LouisEly

Aren't all players in the minors working on things though? I understand the struggles for Clark due to his age and coming out of HS. But a college player picked #5 overall shouldn't have this many things to work on.

Heckuva game pitched by Supak and Harber. Harber had a rough start, but three of his last four appearances have been excellent. Stokes has played quite a bit of CF, but lately he has been on the same teams as Ray, Clark, and Harrison, so there haven't been innings at CF to be had. Can't say I would have ever expected to see Nate Orf batting cleanup.

Josh said JJ will be in uniform tomorrow. Pretty safe bet that when they need a starter on Thursday they send out Espino and activate Garza or call up Woodruff, then when they need the other starter on the 5th WCW goes back down. Interesting to note that ESPN.com has Woodruff listed as the starter for Thursday and Garza for Saturday. We'll see how accurate that is.

Saw something on the Bleacher Report feed that Stearns said he thinks the August trade period will be "more active than usual". What I take from this is that names with big contracts (Verlander, Kinsler, maybe Samardzjia, Cueto) were discussed quite a bit but not finalized. What I infer from this is that the Brewers may considers some of those if they are still in contention in late August.

As I said in the trade rumors forum, Gray's trade value comes down today no matter what happens, because if they don't trade him they lose the trade value of one playoff run. They asked for too much too early. Should have enticed a bidding war two weeks ago.

I get not wanting to overpay, and I get the value of prospects. But barring a trade to the Dodgers or Angels, Braun will be here for at least three more years, Santana is controlled for four more years, then you have Brinson, Phillips, Broxton... where are those guys all going to play? Plus the next wave of Ray, Clark, Harrison, Stokes, etc. And I really think that Ray is a depreciating asset, and will be worth less two years from now and was best moved now. There is a risk to making acquisitions. There is also a risk to not making acquisitions. Not all prospects pan out, and if there isn't room on the major league club they have no value sitting on the bench.

Nice to know that there is someone else on this forum that understands that there is an emotional and psychological effect on performance. It's also pretty darned impressive that within an hour of the trade being made, Jeffress' agent is on this forum posting in this thread. We are so, so lucky.

Baseball is a long season, full of ups and downs. It's the middle of the summer, it's hot, players are tired, and when it's the dog days of summer it's easy to not get fired up for games. If you don't think that the Cubs acquisitions fired their team up a little bit... then I don't think you've ever been in a leadership role where you've managed a group of people trying to accomplish a goal. I'll bet it absolutely fired up the Cubs players, and I'll bet that the Brewers were wondering a little bit what help they were going to get. Maybe it made a difference, maybe it didn't, but I'll bet that Cubs clubhouse absolutely was fired up when they found out they got Quintana. The players don't give a damn about prospects that may or may not pan out 2-4 years from now because they might not be around then. What motivates people is what is tangible in the present. If you don't think that there is an emotional and psychological effect on performance, especially over a six month period of time, then you don't understand people.

When Phillips can come back up you'll see a Brinson/Phillips platoon to put them in a better position to succeed and help with the transition to MLB. Pressure is mounting on A's. If they don't deal Gray tomorrow and have to wait until the offseason he loses one playoff run worth of value. Either way, Gray's trade value decreases tomorrow.

I think the Cards will ask for a lot more from the Cubs for Lynn than from another team; highly doubt Lynn ends up there. Much better chance he ends up on the Astros. Darvish - Dodgers Lynn - Astros and because they can... One of Verlander or Samardzjia to the Cubs.

The "mentally tough" part is very debatable. However, the last sentence of this paragraph is pretty much spot on. Whether that is mentally tough or not, I don't know, but you don't need to do much research to see that the Cubs bullpen walks a lot of hitters, and based on that you cannot have an aggressive approach at the plate where you decide to swing before the pitch is out of the pitcher's hand.

I remember getting into a debate with IIRC TheCrew07 when they drafted him; I thought he had upside, TheCrew07 thought he was too small, and initially I was right but lately he was. Diaz struggled pretty badly last year, and this year he was caught behind Ray, Clark, Stokes, and Harrison, but more importantly was hurt most of the year.

Today had to be his best outing as a pro, hands down. 7IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K. All 3 hits in the same inning, the first of which was a ground ball infield single.

IIRC, that CS game was delayed due to rain, and I'd be willing to bet that they pulled Brinson for precautionary reasons due to the wet grass and trying to avoid a slightly elevated injury risk of slipping on the wet grass.

