HiAndTight

How so? I think it's a pretty good learning situation. The star player on your favorite team isn't your friend, isn't your buddy...he's the star player on your favorite team. We were naive. And Braun pretty pathetic in his defense(namely the whole anti-semite thing he told other players).

I will certainly not pile on...there was so much anecdotal evidence like this at the time and Braun was so...pathetic in his attacking people that I believed him....but how did ESPN act immorally? Anyone think this just MIGHT be the problem with the media today? It's considered immoral to report a story? And journalists have "cited sources," in breaking stories for years. They don't need to release those, just get the story right. And they did.....even though I was pulled around with a big old fish hook in my mouth for a few months.

Agree so much with this. Brian just never shuts up, I don't care that this pitcher is from Texas close to where you're from. Just shut up once in a while. Yes, if there is anything you want during a BASEBALL broadcast, it's more dead airtime. Especially in a potential 100 loss season. I like BA. I remember when he became partners with Rock, everyone questioned the move because he had a background in Golf(for whatever reason ignoring his extensive baseball background as well initially) but to the extent I care about the TV guys, I really like him. Of course there are some people who I think are difficult to please. Baseball's a repetitive sport so of course he's going to repeat himself quite a bit. You get a guy like Tulo and K-Rod(who by the way was the slowest pitcher in baseball last year or the year before taking over 30+ seconds between pitch) and Tulo who takes FOREVER, and the guy has to say something. I mean....they're paid to talk. It's kinda high up on the job description. I know Rock's drawn the ire of fans on here for his constant comments about going the other way..etc...etc... But, like I said, I like them. And what's worse(according to you guys) I like Jr. I think he does a good job in the post-season and I just think Buck does a good job. There is one thing I don't think anyone can argue, BA has gotten a LOT better since he got here. He called the games like someone was teeing up. But he's gotten a lot more enthusiastic. And the duo we have seems to be pretty popular as compared to other teams. All that said, my favorite is also the worst. Uecker is just terrible. I was riding home the other day, he's telling some story about some conversation he had before the game as a Cardinal. He sprinkled in a few, "and Segura into second standing." End of the inning we put up 3 runs. Had I not had gamecase on my note2 I never would have known they were putting together a rally. But...he's Mr. Baseball. What can you do?

Especially since I specifically stated this would be in theory a very slow transition and something they STARTED to do next year, not this year(so not just throwing him into the fire). This is being met with almost exclusively short term objections. I'm looking at his bat and looking down the road and simply suggesting the Brewers explore the possibility of giving Lucroy some more days off from catching so he can continue to hit well and give him some starts in the field. And the natural inclination is to make 1st base. I simply happen to believe that Lucroy had the athletic ability to play the other corner IF position. With regard to Maldonado, I'll stick with what I said. I think he's a vastly superior defensive catcher, and I believe if he were given 30-40 starts behind the plate the next couple years he could post a line a lot closer to last years than this years. He was starting to hit well in AA and AAA. And those dismissing him are dismissing his catching ability. I've already stated my opinion on trying to quantify which catcher is the best at framing pitching because I frankly think it's just a laughable statistic. Right now if you made a list of the best catchers in baseball I'd go something like this; Buster Posey(6'1 225) Yadier Molina(5'11 225) A generous listing IMO, but he's certainly much thicker). Matt Wieters(6'5 245) Joe Mauer(6'5 230) Brian McCann(6'3 230) Salvador Perez(6'3 245) Jason Castro(6'3 215) Lucroy checks in at about 6'0 and 195. So it's got nothing to do with "wanting," to move him from out behind the plate for any reason other than I think he's more likely to break down physically and would like to take some of the pressure off his body so he can sustain his success. Although it does help having a guy whom I believe is an elite defensive catcher with some pop in his bat on the team as well. And it's pretty easy to see why most catchers move to 1st base or DH when their not playing. Their quite a bit bigger(which as Jason Kendall proved doesn't ALWAYS mean more durable, but about 100 others have) and built to take the pounding of catching 140 games a year. People on this board(and rightfully so) are constantly talking about how the Brewers should be proactive. Well, I think a "proactive move," would be giving Lucroy fewer games behind the plate, and it's quite a bit easier to find a good offensive 3rd basemen than a 1st basemen. Prolong his prime years and if we're lucky enough to be playing big games in Sept or Oct in the next few years, by all means, keep him behind the plate for those where he is most valuable. He'll be 28 next June so it's not like there is a rush to do this, but there is no harm in having him field some GB's at 3rd base next ST'ing. If he struggles there, he struggles.

