TooLiveBrew

Yeah, Profar for Segura is a complete no-brainer.

If for nothing aside from being complete jags about the Götze deal, I want very badly to see BVB face off against & take down Bayern. What a complete lack of class from the Bavarians.

Good summary, Eye Black. The only thing I'm not sure about with Segura just yet is the hit tool, but only in how I'd stack it up with his other tools (because I think he's the real deal at the plate). Imo it's always a bit dangerous to try to evaluate the hit tool when a guy is as hot at the plate as Segura has been so far this season. That said, I think the nitpick I'd make on your nicely-done rankings is that I'd have them as something like 1a-d or 1a-b/2a-b. Hit/speed/arm/fielding for me are all pretty dang good-looking tools. The only one that doesn't really stand out (& maybe only "yet") is power; for the SS position, however, he has plenty. I have a hard time trying to decide how I'd rank those other four tools, because his hit tool could very well be his strongest. I hear you on the max-effort comment on his arm, but there aren't many better in the league at SS -- his combination of raw power & accuracy impresses in every game, as does his defense as a whole. The questions about his defense (yes, there were experts who questioned his ability right now, not just how long he'll stick at SS) at this point look completely foolish. For as good as his offense has been so far, his defense has been the aspect of his game I've most enjoyed so far.

Sounds Drop Series in 7-1 Loss Nashville's Hunter Morris Goes Yard For Lone Run Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/ky2aOji.jpg Hunter Morris (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The visiting Omaha Storm Chasers used strong pitching and 12 hits against the Nashville Sounds in Tuesday morning's day game at Greer Stadium to defeat the home team 7-1, and win the four-game series, 3-1. The Sounds connected for seven hits on the day and only reached scoring position once before Hunter Morris' two-out home run in the ninth. Ozzie Chavez connected for two of Nashville's hits and extending his hitting streak to four games. Catcher Anderson De La Rosa singled to right field to achieve the team's longest hit streak of the year at eight games. Nevertheless, the Sounds were outpaced by the Storm Chasers, who used a steady attack throughout the contest, picking up a pair of runs in the first inning. Johnny Giavotella doubled down the right-field line to get things started, driving in David Lough, who singled from the leadoff spot. Giavotella crossed home plate to make it 2-0 when third baseman Stephen Parker sailed a throw over first base for his third error on the season. Sounds starter Frankie De La Cruz allowed another two runs to the Chasers in the third inning via two hits, two walks and one hit by pitch. Lough, who went 4-for-5 on the day and 12-for-19 in the series, tripled to leadoff the frame and scored on a bases-loaded walk to Max Ramirez. Anthony Seratelli hit a single into right field to plate the inning's second run. De La Cruz was charged with the loss, his second, letting up four runs, three earned, on six hits over 3.1 innings of work. Reliever Donovan Hand entered with runners on the corners in the fourth inning and found two quick outs to prevent further damage. Hand continued to pitch 2.2 innings for Nashville, but watched his scoreless streak come to an end at 9 innings over six appearances, when Brett Hayes homered in the fifth. He allowed one more on the day, as Lough singled home Irving Falu in the same inning. Hayes homered again in the seventh off of Travis Webb, who had not allowed a run in six previous appearances. All four of Hayes' home runs this season have come off Sounds pitchers. Rob Wooten finished the game on the hill for the Sounds, turning in one scoreless inning. Lefty Ryan Verdugo (1-1) picked up the win for Omaha, scattering five hits across five frames of scoreless baseball. After a PCL off day Wednesday, the Sounds welcome cross-state rival Memphis Redbirds to Greer Stadium on Thursday night. Getting the nod for the 7:05 p.m. start is Nashville's RHP Johnny Hellweg against the Redbirds lefty Tyler Lyons. Nashville Box Scooter Gennett had the day off today, likely to get him two days of rest in a row. Hopefully that's just a proactive move from skipper Mike Guerrero, & not related to a nagging injury. Jeff Bianchi: 1-4, E (throw) Morris: 2-4, HR, RBI Caleb Gindl: 1-3, 2B De La Rosa: 1-3 Chavez: 2-3 [pre]De La Cruz: 3.1 IP 6 H 4 R 3 ER 3 BB 3 K HBP 85 TP (54 strikes) 6:1 GO:FO Hand: 2.2 IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 1 BB 3 K Webb: 2.0 IP 2 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 1 K Wooten: 1.0 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K[/pre] Nashville PbP Cole Garner flashed his arm again from right field in the 2nd, picking up his third outfield assist on the young season: Omaha Top of the 2nd Brett Hayes grounds out, second baseman Hainley Statia to first baseman Hunter Morris. Irving Falu walks. Paulo Orlando flies into a double play, right fielder Cole Garner to first baseman Hunter Morris. Irving Falu doubled off 1st. Nashville Gameday

