TooLiveBrew

Cervelli is the Yanks' MLB backup, this is AAA depth

Total deal could be $38.5M over 7 years. Per Cot's, here's the breakdown: 10: $0.4M11: $5M12: $5M13: $5M14: $7M club option ($2M buyout)15: $7.5M club option ($1M buyout)16: $8M club option ($0.5M buyout) Lind is entering his age-26 season... '16 would be his age-32 season. Link

Really glad to see Hart put the right foot forward tonight in front of the home fans (at least judging from the box score). Hopefully that will keep the boo birds away.

I'll bet you $50 donation to Rickie Weeks JDF that his OPS will not be .750 with minimum 350 ABs. Maybe someone that didn't lose his job can take you up on that one http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Fwiw, Hart's OPS prior to the appendectomy last season was .773. Even including his August & September numbers, it was over .750

Plus, when the problems are tied to pitch selection, it's hard to look at Hart's OBPs and expect him to get a lot better. I actually feel like '09 was good for Corey in terms of patience. He learned not to be patient for patience's sake, but the main reason his power/SLG was down was due to a crummy month of May & the appendectomy imo (missing August & half of Sept., then having to re-adjust on the fly). He only had one bad month at the plate prior to the emergency appendectomy. I would not be surprised at all to see him rebound this season.

I guess it simply remains to be seen whether the former is lazy scouting groupthink or the latter is too-hopeful fanboyism. My guess would be a little bit of both. Prospect experts fall victim to that groupthink thing all too easily.

If that's based on Hart's comments about having to live up to his arby contract, it's way exaggerated on AJAY's part. Hart was basically trying to laugh off the pressure of fan expectations by saying his dad was a much tougher critic than any fan.

And if Hart comes out of the gates like he did last season, he'd be trade-able

I still don't understand why he's not

And people begged for a release of Weeks. And Bush. Corey Hart played well in the minors, Bill Hall did not. There was definite reason to suspect Hall's '06 was a fluke. Coincidentally, the player Hall reminds me of (little success in the minors, then out-of-nowhere success in MLB) is McGehee... who's also stunk up this Spring Training. I'm aware that the difference btw. Hart's & McGehee's reception is largely salary, but let's not pretend it isn't also 'what have you done for me lately'. No one's calling for McGehee's release. I think Hart will post an OPS in the upper .700s with regular playing time. If he's only really used against lefties (& doesn't sulk in a part-time role), it's probably more reasonable to expect it to be over .800. Going by month last season, his OPS totals were .873 (coming off a disappointing '08 season), .626, .785, .832, .250, .660. Of course the guy had an emergency appendectomy & missed basically all of August (3 ABs) & almost half of September. Prior to the surgery, that's one bad month, two good months, & one so-so month at the plate. So now he's had a rough ST -- I'm supposed to weigh that heavier than his track record & omit that his injury last season clearly dragged his production down? His slash line at the end of last July was .266/.336/.437/.773. That's roughly what I'd expect from him playing most of the time. All the major projection systems, including the fans' take at FanGraphs, project Hart in the upper .700s in terms of OPS. Fwiw, my comment you quoted had more to do with how annoying I find the quick trigger so many seem to have with the DFA/release calls. Not as much about Hart specifically.

Braddock has options & doesn't require being passed through revocable waivers

Yeah, I just missed swapping out Edmonds v. LHP. No way I'd want to see Zaun batting second, ever, though.

I would swap Zaun & Escobar against righties, & use this against lefties. Very nice.

What's the latest on Delfino? Is he ok?

Didn't know if I should start a new thread or not, but the following is from McCalvy's latest blog post:

14-9 6+6+4 = 16

Hall played solid defense, I wonder if that factored in.

I'm glad to hear you recommend Ranger. I respect your beerness, and I had a sixer or Ranger in my hands before walking past Moon Man at my local liquor store. Thanks for the disclaimer on the hoppiness of that beer though. It's been a few years since I had Flying Dog's IPA, but I don't remember being impressed. I will have to seek it out again. Flying Dog has been really hit and miss (mostly miss) for me. I wasn't big on their Tire Bite or their Road Dog (Scotch Ale). I did really, really like their Gonzo Porter. One of my favorite IPAs at the moment is Smuttynose IPA. I've also heard really good things about Lakefront's IPA as well. I like the Ranger more than Snake Dog. I guess I shouldn't just make the blanket comment that "I'm a fan of Flying Dog" -- I really only like their Pale Ale & now the IPA. I tend to not like many brews outside of Ales, so I don't do a good job of comparing them well. I just dislike how sweet Abbeys & many Bocks can be (though I love most Maibocks). Is Smuttynose widely available? I've never heard of that one. As for Lakefront, I've liked just about everything I've tried from them. They're a very overlooked brewery imo. Their Stein Beer is pretty awesome. Just got ahold of their Big Easy Imperial Maibock. Yum. I liked it more than the B it gets at beeradvocate, but I honestly am not nearly as knowledgeable & critical of beer as many posters there are. I don't grade a beer on things like "lacing" (no idea what that is) or "retention". I might actually know what those phrases mean in layman's terms, but I tend to 'grade' beers based on how good I think they are in a much more basic sense. Hopping is really the only thing I think I know a tiny bit about, and that was only due to living in the Pac. NW for a while, where hops are king.

