TooLiveBrew

I don't know if it's reasonable to expect even a guy who (legitimately) projects as a mid-rotation or back-end SP for half of a season of a RP. I'd have to agree with jjfanec -- if we got some other org's "Jimmy Nelson" for K-Rod, I'd be thrilled. (I also agree with paul that Nelson isn't the Brewers' top SP prospect... he might be top 5, but the Brewers have a pretty weak system)

DFA DFE?

Birmingham 12, @Huntsville 4 (Game 2, 7 innings) Huntsville Box Well, did everyone enjoy that sunshine-and-puppies lovely game 1 recap? Good. Great. Now strap in, A Clockwork Orange-style -- no looking away... although that might actually be the best approach for this one. Adam Weisenburger only got two plate appearances, but he made them count: 1-1, HR, RBI, BB. Scooter Gennett went 1-1 with a 2B, RBI, and 2 BB. Hunter Morris doubled again (*yawn*), finishing 1-4 with one RBI. Hainley Statia was 1-3 with one RBI. Kentrail Davis apparently burned all his hits for this doubleheader in the first game, finishing 0-2 with a BB and one CS. The pitching tonight was, in a phrase, not pretty. Reliever Darren Byrd was the only Huntsville hurler who didn't allow a run, and the 5th inning was the only frame he worked. Starter Daniel Meadows only lasted 2 IP, and it took a Lee Haydel OF assist at 2B to get Meadows out of the second. Kyle Heckathorn retired the first two batters in the 3rd, but three consecutive groundball singles by Birmingham plated a run. In his second inning of work, Heckathorn was able to work around a leadoff HBP and keep the Barons off the scoreboard. Dan Merklinger relieved Heckathorn, and retired three of the four batters he faced in the 6th... the only problem being that the baserunner he allowed was a solo HR. The Stars were able to rally back, with three runs in their half of the frame to close the deficit to 6-4 heading into the 7th. Unfortunately, Merklinger started off the 7th by allowing walk-walk-SB-walk, before giving way to Philippe Valiquette. Valiquette allowed all three inherited runners to score, along with 3 ER of his own, before the dust had settled in the top half of the 7th. So just like that, the Stars' comeback bid had the rug pulled right out from underneath it. For the series, Birmingham took three of four from the Stars, and did so in pretty convincing fashion... outscoring Huntsville 41-20. Huntsville PbP Here's Huntsville's three-run 6th inning rally. Birmingham got two of the outs in the inning on the basepaths -- a nice OF relay to steal an out at the plate, and then Statia appears to have gotten into a rundown for the third out of the inning after (or as part of) singling home Morris: - Huntsville Bottom of the 6th -Adam Weisenburger walks. -Lee Haydel walks. Adam Weisenburger to 2nd. -Josh Prince strikes out swinging. -Scooter Gennett doubles (23) on a fly ball to right fielder Jared Mitchell. Adam Weisenburger scores. Lee Haydel out at home on the throw, right fielder Jared Mitchell to second baseman Erik Morrison to catcher Damaso Espino. Scooter Gennett to 3rd on the throw. -Hunter Morris doubles (31) on a fly ball to right fielder Jared Mitchell. Scooter Gennett scores. -Pitcher Change: Ryan Kussmaul replaces Cameron Bayne. -Hainley Statia singles on a ground ball to right fielder Jared Mitchell. Hunter Morris scores. Hainley Statia out at 2nd on the throw, right fielder Jared Mitchell to first baseman Seth Loman to shortstop Tyler Saladino to second baseman Erik Morrison. If you're really feeling like a glutton for punishment, go ahead & click through to take a look at the 7th inning. Just don't say I didn't warn you. Huntsville Gameday

