Kricket755

I think the fact that fact that 1) the system has been injected with so many solid, quality college draftees, both bats and arms, as well as the fact that 2) none of these guys are elite prospects yet makes the guesswork as to where everyone will end up that much more exciting. It gives the organization the flexability to have some guys skip a level to really make the best fit for themselves and the players around them. And while none of these guys are elite, so many have been ultra-productive at the lower levels (expected of the college guys). For a guy like Erik Komatsu, who really hasn't entered onto the prosepect radar for many, he can hit all the way up through the minors without making any noise right on up to the point he becomes a solid ML player. There is nothing wrong with the slow progression that natuarlly comes with the development of a high school kids tools, but I sure am enjoying watching some of these polished college guys mash at the lower levels.

Kentrail staying away from Brevard in 2011 would be a welcome sight. The thing that sticks out here is Morris not only skipping Brevard County, but playing 3rd base. Reports have been mixed, but why not let him take chance at getting comfortable there. With Gamel no longer blocking there for the future, and Green & Dykstra potentially projecting at other positions, I would love to see it. I also think it would be wonderful to get 4 of those college arms from last years draft into the Wisconsin rotation. Hopefully that group develops nicely together to provide some starting pitching depth in the future. Even if it is expected, I generally get nervous when a guy is forced to repeat a level, but I am really excited to see Cam Garfield again at Appleton in 2011. Also, any chance Garfield and Tyler Roberts split time at Appleton with the other DHing some? I am sure they want the young cathers to get as much defensive work as possible, but Tyler's bat is ready to be tested.

Despite the fact that he hasn't started consistently since 2008, I still think Pat Egan might have a chance to be the long man out of the pen. The odds of your long reliever pitching a big number of relevant games isn't too high, so he might be able to fill that bottom slot. Granted , if he can't get big league hitters out, I am sure they will try to find someone else. With Rogers, Rivas, and Peralta all getting consistent innings in the minors, there would be no pressure on Egan to step up should an injury occur. This would be close to ending the Parra project as a starter with the Brewers. That can be a positive or negative, depending on your view of Manny. I, for one, would love for him to solidify a consistent spot in the pen. The luxury or Starting Pitching (Rogers, Rivas, Peralta) and Relief Pitching (Kintzler, McClendon) that is cheap with upside is nice insurance. Also, Justin James appears to have starting experience as recently as 2009 in indy ball. Again, I feel like the ML-ready AAA arms will take a lot of pressure of this spot for the Brewers.

I would love a Cameron/Scutaro deal as much as anyone, but under that scenario, who is everyone filling into Boston's lineup at shortstop? Lowrie? As far as I know, Scutaro is the guy in Boston.

I understand that a back-end bullpen arm is not a priority, and the Loney/Broxton trade would offer little in terms of value/control to the Brewers when we are one starting pitcher away. But why all the hostility towards Broxton? 2010 was not his year, but he has been one of the better power relievers for 4 seasons before that. I know you don't need two closers, but two closer quality relievers isn't such a bad thing. At 7 mil, I wouldnt be interested, but the I like the guy as a player. Plus, with Tauscher/Clifton getting up there in age, maybe he could double on the o-line?

