SRB

Some players are better than others at drawing HBP and are more willing to crowd the plate (see: Rickie Weeks). Scherzer shouldn't have gone so far inside, he was taking a risk. I think you are fooling yourself if you watch what Tabata did and think it was that egregious (people are acting like he dove in front of the ball, all he did was move his elbow slightly). Plus, Scherzer's control was all over the place and Tabata had already drawn, what, 8-9 pitches? And it would have been a full count if Tabata had jumped out of the way. The perfect game was not a foregone conclusion even if Scherzer hadn't hit Tabata.

I guess this fixes the return on Lohse/Garza as "negative one Tyrone Taylor"

I'm sure the Brewers front office would want BPA in terms of a prospect too, I'm afraid the position specification might mean they're looking for a major league piece who can fill a hole this season or next. A guy like Danny Valencia who can take over at 3B next season (or if A-Ram is traded) assuming Dominguez is not enough.

Well I can't speak for anyone in this thread, but a lot of people on social media are definitely mad at Tabata. Whether the umpire made a mistake in letting him take first base is a different question (though, when I watched the replay live it looked like maybe he brought his arm/elbow down but it didn't seem like he really leaned toward the plate).

Totally disagree, the batter should be doing everything he can to break up the perfect game (or that he would otherwise do in that situation). Otherwise what's the point, the achievement is meaningless. I have no problem with what Tabata did.

There are tens of thousands of people (and multiple cameras) watching where the balls go... You catch the A-Rod ball, a stadium employee comes over and asks for it back. Nothing complicated about that whatsoever. I think the scenario where the fan gives back a fake ball he/she smuggled in is fairly far-fetched.

Legally that's not exactly true. Logistically, it would be even more of a challenge and a ridiculous waste of time. I understand that, currently, fans are legally entitled to keep the balls, but I don't see why that should be the case. You buy a ticket and are invited onto private property to watch the game. If you're shopping in a store and a box falls off the shelf and into your bag that doesn't mean you get to keep it. If you're at a concert and a musician drops his instrument into the first row, that doesn't mean it's yours. Even if it's not an automatic right, teams should write their right to reclaim foul balls into the ticket agreements. It wouldn't be a logistical challenge at all, because 99.999% of the time the stadium/team would not exercise its legal rights and would let fans keep balls. When you have a historically significant ball that could be worth thousands of dollars, the stadium should have the right to confiscate it from whoever it lands on.

I would bold Kottaras, and there are a few other solid enough role-players that were pretty good value for being essentially free. Melvin has a strong track record in trades too (setting aside the strategic questions, like whether it was worth trading for Greinke/Marcum when we did), as well as minor league free agency (e.g. Narveson, Axford). I've always wondered whether Milwaukee's professional scouts are just better than its amateur scouts.

I don't know if 1B/3B means they're looking for a guy who can take over in 2016 as opposed to a prospect, but if not then 1B Rowdy Tellez would be a nice pickup (mentioned in the draft forum recently for being the largest post-round-10 bonus under the new draft rules). Just turned 20, hitting .291/.348/.441/.789 at A-ball this year so far. The only other 1B/3B that John Sickels ranked in the Blue Jays preseason top 20 is 3B Mitch Nay, but he doesn't inspire a lot of excitement just looking at his stats (last first-round pick in 2012 though).

It makes zero sense that fans are legally entitled to keep balls they catch.

I think LHP Daniel Norris, RHP Jeff Hoffman, and C Max Pentecost would be a fair return (if Gomez gets hot, he's off to a slow start this season).

I think this is a classic case of perceptions obscuring reality. Wang's value on here has been drastically overinflated by the weird Rule 5 maneuver the Brewers pulled last season. If the scouting reports and statistics and everything else were identical, but we had simply received him in a trade or drafted him, it wouldn't be a big deal. I'm not dumping on him, but he is not an elite prospect, and taking up a 40-man spot is a substantial cost (yes, we currently have mediocre players like Logan Schaffer on the 40-man, but at least Schaffer you can call up to sort-of be a major league player). Meanwhile, Dominguez's value is being drastically underrated because he's coming in as an Astros castoff rather than one of our own prospects. Dominguez was a top draft pick (#12 overall) out of high school, was considered a top prospect (i.e. top-100, even top-30 according to BP) for a few years, and already has a decent season under his belt in the majors (2.2 rWAR, 0.8 fWAR). And he's only 25. If everything were equal (including his poor 2014 and 2015 campaigns) but Dominguez was a Brewers draftee and had come up through our system, people would love him and have faith in him as a possible option at 3B next year. I am actually optimistic that the Brewers can fix Dominguez somehow, because the reason he was so bad last season was he was hitting HRs and nothing else - terrible AVG/OBP and lots of strikeouts. And if you look, practically every other single Houston Astro has the same problem (even guys who came in from outside, like Luis Valbuena). Makes me wonder if it's something to do with how they're coaching their hitters.

