TooLiveBrew

Wow, Walt freaking Jocketty, people. Couldn't he have moved on to the AL, or at least not to another divisional opponent?

Congrats, Teda-whatever & soon-to-be-Mrs. Teda-whatever!

He gets dismissed somewhat for being "older", but he's less than a year older than Hunter Morris. If "Kh" had enough PAs to qualify, he'd be leading the Southern League in OPS by appx. 150 points!

As Mass Haas linked, Doug Melvin commented today.. And, as gregmag pointed out, "All this, and he doesn't even say the word 'Davis.'" I know I wouldn't exactly look forward to facing the Stars at this point if I were a SL pitcher. Second half slash lines of the regular lineup: Prince ---------- .283/.372/.402/.773 Manzella ------- .196/.228/.206/.434 <-- you can pencil in Segura here the rest of the way Gennett -------- .261/.288/.319/.607 Kh. Davis ------ .383/.463/.745/1.208 Morris --------- .362/.413/.724/1.137 Statia ---------- .296/.373/.357/.730 Ke. Davis ------ .311/.368/.541/.909 Weisenburger --- .170/.291/.298/.589 (sorry for the painfully awkward d-i-y formatting there... I thought I knew how to space out lists like this with the List tag feature... guess not ) Basically everyone on that list that's regarded as a prospect is hitting well or well enough, with the painful exception of Gennett. I honestly had no idea how badly he's been scuffling this second half, but hopefully he can turn it around. Plug in Segura at SS, and hope for Scooter to get his groove back, and that's an offense I don't want to face.

@Pensacola 7, Huntsville 5 Huntsville Box Two multi-hit, 2-R innings were enough to send starter Evan Anundsen packing after just 4.2 IP tonight. He allowed five of his seven hits in the 2nd & 5th innings, with three of the five hits being XBH. Overall, five of the seven hits Anundsen allowed on the outing were of the XBH variety, which probably doesn't usually translate to success. From the 6th inning on, the Stars scored four runs after trailing 4-1 -- unfortunately, each of the three RPs used by Huntsville tonight allowed a run to score in his full inning of work. Kyle Heckathorn relieved Anundsen in the 5th, and retired the first batter he faced to end the inning; however, he allowed two singles, a BB, & 1 ER in the 6th. Brian Garman was up next, and two BBs followed by a single resulted in 1 ER for the Blue Wahoos in the 7th. Dan Merklinger gave up a single followed by a double for his ER in the 8th. It was a good ballgame tonight, but the Stars needed their bullpen to step up & hold Pensacola scoreless for at least one frame, and unfortunately they weren't up to the task. Khris Davis extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a HR to lead off the 4th; he finished 2-3 with a 2B, HR, RBI, & two BBs. I have to guess that "Kh" will be on his way to Nashville before too much longer. He missed almost both full months of May & June, but all he's done sandwiched around that is hit the cover off the ball. Although he's a little older for a prospect (interestingly, less than a year older than Hunter Morris), the only speedbump in his production through the MiLB chain so far was after getting promoted from BC to Huntsville last season. His 2012 OPS is currently at 1.111 (Huntsville OPS of 1.082). Dude can flat-out hit, and the power looks to be very legit. If he had enough PAs to qualify, he'd be leading the SL in OPS by 150 points! It's also worth noting that "Kh" has supplanted Morris as the cleanup hitter for some time now. Kentrail Davis needed a little longer tonight to extend his streak -- he singled in the 8th inning, in his fourth PA, to push his streak to 8 games. He was 1-4 with a BB. Hunter Morris -- who's still probably in the driver's seat for SL MVP -- was 1-4. He's providing plenty of reason to be bullish about his prospect status, with a second-half OPS of 1.137 (first-half: .817). Morris currently leads the SL in H, 2B, TB, RBI (tied w/1 player), and trails the league-leader in HRs by one. Believe, people! Josh Prince had another strong game out of the leadoff spot, going 1-3 with two BBs and a clutch 2-RBI 2B in the 8th that pulled to Stars to a 6-5 defecit. He was caught stealing for the 15th time on the season too, but held onto his organizational & SL-lead in the SB category. Scooter Gennett went 2-5 with a 2B. Adam Weisenburger was 1-3 with two BBs. Hainley Statia was 1-4. Tommy Manzella was 1-5. Huntsville PbP This is just about how you draw it up for the 1st inning if you're Stars manager Darnell Coles -- two runners on for your MVP candidate, but Morris wasn't able to cash in with a hit: Huntsville Top of the 1st -Josh Prince lines out to center fielder Ryan LaMarre. -Tommy Manzella flies out to right fielder Josh Fellhauer. -Scooter Gennett doubles (26) on a line drive to right fielder Josh Fellhauer. -Khris Davis walks. -Hunter Morris grounds out, second baseman Brodie Greene to first baseman Beau Mills. Billy Hamilton was held without a SB for the third game out of four so far this series, but that didn't mean his speed was completely neutralized: Pensacola Bottom of the 5th -Billy Hamilton triples (2) on a fly ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Billy Hamilton scores. Missed catch error by shortstop Tommy Manzella. -Ryan LaMarre strikes out swinging. -Donald Lutz walks. -Beau Mills doubles (8) on a sharp line drive to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Donald Lutz scores. -Josh Fellhauer grounds out sharply to first baseman Hunter Morris. Beau Mills to 3rd. -Pitching Change: Kyle Heckathorn replaces Evan Anundsen, batting 9th. -Brodie Greene flies out to right fielder Kentrail Davis. The 6th & 7th innings each yielded one run for Huntsville, but both also ended with big missed opportunities. Weisenburger grounded into a DP in the 6th to end the inning & strand the bases loaded, and Morris struck out to end the 7th with runners on 2B & 3B. Those missed chances just made Prince's 8th inning double that much clutch-i-er: Huntsville Top of the 8th -Hainley Statia grounds out, first baseman Beau Mills to pitcher Josh Ravin. -Kentrail Davis singles on a ground ball to center fielder Ryan LaMarre. -Adam Weisenburger walks. Kentrail Davis to 2nd. -Pitching Change: Justin Freeman replaces Josh Ravin, batting 6th. -Defensive Substitution: Miguel Rojas replaces pitcher Josh Ravin, batting 9th, playing second base. -Offensive Substitution: Pinch-hitter T. J. Mittelstaedt replaces Brian Garman. -T. J. Mittelstaedt walks. Kentrail Davis to 3rd. Adam Weisenburger to 2nd. -Josh Prince doubles (19) on a line drive to left fielder Donald Lutz. Kentrail Davis scores. Adam Weisenburger scores. T. Mittelstaedt to 3rd. -Tommy Manzella strikes out on a foul tip. -Scooter Gennett strikes out swinging, catcher Tucker Barnhart to first baseman Beau Mills. That made the score 6-5, but unfortunately the Stars weren't able to grind out the W tonight. Still a helluva game, though. Huntsville Gameday

