EbbaStClaire

If the Brewers don't sign or keep Cameron why not sign Rocco Baldelli? He can play center or right and bats right handed. Theoretically, that gives them an outfield of Braun, Gerut, Hart, and Baldelli. Of course the Brewers may trade Hart but the other three above mentioned outfielders can catch the ball. I see no reason to sign poor defensive outfielders.

While I haven't had the time to read all the info on the Dr. Mike Marshall website it is disconcerting that he doesn't have much respect for Rick Peterson or Dr. Andrews. Unfortunately, Dr. Marshall's personality seems to always get in the way of his knowledge and he is difficult to work with but some organization should ignore Dr. Marshall's personality and embrace his philosophy. Marshall was a great pitcher and has studied the pitching motion a lot longer than anyone else. Maybe there are a couple of Marshall proteges out there who would be easier to work with while at the same time using Marshall as a consultant.

I was happy to see Tom Haudricourt's article regarding the Brewers attempt to analyze their success or lack of success in developing pitchers. I think it would be interesting for the Brewers to invite individuals like Mike Marshall and Alan Jaeger to their seminar since the Brewers seem to be interested in including the most recent research regarding developing pitchers. Their was a good article on mlb.com under the Texas Rangers' articles that discussed the theories of Alan Jaeger ( August 10). I know Mike Marshall is a controversial and opinionated individual but he does have a degree in kinesiolgy from Michigan State and he himself was a successful pitcher. It seems like it would make sense to convince a few young minor league pitchers with marginal fastballs to try some different techniques that might result in picking up 3-5 mph and making them potential major league pitchers.

Why not bring up Rogers and Jones at the end of their season to start one or more Brewer games? Rogers is already on the 40 man roster and currently there are only 38 players on the 40 man so Jones could be added easily. Let's see what they do. Of course you would limit Rogers' pitches just like the Brewers are doing now. Jones and Rogers can't do much worse than some other guys.

During last nights game Steve Wendt said Arnett had been out with a tired arm.

Why shouldn't we expect more signings after Davis, Hall, and Gennett? Those signings have apparently been in the works for awhile and the Brewers were still willing to spend $2.5M on Doug Davis, so presumably they have some money to spend even if it was not budgeted for signing players from the 2009 draft. There are certainly a lot of high school arms who should be a good risk(otherwise why draft them). Michael Ojala would be a good risk. Just seems to me that this is no time to become complacent. You never know when you might sign the next Hunter Pence.

I would like to see Doug Davis back also but only if the Brewers intend to offer arbitration for next year. Having said that I would expect Davis to get $10-11M in arbitration so the cost will be high. Davis' record this year is very good except for his walks but that is nothing new. If he maintains his current ERA for the rest of the year he will get paid regardless of the flaws with that statistic. I know the Brewers can save $6M by not signing Looper but the fact remains that there is only so much money. In addition posters often talk about improving the major league rotation but the fact remains that in fact you don't need 5 starters you need 8, three to fill in for injuries if you are going to have a good staff. Obviously, all 8 starters don,t have to be on the major league roster and 2-3 could be prospects at AA or AAA but the Brewers don't have any of those even though they have a few guys they could try like Cody and Jones. Even with Doug Davis if Melvin can pull off a trade there is a lot of work to be done and money to be spent. What the Brewers really need is for a couple of low level pitching prospects to blossom quicker than expected. Maybe Butler is one of those but there seem to be so many good pitching performances at A+, A, and the Pioneer league the Brewers will get lucky.

I thought the picture of Bucci was interesting because it looks to me that he is throwing a circle change. If it is he must be throwing a good one given his success but most importantly its good to see that pitch from a very young pitcher.

The Brewers did have control of Hunter Pence.

CV should be optioned to Nashville for a few weeks. Of course, the difficulty is who to bring up but Dillard would be okay.

More important than the combined wins of Gallardo and Parra is that the Brewers win at least 45 of their approximately 65 starts.

