Eye Black

There are 11 teams that can't sign any International player for more than $300,000 because of exceeding their allotments previously. Those teams could either use their pools to sign a whole bunch of players under $300K, or they could trade portions of their bonus pool for other assets such as prospects or major league players. Otherwise a team like the Orioles doesn't typically spend money in Latin America, so they may be willing to trade away bonus pool money for the same type of trade returns.

That is a little disappointing, just assumed it was for the upcoming signing period.

Taking a closer look at the current International signing bonus rules, any team can trade for up to 75% of their initial International bonus pool. This means the Brewers could acquire enough International signing bonus money via trade to have a total pool amount that would top out at $9,187,500. There are only five teams that could potentially trade for a larger pool at this point... D'backs, Indians, Rockies, Pirates, Orioles. Those teams all have an initial bonus pool of $5.75 million without any restrictions from going over their allotment during the previous International signing period.

I realize the odds of acquiring Otani remain small, but the Brewers have just traded Magnifico for $885,300 in International bonus money, raising their total spending allotment to $6,135,300. It would appear that continuing this trend of trading for additional International bonus money would at least present an opportunity to offer the highest signing bonus to Otani (assuming they don't sign the other International players they have been connected to). EDIT: The $885,300 is apparently for the current signing period, so expires on June 15th and next year's bonus pool is still at $5.25 million. Still, trading for International bonus pool money would be appear to be a necessary option for whatever teams make an attempt to sign Otani.

The Brewers pick up an additional $885,300 in International spending money (added to their previous $5.25 million allotment) which I believe means as of right now they have more International dollars to spend than any other team.

Between Biloxi and Colorado Springs (both through 4.0 innings), the teams are 0-for-24 (0-for-12 each) with no walks and 9 combined strikeouts. Hopefully they can both find a little offense sooner than later. Edit: Right on cue Garrett Cooper hits a double, so it must have worked!

The DH is optional in the American League, so he could hit on days he pitches in the AL if the team decided to forgo the DH. Similarly if he pitched for an NL team playing in an AL park they could decide to allow him to hit. I am assuming he will want to know the exact plans each potential suitor would have in terms of his projected use as a hitter in these scenarios. It will be interesting if any AL teams would commit to allowing him to hit on days he pitches. I assume most AL teams would still want to have use of their DH spot and encourage him to focus on pitching only on those days.

CJ Wittmann of Perfect Game (previously of 2080 Ball) was at last night's Carolina game and shared scouting notes on Twitter regarding a few players including these insights on Marcos Diplan...

I feel guilty leaving Jacob Barnes and Brent Suter off my list, but they are sort of out my prospect consciousness at this point. 1) Lewis Brinson 2) Josh Hader 3) Isan Diaz 4) Luis Ortiz 5) Corey Ray 6) Lucas Erceg 7) Brandon Woodruff 8) Trent Clark 9) Phil Bickford 10) Mauricio Dubon 11) Marcos Diplan 12) Jorge Lopez 13) Brett Phillips 14) Gilbert Lara 15) Cody Ponce 16) Ryan Cordell 17) Nathan Kirby 18) Taylor Williams 19) Jake Gatewood 20) Miguel Diaz 20) Jacob Nottingham 21) Monte Harrison 22) Freddy Peralta 23) Corbin Burnes 24) Kodi Medeiros 25) Josh Pennington Next Five: Devin Williams Trey Supak Braden Webb Zach Clark Demi Orimoloye

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/f/f6/ChadPennington.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091110210655

Through seven innings now, they've combined for 4 walks, 7 strikeouts, and... well just check it out for yourself. EDIT:

I think reillymcshane was on the right track here. The Brewers need to either accentuate the intrinsic qualities of Milwaukee and the Brewers organization, or they need to be the figure out a way to creatively exploit a financial loop hole in the current collective bargaining agreement. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so here is my stab at ridiculous options... - Guarantee the Nippon Ham company representation (a 6th full-time Famous Racing Sausage) in the prestigious Miller Park sausage race as a good will gesture. - Create a new craft beer, the Otani Pale Ale, and sell it at the Miller Park craft brew bar for $14.00 with proceeds going directly to the Japanese star. - Present Shohei Otani with an unlimited pass for Bernie Brewer slide rides. ---None of that is likely to get it done, we need to go BIGGER--- How about you make Shohei Otani a minority stakeholder in the Brewers organization? What you can't pay him in salary you could give him in equity in the Brewers organization. A 5% share of the Brewers organization? I realize it is probably very much against the compensation rules, but I have a feeling the bidding for Otani is going to include some questionable tactics (although probably not quite to this extent).

It seems more certain than ever that Shohei Otani is going to be playing major league baseball in 2018. He is quite possibly the closest we have seen to a sure a thing on the International market. He is a franchise changing player. The new collective bargaining rules are going to prevent him from being paid anywhere close to fair market value at this point in his career, so other factors are going to play into his decision on where to sign. So time to get creative BF.net, it is up to us to devise a strategy for the Brewers to sign Otani. How are we going to convince Shohei Otani to sign with the Brewers? A few Otani related links from earlier today... 60 Minutes Interview: Is Japan's Babe Ruth headed to the Majors? MLB Trade Rumors: Latest on Otani ESPN.com: Japanese star Shohei Otani to miss 6 weeks with thigh injury

Final: Montgomery 6, Biloxi 1 Biscuits hand Shuckers their first loss of 2017 on Sunday Angel Ortega homered and collected a pair of hits in the loss Biloxi Box Score Centerfielder Johnny Davis wasted no time in extending his hit streak as he bunted the first pitch of the game for an infield single. It what was a fairly dismal effort for the Shuckers both offensively and defensively, but Angel Ortega stood out as a bright spot. He went 2-for-3 including a solo home run in what would prove to be the only offense for Biloxi. He also made a very nice defensive play at third base on what looked like it was going to be a sure bunt single for the Biscuits’ Andrew Velazquez in the first inning. Although the results don’t look pretty on paper, I promise that Luis Ortiz outing wasn’t quite as bad as the stat line indicates. He finished being tagged with 7 hits and 5 runs through 4.0 innings. He was getting squared up at times as evidenced by allowing two home runs including one to a Montgomery player (Braxton Lee) who had never hit a home run as a professional in his previous 966 career at bats. Still, Ortiz's outing was also impacted by some atrocious defense behind him. Clint Coulter had a couple of tough luck plays including an easy fly ball to the warning track that Coulter lost in the sun and watched fall 10 feet to his right (scored a triple) as well as a ball that looked possibly playable, but fell in between Coulter and Davis in right-center. The 5th innings started with Ortiz’s outfield again letting him down as LF Michael Reed dove on a ball hit in front of him allowing what at worst should have been a single turn into a double and the next batter bunted for a single on a ball that Ortiz fielded, but lost the handle and had to double clutch. That proved to be the final pitch of the day for Ortiz. On a more positive note Ortiz did record 6 strikeouts and walked none. The final two runs credited to Ortiz were hit off of Bubba Derby who was making his AA debut. Overall Derby had a relatively successful outing. After allowing the two inherited runners to score on a Justin Williams double Derby did not allow another hit over his 3.0 innings pitched. Biloxi Game Log Mauricio Dubon was removed from the game after batting in the top of the 6th. I did not hear an explanation given, but Ortega moved over to SS and replacement George Iskenderian did manage a base hit. Biloxi Top of the 6th Mauricio Dubon flies out to right fielder Justin Williams. Michael Reed flies out to left fielder Granden Goetzman. Victor Roache grounds out, shortstop Andrew Velazquez to first baseman Joe McCarthy. Montgomery Bottom of the 6th Defensive Substitution: George Iskenderian replaces shortstop Mauricio Dubon, batting 2nd, playing third base. Defensive switch from third base to shortstop for Angel Ortega.

