colbyjack

I have really enjoyed the work of Ben Badler at Baseball America. He has been a nice addition to their team. Last year's breakdown of the top catchers was a good read, and he continued to push the idea this year. He also did a really fine breakdown of all of the team's international signings, as it isn't easy getting information on those players. While Salome was among the worst, as noted, he did significantly improve from 2007 to 2008. I'm more concerned by how close he is to the big-leagues, since he clearly needs more time to develop his defensive skills, and I hope the team is patient with his development there even if he makes it hard for them not to call him up with a strong year at the plate. Catcher is not a position I like sacrificing defense for offense at. Like others, I too would like to see Lawrie moved to a position that suits him best. Maybe that is behind the plate, but as we've talked about before, he could fly through the system, at least as fast as his bat would carry him, at 3B or even the OF as Brian mentioned. It's a nice problem to have.

The Marlins have a really nice mix of positional players at a variety of positions (athletes, contact hitters and power hitters) as well as pitchers (left-handed and right-handed) in their system. http://www.baseballameric...rospects/2009/267349.html

I liked Kei Igawa when he came to the states two years ago, and thought he would be a solid pickup for the Yankees. I agree with Peavey that he has had a limited time at the big-league level, but at the same time he's 29 years old, so the learning curve shouldn't be as great. I would give more credence to him struggling pitching in New York when expectations were already high than anything else. And while he would provide nice insurance, assuming he opens '09 in Nashville, if the Yankees don't pick up a huge chunk of his salary, he would be an incredibly pricey pitch for depth. At least his stats at AAA are encouraging, as he has always had a knack for strikeouts. As for Cabrera, I want to like the guy, and I recognize he had a really good year for a 22-year old, but his last two years have been pretty crummy, and there isn't really any part of his stats/trends that allow me to get excited (aside from his throwing arm in the OF, which isn't exactly the reason to acquire him when dealing a Gold Glove caliber CF away). The salary relief part of the trade is still compelling if you still believe in Cabrera's upside, since the team obviously has to address their staff and apparently may not have the money currently to do so.

The NL begins today with the Braves. Tommy Hanson and Jason Heyward are a solid 1-2. http://www.baseballameric...rospects/2009/267345.html

It's that time of year again. With the Winter Meetings behind us and two months before pitchers and catchers report, there's an awful lot of time between now and mid-February to fill up with some kind of discussion. Since the AFL and Hawaii leagues have finished, there hasn't been much to talk about. So, it's time for you to make a mark and contribute to the 2009 top prospect fan poll. Here's last year's finished product for reference: http://www.brewerfan.net/...wArticle.do?articleId=272 Here's how it works: Compile a list of who you feel the Brewers top 20 prospects are. Be sure not to include any player that has already accumulated 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched at the big-league level. Also, prospects over the age of 26 are also not eligible (Derek Miller made the cut in the last Power 50, but he and Vinny Rottino are not eligible for this exercise). When done email that list (or send a PM) to me at this email address: pebert@brewerfan.net I will assign values in reverse order of the rankings, with 20 points given to every first-place vote and one point assigned to every 20th place vote. The prospect with the most points will receive the highest ranking. You have more than two full weeks to get your submissions in, as I ask that everyone gets their list in by Friday, January 2nd. Last year I extended the poll a couple of weeks to get to 50 total submissions, so hopefully that won't be an issue this year. Hopefully the release of this story will somewhat coincide with BA's top prospect list, which is scheduled to hit BA's homepage on January 19th. Please note in your email what your board name is. Thanks in advance for your participation!

But I will say even though it's early, I don't remember being as unhappy with an offseason since 92/93. If that is true, it's because your expectations have been changed due to the team's success, and that in itself can be a good thing. I'm not sure I jive with the whole "face of the franchise" thing when it comes to Sheets. It seems as though more and more people are upset that the Brewers aren't going to offer him a contract, yet it doesn't seem as though Sheets even wants to return to the team. Plus, many people were on Sheets' case for most of the season, if not his entire career, for his inability to stay healthy. How many times over the past few years has the Brewers playoff chances been tied to Sheets' health? If the team can't rely on the guy, why should they invest an incredible amount of money to keep him around and keep him happy? Re-signing Sheets to even a two-year deal when the writing is on the wall would remind me to other contract situations of the past, such as the ones for Teddy Higuera and Cal Eldred. You yourself said that "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it," and I think the analogies to those two pitchers hit a lot closer to home than Molitor's departure.

