TooLiveBrew

Pena will not be starting today, per the Stars' twitter account:

Got my answer on Pena: So much for me making an "educated" guess. Meadows last pitched on Wednesday, just like Lowe. Not sure why I dismissed Meadows as a possibility but not Lowe. Perhaps Meadows to start with Lowe piggybacking?

They're currently 5 GB of North Division leaders Chattanooga (LAD), so they have work to do. But the talent at Huntsville is undeniably impressive.

I just posted this in today's Link Report, but I figured it would be relevant here, too: I sent a tweet asking if Pena will be the SP today; hopefully I'll get an answer on that soon. Jean Segura making his Brewers organization debut this afternoon. Ariel Pena would be pitching on regular rest today, but no word yet whether or not he'll make the start. Johnny Hellweg's next regular day to start would be Monday.

Also per the Stars' twitter account.. I sent a tweet asking if Pena will be the SP today; hopefully I'll get an answer on that soon.

Whoa, sorry -- I didn't mean to aim that at any poster in specific. Basically, the Brewers have an excellent catching duo for the next 6 seasons or so. If an Lucroy injury occurs, then I would totally understand examining perhaps moving him to 1B or LF. Until then, let's enjoy having one of the best catching tandems in the league!

Following the additions of Segura/Hellweg/Pena to the Huntsville roster, Jim Breen tweets that Tommy Manzella has been released -- EDIT: Here's the tweet from the Stars' twitter account: So note the Phillippe Valiquette DL stint, as well.

It's weird that BA & Rock brought up the Joe Mauer comparison with Lucroy tonight (in terms of positional usage/days off from catching). Lucroy has been as healthy as it gets at catcher, is still young, and his bat doesn't exactly profile to be a plus at 1B or LF (the only other spots I could realistically see him manning). I really wish this topic wouldn't keep getting discussed, so I'm annoyed that BA & Rock brought it up again.

I just added this to the Transactions thread -- per the Stars' twitter account this afternoon... So I think we're going to not only see Hiram Burgos making his Nashville debut today, but Ariel Pena making his debut as a Brewers player as well. I have nothing to confirm that Pena will start today, just an educated guess at this point.

Per the Huntsville Stars Twitter account a couple hours ago:

Today's game is where Hiram Burgos's spot in the rotation was (duh, since he's starting for Nashville...), and the starter is still listed as TBD. I have no idea if the newly-acquired trio of former Angels has joined up with Huntsville, but today would be Ariel Pena's turn on regular rest, having last pitched on Tuesday. If it's not Pena, my guess is that it'll be Dan Merklinger or Johnnie Lowe. Merklinger last pitched on Friday (1 IP of relief work), but prior to that had a 5-day layoff. Lowe's last start came on three days' rest, so maybe a Lowe-->Merklinger piggyback outing if not Pena?

Agreed, nice work TC07. I'll get the BC game today along with Huntsville.

I'm 99% sure that's Scooter, not Manzella.

MLBTR post It looks like both Krauss & Borchering can really swing the bat. While I admit I know little to nothing about all three players involved, at first glance this looks like another pretty good move by Jeff Luhnow. I know TheCrew07 was vocal about his dread of that hiring right after it happened, as Luhnow was STL's VP in charge of Amateur Scouting & Player Development, & had done well in that role.

I'm a little behind 'Live' on the broadcast, but nice to see Rogers getting lathered up... that FB is working in that 97+ mph range we heard he was operating in recently in AAA. I wouldn't be surprised to see him hit triple digits today (98-101 mph was the report posted in a recent Link Report thread)

Thanks Toby. And thanks Funke, that made me chuckle.

