jay87shot

The Braves have been better and there GM said they will be buyers not sellers but in reality they should trade a couple players. Their farm has gotten thin and Sale is out for a bit, I havent checked but I also think they are just a little over the 2nd tax bracket so saving some money might be in their interest. I think Ozzie Albies would be a great guy to go after. Push Turang to SS, Albies has 2+ affordable years so we could trade him with 1 year left as is our tradition. I would love Olsen or Riley but financially that doesn't work. Albies has had injuries and isn't hitting great b lut he would be an affordable bat that has the power upside we could use. My guess is we would have to give up 2 top 10 org. prospects and 2 smaller but not insignificant pieces. Henderson, Boeve, Hunt, and Peguero for Albies??? I get there are a few circumstances this would need to go through to be plausible before the deadline.

With Mitchell getting hurt again and Collins playing so well I think Collins is stealing the everyday LF spot. When Perk come back maybe we think about moving Turang to SS occasionally so Collins can play 2B when Perk plays (not everyday but maybe a couple days a week).

I was thinking around the allstar break. We have an off day July 10th after the Dodgers series and before the Nats series before the break. Put on IL July 10 the 1st off day after the all star break is July 24. That makes a full 2 weeks and he misses 9 games (Nats, Dodgers, Mariners) It also gives Quero a couple more weeks to get to 100% and help Haase. Sorry wrong response quoted, meant to quote the Contreras to IL.

Great 1st 2 games, top notch in all aspects of the game, Brewers baseball at it's best. Just to note how crazy good our rotation is right now. Freddy 2.76 era, Patrick 3.5, Quintana 2.98, Preister 3.46 (2.23 over last 8 apperances), Misi looking Skenes-ian over 1st 2 starts. Add in depth with Henderson sub 2 in 4 starts, Tobias, injuries pitchers (Woody, Cortes, Gasser) getting started back up soon. Add in a bullpen that is has 8 reliable guys right now and we are cooking.

??? From ??? This would clearly stink if true.

I don't have a problem with him being that high, just usually once players turn 25 or so they lose space in various rankings. I still think he will be a good 3/4 starter and have a solid long career. I guess by prospect value I am looking at industry standards comparing age, level, ceiling, achievement, and tools. From my own personal rankings I had him like 21-23 because I dropped him 5ish spots for being older and 5ish spots for the injury.

As always great report. What is up with Jose Anderson. I thought the org. did a great job of promoting him early from Rookie ball especially with some outfield help in Carolina needed. Is he chasing to many pitches or just struggling in general. With him only at 18 and not yet 100 ab's in Carolina I am not to worried. Love the Hardin call up to AA as well, very similar to Wichrowski last year. Hopefully he can keep the success going. What do you all feel the plan for Bjorn is. It kind of seems like he has been getting like the last 3 innings when he is ready. Is it that they aren't sure if he will start or be a pen arm so they are hedging. Is it just that he would be the 6/7 starter so they are trying to keep him stretched out. He is young so I don't mind the middle ground right now but it would be nice to see him move either to a straight starter, traditional multi-inning reliever, or just late inning reliever by the end of the year.

I am surprised by Gasser at 7. I get that from a talent and value point that is a fair spot. My only concern is that Gasser is 26 and coming off an injury, with our current depth it is probably likely he won't pitch in the bigs again until next year when he is 27 which just greatly reduces prospect value.

Jesus MadeJacob MisiorowskiLuis PenaCooper PrattJeferson QueroLogan HendersonLuke AdamsEric BitontiBraylon PayneBishop LetsonMike BoeveJosh AdamczewskiLuis LaraBryce MeccageMarco DingesBlake BurkeCarlos F RodriguezCraig YohoBrock WilkenBrett Wichrowski 21-30 Gasser, Black, Knoth Crow, Hardin, Hunt, Arienamo, Di Turri, Seigler, EMJ With time missed I've dropped Gasser, Black, and Knoth off the top 20 even though talent wise they are borderline top 10. 31-40 Anderson, Fenelon, Antununez, Dorchies, Renz, Dubanewicz, King, Bjorn Johnson I am just putting all the young teenage talent here, in a month or two it should be more obvious which of these are going to take off. 41-50 Corobo, Encarnacion, Montero, Cornielle, Baez, Birchard, Manny Rodriguez, Kuehner, Travis Smith, Leonard Rijo More teenagers and a handful of guys who should be in the top 30 but I just pushed back because of all the younger talent.