First of all, are we serious about this "pitch framing stuff?" Even throughout the article the author cites several reasons why it's not exactly a valid "stat," if you even want to call it that. Once more, reading a little closer; So maybe Maldonado is just that good?

I picked 3rd base because I think that he has the feet for it and I think he's athletic enough for it while 1st base it much easier to fill. To use his our collective performance at 1st base is a poor reason not to however as I'm not advocating moving him next year to play 130 games there. But your 1st sentence was exactly the point. You VERY seldom see catchers sustain success while sticking behind the plate. Too many things can go wrong, injuries, just the wear and tear, the focus needed to play catcher. Just a way to keep him in the lineup and healthier over a longer period of time.

Yeah, latter it came out that he probably should have been done for the year at that point. That was a bad ankle injury and the impact was felt long after that post-season. I don't have any problem with people having a problem with Weeks salary or wanting him gone, but to go off topic a little bit here I think fans deserve a LITTLE bit of the blame for the whole steroid thing. A guy like Weeks does everything right, plays hard, doesn't say a word, plays his arse off and yet he gets booed and bashed consistently. Meanwhile a guy like Braun gets hurt, takes something, is back in the lineup and everyone is calling him the next Molly or Yount. One would think it puts pressure on a guy like Weeks to "explore," ways to heal quicker and get a little bit of an edge. I'm eager for the Brewers to be rid of Weeks contract, but he's still one of my favorite Brewers. It's a bit of a shame that he never quite lived up to his hype. It's worth mentioning that he has the highest WAR of any of the top 5 picks in that 1st round Markakis and Aaron Hill have higher WAR's among position players in that 1st round.

The pitching situation could look a whole heckuva lot better one year from today. Hopefully Nelson, Hellweg, Pena and Peralta continue to improve and we should be in position to get a real impact arm in next years draft. Perhaps a second crack at a certain NC State pitcher... It doesn't take a whole lot for a farm system to go from somewhere in the 20's in the rankings to the top 10. A couple elite prospects and it seems like those secondary prospects(Which I suppose Nelson and Hellweg would be) start to get more attention.

Totally agree. Let him go into the off-season, perhaps the AZ fall league with the confidence of very high BA and hot and then start him in AA next year. I don't see much rush. We have Aoki(at least for now) along with Braun, Gomez, Schafer and Kh Davis in the OF(and Gindl who everytime I see him I think he's one of those older ballboys that come teams have, but who's produced). Let him get comfortable and let the aforementioned group figure it out. I also like Kentrail Davis. I still think he has the tools and the talent to be a impact big leaguer.

Yeah, I really think in 3-4 years from now we're going to have a very nice crop of either top prospects(top 100 types, maybe a couple really excel and we'll see them in the top 25) and or young guys starting to make their mark in the big leagues. Coulter and Roache both have big time power potential. I know there is this....almost cult following to have Coulter moved from catcher, but the guy is extremely athletic and extremely agile and has all the skills to develop into a catcher. Roache reminds me a bit of Cruz. Arcia may be ready just in time to move Segura to 2nd or look at moving him. And D'vo is just one of those guys who's completely up in the air obviously. It's awesome to see that batting average and those 4-5 type games. Next year at AA will be really interesting. Now if we just have more than a few pitchers in AA/AAA.......