I just think that's a worst-case outlook. Edmonds has shown his bat speed is still there, and his most recent MLB production against righties was very impressive. Gerut struggled after going from a full-time to part-time role, which isn't uncommon. He's a solid CF bat against righties. Hart is more than solid against lefties -- if there's a shared playing time situation, I'd want Hart getting 100% of the starts against lefties. Which brings me to where we agree http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I also worry about Macha's employment of shared playing time overall. It's looking like he prefers to use Edmonds in CF & Gerut in RF. That to me is pretty clearly 180 degrees from reality. Edmonds has the bat to justify use in the corner, & likely average to below-avg. defense at CF. Gerut doesn't really have a bat that makes him a no-brainer at a corner spot, but can give you average to above-avg. defense at CF. In any event, the biggest thing is to have the right players. I think the Brewers do. How Macha uses them is important, but less so. Hart probably will get his shot as a full-time player to start the season (let's remember he had a great April 2009), but if he struggles I just can't see Macha having the patience to stick with him like Yost might have. The best thing that could happen for the Brewers' OF this season imo is Gomez to start off hitting well. If he 'proves' himself to Macha, he'll be able to get the plate appearances he needs to continue to develop, and would really force Edmonds to be used more in RF since Gomez's defense is so dang good.

I think I'd agree, but honestly Lawrie & Escobar get a lot of prospect-expert love (esp. Lawrie's bat). Add in two solid catching prospects in Salome & Lucroy, a guy like Lo Cain, and several talented young arms around the A+ & AA level, & I'd say the Brewers are doing a fine job. I like what Seid has done so far. And clearly I'm overlooking other talented players, just a quick off-the-top list. Bringing this back to Fielder, I think the Brewers are actually in a good situation. They have an elite hitter & proven commodity in Prince. They have cheap talent on its way up the system to complement what would be their higher-priced stars in Braun, Fielder, & Gallardo in a few seasons. However, the org. also has leverage imo since life really can go on without Fielder. Gamel is a natural successor at 1B (even though I obv. prefer him at 3B) since McGehee looks like a capable 3Bman. I think Taylor Green is going to have a bounce-back year, & if he does, he's pretty close to being MLB-ready, so that's even more 3B depth. My vote is to try to retain Fielder with a 5-year deal, so he'd have a chance at one more huge payday before he'd be getting older. Whether Fielder is interested in that or not is another issue entirely. If the Brewers are forced to trade him, I think we'd be able to add at least one more talented, cheap player.

What's so bad about him if he only winds up being a LH-masher? Sure, we're overpaying him this year, but that's just how baseball's economics work. If he struggles against righties, we suddenly have a pretty strong platoon in RF.

RF is a black hole. This is hardly true. A black hole is starting Jason Kendall, not having three solid options for a corner OF spot. I know people are way, way down on Hart, but the worst-case scenario from his p.o.v. would actually be the best-case scenario for the Crew imo... which of course would be a Gerut/Hart or Edmonds/Hart platoon.

The Twins produce major leaguers at a much steadier pace than the Brewers. I feel like this is just a label that's stuck with MIN from the Hunter/Jones/Mientkiewicz days. Who have they developed that makes them any more impressive than the Brewers? Certainly trading Matt Garza for Delmon Young isn't a positive move. I'd argue that the Brewers are every bit as good at developing their own players, if not better. Once the next wave of pitching gets to or near MLB (roughly 2011), I think the Brewers will have a clear advantage.

Impressive to see Gallardo so far ahead in that vote.

No, he's not a bad player, but he has no upside whatsoever. In my view he's a servicable 4th OF and that's about it at this point in his career. He's a LH bat that can handle CF fine, with a strong track record against RHP (.803 career OPS) in terms of CF. That's a valuable player who would at worst see the v. RHP half of a platoon role on the majority of big-league clubs. I don't understand the upside comment -- even if you're only talking the larger portion of a platoon role, .800 OPS + solid defense is hard to find in center. As a corner OF, he's certainly not as valuable, but overall I'm very glad Melvin picked him up (esp. for only TGJ). Edmonds seems to have proven himself this spring, but how many starts can you reasonably expect from him, given that he didn't play all of last year? This is another reason why I like having Gerut. Our OF is probably the area I'm most confident in heading into the season. We really are very strong there in terms of the 5 guys we have. Not many teams can boast that kind of depth. If Gomez takes any kind of step forward on offense this season, and Gerut/Edmonds/Hart are utilized in favorable matchups, we could easily be near the top of the NL or even MLB in terms of outfield production.