filthyfrog

Krynzel with a three-hit day... MIL D.Krynzel CF 5 0 3 0 .333 - K

While it's good to see the teams not giving in, it's also a little frightening to see the players not signing reasonable, or even generous, deals. Are they fighting collusion with collusion?

AAAAAHHHHH!!! AAAAAAHHHHH!!! I'm screaming in excitement over the new aesthetics of the site. Brewerfan just got a whole lot better and easier to navigate. Keep up the fabulous work!

Why must '89 Tempos be nicknamed The Beach Cruiser? A friend of mine had the same car with the same nickname in high school. Tell me, mother, is yours powder blue? And did the nickname have anything to do with the movie Friday?

Crystal Pepsi will forever be endeared to my heart because it inspired Crystal Gravy.

When it comes down to it, aren't we all urinators? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

If he truly expected to continue to negotiate with the Orioles he should have consulted MLB first. Yes, I fully agree with this, colby. You're right that we're not that far apart. I just think the MLB should reverse its ruling since attending class has nothing to do with baseball. I think college has always been a huge bargaining chip because you can play baseball there. When you take the baseball out of it, I think it loses its leverage.

And going back to school assuming you can continue to negotiate does increase his bargaining power. He's basically telling the Orioles that he has other things he can do That may be true if he were trying to send the message that he could choose not to play pro baseball altogether, but I don't think he ever tried to do that. By renouncing his eligibility he was essentially saying "I want to sign with the Orioles, but while I'm waiting I'd like to continue my education." I don't think he ever tried to say "By obtaining a degree I may choose to enter the business world and drop baseball altogether, so if you Orioles really want me, you better ante up." Hey, I just thought of a good question. If the Orioles are unable to sign Townsend, what implications does that have for next year's draft? Do they get a supplemental? That could apply to some of the several other teams still waiting, too.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding this. Can someone seriously explain to me the difference between what Townsend is doing and what Verlander, Humber, Weaver, and Drew are doing? As far as I can tell, they're all trying to improve their bargaining position by making their teams wait it out. At the same time, the teams are trying to improve their bargaining position by making the players wait it out. Now I agree with everyone here that Townsend should have taken the millions of dollars I'm sure he was offered. I would say the same about Verlander, Humber, and the rest. But the only difference between Townsend and the rest is that Townsend wanted to finish up his degree during the lengthy negotiation process. Why is that bad? If he needed to work a part time job to pay the bills until he gets signed, would we be asking "It's a simple question... does he want to be a part time employee or does he want to be a professional baseball player?" I just seriously don't understand what his efforts to graduate should have to do with his eligibility. I don't see how it improves his bargaining position any differently than the others who are waiting it out. He made it clear that he wanted to continue negotiating. He made it clear that he wanted to choose professional baseball instead of collegiate baseball. If someone can explain why attending classes is a bargaining ploy that's any different from the waiting game that several draftees are playing, then maybe I'll be able to understand your viewpoint. But right now, I truly believe the MLB is making a mistake by enforcing a rule that was designed to make players choose between professional baseball and college baseball, not signing a contract and taking classes.

It's a negotiating ploy plain and simple. The negotiating ploy is simply that he's waiting instead of signing. Several other players are doing the same thing. What he does during that waiting period, as long as it doesn't involve baseball, shouldn't matter to MLB or the Orioles. Attending classes doesn't give him leverage; only waiting does. To penalize Townsend (and the Os) and not Verlander, Humber and the rest seems silly to me when the only difference is that Wade is doing taking classes while the others are not. There has been an idea floating out there for a few years now to institute a draft rule that all draftees have to sign by August 15th or so. Now that would be a fine idea. This situation would never arise again. But I still think it's crazy to penalize someone for taking classes. What if he had gotten a temp job at a software firm, and they offered a two week training course? Should he lose his right to negotiate simply because he's learning something or trying to make a little dough? The job would have nothing to do with baseball, just like college once you've renounced your eligibility.

I have to agree with Joe on this one. If Wade was sitting on his couch eating Cheetos all day he could continue negotiating with the Os, but since he decides to use his free time to better himself, they can no longer work together? That doesn't make sense to me. It would make sense if he hadn't renounced his college eligibility, but this appears to be going against the intent of the rule. The rule is there to make players decide between college baseball and pro baseball, not college classes and pro baseball.

Still waiting to hear back from the Brewers' General Counsel. Craig is a General? Or is this like how Lou is a Captain? Speaking of Captain Lou, shouldn't we really be calling him Lou-tenant?

This might be a known issue, but I noticed today that HBPs, which are not listed on the team stat pages, are not factored into the listed OBP. Usually this isn't a big deal, but Rickie Weeks's OBP is about 40 points higher than the listed one.

I think Kremblas likes to double steal a lot. So if Prince is on first and Gwynn or Weeks is on second, they both go. Whether Weeks or Gwynn gets caught, Prince gets credit for a steal. Maybe one of the Huntsville folk can confirm or deny this hypothesis.

a few guys at AA are looking for promotions (Saenz/Houseman) You can't promote Saenz. He's the only hitter Huntsville has right now.

Colby, is it safe to assume you think the Brewers draft lies somewhere in the middle? Or do you see the Brewers being close to the top or close to the bottom? Excellent analysis, as always.

