TooLiveBrew

From what I've read about him so far (admittedly all via BF.net), it sounds like the best summary of Sardiñas is that his floor is a utility IF with ++ defense, & his ceiling is a top-tier defender/second-tier hitter starting SS. Seems like a pretty solid addition, and like you also note, the pitchers have promise as well. This deal reminds me of the Aoki-Smith deal last offseason. Trade a declining but solid vet with one year left under contract... for 5-6+ seasons of young talent that isn't completely unproven but needs more of an opportunity to shine.

Ah yes, the classic BGITSTGTHOy. (but seriously, I agree with you 100% & I think we should just bring back "Fireman" as the term)

I do too; I'm just really really disappointed that they didn't name him Rob Bro.

Such an unclassy move. I'd love to him do that against the Cardinals. That right there is the stuff dreams are made of. That would be so unbelievably hilarious.

... Just one more question...

Man, it's still crazy to me that you can just go buy a 2TB hard drive for like $100... 1TB at like $75. We definitely live in 'the future'

I know you aren't at like a zero knowledge level, but check out these links -- NewEgg's External Hard Drive Buying Guide NewEgg: External Hard Drives, sorted by highest user rating

Well it's a great one to be 'stuck' with. The background being utter darkness works perfectly for an avatar imo. Mine is an iconic image from my favorite part of my favorite film of all-time.

If I trade Gomez, it wouldn't be in a deal where the key piece is a RP who'd pitch 60-70 innings in a season & is already expensive (& I don't mean to knock Kimbrel in terms of talent). If you look to trade Gomez, the target imo should be at least two young players with franchise-player potentials.

Awesome stuff, thanks MH!

don't waiver claims cost the team $25,000 or $50,000? That's why I threw the quotes around "free"

Absolutely agree with that -- I was shocked the first time I saw him once he began his... new workout regimen. I recall him saying he changed it up so he'd be faster & more agile. But dude looked like a balloon that'd been deflated.

It actually looks like he fights it off & grounds to the right side of the IF... which makes me wonder if his early weight-shifting messed up his timing as well, since his swing was late. On the plus side, on a pitch where he got jammed, his swing looks pretty balanced and in-synch overall - shoulders, hands, hips, balance. Definitely can see how he hits for a good AVG, but I agree that it looks like he needs some tweaking for more raw power.

Probably, but the main question would be how much money would it have taken to basically convince Drew to be Segura's backup. Imo it's pretty clear that the Brewers are still very much committed to Segura at short. With the Yanks, yes they just acquired Didi Gregorius, but it looks more likely there that Drew will truly be in an open competition for the starting SS role. A career OPS of .747 over 4200 PA's for a SS is "all hype"? He had one bad year - a year in which he didn't have a spring training because he wasn't signed. He had a .777 OPS in 2013. I'd take my chances on him for one year and $5M, especially considering that he hits LH. It's not just one bad year; he was bad in 2012 (granted, coming off a fractured ankle in 2011) in addition to 2014, & even his 2011 wasn't particularly strong. There's a legit overall concern about his durability & potential declining ability at the plate. At this point his career numbers are greatly bolstered by his prime-aged seasons. From age-23 to age-28, his slash line was .270/.330/.442/.773. Since then, his line is .220/.301/.377/.678. With that said, is he worth a roll of the dice at 1/$5M? No question in my mind. As you allude to, he has pretty nice potential against RHP. I'm torn on whether or not I'd have liked to have seen the Crew sign Drew -- ultimately I think my answer would have been 'yes.' However, I think the fact that the club seem to be sticking with Segura means it was always a non-starter for Drew, but man... $5M doesn't seem like a lot to gamble when you could see potential upside like the .876 OPS v.RHP he posted in 2013. $5M probably wouldn't have been too painful to eat if he didn't pan out, & it would've consequently given the team the option to 'find' that RH utility IF in Segura if Drew came in & hit well. Seems like a pretty solid idea imho that would've allowed for some nice roster flexibility (I'm also assuming Drew could've covered 3B in a pinch).

Very true , but my point was that overall I think Sickels is pretty fair... at least enough to not warrant an 'adjustment-up' of the farm system's grade, like I'd apply to a Keith Law 'ranking'. One of the reasons I tend to like Sickels is that he doesn't really go overboard in either his criticism or his praise of players... and he often includes both in his notes on a single player.

Hmm... he's always struck me as pretty fair-minded. Granted, no one really is as bad as this example, but he's never struck me as being like a Keith Law. Here's Sickels's 2011 Top 20 notes on Gennett: "7) Scooter Gennett, 2B, Grade B-: A very good hitter, needs to polish defense but could make a lot of noise in '11. Keep close track of him."

A great read, as usual, from Sickels. I thought he summed up his overall take quite well at the end: "Overall this strikes me as an average farm system that could look much better a year from now if the new 2014 signees reach their considerable ceilings. More depth is needed, but the Brewers have a knack for focusing on what players can do rather than on what they can’t, which helps uncover bargains. Doing that at the same time you add high-upside talents is a recipe for success." To move from being one of the two or three worst farm systems in the game to average in just a couple of years would be a pretty ringing endorsement for the scouting & drafting work that was done.

I love it!

It's not that big of a difference, really. From '07-'12, Hart posted an .830 OPS. From '09-'14, Cruz posted an .845 OPS. Obviously Cruz is still going, but he also was busted for using PEDs. Certainly not franchise-crippling.

Imo this looks pretty clearly to be purely a AAA depth move. He's a not-terrible OF bat that was available for 'free'.

Has Turner officially been announced as the PTBNL?

Craig never even played a season in which he was truly an everyday player. He's not some well-established bat with a long record of consistency. He had about the same track record of production that David Freese did after 2012.

Paging agent39... would love to hear Josh's thoughts on this topic

The Sox philosophy is always to "go for it". I think the Sox see the Central as being very much up for grabs (I agree) in the next season or two or three, & are trying to strike while the iron's hot

I guess we should put Segura in AAA as well then since he OPS'd less than him, had a worse average and roughly the same OBP. Herrera did a nice job for us last season and expecting him to get on base a tad more is not unrealistic considering two seasons ago he was on base 34% of the time in more MLB at bats for the Dodgers. And in the minors he's been on base 36% of the time. Elian might carve out a nice little stint for the Brewers as a utility guy. I'm not sold that Segura is the long-term answer by any means. But he has performed significantly better in the minors & has at least flashed signs of greatness in the bigs. I guess whether Herrera is the last man on the everyday roster or one of the first to be called up from the minors isn't really that big of a deal. I'm just not as sold on him as you are.