TuesdaysWithRillo

I'll just be happy if the Brewers win the division and we'll see what happens from there because the playoffs are a crapshoot anyways where anything can happen.

Jeremy Hellickson will be a hot pick in fantasy drafts come March as he gets a spot in the Rays rotation now. The Rays Major League roster might have gotten better as a result of this trade.

I don't think it's the money of ESPN that we would be luring Valentine away from. It's the stress free life. Being a manager is a lot more stressful than sitting in a studio giving your 2 cents so to draw Valentine back into the trenches it's going to take some serious money.

Arnett got shelled again. I wonder if he even gets promoted to BC next season.

I'd be in favor of giving Mark Rogers a spot start in September.

Scarpetta putting on a strikeout clinic.

I would think they'll let him throw up to 140 innings to build up his arm to a point where he could contribute at the major league level next year if called upon. That may be a bit progressive though.

Rogers having a nice game, but he still is having pitch count issues. He's approaching 100 pitches in the 6th inning. We need him to get deeper into games in order to crack the 2011 rotation at some point.

I miss Yost and his knack for giving young players a chance. Good for him. http://www.mlbtraderumors...tm_content=Google+Reader (fixed link --1992)

Peralta with 4 scoreless frames so far.

What a frustrating year it's been for Arnett. I wonder if the Brewers start him at Brevard County in 2011.

Because he is acknowledging he just figured out what a good pitcher is 7 years after taking the General Manager job. No, he definitely knew what a good pitcher was throughout his years as the Brewers GM, he just never had a drafting strategy that follows general qualities of successful starting pitching. There are several pitchers who don't fit those qualities that are very good major league pitchers (see Roy Oswalt or Tim Lincecum), but if they are treated as exceptions to the rule, hopefully it leads to better drafting results for Bruce Seid and his staff.

Once Odorizzi, Heckathorn, Rogers, Rivas, and Scarpetta become major league ready, Melvin will have the pitching he is looking for. How can we blame Melvin for all of the injuries/suspensions to our top prospect pitchers in the last few years? At least he has a plan of action to try and overcome all of the bad luck that we've had. Good for him.

Scarpetta having a fine night. The guy is a strikeout machine. Only one walk so far as well. Hopefully he can go deeper into the game.

FTJ defends Steinbrenner but takes every possible shot he can at Ned Yost. Interesting. RIP Steinbrenner. Thoughts and prayers with his family.

Keith Law's take on Brett Lawrie: Brett Lawrie (Brewers) has gotten a lot stronger since I last saw him, adding more juice to a simple, clean swing with good loft in it, producing big raw power in what I thought was the best BP session of any player. He takes a forceful stride, but what stands out is how quickly he accelerates his hands from his loaded position, so that he's achieved full bat speed a fraction of a second after he's started his bat. He surprised everyone with his speed on a groundball, running to first in 4.15 seconds, good for a 55/60 running grade, depending on the team's scale.

Ian Kennedy and his 3.17 ERA would look pretty nice in our starting rotation right now, and it's still a big if whether Jeffress will ever even make the Major Leagues.

If the Cards want to throw Jeff Suppan out there every 5 days instead of some of their young developing pitchers with more upside, then sign me up.

The Brewers pythagorean record is 25-34. Considering that their real record is 24-35, I'd say that we've gotten slightly unlucky, but not enough of a difference to complain that much about.

Yeah I'd fault Jack Z for the pick. A guy like Kyle Drabek or even Ian Kennedy would have been a much better pick in hind sight. That said, if Jeffress avoids the off the field issues, his upside as a top of the rotation starter was probably hard for him to pass on. The Brewers are due to hit on one of these type of pitchers and maybe, just maybe, Covey is that guy.

A lot of good thoughts have been shared in this thread, but one thing I might add is that people are pretty down on our farm system because of 2 bad months to start this season. I call that a Small Sample Size alert. Arnett could easily turn things around and there is a ton of pitching prospects that have top of the rotation written all over them if they pan out like Rogers, Odorizzi, Heckathorn, Rivas, Scarpetta, Bucci, etc. All we need is 2 of those guys to become impact pitchers by 2013 and we are looking at a very solid rotation to team up with Gallardo and hopefully Parra. Also, I think Rickie Weeks is a long term option at 2B or at least in the outfield. He provides enough OBP for his bat to play in the outfield if 2B doesn't work out. The rest of the position players look pretty set for years to come. Escobar is only going to get better, and McGehee now has almost a year's worth of statistics to back himself up as a legitimate starting 3B in the Big Leagues. Gomez's bat has upside and his defense allows him to play CF and be a positive impact player. Braun is entrenched in LF and RF could easily be filled by Cain if Hart moves on. I thought it was interesting that Salome made a start in RF in his come back attempt, but that's a little off topic. Overall, the Brewers aren't as bad as they look right now and if the bullpen converts on a few games that they should have, we all wouldn't be so bleak right now about the rest of the team. There's no reason not to think that this team can't compete for the playoffs next year if a few things go our way. Who knows?

Another position player gets added to the mix in William Hawn - 3B from Tennessee. Anyone have any splits on him?

That's one hell of a slugging percentage this year. I'm liking this pick more and more as the info comes in.

Could we have found our future 1B in Hunter Morris? This pick makes me smell a Prince trade coming soon.

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the 4th round pick will be a position player.