colbyjack

Salty is not only one of the Braves top prospects (if not their #1 guy overall), but he's also one of the top prospects in all of baseball, and the best caching prospect. To trade for him you are either going to have to trade a prospect of equal value, or acquire him as part of a larger deal involving big leaguers. Basically, would you trade Ryan Braun to get him? Even with McCann, the Braves don't have to move Salty at this point in time, but if he is available, I would definitely find out what it would take to get him.

With Garciaparra's injury history, I have no interest in signing him as a super-sub. Moving him around the field would only increase his risk of missing more time IMO. I really am only interested if he's willing to play LF, which it sounds as though he is.

Drew wouldn't have opted out of his contract if there was any thought in his mind that he would make less money. He's a Boras client, which may make some think he's greedy, but greedy shouldn't be confused with stupid. He opted out of his deal for the same reason Aramis Ramirez did: To make more money in a weak market, and more than likely he'll get it, particularly when teams are doing as well as they are. I agree, Boston makes a lot of sense.

If Drew has opted out of his 3-year, $33 million dollar deal, you know he's looking for an even bigger payday than the one he got two years ago. Unfortunately, as much as I like Drew as a hitter, despite his inability to stay healthy for a full season, I think he's going to be too rich for about 25 of the 30 MLB teams. At least if he wants to play CF, he's not going to either of the NY teams.

PG Crosschecker has a list of college commitments up on their site. The list I believe is free for all to enjoy: www.pgcrosschecker.com/hs...gyear=2007 After a quick glance, North Carolina (Porcello, Harvey, Bumgarner), Arizona State (Burgess, Jackson, Vitters, Blair, Lambo, Romine, Rams, Zawacki), Clemson (Smoker, Poovey, Gullickson, Noonan, Smolinski, Schaus), UCLA (Goeddel, Heyward, Krill), Georgia Tech (Parker, Ramirez), Oregon State (Nash, Osich, Robles), Tennessee (Davis, Runion) and CS Fullerton (Colon, Dominguez, Freeman) have the classes with the biggest collection of names. Of course, a lot of those players will end up signing to go pro, but UNC and GT in particular have always been tough to pry players away from. UNC's pitching class in particular is very impressive. I find it interesting that Justin Heyward, from Georgia, has committed to UCLA while Nick Noonan, from California, has committed to Clemson. Ryan Braun was a notable West Coaster that head to the opposite side of the country to go to college, but you just don't seem to see that very often, at least not from players from states that offer plenty of solid baseball programs. Oregon State's CWS success is evident in their recruiting class.

I proposed the exact same thing on page 6 of the $60 million dollar challenge thread, so I'm with you RyDogg. Garciaparra, injury problems or not, is a great hitter, and I'd love to see him in the Brewers lineup, even for only 120 games a year. Let him DH during interleague to try and prolong his seasonal health.

Ryan, the two greatest Brewers of all time, Robin Yount and Paul Molitor, each spent less than one full season in the minor leagues. As the number 5 overall pick from one of the top collegiate programs in the country who now has spent a year and a half plus a fall in the minor leagues, is there any reason you don't think you should be the Brewer 3rd baseman on opening day 2007? I'm just curious, and I don't want to steer this thread in a different direction, but would you ask that just for kicks, or do you believe there is a connection between the three? Throwing out a couple of Hall of Famers like that would make me blush.

I didn't want to open a new thread to mention this, but Yovani Gallardo gets some love from David Rawnsley over on BaseballWebTV. In part four of a seven part audio series, Rawnsley profiles five players that really stepped up at the Jupiter tournament in year's past, and Gallardo is one of those five (Scott Kazmir, Brian McCann, Ryan Sweeney and Chris Parmelee are the others, so he's in very good company). Follow the link provided just below, click on the second red button towards the top of the page, or just wait for the "Road to Jupiter" feature to show up on the rotating feature graphic at the top, and then click on Part 4 to listen. www.baseballwebtv.com/

Since the uniform starting date doesn't take place until next year (next August 15th), the DFE process will remain through next year's draft, but this is the last class.