You consistently(among others) claim you don't want to argue WHAT moves led us there, but that nonetheless the Brewers have chosen instant gratification over long term gratification. Then you actually cite Prince Fielder and Braun, two guys on HOF paths. Well, we signed one and tried to not only sign the other, BUT we actually tried then trading him before our 96 win season to look toward the future. And no, the only thing that matters right now is, IN YOUR OPINION that the Brewers have opted for instant gratification over building long term. But you don't want to point to what moves we really made that would support such an argument. I hardly see the Brewers running their franchise like a "rutterless ship," but again, there are so many posters who will take whatever chance they can to re-write history. They chose to cite the Fernandez pick when we had two first rounders and try to argue we "targeted," guys with 3-4 type ceilings. Well, that's just really flat out lying at this point. They certainly omit their disdain for the Nelson selections. It's better to be an active fan and have a fan base that is invested in their team but these constant complaints about the Brewers. -They don't know how to keep their guys healthy(yeah, really limited to Milwaukee). They target low ceiling guys(hardly). They play guys out of position(Coulter). The last one is one I've heard for a long time now. Kid is 19 years old and extremely athletic. NOBODY is happy with the state of the franchise right now, but I don't think anyone could foresee our 3-4-5 hitters missing most of the year, Gallardo becoming a #4. There is nothing easier than sitting back and complaining and revising how we got to this point, but this is a very different looking team if we have Aoki/Segura/Braun/Aram/Hart/Lucroy/Gomez/Weeks in our lineup and the Gallardo we've come to expect backed by Lohse, Peralta, and whomever would have filled out the rotation. I like Gorz and Thornburg personally. And in the meantime we're easily an 80-ish win team and all the toolsy talented guys with big upsides are working their way up. But EVERYONE wants to point to this theory that we've been focused on instant gratification at the expense of the future and then when it comes down to making the argument, nobody wants to. I'll just throw out a couple examples however. -Lucroy signed for 5 years 11 million dollars. Makes him a ripe target for an extension with perhaps more guaranteed money up front. -Acquired Segura, a guy who looks to be an All-Star SS for years to come, and one who looks to be a completely legitimate GG candidate in the future despite scouting reports questioning his ability to play Short. Throw in two pitchers who have the chance to be very good high ceiling pitchers and I'll start the preaching here because I hate when we throw out "ceilings," with pitchers....every single organization has probably 10 guys with "ceilings," to be #1 starters. Jimmy Nelson...ceiling is that of a #1. Hellweg? When you throw in the upper 90's and have that heavy grounder like Nelson and Peralta you have the ceiling of an ace. Pena. Pure stuff. And on and on. That there are probably only about 15 guys I'd consider true "aces," accross baseball speaks to the point that it's exceedingly difficult to find, develop and keep those pitchers healthy, but it doesn't make their "ceiling," any lower. 98 with the movement that Peralta has, the slider he CAN throw and the change he's had at certain times this year show without a doubt he has a chance to be an ace..and that's not optomistic as he probably won't end up an ace.....but I wanted to get that out there. In any event, the Brewers have made two moves that you can look back on right now and say, "they've hurt our system for the future for short term gain," the Lawrie trade which I always hated and I hated it when it was suggested a full year before the trade took place, and then the Lohse signing, however if he comes back out next year and pitches again like he did this year, I have little doubt we'll be able to recoup at LEAST the talent we would have gotten at #17, except likely further along and we'll have a minor league scouting report. Bottom line, the Brewers franchise is doing very poorly right now for a myriad of reasons. We weren't in position to re-sign CC, Prince, Greinke(think that'd change our team a bit), Braun and his moves and because we flat out missed on some very talented arms in the draft, OR because they haven't developed as fast as we'd like.

I think he's surpassed what most people even thought was his ceiling. Just looking back at his minor league numbers, and I know he was pressed into duty a bit early because of the injury to Zaun. But he had just 335 games in the minors and only 23 at AAA. Pretty impressive for a catcher.

I wasnt aware there was a Fielder on the Brewers anymore I'm pretty sure he's aware of that. And with regard to the defense, I definitely agree. I think he's a bit overrated. Definitely not "well above average." I think it's almost impossible to quantify and judge how well a catcher "frames pitches," and Lucroy certainly doesn't have a cannon for an arm. And this is based on what? If there's something to it gregg, I'm curious to hear. Perhaps you have knowledge of the clubhouse. I used to have friends who did. Maybe that's the case here. Or is it a case of one guy is younger and a building block and the other was a high priced free agent who flamed out in his final year so we're just automatically assuming the guy with the 14 year career of being an above average pitcher is "whinning?" Lucroy has clearly had a different opinion on which pitch to throw several times this year. The two that stand out the most are with Lohse(Another vet) and with Peralta. Peralta shook off Lucroy several times on a 2 strike pitch with 2 outs, wanted to throw his slider, Lucroy kept calling for the fastball, Peralta didn't want to throw it, finally there was a meeting at the mound, Peralta threw what he wanted to(which in the end is the way it should always go, the pitcher has to have conviction) and threw a beauty for a 3rd strike. With Lohse there have just been times when you can tell they're not on the same page and there are mound meetings. Though that seems to be getting better. I don't think Lucroy is a problem or anything like that, but there are some signs that he has trouble with certain pitchers at times.

