TheCrew07

Almora keeps on keeping on. Prospect Notebook: Albert Almora Keeps Hitting

5 months too late... Cubs’ Juan Carlos Paniagua Gets His Visa

He's probably got something floating around in there or maybe torn cartilage, something that causes swelling and he can play through as long as he can tolerate the pain. If it's a PCL or MCL then I'd question why they'd have him out there gimping around because the more unstable the knee gets, the more at risk the ACL is, and Ramirez is no spring chicken. If the problem is one of the lesser knee ligaments then why not sit him for a month to 6 weeks and let him get completely healthy? What's the point of trying to play through something this season? I'd much rather have him healthy through his most expensive year (2014) then try to limp him along hoping to sell him off. He'd still have to pass a physical to complete any trade and if he's not able to do that I just don't see the point. He already has established trade value if he's healthy, why not just get him healthy?

Bees bust Rattlers Wisconsin falls behind and can't make up the difference in 5-3 loss at Burlington By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BURLINGTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers keep trying to play catch-up with the Burlington Bees. But, Burlington keeps holding on for victories over the Rattlers. Burlington grabbed a 4-1 lead on Sunday and held off a very late rally for a 5-3 victory at Community Field. Bees starter Tyler DeLoach struck out eight and allowed two runs over six innings to lead the Bees to their fourth straight win over the Timber Rattlers. Wisconsin (35-47 overall, 6-11 second half) had early opportunities, but could not score first. They had a runner at second with one out in the first and runners at second and third with one out in the second. But, DeLoach escaped each jam. The Bees (31-51, 5-12) took the lead in the bottom of the second. Exicardo Cayones singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. Garrett Cannizaro would follow with a single to put runners on the corners with one away. Sandy Martinez drove in Cayones with a sacrifice fly to center and Burlington was up 1-0. The Timber Rattlers tied the game in the top of the fourth. Victor Roache walked and Mike Garza, who had three hits for the Rattlers on the day, followed with a single to right that put runners on the corners with no outs. Parker Berberet knocked in Roache with a sacrifice fly to even the score. But, Burlington responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to retake the lead. Wade Hinkle singled and Cayones doubled into the corner in right to give the Bees runners on second and third with no outs. A slow grounder to third off the bat Chance Ross allowed Hinkle to score and Cayones to take third. Cannizaro was next and he sent a grounder up the first baseline with some wicked spin. Rattlers pitcher Tyler Wagner came over to try for a bare-hand pick of the ball and throw to the plate, but the ball spun out of Wagner's grasp and Cayones scored. Wagner still had time to retire Cannizaro at first, but the throw was wild. Cannizaro held at first and did not score in the inning, but the damage had been done. Ross gave the Bees a 4-1 lead in the sixth when he hit a two-out solo home run off Wagner. The home run was the third of the season for Ross. The Rattlers came back to get a run in the seventh. Max Walla singled to start the inning. That ended the day for DeLoach. Cam Bedrosian took over and threw a wild pitch that moved Walla to second. A ground out by Tyler Roberts put Walla on third. Chris McFarland's grounder to third got Walla home and the Rattlers were down 4-2. But , Burlington added on in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Taylor Wall. A hit batsman and a one out walk but runners set the table to Cayones. The Bees left fielder smacked a single to right to drive in a run and the Bees led 5-2. Wisconsin tried a last gasp rally in the top of the ninth against Kurt Spomer. Roberts doubled with one out and was replaced by pinch runner Adrian Williams. McFarland singled to drive in Williams and the Rattlers were within 5-3. Alfredo Rodriguez was next and his single put the tying runs on base. But, Spomer came back to strikeout Michael Reed. The McFarland and Rodriguez pulled a double steal with Tyrone Taylor at the plate. But, Taylor popped out to center on a 2-0 pitch and the Bees held on to beat the Rattlers for the second game in a row. The final game of the series is Monday night at Community Field. Jorge Lopez (4-6, 5.37) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Ryan Crowley (7-3, 3.29) is scheduled to start for the Bees. Game time is 6:30pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. HOME RUN: BUR: Chance Ross (3rd, 0 on in 6th inning off Tyler Wagner, 2 out) WP: Tyler DeLoach (2-2) LP: Tyler Wagner (7-7) SAVE: Kurt Spomer (4) TIME: 2:31 ATTN: 524 Tomorrow’s hope – Postgame post for July 7, 2013 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap

Seconded!

