Thurston Fluff

No. Saying "how bad our minor league system is" paints an accurate picture. And it is bad. It could be considered young or even average. It is not a foregone conclusion that is is bad. Stating that there can be no argument made other than it is bad is pessimistic. Bad is when you don't have any prospects. Bad is when Ron Belliard and Ben Hendrickson are the only legitimate prospects in the entire system. We have a decent number high ceiling players as well as a plenty of serviceable ones. Hell look at your own list and read what you said about them. That was not even a complete list of major league potential guys. What we don't have a lot of is AAA players close to being major league ready.

I hope he gets invited to throw out the first ball at the Brewers home opener this year. That would be really nice. If he threw his change up it would delay the game by 1/2 an hour. An hour if he threw his fastball.

Oh well, no sandwich pick. Interesting that he will not sign for a day to 'Retire as a Padre'. I wonder if they didn't because of the sandwich pick. I know it doesn't directly cost them a pick to do so but it gives a competitor a pick and lowers all your picks past that by one slot.

There are discussions about how we should improve SS and how bad our minor league system is In that one sentence you kind of made his point. I think when you say something like "how bad our minor league system is," it paints a negative picture. It's sort of like saying we know it's bad but how bad is it? It may not be bad at all. I agree it is a legitimate debate to have and am not saying there isn't reason to think it is bad. Just that it was done with a negative connotation.

I mean, if Hanson were already on the Brewers, I certainly wouldn't view him as anything but untouchable. We have a Tommy Hanson type on our squad. His name is Yovanni Gallardo. What would it take to pry him away from us?

Now we had to mortgage part to all of the future (3-7 years) to be competitive with that group. Gamel, Gennet, Schafer, Komastu and Davis are all position players 20 or older. The farm is loaded with young power arms around the same age/development level. Several of the above players will be in AA this season. It isn't uncommon at all to go from AA to the majors in two years. Not coincidentally that would be about the time some of our major league players will need to be replaced.

I agree, and I think this is a point where the PR department outweighs what is smart long-term. The Royals will probably have a hard time selling any Greinke trade to the fans, but it would be really tough if the two pitchers were minor leaguers (many fans don't seem to count minor leaguers as much value). It makes it a little easier a sell to have a starting CF, SS and a 100+MPH fireballer in the setup role. In normal situations I would agree. In the case of a team down that long I don't think it matters. Casual fans won't go to see rookies play instead of Greinke regardless of their prospect status. They wait to see what the team looks like then go if they see something good happening. The only way fo rthat to happen is to get the best players then wait for it to come together. Simply put you don't get casual fans without winning and you don't win unless you get the best players available. If the Royals want to do something positive for their short term attendance they are as well off getting the best possible prospects regardless of age or major league readiness. The diehards are who they will rely on for attendance and merchandise sales until the team actually turns things around. As we all know here, diehards not only want to see a long term plan in place but are pretty knowledgeable on how good those future prospects are. In KC's situation I believe diehards, unlike casual fans, will come when they see the teams future is going in the right direction even if that meant the present took a hit. Just like we all did in the early to mid part of the last decade.

discharge sounds way too much like peeing blood to me. Celestial regeneration might be better.

Overall this makes the Cubs better next season but not enough to think we can't compete. I really don't care what rest of the division does as long as the Brewers do what they need to be competitive. I would rather have a great season full of competitive series than a cake walk but have to sit through a bunch of bad baseball so bring it on. The Brewers track record in developing guys from roster fillers to actual prospects with value just isn't very good. You mention Soto. Well he's been an All Star and he was picked in the 11th round. Heck the Brewers are benefiting from a guy the Cubs developed, Casey McGehee. The only direct comparison between the two team's ability to turn players into a major league caliber player we have is McGehee. If we can get him to play better at the major league level than they could at the minor league then I think it a stretch to give them too much credit.

Much more often than not it doesn't work out like this. The rare instance of Belly having a better season doesn't change the fact that it is much more likely Betancourt continues to Quevedo his way out of baseball. I agree. I was more or less looking for reasons to think it might work and that was the one thing I could think of. If laziness is part of his problem then being in a contract year might be another.

When Belliard was here I thought he was lazy and out of shape. He was non tendered and signed a minor league FA contract the next season and went from a 544 OPS to a 760 one in a single season. I'm not implying he was as bad as Betancourt by any means. Merely that both were talented but seemingly lazy and both were in bad situations for those who may be a bit lazy. I hope they cover themselves but am willing to see what he does as a Brewer in a good situation before I decide.

1. A weak farm system can take many years to restock. A stocked MLB roster can be largely gone in two. We are bare at the top but the farm is far from barren. This is not the same as when Taylor got here and there were no players in the entire system. This is more or less a system who still has prospects. It's just they will start the season in AA or lower. Two years from now some of them will be major league ready.

