TheCrew07

I find the whole notion that seeking ground balls is new or a different way of looking at baseball since that's been the idea behind strong middle defense and pitching to contact as long as I can remember. I wonder if sometimes people get so caught up in advanced metrics that they lose sight of the simple nuances of the game? In no way do the above thoughts diminish what the Pirates have done, a few of us have consistently posted that they've been on the right track for some time now, and I'm happy they are having success, I just hope the Brewers can find enough young talent to be be competitive themselves...

I would love it if the Brewers would buy their minor league affiliates like the Braves have, then yes revenue would matter to them, in this case we're talking mostly about getting modern training and practices facilities such as a weight room, nice indoor batting cage, and so on. From my perspective it's about creating the best possible environment to develop your players in. I realize I'll have much higher expectations given my perspective coming from a football background and being intimately familiar with the facilities of the Packers and Badgers, but I also don't expect minor league teams to have 3-5 different kinds of rehab pools and such either. I do expect modern rehab equipment like magnetic/ultrasound machines and a rehab pool, and if the franchises can't afford to do those types of things then the organization should just do it for player development. They'd be much better off wasting a couple hundred K when switching an affiliate than overpaying some veteran MLB has been on a yearly basis. I would argue that having a poor facility in a place like Helena for short season ball doesn't matter anywhere near as much as it does in AAA and AA. Our players go from top notch facilities in WI, to similar facilities (but no fans) in FL, to garbage in AL and TN. I'm sure the players care about the other amenities like a player lounge, nice lockers, TVs in the club house, a dining area, and so on... I primarily care about the medical equipment and potential athletic advancement available in a new facility. If you want to keep players healthy and care about athletic development then you need modern facilities. The Brewers are slowly coming around on both accounts.

2013 Summer College League Top Prospects Index

Very few surprises here if you've been keeping up all season, the Cubs have a couple of 1st teamers. 2013 Minor League All-Star Team

I would qualify that statement as grasping at straws to justify an end. The team already had plenty of veteran pitching, and not all veteran pitchers are willing to "coach" younger players. I do not subscribe or buy into the theory that buying veteran leadership is necessary. Signing Lohse was a bad move for all of the reasons already stated by other posters and it has nothing to do with his performance on the field. The root cause of 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013 is management's inability to correctly assess and assign value to talent. Continually fielding a rotation who's upside is to be league average isn't going to get us over the hump, and it hasn't, because when those few pitchers become injured or ineffective there's nothing behind them to keep train moving forward. Not to mention that in the play-offs our 1-3 don't really stack up with the competition. The Brewers essentially have backed themselves into a corner, they need high attendance to stay in the black with all of the contract commitments for 2014, but the franchise itself is never going to get over the top for 2 reasons: The inability/unwillingness to develop or trade for young impact pitching and a payroll that's far too top heavy, we have too few players making too much money for our market. Not that I believe payroll flexibility is key to the organization's future, I actually believe that talent flexibility is the key, and there is a wide gulf between payroll and talent flexibility. However, if we keep replacing impact players with aging and average players in FA we're losing ground with the position players and just keeping the status quo in the rotation, a rotation that's never been good enough as it was... the MLB team will win games keeping enough fans buying tickets to sustain the payroll, but the organization itself is stagnant, the Brewers haven't been moving towards anything other than getting another year older and more expensive for some time now.

Regarding whom or what to draft next June I just want to reiterate that tie should to go to the pitcher, but in the past I think the organization has leaned drastically the other way. 1 pitcher with legitimate upside out of each draft simply isn't enough, we'd have to hit on every single one and no organization does that, the only team that's even come close is San Fran, they've had a remarkable run with high school kids. I still maintain we need to take a TB approach, sprinkling young men with legitimate upside throughout the first 15 rounds, I'd like 3 truly projectable pitchers taken each year, the Brewers just don't have the precise scouting acumen to target 1 player a draft and be successful. There is just no way the Brewers can retain impact starting pitching long-term if we don't develop it in-house. Simply put it's terrible that we have no one in A ball or higher that any of us can comfortably project to be at least a #2 assuming good health, and what's worse is the total lack of left handed starting pitching in the organization. Once again I do like some of the position players taken over the last couple of years, but without pitching we'll never be able to compete with any consistency. We've been down the all bat/no pitching road, we know where that leads... 1 play-off series win since 2006, time for a different tact.

First, You're looking at rankings that hadn't been updated and then comparing them to rankings that were updated post trade. Second, I don't put much stock in Mayo's prospect rankings at all, BA never had him in the Cards' top 10. I think we'll see better prospect rankings in the future from MLB/MiLB with Callis on board.

No. That's Tomohiro Anraku who's still a teenager. He's got his own thread. I've posted a couple of articles about Tanaka in the International Signings thread.

