colbyjack

I can't believe the number of early picks. I really hope to bug the Brewers a little bit and get their insights to their approach to this year's draft. 26 guys signed less than a week after the draft is astonishing. Other than the early guys you mentioned, I would love to see the Brewers make a run at Richard Hague. He may be looking for 2nd round money, but he is one of those guys that you can just see going to Rice and being an early round pick three years from now. Rice has developed a couple of talented shortstops in recent years (Paul Janish and Brian Friday) and Hague seems to be poised to be the next in line. The guys taken in the 20s (Hawn, Hoehn, Bell, White) would be nice additions as well, and as much as I like White, none of them stand out as much as Hague does to me.

Vanderbilt rarely loses players like Reid and White, whether it be as high school recruits (Reid) or as a draft-eligible sophomore who stands to earn more playing time and show what he can do. I wouldn't worry about the Commodores losing either one.

Good luck picking up any ladies with your beer breath! Given my growing mid-section, balding head, and countless of other problems acredited to moving past my 20s, fortunately beer breath is the least of my concerns. Good thing I'm married. If I had to resort to drinking Berry Weiss to meet women, I'd be in trouble http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . Anyone ever had the Berry-Honey Weiss mix that Leinie's promotes at some places? Sounds kind of weird to me. Yeah, they call it the honey-bear. A co-worker of mine swears that she is the one that invented this and introduced it to Dick and Jake Leinenkugel. And I was at sitting in the first row behind the end zone at the Ice Bowl...

17th rounder Erik Miller has also signed.

Actually wine coolers are flavored beers. From wiki: Leinie's is well aware of this, decided to make their own wine cooler and called it a beer so guys wouldn't feel like any less of a man drinking it.

Inman spent all of last year at WV, I don't see Braddock being moved up this season, despite his continued dominance.

I wanted to post this here, since last year I only made two games the entire season, missing 2-3 due to rain (thankfully the weather has been cooperative so far this season) and the rest due to my unfriendly summer schedule. Anyway, while the rest of the season is somewhat dicey for me given the festival season (which started this weekend), I am going to try and make the rest of the schedule, minus the last game of the year, which I probably will be out of town for, thanks to some helpful game times. Fortunately the June 28 game is at 9 pm. This is the first night of Summerfest, and while I may show up right at game time, I'm shooting to make this game (the first day of Summerfest typically is a long day, so I will be looking to blow off some steam). We're cruising by the second Thursday of Summerfest (July 5), so even the early game time shouldn't have that big of an effect. I can always go back to work after the game if the need arises. So for now, only officially count me out for the game on Thursday, July 12, and there is still a chance that I will be in town for that game as well if my wife can't get off work.

Miller Chill is supposed to hit the market tomorrow, at least locally. Yep. There's times when I want true beer, and times when I want something to quench my thirst (particularly during the summer), and this finds a happy medium. Like Berry Weiss. Berry Weiss is nothing like a true beer, and therefore can't be a happy medium http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

I want to add that I'm not heartbroken the show is over, not how sad I was when I watched the last Band of Brothers (even though I knew it was a mini-series going in), or when Six Feet Under ended (or when The Wire will eventually end). The Sopranos was a good show, not great, and what was particularly frustrating to me is that it could have been a great show. I have shared my frustrations with the Sopranos over the years, so I'm not going to re-hash them now, but I certainly am not that surprised with the way it ended, nor am I disappointed, because my expectations weren't that high to begin with. I am excited that Big Love starts tomorrow, although bummed that it is on Monday night instead of Sunday. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first season of the series, as it kind of picked up where Six Feet Under left off as far as entertainment value for me is concerned.