@Huntsville 8, Birmingham 3 (Game 1, 7 innings) Huntsville Box Hiram Burgos didn't quite pitch up to the high standard he's set for himself this season, but he still turned in a QS: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R/ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 7:3 GO:AO, 96 TP. He also picked a runner off of 1B in the 2nd, which was his worst inning --two singles and a double resulted in a pair of Birmingham runs before the pickoff ended the frame. Mitch Stetter worked a scoreless 7th, pitching around a walk and a wild pitch with two strikeouts. Typically in a Hiram Burgos start, the story has been Hiram Burgos. And even with another solid outing from Burgos, and a shutout final inning from Stetter, the story in tonight's first game was the Stars' offense. Both Scooter Gennett (1-4, 2B, RBI, E [11, throwing]) and Josh Prince (1-2, HR, 2 BB, 2/2 SB [35, 36]) were back in the lineup & playing their regular positions. Of course, Gennett was the DH on Sunday, and Prince was removed from Sunday's game prior to the 9th inning. Good to see them both right back at it; Prince especially had a monster game. Did anyone have him starting on their MiLB fantasy team tonight? Speaking of monster fantasy efforts, Kentrail Davis, anyone? 3-3, 2 3B, HR, RBI. For those keeping track at home, that'd be three plate appearances and a slash line of 1.000/1.000/3.333/4.333!! Davis has done nothing but hit so far in the month of June (.995 OPS) and second half (.881). He went the entire first half (207 AB) without a HR, and has now hit four longballs in the second half (91 AB so far), including three in July alone... and 13 first-half XBH to 10 second-half XBH already. Another reason to pay attention to Kentrail is that he hasn't shown much of a split whether facing LHP or RHP on the season -- his OPS v. LHP currently is two points higher than v. RHP. - [Link reporter's note: the stats I'm citing are updated through both games played tonight] Hunter Morris kept on rolling: 1-2, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB. If Davis's second half thus far qualifies for "encouraging" and "good progress", then Morris's second half has to get something like "ginormous", "collosso-tastic", or some other made-up adjective. Much like Davis, Morris has displayed significantly more power so far in the second half, hitting 8 HR in 97 AB after 7 in 253 first half ABs. After tonight's twinbill, his second half slash line is .392/.438/.753/1.191. If Morris doesn't cool off soon, he might simply force the Brewers to promote him to Nashville. T.J. Mittelstaedt was 1-4 with a 2B & RBI. Khris Davis & Tommy Manzella each singled once; Manzella plated one RBI with his hit. Anderson De La Rosa finished 0-2 with a BB.b Huntsville PbP The Stars took a 1-0 lead after the 1st, but the Barons came right back & gave Burgos all kinds of trouble in the next half inning: -Birmingham Top of the 2nd -Andy Wilkins singles on a fly ball to left fielder T. J. Mittelstaedt. -With Brady Shoemaker batting, passed ball by Anderson De La Rosa, Andy Wilkins to 2nd. -Brady Shoemaker doubles (4) on a fly ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Andy Wilkins to 3rd. - Luis Sierra singles on a line drive to center fielder Josh Prince. Andy Wilkins scores. Brady Shoemaker scores. -Erik Morrison grounds into double play, third baseman Hainley Statia to second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman -Hunter Morris. Luis Sierra out at 2nd. -Kenneth Williams reaches on throwing error by second baseman Scooter Gennett. -With Daniel Wagner batting, Hiram Burgos picks off Kenneth Williams at 1st on throw to Hunter Morris. Sierra was really a thorn in Burgos's side today; he also came up with a RBI single in the 4th. The 4th inning RBI extended Birmingham's lead to 3-1, but Huntsville's bats didn't let that stand for long, responding with a 5-run outburst: -Huntsville Bottom of the 4th -Kentrail Davis triples (5) on a fly ball to center fielder Jared Mitchell. -Tommy Manzella singles on a fly ball to left fielder Brady Shoemaker. Kentrail Davis scores. -Anderson De La Rosa strikes out on foul tip. -Pitcher Change: Santos Rodriguez replaces Nick McCully. -With T. J. Mittelstaedt batting, Tommy Manzella steals (3) 2nd base, . Tommy Manzella advances to 3rd, on throwing error by catcher Luis Sierra. -T. J. Mittelstaedt out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Jared Mitchell. Tommy Manzella scores. -Josh Prince walks. -With Scooter Gennett batting, Josh Prince steals (36) 2nd base. -Scooter Gennett doubles (22) on a line drive to left fielder Brady Shoemaker. Josh Prince scores. -Hunter Morris homers (15) on a fly ball to right center field. Scooter Gennett scores. -Khris Davis strikes out swinging. The Stars never looked back, adding solo HRs in both the 5th (Davis) and 6th (Prince) innings. Huntsville Gameday

Wow.

Somebody joked in a different thread (about Yost batting Betancourt 5th for KC) that at least RR isn't as bad as Yost. While that may still be true, playing a .278 OBP guy in the two-hole is as indefensible as it gets. Gomez must be like 2-5 in his career off Lynn or some other odd justification.

