And That

Games of interest, centrally timed: 12:10 - Rockies @ Marlins - G. Rusch (4-3, 5.70) vs. S. Olsen (6-6, 4.04) 1:05 - Mets @ Astros - O. Perez (7-6, 4.02) vs. R. Wolf (6-10, 4.79) 1:20 - Pirates @ Cubs - I. Snell (4-8, 6.04) vs. C. Zambrano (12-4, 2.80) 3:10 - Diamondbacks @ Dodgers - D. Davis (4-5, 3.86) vs. J. Johnson (1-0, 1.38) 7:05 - Phillies @ Cardinals - B. Myers (4-9, 5.46) vs. T. Wellemeyer (8-4, 4.13)

It'll take Lawrie at least 3 years before he's ready to become a major league regular, and that's ahead of the Fielder timeline because Lawrie is going to end up missing most, if not all, of the 2008 minor league season. More conservatively, it'll take him a solid 4 years. Why not spend the first 2 years of that with him behind the dish, to see if he takes to it? I realize it's not easy to just plop someone into catching gear and tell him to have a go, but it's not like he's completely devoid of experience there. After 2 years, see if he's far enough along defensively that it won't hold his bat back from the bigs for an inordinate amount of time. If he doesn't take to it (and if Salome and/or Lucroy pan out), move him and give him some minor league time at 3rd or 2nd. If he does take to it, great. I assume the Brewers are thinking more or less along the same lines, and it doesn't seem unreasonable at all to me.

1) Error totals in the minor leagues aren't meaningless, but they aren't exactly chock full of meaning either. For instance, Alcides Escobar is considered to be one of the very best defensive shortstop prospects in baseball, and he'll finish the season with 20+ errors. Saying Gamel "is even worse" than Braun based on minor league error totals is not a substantive argument. 2) I've seen many people erroneously correlate Braun's error totals in Milwaukee last year with his suckitude on defense. Braun's biggest problem, by far and away, was his range at third base, not his throwing arm. Braun has a good arm and I too think that over time he would have started to make good throws. However, his range was so bad that I doubt he ever would have been able to get to enough balls to make him adequate at third base. Herein lies the difference between Braun and Gamel IMO. From what I've seen and read, Gamel's problem is not range so much as correctly gloving, transferring and throwing the balls he gets to. He does well with this occasionally, and at other times the yips get into his head. If Gamel can get his footwork down and his confidence up, he has the range and arm to play third base in the major leagues. Braun had the arm, but he had terrible range. And before someone brings it up, this is not a question re: athleticism between Gamel and Braun - they're both athletic freaks. It's just for whatever reason, Braun didn't react quickly enough to balls at third base (he's said it was a comfort issue). For Gamel, it's not reaction so much as what he does after he reacts. To that end, I think Gamel is more "fixable" than Braun ever was and given enough time in the minor leagues, Gamel will be a decent, albeit likely not stellar, defensive third baseman. I also agree that the Brewers will keep him in the minors to work on defense for as long as they can hold back his bat. This could be through 2009, or even longer.

How so?

Why is that?

Lawrie is playing with the Canadian Junior National team at the moment, there's a thread with a lot of updates on that here. When he signs, which he should (the deadline is 8/15), he'll be a top 10 prospect. How far into the top ten is still up for some debate.

It's been 4 days since we've seen Cody Scarpetta... he might be a safe guess for the Baby Brewers' starter this evening.

Warren Buffett.

Ridiculousness is in the eye of the beholder.

Why is an air heater called a heater and an air cooler called an air conditioner?

Green, Gillespie... next month it has to be Lucroy, doesn't it? I'm willing to put 3:2 odds on it. Brantley just doesn't have much power, and he's not a very good CF. Errecart walks more than Brantley, and has much much more power. He's older, yes, but it's a head scratcher to see it as a head scratcher. And I'm sure if you tried hard enough, you could find a scout to say "x is better than y" for any two upper echelon prospects, so I don't think that argument holds much water.

Games of interest, centrally timed: 12:05 - Pirates @ Cubs - P. Maholm (7-6, 3.79) vs. T. Lilly (10-6, 4.49) 6:05 - Mets @ Astros - J. Santana (9-7, 2.93) vs. R. Oswalt (8-8, 4.67) 6:10 - Rockies @ Marlins - V. de los Santos (0-0, 4.50) vs. R. Nolasco (10-6, 3.94) 6:15 - Phillies @ Cardinals - J. Blanton (5-12, 5.13) vs. B. Looper (10-8, 4.38) 9:10 - Diamondbacks @ Dodgers - Y. Petit (1-1, 2.55) vs. H. Kuroda (5-8, 4.40)

I think we can do 16-11. That's a little above a 90 win pace, which is the goal we have to be shooting for going into September. Edit: For bonus, Cardinals: 13-13 Mets: 16-13 Marlins: 15-13 Phillies: 16-13 Which means we're in the Wild Card lead at the end of the month by 2.5 games.

Linked here... ahem. I've recently become very proficient at using chopsticks.

http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/30635f0949729f18d60c91fd2a07c7c7e19ea9b.jpg

Prince yelled a slightly more profane version of "horsecakes" at the home plate ump at least 7 times. Then after he was ejected, he pointed at Eddings, and said "One more time! Horsecakes!" Classy...

I'd probably wet myself if he gave us two. Do you probably wet yourself often then?

After this loss, I am going to declare this century over for the Brewers. Pack it in folks.

Put in Kapler to pitch!

We play the Pirates 9 more times, the Cubs play the Pirates 6 more times, the Cardinals play the Pirates 5 more times. This may well turn out to be a good trade for us.

We play the Pirates 9 more times, the Cubs play the Pirates 6 more times, the Cardinals play the Pirates 5 more times. This may well turn out to be a good trade for us.

I see your Mike Rivera, and raise you Marcus Hanel. Hanel will lead the Brewers to the promised land!

I'm truly dumbfounded as to how people are making the leap from playing poorly in a 4 game series against the Cubs in late July = the season is now over, we should pack it in. I really am.

The season is over?

You can freak out whenever you want, as previously stated.