That ending made me laugh, because it is the same type of stuff the show has been doing all along, and my wife spent so much time reading all of these different scenarios from bloggers and the like trying to get a feel for what may happen (BTW, NDOG, she also felt your idea was by far the most insightful). They build up so much drama to make it seem like something is going to happen, and then nothing does. It's funny reading these theories after the fact because there were so many theories leading up to the ending trying to pull all of these tidbits from the series together to try and make an ending that made sense. From ducks to bears dream sequences and the coma to the Russian guy in the woods, nothing spectacular happened. It turns out the series ended exactly how it was written and produced throughout it's run for the reasons I explained above, but without any historical context that so many people tried to predict and without any big, eye-popping ending that gave anyone any sort of closure. You can read into the ending all you want, but again, they built up a lot of drama and nothing happened, except that Tony was with his family at the end, on top, just like how the series started. It doesn't matter whether or not you think Tony got whacked, the show still ended with him on top. I thought it was pretty cool having that FBI agent show his excitment towards Tony when he learned Phil got popped. Plus, he slept with another agent to get information for Tony, or at least that is how they made it seem? That was the highlight of the show for me.

Jonathan White is going to be a tough sign. He is almost guaranteed more playing time next year for Vandy, and is an amazing athlete and could really explode with a full season. If the Brewers sign him, he is a huge sleeper to watch from this draft class.

Scarpetta could be a tough sign. I got a chance to watch him pitch in February at the PG Indoor. Big boy, a little stiff, but good stuff. I believe Robulack is advised by our agent friend that frequents these parts.

Hey, I thought this was a lovefest thread? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Fair enough gordofieldo. I can't please everyone.

Colby, are you at all disappointed that the Brewers went with Lucroy instead of Lars Davis at catcher? Davis went right after Lucroy in the draft and I know you had Davis pegged as one of your "picks" in your Draft Preview article. Not at all. I expected a huge run on college catchers in the monster supplemental round, and was very surprised and pleased to see Lucroy's name among the Brewers picks when I got home this evening. Lars Davis is a fine catching prospect, but he just doesn't have the tools or upside that Lucroy does. I really like the team's top four picks. I think Lucroy may well replicate what Palmisano did to start his career, Farris could be the second coming of Fernando Vina, while Gindl is likely to draw some Brian Giles comparisons if he continues to show what he can do early in his career (sorry for the unfair comparison, but shorter left-handed hitting outfielders often draw that comparison, much like crafty lefties are compared to Tom Glavine). And of course you have LaPorta's power, which I noted before, adds a big bat to a system that needs one. I'm guessing the Brewers go heavy with pitching in rounds 6-10. Tough call on Russell. The Cards may just pony up the dough necessary to sign him away from Texas and his junior season. I doubt the Cardinals, or any team, would have taken him if they didn't feel strongly about their chances to sign him, particularly since a fourth rounder won't offer any compensation for next year's draft should they be unable to sign him. You just never know...

Just getting back from softball. They only got through five rounds so far? Yikes. Lucroy is an awesome pick, I'm very happy to see that, and I'm surprised to see he made it that far. He immediately becomes the organization's second or third best catching prospect, depending on how high you are on Palmisano. The organization must be happy with their arms, although I'm sure the DFE class may have had something to do with that.

I watched the first two picks of the draft, but wasn't able to watch much more than that. I DVR'd it, although I don't know how much I'm going to watch (definitely the Brewers selection to see what they say about LaPorta), but I'm curious to find out what other people think about having the draft on TV and how good of a job they did with the overall production. Was it a success, keeping in mind that it was the first time it ever happened, was it boring, slow, etc.? How was the commentary of David Rawnsley vs. that of Jim Callis?

X, Berkman is a very interesting comparison. I don't recall Berkman's scouting reports from draft day, since the event wasn't followed anywhere close to what it is now, but looking up reports on him after the fact (largely seeing why/how Kyle Peterson went before he did) it seems the scouting reports were relatively similar to LaPorta's for the reasons you stated. Somewhat limited athleticism, the ability to play LF (and Berkman has even played CF) yet a very solid bat. Lane was short on tools despite having a good college career. I have contact with LaPorta's direct representative with the Boras corp, and I'm going to see if I can set up an interview in the next day or two.

This guy can barely play 1B. He is natural DH. I have seen LaPorta play more than a dozen times over the last two years, and he can play 1B, no problem. He's not a future DH like many places will lead you to believe. He's athletic enough that to enter the spring of 2006 there were some rumblings about teams possibly trying him at 3B or even behind the plate. Having him move to LF is hardly a stretch, and his bat should make people forget about his glove.

