Scooter1027

Just took a look at his top 100 prospect list and his top 10 for the Brewers...I won't say much because it's "Insider", but it was nice to see Peralta in the top 40 prospects overall, and interesting to see that he viewed Nick Ramirez as one of our top 10 prospects.

1. Wily Peralta 2. Jed Bradley 3. Tyler Thornburg 4. Jorge Lopez 5. Taylor Jungmann 6. Taylor Green 7. Caleb Gindl 8. Nick Bucci 9. Drew Gagnon 10. Michael Fiers 11. D'Vontrey Richardson 12. Scooter Gennett 13. Santo Manzanillo 14. Yadiel Rivera 15. Logan Schafer 16. David Goforth 17. Cody Scarpetta 18. Orlando Arcia 19. Michael Reed 20. Jimmy Nelson 21. Danny Keller 22. Chris McFarland 23. Hunter Morris 24. Max Walla 25. Khris Davis 26. Tommy Toledo 27. Nick Ramirez 28. Ruben Ozuna 29. Kentrail Davis 30. Kyle Heckathorn

This statement is 100% bollocks. Betancourt is bad at defense, but there is no way that a guy who can´t even get the ball out of the infield on offense, and just about set a modern era record for offensive futility can be equal to Betancourt. Give Counsell an equal number of at bats as Betancourt, and I think you would be singing a different tune. The difference between the two on defense is likely 2-3 prevented singles per month. No way that makes up the difference of .100 points of batting average and slugging. For what it's worth, Fangraphs does have Counsell as being more valuable in terms of WAR than Betancourt. Obviously the defensive data is limited at this point and makes Counsell harder to really evaluate, but the point still stands that Counsell saves runs as an above average SS and Yuni kills us as perhaps the worst regular defensive SS in the league. The gap in their defense is wide enough at this point that Counsell's WAR is actually higher despite hitting .150...that's saying something.

I didn't see this mentioned anywhere else, so I thought I'd add this onto this thread...just a tidbit I read on Baseball Prospectus, an article written by John Perrotto: "The Brewers’ trading might not end with Francisco Rodriguez, as they are also interested in Rays right-hander James Shields, who would join off-season acquisitions Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum and Yovani Gallardo and veteran left-hander Randy Wolf in a potentially devastating rotation. The Rangers, Reds, and Tigers are also suitors for Shields" What do you think of this? Do you think we possibly have the pieces to make such a deal now in our post-Grienke trade farm system? And even if we do, would we want to spend them on another SP when we have much more glaring needs elsewhere? Sure would be a helluva rotation, through Narvy hasn't done anything to merit losing a rotation spot.

Tyler Thornburg -- Clear cut #1 at this point, in my opinion. Really one of only 2 guys I'd have a tough time trading at the deadling for big league upgrades. Wily Peralta -- Has the build, the GB tendencies, and a good enough K rate to be a solid mid-to-back of the rotation starter. The kind of guy who hopefully can keep you from spending tens of millions of dollars on the Jeff Suppans for the world. Taylor Green -- The other guy I'd have a hard time trading, not so much because I think he has Tyler's upside, but because he could be that big league upgrade that we need. Khris Davis -- Needs a promotion. I just don't get it. It's time to see what we really have here, he's old enough. Caleb Gindl -- Has just kept producing and exceeding expectations. Actually younger than Davis and producing in AAA. Ready to see him up; can we dump Kotsay yet? Orlando Arcia -- It's going to be fun to follow what hopefully will be a long career in the Brewers organization for this 16 year old. Nicholas Bucci -- The most interesting of our remaining pitching prospects, in my opinion (outside of the unsigned Jungmann/Bradley/Lopez trio, perhaps). BB rate has improved significantly from last year. Kyle Heckathorn -- Just okay so far, maybe a little better than that. I was hoping for more this year. Hopefully he can finish strong at the AA level, that would be a boost to his stock. The kinda guy who might have trade value, and who I wouldn't be too broken up seeing dealt for the right piece. Erik Komatsu -- Another guy I'd like to see up another level. More BBs than Ks each of the last two years (thus far). Maybe not a big league starter, but could be a real nice 4th OF type, so we don't have to sign the Kotsays of the world. Drew Gagnon -- I like what we have here, seems to have a nice mix of pitches, a good feel for pitching, and with his size, some projectability left. Improved each year in college, pitched well against wood bats in the Cape, hopefully he can keep all this positive momentum going. Nice debut for him too.Just missing for me were Ruben Ozuna, Logan Schafer, Santo Manzanillo, Michael Fiers, and Cody Scarpetta.

