CheeseheadInIllinois

I highly doubt Fiers is on the list based on what was said when it looked like Narveson might not be ready for the doubleheader. If I remember correctly, either Melvin or Roenicke said they were looking at two AAA starters as possible replacements: Peralta and one who wasn't on the 40-man. Given the fact that I doubt Butler or Narron would have been looked at as legitimate options right now, I'd assume that second pitcher would be Fiers, and he wouldn't be under consideration if he was on the list. Similarly, I hope the talk about Maldonado being called up tomorrow means he isn't on the list.

Except most of those were guys who the Brewers already knew were fringe guys based upon past experience. It seems like most non-middle infielders, if they are good enough to stick around for several seasons at AAA, will adjust and post good stats in the PCL. That doesn't mean they are suddenly good major leaguers. Maybe I'm wrong to do so, but I put more stock in Green's numbers because he is doing it in his first AAA season. Since 2004 I believe only 11 guys, counting so far this year, have even had .800 OPS for the Brewers' AAA squads in their first extended action at AAA (Braun would have topped the list and made it an even dozen, but he didn't stick around long enough for me to count) Weeks: 1.090; Green: .993; Fielder: .957; Cruz: .872; Katin: .856; Gamel: .839; Gindl: .838; Heether: .829; Hart: .827; Hardy: .825; and Rottino: .819 Does this mean he's going to be a star, especially this year? No. Does this mean I'd give him a better probability of posting solid numbers with consistent playing time than Carroll, Almonte or Kottaras? Definitely

More fun with Taylor Green numbers. I believe his stats for June and July would be .395/.464/.686/1.150. That is one dominant two-month stretch.

On the other hand, seasons such as the one Taylor Green is having don't happen that often for Brewers minor leaguers. Since 2005, I believe only two players at Nashville have posted .900+ OPS seasons (min 50 games) their first time in AAA. Both recently started the All-Star game. Only three did it in their second go around (Hart, Cruz, Heether), and Cruz and Heether barely squeaked over the mark while thus far Green is topping .950 despite a slow start. I'm not saying that Green is going to be a star, but AAAA-type players haven't had this type of success in their first AAA season, at least not in Nashville. Whether he could succeed right away coming up in the middle of a pennant race is another story, but personally I'd be in favor of giving him a shot.

I'll take a crack at this. It sure became a lot of coin flips after the top four, though. 1. Wily Peralta: Has been putting up some stellar numbers since that disastrous May start. The fact that he's doing it at AA gives him a slight edge over Thornburg. 2. Tyler Thornburg: Has done nothing but impress. I wonder if the Brewers will follow through on the comment about him potentially seeing AA this year. 3. Taylor Green: It's been nice seeing a guy who was a top-10 prospect for the Brewers back when that meant something regaining his form. Now granted this might be a one-year fluke, but given the almost league-wide struggles for 3rd basemen this season, if he can even post a .270/.350/.450 line while playing solid defense, that would make him above average. I could see Green doing that. 4. Khris Davis: Best combo power/on-base skills in the organization this year. Hopefully he soon gets that deserved promotion. 5. Cody Scarpetta: This is where things start to get dicier. Scarpetta seems to have the talent, but he still needs to find the consistency. 6. Nic Bucci: He was able to dominate for stretches last year, too, but the blowups (which based on the couple of times I saw him when Wisconsin was in town seemed to be frustration-based) that hurt his stats for the Rattlers seem to be becoming fewer and farther between this year. 7. Caleb Gindl: As other have said, the upside might not be star-caliber, but the guy just hits. And for his size he has got some pop. 8. Yadiel Rivera: Is this an overreaction to a hot streak? Probably. Is his strikeout rate, while improving, still a bit troubling? You bet. But a shortstop with solid defensive tools who has also showcased some pop? If it comes together for him, the value of that is high enough to vault him into the top 10. I'd have Arcia up here too if I could find a few scouting reports on him that included the words "likely to stick at shortstop." 9. Logan Schaefer: Like the defense, like the average and the walk rate has become passable. Where are the extra-base hits he was racking up in Brevard, though? 10. Kyle Heckathorn: Has continued a solid climb up the organizational ladder, but for a No. 10 guy on this list has been a bit underwhelming. I'd probably toss all three of the top draft picks in ahead of him once they sign. Next 10: Arcia, Richardson, Manzanillo, Fiers, Rogers, Gennett, Ozuna, Gagnon, Halton, Komatsu.