Sounds Routed By Storm Chasers, 12-3 Bianchi Homers, Scores Two Runs For Nashville In Losing Effort Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/hiR4hTI.jpg Jeff Bianchi (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Left-hander Will Smith turned in a dominant start and the Omaha offense erupted for a nine-run inning during the Storm Chasers' 12-3 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Monday evening at Greer Stadium. Smith (2-1) struck out eight batters while holding the Sounds to one run on five hits over six innings of action to earn the victory. Four Storm Chasers pitchers combined to rack up 14 K's on the night. Every member of the Omaha lineup scored a run in the contest and five players logged multiple-hit efforts, led by Johnny Giavotella's 3-for-6, three-RBI night, as the Storm Chasers plated a season-high 12 runs against four Sounds hurlers. Rehabbing infielder Jeff Bianchi scored two of Nashville's three runs, belting a homer and a double as part of his 2-for-4 evening. Omaha took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning against Sounds starter Zach Kroenke. After the southpaw issued back-to-back one-out walks and uncorked a wild pitch to move Adam Moore to third with two outs, David Lough beat out a grounder to second on a bang-bang play to net the visitors' first run of the night. The Storm Chasers increased the lead to 3-0 in the fifth. The red-hot Lough -- who has posted multiple-hit efforts in each of the game this series -- led off with a double to left and later scored on Giavotella's one-out two-bagger into the left field corner, which chased Kroenke from the contest. Later in the frame, Anthony Seratelli laid down a well-executed bunt single up the third base line against reliever Michael Olmsted to plate Giavotella with the inning's second run. Kroenke (0-2) drew the loss after giving up three runs on four hits over his 4 1/3 frames of action. Omaha blew the game wide open against the Sounds' bullpen in the sixth, sending 12 batters to the plate and adding nine runs to extend the lead to 12-0. In the inning, nine consecutive Storm Chaser batters reached base against Nashville pitchers. After Olmsted walked the bases loaded with one out, the big right-hander surrendered a two-run double to Giavotella to make it a 5-0 Storm Chasers lead. Olmsted threw only 10 of his 31 pitches for strikes on the night. Kyle Heckathorn took over on the hill and was greeted by a Xavier Nady two-run single. The Storm Chasers then drew three consecutive walks from the right-hander, the last of which plated Nady, before Heckathorn uncorked a wild pitch to bring Anthony Seratelli plateward. Brandon Wood put an exclamation mark on the nine-run frame when he followed with a massive three-homer to left off Heckathorn. The infielder's first big fly of the season made it a 12-0 contest. Bianchi put the Sounds on the board in the home half of the sixth with a one-out solo homer to left off Smith. Nashville netted the final two runs of the night in the eighth against Omaha reliever Donnie Joseph. Blake Davis led off by drawing a walk, moved to third on a Bianchi double, and scored on a Hunter Morris groundout. Sean Halton followed with an RBI single to left to bring in Bianchi. The Sounds will look to gain a series split when the teams wrap up the four-game set with an 11:05 a.m. finale on Tuesday morning. Right-hander Frankie De La Cruz (1-1, 3.09) will toe the slab for the Sounds and face Omaha left-hander Ryan Verdugo (0-1, 7.71). Nashville Box Scooter Gennett: 1-4 Bianchi: 2-4, 2B, HR, RBI Morris: 1-4, RBI Halton: 1-4, RBI Stephen Parker: 2-4, 2B Caleb Gindl: 1-3, BB Dayton Buller: 1-4, 0/2 CS [pre]Kroenke: 4.1 IP 4 H 3 R 3 ER 4 BB 4 K WP 85 TP (49 strikes) 5:4 GO:FO Olmsted: 1 IP 2 H 4 R 4 ER 3 BB 0 K HBP Heckathorn: 0.2 IP 2 H 5 R 5 ER 3 BB 1 K WP Johnnie Lowe: 3 IP 4 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K[/pre] Nashville PbP I'm too tired to post anything else tonight -- sorry. Not much to enjoy in the game log that wasn't fleshed out in the game story, anyway. Nashville Gameday

