TigerUppercut

Jeff Hem, the Nashville Sounds announcer, was recently on 1250 with Sparky I believe and confirmed that the ball being used at AA and below is not the ball being used in AAA and the major leagues. I have no idea the rationale behind it (drive attendance at the lower levels?) but he did directly address that topic while noting Blake Burke's adjustment around it in response to his lower HR output at Nashville.

Baseball, heck sports history, is littered with hundreds if not thousands of guys who have fallen off a cliff hard somewhere in their thirties. I'm not ready to completely throw the towel in on Yelich as guys have down seasons but is it really that hard to believe? Many of the posters here years ago were lamenting the likelihood that his contract would age poorly. Would it really be that surprising if that turned out to be the case?

I'm just saying. Brock Wilkin is a bag of balls and really nothing more. The days of fleecing an Al Avila, Dave Stewart or Neal Huntington type of GM have largely gone by the wayside.

In what world are we living thinking a 24 year old in AAA hitting .176 with moderate power output and a swing and miss profile is a prospect? Would anyone here be excited trading for that type of profile?

I can tell you through people in the industry that arguably the biggest problem with Yelich is that he is absolutely not someone that works hard (or at all) both during the season or in the off-season. Think Ben Sheets. You'd literally need to walk him to the weight room for him to realize it exists. That said, the contract he received was extended with MA and DS fully knowing that which is inexcusable, although the entire thing felt like MA's doing given the relationship with Yelich.

My votes go to Joe's Fox Hut in Fond du Lac, Caradaro Club in the MIL and Happy Tap in the Dirty Stallis.

There's a huge difference between a just turned 23 year old putting up big numbers in AAA than an almost 30 year old. Maybe but also maybe not. Time will tell on that one.

When it's all said and done, he'll be what he is. A #4/5 starter. MLB history is littered with guys who have a few great starts out of the gates and regressed to the mean. This story will not end differently.