LouisEly

Bucholz has several years of team control for reasonable salary and "potential". Hardy is a major league known-quantity and is likely a type-A free agent that could bring in comp picks. Bucholz is unproven at the major league level and outside of one game has not performed well; Hardy costs a lot in salary and will command salary when he becomes a free agent soon. Each has their upside and downside. For a team that can afford a high payroll, a major-league known quantity is an asset and salary is not much of a downside, plus the loss of a free agent will bring comp picks to build the farm system. For a team with an average payroll, several years of team control at a reasonable cost is an asset, as is an upper-level pitching prospect to a team with most of their starting pitching prospects in A-ball or coming off of major injuries/surgery (or both). It's possible that Hardy has more value to Boston than the Brewers, and that Bucholz has more value to the Brewers than Boston. In which case it makes for a good trade. Either way, unless the Brewers completely tank the rest of July (unlikely given their weak schedule post-All Star game) they will need Hardy's leadership for a playoff run, so it is a trade best explored in the offseason.

I doubt they let w00ten close right away, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's a setup man next year and groomed as a setup man for a year or two before given a shot at closing. I'd be surprised if he breaks camp with the club next year, but if he continues to pitch the way he has I would be surprised if he's not on the big league club by July 1st of next year. Don't know if they still plan on trying Braddock as a starter, but he certainly could close in the future and could be a bigger Billy Wagner who could go multiple innings. Again, I doubt they let a rookie close but after a year or two as a setup man they could definitely give that role to w00ten or Braddock. Or both.

In 67.2 professional innings, w00ten has given up 48 hits, 10 ER, 19 BB, and 98 Ks.

I was just going to post the same thing. I remember when Dykstra bought Gretzky's house and thought, how in the world can he afford that?

Just Zach being Zach. Just w00ten being w00ten. Just Brendan being Brendan. Huntsville on it's way to getting swept by a team they beat 13 out of 15 in the first half... If you look at who the opposing pitcher was, I think it was just karma...

On the lighter side, apparently it's that time of the month for Manny Ramirez - ejected and threw his equipment all over the field...

Didn't Braun use a small sample only referring to the Cubs series? I didn't hear him saying anything after Burns gave a quality start against New York. 1) Braun was specifically referring to the Cubs series - TH and others who didn't read the comments closely are the ones who took it out of context. B) Even if he wasn't referring to just the Cubs series, it wasn't just Burns and McClung that have pitched poorly. Remember, before they had those two they had a month of abysmal Parra starts which led to his demotion and a month of Bush's abysmal starts because he wasn't properly diagnosed with his injury, which is a topic for another thread. If you take a look at what Burns and McClung have done in combination with what Parra and Bush did the last month they pitched you end up with 40% of a team's starts being pretty much garbage for the last six weeks. Bush in his last six starts went from a 3.74 ERA to 5.67; Parra in his last five went from 4.57 to 7.52. To rise that high that quickly is way worse than replacement level, and must have been very frustrating to play through. 3) So to an extent, and to paraphrase a line Sam Kinnison used to say in his schtick, "I don't support (it), but I understand it." Technically, given that "but" is an eraser word, my line should be, "I understand it, but I don't support it." Both Braun and Melvin were wrong. Meet in private, discuss in private, move on. 4) For those of you who think that Jack Z. is the one mostly responsible for the success of the team, I say he is just as much a part of the problem as he has been the solution. Why? Here is a list of pitchers currently on the Brewers that he drafted: Yo Gallardo Mitch Stetter Manny Parra, while drafted, has been more of the problem than the solution this year. So for everything that Jack Z. has given them for bats, he has not given them for arms. For as much as Melvin was criticized for having a poor bullpen the last few years, he is the one responsible for bringing in Hoffman, DiFelice, Smith, and Coffey, not to mention Suppan and Looper. He's had to, because Jack Z. has given him little to work with in terms of arms. You can even take that a step further, and if you look at Nashville the list of pitchers drafted by Jack Z. include Parra, Dillard, and Dave Johnson. So not only has Melvin had to go outside of the organization to get 11 of the 13 pitchers on the major league squad, but he's had to get all but three of the pitchers in Nashville. Jack Z. can find bats alright, but as far as arms... not so much.