Some great posts in this thread. emunney, nice work. When I read your list, one thing really struck me. The general trend appears to be that the HS guys were good all around players while the College guys were strictly hitters. HS: Wade Boggs (3B), Cal Ripken, Jr. (SS), Alex Rodriguez (SS), Rickey Henderson (the greatest baserunner of all time), Ken Griffey, Jr. (a great CF), Manny Ramirez (a hitter), Derek Jeter (SS), Chipper Jones (3B/OF), Jose Canseco (a hitter), Gary Sheffield (SS/3B/OF), Fred McGriff (1B), Tim Raines (good baserunning OF) and Paul O'Neill (OF). College: Barry Bonds (good baserunner and OF in early career), Tony Gwynn (good all around), Frank Thomas (1B/DH), Mark McGwire (1B), Rafael Palmeiro (1B), Jeff Bagwell (1B), Todd Helton (1B), Albert Belle (terrible OF), Barry Larkin (good SS), Nomar Garciaparra (good SS), Craig Biggio (C/2B/CF), Jim Thome (1B), Jason Giambi (1B), Mo Vaughn (1B/DH), Will Clark (1B), Dante Bichette (terrible OF), Kenny Lofton (CF), Luis Gonzalez (OF), Matt Williams (3B) and John Olerud (1B). Obviously there are exceptions, but most of the college guys are 1Bs while most of the HS guys played more valuable positions. I'm not sure what that means. Possibly nothing. Possibly that most of the toolsy guys--guys who can succeed in multiple facets of the game--get drafted higher out of HS. A guy who can only hit would probably get drafted lower out of HS, and thus be more likely to turn down the contract and go to college. It might be the case that if all you're looking for is a good hitter, you can find that pretty easily in the college ranks. But if you want good all around players who play tough positions, you should keep your eye on the High Schoolers. But all this analysis ignores pitchers, which was clearly the focus of the Brewers' 2004 draft. I'd like to see more thoughts on pitchers.

Hoffy, you're clearly not the only one here who would have preferred a college pitcher, but I have one major problem with your arguments. You seem to be under the impression that the fate of the Brewers will be entirely decided by the success or failure of this pick. That's just not true. The minor leagues are pretty stacked right now. Just because Rogers won't be helping the big league club in 2005 or 2006 doesn't mean that someone else won't be. Hendrickson, Jones, Parra, de la Rosa, Sarfate, Ford, Saenz, etc., etc. all have a legitimate chance to become that 2/3 pitcher that you seek while Sheets is still here. You keep saying that you'd rather have a 2/3 pitcher in two years than an ace down the road. I say we've got plenty of candidates for 2/3 pitchers. This is a good time to roll the dice and see if we can't find another ace. Ideally, we'd like to have multiple aces on the same team, like the Cubs, Astros, A's, Red Sox, and Yankees have. But even if Sheets is lost before we can develop a new ace, we're still definitely going to need one a lot more than we need a 2/3 starter.

Wouldn't no news be good news (assuming you want to keep him)? I would think you'd only hear something if he was picked up.

It is scarey to manager a winner. That's now on my list of most-fun-to-say sentences.

I think just about everybody here agrees that Salome appears to be a good pick. But while his offensive numbers are about as good as humanly possible, I wouldn't put too much stock in the stats. First of all, according to your post, it was 16 games. 16 amazing games, yes, but still only 16 games. Second, a lot of the scouting reports in Salome's thread suggest that he's got a lot of work to do offensively. I'm excited about his defensive prowess and offensive potential, but I think he's definitely a project that's going to have to improve his weaknesses if he wants to reach Milwaukee. A lot has been said about his height. In my mind, it'll only help him draw walks. Another positive about picking him is that we should have a strong battery-mate to go with all these young guns. Hopefully, they'll develop together and make each other better. So he's a very exciting prospect, but he's still far behind Palmisano in my opinion.

I like Angel, but I think Yovani will end up being the steal of the draft, if you can call a 2nd round pick a steal. I also think LeClerq in the 11th round is a potential steal, although he'll probably be a tough sign.

I'd say it's a near certainty that they will not sign all 18 picks. Some will be DFEs and some will be lost to 4-yr college.

Could this be J.J.'s brother? 212 JOHN HARDY U ARIZONA SS R/R 6'1" 180 1982-09-28 4YR COMMENT: LARGE, LEAN FRAME. ATHLETIC, WIRY STRONG BUILD. TRIM WAIST. LIVE LOWER 1/2. UPRIGHT STANCE, EVEN BASE. FLEXED KNEES. GOOD LOAD W/ HANDS. SMALL WEIGHT TRANSFER. AVG BAT SPEED, SLIGHT UPPERCUT. SIMPLE APPROACH W/ BAT CONTROL. SHORT STROKE, DOUBLES TO GAPS. 4.27-1B, BETTER UNDERWAY. ACCURATE, ON-LINE AVG ARM. SURE-HANDED, WORKS GROUND UP. GOOD DP START & FINISH. RANGE TO BOTH SIDES. SHOWS TOOLS TO HIT, FEEL FOR WOOD. ABILITY TO BUNT & MOVE BASE RUNNERS. SOLID GLOVE. NOTHING FLASHY, BUT MAKES THE PLAYS. SOLID BASEBALL INSTINCTS, PLAYS GAME RIGHT. FUTURE MAJOR LEAGUE RUN SCORING 2B.

That picture makes Wahpepah look like an elbow injury waiting to happen. I hope this won't be a repeat of the Neugebauer/Gold draft.