Yes, I remember distinctly discussing that with "TheBruce," but it wasn't really that illogical. Salome was a dynamo in the minor leagues, had a cannon for an arm, put up huge numbers and physically looked the part a lot more. I favored Lucroy because I thought he was the safer bet, but at that time I think anyone who would have argued that if one of the two was going to go on to become one of the best catchers in the game, the vast-vast majority would have said Salome, so I can't fault anyone for that. As far as him "should have," having made the all-star team, I'm not sure about that. Brian McCann is the only one of the 3 catchers you could argue he deserved to beat out and his numbers leading into the ASG-291/.374/.536 And a OPS of .910 with 12 HR's 32 RBI's in 53 games. Season Totals-.286/.370/.537/.907 with 16 HR's and 44 RBI's AND....he's played in 6 all-star games. Not that it should make a difference, but it always does. Lucroy ASG-.276/.319/.473/.793 13 HR's 53 RBI's Season Totals-.281/.334/.497/.831 16 HR's 59 RBI's I agree with the premise though. He's becoming an elite catcher. Just the perfect approach at the plate, up the middle, RF and then they leave one middle in and he can jump on it. It's part of the reason I'd like to see him getting SOME playing time or SOME thought going into him potentially playing 3rd base in Spring Training next year. I think he could easily be a .300/.350/.500 hitter, hit 30/100 if he played 145+ games. And I think Maldy could be a average hitting catcher and a defensive stud if he played more often.

Well yeah they can have him...because they'll likely have the worst record. However if we got the chance, based on what we've heard and seen from every single scouting report sans one and his results, I'd be juuuust fine getting an advanced left handed pitcher who throws in the mid to upper 90's. http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2013/1/7/3846162/carlos-rodon-prize-of-the-2014-draft Being the runaway favorite for the top pick, people are going to analyze a guy to death, but if the Brewers get a second shot at picking Rodon.....I think we'd be wise to do so. It just sucks that the Brewers couldn't get him in the system when they did draft him. They were reportedly talking to him from the 4th round on, asking what he'd sign for before eventually picking him. From the parents it sounds like a situation that could have gone either way.....which really hurts right now.

Not exactly. There were many on here who didn't like the fact that they took two college pitchers who they thought they could fast-track to the majors (myself included). People had comments right after the picks were made so it's not revisionist history. And Melvin even came out and said that part of the reason they were drafted was because he thought they had the potential to make an impact in the majors within a couple of years (i.e. this year). I think you're clearly focusing on the wrong things here. The fact that they were low ceiling pitchers is revisionist history. I never said that it was revisionist history that there were people on this board who wanted other pitchers. Most seemed to want Barnes, others wanted Meyer or Guerreri, fewer wanted Fernandez, though people were almost calling for any and every pitcher available at that point in the draft. However most scouts had both as potential #1/#2 starters. Again, especially after Bradley's performance in the fall that year vs wood bats. At one point many thought he was the best left handed arm in the class. And actually, I think this is a BIG part of the problem. People take small, tiny pieces of what Melvin says and they ignore the rest to prove a point. Here is his answer to the question if Jungman can move through the system quickly; He also makes comments about every draft to try and get a player to sign early using examples of players who sign right away and get into the system that season and how they move that much quicker than guys who wait until the signing deadline to sign and tend to take a little longer. He's been making those comments for years. So I don't see anything in there, anything in the Baseball America archives when ranking that draft class or anything....at ALL that suggests that had a "philosophy," of drafting low ceiling college pitchers with early to mid 1st round draft picks. So regardless of what the comments on here happen to say(and read the comments for this years draft where people were screaming for a talented, projectable young prep arm and we get one who was supposed to go in the 1st round and then found reason to complain after the fact, proving that you can safely say that people on every draft pick were rooting for almost every other player) I see absolutely no evidence it was ever what they as an organization DID.

