colbyjack

The drop-down menus work just fine for me, both here and at LL. I'm using Safari 1.3.2 on OS 10.3.9 both at work and at home.

Good call 0729. Castro was second in the Cape League last summer in batting with a .341 average with a very good approach, leading him to being named among the league's top prospects, and many pegged him as a player that would continue to hit well this spring despite not having a very good career at the plate before last summer. He also didn't catch much last summer with some kind of arm or shoulder ailment, but part of that also had to do with the presence of Buster Posey on his team. And I've read plenty of reports that support Castro's defensive skills, with solid footwork, blocking skills, a strong arm as you mentioned and he also frames pitches well and is a leader on the field. I think the biggest concern is that he's already a big guy, and scouts are somewhat concern that he could stiffen up in a few years if he gets any bigger than what he already is. He's a big part of Stanford's overall success this year, and is definitely a name on the rise.

Kyle Long is a very interesting prospect. Physically, it's impossible to think of a comparison, as he's 6'8", 285 pounds and doesn't have an ounce of fat on his body. He is a very good athlete, and while his name was brought up here as a first baseman, he has thrown 94-96 off of the mound, which may make his upside even greater as a pitcher. While he has committed to play baseball at Florida State, his senior year of high school football took precedence over him participating at the Aflac All-American Classic last August, something I know the Perfect Game staff was really hoping for so the entire nation would get a good look at him. My fellow PG staffer David Rawnsley put it perfectly in this comment under his scouting report (he's currently ranked #71 in the nation by PGCC): Because of his lack of exposure at major events, Long will be one of the nation's most closely-scrutinized high school players this spring. He was a 2007 Aflac All-American. Not focusing 100% on baseball also means he is on the raw side and has a lot of aspects of his game to brush up, but he has more than enough athletic ability to make up for what he lacks in polish. Because of his pedigree, he's going to have to be drafted pretty early to consider going pro. Obviously his family is more than taken care of financially with the success of his father, and he's watching his older brother this spring being talked about as the potential first overall pick, and as a left tackle he protected his younger brother who is his team's starting QB (reportedly part of the reason he wanted to make sure to focus on football his senior year). And being so talented as both a hitter and as a pitcher may hurt him a little if scouts are split as to where he ends up, meaning they may not be willing to take him as early as they will need to to steer him away from Florida State. His situation is one of the more interesting ones to follow, that's for sure. Michael Palazzone has one of the best curveballs in the draft, but he also has one of the most worrisome deliveries. It's somewhat similar to Tim Lincecum's, but he probably puts even more stress on his throwing shoulder with an even more violent and dramatic over-the-top delivery. I personally would stay away from him, but he does have very good stuff and is more than battle tested pitching with and against the top players in the country for years. Jacob Thompson is a good prospect but his ceiling is limited. Which reminds me, biedergb, I won't be making it out to Cavaliers country this spring as I hoped to.

Here are a few close-ups of some of the designs that may be hard to see from the picture above: Small Sample (oneside and/or toddler t's for kids): http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/colbyjack/smallsample2.jpg Roll Out The Barrel: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/colbyjack/rolloutthebarrel.jpg Pocket Doppler: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/colbyjack/pocketdoppler-dark.jpg Zing. Boom. Tararrel.: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/colbyjack/zingboomtararrel-white.jpg

Thank you to everyone that submitted a design for the Brewerfan t-shirt contest, and thank you as well to everyone for voting on their favorite designs. Congratulations to davebobn for his winning design, the "Because it snows in October" idea. Here is the final result of the design, as with the permission of davebobn, brewers19 and myself re-worked the design, with special props to brewers19 for his fine job on the Miller Park illustration: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/colbyjack/snowsinoctober.jpg We also will be unveiling several other shirt designs this spring, with the full line shown below. We will be working on adding all of these designs to the Brewerfan.net store in the next week or two. We'll be sure to let you know when they are available for purchase. http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/colbyjack/shirtline08.jpg

Even if Posey can't stick behind the plate, which I don't agree with, he would like be moved to an infield position. I know there are a few scouts that have commented that they still feel he could play shortstop, a tribute to his overall athleticism.

How do you mean it's very different from the P50? Because they said quite clearly that they only rank prospects that they have seen, omitting those they have not. Plus, as noted with Inman, while they appropriately state that one appearance shouldn't effect their judgement, it obviously did if they not only left Inman off of their top 10 list, but the top 20, and the Padres system just isn't that deep. We here at Brewerfan rank every prospect, even if for the most part we don't get to see these players play on a regular basis, but we do have enough resources to more than fill in the blanks. I'm not saying that one ranking is better than the other, but they are different.

...as they are both hot and about the same distance. I'm guessing you mean by plane travel, but I was going to comment before about how Florida is a more appealing attraction for me and my family since it is closer in respect to a road trip, as we're not particularly keen on flying. 7-8 hours closer is a huge difference, as that's the difference between another day in the car, which is even longer when you have a kid or more in the back seat.

There is so much more to do for a family in Florida then Arizona. Arizona, I agree, for baseball, is a great vacation but if the wife and kids want to go on a vacation you better hope the family all loves baseball as much as we do. This was my first thought on the subject as well. My wife and I have talked about taking our child to Disney at some point in time, and since vacation plans are tough to schedule as is, it would be a lot easier to sell a spring training trip if there was more to market, so to speak. Arizona does have some very good spa locations from what I hear, but again that doesn't exactly target our child. I'm not saying a move would be good or bad, but I can definitely see it happening logistically speaking.