Nick Kingham of the Pirates leads off this list but Divisional prospects were 1-2-3. RF Stephen Piscotty of the Cards and Cubs' RHP Ben Wells were 2 and respectively. Ten first-half climbers: Florida State League

I really hope a reliever or 3 gets traded so Jesus Sanchez gets a chance to pitch in MLB.

One more thought... Hellweg's GO:FO ratio was 9:1... did he pitch well? Watching the game would you say he was "unlucky"? GO:FO ratio is meaningless.

I've talked quite a bit about a pitcher's ability to miss bats on the minor league forum, I really don't get the ground ball obsession around baseball. Ground balls are just as varied as fly balls, it's not like every ground ball should be converted into an out or is "lucky" to get through the infield. The only real difference is that ground ball can never be a HR, which has some value, but I think ground balls are vastly overrated. How about pitchers who can get themselves out of trouble on their own? I think Hellweg can still be successful, but he's never had the command or missed enough bats. The first thing he needs is to command the zone better and then if he can sharpen his secondary stuff he could be a MLB starter. Until then I think he's a reliever. Flyballs are worth almost 3x as much as groundballs. http://www.fangraphs.com/library/offense/batted-ball/ Thanks, I already knew that, but that's not my point. My point was supposed to be that fly balls are classified differently by type and ground balls are all thrown into one bucket. Sharp ground balls are nearly as effective as line drives, they can still get to the corners and the gaps. Lumping ground balls into a single bucket is a disservice to the reality of the game, but of course classifying ground balls would be completely subjective and tedious. Since most every pitcher is concerned with the "downhill plane" is getting ground balls really all that noteworthy? Shouldn't we be focused on and the pitcher's ability to create outs instead of the GB:FB ratio? I'd take infield pop-ups and broken bat liners for all 27 outs. The type of batted ball can represent the effectiveness of the pitch, but it can also be misleading. This GB stuff is exactly like BABIP, it only tells us what we already know, it's treated as cause when it is actually an effect.