I do wonder if this is a situation where DM has a couple/few offers to consider, has been given maybe two or three more days to decide, and they want to ensure ZG doesn't get hurt.

Teams that have been aggressive on the international FA signings in recent years seem to be signing top prospects in the $5M-15M range (disclaimer: that's not intended to be an infallible price range), depending on the perceived ceiling of said prospect. And I should clarify I don't mean international FAs like Nori Aoki, Yu Darvish, or Yoenis Cespedes... I mean younger players. If the Brewers are willing to offer $100M to one player, why not re-allocate that money & sign 10-20 impact-caliber international FA prospects? And I know I kind of separated out this kind of signing, but heck, roughly $30M bought the Reds the physical prime of Aroldis Chapman, who has arguably the best LH arm in all of MLB (& maybe just the best arm overall). Imho, the Brewers are currently at a crossroads in terms of the organizational approach to team-building. They can make the conscious choice to continue to overpay (both via trade & FA) for players as short-term solutions, or they can choose to revamp how they assess and value talent. If the Brewers could legitimately afford to go the pricier route, it'd still bug me that they would do it, but I could at least stomach it. With the financial realities they have to face, the fact that they're not investing more on the international FA market is maddening to me.

There's really still not any top-tier prospects in the Brewers' system, but man do I feel a helluva lot better about the farm system than I did just one year ago at this point.

Good to hear you like it... I really like Jeff Daniels (no, I can't really explain that ), so seeing some of the negative reviews made me disappointed -- I think the premise of the show is pretty cool.

And beyond the 'hurt feelings' angle, there's the development angle too. Maldonado has looked very good at the plate imo, and there's no reason to not continue to let him be challenged with MLB pitching and continue to refine his skills as a hitter. Also, it's really, really hard for me to think of Kottaras as a catcher at this point. On this roster with Luc healthy, he's basically a 1B/PH-power-bat who can play C in an emergency. I don't want to see Maldonado go anywhere.

The only pitcher whose name we heard linked to Fielder rumors when Fielder was in his walk year was Hudson. Just one year earlier, and there was a very widely-reported rumor that the Giants offered up Matt Cain for Fielder. But that's what happens when you hold onto players until they have little value left, like Melvin usually does. Honestly RockCo, I have no idea how you can post so condescendingly about the prospect side of the game, when you clearly don't put a whole lot of effort into knowing what prospects are out there, and what rumored deals get thrown around. I really like you as a poster, but honestly it's been maddening to read some of your posts in this thread in particular. I get it, you don't like the odds of developing talent internally, and love that the Brewers had two moderately-successful postseason runs. But like it or not, the Brewers will have to continue to develop talent internally (just like they did to build the framework of those two postseason teams). And on top of that, if you're going to go on record by saying that you'll "take the two playoff runs", then you sure won't be able to complain about 2012, or any other season going forward, if the Brewers struggle directly related to their lack of organizational depth/talent.