Yeah, but the pen had already gone six innings... then you burn one of your remaining relievers on one batter? I think Counsell had seen enough from Torres, and that was the last straw. Not saying it's going to happen, but I think there is a decent chance Torres gets DFA'd tomorrow.

Erceg had a streak of three consecutive games with a HR and five consecutive games with an extra base hit snapped in game 2 of the DH. Wilkerson with another gem. He can't be worse than what Guerra is giving them. Yamamoto with another gem; he just keeps getting it done. Nice to see the old Brandon Woodruff back. Just in time.

Yanking Torres after one batter in extra innings, along with pulling Guerra after three (luckily) shutout innings, leads me to believe that at least one of those two gets DFA'd tomorrow. Edit: Guerra has an option, dollars to donuts he gets sent down. With an off-day on Monday they can work around his next start. Jungmann? Wang? Wilkerson? Scahill, Part IV? Who's next?

Why is Wilkerson a 'must-add'? He's a nice story, but he's also a 28 year old minor league/independent ball journeyman. I can't see teams lining up to take him in the Rule 5. 1) He's been pitching great this year, and B) As bad as starting pitching has been this year (as of a few days ago, Garza had the 26th best ERA in the NL among pitchers with at least 60 IP, and two of those above him are primarily relievers), anyone who could be a 4th/5th starter right now would be snapped up immediately.

Phillips hasn't been down long enough to be called back up - has to be down 10 days. Same w/Broxton. When Phillips' 10-day option is up, they will DFA Niewuenhuis and bring up Phillips. I'm guessing the reason it isn't Wren is because the plan is to DFA whoever they bring up once Phillips' 10-day option period is up, and I'm guessing they don't want to add Wren, then DFA him a couple of days later.

There has been talk recently with the trade of Cordell that there will be a roster crunch for the Rule 5 draft and that the Brewers would have lost Cordell anyway. I'm not sure of that. I only see three "must-adds", two "probably", and a "depending on injury rehab". Must add: Dubon, Wilkerson, Peralta Probably: Nottingham, N. Ramirez Depending on injury rehab: Barrios If room: Wang, Ventura, Wren Before you jump down my throat on Nottingham, he is a good prospect but I think it would be very difficult for a team to keep him as a catcher for an entire season. If he were an OF, yes, because it would be easier to keep him as a 4th/5th OF. After a big June he's really struggled in July, and will struggle both offensively and defensively in the majors. Barring any trade additions, I can see the Brewers adding one of Wang or Nick Ramirez as an additional LHRP when the rosters expand in September, as they have an open spot now. And yes, Nick Ramirez needs to be added to the list. He was a little wild in April/May, as expected, but in June and July has combined for 33.1 IP, 24 H, 2 ER, 2 HR, 4 BB, 24 K, and has averaged well over 2 IP per appearance - he isn't a LOOGY, and has faced more than twice as many RHB as LHB. Regardless, there are probably only five to six adds. As for drops, you have Espino, Rivera, Sogard, and an open spot, so there's four. W. Peralta will likely be gone one way or another, Torres they could let walk, Swarzak is a FA, and Garza is a good trade candidate (as is one of Bandy/Susac/Vogt). Not sure of option statuses, but some others could be out of options. I don't see a roster crunch after this season. And speaking of options, I noticed that the Player Index no longer has options remaining. Is there another place to find that info?

Dumb question - does a N750 WiFi router have a stronger signal/longer range than a N300?

No, Burnes is not going to be ready in 2018, and neither is Ortiz. Both are 2019. Dollars to donuts Burnes starts 2018 in AA. 2018: MLB: Nelson, Anderson, Suter, Davies, and one of Hader/Woodruff/Jungmann/Wilkerson AAA - Ortiz, Ventura, Derby, two of Woodruff/Jungmann/Wilkerson/T. Williams AA - Burnes, Peralta, Ponce, Yamamoto, Perrin/Medeiros/Bickford There is plenty of depth, to the point where it is highly likely that Garza is dealt in the offseason, and enough depth where Davies could be dealt for the right offer.

As Lee Corso says, "Not so fast my friend..."

Drake Owenby has quietly been very good over the last two seasons. Unfortunately this one got off to a late start due to injury. Not saying he's a star prospect, but Kyle Wren has a .381 OBP on top of a combined .412 OBP last year. Has cheap 4th OF written all over him. At 26 he's not young, but not old by any means.

No, Schwarber is one of the first guys you'll want to see there. Can't touch the high heat to save his life.