HiAndTight

Because I don't? This was not one of the 30 best starts in baseball this year most likely, it certainly wasn't better than say Gallardo's last game. He had a bunch of balls hit right at guys, just doesn't impress me. Ok, because ONE no-hitter has a guy who has 8 walks, you discredit the no-hitter entirely? I agree, I don't understand that logic at all. Nobody said that it's more impressive than a complete game 3 hit shutout in which a guy walks 0 and strikes out 12, but it's still a no-hitter. That's always impressive to me. As for the "hitting the ball right at people", didn't watch it, haven't watched every no hitter, but the ones I have always have an element of luck and usually a couple of great plays, so I don't put any stock into that.

This is more to get LaPorta into the lineup. It's a pretty insignificant trade. Branyan's better than what they've got, but who isn't, and he has no value to Cleveland. Gotta see what LaPorta can do now.....

IF he "reverts" to last years from, his LD% will go UP, his GB% will go down, his K's per 9 will go way down(by about 2), his FIP will go UP..... Just trying to reiterate the point that Doug Davis needs to do any reverting. At least based on the 7 starts he's made thus far. In fact without the keystone cops tripping over the bases on the way to easy ground balls and the "Angels in the OF" scenario in which every ball magically falls for a hit at the tune of a .415 BABIP, Davis should be juuuust fine.

Wow. Very lucky that he signed his rookie contract already. At least he will be taken care of for life if he spends the money wisely and doesn't blow it. Invest that money, buy an apartment complex, whatever. Obviously I hope that's not his last NFL contract, but this happens to a lot of people who weren't just guaranteed a couple million dollars. Very selfish and insensitive thought here, and it's not intended to be, but I do wonder if this may end up forcing him from the NFL and perhaps towards baseball. Obviously there is a little bit more....margin for error for lack of a better term, when it comes to the type of leg injuries a baseball player can come back from. Either way, it's all a very, very distant second to his health. Hope the young man can at least lead a fulfilling life with his family...then the concerns about sports come up. By the way, anyone read the comment page on that link where someone calls him an idiot? Pretty classless.

I'm not sure how Arnett didn't sound impressive at the time last year. He sounded like exactly what the Brewers were looking for. A big, flame throwing, workhorse pitcher who had a mid 90's fastball and a plus slider to go with it, and who had an aggressive mentality. There are an awful lot of people in the "I never liked that pick", but at the time it seems to me pretty much everyone was pretty excited when he started slipping to us, passing Cleveland at 15th and so on. The guy most were questioning was Heckathorn as he was a guy who's results did not match his impressive stuff and who didn't face great competition and most had him pegged for the BP. I'm certainly not implying that you weren't really in the camp that DIDN'T like Arnett last year DHonks, I'm just saying that camp seems to be exponentially bigger than last year. Clearly we're in panic mode with him. I would almost rather hear that he's got some sort of elbow/shoulder malady that's causing his lack of control and velocity. Maybe though it's just the mechanics...which again, is funny because I was just reading a BA pre-draft scouting report about him from last year in which scouts talk about how he had perfect mechanics, and now all year hear about is how god awful they are. This just cements my position that I would take a HS prep pitcher every single year. Give me Dylan Covey who's dropping a bit for whatever reason, but has a curve that could be among the best in baseball and a fastball that already sits in the low to mid 90's and could even add a couple ticks. Give me Jeremy Jeffress, Mark Rogers, Yovani Gallardo, Nick Neugebauer, whoever it may be, guys that if they make it, they're going to be stars even if most won't. Take the big physical pitchers who struggled a bit, who may profile better going from metal to wood in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, ie, Morris from Michigan and Nelson from 'Bama after the 1st, but go for the HUGE risk, HUGE reward early. Still, no problem with the Arnett pick based on the info available at the time.

"Useless" may be overstating it. I don't believe him to be as bad as his line this year shows, but I also have just been dumbfounded by the support he has garnered on this board. That's all. The "useless" part comes more from his role on this team, being a LH'ed bat which we are flush with, and if we should find ourselves in a position to need another aside from Kottaras(who's not likely to get in very often off the bench), Counsell, Inglett, and Edmonds, we have Stern in AAA, and then Gamel(though he'd BETTER not be used as a bench bat again unless it's in the playoffs this year). Though I firmly stand by my over-hyped comments. Not to belabor the point, but again, I see a guy who's had one good 61 game stretch since his rookie year, before be suffered career threatening injuries to his knees and missed two full years as the extent of his success in the past 7 seasons.