Awesome for the Helena team and staff, I've been so busy I haven't caught any of Steve in the playoffs this year. This team has some interesting/legit prospects on it at least, unlike the veteran team that won in WI last year.

Lee Tunnell is the man, that is all.

Edwards, Cubs make clean sweep

2013 Minor League All-Star Teams & Award Winners

Christian Villanueva of the Cubs, Juan Duran of the Reds, and Ronnierd Garcia of the Cards. Offensive Players of the Week

Just Nick Lomascolo of the Cards. Pitchers of the Week

Crooked Numbers: Know your rules

I honestly believe this is an organizational thing, it happens all way down the minor league chain as well. They must have statistical evidence that the contact play results in more runs than the alternative. I think if there is some evidence it was poorly "studied" and is basically hogwash, not to mention players like Orlando Arcia getting hurt on plays at the plate executing the play. The odds would have to be pretty high for me to be in favor of the contact play with the added injury risk, and there's no way any team I've covered in the minors has even broke even on contact play. I'm guessing the same can be said of the of MLB team as well. If there is going to be an out regardless I'd much rather have the action take place at 1B rather than home. I despise the contact play.

From Monday, Mehring's final post game... This song is over – Postgame post for September 2, 2013

The Astros' system is very deep. Astros Send Six Teams To Minor League Playoffs; Three Clubs Shut Out

The Reds' Juan Duran had a big day... Duran belts three homers on birthday

Ask BA: Is Javier Baez Ready For The Big Leagues?

As my Link Reporting is done for the season I just want to take a minute as pass along some thanks. First to all of my fellow LR's, thank you all so much for taking a team, it's so much easier to commit for an entire season when you only have to cover 1 team for the duration. Reducing the time commitment from an hour or more down to 20 minutes made a significant difference for me on a personal level, especially with how busy I've been over the last 6 weeks. A special thank you to Mass Haas for getting things going each day and plugging all of the gaps all season long. None of us would be contributing on this forum without his hard work over the years. Finally, a shout out to Chris Mehring for his fantastic work all season long. Between his game stories, the blog, Timber Rattlers Field Pass, the TWC profiles from Bob Brainerd, and the Post Crescent stories no team has more coverage nor the quality of coverage that Rattler fans enjoy. I'll post some end of the season thoughts on the T-Rats when I have some time to sit down write up something on each prospect.

Bees sting Rattlers one last time Burlington beats Wisconsin 3-1 in 2013 finale By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BURLINGTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers received a fine pitching performance from starter Austin Ross on Labor Day at Community Field in Burlington, Iowa. But, the Burlington Bees used three consecutive doubles in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the Rattlers 3-1 in the final game of the season for both teams. Wisconsin went 6-9 against the Bees this season, including 2-7 at Community Field. The Timber Rattlers (59-76 overall, 30-40 second half) took the lead in the top of the fifth inning. Orlando Arcia singled start the inning and was at second base with two outs. Alfredo Rodriguez punched a single through the right side of the infield to shallow right to drive in Arcia for a 1-0 lead. Ross allowed was a single with one out in the second inning to Exicardo Cayones. He retired the next fifteen Burlington batters he faced. Angel Rosa broke that streak with a one out triple in the bottom of the seventh inning. Matt Scioscia followed with a single to right and the Bees tied the game. Ross got out of the seventh without another run scoring. He struck out eight and walked one over seven innings, but would get a no decision. Wisconsin had a chance to take the lead in the top of the eighth. Rodriguez doubled with one out and Michael Reed drew a walk. Daniel Hurtado got the next two batters to get out of the inning with the score still tied. The Timber Rattlers offense was held to five hits on the afternoon. Arcia and Rodriguez each had two hits in the game. Reliever Alan Williams took over for Ross in the bottom of the eighth inning and struck out the first batter. Then, Julio Concepcion doubled. Chevy Clarke followed with a double to drive in Concepcion and give the Bees (56-78, 30-39) their first lead of the game. Sandy Martinez was next and he doubled to send Clarke in for a 3-1 lead. Riley Good would single to center, but Reed threw Martinez out at the plate. Brandon Love came on in the top of the ninth and retired Wisconsin in order to close out the game. Wisconsin ended the 2013 season on a six game losing streak. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers will open the 2014 season at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium on Thursday, April 3 against the Peoria Chiefs. Game time is 6:35pm. WP: Daniel Hurtado (2-1) LP: Alan Williams (0-2) SAVE: Brandon Love (1) TIME: 1:59 ATTN: 2,466 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap

