jjfanec

If Marcum is our number 3 starter going into the season I will be pretty excited http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Calling Marcum a number 3 when all his numbers - except his fastball velocity - put him up there with some big names seems like quite the under sell. The Jays have a good rotation and their fans said he was their number 1

It seems to be a pretty safe rule of thumb that fanbases value their players and especially their prospects way more highly than other teams value those guys. If Marcum was on our team and we traded him for a Lawrie people here would be disappointed just the same

Not to mention we (and the rest of the league) could have gotten Cruz back in 2008 after he got DFA'ed by Texas.

Selling the house? Lawrie is not that cant miss of a prospect. This is not Jason Heyward. Lawrie is our best prospect but he has some red flags - fielding ability, attitude, etc. Of course we would rather have Greinke but Greinke would have cost a top pitching prospect as well. Marcum's lack of fastball velocity seems to be clouding some people's view of him. His numbers, in a much tougher division than Greinke, are very, very good.

Pitching is extremely hard to get and it gets harder every year. We gave up Laporta, Brantley and Bryson for half a year of CC. Now I know Marcum is nowhere near CC and I did not want to give up Lawrie, but pitching is very hard to get.

I am just assuming it is going to Lawrie that way I wont be as disappointed if it turns out to be him

How hard were Kintzler and Rogers throwing tonight?

And he only gave up 3 homers all season. He won't fit in with the Brewers staff.He throws above 90 so he wont fit with anyone other than Gallardo. But he does struggle walking people so he will fit in that way.

Rogers really did not get hit hard most of the year. Only 89 hits in 119 innings. IF he can keep the walks down while throwing that heat, watch out!

I think the power number will jump back up some. Isnt Brevard County nutorious for being a pitchers park?

Rogers has been really good tonight. 6 IP, 5 hits, 2 walks, and 8 k's, while touching mid to upper 90's

I never been a huge Katin supporter because he would start off hot and then fall off at the end of the year. This year I kept saying if he continues to play well for the season I will come around on him. So, I am late in the game, but I will now say I think Katin deserves a call-up. He has limited the K's, while increasing his BB and power. Not much else you can ask for out of him

The Brewers high A boys from Brevard knocked Romanski out in the first inning. Romanski 1 IP 4 hits 3 ER 2 BB 1 K

Odorizzi is having a nice game so far

I really like the potential of Cain and Lucroy in the lineup for a long time. A catcher that can hit, and a CF who can get on base, hit for decent power and steal bases.

They both have good pop and dont hit for the best average, but Morris has much more patience. For his career Katin has struck out 28% of his PA, where Morris has struck out 16%.

It is a nice change of pace to see two prospects (granted Cruz is 26) who are considered very good defenders.

Seems like a nice utility OF for next year. Played all three positions this past year.

Z didn't land pitching because he rarely drafted it, the best players available when he selected were hitters. In the 6 years from 2000-2005, Z only 9 picks in the 1st 2 rounds, and only used 3 of them on pitchers. They were Jones, Rogers, and Gallardo. Rogers still could be an outstanding pitcher. Of the 7 hitters, 6 made it to the majors, 5 are starters, and 4 had outstanding seasons as Brewers. Compare that to the success rate of other teams (only about %50 of 1st rounders make the majors, and its worse for 2nd rounders) and you quickly realize why Z is now a GM. There are rounds other than round one in the draft. That is where Gallardo was picked and according to people on this board he was not a Jack pick but a Melvin pick. I do not see any way to defend Jack Z's drafting of pitchers. It simply has not been very good. I have said all along that he is awesome at drafting bats, but his pitching leaves something to be desired. He was drafting bats in the top 10 picks so I would hope he had a decent success rate. But he did go above expectations with those picks. I have thought some on this board over-valued Jack Z, (and I really liked the guy) and I still believe it to be true.

Of that unsigned group who seems the most likely to sign and who seems like the hardest sign?