I just hope he's still pitching as if he's a starter. In other words, I hope he's still working on his change, working on his 3rd and 4th pitch, and not just trying to dominate with an upper 90's fastball and then that nasty power curve he's got. That would make his transition back to starter next year far more difficult than if he was at least trying to incorporate those this year. Get him up to AA this year as a reliever where he will hopefully, and I think most likely continue to dominate as a reliever, and then next year when he's on the 40 man and back in the rotation, he has the confidence to know that he can get anyone out in AA, and hopefully pick up where he left off and couldj ust be a phone call away from Milwaukee.

I really wasn't going to respond to the Gerut thing since it was so old relative to this discussion, but here goes. OPS v. RHP year by year 2003: .923 (379 PA) 2004: .787 (373) ** tore his ACL 2005: .749 (159) 2008: .826 (288) 2009: .660 (266) This is getting a bit frustrating as I've repeatedly tried to post this only to have accidentally hit the "back" on my mouse button and lost my posts. In any event, I think this is flawed right from the beginning. The whole debate is about Gerut and how he helps our team or how he fits into our team right now, and in the future. And as such, I see very, very little value in looking at his age 25 season when he was healthy and put up a career year. It doesn't really have anything to do with this Jody Gerut. 2003- As I said, a good solid season, but it was his career year. He put up a line of .279/.336/.494 for an .830 OPS over that year. He hit 22/75 had 66 R 33 2B and 2 3B. From 2005-2010, even including his big year, his TOTALS are .257/.313/.415 with 26/100 108 R 43 2B and 6 3B. So while it was a good year, it was his career year when he was healthy. 2004-Again, a solid year. Posted a line of; .271/.338/.449 with 11 Hr's and an OPS+ of 97. Not a real strong season. 2005-Not a very good year. Missed most of the year, hit 1 single HR, and put up a line of .284/.358/.390 in about 141 AB's. 2006 Missed entire season 2007 Missed entire season 2008-This is THE year that everyone points to(I really disagree with your assessment that this is NOT in fact the season everyone uses. It certainly is, or at least, it's certainly the only one that holds any weight. I'm not going to sign a FA who's been extremely injury prone because of a good rookie year 8 seasons ago. Started 61 games and put up a line of; .293/.354/.471 for an .826 OPS. Again, this was in limited time as he was not a regular player. He DID have a tOPS+ of 97 that year vs RH'ers, so he was even below league average in his ONE big season. 2009-He was downright awful. No arguing that. .235/.286/.374 for a .660 OPS for a guy who played CF/RF for us last year. That's just ugly. 2010-I will include these numbers as he's further along than he was in the 2005 season that you included. His line so far this year-.137/.170/.275 for a .444 OPS in 53 PA's with 2 HR's 4 2B and 1 3B, and 1 HR, 1 2B and 1 3B came IN ONE GAME!!!! His aggregate numbers over the last FIVE and a half YEARS are as follows; In 919 PA's, he has a line of .257/.313/.415 with a .729 OPS, an OPS+ of 98. This of course includes his 2008 numbers that HEAVILY skew the overall numbers as he posted a .120 OPS+ in those years. I don't know how anyone can come to any conclusion that Jody Gerut is anything but a bad player at this point, and at 32 years of age and a LH'ed heavy bench, I think it's fairly obvious that a guy who's performing well in AAA should at LEAST be given a chance to see if he can enjoy any modicum of success at the big league level that has eluded Gerut for the most part since his rookie year of 2003. I left out '06 & '07 because he didn't play in the bigs. I left out '10 because it's all of 53 PA (iirc). That's a career line against righties of .274/.334/.456/.790 (1,518 PA) for a guy that can help you on defense in CF. So, no, no one I've seen is citing one season. Besides, if anyone would do that, they'd cite '03. I already addressed these points for the most part, but suffice to say I disagree. Again, I have seen people cite the '08 season. We're simply too far removed from the '03 season, his career year as a rookie, and he's suffered FAR too many injuries for there to be any value taken in that. And I don't know that Gerut can "help" your Defense in CF other than he can play a passable CF for short stretches if you're in a pinch. His knee injuries have zapped him of a lot of his speed and range. You have a passable line using a couple of sporadic seasons sprinkled in skewing the overall numbers from LH'ed hitter playing primarily a Corner OF position on a team that is flush with LH'ed bench options and could definitely use a RH'ed power option who can play in the corners. I haven't seen Katin play in person. I've read a lot about his good power, and strong arm, but I've heard nothing about whether or not he plays good defense in right. Have you seen him play, or have you just read more about him than me? Honest question; not baiting you. I doubt he could handle CF. I have seen Katin play, though I don't feel qualified after watching just a two game set to give a informed assessment about his defensive ability. He's a very smooth looking athlete, looks more "athletic and "smoother" than Braun, and he did get a chance on cork a couple throws and he has a LASER. But again, two games, two years ago? You're talking to someone pretty ignorant about his overall defensive prowess out there. On a bit of a related note, I actually believe Braun would be better served playing CF. I've said this before from my playing days and I have some stars like Robin Yount and Andruw Jones who have stated the same thing, but basically if you're athletic enough, CF is easier to play than LF or RF. If you're Adam Dunn, obviously that's not the case. But it's easier to get a read on the ball to cF. Down the line you're dealing with balls that are slicing away from you. In CF it's easier to just get a good old fashion read. That's not to say Katin could play there, just that he looked very athletic when I saw him and the reports on his athletic ability have been exceptional.

