TooLiveBrew

He's on the Fox broadcast now, too, but I'm sure just about everyone knows that

I'm hoping it's to DFA Soup to get Gomez back on the 25-man, but it will probably be to send Axford back down

12/15, missed Rose, Sandoval, & Schmidt

I think the assertion that his defense is hurting his offense is pretty baseless. Weeks isn't as good a defender as he was showing last season, but imo he's also not bad enough to move off 2B. I believe he's right around average in terms of fielding value, as the mistakes he makes are mitigated to a certain extent by the fact that he can get to a lot more balls than many 2B. Moving him to the OF would cut into his value even more, so I don't get that idea. Fwiw, his UZR/150 so far is 1.1, so just above average by that metric. That matches up much better with my own 'eye test' at this point than the fielding bible's rating.

It's really all a matter of opinion on what capitalizing is. Imo, putting up an OPS north of .800 when starting as a rookie is pretty darn impressive. Putting up the league-average 3B batting slash line as a rookie with sporadic playing time is pretty impressive imo as well. This is why I'm of the belief that Mat didn't get the gig because of something behind the scenes, whether it's just that people don't like him, or if he has a bad work ethic and/or attitude, or some combo of those factors.

Are we supposed to ignore his very poor success rate to this point in identifying high upside starting pitchers[?] No, but... I cant give him credit for a bunch of kids that are not even close to helping this team. I don't think that it's then fair to completely ignore the work he has done in acquiring the types of arms you want him to collect.

Parra was drafted in 2001, wasn't he? Im sorry but Gallardo and Parra are the only current power arms that Melvin has drafted that have made the majors so far and Parra is still a major question mark. But you're also chiding him for not being able to identify & acquire power arms prior to them reaching the majors, which is why I listed off the guys in my previous post aside from Gallardo.

I think joepepsi's point is that it isn't very useful, whether it's factual or not. Dave Bush has never even allowed 30 HR in a season, so I actually do think it's pretty ridiculous to suggest that 40 is an accurate projection. Besides, that's using a 200 IP season from Bush, which he hasn't turned in since 2006.

Do you give him full credit, then, for Gallardo (and his contract extension) & Braddock? How about Odorizzi, Jeffress, Arnett, Peralta, Rivas, Rogers, Scarpetta, & Heckathorn? Each of those guys throws hard (or in Odorizzi's case, projects to add enough velocity to qualify) & has pretty good upside. Melvin may have not made a trade to bring in a high end power arm, but like monty57 notes, perhaps the Brewers saw something in McGowan's delivery they didn't like. He did try to nab Clay Buchholz last year when Buchholz was squeezed out of the Red Sox rotation, and that's just the one inquiry we've heard about. I really don't think it's wise or fair to assume Buchholz is the only high-end power guy Melvin has inquired about. As has been noted by others, those types of pitchers are really, really hard to get, & tend not to get traded.

Thanks, not sure why I couldn't find that by looking at ESPN (not Google)

Thank you for finding that, I looked for old ST stats before I posted (checked B-R.com, MLB, ESPN) & couldn't find them -- where did you find those? My assumption that he'd worked less this season than in STs past was obviously just wrong.

Eric Byrnes hitting the snot out of a ball for his first slow-pitch HR. Sorry I couldn't embed the video http://sports.yahoo.com/m...e-Dutch-G?urn=mlb,240776

Well, yeah, 4 appearances & 4 total IP. Sorry, didn't mean to imply he literally didn't pitch this past ST, that was written poorly. I meant it as "actually pitched" instead of just throwing a tiny sample of work... meant that I doubt he's had little to no real workload in STs past.

And in years past, I am betting Hoffman actually pitched in Spring Training. That's the main reason why I'm not as doom & gloom on him yet.

Whoa, Capuano looking incredible sporting the knee-high stirrup socks! Those are a must if he's called up to Milwaukee http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

He didn't say they are irrelevant I don't think anyone really knows what Hoffman's true ability is at this time. This is the real trick. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that if Hoffman's still struggling in or near June, that I would be worried. Maybe I'm too forgiving, but I just can't get seriously worried yet.

This is from your latest post in the Rangers-Brewers pitching thread. I know not much more time has elapsed, but I'm still very concerned about Dave Bush. His average FB velocity has actually dropped since I started this topic, and as of today sits at 85.9mph. Both his cutter & slider are also significantly slower than they have ever been. If it's related to mechanics, I guess that's better, since it's correctable. However, if it's something due to and/or left over from the injury, is that cause for alarm? Could that mean Bush is still not recovered, or even worse, that the injury has permanently affected his ability? I'll be hoping for the best for Dave, but at this point, I'm not sure what to make of things.

TLB, is it too much too ask for Melvin to have acquired any high upside young pitching via trade as GM? Absolutely not. I just don't agree with the notion that he doesn't really look to do it. He is always taking the easy way out by signing the Davis' and Loopers of the world while smart organizations like Tampa acquire guys like Garza. I don't know if it's 100% fair to hold Minnesota's blunder against Melvin, but I certainly won't pretend that I can just claim Melvin shouldn't be scrutinized on that deal. But so should every other MLB GM, basically. I'd have to imagine that if more GMs were aware that was the asking price on Garza, TB's offer wouldn't have got it done as it stood. How do you know that Overbay would have returned Marcum or McGowan? I don't mean to imply you can't back it up, but do you have any proof? This is the kind of over-simplification I was referring to in my previous post. Perhaps it's not as simple as, 'Well, he should have just taken Marcum/McGowan'