At the end of last year he snuck onto a top 100 list or 2. I think if he hits over 20 HR with a .250 ish average and his normal .420 obp add 20+ sb at 21 making it to AAA he will be a universal top 100 prospect. I had him at 7 on our team update and would have likely had him just outside of the top 100 league wide but in consideration. Most scouting sights don't give his athletism much respect but as he gets seen more that will change.

With AAA 1B so crowded would it make sense to get Adams some 3B reps again. With Adams and Wilken having the top 2 ops. they should get a promotion to AAA at some point at least to put them in the conversation for the 1B job next year. I didn't realize how drastic the Adams swing change was but dang has it worked. Almost a .500 obp over the past 7 weeks is nuts. DeBerry looks really solid, I didn't realize how thin he is. That pitch mix is perfect especially with the high spin rates. Love the Crow comparision. I have been thinking that if Quero is no longer an 70-80 grade arm but has retained top prospect stays maybe we should trade him while his value is still high. With Dinges lighting it up and William in place we have some time for Dinges to wait. We could maybe even add a higher level catcher in a different trade.

I don't really see a catcher early, With Contreras, Quero, and Dinges we are probably OK for a while. I like Corobo alot as well and Wood and Miller are nice depth pieces. I wouldn't be opposed to a catcher say after the 3rd. I like Taitn Gray a HS from Iowa. Any thoughts on Gage Wood the 17 k no hit pitcher. He has a big fastball that could translate well and give him a higher floor. I like the potential of Marcus Phillips, another big fastball but at 6'6" 250 big he is built to be a workhorse. He doesn't turn 21 until the end of July. It sounds like his fastball is a bit straight but we can easily fix that and work our changeup magic. He is ranked in the 60's so could be a target maybe anywhere after 20. There are actually quite a few prep starters after 50 that I like.

I just think he will play the rest of the year in AAA and be gone. He does arm bell curls twice a week, really. That is not a player I want around even if he does get his stuff together he is never going to be a team player.

I had thought the Cubs were a mirage, but I have to say that offense is legit. Additionally they probably have money and the prospects to add some pitching. I am at least for now turning my attention to the NL Wild Card. At this point I am going to go on the assumption that the Cubs win the Central, the Dodgers win the West (when they get healthy I still think they are the NL favorite), and one of the Phillies/Mets win the East. I know there is still over 1/2 the year so that is in know way set in stone. Just a reminder 3 teams get the Wild Card so now it would be the Phillies, Giants, and Padres with us 1.5 back. The Contenders Mets (45-27)/Phillies (42-29)= Both are playing well and have been pretty solid. The Phillies need some bullpen help and the Mets will be getting some injured starting pitching back. Giants (41-31)= Acquire Devers for peanuts puts them in a good spot. There pitching is strong and at least on paper that offense should be solid. However with a loaded West they could easily catch a couple rough stretches. Padres (39-31)= They aren't afraid to make moves but have one of the worst farm systems especially if De Vries is untouchable. They have some real holes to fill but also how one of the most dangerous top of the orders if firing on all cylinders. Pitching has been good and the pen is top notch. Brewers (39-34)= When you look at the teams ahead of us from a talent point we are very behind them. However if we can improve SS/3B we can matchup well in the playoffs with most teams. Cards (37-35)= They have a solid 1-9 order with improved pitching. I still don't think they have enough but they are serious threats. Reds (37-35)= If they can get some consistent run production in the middle of the order they could be dangerous. The starting pitching could be enough to keep them dangerous. D-backs (36-35)= Pitching injuries are going to limit their upside especially with Gallen and ERod not pitching real well. The offense and defense/athleticism will keep them around but likely the 4th team in the West. Braves (31-39)= Obviously they haven't played well and have injury issues. However that offense has a chance to catch fire and has the ability to go like 30-10 at some point and get them back in it. They also could continue to struggle for a month and trade off a bunch of guys.

