Mike

Dear Brewerfan staff, This is great! You coincided with MLB's signing deadline. The question is will the P50 make it to press by midnight EDT?

Mass H, I thought a player had to be on the 40 man roster to be called up Sept 1. Is that not true? Thanks

Fair enough Cheez. Perhaps I was too harsh that he should be off the list, but I do say it needs to be >40. I was angry draft day that he was taken so high having seen his struggles at USF, which one could argue in the WCC does not compare to anything Johnson faced in the PAC 10. Either way players do develop, but for fun here are their comps at age 22. Player Age Level League ERA IP BB K Johnson 22 A+ FSL 3.16 119.2 94 133 Fredrickson 22 A MDW 5.17 110.1 92 105 Comparable (excluding the one level difference), but he is headed more toward David Clyde (blast from the past for you over 45 guys).

I have seen over 10 games live of the Manatees this season and followed everyone by audio when available. Eric Farris deserves to be ahead of Brewer, Komatsu and Haydel. Here is why: Brent Brewer is an absolute specimen on the field. He looks the most athletic of all the Manatees, the problem is atheleticism and performance do not always coincide. Brent is not performing, particularly offensively. His pitch recognition is poor while Farris' is solid. Eric Komatsu whom I saw a lot on the West Coast @ CSF during two years of play plus some HS is a very good hitter in the Gindl mold. The problem is he is a 2008 draftee and because of injuries has produced nothing in two years of pro ball. Eric deserves to be ahead of him too. Might Kpmatsu pass Farris later? Sure, but how can you say Komatsu is higher now? Lee Haydel is having a fine season and is faster that Farris, but does not have nearly the same amount of SB's. Why? Because he is not as smart a base runner as Farris. In addition Lee is an opposite field hitter with a low SLG % who will not be a corner OF because of the lack of said power, It is clear Cain and Schafer are the two CF prospects and that leaves Lee a 3rd CF. Therefore, Farris is a better prospect. He has a chance to crack 2B better than Lee in CF. My problem in general with the Power 50 is the high ranking of guys' just on where they were drafted and/or how athletic they are. How does Arnett deserve to be as high as he was placed? One has to be more than athletic or more than throw 95 mph to make it to the Bigs. Look at Fredrickson for example. I saw him @USF and he couldn't throw strikes. MLB people think he they can teach a guy to throw strikes. Well, in two years the Brewers have not been sucessful in teaching Evan to throw strikes (yes I know he was never high on the Power 50, but my point is he should not even be on the list).

Don't fret, he will be back way before September. Unless his appendix burst and there is an infection, he should be back in 2 weeks tops. I know this from experience. Though I'm not a Doctor, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Dad, Where is this statistic located or is there some algorithm to derive it?

I would like to start a friendly debate about Maas' above comment, namely what is an acceptable walk to K ratio? Clearly Haylel's is too low, but Schafer's is OK. Especially when you add in a players OPS. Through yesterdays games, I have listed below their respective BB/K/ratio sorted by best to worst. Please peruse and let the debate begin. Player BB K Ratio Kendall 33 35 0.943 Kemp 50 56 0.893 Prince 73 90 0.811 Farris 36 46 0.783 Gindl 50 75 0.667 Lawrie 37 58 0.638 Cam 57 92 0.620 Schafer 23 40 0.575 Braun 40 77 0.519 Hart 35 82 0.427 Wilson 34 88 0.386 Haydel 14 81 0.173 You could argue that though Kendall's is the best ratio, it does not matter as much because his OPS is so low. Look how valuable Fielder's is? 2nd in ratio and proabably the best OPS? Schafer's K's are 2nd lowest behind Kendall, but carries an .816 OPS. Gindl's ratio is low but his OPS is north of .830! And what about Braun? Nobody is complaining of his low BB/K ratio and that is because his OPS is high. My point is sometimes a walk that is not taken is turned into an extra base hit which raises OPS. Clearly, K's in and of themselves are bad especially when they could have been a BB, but we have no way of determining that. I think a BB/K ratio above .600 is great as long as the K's are less than 0.5 per game played.

Please educate me. For what does MLE stand?

Tony Gwynn Jr. for Jody Gerut? Nothing. The Brewers were being nice to a legends son when they had no plans for him. Similarily, Rottino was not going to break through the C spot with all the depth in the organization and thought they would help him go to a place he might make it. What did we get, Claudio Vargas? Ho Hum. Who better could they have gotten? It doesn't mean Melvin gave up on this season, what it means is we could not swing a deal without mortgaging the farm (no pun intended) and a critic might say we are too soft. You need some killer instinct in this business.

If that is true, why would the Crew deal him? i.e. who will play CF?