Had he fired Z and then hired Seid you might be onto something. However all he did was hire the best remaining member of the scouting dept to become the scouting director after Z left with his posse. Color me unsurprised that you can't find any room to praise Melvin here. He's in a no-win situation with you. Even when he makes a decision that would appear to match up with your own (Seid), you still find a reason why he gets no credit. Melvin could have hired any one of numerous other candidates, and if he really wanted to stick with the bat-first philosophy, I'm sure there was more than one option on his candidate list. But he didn't -- he made the hire that would appear to please you. I'm talking about prospect/unproven pitching which was readily available until the last couple of seasons, and no I don't mean David Price type prospect talent. I'm talking about guys like Niemann who didn't have a home because there wasn't room enough in the TB rotation while being stuck in AAA... a young pitcher with a great arm and good stuff on the rise. It's really not that difficult to uncover that type of talent, I can do it from browsing the MiLB leader boards and looking at career trends, actual scouts should be able to do a much better job. It does seem easy for you to identify these types of pitchers, and I agree that scouts can probably do a much better job of it than you or I. The question I will put to you, then, is -- why is Niemann still with the Rays? I recognize Niemann is just one example, but your scenarios always are presented as so easy, so black & white. Just go out & get Niemann! Are you really of the belief that pitching like this is so readily available? Is the answer really that every single other MLB team that was looking for this type of pitching is just too ineptly run to nab someone like Niemann? Or maybe, just maybe, the Rays didn't want to part with Niemann as freely as you seem to indicate they would have been. "Pay any cost" to get the arm you want doesn't seem like a wise organizational strategy to me, especially given the volatile nature of pitching injuries. Maybe the Rays -- the model franchise in terms of how it's run imho -- were very aware of Niemann's value to both the league & themselves, and demanded more than he is really worth in trade, or just more than any other GM was willing to pay. To me, that would explain why he's still in Tampa (though I admit to not knowing about injuries or other extenuating circumstances that may have been involved in him staying) much better than that MLB GMs (Melvin included) after young talented SPing are just dolts & can't get the job done. Look at how Boston handled Clay Buchholz. He was another guy in a similar situation to Niemann, and Buchholz even spoke about it at one point last season: It appears the Red Sox went out of their way to not deal Buchholz, even risking souring him on the organization & perhaps demanding a trade. If I had to bet on the Niemann situation, I would bet that the Rays handled it quite similarly... holding onto a talented & valuable young arm unless some team swooped in & made an offer too good to refuse. So with that idea in mind I'm very much into impact depth and I'm not very big on sitting on my hands waiting for a perfect wave of pitching prospects to pan out. This doesn't make sense to me. You want impact depth, but you don't want to wait for it to develop? The only way young, impact pitching seems to get traded now is for other impact pitching. I'm not sure if you're maybe suggesting the Brewers package Odorizzi & Arnett or something for a more high-caliber arm. I think I might have just missed your point in that sense. The other part of this statement that bothers me is your continuing assertion that Melvin doesn't explore trade scenarios. It's an irrefutable claim, just as the other end of the spectrum is unprovable. I can just as easily claim that Melvin is doing everything he can & exploring every possible scenario, and have absolutely no way to back it up as well. However, I actually can bring a bit of meat with regards to Buchholz. Tom Haudricourt tweeted last fall that, So there's some tangible evidence for you that Melvin tried to get Buchholz from the Red Sox last July, precisely in the kind of circumstances that you complain he fails to act upon. I'm almost expecting an explanation from you as to why that's not good enough from Doug. Again, what you're calling for to be done appears to have happened -- the organization has re-prioritized projectable pitching as top dog. But it just happened last year. I understand that part of your point is that you're frustrated it took so long; I can't begrudge you that. I guess all I ask of you is the ability/humility to admit that the organization has pointed its rudder in the direction you've been calling for, and give Melvin the tiniest shred of credit here, which imo he absolutely deserves (especially from you). EDIT: Gah, sorry for the monster post. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

I think it's odd that you essentially cite the randomness in predicting who will & won't be able to consistently throw strikes, & then blame the organization for the most uncontrollable element of all in pitching -- injuries. What do you base your opinion that the "medical staff is definitely lacking behind" upon?

Anyone have (or know the person that has) the ball & glove logo "TNTCRU" plate? I just drove past that plate on 41 this afternoon.

I don't like the logo because I "can't let go of the past". I like the logo because it's an awesome logo. I was too young to even remember the early 80s teams; that has nothing to do with it.

That's not a bad contract offer, but the Howard contract might have ruined any shot the Brewers have at getting Prince to sign that deal. 5/$125M blows 6/109$M out of the water.

Parra has worse career numbers than Kameron Loe in almost exactly the same amount of major league innings. Why does anyone think he's any more deserving of roster spot than Loe who's only a year older? Parra might be marginally better than Davis at this point, but that's not saying much. He'll be 28 in October. I just don't see any upside. The pure stuff is always the answer with Manny. Kameron Loe hardly touches 90 with his fastball. Not to mention the fact that injuries held back Manny's develoment -- so, while yes he's 27, he hasn't had the 'normal' amount of developmental time you might expect of a 27yo. Being marginally better than Doug Davis is a scenario I would take every time for Manny. Davis has had a good career.

His pitches have not been effective, that is definite. However, to me, a more reasonable answer to 'Why?' is that it's early in the season (& he didn't throw in ST) and his mechanics are out of whack. Not that he's just toast. Do you acknowledge the fact that he could well just be getting himself sorted out still like most pitchers did in ST? April has seen, historically, Trevor's second-highest monthly ERA split. While you're right in that he's never been *this* bad, it's not the first time he's started a season off poorly.