Rattlers get slammed in the 14th at Burlington Wright hits walkoff grand slam for Bees in 9-5 win over Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BURLINGTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers were up by three runs heading into the bottom of the eighth inning at Community Field on Sunday afternoon. Then, the Burlington Bees rallied to tie the game with a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to send the game to extra innings. Zach Wright cracked a game-ending grand slam in the bottom of the fourteenth to give the Bees a 9-5 win. Wright went 4-for-5 and drove in six runs to help the Bees to their comeback victory. Michael Reed started the Rattlers (59-75 overall, 30-39 second half) off with a one out triple in the first inning. Parker Berberet followed with an RBI double to drive in Reed. Berberet was out trying to stretch his hit into a triple. The triple by Reed was his twelfth of the season. It tied him with Jamie Bubela on the franchise single season triples list for second place. Bubela hit twelve triples in the 2001 season. Burlington (55-78, 29-39) had two outs and none on in the bottom of the second inning. Wisconsin starter Jorge Lopez walked the next two batters and allowed an infield single to load the bases. Lopez uncorked a wild pitch to let the tying run score. Wisconsin broke the tie with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning. Dustin Houle walked and Chris McFarland singled on a bunt to start the inning. Tyrone Taylor's sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position. Reed was next and his sinking line drive to center dropped in for a hit and skipped past Chevy Clarke, who tried to make a diving catch. Reed cruised into third with a two-run triple. Reed's scored triple of the game tied him with Jermaine Clark for the franchise record for triples in a season. Clark had thirteen triples in 1998. Houle added to the Wisconsin lead with an RBI double in the top of the sixth inning for a 4-1 lead. The Bees tallied an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning against reliever Hobbs Johnson. Angel Rosa reached second on an error and stole third base. He scored on a two-out single by Wright. The Rattlers got that run back in the top of the eighth. Victor Roache doubled to start the frame. He took third on a grounder to the right side off the bat of Garrett Cooper. A passed ball let Roache score and the Rattlers were up 5-2. Taylor Wall took over for Johnson to start the bottom of the eighth inning. Wall had not allowed a run in any of his seven appearance totaling twelve innings during August. He allowed a single to Wade Hinkle to start the eighth and an error on the play let Hinkle take second base. A sacrifice bunt moved Hinkle to third. Wright drove in Hinkle with a sacrifice fly. McFarland started the Timber Rattlers ninth with a single. He stole second and went to third on a throwing error. But, McFarland was left stranded at third base when the inning ended. That would cost the Rattlers. Chevy Clarke doubled to lead off the Burlington ninth. He was at third base with two outs after a pair of grounders. Sandy Martinez drove in Clarke with a single to left to cut the Wisconsin lead to a run. Wall got ahead of Rosa 0-2 and was a strike away from nailing down a win. But, Rosa hit a high chopper to the left of the mound and the ball trickled off the glove of Wall for an infield single to keep the Bees alive. Hinkle made the Rattlers pay with a single to left that scored Martinez from second to tie the game 5-5. Burlington had the winning run at second with one out in the bottom of the tenth inning. But, McFarland made a leaping grab of a line drive off Clarke's bat for the second out. The Rattlers would escape the tenth with the game still tied. Wisconsin had a chance in the top of the eleventh inning. Alfredo Rodriguez singled and Houle walked with one out. But, the Bees keep got a force play and a popup to keep the score at 5-5. The score remained tied with neither team getting a hit in the twelfth and thirteenth inning. Wisconsin's batters went down in order in the top of the fourteenth and the Bees came to the plate after the second playing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Rattlers reliever Jono Armold came out for his fourth inning of work in the bottom of the fourteenth. He had struck out five and walked one in his first three innings. But, Rosa tripled off the wall in right to start the Bees rally. Wisconsin elected to walk the next two batters intentionally to set up a force play at the plate. Additionally, the Timber Rattlers sent Adrian Williams into the game for Tyrone Taylor in center. They brought Williams in to play in front of second base as a fifth infielder with Wright at the plate. Wright foiled all of the strategy by crushing a 1-0 pitch from Armold over the wall in left for a walkoff grand slam. Wisconsin had been 43-1 when leading a game heading into the ninth inning this season before Sunday's game. The loss was their fifth in a row. The final game of Wisconsin's 2013 season is Monday afternoon at Community Field. Austin Ross (2-0, 2.58) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Chris O'Grady (3-1, 2.27) is set to start for the Bees. Game time is 2:00pm. The broadcast may be heard on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 1:40pm. HOME RUN: Zach Wright (4th, Grand slam off Jono Armold in 14th inning, 0 out) WP: Joseph Krehbiel (6-5) LP: Jono Armold (4-3) TIME: 3:53 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap

Prospect Hot Sheet (Aug. 30): Pitchers Play Keep Away With Byron Buxton Prospect Hot Sheet Chat (Aug. 30) With J.J. Cooper

Baez, Smokies dominate SL All-Stars