I'm headed to the T-Rats game tonight, since it looks like today's weather is going to be the nicest we get until the weekend.

That second gif, H4P... didn't load for me, & it deserves to be seen... http://i.imgur.com/1qAJtjP.gif

MiLB.com piece on Roache & Carlos Correa (with quotes) And, given the distance his HR traveled, I think it's safe to say Roache's power survived his wrist injury. Be sure to click through to Chris Mehring's blog to watch the video. You don't see many easier HR swings on tape-measure shots than the one he had tonight. Take note of some of the reactions in the T-Rats dugout (around the 0:10 mark) after that shot. McFarland's shot wasn't exactly a wall-scraper, either. Weather permitting, I might have to get out to the stadium tomorrow evening.

I now take your avatar about 100 times more seriously, Happy Fun Ball.

Glad to hear it, dhoffman. I can't even imagine what it must've felt like to experience all of that almost literally in your own backyard.

Sounds Fall to Omaha, 8-3 Nashville Pitchers Allow Season-High 15 Hits Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/diFe0TT.jpg Scooter Gennett (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - After an exciting 11-run outburst the day before, the Nashville Sounds were unable to keep pace with the Omaha Storm Chasers Sunday afternoon at Greer Stadium, falling by the final score of 8-3. Sounds pitchers surrendered a season-high 15 hits to the Chasers, capped off by a three-run eighth inning. Reliever Chris Jakubauskas was touched for four hits to give two runs to Omaha, before Rob Wooten entered in relief. Wooten, with inherited runners on the corners, allowed a single to right field to his first batter, Johnny Giavotella, for the Storm Chasers final run, charged to Jakubauskas. Omaha first plated a pair of runs in the second inning with three hits off of Sounds starter Tyler Thornburg (0-2). Brett Hayes connected for a double off the right-field wall, and scored on Irving Falu's single through the gap at second. The second run came on David Lough's RBI-single, scoring Chad Tracy, who reached base on balls. Thornburg picked up a quick two outs in the third, one coming from one of his third and final strikeout of the day, but a two-out walk prolonged the inning and was followed by a Brett Hayes RBI-single. Omaha scored again when Chad Tracy hit a double past a diving Caleb Gindl to bring in Hayes. Thornburg finished after five innings of work, surrendering five runs on nine hits, two walks and one home run to Lough in the fourth inning. He was charged with the loss, his second. The winning pitcher for Omaha was starter Chris Dwyer (3-1), who limited Nashville to one run on five hits over 6.2 innings. The Sounds finally broke through offensively in the seventh, finding a run on three hits in the inning. Caleb Gindl's two-out double to dead center scored Sean Halton from second. Gindl scored another run in the ninth on a single to center, turning a corner after entering the game 1-for-his-last-25 at-bats. Catcher Anderson De La Rosa also put up two hits for the Sounds, the first a single to centerfield in the seventh inning that extended his hit streak to seven games. The stretch matches the longest by a Sound this season; previously by Scooter Gennett and Stephen Parker. His double in the ninth scored the Sounds final run. Gennett accounted for three of the Sounds ten hits on the day and extended his hit streak to five games. Gennett tried for his fourth stolen base of the year, but was caught stealing second to end the third inning. The out snapped a streak of 12 straight successful steals by Sounds runners to open the 2013 season. The Sounds will look to retake the series lead Monday night at Greer Stadium in the third game of a four-game set against the Omaha Storm Chasers. Starting for Nashville will be LHP Zach Kroenke (0-1, 10.29) against TBA. Nashville Box Gennett definitely did his job at the plate as a leadoff man today, as he's done all season so far. His AVG after today's game is up to .396. The same questions remain about him, with a low BB rate & low XBH totals, but his hit tool has translated to every level so far. Gennett: 3-4, CS Jeff Bianchi: 0-3, BB Halton: 2-4 Parker: 0-3, BB Gindl: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI De La Rosa: 2-3, 2B, RBI, BB, 0/1 CS Blake Davis: 1-4 [pre]Thornburg: 5 IP 9 H 5 R 5 ER 2 BB 3 K 90 TP (61 strikes) 8:1 GO:FO Jakubauskas: 2.1 IP 5 H 3 R 3 ER 1 BB 1 K Wooten: 1.2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K[/pre] Nashville PbP The home half of the 1st looked promising... Nashville Bottom of the 1st -Scooter Gennett singles on a line drive to right fielder Anthony Seratelli. -Jeff Bianchi walks. Scooter Gennett to 2nd. -Hunter Morris grounds into a double play, second baseman Johnny Giavotella to shortstop Christian Colon to first baseman Chad Tracy. Scooter Gennett to 3rd. Jeff Bianchi out at 2nd. -Sean Halton called out on strikes. From there Nashville only put together two singles & two walks, until they got on the board in the 7th: Nashville Bottom of the 7th -Sean Halton singles on a line drive to left fielder David Lough. Sean Halton advances to 2nd, on a missed catch error by second baseman Johnny Giavotella. -Stephen Parker flies out to left fielder David Lough. -Cole Garner lines out to right fielder Anthony Seratelli. Sean Halton to 3rd. -Caleb Gindl doubles (4) on a line drive to center fielder Paulo Orlando. Sean Halton scores. -Pitching Change: Louis Coleman replaces Chris Dwyer. -Anderson De La Rosa singles on a line drive to center fielder Paulo Orlando. Caleb Gindl to 3rd. Anderson De La Rosa to 2nd on the throw. -Blake Davis lines out to left fielder David Lough. A double play killed any hope for a score in the 8th, but Nashville did tack on two more in the 9th. Too little, too late, unfortunately: Nashville Bottom of the 9th -Pitching Change: Dan Wheeler replaces Louis Coleman. -Sean Halton singles on a line drive to left fielder David Lough. -With Stephen Parker batting, wild pitch by Dan Wheeler, Sean Halton to 2nd. -Stephen Parker flies out to left fielder David Lough. -Cole Garner flies out to center fielder Paulo Orlando. -Caleb Gindl singles on a ground ball to center fielder Paulo Orlando. Sean Halton scores. -Anderson De La Rosa doubles (1) on a fly ball to center fielder Paulo Orlando. Caleb Gindl scores. -Blake Davis flies out to right fielder Anthony Seratelli. Nashville Gameday

Rough outing for Thornburg. Not a great start to his season; hope he can fine-tune things & turn it around.

Way to hustle, Yuni. I can't believe he's only on 2B... oh wait, yes I can. Nice hit, but no hustle.

From the Nashville Sounds' twitter account: - Game notes are up - "we're wearing camo unis today for Military Sunday, courtesy of @PiedmontNG & @Tennessee811. special tix pricing to service families. #USA"

