Duckpondbrew

Honestly, I would say I am less worried. Yes, the farm is not what it once was. I won't lie, I hold a gross amount of jealousy towards the braves, but at the same time, top prospects are not the only thing that may help lead a winning team, though they do make it significantly easier to trade for said pieces. Stearns' modus oporandi of talent acquisition has been unconventional. One could propose baseball has moved to a youth movement of sorts, but Stearns has seemed to zag away from that. Instead of targeting top prospects in trades, he has focused on lesser knowns (see Peralta deal) and players already with major experience (Thornburg- Shaw trade). These trades do not notably yield top prospects but have been shown to find value by picking either lottery tickets, or players who may be on the way out such as Shaw. The Brewers during his tenure have also added numerous former top prospects (Aguilar, Richie Shaffer, and Jake Thompson). While these deals may not yield anything, it is possible one or more of these former prospects to prove themselves. I do not know if other teams have done this as well. It is fair to say, but in my, briefer than most, period of obsessively following this team, I have never seen such moves commonly used. If we keep doing it, I would be willing to bet a few of those less than stellar prospects of other systems might also fall into our lap with some succeeding. The recent drafting has been average at worst I would say, especially based on positions. Which is a major improvement from the earlier years of the decade, Unfortunately, there has been no real homerun prospect. Hiurra might be that, but it is hard to say. Even this year, the teams methods have been unconventional. I recall upwards to 7, I believe 8-12 picks being community college players. Once again the FO seems to be focusing on unconventional talent acquisition. The players have not only been conventional but tend to shift away from the power at all cost players of past regimes. Up the middle talent and pitch ability have been stressed, along with athleticism. this could also be a blip, but we have yet to see many of the stearns' picks show up in the majors. So we may not even have a clue what a true youth movement may be under Stearns (which I find rather sad, because as much as I like and respect outside the box thinking, I love watching youth movements). They have also been snake bitten extremely badly this year with injuries. (Nelson, Davies, Dubon, Thames, Yelich, Cain, Albers, Suter, Soria, Knebel, Miley, Pina all missing parts of the season in crucial moments). In short, I do not recall a year where I was laughing at each injury as if saying, "Sure! Why not!" Maybe a look into training regiments is needed. Maybe it was really bad luck.In all likelihood it is probably a bit of both. That said, Stearns has remained unconventional in his methods, but such methods make it difficult to measure success in the future. Improvements to certain areas can be made, such as catcher, rather quickly. Other areas such as the rotation should hopefully be more stable. The bullpen has some pieces that should get auditions (torres-costa, nick ramirez). Infield should see improvements incrementally. Outfield just needs the sorting hat from harry potter maybe? In conclusion, baseball is weird and I love it.

Funny enough, her father was and still is my high school football coach. When they say she comes from a sports family its an understatement. That entire family practically breathes sports. As for her speaking Spanish, I'm not surprised seeing her mother and father are also fluent to different degrees (mother is a native speaker from Costa Rica I believe and father is just really well learned, but I never asked specifically). Anyway, I just find it cool to see a name I recognize and I'm proud of the work she's put in. She is noticeably better than past commentary in my opinion, mostly because I barely noticed before hand. I guess I might be biased.

Put me in the "give him a chance" group. We can't just throw out Loshe and give up at least 4 runs every start. The only other alternative is to look at any and all other options.

For once, the future of Milwaukee sports seems bright, exciting, and anything but average. I was okay with the met trade, but I'm really happy the mets decided they didn't want to pay. Now we just have to hope we nab a top 5 pick. It'll be bumpy, but, man, it'll be a fun ride if the pieces land right.

The better question is where all of them will slot in our system ranks. Phillips is probably going to be number 2, but after that, it's a bit grayer. Any thoughts, anyone?

I believe we decided to bring in this guy! http://www.virginmedia.com/images/mentors-karatekid-590x350.jpg

2nded!

Well, this just brightened up my day just a bit after walking home a good quarter mile because my bike broke (luckily it was just a minor thing). Funny thing is all these trades have happened when I've been gone. Maybe I should go on a walk for a good hour. Perhaps Parra gets traded then.