1. It's not a slippery slope at all. What I was getting at was that he hit very poorly w/ RISP and he drove in 58 fewer runs than in '09, and for your cleanup hitter, that kind of dropoff isn't good at all. Simply put, when Prince didn't draw walks, he was failing at a high rate to drive in runs. RISP totals & walks are mutually exclusive except when you walk w/ the bases loaded. Stereotypically, the primary job of the cleanup hitter is to drive in runs. Prince's poor RISP means he didn't do as good of a job at that as he should've. His 32 HRs and 114 BBs (and consequent .401 OBP) were strong numbers. But his .261 BA is very pedestrian. . . . Prince basically wasn't very good in the clutch, so I don't see how you can suggest that would've changed w/ a .400 OBP guy in front of him. Bottom line: Prince's offensive year had great & bad in it. His defense wasn't very good. Net result: I can go along w/ the JS guys' B- grade. 2. Kottaras' 9 HRs and 33 BB helped the team, to be sure. But otherwise the guy was a black hole on offense. I'm not going to be satisfied at all if the best the backup catcher can hit is .200 -- esp. when he still starts nearly 25% of the games (Wolf's starts plus a couple other games here & there). My point was that there were more far things that Lucroy did well than Kottaras, which is why I think it's ridiculous to suggest that Kottaras deserved a better grade than Lucroy solely because he had a better OPS. But a point you're missing is that when Zaun went down, Kottaras was the starting catcher. His poor offense couldn't offset his terrible defense, so much so that he lost his starting job to a guy essentially just up from AA. Kottaras' overall offensive totals aren't that far off from Henry Blanco's last year in Milwaukee, which the team viewed at the time as so lousy that, in spite of his great defense, he wasn't worth keeping around. Blanco had about 350 PAs that year compared to Kottaras' 250. Also, what I said was, "other than hitting a few HRs and taking some walks, Kottaras contributes little positively to the team through his performance both offensively & defensively." I was talking about the sum total of his performance. You misconstrued it as an evaluation just of his offense. Even if I meant just his offense, I still hold that a little power without a major-league worthy BA is not good enough, regardless. The whopping 9 HRs were nice. But all in all, I believe the grade of a D that the JS guys gave Kottaras is very appropriate. 1. I realize the stereotype of a cleanup hitter is to drive in runs. I am not sure that stereotypes carries a lot weight in a baseball argument. Production seems more important. My point was that you may have to step outside the stereotype to realize the positve Prince had on the offense. The slippery slope comes in because Prince was supposedly not as successful due to the small number of RBI in relation to the guys around him. There is logic to that argument, but he created many of RBI oppurtunities for those around him by being on base (Prince scored 94 runs to Casey's 70), so it doesnt seem fair to base an argument on that. A .400 OBP placed directly in front on Prince in the lineup might not have had a direct effect on his performance in the clutch, but he would have had more RBI and we wouldnt be having this discussion. Corey wasn't especially "clutch" this year, but enough chances mean we dont worry about his clutch performance. I don't think anyone was happy with the power Prince put up with RISP this year. He needs to and will improve his power in those spots. With that being said, Prince gets pitched around like few other hitters in baseball. Teams do not pitch to him with RISP. Maybe Prince did labor and chase pitches with men on base. But he could have done far worse than the .450 OBP he put up with RISP. A run is a run. If Prince sacrifices knocking in a few to score a few more, I can get past the stereotype and appreciate that. I would probably put Prince at a B, while understanding a B+ or a B-. The original argument pointed out his B- as one of the few to be overrated on the team. I struggled to see that one, so I am too just stating my opinion. With no criteria for the grading system, I realize we are all just arguing semantics. 2. Well, it appears your problem with Kottaras are largely batting average based. If he hit .250 with a .280 OBP, he wouldn't have helped us score more runs, but you might feel a little bit better about that? That argument has been had a million times, so we won't get into that. The triple slash line of .210/.290/.334 with 6 HR's that Blanco put up in 357 PA's is a pretty solid jump down from the .203/.305/.396 with 9 HR's in 250 PA's. Also, in reference to the Blanco situation I dont think that example is relevant in him being so "lousy" that we needed him gone. Paul bako was our starting catcher the following year. He was as bad offensively and significantly worse defensively. The catcher spot was a blackhole since then. I think the organization would bring back Blanco 10 times out of 10 if they could replay it so the argument holds little weight. Time and time again, OBP and Slugging% have been proven as better predictors of runs than batting average. I am not sure why your batting average comfort level is such a big concern. I am not saying I think Kottaras is an upgrade over Lucroy. Defense can not be overlooked. I think the margin may be closer than the D vs. C+ that was given. My point was simply to try to show that Kottaras did have some value, in my opinion. Especially considering low expectations before the year from the catcher spot. Again, these stats are not my way of trying to state this as fact. Its just me trying to show why I have my opinion. Everyone has an opinion on what is valuable/expected of a player in a given year, which is why these grades are fun. I enjoy the thoughtful response. I am looking forward to the off-season.

