TooLiveBrew

I understand dismissing that sample, but I used it because imo Gamel was looking good at the plate from PA to PA (results aside). I won't pretend he's done enough to convince his doubters, but for the majority of his tiny amount of PAs last season (53 of 75), he was actually solid and produced in line with what I'd expect in terms of slash line.

I wouldn't right now, as his contract has been a massive steal thus far, & he's under team control for the next nine seasons. He's who I want to build around, long-term. Three seasons of Gallardo is no doubt great to have, and if Yo would be interested in signing another extension the Brewers can sustain, I'd jump at the chance.

Look at Hart, whom the majority want to trade. The replacement options in-house are Gamel and Morris. Gamel is coming off an injury, and was unimpressive in the small sample before the injury. From April 9th through April 23rd (14 of the 21 games he played in '12), Gamel posted a .805 OPS. He was looking good at the plate & turning in good PAs in my opinion. Small sample size meant that any 0-fers dragged his slash line down mightily. I also would say that those who wanted to see Hart dealt at the '12 trading deadline or pre-2013 were/are the minority here. I agree that Morris isn't ready yet, but he's also not very far away from being ready. 1B is a position of strength in the org. right now imo. On Gallardo & the concept of selling high in general, it's the same old Proven™/Track Record™ argument that comes up every single time young players are discussed. I am genuinely a little surprised that we still go over this, given the success young players are having all across MLB. Look no further than our own Segura -- after posting a .417 OPS in his first 16 games, he put up a .759 over his final 29. .759 was Hanley Ramirez's OPS this season, and that ranked 6th among qualified MLB SS in 2012. Young players need time to struggle & fail before they find their footing at the MLB level. Of course they're not proven if they never get a chance to prove themselves. If a team came calling with an excellent offer for Gallardo, I'd be all ears (as I would on any player). It's not like the idea here is to trade Gallardo for what Melvin got for Greinke. The concept is that a team would come calling with multiple top-flight prospects (& as good as Segura has been & will be, he was never regarded to be that kind of prospect). Even though the Brewers have Gallardo signed for three more seasons, there's no reason it'd be a bad idea to see if you can turn those three seasons into 6+ seasons of multiple top-tier young talents. And if you don't get a good offer, you keep him.

Really cool sight tonight, as the Oakland fans who remained gave their A's a sustained standing ovation, waving towels, etc., & congratulating their team on a great season. Classy stuff.

Thank you, Jayson Werth.

Keep on being awesome, Kalle.

To be fair, that's what people were saying about Jorge Lopez after the '11 draft.

Fwiw, I was driving home from a friend's house after the Packers won SBXLV & Oakland Ave. was not full of people, but the sidewalks were pretty full & spilling out into the street.

Note that Jean Segura was ineligible due to getting 166 PAs this year in the big leagues. Also noteworthy that Tyler Thornburg did crack Sickel's top 50 pitchers list. Oddly enough, no Wily Peralta. I realize one may be able to apply this kind of list to any organization, but the Brewers seem particularly inept at identifying & developing pitching. Here are the players on Sickels's Top 50 list from the 2011 Draft alone, picked after Jungmann at #12, and/or Bradley at #15: 2) Jose Fernandez (#13 pick, MIA) 14) Taylor Guerreiri (#24, TBR) 15) Robert Stephenson (#27, CIN) 18) Matt Barnes (#19, BOS) 28) Alex Meyer (#23, WAS) 36) Kyle Crick (#49, SFG) 46) Michael Fulmer (#44, NYM) 48) Andrew Chafin (#43, ARZ) 49) Henry Owens (#36, BOS) I'm not suggesting the Brewers should've reached for guys that didn't go until the 30-50 range at #s 12 & 15. But the first five guys on that list above were certainly in that neighborhood.

John Sickels posted his two-part '12 AFL Players to Watch piece on Tuesday. - Part One - Part Two The Brewers included are Hunter Morris (oddly, with no mention of winning the SL MVP) & Johnny Hellweg. Hellweg didn't get a feature writeup, but here's what he had to say on Morris: Other NL Central prospects included CHC: SS Javier Baez, OF Matt Szczur CIN: IF/OF Billy Hamilton, SS Didi Gregorious PIT: RHP Victor Black STL: 2B Kolten Wong, RHP Seth Blair

Yep. 3.44 ERA with MIL, 3.53 ERA with LAA

If he's a .750 OPS bat, then he's worth way more than that. I don't know for certain, but $5.5M is a number that wouldn't surprise me to see him get in arbitration this season. EDIT: I guess $5.5M is a pretty big jump from the ~$2M he made in '12. Maybe more like $3-4M next season?

I'm not sure, you could sift through the base runner rules link I posted if you want. Good question. However, three feet from home plate isn't necessarily what needs to be examined. That's just the number used in the definition of a runner's baseline.