He's a right-handed hitter. I had a Yankees fan email me in the last month asking me why I didn't have LaPorta in my top 30 prospects, as this person remembered that I had him #4 overall to open the 2005 draft rankings. He made a very good point about that, because he has re-established himself very well this year, and despite being a college senior, he really picked up where he left off from his sophomore campaign, and improved in the one area at the plate that he really struggled in past years when it comes to striking out too much. I like the pick quite a bit because it addresses the organization's biggest need which I brought up a few days ago: Power. With Braun at the big-league level, LaPorta instantly becomes the organization's best power prospect, possibly by far. I may have taken Beau Mills over LaPorta, but LaPorta is much more proven having hit in arguably the toughest conference in all of college baseball, the SEC.

He came to Florida as a catcher. He's a Pat Burrell type, big-time power, walks a ton, will never win any awards for his defense, but that shouldn't matter much. A huge 3TO type of player, although he did an incredible job cutting back on his strikeouts this year after an extremely disappointing junior year, which followed a monster sophomore season when he led the nation in home runs. He's a college senior, and will likely love signing for slot value at that spot, despite being advised by Boras. If he opens the season in Helena, he is going to put up some incredibly gaudy numbers there, although it wouldn't surprise me to see him join the offensive juggernaut at WV. Very surprising selection, but he opened my top 30 a year ago at #4, and was in the top 30 at one point this year. In my mind, it's a better, and much more safe pick, than any of the prep pitchers on the board. The Brewers drafted him as a LF, so it seems as though that is where he'll be groomed. EDIT: Greg, I haven't seen you around in a while. Yes, LaPorta's power is among the best in the nation. Take a look at how many offensive categories LaPorta was at or near the top here: www.boydsworld.com/data/leaderboard.html First in OBP, fifth in SLG, 2nd in OPS.

Those last two picks couldn't have gone any worse for us. I can almost guarantee you that it wouldn't have mattered. Holy cow. Matt LaPorta is a HUGE surprise. The Brewers took him as a LF.

It was right on MLB.com's homepage for me. I had to upgrade Flash, but that was a quick fix. David Price #1, no big surprise. Moustakas #2. At least we can't be angry that we didn't take Moustakas http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

Jamie (and whoever else cares), I mentioned that I was bringing the wife and kid this week given the early game time. Given the wind (which is nasty) and the high potential for storms, even if our games are still to be played, I will not be bringing the wife and kid along. I'm not sure if Mary and Rachel were in your plans for the evening, but the weather is just too potentially nasty to have the family out there. But if the games aren't cancelled, I should still be there. I work right on the lake, and the winds are whipping around like crazy.

Thanks a lot for the kind words everyone, and thanks in advance to everyone for their efforts gathering information on the players that will end up being selected. And if Aumont is the pick, remember, it's not my fault http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

Sorry, I've had a busy morning at work. Mesoraco has been soaring up draft boards all spring. In the last week it was reported he was a possibility for the PIrates at #4. His profile can be found on the default draft page. He's a super-athletic guy in the mold of Craig Biggio with an arm tailor-made for catcher. His bat has really come around this spring, and the only reason he wasn't a bigger name entering the spring is because he DH'd his junior year since he had TJ surgery the fall before (August of '05 I believe). Here's a link to his Brewerfan.net profile: www.brewerfan.net/ViewAma...;draftId=5 As much as I like Heyward, I have not heard his name in conjunction with the Brewers. As for the commissioner's office coming down hard on teams, I may have phrased that a little strongly. The commissioner's office doesn't really fine teams for exceeding slot value, but they do make it more difficult for them. Any monetary amount that exceeds the pre-determined slot values need to be approved by the commissioner's office, and they get ownership involved while stressing that they really, really don't want to see teams exceed these values. They make recommendations through the fifth round, and after the fifth round any bonus given out that is more than the last pick in the fifth round also comes under scrutiny. So, to avoid political headaches, and to adhere to MLB's wishes, more and more teams are adhering to these values.