And That

I guess the point I want to make mainly is that his last 3 starts were not just "solid" - they were dadgum spectacular. Yes, but 20 innings of A-ball don't make a career. In Mark's case all they really do is get your ERA under 5.00. If he's truly "turned a corner," great, but we've all heard that line before. He'll need to pitch many more than 20 good (great, fantastic, whatever) innings in A-ball to have me thinking he's got a chance to pitch in the bigs next year, as you referenced: Just a reminder that the guy that threw 6 shutout innings yesterday for the Brewers was at the same level a year ago at this time that Rogers is currently. The differences between '05 Villanueva and '06 Rogers are vast. Villanueva was/is two years older than Rogers, and is a much, much, much, much more advanced pitcher because he has to rely on control. They are pretty much polar opposite pitchers, except for pitching with the same arm. Villanueva also was very good start to finish with Brevard, IIRC.

Former first round pick and Gord Ash whipping-boy Mike Jones has been activated from the Brevard DL. If I can count, another move needs to be made to get the roster back down to 25. Purely speculation on my part, but the Stars need another starter, and Steve Hammond pitched well once again last night for Brevard.

Mark Rogers is currently experiencing what happens almost everytime a Brewer pitcher is pitching a great game: his team hasn't scored, either.

Scott Podsednik, 2005 World Champions.* I know this was in jest, but how much worse would the Brewers be with a Podsednik-Clark-Jenkins outfield? Gwynn would be an atrocious LF at the plate. One could make the case for Krynzel in LF, but even his production at the high end right now wouldn't be enough to warrant his moving there. If Lee and Jenks are traded and no one else is signed, the optimal OF right now would be Hart-Clark/Krynzel/Gwynn-Cruz

Mike Felder holds the record with 92 stolen bases in a minor league season, but it has been awhile since we've seen a guy with 50 or 60+ stolen bases. Go, Darren, go!

More picks signed! From the JS: The players signed were: outfielder Chris Errecart, a fifth-round pick out of California; left-handed pitcher Micah "Brae" Wright, a sixth-round pick out of Oklahoma State; outfielder Zach Clem, an 11th-round pick out of Washington; shortstop Hector Bernal, a 14th-round pick out of El Paso (Texas) Community College; catcher Brett Whiteside, a 15th-round pick out of Mesquite (Ariz.) High School; and second baseman Eric Newton, a 33rd-round pick out of Santa Clara University. We already knew about Clem... Errecart, Wright, Bernal and Newton weren't big surprises. Whiteside, a mid-range catcher with a Myspace page that you should check out (link from the draft forum) was a little surprising. However, I won't get too excited about the dude yet.

But ideally, Kolb vs. the Righthander Phillips would have resulted better, and they wouldn't have had to bring in the 2nd RHP, as Aurilia never would have had an AB in the 7th. I guess my point is that (even with my previous evidence against a Shouse/Hatteberg matchup), if you have 2 lefties coming up out of 3 batters, it makes some sense to me to have a lefty facing all of them, even if the first one happens to be right-handed. If you start matching up arm for arm in the 7th, you're setting yourself up to LaRussa yourself out of a game, even if you do have 8 dudes in the pen.

I love Jeff Cirillo. He has good mojo.

But if Capellan doesn't come back out to pitch the 8th, then they've burned through that extra arm anyway. He also has a 955 OPS against lefties this year. You also could make the point that he may be statistically "due" against Shouse.

But if Capellan doesn't come back out to pitch the 8th, then they've burned through that extra arm anyway. I'd assume the 8th is reserved for Wise, 9th for T-Bow. If Yost would have managed strict L-L/R-R that inning, they may well have used three relievers, not two.

but I maintain that he shouldn't have faced the first two men to bat in the inning in the first place. It's kind of a tough call, IMO. While I'd normally agree with you, I could justify having Shouse pitch to Phillips because Brandon is a young, free swinging guy. Paired with Shouse, a veteran with a funky delivery, I don't think it is out of the realm of possibility to think that Phillips might not get good hacks off Shouse, and in fact he didn't. I wouldn't want Shouse facing Hatteberg normally, but with Griffey up third and the young Phillips leading off, I don't think the move was a huge stretch. Kolb may have worked too, but then you're burning through an extra pitcher.