Taylor's slam sends Rattlers past Kernels Wisconsin rallies for 8-7 win at Cedar Rapids By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/1/3/2/52843132/cuts/July_5_2013_Taylor_b727blyr_pebmpnqd.jpg Tyrone Taylor heads for third after his seventh inning grand slam puts Wisconsin up 8-6 over the Cedar Rapids Kernels on July 5, 2013. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - Tyrone Taylor's seventh inning grand slam put the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers ahead to stay in an 8-7 victory over the Cedar Rapids Kernels at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Taylor also doubled and drove in a total of five runs to bring the Rattlers back from a 6-2 deficit and snap a streak of seven straight losses to the Kernels. It was not a good start for Wisconsin (35-45 overall, 6-9 second half). JD Williams hit a home run to lead off the bottom of the first inning to put the Kernels in front 1-0. Cedar Rapids (52-31, 12-3) added to their lead in the third inning. Jhonatan Arias doubled with one out. Williams followed with an RBI triple. Wisconsin starter Leonard Lorenzo got the second out with a strikeout, but walked the next two batters to load the bases. Max Kepler made the Rattlers pay for the free runners with a two-run double for a 4-0 Cedar Rapids lead. The top of the Timber Rattlers batting order rallied in the top of the fourth. Alfredo Rodriguez got on with an infield single. One out later Tyrone Taylor doubled to left-center to drive in Rodriguez. Later in the inning, Mike Garza singled to knock in Taylor and the Rattlers were down 4-2. But, the Kernels answered with single runs in their half of the fourth and fifth. Williams singled in the run in the fourth. An error on a grounder off the bat of Adam Brett Walker with runners at the corners got the Cedar Rapids run home in the fifth for a 6-2 advantage. Cedar Rapids gave Wisconsin a run in the top of the sixth inning. Michael Reed scored from second when Niko Goodrum missed a grounder to short off the bat of Victor Roache. That was just a start for Wisconsin. In the seventh inning, Chris McFarland and Adam Giacalone singled with one out. But, they were still at first and second with two outs. Then, Rodriguez drew a walk to load the bases. Reed was next and he drew a four pitch walk from Kaleb Merck to force in a run and cut the Kernels lead to two runs. Merck was replaced by left-handed All-Star reliever Steven Gruver to face Taylor with the bases loaded and two outs. Gruver got Taylor to swing and miss the first pitch. But, the Minor League Player of the Month for June in the Milwaukee Brewers organization did not miss the next pitch. Taylor crushed a line drive deep into the night over the wall in left for a grand slam and an 8-6 lead. That bases loaded home run by Taylor was the first by a Timber Rattler since July 4, 2012. Chadwin Stang hit a grand slam in Cedar Rapids 366 days ago. Martin Viramontes, who pitched around a pair of hits for a scoreless seventh inning, almost pitched around three walks in the bottom of the eighth. The Kernels had loaded the bases walks to the first, second and fourth batters of the inning. Viramontes got the second out with a strikeout of Kepler, who had been 4-for-4 to that point of the game. Walker was next and sent a slow grounder towards short. The flip to second was late as Travis Harrison, the runner from first, beat the force play and Walker had made the score 8-7 with his infield single. Viramontes got the next batter to ground out to first and kept the Rattlers up by a run. Jono Armold entered in the bottom of the ninth inning and pitched a 1-2-3 inning, including a pair of strikeouts to close out the Rattlers win. Armold struck out Williams, who homered to stat the scoring back in the first inning, to end the game. Harvey Martin, in his second appearance with the Timber Rattlers, picked up the win in relief. It was the first professional victory for the 2013 NCAA Division II Pitcher of the Year and Minnesota State, Mankato. The Timber Rattlers continue their road trip with game one of a three game series against the Burlington Bees at Community Field on Saturday night. Eric Semmelhack (1-4, 4.18) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Pat Lowrey (3-5, 4.67) is set to start on the bump for the Bees. Game time is 6:30pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. HOME RUNS: WIS: Tyrone Taylor (7th, GRAND SLAM in 7th inning off Steven Gruver, 2 out) CR: JD Williams (7th, 0 on in 1st inning off Leonard Lorenzo, 0 out) WP: Harvey Martin (1-1) LP: Caleb Merck (1-1) TIME: 3,193 ATTN: 2:54 Wisconsin Boxscore Tyrone Taylor was quiet the last 2 games, but not tonight going 2-4 with a 2B and the SLAM! I'm happy JJ Cooper thinks he's making a case for the Brewers top 10. Chris McFarland who was the DH had the other multi-hit game for the Rattlers. I wonder what Colby has been up to and if he got to see Martin Viramontes pitch tonight? Of the 4 pitchers the T-Rats used Jonathan Armold was the most effective sending the Kernels home with a 1-2-3 9th. Armolds ERA is now a ridiculous 1.77, his K/9 is over 9, unfortunately his BB/9 is up over 4, of course being a reliever the small sample alert applies. Wisconsin Recap The "other" Viramontes pitched tonight, it was an adventure for him in both innings as Chris mentioned in the game story. Cedar Rapids Bottom of the 7th Pitching Change: Martin Viramontes replaces Harvey Martin. Max Kepler singles on a line drive to right fielder Michael Reed. Adam Walker strikes out swinging. Niko Goodrum grounds into a force out, first baseman Adam Giacalone to shortstop Adrian Williams. Max Kepler out at 2nd. Niko Goodrum to 1st. Tyler Grimes singles on a line drive to right fielder Michael Reed. Niko Goodrum to 3rd. Jhonatan Arias strikes out swinging. Cedar Rapids Bottom of the 8th J. D. Williams walks. Jorge Polanco walks. J. D. Williams to 2nd. Dalton Hicks grounds out to first baseman Adam Giacalone. J. Williams to 3rd. Jorge Polanco to 2nd. Travis Harrison walks. Max Kepler strikes out swinging. Adam Walker singles on a ground ball to shortstop Adrian Williams. J. D. Williams scores. Jorge Polanco to 3rd. Travis Harrison to 2nd. Niko Goodrum grounds out to first baseman Adam Giacalone.