Albert Pujols was a thirteenth-round pick. We get a top-five, we need a pitcher - and a college pitcher most likely. And, I'd take Sabathia in that scenario. I can find you a first baseman that will hit you 25 plus HR's and contribute. There are about ten consistent pitchers over the last five years that have put up the numbers that Sabathia has shown. And they're about five times as rare as high-end offensive players and we already know we can't afford one that's already broken out. Yes, everyone understands that Pujols was a later round pick. I think the point he was making was quite clear. If you have the chance to take a truly GREAT position player as opposed to making a pre-draft decision that no matter what you're going to take the best pitcher available, well, it's not a real good way to build a top system. Anywawy, the argument was obvious and indisputable. If you have a TALENT LIKE Albert Pujols where you're picking, a truly transcendent type hitter vs a good/great pitcher, it'd be foolish to not take that offensive player. Especially given the pct of position players who flame out vs the pct of pitchers who do. [sarcasm]But I guess since Pujols was a 13th round pick, we could just wait 13 rounds to pick him....[/sarcasm]

I don't think there is a rush to do this by any means, but I think Luc is proving with more and more certainty that he's a quality bat and I don't think he's a prototypical C in that he's relegated to either 1st or behind the plate(with DH not being an option in the NL). I think he's got the athletic ability and the arm to play 3rd, and it also gives Maldy some more starts behind the plate. In Lucroy's last 715 AB's, he's hitting .302/.351/.505 with an OPS of .856, 27 HR's and 115 RBI's. Maldonado obviously hasn't performed as well behind the plate this year, but I think he's capable of hitting much better, but just as importantly, he's a stud defensive catcher whereas Lucroy is solid, but with the lack of legitimate 3rd base prospect working his way up, this seems like an idea worth exploring. It certainly beats just giving everyone a 1st basemen's glove and sticking them over there. And I'm not talking about 150 games a year. I'm talking about 30 or so games starting next year after work in ST'ing and then play it by ear. If he proves he can handle it, and a guy like Delmanico doesn't force the issue POSSIBLY make it his home moving forward. I suspect it'll be met with some disagreement, but it's something I've been thinking about for a while. I thought 2nd base initially, but he likely doesn't have the feet to play there, whereas I think he has all the tools he needs to play 3rd, [sarcasm]leaving 1st base open for Yuni B after we give him the 3 year 36 million dollar deal he's shown he deserves this year....[/sarcasm]

Because we're one of the worst teams in baseball and neither are long term solutions in the starting rotation while Nelson has top of the rotation type stuff? I like the idea of keeping Gorz out there, but Hand does nothing for me. I think in 10 years he'll just be one of those pitches you struggle to remember while Nelson has a legitimate shot, albeit a long shot, but a shot to be a VERY good pitcher who can get GB's and strike guys out. Of course the chances of this happening are extremely rare, but we have three pitchers in the bigs and AAA who throw in the mid to upper 90's with potentially dominant sliders who induce a ton of GB's. Nice place to start a rotation. Throw in Jungman as a #4 and it could be a nice, cost controlled group of young pitchers for the first time in forever.

Oh, I agree he is fine for a stop-gap. But we aren't talking about a stop-gap. We are talking about planning for him to be a regular, which I think is a bad plan. If it turns out that way, so be it, but don't plan for it. He is still a guy with a lot of talent who's still young enough to realize it. He's not that much different from a 25 year old Ortiz. He's exactly the type of guy that for the time being I'd like to keep around to see if he can develop into a 30+ HR a year guy and can push his line up around .260/.330/.500. Start him off as a backup who should see quite a bit of action starting next season IF Hart and Ramirez are in fact back, and if they're both back, I would assume that at least one of them will be gone by the trade deadline next year either due to injury, or trade opening the door for Francisco. After that, we'll have guys coming up to replace him at both spots in the near future if he doesn't realize his potential. But it's hard to give up on a guy with his type of power this early on in his career. He's obviously no Prince, but he has Prince like power.

I disagree, if the Brewers are smart, they'll offer him TWO years. At this point, he's gotta be looking for a 1 year "prove it," type deal after sitting out all year this year. If he comes back and puts up a line of lets say .270/.345/.500 and 30/90 he'll be a very marketable type player as long as his salary is reasonable. I like the first post on this past. 3 million with 3 million in incentives and a 2nd year for 6 million. The second year being a team option preferably.