With Parra coming off of a stellar start in Nashville on Friday, I say let him ride the confidence and momentum from that start and bring him back up. He has to be better than McClung, and he'll only have one start prior to the All-Star break. Then at the all-star break they can re-evaluate where they are, and make the move for Davis if need be. As for Davis, peripherals are fine and dandy, but they don't account for guys ability to handle pressure situations. A veteran like Davis will be more consistent, and thus perhaps a lower ERA. Davis surprisingly has a better OPS-A against righties this year than lefties. I don't think his ERA is all smoke and mirrors.

or if the organization had anyone even remotely close to Mat's talent at 3B. I think that Taylor Green would like to be seen as "remotely close to Mat's talent". If he can stay off the DL. No way Smith goes down - don't let the recency of the grand slam overshadow the body of work, as he has given up only 12 hits in 19 IP and only Hoffman, DiFelice, and Stetter have lower ERAs. While Narveson is a lefty, most hitters are RH so I'd rather have Smith. CV is actually more effective vs lefties (.635 OPS-A) than righties, so CV can face the lefties if Stetter isn't available.

In the "interesting stat line of the day", Caleb Thielbar of the Arizona squad posted this line - 3.2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 8 K. How in the world is your stuff good enough to strike out 8 of 11 outs yet give up 7 hits and 8 runs? I guess that's why he's in Arizona. In a very small sample, Lintz with 12 BB in 9.2 innings. So far there's no reason to think that w00ten can't be in Milwaukee's bullpen at some point in 2010. Smith and DiFelice are showing that you don't have to throw 95 to be successful out of the pen if you have good location and movement. This goes back to something I mentioned a while ago - if you find a pitcher, particularly an older college pitcher, whom you can identify as a good bullpen candidate who can move through the system quickly, why not? I understand the importance of developing starters, but some guys you just have to recognize won't be starters, or you can stretch them out in spring training after they get to the majors. Capellan comes to mind as a guy who perhaps could have been more successful if he moved to the pen earlier. Certainly you don't spend a first round pick on them, but if you can identify a guy like Wooten in the 8th round or later who can fast-track to the majors as a reliever I think it is a worthwhile investment, as very few guys picked in the 8th or later even make the majors.

That Marcus Haislip??? Where has he been the last four years? Also, somewhat under the radar, is that the Bucks a few weeks ago signed Salim Stoudamire. Is he really a possibility to make the team?

Marquis over Gallardo, when they already had Hawpe, is a head-scratcher. However I'm very OK with Gallardo getting the extra rest. In fact, I kind of prefer that he's not on the All-Star team.

Perhaps an age limit for guys who are already in the big leagues or guys who have major league experience (keep at 26), but a higher age limit or no age limit if they are in the minors and have not played in the majors (28? 30?).

By the time you add the cost of both (plus the space both will take up), you're better off getting the air conditioner. On a related note, does anyone know if humidity affects air purifiers? I have a Sharper Image air purifier I got three years ago and it runs on static trapping the particles as the air flow moves through it, however it seem to work great (meaning quiet) in the winter however in the humid times it seems to buzz and make a lot more noise. I don't know if that is due to humidity, in which case it makes no sense to get a different one, or if it is due to the machine breaking down over time (in which it makes sense to replace).

Hmmm... Arnett ranked about 6 spots too high (for now, until he proves himself), Wooten about 15 spots too low - Chris Smith and Mark DiFelice are proving that if you throw strikes and have good command you don't have to throw 95mph to be a successful reliever. Wilson and Mercedes belong above Zarraga and Farris. I'd need to see more than 6 SBs in a game and a 5-5 performance before I'd get that excited about Garfield and Prince. Just my $0.02. Other than that, looks good.

