Never Outhustled

Lawrie is way, way too advanced to be wasted his time playing on a junior national team. Anybody know what psition he played in these games? He wasn't catching, was it 3rd? I really hope the Brewers make him aware of the fact the catching will delay his big league debut by years. I'm thinking 2B or 3B for him.

No Cutter Dykstra in Arizona today, I hope he's on his way to Helena, and that he didn't re-re-tweak his groin.

Thats great news, scoopmaster Battlekow. I've seen tons of posters who've been down on Dykstra, and I can't figure out why. Who wouldn't like an elite athlete with speed, explosive stregnth, bat speed, scrappiness, work ethic, and bloodlines? He reportedly puts on a show in batting practice. If one was worried about his ability to translate his talent into production, I'd think those worries should have been eased by Dykstra's hot start. Before going down with the groin strain, Cutter had a 868 OPS as an 18 year old in Helena. We should talking about Dykstra as our next big star.

After a 449 OPS in June (ouch), he has a 748 OPS in July.

He was a good but not great prospect, ranked #77 in BA's final 200, and that was mostly because of his raw ability. He hit just 348 with 4 homers as a senior, which is about as poor as you'll ever see from a top 200 HS position player.

Its way too early to lose faith in Brewer, and we don't need to transcend sports to find a comparison to give us hope. Look no farther than the top prospect in the Yankee's system, Austin Jackson, who was drafted the year before Brewer. The parallels between the two are almost startling, from there size, handedness, raw baseball back-round, and most importantly, career track. Jackson, like Brewer, was a bigger star in another sport in HS. Jackson's best sport was basketball, where he had a scholarship to play PG at Georgia Tech. Brewer had a football scholarship to play WR at Florida State. Jackson, like Brewer, chose baseball after being offered 2nd round money. Jackson, like Brewer, played in the lower level of rookie ball his first year and was decent, but not great. Jackson, like Brewer, played in the SAL his 2nd year, and again was decent, but not great. As a 3rd year pro, Jackson, like Brewer, repeated the SAL to start the season, and, Jackson, like Brewer, seemed almost to regress. Then, Jackson, like Brewer, was surprisingly promoted to the Florida State League. What happened next is the great part. Jackson somehow had the light go on and got hot in the FSL, and ended the season on a tear. He is now considered one of the top 25 prospects in baseball, and is putting up solid numbers in AA. Brewer is starting to show signs of life in the FSL. I'm not asking him to go on as big of tear as Jackson, but I think its conceivable he could untap enough of his immense ability to make him a top 100 prospect, and another successful Jack Z draft pick.

It will be interesting to see what Domingez signs for, if he signs. I don't see any way he'd sign for 5th round money, but I wonder if he'd sign for slot where I had him slotted, #62. Cody Adams for $662,000 in that spot. I still like Domingez better than Adams, who hasn't really created any buzz so far, positive or negative.

Hammond has been pulled from his starting duties today, with Narveson as the replacement. Also, no Crabbe nor Irribaren today, maybe just a coincidence, but kind of an odd occurrence.

Don't you mean potentially horrible? It's not horrible if these minor leaguers don't make a major league impact. In fact, it could turn out to be a great trade for the Brewers if Inman and Garrison turn out to be the low impact players most scouts would expect them to be, and Evan Frederickson and Cutter Dykstra fullfil there vast potential.

I hope someday we can truthfully write that. However, his high passed ball totals and poor pop times to 2nd are preventing that. You constantly blame the pitchers, which is completely unfair to them when you see that Carlos Corporan hasn't had any problems with the same pitchers. Salome's poor thrown-out % is tied directly to his poor pop times, tough to blame those on the pitchers. I do appreciate your insight coach, and hope to hear more from you in the future. congrats on getting another player drafted.

Komatsu has been good, but Brock Kjeldgaard has been even better, with a 982 OPS. Pretty impressive for someone who hasn't hit for a few years. He's a legit prospect, Rene Gonzalez stated at the beginning of the season the Brock is " an elite athlete, one of the best in the system". I love what Fryer is doing at the plate, but I wouldn't promote him as he's been catching more lately, and promoting him to the same team as Lucroy would cut into that again. It would be nice to promote a few guys to eliminate non-prospects from getting regular time, but Helena has too few bodies already. Maybe that can change when Cutter Dykstra gets back.