What a sad yet happy picture. Thank you for linking that!

(repeating something I posted in the 2d Half Optimism thread) It's not just his last three starts -- 4.58 ERA over his last 10 starts, but that drops to 3.19 if you throw out a 10 ER implosion on June 10th. I know you can't just throw out a bad outlier, but the norm from Mark lately is solid outings. More love for Mass Haas's work in the MiLB forum... he linked & posted a story from Rogers's hometown paper that included this quote from Reid Nichols, the Brewers' director of player development: You just don't find Nichols saying things like that. I'm one who's been vocal about wanting to see Rogers shifted to the bullpen, but at this point it seems like the Brewers are feeling pretty good about sticking with Mark as a SP.

Well if this is true (not saying it isn't), very well earned. I totally agree.

I get that feeling too, but iirc the Braves were extremely confident that they'd be able to re-sign Mark Teixeira when they traded for him. However the situations are admittedly different... LAA seems to have Yankees-caliber cash to burn right now. Plus, whether the Angels are able to extend ZG or not doesn't change the strong return the Brewers got for him.

All I can say to that is, "Wow." Maybe that's Nichols blowing sunshine... but I can't think of a time where he's said something like that in recent memory.

He also answered as to why he didn't re-sign with the Brewers by saying it was a "business decision". So unless the Brewers are able to make the kind of offer that will top what else is out there (aka ~$150M), don't hold your breath.

Man, it really seems like the Angels were more than willing to overpay for Greinke. At this point in the ZG-trade-saga, I feel like... I need a cigarette.

Wow, I'm in awe of an incredible username. Well done!

I don't think Melvin will do it, but I think the Brewers could get really good value for Aramis Ramirez right now.

Let's not get carried away... I know... but...

This is exactly my take on it, and honestly if I'm a Rangers fan, I think I'm happy that Daniels wasn't willing to move talent like Perez/Olt/Profar for a rental player. But I definitely agree that it seems like the Angels overpaid, which is just awesome.

Josh Prince just knocked a two-RBI double in the top of the 8th to pull Huntsville to within a run, at 6-5! They'd entered the frame trailing 6-3. Go Stars!

Aybar is, coincidentally (since he's an Angel), a pretty decent-looking comp for Segura as a hitter. I also mentioned Asdrubal Cabrera in the MiLB forum, but I'm only basing that off stats of the two players & the scouting notes on Segura's potential upside at the big-league level... not scouting. Also, Mass Haas just linked, in the Link Report, to a Brew Crew Ball transcription of Doug Melvin's comments on the FSN-WI broadcast tonight. Included was the following, which really restores my faith a bit in DM's ... faith... in young players:

Woohoo Doug! What, are you trying to restore my faith in you as a GM in one stinkin' day?!

*cough* Hiram Burgos *cough*

On Segura, in terms of offense, one guy I thougt about right away is Asdrubal Cabrera -- but that's a comp. based on stats & not scouting.

- YouTube search results for Jean Segura - YouTube results for Johnny Hellweg - Searching YouTube for Ariel Pena came up empty

Perfect Game pre-2012 Angels Top 10 Prospects article

In the MiLB transactions thread, Mass Haas linked to a good recap of the trade by Baseball America's Matt Eddy. I'll copy & paste the relevant paragraphs --

This almost literally got a spit-take from me.