Matt Breen

Phillies finally dealt Utley. Philly gets two minor leaguers - not named yet. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/13470156/los-angeles-dodgers-acquire-veteran-2b-chase-utley-philadelphia-phillies

Guys like Tyler Cravy are all over the place. They have limited tools and no special quality that sets them above the rest. It doesn't mean Tyler can't succeed, but it's difficult. There's so little margin for error in their game. That's why you crank out guys like this. You produce five Tyler Cravys and hope one becomes a legit ML player. Even better if he can actually hold down a rotation spot. We aren't making the playoffs this year, so I'm okay letting him ride out the season. It's not like there's a host of quality starters at AAA waiting to get their turn. The other real option is probably Thornburg. If the club wants to give him some starts, go for it. I guess the team needs to decide who they want to see more of this year.

Nice to hear. It's fun seeing people recognize our players. Arcia is ranked #8 for all of the minors as well. It will be interesting to see what other players get into McDaniel's list (he's only published a top 25, but a bigger list is in the works).

September call-ups are soon enough, no need to push it a couple weeks before then. Might want him on the roster before September so he's eligible for post season play.

Arcia came in at #8 on Fangraphs updated top 25 list: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-post-trade-deadline-prospect-update/

Phillips power surge was in a pretty hitter friendly league, so there is some concern. But he's got 13 doubles and 7 triples at AA (on less than 200 ABs) - so the power may very well be lurking just below the surface. An .843 OPS at AA is still pretty impressive. I'm not really going to worry at this point because the guy is still hitting well, but I certainly want to see a few more dingers.

I'd trade anyone if it benefited the team. Some guys, like Arcia, would fetch a king's ransom. Ultimately, you have a strategy for succeeding at the ML level, and if a deal is available to support that strategy, then great. As for the guys you have listed, Taylor, Denson and Gatewood would be selling low on them. I'd rather see if they can rebound next year and improve their stock. Wren is a fourth OF due to his complete lack of power. Thus, his value isn't really high. If someone overpays, great. But no one is clamoring for a guy without a HR in his career.

Yep, yep, yep. Totally agree. We all get wrapped up in our guys, but you're right, more fail than succeed. That's why you want and need to develop lots of guys. They fail more than not, some during the rise in the minors, others upon reaching the majors. A few years ago I remember looking at Top 100 prospect pitchers over a 10 year or so range. Roughly 1 in 4 starting pitchers actually 'made it' as a starting pitcher in the majors (some pitchers became successful relievers, but I don't know what percentage that was). This wasn't just organizational type players, but Top 100 prospects - guys tapped as likely to succeed. I would think pitchers would have a higher injury issue than position players (just guessing), so it's important to remember this was just for pitchers. The point is that guys get hurt, guys stagnate, guys never develop like expected (physically and mentally), etc. You need quality and quantity of prospects. We have, sadly, lacked the former for a while, but it's nice to see things improving.

Since he was drafted, I've been really impressed with SS Carlos Correa. His performance this year has been pretty amazing. The kid is still only 20 years old (21 next month). 60 games: .286 BA, .358 OBP, .890 OPS. His defense - at a premium position - is looking better than average (but that's just 60 games). If you extrapolated his 60 games into a full season, here's his stat line: GP: 150, AB: 577, HR: 35, RBI: 95, SB: 25, BA: .286, OBP: .358, OPS: .890 These numbers are sniffing MVP territory - and the kid will probably only get better, at least as a hitter. If he continues to fill out his range might diminish at SS, but for now he looks fine. Astros scored huge with this pick.

Did I hear my name being called? http://miamiherald.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b26169e2019b016e0839970c-pi

Call me kooky, but I doubt you'll find a 'wide range of differing opinions' on marrying animals. Just sayin'.

Can't wait to see Puig lay down the suicide squeeze.

Much has changed for gay people over the last few decades. A player coming out is going to probably be greeted by a lot of shrugs and 'so what'. But it wasn't that long ago that Glenn Burke was harassed because it was known he was gay. Billy Martin introduced him once with, "Oh, by the way, this is Glenn Burke and he’s a f----t." A lot has changed, however. I think for the better. As I said, I hope Denson finds nothing but peace in his decision. I hope he doesn't let his life become a circus, sort of what happened to Michael Sam. Being a good baseball player will be the best thing that can happen for the guy.

In an ideal world you're right - it isn't a big deal. But in the end, I think that sooner or later the word would get around and it would become public knowledge (and a news story). Just sort of downplaying things would have lead to a different kind of scrutiny, but ultimately he'd have to answer the question. He elected to do it through an interview. I don't know if it was a big announcement - it's not like there was a press conference. He appears to have talked a lot with the MLB inclusion rep, Billy Bean, so I'm sure he knew his options. Maybe the interview just let him get it all done at once instead of a hundred questions and/or innuendos following him around. Ultimately, it is newsworthy, whether we think it is or not. But I can say that about the Kardashians or whatever.