Think they still want one last bat to be sure they get the wildcard spot? We'll even settle for the scraps of whats left of the farm system.

Journalism today is hardly reporting. Just look at who ESPN hires. Most of the people focus on fantasy sports or played the sport professionally. They are made to be opinions, not reporters. That's what ESPN's been about more recently. It hasn't been reporting. It's been speculation and pipeline dream scenarios made to keep you coming back for more. That's what is always on their site, their shows, their magazines.

Sports quiz 71803 An ESPN source is what? A. Front office member trying to cover his backside B. Bigger market bias C. Homer fan who so happens to be the writer D. head of ESPN trying to stir the pot E. all of the above

SO, Sportscenter (I know reliable source- sarcasm) is going with the Gomez is hurt side. Not really surprised. New York is the major market, Milwaukee is the smallest sports market. It would be better to show favor to them for the potential viewers. Regardless, it irks me that they pick a side. As sports reporters, no matter how unprofessional, inept, or uneducated, their job is to be unbiased and factual. Unfortunately, that's just a problem that is growing in today's journalism. Anyways I'll just end the minor rant by saying it was a bloody mess of epic proportions that as both entertaining and frustrating. Thanks to all of you for keeping the information going smoothly.

Long time reader here. just wanted to note that Nottingham did make John Sickels' top 75 at midseason. Sickels seemed to be high on him, but he wanted to see more. Sorta wish we could have gotten him. If he could stick at catcher he would come in just a bit after lucroy is gone. Who knows maybe he does the same AA to show jump that Luc did. Anyways, heres what sickels said along with the link if you guys want to look around for other people we think could be possible gets. 71) Jacob Nottingham, C, Astros (NR): Crushing A-ball pitching at age 20, stock moving up but I want more information before going higher than this. If final reports back up the numbers, will rank much higher in three months. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2015/7/12/8940113/top-75-mlb-prospects-mid-season-update

MLB.com put up its new list. Man it's a refreshing change! Nelson is up to 53 (but he'll be off soon). Our first 3 picks are in the top 6. Only new prospect other than our hope filled trio is Wagner.

I know that there has already been discussion on Medeiros, but lets add another comment to the the growing metaphorical pile. First let's look at the elite pitchers in the past years. I just looked through the past Cy young award winners. Since 2000 21 different pitchers won the award in both the AL and NL. Of those 21 winners over half were 1st rounders at some point (Clemens, Zito, Halladay, Sabathia, Lee, Greinke, Verlander, Price, Scherzer, Kershaw, Dickey, Lincecum, Carpenter, Johnson). If you cut out the pitchers who were international signings only three pitchers ended up not being first rounders. So to put it nicely Kodi was drafted in a spot almost every top pitcher was found. That's not saying Kodi will be a CY Young Winner (although it would be awesome), It does mean he is in the situation to be an ace. Now I may have bored you on the " Duh we know this facts so why don't we look at some aces with question mechanics. TC37 already broke down Bumgarner. Sale has also been compared to Kodi because of his unorthodox methods. The thing is Sale is taller and skinnier. So I will go to a righty whom has also shown an unorthodox style. Look at none other than Max Scherzer. As we all know, Scherzer is at this moment one of the top pitchers in the MLB. He has one of the best sliders in the league (there's a gif in the link here http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-best-most-devastating-pitches-of-the-year-a-gif-roundup/ ) He also gets a generous amount of movement on his pitches because of his low 3/4 windup. Sound familiar? Like Medieros, Scherzer was thought to be better for a bullpen role (specifically closer) than a starter (Link to article w/ Scherzer scouting report- http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/draft/draft-preview/2006/261602.html ) Now My only hope is Medeiros takes less time than Scherzer did. Thankfully, he will have a few more years facing professional hitters to learn how to pitch. So if anything, I say we put the worry aside for Kodi and play wait and see. He could flame out, or end up in the bullpen, or he could be great. We don't know what he could do. What we do know is he is a first round (or very close) talent. We also know that recent aces have gotten by without the normal run-of-the-mill mechanics. At best Medieros is a strikeout machine starter. I'll try to temper my expectations, but it could be hard. If he can control his pitches I don't think many guys can hit him.