Last week Notre Dame hosted Grambling, Illinois State, Trinity, and UT-Pan American in San Antonio. I saw 5 of 6 games. During the first game of a double header on Sunday I noticed a guy sitting one roe in front of me and 3 seats to my right. After a few innings I asked him if he was a scout. His said his name was JR Salinas and he scouted for Milwaukee. I told him that I was sure I knew every player in the Milwaukee minor league system and had seen many of them play at least one game. As we talked he mentioned that Ray Montgomery and he had been in Austin, TX the day before to look at a TX pitcher and he flew to San Antonio to see this game. I asked him if he came to see AJ Pollock and he said "yes". We talked about Pollock and especially his ability to play virtually every defensive position except catcher and pitcher. Pollock played centerfield in all six games and played it with the grace and ease of Lorenzo Cain. He never took a mistep and caught every ball to his right and left. The good news continues--he can hit. I mentioned to Salinas that it would be nice to have some high draft choices that could play defense and hit. I told him many of us had grown tired of watching Weeks and Fielder play bad defense. With a smile on his face he said he would mention that to Ray Montgomery. Later on he asked me which other ND players I liked and I told him Jeremy Barnes who currently plays short but is really a 2nd baseman. Barens hits the ball hard and walks a ton compared to his K's. Salinas mentioned he liked the arm of the starting catcher Cameron McConnell. He also asked me about which of ND's pitchers looked good and I mentioned Brian Dupra who actually pitcher the first game of the DH, Evan Danieli who I haven't seen pitch, Cole Johnson who I saw pitch last year and I liked a lot and finally Dustin Ipsas who pitched a nice game against Grambling. We also talked about Eric Maust the Notre Dame punter. Maust pitched the 2nd game (7 innings) and retired the first 6 batters on about 12 pitches -- all ground balls. Twelve of the 21 outs were ground balls. During the course of our conversation I asked Salinas how long he had worked for the Brewers and the territory he covered. He said he worked Texas and LA and he had worked for the Brewers for 3 years. We had a discussion about pitching at one point and I said how much I enjoyed a pitcher who pitched using all his pitches and the whole plate. He asked me whether I had ever seen Bobby Bramhall pitched and I told him I had but for only one inning. He really likes Bramhall because he is an extremely bright pitcher, and is so effective even though his fastball sits around 85 mph. He also asked me about LuCroy and I replied that I had not seem him play. Then I finally recognized the fact that he must have been in on the scouting of Bramhall and LuCroy and of course he had been. Finally, I asked about a couple of other draft choices Jose Duran and Rick Hague. Duran was injured last year as many of us know and Salinas said Texas AM really hid Duran's injury. He did mention that the Brewers were interested in the Baylor shortstop but couldn't agree on some things so they selected Duran. Hague simply wanted to go to Rice and there was no way the Brewers were going to sell him on a professional career. Those are the high lites of a fun Sunday afternoon. We talked about a lot of other players but I'm done typing.

Lawrie played left field yesterday for the Canadian WBC team. From what I saw he made one routine catch and played a single into a triple. He tried diving for a line drive that he misjudged and it got past him. He may have made other plays I didn't see. At bat he struck out and later hit a ball to third with a runner on first. The forceout was made at second but Lawrie beat the throw to first. He looks like he runs real well.

Kip Wells has better numbers as a reliever than a starter through 2007 even though his opportunities to relieve have been rather limited.

I believe most posters on this website don't realize the value of exceptional defense at a key position. We are so used to good hit, mediocre fielders that an Ozzie Smith or Omar Vizquel type player is foreign to the Milwaukee Brewers. I have only seen Escobar play 3 games and I don't recall seeing an exceptional play but his quickness, jump on the ball and his arm strength are quite unbelieveable. Another reason for his ranking is his continual improvement and he is only 21 years old. I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be rated in the top 10 even if he never hits above .250. Many individuals pan Jeter because he doesn't play good defense and I agree that his range leaves a lot to be desired. Even as a Yankee hater I have to admit he makes key defensive and offensive plays in big games contrary to last years Brewer centerfielder. So how many exceptional shortstops have there been that are great hitters and great fielders? I think we as fans should be overjoyed that we have a player of Escobars' potential and I would never trade that defense away.