Birmingham 14, @Huntsville 3 Huntsville Box Eeesh. It didn't get any better for the Stars today, after losing 12-5 yesterday. In fact, they've lost five of their last six games. Starter Johnnie Lowe sailed cleanly through the first three innings, but everything came apart in the six-run 4th -- 5 BBs, 1 WP, 1 PB, 3 H... including a grand slam. Lowe was relieved with two outs in the inning, after walking his fifth batter. Brian Garman came on and got the next batter to end the inning. At that point, the Stars trailed 6-3. However, Garman wasn't able to keep the Barons off the scoreboard; Birmingham scored two in the 5th, and got Garman for three more ER in the 8th. R.J. Seidel relieved Garman, and didn't fare well either, allowing 3 ER in his 1.2 IP of work. Basically, when you allow 14 runs in one game, you probably didn't get much good pitching. Scooter Gennett was back in the lineup after missing the Stars' last three games. Good to see him back out there, although he was only used as the DH today. He finished 1-4 with a single, sac fly, and 1 RBI. Believe it or not, that was the only Huntsville RBI on the game. Hunter Morris, who was dropped down to the 6-hole in the lineup after going hitless in the last three games, led the way on offense for the Stars: 3-4 with another 2B, pushing his Southern-league leading tally to an even 30. Morris is tied for 4th on the league HR leaderboard, second in AVG (.313, lg-leader at .315), second in RBI (68, leader w/70), third in SLG, third in OPS, and he leads the total bases category by a comfortable 22 TB! Take a look for yourself, there's really no reason not to be very optimistic on Morris at this point -- Southern League leaderboard. Hainley Statia went 2-4 with a pair of singles. Khris Davis finished 1-4 with 1 BB. Domnit Bolivar and Adam Weisenburger each went hitless but drew 1 BB apiece. Josh Prince was 1-3 with 1 BB on the game, and he stole yet another bag to push his organization-leading total to 34... however, he was also CS for the 14th time on the campaign. That's appx. a 71% success rate, right near the supposed break-even line in terms of basestealing being worth the risk. Prince was also removed from the game in the top of the 9th (Lee Haydel took over in CF & drew a BB in his only plate appearance). There was no note in the game log about Prince getting hurt, but he saw a lot of action in the 8th, and his spot in the lineup didn't come up in the home half of the frame. Huntsville PbP Since I just addressed Prince's apparent injury, I'll start here a little out of order, with the top of the 8th: Birmingham Top of the 8th -Erik Morrison doubles (9) on a fly ball to center fielder Josh Prince. -Luis Sierra singles on a ground ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Erik Morrison scores. -With Kenneth Williams batting, wild pitch by Brian Garman, Luis Sierra to 2nd. -Kenneth Williams singles on a ground ball to center fielder Josh Prince. Luis Sierra to 3rd. -Daniel Wagner pops out to shortstop Tommy Manzella. -Pitcher Change: R. J. Seidel replaces Brian Garman. -Tyler Saladino out on a sacrifice fly to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Luis Sierra scores. -Jared Mitchell triples (11) on a fly ball to center fielder Josh Prince. Kenneth Williams scores. -Seth Loman strikes out swinging. I wonder if Prince perhaps made a diving catch attempt on the triple and missed? Just a guess; hopefully we can get some more info on his status soon. So here's the Stars' only offense on the game, the three-run 3rd... and they didn't exactly mash their way to that tally: Huntsville Bottom of the 3rd -Adam Weisenburger walks. -Josh Prince singles on a ground ball to center fielder Kenneth Williams. Adam Weisenburger to 2nd. -Tommy Manzella hits a sacrifice bunt. Throwing error by third baseman Erik Morrison. Adam Weisenburger scores. Josh Prince scores. Tommy Manzella to 3rd. -Scooter Gennett out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Kenneth Williams. Tommy Manzella scores. -Khris Davis strikes out swinging. -Hunter Morris singles on a soft fly ball to left fielder Brady Shoemaker. -Hainley Statia singles on a fly ball to left fielder Brady Shoemaker. Hunter Morris to 2nd. -Kentrail Davis strikes out swinging. Huntsville Gameday

I know the other side of the argument is we should have traded Fielder and promoted LaPorta. No, the other side of the argument would be to have traded away a package like they did for CC in order to get a cost-controlled (younger) player.

I know I'm not the first or only person to bring this up, but the most exciting season by any hitting prospect so far might just be Cameron Garfield's .301/.395/.485/.880. Yes, he hasn't played fulltime (iirc he was still working his way back from the 2011 knee injury early this season), but with the way he's hitting, I hope a bump to BC will be coming fairly soon. A 21-yo catcher & former 2d-round pick... yeah, I think it's definitely time to start getting legitimately excited about Garfield.

[disclaimer: I don't want to crap on this thread, merely want to comment on the Pirates] I really don't think beating the Pirates is any big accomplishment. That is one horrible offense. It's really surprising to me that they've won so many games this far. I think their org. has been heading in the right direction for several years now, but this team is not a legit contender. Nice to see the Brewers take a series! And today's game was definitely excellent to watch.

It's some kind of protective brace, not really sure. He's been wearing it for a long time now... iirc he was wearing it last season too.

Awesome to see Ben come back with such a strong first performance. If he can stay healthy, this could wind up being the best 'trade-deadline' addition this year.