I'm surprised Betances is #3. Kennedy, Clippard and Chamberlain should all be ahead of him. While Hughes is arguably the best pitching prospect in baseball, their system is woefully slim on bats. The Orioles and Yankees should be in the 20-30 range overall, if not 25-30. According to the BA website, the Brewers rankings will be available on February 8th. I can't wait that long!!!! With all due respect to Baseball America, when the Brewers top prospect list is unveiled and when John Manuel conducts his chat, we aren't likely to learn too many things that we don't already know. And that really isn't anything against BA, it's just that there isn't much that gets past us.

Thanks for the opportunity Adam. I would ask him what he thinks of the Brewers organization as a whole based on his conversations with friends/former teammates that are playing in different organizations. How do some of the Brewers philosophies differ? Also, what are some of the statistical requirements that he much reach before being promoted to the next level, such as drawing a certain number of walks per plate appearance and so forth?

Nice outing for Parra today. Here's to him finishing the AFL season strong. A few encouraging numbers behind his game today: He induced 5 ground outs versus only one fly out, and according to the game log that Mass provided, 2 of the 6 hits he gave up were hit on the ground and through the infield (and all six hits were singles). Although it's tough not having Braun to follow in these box scores. C'mon, he had yesterday off.

I too feel Braun is the Brewers top prospect, for pretty much the same reason that Al stated. Until pitchers prove themselves at the big-league level, I still am incredibly wary of them (which is also why I am more willing to trade them for proven talent). I have more confidence in young hitters. Although, I can't really argue against Yo as they're probably closer to 1A and 1B than one and two.

I didn't catch where they said Rowell is a better prospect than Markakis. Keep in mind, Markakis is no longer a prospect since he has more than 130 big-league ABs under his belt, just in case you're making that assumption based on Rowell being ranked the #1 prospect. If they did indeed say that and I missed it, I suppose I could see where Rowell's prospect status may be better than what Markakis' was, since BA is quite high on Rowell (they rated him higher than Braun at 3B in their positional rankings, a rating I strongly disagree with, but that's not the point). He's a big guy that should continue to grow while adding strength, and having seen his power potential in person, I can tell you he should be able to hit quite a few home runs as long as he continues to progress.

I know one poster a while back mentioned that Crawford opposed a move to CF. Has that ever been confirmed? He does have 53 games in center under his belt, including 46 games started, and his range factor (2.9http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif and zone rating (.917) are not only better than his numbers in LF (2.46/.899), but they're also better than Wells' (2.49/.905). A small sample, yes, but it's about one-third of a season, and he certainly has the speed and overall athleticism to play center.

And, really, I think there's a lot higher upside in Wells. If Wells does what he did last year, the Brewers likely make the playoffs. It's a lot more dicey if Crawford just repeats what he did last year. Carl Crawford's career high OPS is all of 0.002 OPS points higher than Vernon Wells' average OPS. Keep in mind that Crawford is only 25 years old, and his stats have been getting better each year he has been playing: 2003: .281/.309/.362 2004: .296/.331/.450 2005: .301/.331/.469 2006: .305/.348/.482 That's a pretty nice, steady progression, and there's no reason to think given his age that he won't continue to get better. That isn't to take anything away from Wells, whom I also would love to see in Milwaukee, but when Crawford is 27-28 years old, their numbers may be very similar, and as noted, Crawford has the added benefit of being a base-stealing threat.

BA has kicked off their top prospect lists, starting with the Baltimore Orioles: www.baseballamerica.com/t...62799.html Since they're starting in the AL this year, we probably won't see the Brewers' report until January. Anyway, I figured I'd open this thread to discuss the teams as they're released. As for the Orioles, I have never been a big fan of farm systems whose recent first-round pick is the team's top prospect, unless you're talking about a Delmon Young type of draft pick/prospect. Billy Rowell is a fine slugger, but his placement as the Orioles top prospect doesn't speak too highly of the premier talent in their system, although they have recently graduated Adam Loewen, Nick Markakis, Hayden Penn and Chris Ray.

