Matt Breen

Gomez?!?

Totally agree. I like Reed a lot (I'm a sucker for OBP). I love seeing the increased power production. But it's only two months. He needs to sustain his improvements. Still, there's a lot to like. He's 4th in the Southern League with an OPS of .946. Seeing a player thrive at AA at a young age is a great sign of future success.

I think any team should be concerned about Braun's thumb. Yes, the treatment seems to work now, but what about in the future? If I'm right, this treatment is pretty new territory for baseball players. Who knows how it will work after the 3rd or 5th or whatever treatment. Any team should be hesitant to assume all is well and good after just a couple of treatments. This is not a one year contract they're taking on - it's five years. You'd be crazy not to be concerned about Braun's thumb.

Wren spent 1/2 of last year at AA, so the logical progression is him moving up. I wonder if that gets Roache bumped up to AA.

Trading all 3 of those guys during the season for prospects will mean 100 losses for the next 3-4 seasons. You can get away with that with huge local media revenue like they have in Chicago and Houston, but it's not feasible in a market like Milwaukee that relies so much on gate receipts. This is after all a business and the business model for the Brewers differs from that of the Astros. I disagree that a team like Milwaukee can't survive 3-4 bad seasons. You cut payroll to cushion the financial blow - it's not like we have to put out a $100 million team every year. By next season, we could trade or let go of Lucroy, Garza, Lind, Gomez, K-Rod, Segura, Parra, Lohse, Cotts, Broxton - it clears the books with the exception of Braun (who could potentially be dealt if someone wanted him). I think Peralta would be the only arby eligible player. It makes for a young and very cheap team (we could probably cut payroll below $50 million). Segura, Lucroy and Gomez bring back a significant number of young prospects, which speeds up the rebuild process. I think we could avoid as drastic a rebuild like Houston because of that fact. I'm tired of rebuilding in a half-assed fashion. We're on track to lose 100 games with Gomez, Lucroy and Segura. Fans want a winner - or at least a hope of a winner. Why hang on to one or two of our 'good' players during a time when we probably still lose 85-100 games? Fans aren't going to come to the park for a 72 win team much more than they will for a 62 win team. At least if you blow up things and go for the full rebuild you can preach to the fans that better days are ahead. The club did it back in the early 2000s when they built up excitement around Prince, Hardy, Weeks, Hart and Braunie. Rebuilding will hurt attendance, but we'd survive. Oakland and Tampa have done so with much smaller fan bases (and smaller payrolls). Milwaukee is a great baseball town. I just hope management can give it the team it deserves.

Branyan's problem was that in addition to the strikeouts, he was streaky and he provided nothing when he was not hitting. Mike Olt (#22), Javy Baez (#4), and Matt Davidson (#72) are all guys with big power/big strikeout numbers that haven't established themselves after being top prospects. I'm sure there are more. I have to think Gallo isn't going to hit that well (average wise). I think maybe more in line with a young Mark Reynolds - a guy who'll hit 40+ HR (maybe even 50+), strike out 200+ times, and be lucky to hit .250. To Gallo's credit, he's very young - only 21 years old. He still has time to develop a little more plate discipline. But the guy is what he is - a power bat unlike many others.

Fascinating player. The power is so real, but the strikeouts will test people's patience. He will be a true incarnation of Branyan, but without the injuries (at least not at this time).

Brewers have called up OF Shane Peterson. Peterson, a lefty, was hitting .320. He is 27, and has played all the OF positions and 1B. He has decent power, but nothing special. He has always hit for a decent average.

Me think you be right.

Holiday was hosed. That was a terrible call. At least West's awfulness isn't discriminatory.

Joe West is just an awful ump.

Not sure Taylor was our worst. Sal Bando was pretty horrible as GM. Bando was brutal. Absolutely brutal. Some of his decisions were mind boggling. He picked Antone Williamson with the 4th pick of the draft. I remember reading one GM or scouting director type said he had Williamson ranked as a 3rd or 4th rounder. Why'd Sal want him so bad? Williamson was a 3B from Arizona State. And Bando was what? A 3B from ASU. For some reason Sal became enamored with the guy and insisted on taking him.

Does Lucroy look a little thinner? Or maybe his uniform is just a bit baggy. He just looks a little less robust.

The only other player you could add is Peralta. At this rate, he probably isn't going to be part of the next winning team (or won't be for long). I'd consider and extension, getting a year or two of his free agent years. If you can do that, we could count on him for another five or six years (and thus he would be part of our next winning club).

A big reason Madison flailed around as a minor league team was because the park was really crappy. The Mallards have worked to consistently upgrade the place so it's at least respectable. Dane County has a population of 488,000. I'm not sure what size of a population is needed to make a AAA team feasible. No matter what, you'd need a significant investment made in a quality facility to attract fans and keep them coming back.

Season saved!

I think you're right that Taylor recognized the need to rebuild the team's minor league infrastructure - and he began the process, which would bear fruit in the coming years. However, he made some odd decisions on the major league level. Davey Lopes, Jerry Royster, Jeffrey Hammonds. I believe he dealt Cirillo and Burnitz - which wasn't a bad idea to restock the team - but the assets he got back were mediocre (at best).

I thought the same thing as I was writing the post. But losing three of four years isn't going to cut it in the Boston market - even with the championship, which is looking more and more fluky. Ownership doesn't want the Sox relegated to the second page of the sports section with their games drawing less attention than stories about who's backing up inside linebacker for the Patriots. Patience only goes so far in that market.

I know there's been some speculation about specific trades with Boston, but reports are coming out about how it's time for the Red Sox to make a move to improve their struggling club this year. People are getting antsy to see a winner - which is what they expected. Another poor season would be effectively three losng seasons surrounded by one championship season. Thus, the time to make a deal with Boston might be now. Lucroy would perfect for them - a consistent bat and solid defensive presence in a streaky lineup. Swihart hasn't set the world on fire. Gomez would work if Boston unloaded someone like Betts or Castillo - but I doubt that's happening. Garza or Lohse might be of interest, but both would need to show improvement to be attractive. Maybe there's nothing really going. Perhaps the Sox will just ride out the struggles. But now might be the time to extract a good return on one of our better players.

I want to again thank everyone who posts info on the players, opinions, mock drafts, reviews, etc. The amateur draft is such a blank slate, it's nice to have resources turn to. So again, thanks.

Nailed it. The article just says 'we figured out how to rate game calling' and offers no explanation to how they've actually come up with these numbers. Maybe I missed something in the article. Very strange way to report this info. If they really have developed a good game calling system, explain it.

Brain is a poor RF. He is adeqete in LF. Parra is good in either spot. That's my opinion.

Bring up Peterson. He's on the 40 man roster, so no issues there. Move Braun to left, put Parra in RF. peterson can back up all the OF slots. Problem solved.

People need to work on headline writing. Seriously, just say Kris Davis is injured.

Ooooh, the amazing experience of a baseball owner. What's next, the Brewer accountant experience? Maybe we could have an interactive experience of a parking lot attendent. I don't mind something honoring Selig, but it's like he's some frigging folk hero.