http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?w=19ysq&e=RAD&storyId=5592023 Its a few weeks old, I haven't seen this posted anywhere. Sorry if I missed the boat. Cueto officially retired Jason LaRue with the kick to the head that caused LaRue a concussion. What a difficult way to end a career. Not that LaRue's retirement will be felt strongly throughout the game of baseball or anything, but it is just another tidbit to add the this story.

I find the first sentence funny. They've been doing these season-ending player grades for a long time, possibly since I was in college, and that was over 20 years ago. This is just an annual thing they do. It's a way to put the team & individual performances into a perspective. It's also a clever & effective way to "put a bow" on the Brewers season coverage in the paper, much as a report card presents the summary of a kid's performance in school for the term. Responding to others' comments.... Briggs, I'm totally with you. Stats tell a good deal of the story, but they don't tell everything. Kramnoj, not everything can be quantified statistically (your comment implies that as your point). The eyes see not just what someone does, but how he does it . . . and how he goes about doing it, and how he functions as a team member, how he interacts with his teammates & how he's respected by them, and much more. Last point. Each player is different, as are the expectations for each player. Two examples: 1. To suggest as someone did that Kottaras should've received a better grade than Lucroy because he had a better OPS is absurd when there's so much else that goes into a player's performance (basically, their point was that other than hitting a few HRs and taking some walks, Kottaras contributes little positively to the team through his performance both offensively & defensively). 2. And Fielder, for his great walk rate and consequently high OBP and solid OPS, as the #4 hitter, he's expected to be one of the team's best run producers. But the huge majority of his 32 HRs were solo shots and his RISP was LOUSY this year. While 141 RBIs cannot be treated as a norm, he still drove in nearly 60 fewer runs than last year -- finished tied w/ Weeks for 4th on the team in RBIs, basically 20 behind the top 3 guys -- and a 41% drop in RBIs from your cleanup hitter cannot be a positive thing. Thus, while Fielder's OBP & OPS were good, they're not necessary the best or most complete measuring stick for what his role is on the team (as indicated clearly by his spot in the batting order). Its a slippery slope when you argue that Prince should have had more RBI like the other guys on the team. While Prince was taking walks from the cleanup spot, Casey and Corey took advantage of him being on base 40% of the time and knocked in all those clutch RBI hits. If Prince had a .400 OBP guy in front of him, he might have been a little more "clutch" himself. Also, I find these two points to be a bit confusing. The first point seems to imply that Prince's year should be evaluated with his role as cleanup hitter and 1b as one of the main criteria. The first point seems to totally dismiss the fact that Kottaras is being evaluated in his role as backup catcher. The fact that offensively he "contributes little positively to the team through his performance" BESIDES walks and homeruns doesnt seem relevant. If he walks enough and homers enough to positivley contribute offensively, we can't be too upset. Walks and homers are a big part of scoring runs, so a backup catcher capable of these two things is a nice commodity. His defense is another story.

Personally, I think it is hard to make a case Prince deserved lower than a B- without citing RBI in your case. The power was down a little and the defense still leaves much to be desired, but 30+ HR's combined with over .400 OBP is still big time. It would be hard to put that production in the C range. Again, there is no real stated criteria so there is no real right and wrong.

Yea, the Gallardo homer was on a 2 strike count after trying to bunt on the first few pitches. I had to watch the replay of the game late last night just to catch Alcides' throw again. Also, I noticed someone elsementioned the Eddie Perez foul poll home. I am glad I didnt make that one up. Also, I saw Jim Abbott's first of two career base hits during his short stint in Milwaukee. That is one I will always remember.