[sarcasm]I'm looking forward to seeing what Maysonet can do this season![/sarcasm]

Matt Dominguez is still only 25 and is a former Baseball America top-100 prospect (#64 in 2009, #81 in 2011). Baseball Prospectus had him in the top-30 for 2009. There have been position players who have figured out to hit in their late 20s, there is a non-zero chance that Dominguez could do the same and become a decent player. Not saying it's likely, but probably similar odds to WCW becoming a valuable major league pitcher.

I'm hearing unconfirmed reports that the Cardinals tried hacking into the Pirates personnel database to ascertain the identity of Dave Kerwin.

We won't know until the signing deadline. Obviously they're going to be adamant about going to college now, because they're potentially negotiating for more money. I think it's pretty clear that Everett/Hooper would only sign for >$2M or so though, which isn't going to happen.

Trent Clark and Nash Walters have both tweeted about traveling to Milwaukee, so presumably both have formally signed.

Great info, thanks Eye Black. Go Virginia/Kirby!

I think the legend of Braun's defense at 3B has become a little overblown. He was young and still learning a completely new (difficult) position, in total between the minors and 2007 he was only at 3B for about two seasons worth of playing time. The problem was his bat was historically good and carried him to the majors before his complete game was probably ready. Braun is a great athlete and I suspect he would have become more tolerably below-average at 3B over time.

I'm glad Gatewood had a bit of a hot streak, because now both Gatewood and Harrison (last year) have had glimpses of success that should help their confidence. Sending them down is clearly the right move developmentally. No need to rush anybody - ideally we will have Gatewood, Harrison, Lara, and now Clark all hitting the majors at the same time. Arcia will be the veteran by that point

They don't have to go $700k under slot, just $300-400k or whatever under slot and then you pay the financial overage penalty and add on the $100k post-round-10 slot value. They can go over slot with Clark and Orimoloye and a couple of the high schoolers and still make up that deficit. Their fifth round pick was a college senior. It doesn't seem that unusual to me if multiple players did it in 2013 alone (after a quick search I couldn't find if there were any similar signing last year). Hooper and Everett are most likely out of play, because they were potentially first round talents and would want >$1M. But a guy like India or Beck could snap at $700k, why not?

Teams have done it in the past. For example, in the 2013 draft, the Blue Jays gave Rowdy Tellez $850k in Round 30, and Jake Brentz $700k in Round 11. That same year the Cardinals gave Steven Farinaro $750k in Round 11. Can't find if anybody bested the Tellez bonus for the 2014 draft. The rumor (not sure of the ultimate source) is that Rodon wanted a deal in that range, $700k, back in 2011. I feel like the Brewers will be saving a lot of money in Round 5 and can probably squeeze some extra money out of most of the college players they picked after Round 6, $700k-$800k doesn't seem that far-fetched but maybe I'm wrong. FWIW, that year BA had Tellez ranked as the #64 prospect going into the draft, and Brentz #81. Here's a BA blurb from back in 2013 explaining what the Cardinals did:

Can someone explain to me why it is so unlikely that one of the post-Round 10 guys signs? It doesn't seem impossible that the Brewers could have enough slot money left over to offer one of those guys >$700k, which is the range for the highest post-10 bonuses under the new rules so is not unprecedented. Carlos Rodon allegedly asked for $700k to sign and the Brewers wouldn't give it to him. If (big if) they think any of these guys is worth that, I don't see why they couldn't make it work.

Having read up on all/most of our picks more closely, I'm starting to think Nathan Kirby could end up being the real pick of the draft.

Justin Hooper looks the most impressive to my untrained eye. Everett looks like a potential reliever. (Though obviously I would do backflips to sign any of these guys)