I'm not a huge fan of over-analyzing minor league players stats while using them against them to determine just how good they can be. Escobar has been over-analyzed arguably more than any prospect not named Michael Brantley, and yet he has continued to improve over the years. One thing that is never brought up when his stats are mentioned is his pure, natural talent. That alone is going to be the determining factor into whether or not he reaches his considerable ceiling at the big-league level. And I can almost guarantee that Escobar will sit atop BA's Brewers top prospect list.

When I saw Daniel Cabrera's name, I was interested. However, I took a peek at his stats and realized why the O's set him loose. The guy isn't good, and there isn't really anything in his stats to suggest that he could finally put his game together. If Cabrera is on the team's roster, I'm less confident about the team's playoff chances.

After being critical of this season a few weeks ago, I must say each of the last three shows have been quite good.

Just to confirm, Eddie Morlan is the same Eduardo Morlan that Brian expressed interest in the first page of this thread. Good call Brian!

BA reports that the Orioles are expected to trade Palmisano to the Astros (Bobby Heck connection).

Here are the top 5 picks for the Rule 5 draft if you're trying to project a destination for Cap'n Lou: 1. Nationals 2. Mariners 3. Padres 4. Pirates 5. Orioles Tough to lose a catcher that has shown he can hit, even if isn't the prospect we all hoped he would become.

I'm guessing this trade gets finalized after the Rule 5 draft. There were reports of Alan Horne being included in this deal, who is eligible for that draft. If he doesn't get selected in the Rule 5, he can be traded and added to the organization without placing him on the 40-man roster, and he would give the team depth in the upper levels of the minor leagues, something Melvin and Macha have both expressed a desire for the past 2-3 days. If Hall does become a part of this trade, and Sheets becomes a member of the Yankees, the Yanks will have a significant Brewer look and feel to them next year.

I'm not a big fan of Cabrera, but as JB points out, he does have some talent, and he should add some "balance" to the lineup. I'll miss Cameron, more for his defense than for his offense, but he still was a solid all-around contributor. I'm guessing this is why Melvin stumbled yesterday when he was asked who would be his number two hitter. I'm guessing he knew, but couldn't say. Also, I don't see this move as punting 2009. Moving Cameron is going to give the team quite a bit of salary relief, as it doesn't sound as though the Brewers are on the hook for any money going back to NY (and why would they?). The team just got an additional $7-8 M to play with (depending on what Cabrera signs for) for next year, and that could/should help Melvin add both a starter and a closer via free agency without trading players such as Hardy or Fielder.

I know we had a thread about this a year ago, and it is an important point. While no one knows what the payroll will be exactly, the $80 million figure seems to be floated around quite often. And with that figure it makes you wonder what that leaves the team to spend on other players? It's hard to crunch the numbers since the Brewers do have so many players that are arbitration eligible. So, here's my best guess. I'm constructing the 25-man roster entirely with players currently on the 40-man roster, and am not trying to project who the team may acquire. I'm taking a very rough stab at what these players are worth, so if you disagree with my projection, please feel free to offer what certain players may expect to make. LINEUP Rickie Weeks -- $2.5 JJ Hardy -- $4.50 Ryan Braun -- $0.75 Prince Fielder -- $7.00 Corey Hart -- $2.25 Mike Lamb -- $0.35 Mike Cameron -- $10.00 Jason Kendall -- $4.60 Total-Lineup: -- $31.95 BENCH Mike Rivera -- $0.50 Brad Nelson -- $0.35 Hernan Iribarren -- $0.35 Bill Hall -- $6.80 Casey McGehee -- $0.35 Total-Bench -- $8.35 STARTING ROTATION Yovani Gallardo -- $0.45 Manny Parra -- $0.50 Dave Bush -- $4.50 Jeff Suppan -- $12.50 Seth McClung -- $1.50 Total-Rotation -- $19.45 BULLPEN Jorge Julio -- $0.95 Carlos Villanueva -- $0.75 Tim Dillard -- $0.35 David Riske -- $4.25 Todd Coffey -- $0.80 R.J. Swindle -- $0.35 Mitch Stetter -- $0.35 Total-Bullpen -- $7.80 Projected 2009 Payroll: $67.55 M Outside of Bill Hall and David Riske, the bench and bullpen should be very cost effective as they stand at this point in time. It also points out how the lineup as it stands right now is going to get a lot more pricey as Fielder, Weeks, Hardy and Hart continue to get closer to free agency in their arbitration years. This also points out how trading players such as Bill Hall or Mike Cameron is reported deals with the Yankees would free up an incredible amount of money to target other needs.