Not going to begin to get into the Gerut debate but I think Katin would be better served trying to put together a full good year in the minors than he would by coming up and sitting the bench. Why the rush to bring him up? Also why would he be a late inning replacement for Hart or Braun? You do not pull good to great hitters for a better fielder. Actually, teams often do. If you're up late in a game, it's pretty common to substitute out a poor fielder for a much better one, even if the hitter being taken out is good/great offensive player. In fact, Bruan was routinely replaced late in games when he first came up for a superior defensive player, and LaRussa does this fairly often. And there is no "rush" to bring him up. I think if this conversation was about Lawrie, that comment would be spot on. Even about Cain at 24 that comment would be spot on. Plus a HUGE difference in each player is that they're both guys you'd very much like to see develop into key cogs moving forward. Core pieces. Katin is a guy who's likely to be a career bench player, maybe get some platoon starts. So bringing him up to see if he can succeed in such a role at this point isn't the least bit out of line.

Is Katin your relative or something? He is having a nice start to the year, but I dont know why we would be in a rush to bring him up. He has had decent OPS in AAA the past two seasons so lets see if he can continue to hit over the next couple months. This is only 30 games. Last year after starting out hot he finished poorly. Let him finish this season and either be a September call up, or try to earn a backup spot in Spring TrainingThat's funny, I've often wondered if many on this board were related to Jody Gerut. Never before have I seen such a group of guys concerned with sample sizes(and 100 pct rightfully so), and then cite about 71 games worth of starts(in Gerut's ''great'' 2008 season) and stats from here and there over a 8 year career in which a guy has a TOTAL of 417 starts, to argue that this player is such a key cog and that we can't possibly bring up a guy who's hitting for a good deal of power, plays good defense and has a cannon for an arm. Truth is, Katain likely has no future, but who knows, perhaps he can become a "Nick Stavinoah" or however you spell it and he can provide a nice power stick off the bench, a possible late inning replacement for Corey or Braun. But there's SOME value there potentially as opposed to knowing exactly what Gerut gives you which is almost nothing.