I would have to say seeing Eddie Perez hit a game winning walk-off homer at Miller Park OFF THE FOUL POLL was a pretty rare event. I actually wouldnt mind if someone else could confirm this happened to make sure my memory has tweaked the story to make it sound better. A walk off homer off the foul poll seems like something that would only happen in a movie. Also, I was at last nights game. I was one of about 4,000 people still there at the end of it. It emptied pretty steadily starting in about the 5th inning. The game consisted of a number of rare events, none of them incredibly rare by itself but an impressive collection of odd events including; -A pitcher (Gallardo) hitting an opposite way homerun. -Another pitcher (Wolf) pinch hitting in the 4th (IIRC) inning -Two players with little to no outfield experience at the professional level in the outfield at the same time (Escobar and Kottaras) in a Major league game -A position player (Inglett) pitching a clean inning -Alcides almost throwing out Gomes (IIRC) at home plate on a celan base hit. Gomes, of course, was on 3rd base to start the play.

It ended at 4 brats/1 burger. Unfortunately, that was not enough to put me in the top 3 in the group of guys I was with. Haha.

I also was in attendance for last nights game for the Timber Rattlers. I couldn't figure out the bulb situation on the stadium radar reading so I appreciate the insight on that here. A few notes from my personal observations of the game. Keep in mind I was in the all you can eat section, so I did miss a play here and there while in line adding to my brat count. It was my first time at the ballpark in Appleton and I was pleasantly suprised. I have attended many a snapper game in my years as a baseball fan and the Appleton is a big step up in the facility aspect, which matched up what I have heard from several other firsthand accounts. As mentioned earlier by uwisfan, there was a lady struck with a foul ball. I was about 25 feet away, but directly behind her and didn't see where she was hit exactly. It seemed to be above her eye. She was bleeding significantly for at quite a while. Even after play resumed, everyones attention was still focused on the lady as she was being tended to by staff/paramedics for another 15 minutes or so before she was taken off. There were 4 staff members cleaning up the blood for about 45 minutes after she was removed. A few stitches seems to be the best case scenario, but judging by how squarely she was struck, I am guessing she may have suffered a concussion. Dvontrey impressed tonight, but the fact that he needs to work on cleaning up some bad habits is obvious. His triple was very well hit to right center. While he should have been standing up easily on third with no throw, he slowed himself down by looking to see where the ball was twice, including looking over his shoulder to try to find the ball while already halfway between 2nd and 3rd. He was still in easily at 3rd. He looked every bit the athlete that everyone knows he is. His two walks were nice to see. We all know speed that takes walks is nice asset. The 2nd walk came in the 9th inning with 2 outs. He got down in the count 1-2 and took a couple fairly close pitches out of the zone to earn the walk. Very impressive patience considering he representred the tying run. On the bases, following his triple, he was caught in in no mans land between 3rd and home and eventually tagged out. I will chalk it up to a great play by the pitcher snagging the one hopper that looked like it would get past him. Looked good in CF including making a nice running catch and showing a very good arm making a throw from deep center to the Marseco while holding a runner. Scooter Gennett also impressed. Both hits were line drives that were hit extremely hard. His 2nd hit was a single in the 9th inning with 2 outs while he represented the winning run to keep hope alive. Kentrail Davis looked solid. He didnt display the type of speed I expected in being thrown out at home on the hit by Morris. He was also thrown out at 1st for the final out of the game on a grounder to short, even after the SS hesitated, almost throwing to 2nd only to find the 2b not covering the base. Hunter Morris looks the part at 1b. I was as excited to see him as anybody, probably due to post-draft excitement from June. His 1 hit was the end of the inning as Davis was thrown out at home. The error charged to him was pretty tough as the pickoff throw the runner before Morris had much of a shot at it. He appeared to play a solid 1b in the small amount I was able to see. I was hoping to see Dykstra defensively at 3b, but the was stuck DHing. His 1 hit was hit hard enough to right field that Blake Smith (who has a cannon by the way. Ask Kentrail Davis) fired it into 1st base, but Cutter beat it by a step and a half running hard the whole way. Also drew a walk. Chris Dennis homered and hit another ball very hard back to the track but was robbed. I didnt notice him in left field much, besides the drop he did have when the Loons scored there first run. It was marked a hit and easliy could have went either way. He was attempting to slow down before reaching the wall, but the ball got a good piece of his glove before falling to the ground. I dont specifically remember either of Cameron garfields hits. I will blame that one on the all-you-can-eat. The kid definately moves extremely well behind the plate. I like everything I have seen so far from him and I would bet he will end up as a big leaguer for 5+ years someday. Marseco hit the ball to the track in both his 2nd and 3rd at bat of the night. I was really pulling for him to put one over the fence. HIn his 4th AB, he led off the 9th with a good at bat about 10-12 pitches long before finally striking out. Dhanani did have a hit, but appeared to have a little hitch in his swing. He also looked terrible in his final at bat of the game while facing Luis Vazquez, who appeared to have a very nice looking arm. Outside of the HR's allowed, Odorizzi played to the scouting report I have heard on him so far. The velocity was very easy looking for him. Looks to be an excellent athlete on the mound. The most impressive thing I saw out of him was his demeanor in the innings following the 3 HR's. He was obviously upset, but he never labored on the mound. He was very determined to finish strong. As stated before, he didnt miss too many bats, but he seemed to be facing a pretty solid lineup for the Loons.

