JohnBriggs12

Am I missing something but other than Rogers, the catcher and middle infield spots, isn't the entire Colorado Springs roster going to entirely consist of LH bats?

I know the consensus here is anti-Schafer, but in his defense, the production from players with similar number of AB's who in effect were the 5th OF. Most are defense first with a couple exceptions. Ryan Doumit: .197/.235/.318 Jake Marisnick: .167/.216/.167 Matt den Dekker: .250/.345/.322 Tony Gwynn: .152/.264/.190 Nate McLouth: .173/.280/.237 Ryan Kalish: .248/.295/.347 Roger Bernadina: .153/.286/.203 Logan Schafer: .181/.278/.276 Shane Robinson: .150/.227/.200 Tony Campana: .150/.164/.200 Abraham Almonte: .265/.305/.378 Juan Perez: .170/.224/.270 It's kind of a league wide issue. I agree Schafer is kind of redundant with Parra around though he's better defensively in CF. I just don't see Herrera offering much more either and he's a lousy defensive OF. I just didn't understand the roster building this offseason. The Brewers completed gutted their AAA outfield from last year, instead replacing all of them with older journeyman LH bats. They really could have used a RH 1B/corner OF bat. Sean Halton hit .342/.387/.509 vs. LHP in Nashville last year and they decided he wasn't even worth retaining on their AAA roster. Not to say Halton was the guy but that's the type of guy who would fit on this year's major league roster.

I'd take Herrera over Hector Gomez. Really what has Gomez ever done to justify a spot on the opening day roster? He did have a career year in AAA last year, but his overall minor league record is pretty spotty. Blame Khris Davis for Clark not getting a spot. Two years ago Davis raked in Arizona and won a roster spot for opening day. But like Clark, there was no place to play him and he didn't play enough to keep sharp. Never mind that for Clark to have any value at the major league level, it's going to be in part time duty. Maybe we'll see Clark when they need a DH.

Taylor's arrival time is 2017. I would just hold on to Gomez until his deal runs out, give him the QO and take the pick. He's such a bargain that they'd have to really be blown over to get value back anyway. That's why you need to keep developing your own players. Save some money in CF and try to extend Lucroy a few more years. They will have gotten Gomez's peak years. That's all you can hope for these days.

Yes they are comparable. Both guys had spots in their rotation lined up regardless of their spring results. Nelson came to camp as the Brewers #5 starter. He wasn't in a competition. Like Samardzija he was free to work on whatever he needed without having to fret over losing his spot. In a few days both will be 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA. I totally discount what he did in a minor league game on a hard field in Arizona. I'm sure he was using that to work on some aspect of his game. The only concern I would have was if he was walking a bunch of guys. He's walked one hitter and fanned 9 in 13 innings in major league games and allowed just one HR.

Jeff Samardzija has a 7.79 ERA this spring and has allowed 8 HR. He's the White Sox opening day starter. Results in Arizona are meaningless.

It's a good situation. Look at the Cubs who have Castro, Baez and Addison Russell. The last time the Brewers were faced with this was oh, back in the late 70's when they had Molitor and Yount both of whom were SS at the time. Young fans probably don't realize this, but in 1978 Yount was contemplating a pro golfing career and reported late, which opened up the SS job to a rookie named Paul Molitor who started the first 30 or so games that year at SS. Once Robin came to his senses, Molitor was shifted to 2B. I'd take Segura's 2013 production at 3B in a heartbeat. The jury is still out whether last year was the outlier or not. He had a lot going on off the field.

"One last try for Rogers?" He didn't fall on his face last year at 3B. His bat should play very will in Colorado Springs. He's got multiple options left. Herrera will float all over the field. Veteran Orr still will get some time at 2B too I presume.

Keep an eye on how 3B Taylor Smith-Brennan does this year. He's shown patience (89 walks last year) and has reached double digit HR totals the last couple years.

Brewers have enough arms that can get out RH hitters. They certainly could use a lefty that can get out a guy like Votto, Adams, or Rizzo in a key situation. Again, not it's not the return you like from a 1st round pick, but some return is better than none. He can work on getting better against RH hitters in the minors but if he does get called up it will be to be a LOOGY.

Interesting observation but I wouldn't draw any conclusions. It's not like trained pitching coaches haven't worked with him before and wouldn't notice something so obvious that a fan in the stands picked it up. It's spring training. He may have just been working on something. Besides hitters concentrate on release point and arm action. If their eyes are focused on hips and legs, they won't have time to react to the ball.