Also, a move to Florida could enable the Brewers to field a Florida State League team that plays in the Brewers' own facility. Not necessarily. The spring complex would probably also need to be the home to the team's rookie team, as part of the Gulf Coast League. I'm not sure if there are any teams that house both a rookie team and a Florida State League team in the same stadium, as that would be rather tough to manage.

The Brewers have always stated that they have been pleased with their facilities in Maryvale, however, we have speculated before that the Brewers may investigate moving to Florida since so many of their affiliates are now East of the Mississippi, and they also have shown a scouting preference in this part of the country as well, particularly in Florida (Braun, LaPorta, Fielder). So this isn't really that crazy of an idea. Having the team's spring training, extended spring training and offseason complex in Florida would help cut down some travel costs between there, Brevard County, Huntsville, West Virginia, Nashville and even Milwaukee, and the Brewers could also probably swap their Arizona rookie team with a Gulf Coast League team that the Dodgers or Indians currently have.

There list is somewhat incomplete based on this comment: Our steadfast rule has always been not to rank any player we have not seen. I'm guessing they haven't seen Garrison. And they also admit that Inman is so low because they have seen him only one time and that time he didn't look very good. They do mention that they recognize seeing a prospect one time should not produce a concrete opinion on a player (something I warn about frequently), but that does give some insight as to how they assemble their list, which is actually quite different from the P50.

Points East pub (on Jackson St., near the Points East Pick 'n Save and right down the road from the Why Not) on Thursday has all you can eat wings and they are often voted the best in the city by area publications. I strongly recommend you check it out. Points East also has live music, or at least they used to. The owners of Club Garibaldi on the South side of town (on the corner of Superior and Russell right across the street from the Palomino and Cactus Club) are from Points East and they brought the wing recipe with them. Same great wings, along with some other good food on their menu to go along with some pretty tasty beers on tap. They too have an all-you-can-eat wing night, but I don't remember what night it is.

Allan Simpson's JUCO notebook this week at PG Crosschecker has some comment about Cody Hawn, Chad Bell and the Walters State program. Specifically we find out that Bell is pitching in the 86-89 range with good command of his fastball, a good change and an improving breaking ball. The story is free for all to enjoy: http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/juco/2008/notebooks/notebook_3508.aspx

Not Brewers related, but the Reds dropped $2 million on Dominican outfield prospect Juan Duran, who draws a few comparisons to Alex Rios and even Dave Winfield in this blog entry by BA. The story is a good read, as it also gives some logistical explanations to the signing periods. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/international-affairs/2008/265719.html

What I make financially is between me, my place of employment, my wife, my accountant and the IRS. Never talk or gripe about money publicly with co-workers (or anyone else IMO) for your own good. If you have an issue with what you are making, take it up direclty with your supervisor and never try to wage a war for peers that are in a similar position as you. You can definitely advise them as to how you acted, but money is just far too sensitive of a subject to start making waves over and is only going to leave a bad impression. Handle it professionally and privately and you're more likely to get what you're looking for. If you don't, and there is another level you can reach to ask to hold a meeting to listen to your concerns, pursue that, or a different job if you're that unhappy.

If Fielder isn't willing to talk about future negotiations between he and the Brewers, citing that they are between the Brewers and Prince's agent, Scott Boras, then why is he upset that the Brewers renewed his contract? Shouldn't he be upset with his agent?

Sure, players always fall due to signability, but some may fall this year based on the sheer volume of talent.

cj, is it relatively true that there's a large (or 'not small') group of very similarly-ceiling'ed college arms in the 1st/2d rd. this year? It seems it runs about 8+ deep. Oh yeah, there is some really nice pitching depth this year at the college level, with plenty of dark horse candidates that could sneak into the first round conversation. And the talent at the top is really nice as well. There's a good chance one of the top college pitchers could fall to #16 that some may not expect at this point in time.

That was a really nice read. Great answers Mass!

That's a fair assessment TLB, and IMO Buster Posey wouldn't be a reach at all at #16.

Congrats/good luck on the impending engagement. I agree with Jamie that Pasta Tree is nice but a little cramped. Homer made an excellent suggestion with Lake Park Bistro.

Zimmerman is a pretty good comparison for Adams given your comment about how Zim was always considered to be a good hitter but didn't have the numbers to back it up entering his junior year. Adams went to college as one of the best prep hitters available in the 2005 draft, and has had a pretty quiet college career up to this point (not bad by any means, but I think most casual draft observers don't know and/or don't pay as much attention to Adams as I think they should). I think what he did last summer on the Cape really put his name on the map (similar to how Zimmerman really helped his status with a huge showing for Team USA the summer prior to his junior year). And Zimmerman didn't have much power in college either, but you could see that it was there. He had great bat speed and a knack for making consistent, hard contact squaring the ball up on the meaty part of the barrel. That's something you just can't teach, and Adams has the same kind of skills as a hitter. He's not in Zim's class defensively though, but few are. The long version, yes, I think Adams could hit 20 HR, and may do so belting 40+ doubles a year as well. I know Blazer is a huge fan of Adams for his pure hitting skills.

Yes, Jemile Weeks plays second base, and he also is a potentially dynamic leadoff hitter, who offers a skill set that the system is somewhat lacking (plenty of speed between guys like Haydel, Ford and Brewer, but not much polish). David Adams is another 2B with a lot more offensive potential that could sneak into the first-round, and definitely could be a target in the sandwich round. As for other guys currently in the system, I think Eric Farris is going to make himself some fans this season with a big year at West Virginia.

Jamie, I apologize, I don't check this site often in the offseason. I dropped a check in the mail today for the league fee as noted in the other thread. I suggest you email or PM the others that haven't submitted payment as I'm guessing they haven't popped in here for a while either. Thanks again for setting everything up. I look forward to another fun season.