I find it interesting that the Brewers have given him at least 2 days rest between all of his appearances thus far. Considering the multi-inning efforts, I think it makes sense. I can't wait for the first time they let him make a 3 inning appearance. That will be the spark this board needs to explode with revived talks of Braddock being a starter again.

Congrats on the callup to Lucroy. I am guessing the commish of the Southern League read how dominant the lineup was and decided he has to break it up for competition sake.

After glancing over the boxscores for the Starts this year, it is hard not to notice how ridiculously consistent the quintet of Cain, Lawrie, Gindl, Lucroy, and Green has been at reaching base. Over the last nine games, each one of them have individually reached base via hit or walk at least once during a game in 43 of their combined 44 chances (97.7%). Caleb Gindl's 0-4 performance on the 17th was the only exception. (Lucroy sat on the 16th therefore there isn't 45 chances). Over the course of all 11 games, they are 50 for 53 in reaching base during the course of a game, for a success rate of 94.3%. I have no way of putting this into any kind of historical perspective, nor is this useful for anything specific. It's just another interesting way of noting we have a polished, special group of kids batting 1 through 5 right now in Huntsville.

I feel terrible for Heether. And he is still not on the 40 man so he won't even get a cup of coffee in September? I feel for the guy. I would like to think the versatility/production make me not a homer for rooting for the guy who came in the system.

All the way through #11 and no Gallardo. I can't believe he isnt in the top 50 after seeing a few of the other names on there. I am going to throw this out for what I think the top 10 will be, and not necessarily what I think it is. 10. Utley- Getting closer to FA (I don't believe he has an extension yet) 9. Votto- Not enough prolonged success to be higher 8. Pujols- I dont see him any higher seeing as noone else close to his salary is up here 7. McCann- Younger than Mauer, controlled through at least 2012 I believe 6. Wright- The D makes him a safe pick and he is still under control for awhile 5. Braun- The contract he has makes me want to slide him up, but I wouldnt know who else to drop 4. Hanley- Maybe Hanley's inconsistent defensive metrics while let Braun slide ahead of him 3. Upton- Fangraphs let this kid, and there is alot to love. Apparently, just keep him out of LF. 2. Lincecum- While his likely record setting Arby numbers won't make him super cheap, still under control for long enough to make him almost untouchable. 1. Longoria- The contract and the plus defense make even his floor look like a pretty good deal.