I'll make a stab at the original question - how can we conceivably build a winning team. Here's my try at that question - all for fun and just to throw out some stuff to talk about. Our pitching talent appears to be focused on starters who induce a lot of ground balls. Jungmann, Peralta and Nelson are all groundball pitchers (throwing aroudnd 50% ground balls). I think that Davies and Wagner are GB pitchers as well. Further down, I believe Medioros is too. Not sure about Cravy. Our relievers are power arms other than K-Rod. Thus, you build around what your strengths are - decent groundball pitchers, a bullpen of strong arms. With that in mind, build your position players to better support your strengths. That means better defense. I'm not saying you simply get rid of players because they don't play good defense, but that you don't be afraid to prioritize it as you fill positions. Players like Arcia, Taylor, Reed and Phillips are plus glove guys that could fit the profile of players we would need. Lucroy is a fine defensive catcher. I think that in a couple of years we could have a solid rotation of groundball type pitchers. If we have a good defense to go with them, that will make them even better. If we have a good catcher (good pitch framer, good mentor), that will help them even more. It can make a bunch of solid starters better than average. Combine a better than average rotation with a good bullpen, it's pretty interesting. Offensively, it's a challenge, but you need to fill several positions over the next couple of years (such as 3B). I guess that's where the GM comes in - perhaps using existing assets like Davis, Segura, Lind and others as trade chips (assuming none of those guys is a long term solution). In the end, you get position players that are better defensively than we have had in the past. We may sacrifice some offense, but the better defense will help our GB dominated staff. And we can perhaps make up some of our deficiencies with not just better D, but with good base runners, guys with good baseball IQs, etc. We do this with younger, cheaper players. The salary flexibility allows for better depth, allows the club to make some moves (such as sign a FA or take on salary in a trade) when the time comes that we can actually compete for the playoffs. And we're not forced to settle on junk like Betancourt starting at 1B because we don't have any room in our budget to add a decent player. I think the closest thing to this is what Pittsburgh has done. They've got a lot of mileage from good defense and ground ball pitchers (their ball park helps). Ultimately, you need the personnel to do anything. We seem geared toward a pitching staff of ground ball types - thus that's what I'm thinking.

Every person is different in how they deal with adversity, stress, success, whatever. Denson sounds like a pretty serious and introspective young man. Putting his sexuality into a box and hiding it from everyone might work for some people, but it sounded like it wasn't working for him. When words like 'depression' start creeping into someone's conversation, that's not insignificant. It's not just about him operating as a baseball player, but as a human being. It sounds like this was the step he, as an individual, needed to take. He doesn't seem to have done it without a lot of serious thought - and not without the support of his teammates and organization and MLB. And I'm sure he knows there will be consequences. He will now forever be the 'gay' baseball player. His sexuality will forever be attached to everything he does. He'll be called out - in good and bad ways - because of his sexuality. But as a gay person I know once told me, his life before he came out was living a lie. He lied everyday to his friends, his friends, his co-workers. He lied to himself. It crushed him at times to play the game of being straight. Some people can do that, others can't. Denson just didn't sound like he was one of those people who could play the game. I'm happy for the guy because he seems at peace with the decision. Sure it might end up being a cynical ploy for attention, but I'll take him for his word right now and just hope he's happy. And in the end, I just want him to be a good ball player - not a gay one - and I hope that's what he wants as well.

I disagree in so many ways, but I hope any sorts of discussion like this can be moved to the non-baseball thread.

His head dips too much. Not balanced enough. and he can't bunt now.

segura just doesn't look like he's learned any sort of pitch recognition in his three years. i just don't know if he'll ever be better if he hacks so badly at pitches.

I suspect that someone gave him the dreaded he Bone-Breaking Curse. Crabbe? Goyle? Malfoy? Ossis Effergo!

Astute trades - Arrieta, Rizzo - have really helped, delivering all star caliber players to the team. Other guys acquired in trades - Montero, Russell and Fowler - have contributed. Free agency has been mixed for Chicago - as it is for most teams, but the team had shed a lot of payroll allowing itself to add a top tier guy like Lester. As noted, Schwarber and Bryant have been good. Solar's been passable. The club has a nice future. I think their biggest undoing will be Theo getting greedy and overextending the team with veterans (think about him adding Crawford and Gonzalez back in Boston). Those guys are great if you have a need, but you don't want to saddle your club with too many big contracts like that.

Yep. I beg people to write good headlines. This is not like ads on Facebook trying to entice us to click on a link. It's a title - have it specifically represent what the thread is about. "Whoa, look at this" is not a good title for a post on a message board. Instead write, "Gomez makes amazing catch." That's just me. Maybe people like more obscure or leading thread titles. I'll stop grinding my axe.

Did someone call my name? http://lonelytailgater.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/joec.jpg

Perhaps he's had something for a little while that he just fessed up about or the team just discovered. He hasn't been pitching well of late.

You know, now is the time to be bad. The Cards, Pirates and Cubs are good. I see the Cubs as the upcoming juggernaut. They have so much money they can spend, a deep system, star talent developing. They have been better than I anticipated, and they have a nice mix of veterans and young talent. So it's a bad time to mediocre - like we have been for the last few years. Even if a lot goes right we have too many teams that can beat us. That's why now is the time to rebuild. Sure we'll get beat up for a few years, but like the Astros and Cubs, if you manage things well, draft well, you'll see the light at the end of the tunnel. Personally, I think people are deluding themselves if they think we are a few players away from contending. We lack big upside pitching and big upside hitting - both at the major league and minor league levels. We need to draft well the next few years, look to add talent in any way possible, and set ourselves up so that when we are ready to be a contender, we have lots of flexibility. So now is the time to take our beatings. Bide our time, stock up on talent, develop talent. I just hope the club is patient enough to let it happen. We need to build a team that geared to win 90 games - not 80 (and hope we get lucky and win 6-8 more than we thought we would).