Doubt it goes to Rogers because it doesn't appear they have faith in him anymore being able to play third. Still think it is Jimenez as Melvin seems to like him even though Jimenez did bad in winter ball and spring training. Rogers played 3 innings at 3rd last night and has played a total of 13 errorless innings there this spring, not counting any minor league or B games. They've wanted badly for Jimenez to win that job (and make Melvin's claim of him look smart), but it's telling that in the past week, Herrera's getting starts at 3rd and Rogers in addition to some time at 3rd is also continuing to get time at 1B. Keeping Herrara would allow them to keep Clark, as Herrera could fill 5th OF role. Might come down to Herrera vs. Jimenez and Rogers vs. Clark. That would not bode well for either Schafer or Petersen. Hardly seems like they've "lost faith" in Rogers at 3rd at all. I suspect if he's optioned out, that's where he'll play most of the time. There's not been that many innings available there this spring but you can bet he's taking plenty of ground balls there.

Without question you don't take guys that high to be relievers but he wasn't close to making it as a starter, and it's better to get some value at the big league level than none. Brewer system isn't exactly brimming with quality lefty relievers when you go out and have to overpay to get a Neal Cotts.

The big lineup problem remains Ramirez who's done nothing (.174/.296/.261) this spring to allay my fears that he's simply done. Meanwhile, Davis and Lind along with Lucroy, have been the 3 most productive hitters in camp. All 3 should be hitting in front of Ramirez.

Check out Haurdricourt's article today. Says it's 50-50 that Thornburg will start the year in AAA rotation. Sounds like a story planted to soften the inevitable blow. Just makes too much sense. This time of year too much attention is paid to the opening day roster. Thornburg is likely to be a significant contributor in 2015, just not right from the get go.

If you look at his righty/lefty splits last year they were stunning. RH hitters clubbed him for an .832 OPS. By contrast, he dominated LH hitters to the tune of .504 OPS against. Seems logical that his path to the big leagues is as a reliever. If he takes to it, I could see him making it to Milwaukee sometime in 2015.

Jimenez (.468 OPS this spring) may not make it, even with no options left. His spot may go instead to either Rogers or Herrera.

But they are still using Thornburg as a starter in Arizona. It's possible Kintzler won't make the team. If it weren't for a $3 million dollar contract, Cotts would be shaky too. Look the situation with Thornburg is this. He's clearly the number one alternative as the 6th starter. He's not being counted on for late inning relief, the spot he had when he went down last year. After he went down, they acquired both Broxton and Jeffress, both of whom are locks barring a trade. I think management is waiting as long as possible to decide or at least divulge their intentions for Thornburg. Does he deserve a spot on the 25 man? Certainly. Is it in the best interests of the Brewers that rather than languish in a long man role in the pen, that he start in AAA? Quite possibly. He's not going to agree with it, but in the long run he's going to make more money and have a longer career as a starter. Stay tuned.

I'm reading "Brewers Essential" By Tom Haudricourt right now. Interesting read. He says Selig had an agreement with the Sox owners to move them to Milwaukee, but the AL teams blocked it because they didn't want to lose Chicago. That's not how it was reported back then. The White Sox were owned by the Allyn brothers, John and Arthur Allyn Jr. Selig got John Allyn to agree to the move but brother Arthur who was never on board, nixed the deal, probably at the behest of some other AL owners, but it never was voted on by the league. This was all behind the scenes stuff and not reported. The games in Milwaukee weren't sold as some preview of the White Sox moving to Milwaukee. They still had to sell tickets in Chicago after all. It was just seen as an opportunity for Milwaukee to restore it's somewhat tarnished image as a baseball town.

Selig's name was out there in those days. He was working on securing an expansion team. The White Sox were hurting at the gate in the late 60's and rather than see them as moving when they played games in Milwaukee, I thought they were attempting to win over baseball fans in Milwaukee to get them to eventually align themselves with the White Sox. Plus they knew people were starved for baseball and they could get better gates than they were getting in Chicago.. I went to one game each in 68 and 69, both times to see what by then were my team, the Oakland A's. Saw Reggie Jackson unload on Hoyt Wilhelm and take a knuckleball about 3/4 of the way up the right field bleachers. Just like the knuckleball, I don't think it had any spin on it as it left the yard. Got Rick Monday's autograph too (long since tossed). When the expansion teams for 69 were announced and did not include Milwaukee, I figured they weren't going to get a team. Influential guys like Walter O'Malley and Wrigley in Chicago were blackballing Milwaukee for taking baseball to court in O'Malley's case and Wrigley not wanting to give up his restored Milwaukee market. What was disgusting was that the Cubs television network was telecasting Sunday Cub games all over Wisconsin in those years. I hated the Cubs and blamed them for the Braves leaving though I was in the minority. Friends of mine became Cub fans. Early in spring training 1970 rumors started circulating about Seattle being in trouble and Selig working to get the team. Well before it was official, Duane Dow on Channel 6 in Milwaukee started reporting Pilots exhibition game scores and calling them the Brewers. He did that before anyone else. Will never forget that. What the Brewers had to overcome wasn't so much anti-Brave sentiment as it was anti baseball. There was still a lot of allegiance to former Brave players. Ironically among the many moves that first year was the acquisition of Dick Allen's brother Hank Allen. Hank Allen was given number 44. Whether that was an accident or on purpose, it was weird.