I'm with you, I don't quite buy into him yet. For all the hitting he's done, he's only carrying a .317 OBP. That's just no where near good enough at a position where you'd like to have a guy who can anchor the middle of your lineup. For example, to follow up with the OP's comparison to Fielder....Prince is on pace for 687 PAs, and at his current rates, would end up with: 104 BB / 102 K If we push Morris out to that many PAs and have him maintain current rates: 28 BB / 110 K Huge difference. That has to improve for him to be a legit big league first baseman, in my opinion.

And it was almost his 3rd HR in a whopping 21 PAs. He's just fine in a PH spot there with no one on and 2 outs...an opportunity to add a run with one swing.

I was just thinking that...we have run into some precision pitching so far. Wood, Beachy, and now Lowe. Just throwing darts. Arroyo wasn't too bad either. Volquez was the only guy that wasn't hitting his spots, and low and behold we took him to task.

This bit was also in McCalvy's article: Melvin informed outfielder Brandon Boggs that he would not make the team. Boggs is either on waivers already or will be placed on waivers, and Melvin said the Brewers would like to keep him. But Boggs has already been outrighted once, and he would have the right to refuse an assignment to the Minor Leagues this time. So it looks like Reed is in.

Why Bush here and not Loe...wouldn't the sinker make more sense here, get the ground ball?

Seeing as he's been our best relief pitcher this year, I'd say NO.I think he meant Claudio Vargas by "CV"

I'm in...Lorenzo Cain gets me started tomorrow.

Wow... must be nice to be Alfonso Soriano. I was thinking the same thing...he's due $19 million a year through 2014. He's already fading significantly and can't play defense. In fact, look at the first 4 names on the list...$68,250,000 for: 1. A badly fading, increasingly unpopular LF'er with some of the worst defense in baseball 2. A set-up man with a 7.45 ERA 3. A 3B hitting .131 4. A RF'er OPSing .726 Obviously it's super early and I would think at least Ramirez and Zambrano will turn it around...but that's the production they've gotten so far out of 4 guys who make more than the entire payroll 9 teams. Yikes.

I didn't get the feeling that Goldstein felt the system was weak more so than a bit unknown at this point. He made reference towards the end about guys needing to take steps forward and I think we can all agree with that. The potential impact arms in the system are in the lower rungs and thus far haven't been able to show a lot (he referenced Peralta's opportunity this year to "escape" from the tandem pitching system). It was discouraging reading his analysis of Lawrie and Gamel, essentially stating that it's a given that both will need to move off their current positions. He called Lawrie "downright awful" defensively and Gamel "sloppy" and "just a plain bad third baseman". I don't think Gamel embarrassed himself defensively during his brief big league stint, I was actually somewhat encouraged. I haven't seen Lawrie play, but I really hope he can stick at 2nd.

Well, here are my thoughts. The thing I noticed overall is after the 3 hitters on top, the pitchers are the most interesting part of the list. We could use another impact bat or two in the system. 1. Alcides Escobar -- Not sold on the bat, but should hit enough to go along with top flight defense at a premium position. 2. Brett Lawrie -- Love the upside...production hasn't been elite, but he was only 19 years old playing at A and AA levels. Canadian national team experience can only help. 3. Mat Gamel -- Lost a little luster this past season, but still has excellent offensive tools. 4. Jonathan Lucroy -- Well-rounded catching prospect close to MLB ready. 5. Zach Braddock -- I hope they give him another shot at starting, as he is as dominant as they get when healthy. 6. Amaury Rivas -- Seems to have better stuff and upside than polished pitchers like Cody and Butler, and has more polish and command than "stuff" pitchers like Peralta and Scarpetta. Just seems like the most well-rounded SP prospect, I'm very excited to see how AA treats him. 7. Angel Salome -- Just needs to stay healthy; more offensive upside than Lucroy. 8. Caleb Gindl -- Nice power/speed blend with solid on-base skills, and he still has room to improve as a 21 year old hitting AA. 9. Wily Peralta -- 9-14 present a group of SPs (Schafer aside obviously) that are hard to rank and could all finish better than the others. I like Peralta the most as of now, just needs a quality 3rd offering. 10. Eric Arnett -- Rookie campaign offered little, but at 6'5", 230 lbs, and great power stuff, he just oozes projection. 11. Logan Schafer -- Loved his improved plate discipline this year...could afford to walk even a bit more. But he made nice strides and seems to be legit in CF. Exciting prospect. 12. Evan Anundsen -- If the K-rate spike is real, his consistently good BB rates and groundball tendencies become that much more valuable. '09 was a breakout year, I hope for continued improvement. 13. Jake Odorizzi -- They're taking it real slow with him, but still a very interesting skillset. 14. Cody Scarpetta -- Similar prospect to Peralta in my mind, with a worse BB rate. Has to improve that. 15. Kentrail Davis -- Well, we haven't seen anything yet...but has potential to be an impact bat. 16. Lorenzo Cain -- AA could have a very interesting OF (Gindl/Schafer/Cain), assuming Cain starts there. 17. Mark Rogers -- Still may pan out afterall...still has great stuff, needs to stay healthy and improve his command. 18. Jeremy Jeffress -- One can only hope he's past his troubles. 19. Taylor Green -- Lost '09 hurts his ranking. 20. Rob Wooten -- Doesn't have upper echelon stuff, but yet continues to post phenomenal K rates. Just knows how to pitch. At this point I like him a touch more than my guys that just missed the cut (Heckathorn, Bucci, Butler, Howell, and Richardson)