I agree. Obviously Liriano has been moved, but Dempster & Johnson are both known to be available. Although it doesn't sound like the Rangers want to pay what Miami is asking on Johnson; in general, TEX doesn't seem very interested in moving even Olt, let alone Profar. MLBTR linked to this Ken Rosenthal piece posted earlier today (disclaimer: several of his suggestions are kinda bad & probably just 'stir the pot' type suggestions). I think the Felix Hernandez speculation is pretty reasonable, and since he's still under contract through 2014, that is a deal in which I could see the Rangers being willing to part with Olt, along with plenty of other ammo. They probably still wouldn't move Profar (but you never know), and Jack Z would have to think long & hard about if he'd move Hernandez without Profar coming back. Even if the M's wouldn't make Hernandez available, I'm guessing Millwood could be had. Bartolo Colon (OAK) might be available relatively cheaply, Joe Saunders (ARZ) is a FA-to-be, and the Padres would probably move Marquis, and maybe even Volquez. There are still a lot of options out there, and the Rangers have the prospect capital to acquire seemingly anyone they want. EDIT: Sorry, 3&2, I didn't see your post until after I submitted my post... walked away from the cpu for a while before completing my post

Well the arm sounds great... but for whatever reason, De Los Santos gave up a lot of hits in the minors. Aside from low-A ball, he gave up roughly one hit per IP at every level. And this season at AAA, it's 49 H in 36 IP. I agree this is a good return on Kottaras, but I'm interested to see why De Los Santos was hit so much with a FB/SL combo that John Sickels called "overpowering" as recently as last season (Sickels doesn't toss compliments around lightly).

What about the surname -- 'Seh-g-yoo-ra'? 'Seh-goo-ra'?

I hope so too, just on principle... but the alternative is that Melvin is actually considering trying Parra as a SP again... which would be far worse.

@Pensacola 6, Huntsville 4 Huntsville Box The hard-throwing Wirfin Obispo held down the Huntsville bats to the tune of 2 H & 2 runs over 5 IP -- fortunately the hits were a Khris Davis single followed by a Hunter Morris 2-R HR in the 4th inning. Aside from that, Obispo was pretty dominant. Jimmy Nelson had a rough first inning, back on the mound for the first time since June 30th. Billy Hamilton singled to lead off the game for Pensacola, & promptly stole both 2B & 3B during the very next PA. All in all, there were 4 SBs in the inning, along with 2 H, 2 BB, & a sac fly. In his second & final inning (reported by poster X-TAI to be pitch count related; Nelson left with 46 TP), Nelson put down the 8-9-1 hitters in order -- backwards K, groundout, groundout. So here's hoping Jimmy can get back on track. Reliever R.J. Seidel also had a rough first inning of work, issuing back-to-back BBs to star the 3rd. An error from Scooter Gennett on an attempted double-play turn allowed an unearned run to score. A double & single in the 4th yielded Seidel's only ER on the night. 4 IP, 2 R/1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP was his final line. Brian Garman worked a scoreless 7th, but back-to-back triples (believe it or not, neither one was by Hamilton) to lead off the 8th let a run in. He finished with 2 IP, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 2 K. Khris Davis extended his hitting streak to 12 games, finishing 3-3 with a BB and 3 RBI. Davis was also credited with another OF assist, throwing out Hamilton as he tried to stretch a single into a double in the 4th. He was also caught stealing in the 8th. Unfortunately, Kentrail Davis saw his 8-game streak come to an end, but he did draw a BB. Morris's lone hit was the 2-R bomb; he finished 1-4. Josh Prince, Tommy Manzella, and Anderson De La Rosa each singled once. In addition to his throwing error, Gennet went 0-4 on the game -- rough night for a guy who's had a rough second half (at least at the plate) so far. However, he did reach on a FC in the 8th & steal second base as part of the only other scoring inning for Huntsville. Huntsville PbP Quick & easy game log posts here, since I have to run... Stars offense only!: Huntsville Top of the 4th -Tommy Manzella pops out to third baseman David Vidal in foul territory. -Scooter Gennett strikes out on a foul tip. -Khris Davis singles on a line drive to right fielder Josh Fellhauer. -Hunter Morris homers (19) on a fly ball to right field. Khris Davis scores. -Hainley Statia walks. -Kentrail Davis walks. Hainley Statia to 2nd. -Anderson De La Rosa flies out to left fielder Bryson Smith. As I noted, the only other runs came in the 8th... and it looks like Khris Davis may have been trying a little too hard to make things happen after his two-RBI single: Huntsville Top of the 8th -Andrew Means remains in the game as the right fielder. -Pitching Change: Brian Pearl replaces Mark Serrano, batting 9th. -Josh Prince singles on a ground ball to center fielder Ryan LaMarre. -Tommy Manzella singles on a line drive to right fielder Andrew Means. Josh Prince to 2nd. -Scooter Gennett grounds into a force out, shortstop Billy Hamilton to second baseman Brodie Greene. Josh Prince to 3rd. Tommy Manzella out at 2nd. Scooter Gennett to 1st. -With Khris Davis batting, Scooter Gennett steals (10) 2nd base. -Khris Davis singles on a ground ball to center fielder Ryan LaMarre. Josh Prince scores. Scooter Gennett scores. -Pitching Change: Wilkin De La Rosa replaces Brian Pearl, batting 9th. -With Hunter Morris batting, Khris Davis caught stealing 2nd base, catcher Mark Fleury to shortstop Billy Hamilton. -Hunter Morris grounds out, second baseman Brodie Greene to first baseman Donald Lutz. Huntsville Gameday