A name that has been rising up draft boards all summer long is LHP Jack McGeary. Here's his Perfect Game profile from last summer's National Showcase: www.perfectgame.org/playe...eID=06natl Not only was he one of the top prospects at the National Showcase, but he also was rated one of the top prospects at the East Coast Professional Showcase, the Area Code Games, and at the recently completed WWBA Jupiter Tournament. He's 6'3", 200 pounds, with a very athletic frame. He receives the highest of marks for his smooth, repeatable mechanics and his ability to pitch. In particular, in a start in the WWBA tourney, McGeary walked the first two batters he faced and gave up a RBI double before settling down and striking out 13 batters over six innings of work. His fastball sat in the 88 range at Jupiter, but he was clocked as high as 92 at the PG National. His curveball, as described in his writeup as linked above, has drawn a few "David Wells-esque" comparisons, which is mighty high praise for his breaking ball, and his changeup gives him a very solid three-pitch repertoire. His curve and his control were rated the best as broken down by BA in their best tools from the WWBA event, and his control was rated the best among the Area Code Games participants. You know I love lefties, and a lefty with his size, athleticism, makeup and stuff is sure to be high on my favorite lists between now and next June. He is one big notable omission in my current top-30 that won't be missed the next time I align my rankings. He has committed to Stanford, which automatically makes him a tough sign if he's not taken high enough. He's a very smart young man, as his other recruiting stops included Virginia, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.

That link and the news included has already been supplied & talked about in this thread: p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...1886.topic

That one really bad outing by Sarfate seemed to have skewed his ERA, which currently sits at 5.73. I don't remember him giving up a run the last several outings, and as Jim noted, he has been racking up a ton of Ks. That's pretty encouraging, as I would love to see him in the Brewers bullpen next spring. Braun continues to rake, however, for those that think he has a chance to start in Milwaukee to open the '07 season, keep in mind that Weeks tore the AFL up two years ago and still opened the next season at AAA. Just looking at the facts, the Brewers like to take it one step at a time with their prospects, so even if you feel in your heart of hearts that Braun should without a doubt open the 2007 season in Milwaukee, history shows us that Nashville is his most likely destination. Moss' playing time certainly has decreased over the last week or two. Wasn't he leading the league in ABs at one point in time? Now seeing his name in the box score is a pleasant surprise.

frog, in reading this forum and the MLB forum, I do think there are quite a few people questioning Hardy's talent, especially when they're mocking previous prospect rankings wondering what in the world happened for him to be rated the organization's #1 prospect at one point in time. Clearly you think higher of him than some, but my comments weren't directed at you. I'm not assuming he'll bounce right back, but it wouldn't surprise if he did just that, and then some, next year.

I don't think you're being a jerk TooLiveBrew, because quite frankly I agree with most of your sentiments. I do think the contract extension the Brewers offered to Lee was more than generous, and if a team ends up paying Lee more than the Brewers 4-year, $48 million dollar offer, they will in the long run regret it for the reasons you and so many others have pointed out. Again, it's easy to shoot down others ideas, I'm just trying to promote you to offer your own proposals as to what the Brewers should do if you don't think they're going to be players for a lot of the names being tossed around. They do have money to play with, and I'm interested in hearing how you think they will spend those resources.

Graffanino isn't a world beater but chances are fairly good he'd outhit Hardy Man, Hardy is going to prove a lot of people wrong over the course of his career, starting next year. Remember when a lot of people questioned Corey Hart as a prospect because he did everything but draw walks? Hardy will out-hit Graffanino, and then some. If Graffy returns, its as a super-utility player, not as a starter.

Instead of dissing almost every single idea brought up heading into the offseason in a negative fashion, why not offer your own ideas as to how the Brewers should improve the ballclub for the 2007 season? EDIT: And if you check out the $60 million dollar challenge thread a few posts down in this forum you will see that adding someone like Jason Schmidt isn't that asinine. If the payroll is going to be $60 million, the Brewers do have plenty of wiggle room to make an impact acquisition this offseason.

Gagne, if you don't already subscribe to PG Crosschecker, you really need to. Be sure to tell your friends as well (I haven't visited the Dodgers fanhome forums in a while). In my most recent PG Crack of the Bat column, I make sense of the newest CBA ramifications as they pertain to the draft: www.perfectgame.org/crack...5Freached/