I think the implication was to bring him up after September 1st as an extra bullpen arm to help get them in the playoffs, instead of sending him to the AFL. IIRC after 9/1 it does not count towards service time. It would also allow them to add him to the post-season roster if a pitcher were to get injured after 9/1. Frankly I'd rather have him in the bullpen than Narveson or CV, so I'd be all for it.

http://images.yuku.com/image/gif/1ed15b9a8d3e15c8adce582459023e9a7997d6c.gif On an unrelated topic, I'm familiar with Joey Paciorek because of his bloodlines, but isn't this his third year in the system and he's still in Rookie ball? I would think that they have to think something of him to not be released by now. Heether = DeRosa/McGehee? Hopefully he and Katin are impressing other scouts enough where they can be flipped for a starting pitcher. Coffey, McGehee, Smith... Axford soon to join the list of nuggets?

It wasn't a long term deal, it was just a one-year tender qualifying offer. And CV is more of a SF than a PF (again, don't let the height fool you), and they have that covered between Vanilla Sky and apparently Ilyasova. Apparently it was an either/or with CV or Sessions, and if I have to make that choice I'd go with Sessions. Jennings will have a bit of a learning curve, so I'd like to have Sessions/Ridnour running the point this year and then next season after Ridnour's contract is up have Sessions and Jennings running the point. Teams need two good point guards because if one goes down the whole team goes down.

Thanks!

The vast majority of marijuana users exclusively use marijuana. That is true. But that's not what I said. While the vast majority of marijuana users exclusively use marijuana, what I said is that the vast majority of people who use more serious drugs (like TheCrew07 mentioned) started with marijuana. And if almost 100% of the marijuana sold in the US is grown in the Midwest, then where is all the marijuana and other drugs that thousands of people in Mexico (and some in Arizona and Southern California) are getting killed over going to?

As I posted earlier, Blair's height (or lack thereof), plus his weight, plus his FT% of 60%, leads me to believe that outside of the paint he doesn't have much value; any one of those three individually is not a big deal but all three combined are cause for concern. And in the pros he will be going against athletic guys who are 6" taller than him, not athletic guys his height or unathletic guys taller than him like in college. Charles Barkley was able to be successful at Blair's height (give or take an inch), but Barkley carried less weight, was more athletic, and could shoot from beyond 10'.

Evaporative coolers Does anyone know anything about or have any experience with evaporative coolers? They cost half of what a portable single-room air conditioner costs. It says it is up to 75% more energy efficient than an air conditioner; the real concern though is 1) how fast/effective is it, and 2) how quiet is it? A single-room air conditioner I can just blast for 30 minutes before I go to bed; if the evaporative cooler works just as well it will save me $200 but if it does not get the room as cold or takes a lot longer it might not be worth it unless it is quiet enough to run while I sleep. I'm just looking for a small unit for my bedroom (13'x13'). Thanks!

The most hilarious thing is that both McGehee and Derosa were Cubs last year. http://images.yuku.com/image/gif/4bd15994833519c190381b639410cf6310ba54f.gif Good move for the Cards. The obvious move is another starter, which at this point in the season they will have to overpay, but the one thing that the Brewers need as far as bats is a good OBP guy to hit leadoff, but I don't know what position that would entail upgrading. The top OBP guys not named Braun or Fielder are McGehee and Counsell; they seem to want to bat McGehee 5th now and Counsell can't be an everyday player.

I've heard Meeks didn't have much of a choice. Kentucky just bought a ton of recruits and they had too many players with scholarships for next year... Intentional, or an unintentional choice of words? Iverson has played a lot at the 2, and Meeks is only listed as 2" shorter than Redd, so I don't think that being 6'4" is really too small to play the 2. I think other factors are more important.

Gillespie with his 8th triple on the season so far and it isn't even July yet. I wonder what the organization record is for triples in a season. Also 19 of his 42 hits have been for extra bases. If he can get his average up to .270 and maintain the walks, an OBP of .370 would come in handy at the top of the order. Katin on base three of four plate appearances. .993 OPS with runners on, .982 OBP OPS w/RISP. Now would be a great time for these two to get hot, so that another team might consider them to have trade value for some pitching. Add Iribarren and Heether to the "get hot so someone else thinks they have trade value list" so they don't have to completely mortgage the future to get a starting pitcher.