Sounds Snap Skid With 11-5 Win Over Omaha Garner Grand Slam Highlights Season-Best Offensive Output For Nashville Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/cAztGdd.jpg Cole Garner (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds snapped their four-game losing streak in a big way on Saturday evening at Greer Stadium, defeating the division-leading Omaha Storm Chasers, 11-5, in the opener of a four-game series. Nashville (5-9) erupted for season highs of 11 runs and 14 hits in the victory. Cole Garner highlighted the offensive outburst with a seventh-inning grand slam, the outfielder's team-leading fourth home run of the year. Scooter Gennett added three hits and three runs scored for the Sounds. Despite the offensive outburst, the run total could have been higher as Nashville left a season-high 11 runners on base, including stranding the bases loaded three times. The two new additions to the Sounds roster also provided solid contributions in the victory. Starting pitcher Mike Fiers tossed four scoreless frames and rehabbing infielder Jeff Bianchi went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI singles. After the Storm Chasers left the bases loaded in a scoreless top of the first against Fiers, the Sounds got off to a quick start against Omaha Brian Sanches, grabbing a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the frame. Gennett led off with Nashville's first triple of the season, a shot off the base of the right field wall. Bianchi followed with an opposite-field RBI single that stayed just inside the first base bag to stake the home team to a 1-0 advantage. After Hunter Morris drew a walk, and Sean Halton popped out, Stephen Parker drilled an RBI single back up the middle to double the lead. Nashville increased the lead to 3-0 in the third when Sean Halton led off with a double and later scored on Caleb Gindl's sacrifice fly. Fiers worked into and out of another bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning, fanning Irving Falu to keep the 3-0 lead intact. The Sounds offense kept churning in the home half of the fourth, opening the inning with four straight singles to plate a pair of runs and chase Sanches from the contest in the process. Blake Davis led off with a knock before Gennett laid down a well-placed bunt single up the third base line and Bianchi followed with an RBI single through the left side of the infield that ended Sanches' evening. Morris greeted Omaha reliever Atahualpa Severino with an RBI single through the right side of the infield that plated Gennett, who made a nice evasive slide at the plate to avoid the tag of Storm Chasers catcher Adam Moore and upped the lead to 5-0. Fiers allowed two hits over four scoreless innings in his first Triple-A start of the year, taking a no-decision. He walked four batters and struck out six in his 70-pitch effort. Jesus Sanchez (2-0) picked up his second win of the year for the Sounds by working two scoreless frames behind Fiers. Sanches (1-1) drew his first loss of the year after giving up five runs on eight hits in his three-plus innings of work. The Sounds tacked on two more runs in the sixth against the Omaha bullpen to extend the lead to 7-0. Morris drew a one-out walk from George Sherrill and scored on the Halton's team-leading fourth two-bagger of the year and second of the night. Later in the frame, the Sounds loaded the bags against Francisley Bueno and [Anderson] De La Rosa delivered a two-out RBI single to right to plate Nashville's seventh run of the night. Garner put icing on the win in the seventh when he connected on his two-out grand slam against Bueno to up the lead to 11-0. The slam ended a stretch of 177 consecutive bases-loaded at-bats for the Sounds without a homer since Taylor Green went yard on July 10, 2011 at Albuquerque. Omaha scored the