The Cardinals fans I work with would likely cheer that trade. The way they talk about Rasmus you'd think he had Betancourt's glove and Wil Nieves' bat. More importantly, though, I wonder how highly Rasmus is valued by the Cardinals' organization. Wasn't he pretty much in LaRussa's doghouse his first year in the majors? Did he ever get out?

I've always been under the impression that 40 man guys can still be a PTBNL as well. Mass, can you please explain which it is and why?OK, on a technicality then, the players could be Brandon Kintzler or Manny Parra based on the injury factor (it's not). The other mention about waivers would imply only after July 31st. The link you provide discusses a post-July 31 situation. Hope that helps. That article, though, was talking about a situation where the PTBNL had already been decided upon, not a list and give the team a chance to scout situation as it appears to be here. It was simply saying that it would be dumb not to announce the player if he was on the 40-man unless it was one of those situations, not that it is against the rules. From what I've been able to piece together from a number of articles (including this one) it sounds as though 40-man roster guys can be the PTBNL as long as they haven't played for the Brewers this year (although some make it sound as if only players on the 25-man roster any time between now and when the PTBNLs are finalized are ineligible, so that would be even less restrictive). As for guesses, given the Mets' lack of catching prospects, I wonder if Garfield or, if 40-man guys are allowed, Maldonado are going to be part of the deal.

It appears based on the "meet the team" link off the above article on helenair.com that ... 1) Goforth and Nemeth have both signed and are ticketed for Helena 2) The Brewers aren't pushing any of the younger pitchers picked last year with Pierce, White, Johnson and Schaub all apparently headed for Arizona.

It's an interview with an NC State affiliated site. What's he supposed to say? I'm not sure I'd read that much into it.

My math might be wrong, but I think Watten has gone 12 innings without recording a fly ball out. I don't know if they have records for things like that, but I'd imagine it has to be pretty rare.

I don't know if it is a matter of struggling the second time through the lineup or tiring or just a small sample size fluke, but Wawrzasek (if my math is correct) has a 1.50 ERA with a WHIP of 1 in the first three innings of his outings but an ERA of 15.43 and a WHIP of 2.57 in any additional innings.

Looking at the milb.com roster pages, there are a couple of guys missing from either (Chad Stang, Austin Ross) and a couple of pitchers I've never heard of on Arizona (Charly Bashara, Skyler Crawford, Travis Stortz). Check out where it says Stortz is from. Obviously that page was somewhat hastily put together. Oh, and it appears Derrick Shaw has signed given he is also on Arizona's roster page.

I wonder if there is some continuing issue here. I've seen outfielders struggle before on fly balls, but never in quite the same way as he did in the games I saw last year.

This would be where all of the football-driven realignment would spiral into the non-1A football conferences. As a Missouri Valley fan, I'd love a scenario where the non-football playing Big East schools grab 7-8 of the northeastern A-10 schools and allow the MVC to poach Xavier, Dayton and St. Louis and perhaps lure their former MCC conference-mate Butler as well. Also, speaking of the non-football and basketball implications, does anyone know if the Big Ten allows associate members for individual sports? The Iowa State wrestling program is likely to be left without a home.

I've got a feeling the Big 10 is going to go to 16 just to keep up (Nebraska, Missouri, Pitt, Syracuse and Rutgers if Notre Dame opts to stay independent). Also, I've got a feeling that a new Big 12 leftovers/MWC/Boise State conference would get a BCS bid if only to appease the region's senators and keep the government from getting involved in the shakeup. Also, if the Big East dissolves, that would still leave 10 bids for 5 conferences plus Notre Dame, if they manage to become good again.

Burgos looked solid. I don't remember him producing a ton of swings and misses in his inning, but none of the three outs were line shots either. No velocity reports. Either the stadium gun or the display was not working (although I remember it rarely nudging above 85 at any game I was at last year, so I wouldn't have put much faith in it anyway) and I wasn't sitting close enough to the guys with the stalker guns to spy.