Why wouldn't you at least look into Hoffman? The Brewers did look into Trevor Hoffman: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/35887119.html I'm sure something came out of that meeting that caused Melvin to say he wasn't interested. Melvin also said in the interview that they would pursue pitching via free agency first before they pursue trades, although Haudricourt spoke with Macha (noted in his blog) and Macha said the team was investigating a few trade possibilities.

Melvin just noted in an interview with Homer that the Brewers would not be pursuing Hoffman, but might make a run at Fuentes. Seth McClung and Carlos Villanueva are among the internal options to close next year, although he made it sound as though next year's closer is currently not on the team.

Melvin didn't say that Fuentes would be too pricey. Quite the opposite actually, as Melvin said they were currently discussing whether or not they should pursue Fuentes. While I was a little bummed to hear that they wouldn't pursue Hoffman, I was happy to hear him say that Villanueva was a "sleeper" to become the closer. I still would prefer to see the team invest in a closer, as keeping Villanueva and McClung in more versatile and set-up roles would make the bullpen that much better. Given the state of the rotation, a stronger bullpen is going to be key. You can hear the interview on ESPN Milwaukee's website (on the right-hand side): http://www.espnmilwaukee.com/

I'd go Sheets, Johnson, Penny in that order. All three have serious risk involved, but all three also have ace potential (or at least had ace potential).

It's interesting that the MLB.com report comes from Adam McCalvy, who has previously reported that Melvin intends to address other areas first before upgrading the closer role (which I disagreed with, so hopefully his initial assessment was wrong). I think this makes a ton of sense. As others have noted, the Mets signing of K-Rod has set the market, as this year is a great opportunity to sign a legitimate closer. Fuentes, Wood, Hoffman all are perfect targets for whatever team is in need of such a pitcher, with my preferences going to Fuentes and Hoffman. Also, I don't think people realize just how good Fuentes is, although the Cardinals and Angels may be jumping in for his services. Which is fine by me, since as much as I like Fuentes, and have for quite some time, Trevor Hoffman has been my fave offseason target from the moment the Padres made him available.

Clearing something up that Tom Haudricourt wrote on his blog today: Actually, Haudricourt still has it wrong. First of all, teams can't lose compensatory picks. The pick the Yankees got for not signing Gerrit Cole can't be awarded to another team for free agent compensation. Secondly, picks aren't awarded by which player signed first. This is where the Elias rankings come into play. The team that loses the free agent with the higher Elias ranking gets the higher of the two picks. If the Yankees were to sign both Sheets and Sabathia, and no other free agents signed by the Yankees ranked higher than those two, the Brewers would get the Yankees OWN first-round pick for Sabathia and their OWN second-round pick for Sheets. I bolded OWN to stress that no other compensatory picks can be included, since the Yankees will also get a compensatory pick in the second round for not signing Scott Bittle.

From what I understand this was fixed in roughly 03 and was more of an issue with dex-cool. Yeah, if the truck in question is newer than an '03 model, this probably isn't the case. I was able to find a guy that did this kind of work on the side and paid him $500 in cash, since the dealer quoted me between $800 and $1,200. I have a friend at work who had to have this fixed on both of his cars.

I saw the report yesterday that the Orioles were looking to move Hernandez for a utility player that could play both the OF and IF, and Bill Hall immediately came to mind. MLB Trade Rumors guessed that it could be Ryan Freel, and they seem to be right, but it's interesting that the Brewers got involved. Hernandez isn't that huge of an offensive upgrade, and of course there is no way to quantify the defensive difference between the two. Plus, as endaround noted, Hernandez may not even play much unless the team has something else in mind with Kendall or are willing to deal with a potentially disgruntled player if his playing time decreases.