I agree. I would have liked to have seen the Brewers trade under team control for longer than 2 years. I hated everything about the Marcum trade. I hated the type of pitcher he was, the contract situation, how good I THOUGHT Lawrie would have been by now(and still think he will be...at least if they don't screw around with him at 2nd, though it seems like more was made about his move to 2nd base on here than in reality. The problem is this isn't the trade that put the Brewers in the situation they're in now. It's really pretty simple. The Brewers have struggled to develop pitchers despite taking virtually every different approach with several different scouts, and the last couple years have been particularly bad. But again, I'll still say if you want to put the blame on Melvin for making such a terrible trade, then you need to give him at least equal credit for one of the biggest steals in recent memory(through 100+ games) in the Greinke trade and all that comes along with that. Or the decision to sign Gomez to a VERY team friendly deal? I'm also of the opinion that while the Brewers are at least 3 years away from competing, the talent in the system is underrated. Wily Peralta and Jimmy Nelson could easily pitch atop a rotation while Hellweg could also be a very good pitcher on a 1st division team. We're getting old in spots, but we also have extremely impressive young talent in spots. My problem is I think Melvin gets a LOT more criticism than is deserved on here. Outside of this board people are calling for his head because of "his," drafting, not understanding that it's not like the NFL or NBA and the GM's role in the draft is greatly reduced. So again, if you want to lay this on Melvin's feet, it needs to be more than, "he's constantly traded away talent and that's why our farm system is barren right now," and then when it gets pointed out that the talented he traded away for those cy young winning pitchers who pitched us into the playoffs didn't or at least haven't really panned out to much and in the process he got us back a potential GG, .320/.360 25/40 23 year old SS in return for one of those pitchers.

\ First of all, you can't sit there and evaluate the main trades we've made in which it not looks like we've come out WAY ahead and say, "you can't bring that up," and then try and separate people into groups who either advocate...as YOU put it, an "MLB building approach," vs a "organizational building approach." When you make significant trades like we did for Greinke and we get back more talent than we gave up, how is that NOT the point when you're advocating organizational building approaches? Part of that organization are the Brewers big league team. Kinda a big part. The Grienke/Marcum were resounding successes as opposed to the Marcum trade when it stands along as I was. Though Lawrie has certainly been ripped apart on here for his attitude(though seemingly only when conveniently as he's also the poster boy for the "win now," argument). But we got Greinke, won more games than we ever had before and now have a franchise centerpiece at SS and two VERY talented power arms. You could very easily argue we got back MORE for Greinke than we gave up. So it's very much the point if you want to try and divide everyone into two groups if they don't agree with the narrative on the board right now. With regard to Lawrie, correct me if I'm wrong, but we tried to do just that and Seattle turned down a Michael Pineda for Brett Lawrie trade before we traded for Marcum. A trade that even now I'd would have preffered because it would have made more sense, but teams aren't as likely to trade a equally talented young pitcher for an equally talented young position player. I've felt pretty comfortable we could have gotten offered more than Daniel Hudson for Prince Fielder(or some equally bad deal that was offered prior to the 2011 season) and yet Melvin shopped him and it didn't happen, even saying that the market was shockingly low on Prince at the time. This is where a HUUUUGE part of the disconnect comes from this board and real life IMO. Everyone has ideas on what the Brewers should do and they have their fantasy trades worked out just assuming the other team is A-going to actually MAKE such a trade, or B-that a trade is determined based upon Baseball America's rankings. I love to throw out trade suggestions as well. However when they don't make those trades I don't try and pigeon hole Melvin into a "win now," type guy and argue that he's not worried about building the organization first. We tried to rebuild the year before we won 96 games and there simply weren't any takers. We shopped several players on the current roster and we didn't get the offers back for them for a plethora of reasons. And I agree, both sides have to step back. But as sick as you are of hearing about how the trades haven't heard us, I'm equally as sick of hearing how much they've helped us and all the fantastic moves Melvin has made. Getting Grienke, winning 96 games, going to game 6 in the NLCS and then getting back Segura, Hellweg and Pena. Signing K-Rod to a minor league deal and then getting a very good young player in Nick Delmonico, a player that the O's reportedly(according to MLB.com) said was unavailable just 3 weeks prior even after he got ripped for that signing. There's also this nonsensical argument that the Brewers scouting "targeted," big college pitchers with ceilings of that of a 3-4. It's intellectually dishonest. Everyone had Jungman and Bradley as potential 1/2 type pitchers which is why they were 8 and 9 in BA's overall rankings. Of course Fernandez would have been better, but it's real easy to sit here and wait a couple years and say, "see, should have taken him." Bradley at one point was thought of as a potential top 3 pick after his fall league performance the previous year. It's also just low hanging fruit for people who've been blasting Melvin/Mark A even during our successful run in a year in which most everything has gone wrong. We've gotten a fraction of what one would just naturally expect from our 3-4-5 hitters even in a average/down year with Braun/Aram/Hart's absences in the lineup. Gallardo also is having his worst year...because of the WBC, regression, I have no idea, but I don't think many saw that coming. Melvin's wise not to trade him just to trade him, similar to what many wanted the Brewers to do with Prince Fielder when the offers we were getting were significantly inferior to expectations. It can almost get amusing with the complaining at times. Just go back and read the draft thread in which everyone's mocking who we're likely going to take and how they hope we can get a good young HS arm with upside. We get exactly that guy and yet there are still sarcastic comments about the draft picks from many of those same people. I think it'd be interesting for everyone to watch the "inside the war room video," where the Brewers 20+ picks away target Williams and tell him what they're willing to pay in an attempt to get other teams to pass on him. That wasn't a scouting department without a clue. This franchise has not been run terribly, it's definitely had it's share of hiccups. Starting with Arnett whom I again would like to remind everyone, the consensus on this board was that he was a great pick while waiting for THAT pick, most were hoping he'd slip to us and were elated when he did. Then we lose a 1st round draft pick on a HIGH SCHOOL arm(despite the near consensus that we only target low ceiling college arms). Get two the next year, spend those two on college pitchers who again, were rated 8th and 9th just prior to the draft and were big bodied power pitchers, and one is pitching well, one's still struggling. HOWEVER, we've also brought in a lot of young talent during that time. Roache, Coulter, Taylor, Hanniger(again, not getting this myth that we don't draft high upside guys or prep talent or at least shy away from it). The Twins also went through a terrible period organization wide as have the A's and pretty much every small market team except the Cards and TB in the last decade. That doesn't mean the Brewers aren't trying to rebuild the farm system. The spent more on two players from LA than they'd ever spent before just recently. Some of their young extremely ceiling players are coming along, and we should be picking in the top 5 this year and next. Wouldn't be real hard to envision the Brewers picking up and instant top 20 prospect in next Junes draft, perhaps a few more nice prospects if everything doesn't go awry next year(ie, Gallardo, Weeks, Ramirez, Hart, Axford did this year) and we add more talent next year, throw in another top pick and in the meantime Tyrone Taylor, Clint Coulter, Victor Rouche, Delmanico, Nelson, Jungman, Arcia and a plethora of other players should be moving up the pipeline in the meantime, and the Brewers farm system could make a significant leap. So I guess aside from not being able to go back and re-draft players, almost none of whom were over-drafts unless you use revisionist history and then the signing of Kyle Lohse and giving up the 17th pick, how has Melvin/Attanasio not made an effort to "build the organization?" A lack of success in doing so over the past 2-3 years doesn't equate to a lack of effort.