C'mon Latin Cappy!

Before everyone piles on Shouse or Yost's move to put him in, I'd like to say that Shouse has usually been very effective against lefties, and frankly has been one of the few guys in the bullpen that needs work. Beyond a poor fielding play, he pitched well that inning.

Gosh darn it, Shouse. Dah.

Three straight Reds hitters have swung at the first pitch now. I don't get it... That's because Doug Davis never walks anyone.

Not a good night to be a starting pitcher. Rick Helling, Matt Smith and Josh Wahpepah all with pretty bad performances, and Matt Kretzchmar didn't exactly twirl a gem (though IIRC, it was one of his best starts). Helling I understand - he's probably shaking off some rust, and Matt Smith just really isn't that good, but Wahpepah's continued slide is disturbing. Another 4 walks in 3 innings today, and what was one of the best ERAs in the system a month ago is now at almost 4.00.

I'm glad he isn't doing a lot better, as there'd be talk about rushing the kid...like Yo. That's a really bizarre statement. You'd rather he have a 5.37 ERA than a 1.97 ERA? Does a higher ERA prove that he's "working on things" more? I agree that stats don't mean as much in A-ball as they do in AAA, but to say that you're glad one of our pitching prospects has a high ERA is way out there. And I don't understand the logic behind the thinking that moving Gallardo up to AA would be "rushing him." Unlike Rogers, Gallardo has been dominant from day 1 this year. I don't really know what else he has to prove to the Brewers in A+ - maybe they want him to work on his mechanics (which were very good to begin with) or his slider (which at times is excellent). However, a sub-2.00 ERA after 73 innings pitched, along with equally as-dominant peripherals, scream for a promotion. He'd still be on the same pitch counts... it's not like his arm would explode as soon as he got there. And he'd be facing competition more becoming to his current skill set. How many more times does he need to pitch a 7 innings, while allowing 3 hits, 2 walks, a run or two, while K'ing 9-12? What is Yo really getting out of that? As far as smug goes, naw, the folks that believe in him are just waiting for the process to unfold. The negative bandwagon is much more smug because it's easier to be critical and if you talk enough maybe somebody will listen. I don't think there's any smugness on either side, and I also don't think there's as much disparity in opinions on Rogers as some people think there is. Is there really anyone on the site who doesn't hope Mark will become the next big thing in Milwaukee? I highly doubt it. People want him to succeed - they just have different ideas about how soon this should be happening and the realistic possibility of it actually happening. I think you're getting this "negative bandwagon" confused with people (admittedly, including myself) who have a general distate for hard-throwing right-handed top-round high school-drafted pitchers with occasional control issues and who are in the middle of the time frame when a large chunk of career-ending arm injuries occur. I'm sure you don't need me to trudge out of the litany of past Brewer picks like Rogers who have utterly failed, or to remind you that the list of Brewer-drafted pitchers like Rogers whom have made much, if any, impact on the big league club is exceedingly short. I, for one, am more than willing to see this process through, and I hope Mark overcomes the odds at makes a splash for the Brewers at some point. He has tons of physical ability, and has as legit a shot at making it as any of his hard-throwing predecessors. This recent string of successful outings is reason for hope, and I hope he continues to pitch this well (evidently unlike Al) so that his name will be bandied about with Yo Gallardo's when it comes to talking about guys that need a bigger challange. However, I've seen strings of outings like this before, gotten really excited about them, and then poof, the guy either reverts back to his old ways, gets injured, or both. I've learned my lesson - I'm not going to get overly excited about these last half-dozen outings, and I'll continue to look at the big picture as opposed to the last month. Big picture being what it is for a Rogers-type guy, things are still very uncertain, and more proof will be needed in order to dispel the notions that currently exist about a pitcher of his profile.