Gamel's defense combined with the need to get him up to speed at multiple portions are reason's why I would rather he be in AAA to start the season. Couldn't care less how old he is as long as he is ready to fill what ever role he's in when he gets here. At this point I think he's more ready to be an everyday player at one spot than a part time player at multiple ones. Problem is there isn't one open at any position he can play. Overall I think we might be lacking in depth but maybe not as bad as it appears. Lets face it when you trade as many top prospects close to major league ready you will have holes in the system. The thing we didn't trade were the prospects who project more as role players than starters. So maybe we don't have starting caliber depth but still got some guys whose roles project to what they would eventually be filling anyway. There are more not great but serviceable types like Casey McGehee's than can't miss Lorenzo Cain types now.

Two hours ago I was going to be done by 8pm on New years eve. Now I have an hour stand-up gig at 8 that I haven't done in about 20 years and a 1/2 hour sketch as a witch doctor teaching people how to turn left over Christmas cookies into voodoo dolls after that. Haven't done that in about 10 years. Guess tonight should be dedicated to reading old notes.

If I were them, I would follow the Yankees blueprint: start a Cubs network, build a "new" Wrigley to match the old one and watch the cash roll in. The Cubs had a bigger media outlet than the Yankees when WGN owned them. As far as the stadium goes, to match the old one would take a lot of work to get that special aroma from the restrooms. Recycled Old Style is just to hard to come by these days.

Where ever you go and what ever you do you will always be a brewer to me.

An easy thing to do that doesn't cost any extra a month but reduced the interest paid on credit cards is to make weekly payments instead of monthly payments on credit cards. If you budget X amount to the card why not pay it in 4 installments a month instead of one and save the interest? It doesn't seem like a big thing but if you see the interest paid each month now and when you do weekly payments it's visible and adds up over time.

He's 37 and missed a good portion of last season with injury. While I thought he did a nice job for us when here I can't help but think we got the best he had to offer then and won't come close to that again.

As far as I know, Edmonds played through some injuries last year. But he played well without missing significant time so I don't think that he's just a 'phrase'. I found this piece from hardballtalk on NBC sports that pretty much sums up his injury issues as well as his prospects going forward. He played his hear tout for a lot of years but even he appeared to see the writing on the wall. He played as long as he could with injuries then succumbed to them in a very predictable way for someone his age and playing style.

If there was such a thing as a hall of fame for teenage employees we'd have a sure fire first ballot one on our hands. Now she's 18 and just got a full time job. I'm so happy for her yet so disappointed I have to not only train someone again but chances are they won't come close to as good and trustworthy as she is.

I did in considering this discussion, and there's no way adding Rogers & Parra comes close to the quality depth that Cincy has. I think we are looking at depth a little differently. I am taking it as part of the overall picture not who has the best #6-8 guys. Yes their bottom is better but our top is as well. If we lost a pitcher I think whats left of the top 5 would make up the difference between their #6 and ours. Not saying your way is wrong by any means just a different way of looking at it.

I was thinking the same thing JB. I don't think it's a bad thing. If you have a spot open and no obvious candidate for it why not get a bunch of castoffs and see if one sticks?

Cincinnati looks to be 7-deep in quality starters (Volquez/Cueto/Wood/Chapman/Bailey/Arroyo/Leake). Neither the Brewers nor the Cardinals can boast that kind of depth. If you add Chapman, Leake and Bailey in that due to possible improvements then you should also add in Rogers and Parra for the Brewers. I think the potential of our top 7 are as good as the Reds top 7.

Looking for trends in yearly UZR results is like trying to look for batting trends in 200 AB increments. Yet WAR uses it and the same people who discredit a single season of UZR seems to like WAR as a true indicator when it uses single season UZR. Kind of contradictory to me which is why I pretty much dismiss WAR overall. Can't put in a stat that is known to be troublesome in the size used and expect to get something predictive of future results. All it tells us is what he was not what he can be. All that said when everything shows he isn't good it's hard to believe he'll be good. Not willing to say he's completely useless as others have before I see him but not gonna hold my breath waiting for positives. As a stop gap on an otherwise good fielding team I could see it. As the Brewers are set up not so much. Hope there is something else in the works.

Football has plenty of those types as well. Rex Grossman just got another start this week after an awful career. Jeff George was given multiple shots even though teams knew he was a wienie and hadn't shown himself to be all that productive. He had a big arm and teams covet that. If a player has raw skills he will be given plenty of chances to succeed in any sport. There are just not many people with exceptional tools so they are valued no matter the results up to that point.