BA's rule 5 draft article posted a few days ago for subscribers includes quite a few eligible players not mentioned above: Pedro Figueroa, Jose Lugo, Kyle Bloom, Jonny Venters, Chris Blazek, Matt Torra, Tim Lahey, Loek Van Mil, Javy Guerra, Junior Guerra, Luis Perdoma, PReston Larrison, Beau Vaughn and Pedro Strop among others. When the article is available to non-subscribers it is a good read with velocity and kinds of pitches each pitcher throws.

As bubblegum tate questioned above -- Are some of the Brewer minor league players working on plate discipline? Iribarren (Lara) BA: .327; BB 16; K: 14: BB/K 1.14; OBP .409 (Nashville) BA: .277; BB 28; K: 61: BB/K .46; OBP .329 Escobar(Lara) BA: .225; BB 9; K: 11: BB/K .82; OBP .293 (Huntsville) BA: .328; BB 31; K: 82: BB/K .38; OBP .363 Cain(Javelinas) BA .333 BB 4 K 8 BB/K .50 OBP .382 (Minors) BA .279 BB 51 K 115 BB/K .44 OBP .356 The sample sizes are extremely small but encouraging. Iribarren especially. Both Cain and Iribarren also have high slugging and OPS percentages compared to the regular season. There are many variables that contribute to these stats but if Iribarren has a chance to play in Milwaukee next year he is taking the right approach this winter.

The emphasis on improving Gamel's defense has been throwing mechanics. Gamel was throwing to a converted outfielder last year who wasn't considered a very good defensive player and unfortunately if he played 3rd base for the Brewers next year he would not be getting any 'saves' from that first basemen either.

I don't understand the love for Sanchez. Looking at the numbers, the only thing strikingly good thing is K's/9 innings. Everything else looks pedestrian. To say you would never be able to trade Hardy for Sanchez and another good prospect means that the Giants are not serious and the Brewers shouldn't waste their time. I would think the Giants would be excited to get Hardy for as little as Sanchez and a good minor league pitcher considering who they trotted out at short last year and the overall state of their team. I'd ask for Cain and Pucetas.

I totally agree with TheCrew07. The Brewers lack an adequate number of starters for 09. It makes no sense to trade Parra and Jeffress for Peavy. I don't think Jeffress will start a game for the Brewers next year but it could happen. The Brewers will have to add starters through free agency or trades. I would concentrate on trading Fielder for pitching not Hardy.

Just sign Baldelli and allow him to share the position with Gwynn with Hall and Hart as emergency backups. Baldelli's contract should be reasonable considering his injury and illness status. Maybe they lose a little defense with Baldelli compared to Cameron but Gwynn can play centerfield. Offensively there may not be much difference but that probably depends on how many games Baldelli plays. Both Gwynn and Baldelli could hit #1 or #2 (which I would think is best). Cameron certainly didn't make the catches at the end of the season that I think a Gold Glove Centerfielder should make and except for a couple of weeks in August I thought he was an average hitter at best. He misses a lot of balls with the bat. The dollar savings by not picking up Cameron's option certainly could be used elsewhere.

Ramlow also had 6 ground outs. It would be interesting to know if the hits were ground balls also.

One of the problems with this discussion is the need for 4 more starters of one sort or another not just one in addition to Gallardo, Parra, Bush, and Suppan. Last year for various reasons the Brewers used 8 different starters while the league average was greater than 10 starters per team. Of course Villanueva and McClung might be considered spot starters if they were in the bullpen but some people think of McClung as next years closer. No one on the Nashville staff looked like a major league starter and on Huntsville staff only Brae Wright might be considered a very long long-shot. I believe Jeffress needs at least one more minor league season. The addition of CC would be terrific but you still need more potentially good or at the very least stopgap starters but how many of us want to see a clone of Zach Jackson starting a game and still believe the Brewers are in the playoff hunt. In my view Doug Melvin has a tough job. Free agency, trades and re-signing their own players all have to be considered.

I thought the fine print on the tickets stated that everyone who received tickets would be charged whether or not the games were played and the funds received by the Brewers would be used to resign CC Sabbathia.

As I recall a lot of fans assumed it would be easy for Alex Rodriguez to switch from shortstop to 3rd base. It turned out fine but it was a bumpy road as I recall.