And That

Chad McClanahan, Gabriel Garcia, and Parker Bean are all making their pro debuts tonight for the Baby Brewers. Edit: Add Mario Feliciano to that list. Could have sworn he'd seen game action already, but his stats page says otherwise.

If for some reason you were interested in cloning Javier Betancourt, you might well end up with Wendall Rijo. Kind of a meh skill set, but he's so young it's tough to well what he'll be. FWIW, he's just 8 months or so older than wunderkid Isan Diaz, and played in AA while Diaz has been in A-ball.

Lost in the much-deserved Isan Diaz love is that Troy Stokes has a .389/.532/.556 slash since the break.

No. I believe they offer full college expenses to all of their draft picks. Not sure how or why it doesn't count against the pool, but it doesn't. Maybe because it's a contingent "bonus"? Or maybe MLB doesn't want to tax education.

Kind of interesting they make no mention of Phillips' K rate. I'm not as concerned about his strikeouts as many seem to be. He draws walks, hits for power, and really anything above average you get out of him offensively is icing on the cake that is his defense in center. I think he's extremely valuable even with a 700-725 OPS in the big leagues.

I'd have to do some research to confirm, but I do not remember the Brewers ever signing so many of their draft picks before. Even including the "wasted" (not my word) picks of Horn and Serrano, the Brewers signed 87.5% of their guys. And that could increase in the next week if Aguilar signs and/or they somehow entice Crow or Lillis with $100k.

Hah. Well done.

I would be floored at this point if Crow or Lillis sign. But you never know. Kind of surprised Morrison and Garcia haven't signed. The odds are against Morrison getting much more than $100k as a senior sign next year. Garcia I'm in the dark about - don't think he's committed to a 4-year college, but maybe he thinks he can boost his stock this upcoming season.

A little blown away that the Brewers spent all of that money on McClanahan (I'll trust the scouting department on this one), and then somehow inked Zach Clark as well. I would've guessed Clark's demand would be in the $250-$350k range. Apparently not. Great get. I may be in the minority, but I am a lot more excited about Clark than McClanahan.

Pinero is hitting a meek .198/.258/.198 for the Red Sox' 2nd DSL team, though he does have 7 SB in 8 attempts and not bad BB/K rates.

If he has very limited value already, losing 90% of very limited value won't matter, and whatever they could get for him right now more than likely doesn't move the needle, as you noted. So why give him up for something that likely won't matter, when his downside is in effect the same thing? The Brewers' best bet up upside with Guerra right now is to hold on to him, unless some club gives them an insane offer.

To use a very loose analogy, trading Guerra now would be like selling your Facebook stock in October of 2013. It had performed crappily for quite awhile, but had recently seen an uptick at long last. Getting out then meant a nice profit, assuming you had bought in during the past 6-12 months. And who knew where it was going to go after that? Well, now you'd probably feel like an idiot for selling in 10/13. Then again, perhaps everything could have gone south, you would have been saddled with a steep loss, and probably felt like an idiot for not selling in 10/13. Facebook Junior Guerra is not, but you get my point.

He had a poor start, but I have trouble calling .282/.308/.508 "terrible" play. Not many walks, but a .220 ISO is pretty decent, even in the PCL. It also opens up more time for Cecchini to play third for the Sky Sox.

Only one, already mentioned above:

I read that in my head as "a ball pitcher" - and I briefly wondered what kind of other pitcher could be traded. Then I thought of the Kool-Aid man. And then I realized what you meant.

MLBTR looks at potential trading partners for Ryan Braun. Nothing really groundbreaking, but a nice summary.

It's probably more likely a sign that he'll be headed for Wisconsin in the near future. The Helena staff was largely filled before Burnes signed, and if they regard him as a polished pitcher, it shouldn't matter whether he gets a few innings under his belt in Maryvale or Helena. It might have just been easier to not bother sending him to the Pioneer League for a few weeks. He's also pitched 105.2 innings this year already, and I bet they have an innings limit in mind somewhere in the 140-150 range. That's just a handful of good starts away, so his innings will be limited likely for the remainder of the season.

