Harold Hutchison

Very true... but better a playoff goat than to not be in the playoffs at all...

Alicides Escobar would be low-risk in any deal, if you ask me. Signing JJ Hardy to a long-term deal (say 7 years, $32 million) kinda deals with shortstop for a long time. I just don't think Escobar has the pop to be a long-term SS in the majors. If I'm going to have to replace JJ Hardy in threee years, I'll plug Taylor Green in at short. As for LaPorta... in one sense, I hate to trade him, but in another, I think that if he were to replace Prince at first, then the Brewers are just tiled too far to right-handed batters. He is far more "expendable" trade-wise than Gamel or Taylor Green (who I think could be a better replacement at shortstop for JJ than Escobar). That said, I'd probably lead with Escobar, Dave Bush, and Cole Gillespie. If tghe Brewers can sign Sabathia to an extension, then they send LaPorta. If not...

Any updates? I'd hate to lose out on a blue-chip prospect and see him drafted elsewhere...

McClung seems to have put it together enough to be a 5th starter. I suppose the Crew could do a lot worse. Remember Snyder and Navarro, anyone?

McClung's move to the rotation certainly raises the question about possibly moving Villanueva back to the rotation (which could fill a spot), or possibly returning Dillard or Zach Jackson to starting as well.

Cameron's been great. Gagne is the big dud, but honestly, I don't think that the Brewers knew at the time that Torres could do the job. The rest of the off-season pickups were great. The biggest beef I have is NOT getting another starter when Gallardo went down for the season.

Given how Dillard and Riske did, perhaps Yost should have let Bush pitch the 9th anyway...

Given that Villy has turned it around in the pen... it might be a good idea to give it a shot when Riske comes back.

Or, at least he is able to hold his own. Kinda like Ron Robinson was for the Crew for a couple of years after a midseason trade.

With Weeks out for a couple of weeks, would there be anything wrong with putting Hall at second? Irribarren and Counsell aren't quite as good as Hall is... and at least Hall seems to drive the ball when he connects.

Retaliation the next game would be appropriate...

So, is Odorizzi a pitcher or is he an infielder? I'd hate to waste a bat like his by putting him on the mound.

RHP out of Miami? Yes, he was my #54, bumped by Paramore.Darn.

Well, it looks like I certainly am no Jack Z. Out of my mock draft, it seems I went 0-for-6. It appears the only two players drafted were taken by Oakland - Jemile Weeks at #12 overall (four ahead of the Brewers), and Preston Paramore, a switch-hitting catcher with awesome OBP skills, at #90 (I had him as one of the second-round picks). Gutierrez, St. Clair, Hunter, and Kyle Long were not drafted yet. So, I may get a chance to see them in a Brewers uniform, but this was certainly a humbling experience.

Any word on Petey Paramore? I liked the OBP skills and the switch-hitting.

I hope the supplemental picks will be a pair of college starters who can come up quickly.

I'll hope for a starter who can move up fast.

Well, the 2005 draft grade gets lowered with Weeks going to Oakland in the `08 draft.

Would have been nice, indeed. Drop the 2005 draft grade accordingly.

Curse you, Beane! Weeks off the board at 12.

I'd still go with Jemile Weeks at 16. Stick him at shortstop, third, or second. Worth the risk.

Dunno if McClung is legit, but he seems to be doing okay so far... at least until teams scout him out. I'd be tempted to see if he racks up some better starts, then maybe flip him and Hall for a #2 starter.

My thought is that by loading up on impact college bats (players like Jemile Weeks, etc.), the kind of players who seem to be moving up through the system rapidly (see LaPorta, Braun, and Rickie Weeks), pitching could be fixed by then trading other hitting prospects for pitching help.

I'd have taken Jemile Weeks, with an eye towards putting him at SS or 3B to replace either Hardy or Hall.

I should also say that I wouldn't mind Lawrie at #16 if they could get some combination of Scheppers/Carpenter/Schlereth at #32 and #35, and if they start him behind the plate or at SS/3B (if they start him at 2B I will have a conniption). I am just sick of the Rogers/Krynzel/Jones/Brewer/Murray types that they end up coming away empty-handed with. The college players they have picked in the first round recently have just as high of a ceiling as the high-school players they've picked, except the college guys have been making it and most of the high school guys haven't. Fielder is an exception to the HS rule - he was generally regarded as the best high school bat to come out in the last 10 years and an 80 on the power scale, and the reason he was still there at #7 had nothing to do with hitting potential. He was practically a once-in-a-generation player. But for the rest, Gallardo has been great and definitely worth the pick (but again, a 2nd rounder, so no need for a HS in the first), Hardy is just an average ML SS, and their other 1st/2nd round HS picks have been busts. Davis Cooper is an interesting suggestion, and an astute observation about playing at Cal... he is like the Jordy Nelson of this draft for me - I don't want them to pick that position high in the draft, but if they do he would be the guy I want. I tend to agree with this thinking. For instance, I like the idea of Jemile Weeks at the 16th pick, even though he is a 2B - I think he could play SS or 3B, and move up as fast as Rickie, batting leadoff, while Rickie bats second. Another of my picks, Petey Paramore, has INCREDIBLE on-base skills, we're talking a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. Even when he struggles at the plate, he walks constantly, and he plays catcher.