Which makes Gamel's struggles to this point more concerning. Granted, 26 ABs don't mean that much, but what continues to concern me is the 11 K / 1 BB ratio he's put up thus far. Against this level of pitching, should he really be striking out at this rate still? Gamel's '09 campaign has created a lot of questions in my opinion...obviously the talent is very much there and he has slugged at a consistently good level. But this strikeout rate has to improve or he won't make enough contact to be a true impact player.

I really hope one or more of Davis, Walla, and Richardson really comes on this year. The organization could use an infusion of impact bats at the lower levels. Right now there's a bunch of interesting pitchers in the lower levels, but only Logan Schaefer and Caleb Gindl were real quality offensive prospects at the A ball level last year.

Clearly, Parra is the big wildcard here. I feel pretty comfortable with those CHONE projections (moreso than James' anyway), but Parra's projection is a huge crapshoot. He has the stuff and upside to be a nice #3 behind Yo/Wolf, or he could end up in AAA again. As a rookie, he tossed 166 IP with a 4.39 ERA (3.85 xFIP). Terrific rookie season. Then in year 2 every single peripheral regresses. I mean, who is he? I think his success (or lack thereof) will play a crucial part in our season. Personally, I'd take those rookie year numbers again.

What about J.A. Happ? 10-4, 2.77 ERA on the first place Phils. Significantly more innings pitched than a guy like Hanson, more innings and a better K rate than Wells. I think he has a good chance.

Prior to today's 2 Ks, Gamel struck out 40.4% of the time. That's a K rate that makes Russell Branyan and Mark Reynolds look like contact hitters. I don't typically dwell on strikeouts, but that's too much for me. Darn nice defensive play there though.

I agree with Casey and TLB. Very unprofessional. He's using a whopping 3 appearances (the "runs every time he pitches") as the basis for his perception of why Swindle cannot be called up. In other words, as TLB said, he is painting this as an inevitability. Very unfair to the young man, because now this perception of him is out there for mass consumption in the main stream media.

No Crew07, you're not. I'd rather just have Riske hang out awhile in the minors to see if he really can be effective again or not. My preference would be to get through the Twinkies series, DFA Julio, and call up Catalanotto. Can he be ready for the bigs that fast? If not, I'm not sure what to do, as I don't want to be stuck with a 13 man staff too long.

I think the blame goes to McGehee because he ran towards Bourn even though the play was already close the bag. By the time he caught the ball he had more or less overrun Bourn already and couldn't reach him for the tag.

Gallardo also pitched 87 innings in AAA the year he had 110, so thats 197 total. I don't think the level in which his innings occurred matter much, at least when looking at stamina. True, although I believe that innings at the MLB level are generally considered a little more taxing (guys are harder outs, don't chase as much junk, etc). Additionally, we have to consider that he didn't throw much at all last year, which was a setback in his progress. It may not be an issue, but I wouldn't be that surprised if Yo hit a bit a wall late this season.

That makes no sense. why would you take your best non-closer reliever and have him start for your only lefty and a cy young candidate?I think he explained it right there in the post...to save some innings. Yovani hasn't eclipsed 110 big league innings in a season yet and he's pacing himself here to go 200+. Could be a dangerous jump and we could see some fatigue down the stretch, similar to the wall Parra hit last year. Manny threw 166 innings last year, I don't think we should have to worry about his innings so much. According to Fangraphs, Mark throws the cutter ~85% of the time, with a changeup ~9%, straight fastball ~3.5%, and a 72 mph curveball ~2.5% of the time. I don't recall seeing this curveball, but it indicates that he at least has 4 pitches in his arsenal. He might be able to pick up a 5-6 inning spot start here and there. Hard to take him out of the pen though, he's been so reliable.