pete

Krod is a Boras client. I wouldn't read anything into a deal not being done. If Melvin is obsessed with having "a proven closer" or some such thing, I hope he waits till into Spring training. What he should do is just go with the players he has.

I don't disagree with any of it, but I"m also not sure I'm understanding most of it. That might be more about me than the writing though. As an aside, I see that money that goes for international activities being spent on opulent travel by MLB management. If Manfred decides to go to South America at some point and takes his family, stays in a 1K per day hotel and runs up another 1K a day in expenses, would any of the toadies like Olney ever report on it?

The flip side of the thinking about trading prospects and paying a significant sum for a designated closer is that the contract plays. If whoever is bad or more likely mediocre, they'll go out there till its too painful to go on. Then maybe the next Axford or Henderson take over or Mark A. wants to win and directs Melvin to go into the very expensive trade deadline market and trade more prospects.

Back when the ESPN daily baseball podcast had Karabell and another guy - I forget his name - Law used to be a regular guest. I unsubscribed after it became the Buster Olney podcast, but I had 3 of them that I didn't delete because Law had gone on extended rants that the best thing you could say about them is that they were incredibly ignorant. He had one about "clutch hitting" that beyond some large straw man arguments included several instances of contradicting known science. Some of it included knowledge that's been gained in the last decade or so, but some of it would have a chance of being mentioned in a high school level biology class. I eventually deleted them because its too much work to transcribe it and then argue it and people tend to adopt opinions and keep them. But I'm not sure being correct about prospects or even systems is relevant. I'd guess that ESPN is quite happy with his work. I get the impression that a lot of people like his arrogance and condescension. He's a show unto himself. I'd guess his work is extremely popular and he generates traffic. He probably makes well into the 6 figures based on it. He reminds me of a caustic version of Peter Sellers in Being There.

I don't blame fans for being affected by the views of the farm when there are so many negative messages. I wish I could remember all the adjectives used to describe it in discussions on line and occasionally from the Keith Laws of the world: desolate, barren, just plain awful... I'll probably think of a bunch more after I post this. Last season Fangraphs had a story about which teams had gotten the most value from their rookies and I think the Brewers were on top. Of course there are a lot of factors that go into that like the competitiveness of the team which the brewers weren't and thus used a lot of rookies. Like you say the team has a lot of home grown talent. Just recently I thought I heard Melvin make a statement about how high the team was in producing talent - 3rd in baseball maybe? Of course the interviewer didn't follow up. Maybe at some point there'll be more connection of evaluators and their track records. Sickels is one of the more positive. I remember asking him why Nelson was viewed so poorly and he said something along the line of his inability to dominate. What about Rogers? He's a contact hitter, basically not a major leaguer. Fans read that and believe it. So Cubs are #!. If systems were flipped I'd expect to hear things like this: Schwarber can't play catcher and physically he isn't on outfielder. His value as a DH is limited. Vogelbach is short for 1st base and has a ceiling of a below average defender there. Bryant is a future LF, perhaps 1B and should move there now to avoid limiting his transition to pro ball. His high K rate could affect his ability to produce offensively as well. Russell's awkward arm action and limited offensive ceiling limit him to 2nd base. Almora is a strong defender but his failure to stay healthy and more importantly to hit make him a 4th OF without a developmental jump. The system has some projectable pitchers in the lower levels but few potential impact arms. CJ Edwards is limited physically and has a ceiling of late inning relief. Its a system with almost no pitching and an abundance of DHs and 1B. (Then Brewers fans would scream about how Melvin doesn't care about defense.) Now all those things are arguable, highly so, but its the type of negativity I've come to expect for Brewers prospects.

Plus, who knows what Shields will be going forward.

That ERA+ is pretty nice.

If he did have a tirade about the Phillies roster or not being traded, the media would point out that his demand to have his option vest is what likely caused a trade to not happen. As much as I bag on the guy, I don't think it was part of a tirade when he said he didn't want to be on a losing team. Maybe I'm wrong but I think it was a poorly thought out moment of honesty with maybe some frustration mixed in. The response to comments like that is why almost all athlete interviews are boring.

I can't tell you how much I hope both you guys are right. I'll gladly accept any sort of verbal poking in the ribs and enjoy it.

They don't need to unload him, they just want to. When people say "top prospect" they usually aren't referring to the top 20. I don't think it'll just be one prospect either. Jungmann, Lopez and Reed are mid level prospects. Amaro has been reported as asking extremely high prices for trades and then you've got Melvin. When he wants something, he'll pay a high price. No doubt he knows about his velocity loss, nutjob chemistry and how lucky he was last season. Yet, there's Haudricourt reflecting communication he's had that that's what "the Brewers" want. Personally, I'd be happy if they just went with all the different options they already have. Melvin talked about doing that like it was no problem earlier. I don't know if that was basically a bluff or Mark A. wants to do something to counter the press of them "doing nothing" or what.