game's final five runs, plating three unearned scores in the eighth against Kyle Heckathorn following a pair of Sounds errors and adding two in the ninth off Johnnie Lowe. The teams continue the series with a 2:05 p.m. matinee on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Tyler Thornburg (0-1, 5.40) will man the bump for the Sounds and face Omaha southpaw Chris Dwyer (2-1, 3.00). Nashville Box The box & game log have Bianchi with 6 ABs, although the game story only had him with 4. Every Sounds starter had either a hit or a walk. Gennett: 3-5, 3B, BB, SB, E (fielding) Bianchi: 2-6, 2 RBI, E (fielding) Morris: 1-3, RBI, 2 BB Halton: 2-4, 2 2B, RBI, BB Parker: 1-4, RBI, BB Garner: 2-3, HR, 4 RBI, BB Gindl: 0-2, RBI, 2 BB De La Rosa: 2-5, RBI, 1/1 CS Davis: 1-5 [pre]Fiers: 4 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 4 BB 6 K 70 TP (41 strikes) 1:3 GO:FO Sanchez: 2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K Travis Webb: 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K Heckathorn: 1 IP 1 H 3 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K HBP Lowe: 1 IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 1 BB 0 K[/pre] Nashville PbP The Nashville 6th was an adventure, to put it mildly, including three walks & two wild pitches: Nashville Bottom of the 6th -Pitching Change: George Sherrill replaces Atahualpa Severino. -Jeff Bianchi called out on strikes. -Hunter Morris walks. -With Sean Halton batting, wild pitch by George Sherrill, Hunter Morris to 2nd. -Sean Halton doubles (4) on a ground ball to right fielder Anthony Seratelli. Hunter Morris scores. -With Stephen Parker batting, wild pitch by George Sherrill, Sean Halton to 3rd. -Stephen Parker strikes out swinging. -Pitching Change: Francisley Bueno replaces George Sherrill. -Cole Garner walks. -Caleb Gindl walks. Cole Garner to 2nd. -Anderson De La Rosa singles on a ground ball to right fielder Anthony Seratelli. Sean Halton scores. Cole Garner to 3rd. Caleb Gindl to 2nd. -Blake Davis lines out to shortstop Christian Colon. Keeping with the theme, the top half of the 7th was chaotic. A missed catch error erased what would've been a lineout 4-3 double play that would've ended the frame. Two walks later, it was granny-time: Nashville Bottom of the 7th -Scooter Gennett singles on a ground ball to left fielder Xavier Nady. -Jeff Bianchi flies out to center fielder David Lough. -Hunter Morris lines out to second baseman Johnny Giavotella. Scooter Gennett advances to 1st, on a missed catch error by first baseman Chad Tracy, assist to second baseman Johnny Giavotella. -Sean Halton walks. Scooter Gennett to 2nd. -Stephen Parker walks. Scooter Gennett to 3rd. Sean Halton to 2nd. -Cole Garner hits a grand slam (4) to left field. Scooter Gennett scores. Sean Halton scores. Stephen Parker scores. -Caleb Gindl flies out to left fielder Xavier Nady. Heckathorn's 8th inning, his first appearance since April 7th, is one I'm sure he'll be glad to put in the rearview mirror. Not fun when you have to get five outs instead of three: Omaha Top of the 8th -Pitching Change: Kyle Heckathorn replaces Travis Webb. -David Lough reaches on a fielding error by second baseman Scooter Gennett. -Christian Colon hit by pitch. David Lough to 2nd. -Johnny Giavotella singles on a line drive to right fielder Cole Garner. David Lough to 3rd. Christian Colon to 2nd. -Xavier Nady grounds out, third baseman Stephen Parker to first baseman Hunter Morris. David Lough scores. Christian Colon to 3rd. Johnny Giavotella to 2nd. -Max Ramirez grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. Christian Colon scores. Johnny Giavotella to 3rd. -Adam Moore reaches on a fielding error by shortstop Jeff Bianchi. Johnny Giavotella scores. -Chad Tracy pops out to second baseman Scooter Gennett in foul territory. Nashville Gameday