Nice knowing ya, Joe. Good luck with the rest of that.

The big question will they let Yo go all 9 for the somethingorother? Dah! Why did you jinx it???? EDIT: To remove the reference to the reference to the thingy. -PF

I demand a new Power 50. Why do you think I put one out right before the draft? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif There will be a new Power 50 once Jeffress, Brewer, et al, get some playing time so I can more closely zero-in on where I want them.

I didn't see it mentioned above, but we blew Trevor Hoffman's shot at save #450.

Rickie Weeks reaching on an error is oh so ironic.

p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...=885.topic That's a link to the Official Draft Pick Selection Thread, which shows that the following players have signed their pro contracts with the Brewers: 1. (16 overall): Jeremy Jeffress, RHP, Halifax County Senior HS (VA) 2. (60): Brent Brewer, SS, Sandy Creek HS (GA) 9. (272): Shawn Ferguson, RHP, Texas Christian University 10. (302): Mike McClendon, RHP, Seminole Community College 13. (392): Chris Toneguzzi, RHP, Purdue University 25. (752): Mike Goetz, CF, UW-Milwaukee 30. (902): Jordan Swayden, C, San Diego State We'll have player profile pages for all those guys, as well as the additional signings in the coming days, shortly. Until then, be sure to read about them in the aforementioned thread.

While Helena is the Brewers highest rookie club, other Pioneer League teams aren't their organization's highest. About half have no other rookie club, instead having short-season A-ball clubs. So the competition level in the Pioneer League has to be factored into Helena's success over the years. It has always been my understanding that the difference between advanced-Rookie and short-season-A is similar to, or less than, the gap between A-ball and advanced-A. The gap between the complex leagues (the AZL and the GCL) and advanced-Rookie is a bigger jump. 22 of the 30 teams have complex-league teams, so the talent on advanced-rookie teams is mostly equitable, though I would agree that an organization with no complex-league team and an advanced-Rookie/short-season-A setup would tend to have their advanced-Rookie teams struggle a bit more.

With 50 new picks I'm guessing a handful will be signed immediately. Will there likely be a bunch of guys already in the system that will be released? Or is there a Rookie league that starts after the draft? About 13-18 will be assigned to Helena immediately after they are signed. Helena is the advanced-rookie ream, which means they will have college guys and very-high round HS picks from the 2006 draft. As you can see here on Brewerfan's Helena roster page, Helena still needs about 14 guys to fill out a minimal roster. Most will come from the draft, and a few will come from the Arizona Brewers roster. With the increased emphasis on draft-and-follow, I would expect the Brewers to sign most of the 4-year college guys drafted, but very few of the CC/JC/HS guys after round 16 or so. That means Gillespie, Errecart, Wright, Bouchie, Fergusen, Toneguzzi and Bernal will all be in Helena, plus another half dozen+ from later rounds, including King, Wendte, Goetz, Lewis, Newmann, Swayden and Sutherland. And DHonks is right, the roster limits in R-ball are larger, 35-man rosters. The Brewers haven't utilitzed this maximum in a few years, and it doesn't look like they will this year either. Eventually Jeffress and Brewer will be moved up to Helena, but at least Brewer will start with the Arizona club. The Brewers have a tendency to start 1st-rounders in Helena, so Jeffress might well get to Helena right away, for better or worse. My offhand picks to move up to Helena from Maryvale, based on not much other than pure guesswork: John Alonso - 1B Zach Braddock - SP Fredy de la Cruz - 3B Taylor Green - 2B Craig Langille - RP Rolando Pascual - SP Alex Periard - SP Mike Ramlow - SP Jose Romero - RP