure Doug Melvin is paying rapt attention. Good pitching by all the Sounds arms tonight, with three relievers combining to hold the I-Cubs hitless over the final two innings.

http://i.imgur.com/gYIEyXE.gif

Jeff Hem on the Sounds' first run:

Johnny Hellweg through 6 innings on just 81 pitches -- 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K... and a GO:FO ratio of 11:1. The Sounds just tied this one up at 1-1 via throwing error on a sac bunt. Blake Davis came around to score on the error after doubling to lead off the home half of the 6th.

Ahh, there's that wonderful wingspan & 'stretching ability' from Prince that we came to know and love. Eeesh.

Nothing at all is wrong with the observation that very few prospects we traded away have panned out. What's 'wrong', for me, is to use that as a way to explain away how Melvin built the team. For me, the argument isn't, 'Our traded-away prospects by & large have not panned out, therefore Melvin got the better sides of those trades' -- it's, 'Why was almost the entirety of the prospect trading capital the Brewers have had over the past ~5 seasons ultimately burned on a combined total of roughly 4.5 seasons spread between three players?' Am I making the distinction clearly enough? I don't mean that snarkily, I mean it in that I know I can be pretty verbose. In other words, to get to this... There are countless different trades that could've been pursued, naturally. Any one of us could go back & imagine a prospect package that could've realistically netted a young, cost-controlled pitcher or two, so I won't get into that. But the main point is that Melvin's trading m.o. was clearly to trade for short-term solutions. My hypothesis as to 'why?' is that he was uncomfortable trying to project which young arms would develop into top-of-rotation-caliber players, and instead felt more comforted by getting three pitchers for whom there wasn't much question as to how they would perform. That's all well and good for a half season here, or two seasons there, but then you're left with the same holes in your rotation & much less trade capital. He could have addressed the pitching rotation issues with better long-term planning, but that would have required more confidence from Melvin and/or scouting personnel in terms of identifying young pitching talent. Additionally, he could have recognized the importance of pitching compared to a position like first base & attempted to really cash in on a younger Prince Fielder. But again, that would have involved uncertainty** with taking a stalwart bat like Prince's out of the lineup, and in correctly identifying which young pitching to target. The famous/infamous rumor involving Fielder was that the Giants supposedly offered up Matt Cain for him several seasons back. If the organization had been willing to go with younger players who didn't yet have the MLB Track Record™ like Cain, the possibility is there that they could have uncovered a pair of young arms that wound up as talented as Cain. ** It's all about balancing risk & reward, and Melvin operates as a very risk-averse GM. By no stretch am I suggesting that identifying & projecting young pitching is easy, but the good front offices in MLB can do it, and by every indication Melvin's approach was to not even try at the time of the Sabathia, Marcum, & Greinke deals. This is the ultimate hypothetical in this discussion, and a great question. It's impossible to say, of course, but it's not all that difficult to come up with some plausible trade scenarios involving the plethora of young talent that, combined, was shipped out to bring in 4.5 seasons of service time of Sabathia/Marcum/Greinke. I have not done so in this post simply because it'd be a bit time-consuming, and also because each person can come up with his/her own 'what if' scenarios.

They also have José Fernandez, Baseball America's #5 prospect heading into 2013. He's 'only' managed a 3.78 ERA so far, but that's in his age-20 season. He looks pretty well on his way to being a darn good arm.

He's on a seven-game hitting streak. Hopefully a sign that he's turning his season around.

I don't think it is that hard to argue that they were successful especially when just analyzing the past performance of this organization and lack of success. It would have been nice to go to a World Series but from 83-2007 they had no playoffs and not many players that they could market after they retire if any. They have now gone to the playoffs 2 out of 5 years and have future Brewer Hall of Famers in Braun, Fielder, Weeks, Hart and potentially others. Plus they have a guy in Braun that they can trot out over the next 50 years for a cheap pop and will likely be only the third Brewer hall of famer ever. I honestly don't understand how anybody that watched Brewers baseball in the 90's or early 2000's could say they were not successful. We always want more and they could always be more successful but generally Attanasio has put out a good product since becoming an owner and this is likely just a bump in the road and not a repeat of the Selig years. I appreciate your thoughtful response. So I realize the main difference is in how "success" is being defined. I agree 100% that, in the context of how relatively poor of a franchise the Brewers have been, two relatively close postseason appearances can be called success. However, my personal definition of success isn't tied to the franchise's unfortunate history of futility -- for me, we simply had two also-ran postseason appearances. They were absolutely fun, but for me at least in 2011 there was also an accompanying feeling of concern about what the team & organization would look like in just a couple or few short seasons -- kind of this sense that they needed to go all the way, otherwise the future-mortgaging wouldn't be worth the risk. And I think 3and2Fastball made a great point about how the org. didn't really go all-in, and left some glaring holes on the roster. I would've felt better about an all-in plan if it had truly been "all-in," & not "almost-all-in." I grew up watching the Brewers of the late '80s into the '90s, and definitely lived through some of the darkest years of this franchise's existence. But that doesn't mean that I want to see the team run with the mentality that something is better than nothing. We can do better, and I want to see the organization do everything in its power to do so.

Take a look at the MLB product on the field along with the farm system. And the old 'the prospects we traded didn't pan out anyway' line is one of those repeated lines I was referring to earlier. As this point has repeatedly been answered -- there was nothing limiting the Brewers to trading for stopgaps instead of identifying other young talent. So now, we proceed to, 'Those trades don't happen very often!'... countered with, 'Successful organizations are able to identify viable trade targets for deals like these'... countered with, 'But even if the Brewers did trade for younger players, they might not have panned out! Jose Capellan!' ... --> 'One bad outcome doesn't mean the approach is incorrect' ... etc., etc., etc. Honestly I genuinely don't understand how anyone can make the argument that the path Melvin & Attanasio decided to go down was either all that successful, or the only/best choice. I don't mean that in a condescending way -- I just really am unable to analyze the organization & come to that conclusion.

I think this perfectly captures what people like TheCrew07 have been posting about for years now. Yes, those clubs have stretches where they don't compete -- but obviously so do the Brewers. The point is never that they are 'always' contending for championships -- the point is that those clubs (include TEX, ATL, & others) don't usually have periods where they are almost completely out of real talent to cycle through the system. You are always going to have ups & downs in W-L/contending. The choice a franchise has to make is how to build its talent base, and the Brewers under Melvin & Attanasio have been consistently choosing to mortgage the future for the present. And the problem we face now is that that mortgaged future has arrived.