As for the Nationals making a run at Roy Oswalt, that would be really interesting. Consider that they've got Jordan Zimmerman coming back from TJ surgery and should be 100 pct healthy next year(He should be back after the ASB IIRC this year) and Ross Detwiler coming back from a knee injury(could be a hip, not sure) and you've got the makings of a pretty nasty rotation coming up. I think if I'm the Nationals I would look to spend on a FA position player though. -Strasburg -Zimmerman -Detwiler -Olsen(who's looked good this year) -Lannan(who's coming off back to back sub 4.00 ERA's before having a rough year this year) -Livan(who's experiencing a bit of a resurgence Maybe they add Oswalt and look to add some offense. Bring back Dunn Perhaps Rickie Weeks+Corey Hart+Braddock/Axford for Jordan Zimmerman+Scott Olsen? They'd need someone who has some upside and will be around for a while. Rotation of 1-Strasburg 2-Oswalt 3-Detwiler 4-Livan 5-Lannan Lineup of 1-Weeks 2B 2-Bernadina CF 3-Zimmerman 3B 4-Dunn 1B 5-Willingham LF 6-Hart RF 7-Pudge C 8-Desmond SS CL-Storen SU-Clippard 7th-Capps That's a team that could seriously contend next year! I think the Nationals are going to have the money to spend as they're a big market team who's fans are waiting for a reason to come. I don't know, I didn't spend enough time putting enough thought into that, but I've always liked Scott Olsen and I think EVERYONE loves Zimmerman. And the Nationals instantly look like a good, good team.

Nationals get:1B Prince Fielder, RHP Yovani Gallardo, 2B Brett Lawrie, LF Ryan Braun, RF Corey Hart, 3B Casey McGehee, RHP Mark Rogers, C Jonathan Lucroy Brewers get: RHP Stephen Strasburg I think these trades are getting as outlandish as the original suggestion. I'm thinking we could get just about any TWO players from any team in baseball for that package....

I'm not a real fan of either Kendrick or Happ. I don't see Happ being any more than a #4/5 type starter and Kendrick is along those same lines. Neither excite me much at all. I'd hope for more upside in a trade for Hart, and would much prefer a guy equal to a Wily Peralta in A ball, or maybe even AA.

Jody Gerut had a decent year in 2008 in which he started 61 games vs RH'ers. 61 games. That's his ONLY decent year dating back to his rookie year of 2003. Who the hell does this guy have naked pictures of to retain SO much support on this boards? He's absolutely AWFUL. You talk about sample sizes, this guy even in his ONE year started well under 100 games. And he's 32 years old. And why can't Katin be a decent defender? With a very strong arm, and a guy who is generally regarded as a great athlete. I don't have much faith in Katin, but I'm absolutely baffled as to why Gerut's got this support on this board. There's just nothing there. No reason at all. He's a 32 year old injury prone player who in the last 7 years has one good stretch in which he got about 80 starts and put up a solid offensive line. So half a good season...

Yeah, he was a pretty exciting DAF when we snagged him and then he went a couple years without pitching only to reappear this year . Here's to hoping he can move quickly as a reliever. He's got good stuff.

Completely agree. Every single night I go to Minorleaguebaseball.com box scores, scroll down to the pitchers right away, look at the play by plays to see how our pitchers gave up runs(if they gave up runs), and then maybe give a look to a couple of position players on any given team. I'm sure I'm finding myself more and more in the minority, but I still love our farm system. We lack a near can't miss pitching prospect(if such a thing exists), but we do have a good 15 that have a great deal of potential in our system to be in the top half of a rotation(understanding we'll be lucky if 2-3 of them pan out) and we have a lot of just good, solid players. Before we had our star players and then not a whole lot behind them, whereas now I see a group of players like Lucroy, Green, Gindl, Cain to go with Lawrie and Gamel whom I do think can be stars. I'd also throw in Kentrail Davis who I think is going to be a very good player and Logan Schafer who will have to work his way back, but is more than capable of living up to his potential of a Steve Finley type player. We've got a lot more supplemental talent, and supporting talent than I think we previously had, and when you can bring those players up from within, it saves an awful lot of money. The one thing we're lacking is a good young backup SS/Utility type player, but perhaps Cruz will fill that role. We're not building from scratch this time. We've got a helluva core just between Braun and Parra, but throw in the potential for Manny to develop into a #2/3 potentially(which goes a LONG way in solidifying our future rotation and speeds up our clock to compete). I also think we've got a slew of BP pieces for the future in Braddock, Axford, Coffey(whom I'd like to see kept at a team friendly 3x3 type deal), Stetter, and then any number of pitchers that are currently at the top levels of the system. There are a lot of reasons to be disappointed about this season, but I for one actually still like the farm system quite a bit. We don't need superstars everywhere, we need a couple of big time impact bats which we have, and then we simply need to surround them with good solid players, something I think our system is very capable of doing at this point in time.