Seriously? Do you honestly think that everything Melvin says to the media is going to be accurate? Seriously. You think if he gets offered a good deal for John Axford, a guy who's likely going to be non-tendered, he won't take it? If you've followed baseball for any length of time, you have to be able to understand GM's aren't always going to be 100 pct forthcoming about their trades with the media.

Imo the easiest way to answer these questions is to always flip it around & ask yourself if you'd sell this player in exchange for 1+ season of this player. In short, if I'm the Rangers, no I wouldn't consider moving Gallo for 1+ season of Aoki. If I'm moving a 1st/supplemental round pick who, at 19 years old is living up to his gigantic power potential in A-ball, I'd better be getting back a better return than 1+ seasons of a pretty average or replaceable corner outfielder. Gallo? Maybe not, but you also drastically underestimate Aoki IMO. The Rangers may well lose their current RF'er for the last month+ and playoffs, and not every players impact can be adequately explained with WAR. Last year he was a 2.5 WAR player and what's the difference between this year and last year? Base running and his SLG pct? Is he "replaceable?" Yeah, I suppose, but I think he's a little bit underrated. I think he can be a VERY good leadoff or #2 hitter on a good team. And the Rangers have been using Profar in the 2 hole the few times I've had a chance to catch them with little success(though he's still a stud). Not to mention the Rangers are a WS contender and Gallo is hitting .225/.311 though he does have very good power numbers. He's certainly younger and a much more promising prospect, but he's essentially Brock Kjeldgaard in size and his numbers(though he's putting those numbers up at a younger age). Just pointing out that I think Gallo is a big boom or bust type player.