Ramon Urias would be a guy I would go after. It also depends on how Mitchell and Perkins look when they come back. If those two don't look great I would be opposed to Cedric Mullins or a gamble on Robert if the price was low and the other team ate most of the salary. I think the NL sellers maybe more interesting for us.

AAA, either one. I know 1B is extra loaded at Nahville but 3B could use some help. Burke is ready for AA. Probably some options like Tayden Hall to play Appleton 1B.

I've said this before, that Black probably projects as a guy who should hit .250 with .350 obp with 15 HR 25-30 sb (500 abs). If he can play 1st we'll enough I think he will have good value as a platoon 1B and 4th OF. Essentially a better version of Jake Bauers, with Mitchell's injuries and Hoskins being a free agent I wouldn't sell him off cheap. He can also provide emergency 3B/2B relief especially if you want to ph for Durbin/ortiz late, I'm sure Black can play an inning her or there for a late ph when necessarry. I don't see Black doing much this year unless Hoskins or Yeli gets hurt, especially with Perk and Mitchell on rehab.

1) I am starting to think it would be a good idea to put William on the DL for a couple weeks (assuming it is still a micro fractur and would heel in 2ish weeks) to let that thumb heel. Maybe it would be smartest to wait until the allstar break to minimize games missed and give Quero another month to get up to speed. We really need him to be a run producer and he has been that. 2) We do a great job using pitchers as taxi guys moving them up and down quickly. Why don't we do that with with lineup guys? It wouldn't hurt to bring up Seigler for like 3/4 games and give him a quick look at 3rd, possibly Zamora at SS, I know the OF in AAA don't really have options but the space between Cameron, Dalbac, Rosario, and the new Avans guy isn't much.

Or at least piggyback Civale with Patrick and let him start for 3/4 innings.

Civale would have pitched in relief if we wanted him to. No pitcher is going to refuse to go into a game, especially a 4/5 starter before free agency. This wasn't a nfl holdout or nba superstar refusing to play until traded. Civale would have pitched, we could have taken a few weeks if necessary to find a better deal. We traded a player with a slightly positive value for a player with an extremely negative value. Vaughn has been a -1.5 WAR player this year and is hitting like .211 in AAA. With EMJ, Dalbac, Clarke, and Black in AAA I don't even see much playing time in Nashville. Sure having him in the org. maybe gives us a leg up next year after he is nontendered. But then he is taking playing time from Adams, Burke, Boeve, Wilken, and the other 1B depth. I like the way some on else put it, Vaughn is like the Lamet end of the Hader deal.

I don't get this other than to save a few million. This is not a play for next year, Vaughn will never be tendered a contract. I get there is a little upside since he was the #3 pick and the White Sox haven't been developing players. However at 27 I doubt he is going to be better than Jake Bauers, EMJ, or even Bobby Dalbac. With only a couple months I don't see any playing time and again no way he is tendered a contract next year.

With all the pitching needs around the league it just makes to much sense to trade him for a SS/3B or a prospect. Civale has shown to be a reliable 3-5 starter and his last starts have been good enough to get something back. With Henderson, Myers, CarRod in AAA and Woody, Cortes, and Gasser back at some point it makes too much sense to trade Civale.

I would love to take a high quality arm early but like the way we have done it recently. Draft a upside HS arm or 2 early. Get college arms day 2 and plenty of HS arms day 3. However this year it feels like we could use more bats. I think we only drafted like 4 bats last year and if you look at the lower levels there are plenty of sub. .200 hitters that we should get some bats to challenge. I would go after a couple college OF and look for some HS bats on day 3 as well. I would still get 10 or more pitchers but I would be more like 12-14 pitchers an 7-9 bats. But really draft the best talent and just figure it out as they develop.

Sweet, I would guess it is only for a start or two but now I have to contain the excitement in for 2 more days. If we could find a way to piggyback Henderson and Misi that would be sweet.

Yoho has had 1 bad outing, that is in no way is that a definitive on what he is going to be. He will need to adjust to the bigs as better hitters learn to lay off of pitches better. I think his command has been good enough that he just needs to learn what counts and what type of hitters he needs to throw more strikes to early and who will chase his elite movement. We saw that a lot with Devin that that guys who could lay off the changeup gave him issues.