That's what I get for not paying attention that Adam was in LF. Ryan who? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif Thanks

Drew Anderson should be in AAA again, but the Brewers need left field with the Sounds for Adam Heether... Mass, Could you please elaborate on this statement? I do not quite understand your point regarding the left field need for the Brewers?

I agree with the consensus that it was a good trade and that Gillespie was somewhat expendable. However, I want to go on record that you have not heard the last of Roque and my guess is that he was the one AZ wanted in the deal. Roque has good command and keeps the ball down. I will be surprised if he does not make it as a MLB middle reliever some day.

I have watched this kid for many years through Pony, HS and @ SCU in the Bay Area. For his age he was always bigger than most and dominated through HS. Though listed in the 6-3 210lb range, he is closer to 6-1 210. Tommy John surgery really set him back as in HS he sat in the low 90's and the last time I saw him pitch @ SCU he was mid-80's. Decent breaking stuff now, but the best the Crew could hope for is a middle reliever fron the left side. I'll be anxious to see where he is placed in the system.

That is a major understatement. He leads virtually every team offensive category except HR's with zero errors. Schafer is also in the top 5 in the entire league in BA. Wow!

This is the Bay Area voice of reason again. If you have seen my earlier posts you will understand I have been a long time A's fan. The problem is I have always had a soft spot for the Crew starting in 1982, recently escalated in the past several years. I have divorced Oakland for a variety of reasons; Billy Beane, bad stadium, marginal support and the death of Bill King though I love their history ( 4 world titles). In any event I want to discuss the Ken Macha issue as it pertains to Jason Kendall and batting 1st. Billy Beane has always believed that the manager has had little or no impact on the success of a team. Since Beane is an egomaniac he therefore found Macha expendable despite 90+ wins in 2006. The truth is it was a personality problem between the two that got Ken fired. Now, having said that the A's have done worse since Macha's firing. However, Macha is quirky, there is no question of that fact. He is 58 years old and I am 54. The truth is you start to lose certain mental capabilities at that age. I can't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, but I can remember Jason's fire, competiveness and .300 average as my leadoff hitter in Oakland. My point? Kendall is no more than a .250 hitter at 34 or 35 years old and does not belong at the leadoff spot in 2009. Ken Macha's memory is probably shot like mine and he may still think Jason is a .300 hitter, but hopefully he is just hopeful and come opening day move Kendall to the 8 hole. Mike

I was there. Trot Nixon does not look good at all. If you read between the lines Chris Duffy is ahead of him as Duffy plated the entire game and Trot did not. It appears Duffy is going to be given every chance to with the 4th OF spot as he has played in both games. I'm sorry, I did not pay attention to Lamb so I have no critique per se, nothing great and nothing bad.. Going to See the Angels in a couple hours @ Maryvale. 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. You should come down. Mike

He is only working out at 2B and is not catching. His bat looks terriffic and the ball really jumps off it. As expected his work at 2B is just OK and will need more time. If he sticks there (2B) he will have the strongest arm for sure.

I'm posting the Brewers' roster projection as well. Is the above the Brewers' said projection or yours? I do notice that this projection is different in some way, by position and/or player from the Nov '08 Farm Hops article. Mike

And he is working out at 2B.

Lawrie is working out at 2B.

I saw Cutter numerous times in So. Cal (high school) as well as this past summer as a pro. Even though he is just a high schooler his two limitations standout. Not particualrly big and not a true CF. He will have to learn that position. He can hit and he can run though. The Brewers have worked him at 2B, but the latest is Lawrie is working out there in pre-ST! So, if the Brewers see him as a corner OF, then there is no way he is as high as BA has him. The truth is he was a 2nd rounder which means nothing except how the Crew felt about him. Perhaps they thought he was a CF prospect when they drafted him? The other factor of course is his last name. Only time willl tell.

Do the Brewers have room in their clubhouse for Barry's lounge chair? Probably not, but if they do, sign Barry only if he carries his chair from AT&T to Miller Park (2K miles) to show how much he respects the game. That would eliminate any potential chemistry problems!

Hindsight is 20/15. When the deal was made for C.C. I thought it was worth it. By November when we were One series and done and then lost C.C. I thought it was a bad move. In any event, I would trade for Halladay under similar conditions, but only if I felt I had a higher chance to Sign Halladay than we did C.C. Roy Halladay is awfully consistent and in some persons view might be better to have than Sabathia. Mike

Hindsight is 20/15. When the deal was made for C.C. I thought it was worth it. By November when we were One series and done and then lost C.C. I thought it was a bad move. In any event, I would trade for Halladay under similar conditions, but only if I felt I had a higher chance to Sign Halladay than we did C.C. Roy Halladay is awfully consistent and in some persons view might be better to have than Sabathia. Mike