SoCalBrewfan

And somewhere Yost sees Cordero pitching in the sixth inning and his head explodes...

Rosenthal at Fox says teams have asked about trading for various Brewer RHP, as part of an article on the 'slim pickings' among starting pitchers in the trade market: msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7004562 Not much of a surprise, but it's confirmation of what we can all see...they have some depth that they could use to reshape the roster. At the same time, as Rosenthal notes, they have a good thing going and might be reluctant to tamper.

Haven't seen it but probably will with the kiddo before too long. But the discussion is interesting...Pixar movies really do work on a lot of levels for me, as a grown up who watches more 'kids movies' than grown up ones these days. After one of the many 'best movies' threads or discussions somewhere, I pondered why I hadn't included any Pixar movies among my personal favorites, because they are quite good, well-written with characters more vivid than many movies for grown-ups, and really do hold up to repeated viewing. (Anyone with young kids will have an opinion on that, I suspect...) Brad Bird is really really good. The Iron Giant is really really really good....love that movie. And, in the category of animation that works for kids but also succeeds at an adult level, you have to mention Miyakazi. (John Lasseter of Pixar is apparently a huge fan as he's on a bunch of the DVDs introducing .) Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are too old and a bit scary for my son, though he's liked parts of the former. But Kiki's Delivery Service was just right...

Hm. I tend to lag release dates by a while, so a lot of what I have played the heck out of the first half of the year doesn't count as 07 stuff...for example, I still listen a whole bunch to that Hold Steady record though it was an 06 release. I'm almost ready for my 2006 top ten list now...sigh. I don't have any of those leaked CDs yet, but I like the Wilco, Ryan Adams and White Stripes records pretty well...Wilco probably most of all. Feist and Isbell will be on my next shopping list, maybe along with the New Pornographers. I don't know much about the National or of Montreal...perhaps I'll have to check those out. I haven't gotten into the Arcade Fire, and sadly haven't even opened the Kings of Leon CD yet. Also: Elvis Perkins, Ash Wednesday (heard about this guy somewhere on the net, and there's some sweet songs on here) Mark Olson, The Salvation Blues (I really miss the Olson-Louris Jayhawks, but this looks like a heck of a year for me with Olson and Louris solo records and possibly a late year release of some recordings they did together) Though I'm not completely sold one way or the other, I also enjoy to varying degrees Cassadega (Bright Eyes), the Patty Griffin record mentioned above, new Jesse Malin, Elliott Smith, Allison Krauss. In the days of iTunes I rarely listen to complete records any more, and some of those are made for skipping around.

I guess Braun was sad that his OPS had dropped into triple digits...now he's back up above 1000. Fred Lynn is an interesting reference...I guess there aren't that many 160 OPS+ rookies out there to compare to...I just hope Braun doesn't become brittle and bolt to SoCal.

This fuchsia font is hard to look at. Still, five runs is five runs.

I think dadof is referring to Mr. Inman's height, not his won-lost record.

Getting to and from Dodger Stadium is a bit of a pain, which accounts for the late arrivals and early departures, but I like the park itself a lot better than the one in Anaheim. The whole fake rocks thing past the outfield fence really looked stupid. Yeah, no doubt...though as I recall there's a very prominent cell phone tower near Dodger Stadium that kind of ruins the view. Still, Dodger Stadium seems almost majestic to me as compared to the Disney version of baseball in Anaheim. YMMV of course. The recent successes of the Angels brought a lot of more casual fans to Anaheim games, which for some people makes the experience better...for others it may be worse.

I probably still hold Zach Jackson as a better prospect than Inman, so I'm in the vast minority. I am very surprised to hear that, honestly. Aside from sixty innings or so in the Florida State League, Jackson's never had an ERA the right side of 4...what is more troubling is that he's not a big K guy either. I don't see it...whatever Inman's physical limitations may be, he's at least missed a lot of bats, and that's probably the best predictor of success going forward. Inman's facing his first adversity, but he's a very young pitcher in his first taste of AA, so that's hardly a shocker.

one of the worst defenisve outfielders the Brewers have ever had This team has played the likes of Matt Stairs, Ben Grieve, Kevin Reimer, Dave Nilsson in the outfield...now they have Kevin Mench. And you must have forgotten Alex Sanchez!

When I think of short power hitters, the guy that comes to mind is the Toy Cannon, Jimmy Wynn, who had a zillion walks in addition to some power and speed. (He was a bit before my time, and even had a brief time in a Brewers uniform.) Ron Cey was like 5' 10" and had some pop as well. So it's not unheard of to see short guys who can hit....nice to see the Brewers scouting dept find these guys, and we'll see how he develops.