No. My point was Melvin could be telling teams he doesn't like the offers, and bluff that the Brewers are still high enough on Parra's upside that they're even willing to consider him as a SP again. Something like, 'Nah, that's way cheaper than what we want. We like Manny's stuff a lot, we really think he could even thrive as a SP with some mechanical changes... blah blah blah... we're not looking to give him away on the cheap.' At least I sure hope he's bluffing on that... and that.

Getting Greinke certainly wouldn't have guaranteed Texas a title this year, but it would have increased their chances to both hold on to the division over the Angels and once in the playoffs, to have a SP with the ability at least to shut down a good offense. And they still have Olt, along with anything else they might move, in their possession. They could move for a rental player, or opt for a trade that doesn't just get them 10-15 starts of an impending FA. I agree that short-term, they lost out & 'should' have payed up. But my point was & is that the Rangers'/Daniels's m.o. is to build long-term. They of course did deal for Lee a couple seasons ago, and that didn't net them a WS title. You could even infer that experience (they paid 4 prospects for Lee on 7/9/10) may be what dissuaded them from ponying up for Greinke. In fact, Lee turned in a 3.98 ERA for the Rangers the rest of the way in '10 (but then was dominant in the postseason), so even when you get a stud, there's no guarantee that you won't see fluky down performance from him. Imo a trade can't be analyzed based on a team outcome like winning a WS or not -- ZG or Lee alone wouldn't be responsible for that, win or lose. A trade has to be analyzed in terms of did you get good value for what you paid, and I think the Brewers absolutely got great value for Greinke. I really get the impression a lot of people discussing the ZG trade are really overstating the impact of 10-15 stats, even if you get a CC-caliber performance. In the long run, imo getting even just Segura for a player you were losing to FA anyway is a big win (yes, I know there would've been a comp. pick for MIL). Then you add on top of that two very high-upside arms that are reasonably well-developed. That's why I think the Angels overpaid. The only other rumored offers I've seen (post-trade) that were supposedly made by TEX weren't close to this return. Ironically, Melvin did an awesome job by taking full advantage of the short-term team building that he's widely criticized for employing. I don't mean to say that Texas didn't miss out on Greinke -- they obviously did. But I don't think they're as concerned about it as some think they should be. Besides, the trade deadline hasn't passed yet, and they still have time to work on other deals. Just like it may be too early to judge the return in the Greinke trade, it's too early to say that the Rangers didn't make a good addition before the deadline. Daniels clearly set a price he was willing to go to for ZG, and when the Brewers declined, he moved on. Given the flukiness of small samples, if they say traded for Dempster, it's quite possible Dempster could outpitch ZG the rest of the season.

They show up on the roster on the Huntsville website, but without numbers. Is that why they aren't considered to be officially on the roster yet? Also note that their statuses are "Reassigned", as opposed to "Active"

Obispo for the Wahoos throws gas. Wait, the Reds have talented arms in their farm system? Sheesh, it's like they don't have any MiLB pitchers who aren't legitimate prospects.