batman

I would think that the Stars are going to need one more outfielder, even in the short term. Nelson is still an experiment in left and I doubt he'll want to play there every single day during a pennant race. And if he moves to first once a week (or DHes), they'll need somebody to play the outfield. That said, it's got to be Daryl. He deserves a chance to join that club for the playoff drive and he has nothing left to prove in High Desert. It will be rough on the Mavs, but that's no reason to punish D.J. ~Bill

Awesome! Thanks for sharing... and congratulations to Robbie! Hopefully we'll have a box score soon... I'm sure that will be something you'll want to keep http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . Thanks again, ~Bill

Cap'n Lou Palmisano intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs. Looks like the Captain is getting the Prince Fielder treatment already http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . On an unrelated note, Beloit tied up the game 2-2 in the eighth. ~Bill

Wasn't there an article linked here recently wherein a few of the Huntsville players were singing the praises of Gripp? Jim, do you remember that? Anyway, it's too bad... he never seemed to get an opportunity with the Brewers. Oh well. ~Bill

Taking one out of three against the Braves isn't that bad. Yes, the two losses were of the ugly variety... but really, did anyone expect the Crew to win this series? I doubt it. Good to see Enrique got a pair of at-bats in this series. I was beginning to think that he was dead. He had gone 19 games without an at-bat before yesterday. I'm so glad we're committed to the future... I hope more prospects like Enrique can be promoted to the big leagues so they, too, can go weeks without picking up a bat. Great to see Billy Hall got a start this series, too... err. Nevermind. At least Helms' injury got Ginter a few starts. ~Bill

He has decent stuff.... Gets it up around 90-92 mph and has a nasty slurve which has some bigtime movement on it. Because of his age, it'd be nice to see him move up to Indy in a hurry. I guess he also has a huge splitter that opposing teams find difficult to hit (or even make contact with). His stats in the Frontier League were pretty good... I definitely think he has the potential to be a contributor at the Major League level. Its hard to say for sure without seeing him pitch, but I've only heard positive feedback so far. One of you guys that's heading down to Huntsville this summer needs to interview him... I think it would be a very interesting story. ~Bill

Weimar (Texas) High righthander Kenn Kasparek is the event's most intriguing pitcher at 6-foot-10, 225 pounds. He has overpowering potential with an 89-92 mph fastball that comes in on a tough downhill plane, and he showed the ability to spin a hard-biting 79 mph curveball. 6 foot 10?!? Yikes... I bet that 90mph fastball looks like its about 98. Thanks for the link, Patrick! ~Bill

You can also visit the new Brewerfan.net Store for a wide variety of BF shwag. Enjoy, ~Bill

That causes me to raise an eyebrow. My guess? The Mets are cheap and need an excuse to give the fans as to why they don't sign their top draft choice. Seems silly to me. ~Bill

Players who are not on the 25 man roster but who are on the 40 man roster include: - Matt Childers - Ben Diggins - Jayson Durocher - Matt Ford - John Foster - J.M. Gold - Pedro Liriano - David Manning (temporarily on 25) - Luis Martinez - Shane Nance - Nick Neugebauer - Ruben Quevedo - Todd Ritchie - Glendon Rusch - Cody McKay (?!?) - Alejandro Machado Diggins is out for the year, Gold is out for the year. Neugebauer is out for the year. Ritchie is out for the year. Not sure why McKay is on the roster. This stuff is complicated. ~Bill

Brewers close to signing No. 2 draft pick I can't find this on the JS' site... weird that the KRT Wire would have it before the actual JS site. Anyway, read away. EDIT: BTW, this seems to confirm that I (or Drew) was indeed wrong. This will be a 2003 MLB contract. ~Bill

I might have misinterpreted what Drew said... and he might have been wrong. So don't take my word for it. Hopefully we'll have some sort of "official" confirmation soon. ~Bill

Drew Olson sez: He is signing a Major League deal. It's a 2004 contract. ~Bill

when rickie rockets to the bigs do you feel he will be a better leadoff hitter or his he good enough to hit perhaps 3rd?? I would be surprised if more than a couple people on this forum have ever seen him play. Our opinions of him are entirely a product of what we've heard or read. Why don't we wait until he has at least a year of professional baseball under his belt before we start discussing his Major League batting position? This is twice in two days that I've ripped on you, Scoop, but don't take it personally. I'm not saying that its wrong to talk about him but no opinion that you get with regard to his future as a leadoff hitter will be anything more than unsubstantiated speculation. If somebody's seen him play, then by all means chime in. But if not, it seems kinda silly to project his batting order spot before he's even played a pro game. He could develop into the next Sammy Sosa for all we know... not really something to worry about. ~Bill