GM vehicles from the late 90s to just a few years recently have had some serious manifold gasket issues. That's my guess. Try to find people (online is a good route) to see if what you are experiencing is a common problem.

I wanted to provide a list of how the picks shake out through the supplemental third round to get an idea of how far picks after the first-round supplemental round could fall due to the number of compensation picks that could be awarded based on the number of free agents that will effect this process. I also wanted to provide this list, since compensation picks for unsigned players from the 2008 draft fit in, since those picks are awarded right after the same overall pick in 2009. Meaning, as of right now, the Pirates compensation pick for Tanner Scheppers would fit into the sandwich round. EDIT: Casey Blake re-signed with the Dodgers. The max length of the sandwich round is down to 22. So this is how the order stands as of right now, assuming all of the free agents that were offered and declined arbitration end up signing, and if Joshua Fields doesn't end up signing with the Mariners. Keep in mind that the sandwich picks are awarded starting with the Type A free agents first, with picks being handed out team-by-team in order, one at a time, and then cycled back through the list for team's with multiple Type A free agents (such as the Brewers with Sabathia and Sheets, which is why they wouldn't have consecutive picks). Then, compensation is awarded for Type B free agents using the same method. First-Round: 1. Nationals 2. Mariners 3. Padres 4. Pirates 5. Orioles 6. Giants 7. Braves 8. Reds 9. Tigers 10. Nationals (unsigned '08 pick Aaron Crow) 11. Rockies 12. Royals 13. Athletics 14. Rangers 15. Indians 16. Diamondbacks 17. Diamondbacks (pick from the Dodgers for Orlando Hudson) 18. Marlins 19. Cardinals 20. Blue Jays 21. Astros 22. Twins 23. White Sox 24. Angels (pick from the Mets for Francisco Rodriguez) 25. Angels (pick from Yankees for Mark Teixeira) 26. Brewers 27. Mariners (pick from the Phillies for Raul Ibanez) 28. Red Sox 29. Yankees (unsigned '08 pick Gerritt Cole) 30. Rays 31. Cubs 32. Rockies (pick from Angels for Brian Fuentes) First-Round Supplemental: 33. Mariners (Ibanez) 34. Rockies (Fuentes) 35. Diamondbacks (Hudson) 36. Dodgers (Lowe) 37. Blue Jays (Burnett) 38. White Sox (Cabrera) 39. Brewers (Sabathia) 40. Angels (Teixeira) 41. Diamondbacks (Cruz) 42. Angels (Rodriguez) 43. Reds (Affeldt) 44. Rangers (Bradley) 45. Diamondbacks (Lyon) 46. Twins (Reyes) 47. Brewers (Shouse) 48. Angels (Garland) Second Round: 49. Pirates (unsigned '08 pick Tanner Scheppers) 50. Nationals 51. Mariners 52. Padres 53. Pirates 54. Orioles 55. Giants 56. Dodgers (pick from Braves for Derek Lowe) 57. Reds 58. Tigers 59. Rockies 60. Diamondbacks (from Royals for Juan Cruz) 61. White Sox (from A's for Orlando Cabrera) 62. Rangers 63. Indians 64. Diamondbacks 65. Dodgers 66. Marlins 67. Cardinals 68. Blue Jays 69. Astros 70. Twins 71. White Sox 72. Mets 73. Brewers (pick from Yankees for CC Sabathia) 74. Brewers 75. Phillies 76. Yankees (unsigned '08 pick Scott Bittle) 77. Red Sox 78. Rays 79. Cubs 80. Angels Third Round: 81. Nationals 82. Mariners 83. Padres 84. Pirates 85. Orioles 86. Giants 87. Braves 88. Reds 89. Tigers 90. Rockies 91. Royals 92. Athletics 93. Rangers 94. Indians 95. Diamondbacks 96. Dodgers 97. Marlins 98. Cardinals 99. Blue Jays 100. Astros 101. Twins 102. White Sox 103. Mets 104. Blue Jays (pick from the Yankees for A.J. Burnett) 105. Brewers 106. Phillies 107. Red Sox 108. Rays 109. Cubs 110. Angels Third-Round Supplemental: 111. Astros (unsigned '08 pick Chase Davidson) At this point in time the Brewers fourth-round pick would be the 136th overall selection. Add 30 for each round to figure out their subsequent selections.