I think a mid-3's ERA, with most of his career coming in the AL (for comparison, Cain's career road ERA is 3.59), does qualify you as an elite pitcher -- or at least "elite", in terms of what comes along on the FA market. The way I look at who's an elite pitcher -- and of course this is only my take -- is based much more on physical tools. That's because imo the elite pitchers' ERAs really tend to bounce around that mid-3's area. Some years you see a guy closer to a 4 ERA, some years he's closer to a 3... but typically speaking, mid-3's seems to be where the elite or very good guys hang out from year to year [EDIT: what I mean here is that I think of mid-3's as like the baseline for an elite pitcher's ERA will likely be, in any given year -- not that I think a 3.50 ERA season is elite]. I tend to think of the extremely good seasons (like Verlander's '11 or '12 so far... and prior to '11, Verlander wasn't "able" to post anything but mid-3's ERA seasons) or "bad"/not-elite seasons as performance spikes, and that the pitcher will bounce back to that mid-3's range as opposed to continue the rest of his career in the low 3's or 2's somewhere/upper 3's or 4's somewhere. Again, this is not meant to be scientific, just my kind of baseline approach to qualifying who's an elite pitcher. Imho there's just too much volatility from season to season for most top pitchers to say a guy has to be low-3's or sub-3's in ERA from year to year for me to consider him an "ace" or "elite".

Excellent!

Birmingham 12, @Huntsville 5 Huntsville Box The Barons jumped all over starter Evan Anundsen, scoring five runs in the 1st. Anundsen then only allowed one hit until the 6th inning... when, with one out, he surrendered a single and walk. He was lifted from the game for reliever Philippe Valiquette, who proceeded to give up a single and two HRs for a a 6-run Birmingham inning. Dan Merklinger worked 3 IP in relief, allowing a single run on a solo HR in the 8th. Still no Scooter Gennett, who's been absent from the Huntsville lineup since a 9th-inning play at home plate on Wednesday (heads-up catch by Brad in yesterday's L.R.). No word yet -- as far as I know -- from the organization. Hunter Morris's 0-fer extended to three straight games, as he went 0-4... although he walked once and came up with a groundout RBI in the 6th. T.J. Mittelstaedt led the Huntsville offense, finishing 2-4 with a pair of doubles and one walk. Hainley Statia went 3-4 with 1 BB & 1 RBI. Anderson De La Rosa was 2-4 with 1 BB; Kentrail Davis was 2-5 with 1 RBI, and 1/1 in SB attempts. Josh Prince went 1-4 with a BB and yet another SB (33) that pushed his organization-leading total three ahead of second place-holder Reggie Keen (A+, Brevard County). Khris Davis and Lee Haydel each finished 1-5; Davis had one RBI. The closest the Stars were able to get tonight was 5-3, after scoring once in the 3rd and twice in the 5th. But they weren't able to chase down Birmingham after the Barons jumped ahead, 11-3, on the strength of their 6-run 6th.. Huntsville PbP Not much fun to be found in tonight's game log, but here's Huntsville's best offensive inning: Huntsville Bottom of the 5th -T. J. Mittelstaedt doubles (3) on a ground ball to right fielder Jose Martinez. -Hunter Morris lines out to left fielder Brady Shoemaker. -Khris Davis strikes out swinging. -Hainley Statia singles on a fly ball to right fielder Jose Martinez. T. Mittelstaedt scores. Hainley Statia to 2nd on the throw. -Pitcher Change: Nevin Griffith replaces Andre Rienzo. -Kentrail Davis singles on a ground ball to center fielder Jared Mitchell. Hainley Statia scores. -With Tommy Manzella batting, Kentrail Davis steals (14) 2nd base. -Tommy Manzella strikes out swinging. 5-3 after that mini-rally, and the Stars had to be feeling like they could get right back in this game... oh well. Lace 'em up tomorrow and try again. Huntsville Gameday

I don't agree on "very good" -- "above average" is the highest I'd be willing to go, in the subjective-labels dept. If Lucroy has transformed into a .900+ OPS hitter for good, then I might be willing to change my stance... but I'm not holding my breath there. This is an offense that routinely runs out Braun/Hart/Ramirez & then 5 other subpar (this season or otherwise) hitters [EDIT: you make a solid point on Aoki... maybe drop my 'subpar' claim to 4 guys]. That's not what "very good" offenses are made of. The Yankees have a "very good" offense. The Brewers are simply better than most other NL offenses.

Thornburg's changeup is his featured secondary pitch. And I don't think we're watching the same FB if you're categorizing him as having a straight & flat FB. When he makes a mistake with it? Yeah, sure. But not when it's working well.

The Brewers currently have the third best offense in the NL If you go by OPS+, which is park-adjusted, they are just barely over lg-avg... which matches up fairly well with 'the eye test' imho. This is not a special offense, as much as I wish it were. It's Ryan Braun, Ramirez & Hart, and a bunch of dudes.

My reaction to reading your post (yes, I talked out loud... to myself) -- Mormez? Who is... ohhhhh, I get it!