RE: Davis I agree, Patrick... Davis has some potential, but we signed him to add depth, not quality. He's actually got a bit of MLB experience, too, which is nice to have at the Triple-A level. I don't know anything about his contract, but I assume its similar to Joe Roa's... if he gets a MLB contract offer, he can take it. ~Bill

However, I have to believe the Brewers will feel the urge to bump him up. Didn't they feel the urge to bump him up from AA a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, it seems very likely that he'll be in Milwaukee by the end of the week. If not, I can't imagine Manning getting more than one more start... at which point, Martinez is the guy. As for the "do promote/don't promote" debate, I'm not sure. Of course 3 starts doesn't in itself earn a promotion... but it's not like he was pitching poorly at Huntsville before making his way to Indy. Luis has put together a solid season's worth of starts between the two levels. I would normally advocate patience and erring on the side of more time in the minors, but three things complicate that perspective for me in this specific case: 1> He will get to start every fifth day whether he is in Milwaukee or Indy. Unlike a position player like Billy Hall or a reliever like Shane Nance, he won't spend his time with Milwaukee as a late-inning replacement that rarely plays. As a result, he will get the same amount of work at either level... so as far as his development goes, I don't know how much difference it makes. 2> The Brewers don't really have any other viable options. Perhaps Coco or Davis, but not really. If Manning struggles and both Rusch and Ford are still on the DL, the only MLB-level option is Burba. While that would make sense, it seems like Yost et. al. aren't willing to use him as a starter, preferring to keep him in the pen to eat useless innings in blowouts. 3> Martinez is old enough that pitching in the majors isn't unheard of. Plenty of guys have gotten some starts for the first time at age 23 or earlier... and as long as the club is diligent about his workload and his conditioning, everything should be fine. I don't think there is any real significant increase in the chance of an injury between AAA and the MLB. Also, he's on the 40-man roster and would only accumulate less than two months of service time. Something to consider, at least. I'm still not sure its a good idea, but I think its pretty much guaranteed to happen. And really, its not the worst thing in the world... and it could very likely turn out for the best. Thoughts? ~Bill

20.1 IP, 16 H, 6 BB, 23 K, no earned runs, no runs at all That is, quite frankly, unbelievable. I mean... WHOA. Gotta believe that he'll get a start this week in Milwaukee... and if so, I just might have to be there . ~Bill

Patrick? Is that you? ~Bill

Both. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ~Bill

I'm sure some/most of you knew this, but Juan Nieves is the pitching coach of the Birmingham Barons (tonight's Huntsville opponent). Very interesting... he'll always be remembered as one of the worst pitchers ever to throw a no-no, but I'm glad he's still involved in baseball. Just wanted to share in case others were unaware... ~Bill

I don't know, but I like it http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . There's always High Desert, though. ~Bill

Mike Jones interview on Huntsville's webcast right now (10:04PM Central). Tune in if you're interested. ~Bill

The Bulls are third in the IL in runs scored, to boot. It's not like he did this against the Brewers or anything. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/happy.gif Not bad! ~Bill

The AP Wire article today is pretty funny. Seemingly in slow motion, Eddie Perez hit third base and turned for home. No way this slow-footed catcher could score from second on a wild pitch, right? There was no way the stumbling New York Mets could stop him. Perez's long journey around the bases helped the Milwaukee Brewers beat the New York Mets 4-3 Thursday and prompted his teammates to give him a new nickname. "They call me Seabiscuit now," Perez said. ... Perez snapped an 0-for-17 slump with an RBI single that gave the Brewers a 3-1 lead in the eighth. He moved up on a sacrifice and scored from second when Edwin Almonte's wild pitch caromed off catcher Jason Phillips' mask toward the first-base dugout. "I thought about pinch-running for him, too. With that speed, who needs a pinch-runner?" Milwaukee manager Ned Yost deadpanned. "That was nothing short of a miracle." Mets first baseman Tony Clark finally retrieved the ball and threw home, but it was too late. "I haven't seen too many bounces like that," Clark said. "To make matters worse, it kind of ricocheted into the corner instead of going into the dugout." Seabiscuit. That's great. ~Bill

I'm following online: how did Perez score from second on a wild pitch? Crazy, huh? Apparently the pitch bounced off Phillips' mask and he couldn't find it. Eddie had his PF Flyers on and scored standing up. ~Bill