It's not just about where the plate/base is, though. The rule is: 7.08 Any runner is out when -- (a) (1) He runs more than three feet away from his baseline to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runners baseline is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/runner_7.jsp So I think Ichiro was more than three feet off his baseline & should have been called out, but it wasn't as blatant as it appeared, given the definition of a runner's baseline. http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1517669/ichirodance.gif

I agree with that, although only in the context that it's what Melvin is going to do (not what I want to see done). Signing Dempster would be a bad use of resources to me, because you'd be signing him for his age-36 & 37 seasons. And if you move him to the 'pen, then you've wasted SP dollars on a RP. I respect that you don't want to see the Brewers blow their trade chips on short-term stopgaps & would rather them go the FA route if Melvin's dead-set on another stopgap player. However, I'm not talking about signing a FA to a long-term deal, not sure where you got that. But anyway, this is a thread about Shields, and, while good, he'd cost too much in trade to only get two seasons out of him (I think we agree on that one). I would happily turn two of those young arms you listed earlier into one impact SP that the Brewers would control for 4+ seasons. This team doesn't need another Randy Wolf, it needs another Yovani Gallardo, and it needs him to be around for more than two seasons.

With Boras as his agent, might Gomez be a candidate for a qualifying offer after '13? No way I want to pay him ~$13-14M, but I have a really hard time envisioning Boras advising him to accept that. If Gomez replicates or improves on 2012 at the plate next season, he could well be looking at $10M AAV offers. My first choice would be trading Gomez this offseason, but I seriously doubt Melvin will do that.

He should hire you as his campaign manager. That's catchy. 31, and I'm torn. I realize I probably shouldn't be, but I am. It's not just the Triple Crown... I guess the main reason is that I love ISO. Not exactly a good reason, I know. Trout is probably the correct answer, but I don't agree that it's a no-brainer. Playing the whole season is definitely a factor (as is Cabrera's bad defense).

Whoa, I'm so sorry for your loss. I LOVE fish fry... 's? Fries? Curse, you, English language! But yeah, I totally get how they're forever ruined now for you.

It doesn't matter much to me who else is in the system if we're analyzing trade value. Yes, some young arms may be two years away, but that doesn't mean I want to trade young talent for two expensive seasons of a pitcher who will then leave in FA. It's not a good use of resources imo. Plus, the Rays could quite possibly demand multiple players off of the list you made, and in thinning that list, you're also reducing your odds of developing a homegrown starter that you'd have under team control for at least 6 seasons. The Brewers don't need to sign a FA to a long contract precisely due to what you outlined, and none of the posts you quoted said they should do so. If they sign anyone, I'm hoping it's a one year buy-low deal that doesn't involve forfeiting a draft pick. Now, what do I expect Melvin will do? Probably one of the two options you noted: trade for a stopgap, or spend in the FA market for a longer-term deal. It's not that Shields isn't a good pitcher, or that he wouldn't be an asset for those two seasons. It's that I'd rather spend (in terms of prospects) a little more to get a younger pitcher who'd be under Brewers control for longer. I want to be the team trading for Lawrie, not the team trading for Marcum (just to use an example centered around salary control).

Can't wait for the big reveal on draft day!

I don't think I was ever addicted to Dew, but as a kid I definitely loved it. I rarely drink soda now, and if I do it's usually a white soda (oh, but I do have a weakness for good root beer). All it took for me to get burned out on soda was working in a restaurant in college where the staff was allowed to use the soda fountain as much as it wanted. I never thought of soda as liquid candy until I'd been drinking it every day for months. Totally turned me off to it. Now I can't drink non-white soda & not think of it as just a melted & chilled candy bar (except root beer, mmm...).

That would be Ernie Johnson, who I agree is just awful. Awful. During one of the biggest at-bats in the game (bot. 8th w/1 out, Hardy on second base, while it was still tied 2-2), very tense moment, he was joking about the name Matt Wieters (the batter) had chosen for his son. Asking Ripken & Smoltz if they'd name one of their kids the same. As Sabathia was delivering a pitch. I wanted to reach into the TV-webs & punch him.

I was very happy to see the Reds beat the Giants last night, after the Giants fans actually cheered the fact that Cueto was hurt.

A bunch of fair weather fans blaming Hamilton (who admittedly was pretty bad after his big tear) instead of their GM for looking at that pitching staff and thinking that it would get them deep in the playoffs. Oh well, I guess they will have the ROY races to look forward to for the next few years. Can't bash Billy Beane anymore, so your new pet is Daniels? It's basically the same pitching staff that did take them deep in the playoffs the previous two seasons... Yu Darvish replacing CJ Wilson.

If the Brewers are trading away young talent for pitching, they need to get far far away from trading for these two-year stopgaps. If Melvin wants to trade for pitching, he needs to do his due diligence & make a move for a player the Brewers will control for four seasons or more. Shields is a good pitcher, but so was Marcum. Now he's gone, & Melvin is back to square one. Time to move on from that short-term vision.