The Fangraphs list is through #30. Anyone think there is chance Gallardo lands in the top 30 at all? Interesting note, the ever popular Clay Buchholz came in at #38 on the list.

Since Braun was in AAA until June in 07 and had less than a year service time, I dont think the service time is too far apart for him and Votto. And Braun already has his extension which definately puts him up another notch, imo. Actually, Braun might be ahead of Mauer since Mauer only has 2 years left before free agency. Kershaw is an interesting one. I don't think Hanson has shown enough at the big league level yet, though.

www.fangraphs.com Fangraphs is doing an ongoing relase of the top 50 players in baseball as related to their trade value. This evaluation includes present and future performance as well as the salary and amount of time the player is under control of a team. I realize that while there is analysis put into the list, it is still extremely opinion based. It has already been sated that Santana, A-rod, and Teixera are not on the list. Prince came in at #50. Any guesses as to where Braun places? I am going to put him at 6 as there is definately a short of potential guys ahead of him. I think Longoria, Justin Upton, Hanley, Mauer, and Lincecum are the top 5, not tin that order. I would think Pujols is up there, but with the premium on salaray, I am thinking maybe not.

For some sort of reference for a Prince trade, I think the Teixeira trade to Atlanta is a good starting point. Teixeira had a year and half before he was eligible for free agency (paid 12.5 mil by Atl in 2008 to avoid arby). The Rangers brought in C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Elvis Andrus, and pitchers Beau Jones, Matt Harrison, and Neftali Feliz. I think Saltalamacchia's stock was starting to slip slightly at that point, but he was not-long-removed from being one of the elite prospects in the game. Andrus was probably at a similar level to Alcides. Feliz had the live arm, but wasn't nearly as highly thought of as he is 2 years later. Beau Jones was also a 1st round pick in 05. So it looks like for 1 and 1/2 years of Tex (plus his roughly 17 million in salary for that time) and the 2 comp picks that would have received at the end of the 08 season, they recieved 5 potential major leaguers (Jones now a RP a year or 2 away, Harrison a struggling but potentailly serviceable SP w/ poor peripherals, Salty potential above-average hitting catcher, Andrus as a potential stud despite struggles as a 20 yr old, and one of the games elite SP prospects in Feliz.) I would think this trade is a win for the Rangers and will likely remain one of the models for a team selling an elite slugger at the deadline. Personally, if the Brewers could receive a haul similar to this (maybe replace Andrus with elite level 1b/3b) I wouldnt mind them pulling the trigger, even though it doesnt make much sense at all to be a seller in a division with no great team.

I wasn't sure if this belonged in another thread or not, but I thought it was a worth a shot. It was great to see him back in the boxscore again down in Arizona. Does anyone here have any idea what the rehab timetable is for a return to Huntsville at all, or will it be a touch-and-go situation from here on out for the remainder of the year?

Only a really conservative, closed minded, uneducated on drugs person can sit here and try to claim that a 21 years old career and future is doomed and over because he gets high. Geezy, nothing that hasnt been said already here, but most people here aren't just condemning the use of weed, but the consequences in this situation. If JJ knew there was a potential 100 game suspension waiting for him if he watched "Everybody Loves Raymond", then I hope he would refrain from doing so, even if he enjoyed it and found nothing morally wrong with it. To me, it seems like the consensus is more his foolishness and disregard for any future consequences is more potentially threatening to himself than the actualy drug use. From a baseball perspective, making the huge assumption that he turns everything around and "grows up" a little, what is his best case scenarion for him making it to the show? Even out of the bullpen, 2011 is probably all we can ask for at this point.

Great article about Difelice on Fangraphs. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-ultimate-roogyh For how much talk lefty pitchers get for their pitching splits, talk about RHP's splits seems pretty rare to me. How absolutely filthy are those numbers against righties, though? And no disrepect to Todd Coffey, but because Difelice isn't a big red-headed guy throwing 95 sprinting to the mound, it seems like the average fan still doesnt realize what a weapon he is out of the pen.