I should also add that the addition of these two guys means I got every player on my pre-season T-Rats wish-list granted. What a fun squad.

Nashville lineup: Scooter Gennett 2B Jeff Bianchi SS Hunter Morris 1B Sean Halton DH Stephen Parker 3B Cole Garner RF Caleb Gindl CF Anderson De La Rosa C Blake Davis LF

Lineups, per Mike Vassallo, & the exquisite calligraphy of Jerry Narron: Nori Aoki RF Jean Segura SS Ryan Braun LF Rickie Weeks 2B Jonathan Lucroy C Logan Schafer CF Martin Maldonado 1B Yuniesky Betancourt 3B Hiram Burgos P David DeJesus CF Starlin Castro SS Anthony Rizzo 1B Alfonso Soriano LF Nate Schierholtz RF Dioner Navarro C Luis Valbuena 3B Darwin Barney 2B Edwin Jackson P

I believe everyone in baseball favors the pitcher you just described, because he is Mariano Rivera in his prime.

Glorious Leader has a lifetime 1.000 AVG & 5.000 OPS. That deal's a bargain!

Gif of the season.

I yam what I yam.

V8 Fusion is really good stuff. Seconded.

Yikes. Hope everything's ok with him & his.

Mass Haas posted about this in yesterday's Link Report