That's a fairly bold statement. I obviously think Weeks has more of a future here....and I think the Brewers are a little higher on Weeks than you may be. I certainly don't think keep Weeks precludes Brett Lawrie from finding his way onto the field. In fact, I'm pretty excited about a 1-5 of Weeks(2B), T. Green(3B), Braun(LF), Gamel(1B), Lawrie(RF), or some variation thereof. That lineup, rounded out with Lucroy, Escobar and Cain looks incredibly promising to me, not to mention very, very cheap for the near future. This also has the makings of a very well rounded offense as well, as you go R/L/R/L/R for your top 5, and have guys who take a lot of walks throughout your lineup. That said, I'm as excited about the recent tear that Lawrie is currently on as well, but I think he would benefit from a little more time in the minors than just over 2 years. He is currently red hot, but with a team that most likely won't have Prince on it next year, I'd just assume keep him in AAA for the year and make sure he's ready before we bring him up. He's still just 20 years old, so I see no need to rush him.

I'd prefer to see Giovany Soto for the Milwaukee Brewers striking out Geovany Soto for the Chicago Cubs!

Gennett is not a SS so I don't think that solves it. Prince has had a rough start but I still think he is a decent prospect plus the minor detail that he is actually a SS helps. I'm surprised with all the pushing people are doing to try to turn a 2nd baseman into a SS. Yeah he could play an okay short but all scouts and even Isom have said he is best suited as a 2nd baseman. To me, outside of Farris, he is the most natural 2nd baseman we have. My favorite comparison of Scooter is the Pedroia one. I think it is very suiting and they are alike in many ways. I just don't see Gennett being the security SS of the future. If absolutly needed, yes, if not, no. Last resort. I agree with you to a certain extent. I think he's clearly "better" suited to play 2B, however I think it's a bit early to write him off as a SS. He's got good quickness, and he's got a decent arm. He's the type of guy who's always been told he can't do this, he can't do that, and yet he's consistently proven people wrong by excelling. Excelling with the bat, excelling in the field when given the chance. He reminds me Pedroia as well, and I was nothing short of absolutely, 100 pct GIDDY when we added him in the 16th round, but I find it hard to believe after watching him in just a couple of games that he's not capable of playing a David Eckstien level defense. Of course I'm not the least bit concerned about Alcides Escobar yet. Escobar passes the "eye" test for me. He's got a nice big wiry frame that I believe will allow him to add some power as he matures, I believe he can become a legit 12-15 HR a year hitter, will hit ~.295-.300/.345 as he matures and as he refines his game. So while I believe that Gennett could play SS without being terrible, I don't see it as a necessity that he play there for future holes on the big league roster. Bottom line, a guy like Gennett will force himself into a lineup, and he'll likely always be questioned. At Short, at 2nd, wherever.

I agree. Why give up Hart and Rogers to get Withrow when Rogers is clearly outpitching Withrow this year in the same league? If we need to add a sweetener to Hart, add in Dave Bush, as Seattle doesn't want prospects. Absolutely. I have absolutely no interest in trading virtually any of our young pitchers, simply because their potential future value to us vastly out paces their current trade value. As of right now, I highly doubt many teams would be willing to give up much for a Mark Rogers, Wily Peralta, Cody Scarpetta, ect..ect...type prospect. As a result, given their future potential, and my belief that out of 20 good, high ceiling arms we can count on hopefully 2-3 actually panning out, I would be loathe to give any of them up.