Update from Badler: "Those two" being Carmona and Abreu. He also mentioned that Abreu may get more money than Carmona.

AZL Brewers Top of the 1st Jose Gomez walks. Nick Roscetti singles on a line drive to center fielder Luke Persico. Jose Gomez to 2nd. With Trey York batting, wild pitch by Skylar Szynski, Jose Gomez to 3rd. Nick Roscetti to 2nd. Trey York doubles (2) on a line drive to right fielder Tyler Ramirez. Jose Gomez scores. Nick Roscetti scores. Jay Feliciano homers (2) on a fly ball to left field. Trey York scores. Payton Henry strikes out swinging. Pitching Change: Wandisson Charles replaces Skylar Szynski. Nick Cain walks. Nic Pierre walks. Nick Cain to 2nd. With Johel Atencio batting, wild pitch by Wandisson Charles, Nick Cain to 3rd. Nic Pierre to 2nd. With Johel Atencio batting, wild pitch by Wandisson Charles, Nick Cain scores. Nic Pierre to 3rd. Johel Atencio walks. With Julio Mendez batting, passed ball by Skyler Weber, Nic Pierre scores. Johel Atencio to 2nd. Julio Mendez walks. Jose Gomez walks. Johel Atencio to 3rd. Julio Mendez to 2nd. Pitching Change: Frederick De La Cruz replaces Wandisson Charles. Nick Roscetti walks. Wild pitch by pitcher Frederick De La Cruz. Johel Atencio scores. Julio Mendez scores. Jose Gomez scores. Nick Roscetti to 3rd. Throwing error by catcher Skyler Weber. Trey York walks. Jay Feliciano walks. Trey York to 2nd. Payton Henry doubles (1) on a line drive to right fielder Tyler Ramirez. Nick Roscetti scores. Trey York scores. Jay Feliciano to 3rd. Nick Cain grounds out, third baseman Casey Thomas to first baseman Charles Gould. Nic Pierre doubles (4) on a line drive to left fielder Cole Gruber. Jay Feliciano scores. Payton Henry scores. Johel Atencio reaches on a throwing error by shortstop Christopher Quintin. Nic Pierre scores. Julio Mendez doubles (1) on a line drive to right fielder Tyler Ramirez. Johel Atencio scores. Jose Gomez called out on strikes.

Chad McClanahan wants $1.2 million to sign. Which would blow virtually all of their remaining money short of forfeiting a pick next year. $1.2 mil equates with pick number 53 overall.

The AZL Athletics are on their third pitcher through 1/3 of an inning against the Baby Brewers. Update: The A's were only going to use three pitchers, even if it meant giving up 15 runs... The Baby Brewers just scored 15 runs in the 1st inning. They batted around twice and walked nine times. Wowza. Four doubles, one home run, and a single. Only two errors, surprisingly. No word on whether the A's tried to invoke the mercy rule or not. Further update: And now to pour salt on the wound, Corbin Burnes struck out all three batters he faced in the bottom half of the first.

Yeraldy Martinez matches his HR total from last year tonight, with two long balls. And Erceg keeps getting on base. Also finally learned how to pronounce Jordan Desguin's last name: dez-ginn. Hard g. And in case you're wondering, Franly Mallen's last name is pronounced my-ann.

Middlebrooks is limited to 1B/3B, while Elmore can play basically anywhere, including SS and C, in a pinch.

Presley has previously been designated for assignment, so if he is not claimed he has the right to elect free agency. Elmore is in the same boat if/when he is DFA'd. He's quietly put together a nice season in AAA, albeit with barely any pop.

I agree that you can't have Erceg and Gatewood on the same team at this point. It's also probably true that Erceg needs to be moved up from Helena at some point in the not too-distant future. I wonder if Erceg skips Wisconsin altogether and joins Ray in Brevard?