Every time I check the box scores Brennan is having multi-hit games for Brevard. He's a guy I'll be keeping an eye on this year.

I might add this. 1965 marked the 13th season of the Braves in Milwaukee. That entire time, the actual ticket buyers were all people who had other baseball allegiances before the Braves had arrived. The Braves were a novelty and when they were winning and contending through the entire year they all were on the bandwagon, but once the team started to disappoint and they took away the right to carry in beer, these fair weather fans disappeared. But the kids like me who only knew the Braves as their team took the departure a lot harder and we couldn't do anything about it because we didn't make the ticket buying decision. My dad and a brother who was 12 years older, just went back to following their previous team, the White Sox. Heck they never really had left the White Sox, because after Braves games finished, my dad always turned White Sox games on the radio. I had zero interest. Had the Braves survived in Milwaukee another 5 years, the kids who grew up as Braves fans would start becoming ticket buyers, and I have no doubt the love affair for the Braves would have come back. If the Rams were to leave St. Louis, most of their fans over 40 who grew up as Cardinal fans anyway will just switch allegiances again, to either the Chiefs or the Bears I imagine.

I was 12 going on 13 in 1965. Yes it was a lame duck season, but Milwaukee County and Wisconsin were in the courts trying to prevent the move, so I held on to hope as slim as it was. The Braves were still my team that year though I was looking around at the same time for a team to adopt. There was some excitement when the Braves beat the Dodgers on Saturday June 5 and got within 3 games. They had a doubleheader scheduled the next day, June 6 and I talked my older sister who had a car to go to the game. Back then almost all the tickets sold were walk ups. And the 17,175 that showed up on a beautiful June day overwhelmed the skeleton staff they had manning the ticket booths. Lines to get tickets stretched across the entire parking lot. The first game of the doubleheader was delayed to allow the fans to get in. That crowd seems small by today's standards but they were there to root on the Braves and it seemed much larger. I remember thinking this exact thought. If the Braves were to win the pennant, major league baseball would have an embarrassment of epic proportions. If fans filled County Stadium for a World Series, how on earth could MLB leave this city without a team? Was I naïve? Sure I was 12. But that thought kept me going that entire year as the Braves contended until early September. I ended up going to 7 games that year, more than any I had before. The fans that were there cheered the team as passionately as ever. But any time southerner Bobby Bragan, the Braves manager, stepped out of the dugout, he was booed with a venom that I can't describe. He was the lone symbol of management that the fans hated. Alas, John McHale, GM and liar in chief for the franchise, sabotaged any chance they had of making my dream come true by basically standing pat and not getting the one extra starting arm they needed to get over the hump. They rode the starting threesome of Tony Cloninger, Ken Johnson, and young Wade Blasingame to death. Blasingame was just a kid and his arm nearly fell off. There was a time in that season in July and August where those 3 were winning almost all the time. Cloninger won 25 games that year, Blasingame 16 (at age 21) and Johnson 13 after the Braves got him early in the season. Around July, the Sporting News ran a story about Charlie Finley titled (and I'll never forget it) "Finley Dickering to Move A's to Milwaukee". That moment I followed the A's every move, something that lasted until about 1971 when my allegiance to the Brewers took hold. Turns out the Milwaukee pols wanted no part of another out of town owner and rebuffed Finley, who was a Chicagoan. But think about it. Finley was starting to assemble the team that would win 3 straight championships in Oakland. Staring in 1966, I loathed the Braves. It wasn't hard. It was easy. I wanted so bad for the Braves to get by the Cardinals in 1982, so that Milwaukee could exact some revenge. To this day, I take a little extra satisfaction from the Brewers beating the Braves.

Though not an official non-roster invitee, Halton has appeared in two games with the Orioles this spring and is 2 for 2 with a walk in 3 PA. He's boasting a 3.000 OPS. Still can't understand making him available in the minor league draft.

They should be able to get Strong through waivers and assign him like they did with Hall or they can put Henderson on the 60 Day. Other teams have their own issues with roster spots and they aren't likely to jump all over a 26 year old with exactly 4 innings above A ball.