No, I don't think you can say that, because I'm not sure you can say recent drafts should already have supplied top quality MLB pitching. Rogers and Jeffress could make their MLB debuts this Septemember. Jones was the only highly drafted pitcher Z selected that didn't turn out so far, and that was in large part because of Melvins hand picked development team didn't help a pitcher with a sound delivery avoid injury. Also, lets not forget that Z outdrafted his counterparts despite the fact that he had fewer draft picks because of selections given away to sign Jose Hernandez, Damian Miller, and Jeff Suppan. So, now it is Melvin's fault Jones got injured? Seriously, I think some people here would blame Melvin for the current recession if possible. Jack Z drafted well, but he did not draft pitching well. When you only have ONE quality major league starter in drafts from 2000 to 2005 (I will give him a pass on the later years even though only a couple guys Odorizzi and Jefferies are solid prospects) that is not good. Rogers hopefully bumps it up to 2 quality starters but the reality is Jack Z did nothing to help Melvin in regard to pitching. If you look at most mid market teams I gaurantee they will have way more homegrown starters than we have.

I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing that out. I still think Jack Z's history for drafting pitching is poor. How is responsible for guys like Peralta and Rivas? Considering they are two of our best prospects pitching-wise who gets the credit for them?

Our drafting under Jack Z was awesome. Z drafted as much, or more, talent than anyone in those 8 years. The reason the Brewers suck is Melvin invested half his payroll in a group of players that are replacement level! Melvin's beyond abysmal record in free agency has reached historic proportions. The only thing this team has going for it is the talent Z drafted. If the Brewers have too many poor defenders, wouldn't it be the GM's job to make a trade to balance the team? He didn't, which has been another colossal error by Melvin. Melvin stated repeatedly that the scouting director's job is to get the most talent talent possible, so how can you possibly blame Z for following his GM's orders? To say our drafting has been poor overall is so devoid of fact its laughable. Z drafted an Ace pitcher and numerous All-Star position players. BaseballAmerica, Keith Law, Sickel's, Perfect Game are all in agreement that the Brewers have done an awesome job amassing talent since 2000. Melvin has done an epically bad job squandering it. Sorry only our drafting of impact bats was awesome. His drafting of pitchers was very poor. One impact pitcher and really no other guy who has had success in the bigs as a pitcher. Parra has be below average, outside of him who am I missing. Sure he drafted great bats, but when you do a poor job with pitching and fielding that is not a good thing. Don't get me wrong Jack Z was a good scout but people here seem to have rose-colored glasses on looking back at his drafts. Was it 9 drafts with one quality pitcher? That leaves your gm filling 4 starting spots through FA (almost impossible in this era of FA) or trades (which means you have to move one of those cherished impact bats). Melvin could have made a trade here or there, but we never know the offers we just assume to know. Now guys like Jefferies, Rogers and Scarpetta still have chances to succeed, but I actually think Seid has done a better job in just a couple drafts giving us legitimate prospects - Odorizzi, Heckathorn. On top of that our other good pitching prospects were either not drafted - Peralta and Rivas or traded for Butler.

Not to knock Maverick, but the K rate is a big thing. There are less and less bad bats as you work your way up, so the high K pitcher is a better prospect. I remember hearing their velocities are quite different too. I like Maverick as a prospect but I do not think you can say he is right there with Jake when he strikes out 3.5 less guys per 9. That is a lot different.

I would say in order of how excited I to see the link report when they pitch it goes 1A. Rogers- just love his stuff. If he can find the zone like he has lately watch out 1B. Odorizzi - Nice WHIP, strikes a lot of guys out. Would love to see him in AA next year. 3. Rivas - One of the guys who does not walk many people or get hit much. 4. Heckathorn - Does not get the K's but the ball never seems to get in air off the opponents bats. 4. Peralta - Some scouts loved him. Worried about his k numbers being down, with his walks going up. 6. Scarpetta - Similar story - too many walks but great K numbers. He did have a nice stretch where he was limiting the walks. Guys like Butler, Lasker, and even Arnett are some of the others that are fun to keep tabs on.