I was looking at the Brevard score and lamenting Cole Gillespie's batting average...then I looked at the splits and saw his home / away numbers: H: .206 / .333&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp / .355&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp A: .274 / .381&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp / .444 Brevard is a tough place to hit...that said, Errecart and Salome have been much better at home. So I don't know what to think.

Burroughs peaked pretty early. I think he peaked in Little League, honestly...leading Long Beach to the crown. I never understood why he kept getting chances. Bloodlines, the expectation that the power should come some day, plus the cachet of that Little League trophy. Guy's a proven winner. But 700 OPS is not bad for a 2B, especially a reserve. But I think he's really only a 2B for roto purposes, in leagues where a few appearances is enough to qualify...he played two innings at short but has otherwise been a 3B since his rookie year. He's not the slick defender or good baserunner a lot of teams like as a reserve infielder, so you're looking at a platoon 3b whose strong side is a 727 ops against RHP but shouldn't face lefties.

I recall the article in question as well, and as my memory serves me, it does seem that the writer suggested signing/acquiring black players, just for the sake of having black players. If it's the article I remember, it was written by D. Orlando Ledbetter, who was also critical of the Packers for canning Ray Rhodes. As I recall, his article was more a matter of questioning the lack of African American attendance at Brewers games, and among the factors was an absence of black players. Here's one column from May 1998, which is pretty clearly tongue in cheek, that refers to his remarks from 'a few weeks ago', which would have been in April 1998 or so...you can see it's about the fan experience much more than the roster... www2.jsonline.com/sports/...d52398.stm You can see approximately when the original appeared based on the letters to the editor in response (see Apr 19 and 20), and clearly see that the original referred to attendance: www2.jsonline.com/sports/...n33198.stm The players I mentioned were all with the organization when the article was written, they were just not ready yet. That's a pretty definitive statement. It also appears to be wrong. The article was written around opening day 1998. Prince Fielder was 14 then. Bill Hall was an obscure 6th round draft pick in June 1998, a few weeks after the article was written, and I think it's fair to say they weren't planning on him being the face of the franchise. Here's Ledbetter's farewell column, written in 2000, well before Fielder, Weeks, or even Gwynn were drafted: findarticles.com/p/articl..._n10652512 But I agree with Greg's larger point that the discussion of the article derails the thread...I just didn't want such an obvious inaccuracy to remain unchallenged. EDIT: I should say, there may well be another article of this nature, but Ledbetter's was the one I recall being very controversial and sticking in people's craws. And, as noted, he was very critical of the Rhodes dismissal, which also grated on Packer fans.

Geez, why didn't we call up Yo to DH when we play in AL parks?

Arizona is a complex-based rookie league, using spring training facilities in many cases. The players there are often fresh out of HS or a 2-year school, or very young signees from Latin America. Helena (and the Pioneer League) is described as 'Advanced Rookie' or, sometimes, R+. Most of the teams have a greater proportion of college kids, or prep draftees in their second year of pro ball. There are often exceptions, though, and a few years back the Brewers had no complex league team, so their HS draft choices went to Ogden or Helena in the Pioneer League.

You think it will be Miller or Welch?

That link says that the Brewers signed all of their draft picks. Hardly accurate, I would say. You mean that Wes Etheridge won't skip out on his UC-Irvine teammates just before the first College World Series in the history of the program? Where're the guy's priorities? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Detroit is a good team, but we've hung tough in their ballpark. I was a bit worried that the Brewers' spirit was broken, but these kids are doing good. As I type that, Hart answers a busted Tiger threat with an insurance dinger. I frequently remember feeling like it was the Brewers who would scratch together some hits and stuff, put something a threat, but then fall short with runners on, only to see the bad guys score with a single swing of the bat. I like it better this way.

Nice to see someone else's lefty reliever come in to neutralize a lefty bat, only to walk the guy on four straight. He'll never walk Estrada though.

I hit a little mole today with my lawnmower, I felt awful. A dermatologist could remove that mole for you and it might not hurt so bad.

That list at ESPN seems like it must be in error...they also have Jonathan White, Merklinger, Hawn, Scarpetta all signed...while I'd love that, the big reason I distrust it is that they've got people still playing in the College World Series on there: Etheridge and Bramhall.

It does seem like Turnbow's struggles could be related to usage...he had one blowout after four or five days off, then there was another long layoff (five or six days) followed by four straight appearances.

Or, one could wave the magic wand and bring back the Turnbow from April.

If we don't score, with Byrd / Young / Sosa in the 8th, I'd use Cordero now and then somebody else in the 9th...you could use Shouse vs. Cat and then Kinsler and Wilkerson should be enough for TBow. Ain't never gonna happen, of course.