And it was real tough to blame trhe pitchers in that series. Carolina was 0-1 in steals in 2 games against Carlos Corporan, who is a legit defensive catcher. Salome has a rocket arm, but his slow feet give him poor pop times. Foot quickness is the most underrated part of a catchers throwing, with Jason Kendall being the perfect example of the feet being more important than the arm. Salome is a worker, so hopefully he can continue to work on his foot quickness and become a tollerable catcher. It might behove him to change his weightlifting regimine to streamline his body and add quickness and flexibility.

The pick is then determined by the previous seasons record. I think that's a much better system than other sports, which use a coin flip. You have it correct. I'm not sure what positional players are available, but Sheets and Sebathia will definitely the 2 highest rated pitchers. It based on the latest 3 seasons, so Sheets ranking will be hurt some by his past injuries. Also, is possible the Brewers could add supplemental picks from losing type B free agents. Gagne was 1 last year. If he gets it together, he could be 1 this year. Shouse will be at least a type B.

Whichever team signs Sebathia this offseason is going to be disappointed. Its a simple rule in sports, never give a fat guy money.

By the looks of CCs site, he seems to be a little more excited to be a Brewer than Linebrink was. I can understand why, Cleveland was awful, the Brewers are good, with an outstanding offense.

CC is moving to the NL, and if you curve his ERA for that move, he was a sub 3 ERA guy last year. He's been sub 3 since the beginning of May this year. The 1 concern is he's has a few injuries, which have hurt his innings pitched and inflated his ERA in the past.

Trading LaPorta was going to happen sooner or later, as he is a Boras client. I'm really hoping Taylor Green is not on the PTBNL list the Brewers have to submit to the commisioners office. Green is our 3B of the future. If the Brewers think Gamel can be a worthwhile 3B, they need to review there consistent falures in developing defense. Sebathia is outstanding and motivated, which makes him a great addition. The Brewers shouldn't need to make another deal, as the bullpen will be fine as soon as Brewer brass looks at the back of Mota's baseball card and realize he been bad for years, and Weeks will likely get hot, as its rediculous to think he washed up at 25.

I'd like to have the best 1B play 1B. I think its an underrated defensive position. I'd guess Gamel would have softer hands and more agility at 1B, so I'd want him there. Even though there listed heighth suggests differently, pretty much everyone who's seen them would say Gamel also offers a bigger target at 1B. Being an infielder by trade, I think Gamel could learn 1B faster than RF.

This Hammond injury explains why his 2nd AAA was so horrible after having a good 1st start. Hopefully he didn't blow out his arm.

The Brewers really need to just move Gamel off 3rd. They've never been able to coach a guy into being worthwhile defensively, and its not happening with Gamel. Gamel needs to start getting reps at 1B so he's ready to be an asset defensively there when he gets promoted to the bigs. Taylor Green is an underrated prospect, with a patient approach that would be a great addition to the 2 hole in the Brewers lineup. Promote him to AA to fill the 3B hole. If you curve Green numbers for the league he's in, you get an outstanding hitter.

You must be a huge Dave Bush fan if your against trading Fielder. There were a few pitchers who had as many or more win shares than Fielder last year, and a ton of them this year. If the Brewers can trade Fielder, or trade the prospects they net from Fielder, for 1 of these pitchers, then Fielders replacement, Matt LaPorta or Matt Gamel, only have to outproduce Dave Bush to improve the team. I think those guys could do that in there sleep.

Why does LaPorta need to come in and mash? He's replacing a guy who has a sub-850 OPs at mid-season. Fielder had a great year last, but we're past the point where you could expect him to get hot and even approach that. Last season could end up being the best year of his career, as he'll likely never be in decent shape again. Also, just about anyone would be an upgrade defensively from Fielder, something you consistently ignore.

I wonder if Fredricksons promotion sets off a chain reaction, as WV seems to have enough starting pitchers. Will Evan Anundsen gets bumped up too?

Serious question, what kind of hitter is Prince? We're at the half way point of the season, and he has a 847 OPS. He had a 830 OPS in 2006. Last season he had 1000 OPS. Is Prince due for an earth shattering 2nd half, and match last years numbers, or will he struggle to just get his OPS up to 900? Normally I'd bet on a huge 2nd half, but history is littered with fat guys with 1 huge season and then disappointment, and none of them were as fat as Prince. I'd hate to wait too long to deal him when we have such outstanding replacements on hand.

Will Jeffress jump over Escobar? Escobar has done nothing to deserve a drop, but Jeffress is combining results with his awesome potential. There ceilings are on 2 different planets. It will also be interesting to see where the signed draft picks land.