A Link Report Sunday afternoon with both Luis Ortiz and Cody Ponce on the mound... so happy to have baseball back!

Zach Clark appears to have the tools (most notably speed) to develop into a very good player.

Final: Biloxi 2, Montgomery 1 DeMuth's heroics spark Shuckers to another victory over Biscuits Williams and the Biloxi bullpen keep Montgomery's bats quiet Biloxi Box Score In his long awaited return to the mound Taylor Williams gave up just one hit and one walk while recording three strikeouts over 3.0 scoreless innings. That lone hit against Williams was the first Biscuits batter of the game in what was one of the weakest infield worm killing dribbler singles you will ever see. After recording 144 strikeouts over 150 innings in 2016, Jon Perrin started off 2017 with 7 K's over 4.2 relief innings. Speedster Johnny Davis extended his hitting streak to 11 straight games dating back to last season. In addition to Dustin DeMuth’s 9th inning RBI double he also hit a solo home run in the 5th inning and was the only Shuckers player with multiple hits. Biloxi Game Log Taylor Williams was on a pitch count, but worked an efficient three innings in which he faced 10 batters and threw just 40 pitches (25 for strikes). Only one ball even made it out of the infield against Williams who was running his fastball into the mid-90s. Montgomery Bottom of the 1st Granden Goetzman singles on a ground ball to shortstop Mauricio Dubon. Alec Sole grounds into a double play, second baseman Javier Betancourt to shortstop Mauricio Dubon to first baseman Dustin DeMuth. Granden Goetzman out at 2nd. Cade Gotta grounds out, second baseman Javier Betancourt to first baseman Dustin DeMuth. Montgomery Bottom of the 2nd Justin Williams strikes out swinging. Grant Kay flies out to center fielder Michael Reed. Justin O'Conner walks. Nick Ciuffo grounds out, second baseman Javier Betancourt to first baseman Dustin DeMuth. Montgomery Bottom of the 3rd Michael Russell grounds out, third baseman George Iskenderian to first baseman Dustin DeMuth. Riley Unroe strikes out swinging, catcher Dustin Houle to first baseman Dustin DeMuth. Granden Goetzman strikes out on a foul tip.

Brett Phillips last two at-bats in today's game were a fly out and a ground out. Not a big deal, except that it was a change from the outcome of 10 of his first 11 at bats of the season which were either a strikeout or a hit. In order here were Phillips' first 11 at bats this season: K, 1B, K, K, K, 2B, 6-3, HR, K, K, 1B

Here is the Link Report for August 28, 2014. That is the last time Taylor Williams took the mound in a regular season MiLB game. Today marks 955 days since that last start. The wait is finally over!

Nice walk-off win for the Sky Sox! The organization goes 5-0 (counting the Brewers) tonight!!!

Except this Carolina team just keeps slugging. This team is going to be fun to follow, what a difference a year makes at High-A in the Brewers organization.

Really? I am legitimately curious what you don't like about it? In my opinion, it is not only infinitely better, but has been way overdue. The viewer can now actually judge pitch movement and location. It is a completely different (positive) viewing experience for me.

They are reporting on the broadcast that it is "either a jammed or dislocated finger" on his left hand.

For what it is worth (admittedly probably not that much), Baseball Reference lists Nick Franklin's most similar major league batter through age 25 as former Blue Jay Kelly Gruber. Kelly Gruber went on to be an All Star in his age 27 & 28 seasons. Not necessarily predicting it, but there is at least a non-zero chance Franklin could develop into a solid hitter in his prime.

And yet, not really the reason we are losing games. Lol I guess to be a little more fair it is over 74 plate appearances, but still makes for a 38% K/PA rate. Hopefully the brightside is that there is nowhere to go but up (well technically down).