Here's the latest Haudricourt tweet: I get impression #Brewers would like to find way to do problematic Papelbon trade. If that fails, fall-back position likely is K-Rod. I'd love to know who "Brewers" is and whether its driven by Mark A. or Melvin. Given how long it's gone on and statements like the one above I'm guessing it's pretty likely. If the only thing in the way is money and prospects, the Brewers have both. Yes, there's talk of the budget, but the owner is a billionaire. If the Phillies have to eat 10 million or something like that, then the prospects will be better. I'm going to stick with my prediction of Jorge Lopez and Michael Reed and I wouldn't be surprised if a 3rd A ball level guy gets thrown in. If Melvin uses the word "surplus" I'm a gonna scream.

All these lineups look pretty potent to me. It seems like no matter how they are arranged, someone should be higher. I wonder if Luis Jimenez will get time at first as well as Lucroy. He hasn't been hitting much in Winter league ball, but he's been walking some. I know DM the GM seemed jazzed by the possibility of him being decent at 3rd and at least he's supposed to have a good glove.

Wily throws his change up 5 or 6 percent of the time depending on which chart you go off of and primarily to LHers. I remember it getting whiffs due to speed difference although it didn't have a lot of movement. There's a trade off between Ks and GBs. Fantasy baseball will value things differently. Its interesting that the writers at Fangraphs have all accepted the theory that Yovani was trying to get GBs as he threw fewer 4 seam FBs and change ups and he can get more Ks by just throwing more 4 seamers. They also accept the theory that he throws too many pitches and nibbles because he had Luc and Martin catching him. I think there is probably a small element of truth in those theories, but I think they're both generally wrong. Yo was a command pitcher who worked the black since day 1 and he used other pitches because he lost a bit of velo and guys would tee off with only 2 pitches. Well, at least those are my impressions. FWIW, getting back to Jimmy, he said in some interview that he had another pitch but wouldn't say what.

Yeah, no doubt, but what got me was that they made it sound cheap and why I suggested it would be Lopez and someone else. They should just go with a ST competition, Broxton or an FA who will sign for a low amount. That's the way Melvin was talking, but then this thing happened. When I listen to Attanasio, I wonder with this possible trade and others, how often he is actually saying to sign someone or make a trade. Edit: I should add that Haudricourt makes it sound as if money is the problem. If Amaro is happy with the prospect package, I think I'll hate it.

Here's the link to the latest thing: http://zozone.mlblogs.com/2015/01/27/phillies-still-talking-to-brewers-jays-about-pap/ As to who would be going to Philly, a beat writer said they weren't looking for much, just Lopez or Jungmann. Haudricourt tweeted at a different time that Melvin wouldn't include top prospects. Given that Amaro is constantly being talked about as asking a lot I could see Jorge Lopez and Michael Reed or something like that.

Sounds like a Schwarzenegger movie.

I'd assume no. You could register a different domain that's similar. Then since you have access, you could have the old website refer to the new one.

If I'm reading you correctly, that's .61 WHIP. Is that not a great thing? Yeah, giving up a bunch of HRs in the 2nd half isn't but that's a different discussion.

Yeah, Hector Gomez was there. I don't know how to post a picture from twitter but he was definitely bringing some style to the event. I'm hoping that his big smile was because he was feeling healthy and not the girl he was talking to.

Can anything be read into who they invite? I know some guys are still in Winter league ball. I just listened on and off on TMJ and glanced through JS coverage, but hearing Logan Schafer made me wonder if Gerardo Parra was there and I haven't seen anything that mentioned Rogers and Clark. Is it a mistake to read that as the team's pre ST expectation is that Schafer makes the team and Clark and Rogers likely start in AAA?

Haudricourt has a few blog posts up, but one had this from Attanasio: Within one hour of announcing the trade of Yovani Gallardo, he was calling to represent a number of his players with us. Including Krod, but does anybody know who else Boras is representing that he might be pitching?

Such a remarkable thing to say. He was Selig's right hand man at least in recent history and his choice to succeed him. He also chose Fred Wilpon as head of the finance committee. Sad.

McCalvy tweets that Mark A. expects another signing before the season. I wonder how much of that is to fulfill the expectations of the average fan. I wonder what percentage of fans couldn't care less about budgets or prospects and just want the team to sign as many big names as possible.

Careful what you wish for, it just might be Hank.

I dunno. Melvin's statement seems like something that you almost never see in MLB much less from Melvin.