That infield fly rule play has to be one of the weirdest I've seen in person. First, Bucci doesn't yield when Paciorek tries to call him off. Then, after it dropped, no one seems to remember the infield fly was in effect. The Rattlers throw home to get the "force," the Bandit runners run to try to avoid being "forced," and the guy at third, thinking he's out, trots into the dugout. Then the Rattlers tagged every single runner on the bases and, after time was called, left the field thinking they'd gotten a triple play (I'm still not sure where they thought the third out came from). I sat there for a minute trying to figure out how to score it before finally writing "out" and leaving it at that. It was interesting to see Howell pitch. You can kind of see why he is as highly touted as he is (he made the one lefty he faced look pretty foolish), but the results just aren't there. The at bat that killed him was two before the grand slam when he got up 0-2 before nibbling his way into a walk. Bucci looked great the first three innings, completely in control. Then the wheels started coming off. There was a definite difference. The offense looked great. Even the outs were often hit hard (Khris Davis had a couple in particular). While he has struggled so far this year, it seemed that Sean Halton managed to work the count to 3-1 or 3-2 in almost every at bat the past two days. Hopefully that bodes well for him. Fatse and Richardson also looked pretty impressive. Other thoughts after seeing the last two games of the series: Garfield looks much more comfortable and in control behind the plate than McCraw or Kemp did when the Rattlers came here last year. He impressed me. I wonder if Gennett playing shortstop the last two games might be a sign that a Cutter Dykstra call-up might be coming fairly soon. I guess they could just be working on versatility, but had he played short before the last two games? Finally, it's good to have a Brewers affiliate in the Midwest League so I can see them a couple times a year. Looking forward to their next series in the Quad-Cities.

Watching the game today, the Rattlers' defense was better than it sounds like it was yesterday. George made a really nice play turning what looked like a bad bounce into a double play in the second, and he and Gennett looked very smooth turning two a couple of times despite swapping positions. Even Gennett's E-6 was an error-bait play, charging a slowly hit grounder and rushing a throw across his body. The biggest defensive problem was the failure to make any of three possible plays at the plate, all of which looked as though they'd be close (twice Richardson's throws curled too far up the third baseline and once Dennis, I believe, cut off a throw home on the pitcher's mound that might have beaten the runner if he had either let it go or relayed in quickly to Garfield). Lasker did a good job getting in front of hitters until the fifth, although the Bandits did make a fair amount of solid contact against him. The one single was the only time anyone seemed to get a good piece of one of Heckathorn's pitches. He was on and was doing a good job taking advantage of what might have been a somewhat loose strike zone (no walks by either team, I believe). On the offensive end, Dennis had a good day and Garfield's home run was absolutely crushed, but not much else to praise. The Rattlers did a good job of getting ahead in the count against the Bandits starter, but just couldn't capitalize. A lot of 3-1 and 2-0 counts seemed to turn into strikeouts.

I wonder if the voting was done a while ago, so Schafer's recent hot streak wasn't factored in. You could probably also make a decent case for Wilson, and Axford's spot could easily have gone to Mercedes ... or Rapoza ... or Braddock. Man that bullpen has been good.

As far as Illinoisans recreating in Wisconsin, it is probably not as much Milwaukee, as others have said. When I first moved down here to go to college, my floor was mostly populated with kids from the suburbs. When I told them I was from West Bend, most asked me if it was near Lake Geneva, not Milwaukee. Those from outside of the suburbs asked if it was near the Dells. Can't really speak much to Chicago. I lived closer to it when I was in Wisconsin, and a lot of Chicagoans seem to think where I live now is part of Iowa anyway.

The couple of games I saw him when the Rattlers played in the Quad-Cities, he seemed pretty agile blocking balls, and when one did get by him, he got to it quickly and put himself in position to make a throw. Maybe given the control problems some of the Rattler pitchers have on occasion, he was brought in for that reason alone. Or maybe I just caught him on a good day.

I was at the Timber Rattler game, and Fredrickson was dominant through when he got the second out in the third. (Ignore the two walks to the Bandits' leadoff hitter. The guy leans so far out over the plate, and doesn't seem to have any inclination to get out of the way, that you really only have half the plate to work with) Then all of a sudden he just couldn't find the strike zone. It also looked like he shook off McCraw both on ball four walking in one of the runs and the hit batsman that walked in another. It's kind of weird. I get to see three games (including the doubleheader the previous day) and am looking forward to watching Scarpetta, Lawrie and Nieves, but the guys who looked the best were Vass, Miller and Ohlmann. Vass hit the ball hard and had a double and a triple; Miller seemed to make good, consistent contact and looked much more natural in center than Dykstra did; and Ohlmann easily looked the best of any of the pitchers, throwing different pitches for strikes and keeping the Bandits off balance. If he could do that consistently (and his walk total so far suggests that isn't happening yet), they could have something there.

Wasn't Cody supposed to pitch in the doubleheader game last night that got canceled? They just might not have wanted to skip his turn. edit: Oops, beaten to it.