I kinda see the comp to Sheets. They're both RH'ers and they both throw curveballs. Of course Strasburg has a 93 MPH change that's as fast as Sheeters FASTBALL, Strasburg throws 100 MPH..not just once a game, not just here and there, very, very often. No, seriously, this trade isn't going down. Even if you wanted to...say trade them Gallardo and Braun for Strasburg and Storen, a even trade in my mind value wise, it's about the Nationals developing an identity. Right now, they're the team Stephen Strasburg pitches for. He IS their team. They've got less than no incentive to trade him. And honest question, were you being sarcastic when you said he could develop into a solid #2 starter, possibly even a #1? I would have to assume so. If there has EVER been ANY pitcher who projects as an ace, a #1, it's him.

Yes, but the team is out of it, and if he has any value he needs to be moved. All he's doing right now is playing horrible defense in CF and taking AB's away from Gomez. Yeah, but here is the problem, we're NOT out of it. We're still in it. We're very, very close to being out of it. WE're on the precipice of being out of it, but at this point very few teams are out of it, and with the Reds and Cards not running away with it, we're still close enough that I don't see the white flag being waved just yet. You can be as certain as you want that we're out of it, but at this point everyone and everything is on hold to see if they can get hot, and waiting for things to sort themselves out. Every so often a Brewers like team goes on a crazy run to put themselves back in the race as the Marlins did in '03, the A's around the same time(actually a few times), the Rox, the Twins last year. I doubt we'll get back into it, but I doubt more that we're going to give up so soon with so much on the line(attendance impacting future payroll).

Actually I think he could have done a lot for the organization. Both he and Roque Mercedes. Cutter Dykstra was never really in the OF picture as he was struggling something awful at the lower levels. Cain and Braun are only 2 OF'ers, and you have no idea what the future holds for Hart, Gindl, Davis(either). At the very least they offer a lot more than Felipe Lopez does. I hated that trade last year as I see Cole Gillepie as a serviceable LF'er, and a good 4th OF'er, and Mercedes has some value as a middle reliever. It'd be like moving Caleb Gindl and Lamontange for a player who does little for us moving forward. Hell, we didn't even get any draft pick compensation for him.

I'm not sure how much more Lawrie is going to fill out. He's already has a thick frame with definition. IMO, teaching Lawrie a new position (which I consider to be harder than 2b) is more difficult than predicting him to lose quickness. I guess it's just a different opinion. There are a lot of questions to be answered right now regarding the IF with Prince, McGehee, Gamel, Weeks and Lawrie coming up. Most want Weeks re-signed, including me, many do not want Lawrie playing 1st as they feel it's a waste of his athletic ability. The difference in difficulty associated with 2nd and 3rd is relative to a persons attributes. If you're smaller and quick, lack a big arm, you're better suited for 2nd. If you're a little bit bigger, lack great quickness, but have good hands and a very strong arm, I think you're better suited for 3rd base. Again, Lawrie has a lot more range to cover at 2nd, he has to make the turn which is very difficult. I don't think playing 3rd would require a whole lot of time or development at this point. He does have very good hands, and he does have a very good arm. He's also 20 years old, so it's not like we've missed the window to develop him elsewhere. I think a year and a half...which is about how much longer he should stay in the minors(which also coincides with Prince likely departure and Gamel potentially moving over to 1st to give you a Lawrie/Escobar/Weeks/Gamel/Lucroy/Braun/Cain/Hart(or whoever) 8 man lineup would serve him best as well as the Brewers.

I don't see any viable argument for how the Brewers handled Gamel last year. It simply does not exist. for the record, him getting recalled on the 8th was a no-brainer. You kinda owe it to him at that point, but for him not to start every day at that point is mind boggling. What exactly were we playing for last year? 80 wins? I could not be any more enamored with Mat Gamel. This kid is going to be very, very good. You and me both brother. I was a fan of Gamel just from the few clips(hadn't seen him in person) and from the scouting reports. Once I saw him in Milwaukee, I was incredibly, incredibly impressed. I think Gamel's going to be a very similar player to Joey Votto, except I think he can handle 3rd base. I understand we don't have the top rated farm system, but I'll keep beating the drums. I think we've got a couple impact player(Gamel, Lawrie, Lucroy), a couple who profile as very sound, well rounded players like Cain, Gindle, Schafer and company, and we've got plenty of arms to fill up our Pen. If we can just get ONE more elite starting pitcher to go with Gallardo atop the rotation I think we're in good shape.