I've talked quite a bit about a pitcher's ability to miss bats on the minor league forum, I really don't get the ground ball obsession around baseball. Ground balls are just as varied as fly balls, it's not like every ground ball should be converted into an out or is "lucky" to get through the infield. The only real difference is that ground ball can never be a HR, which has some value, but I think ground balls are vastly overrated. How about pitchers who can get themselves out of trouble on their own? I think Hellweg can still be successful, but he's never had the command or missed enough bats. The first thing he needs is to command the zone better and then if he can sharpen his secondary stuff he could be a MLB starter. Until then I think he's a reliever.

This will make everyone happy, on an 0-1 pitch.... Wisconsin Top of the 7th Parker Berberet called out on strikes. Christopher McFarland singles on a ground ball to right fielder Adam Walker. Adam Giacalone singles on a ground ball to right fielder Adam Walker. Christopher McFarland to 2nd. Adrian Williams bunt pops out to catcher Tyler Grimes in foul territory. Alfredo Rodriguez walks. Christopher McFarland to 3rd. Adam Giacalone to 2nd. Michael Reed walks. Christopher McFarland scores. Adam Giacalone to 3rd. Alfredo Rodriguez to 2nd. Pitching Change: Steven Gruver replaces Kaleb Merck. Tyrone Taylor hits a grand slam (7) to left field. Adam Giacalone scores. Alfredo Rodriguez scores. Michael Reed scores. Victor Roache flies out to right fielder Adam Walker. Wisconsin scores 5 runs and takes a 8-6 lead to the bottom of the 7th. edit. Fixed the score.

Lorenzo just gave up a HR to the first batter of the game which hit about dead center in the batter's eye at PG Field. http://www.milb.com/images/2011/01/18/5vRUJEe5.jpg The T-Rats just don't have the starting pitching to match-up with this line-up, it is depressing when they can't even get a lead in these games. I'd rather listen to the damn peanut inning (those who listen to PL games will know what I'm referring to) for 3 hours than the T-Rat games against Cedar Rapids this year. There's still a ton of ballgame left... but I needed to vent.

You aren't the only one who likes Boston as a trade partner, it's just that Brewers and D-Backs are being linked in talks almost daily.

Tyrone Taylor makes it into the chat. Prospect Hot Sheet Chat With J.J. Cooper not divisional but topical- Seth Finally a Brewer question from someone answered, I might pass out from disbelief, but a cop out answer- Seth Another topical question with a disappointing answer, as I figured they'd peg him for a #2- Seth More on Skaggs- Seth Midseason 50 on Monday, good deal!

Just a reminder, not many of BA's top 30 left. Cubs are closing in on the #1 via this article so as expected they will sign #1 and #2. Also a reminder that teams can sign as many as 6 players under 50k without it counting against the pool. Where The Top 30 International Prospects Have Signed

Astros, D-Backs, and Indians prospects had nice weeks. Not a single divisional mention anywhere Prospect Hot Sheet (July 5): Precocious Julio Urias Earns Top Spot

Reds' RHP Shaun Ellis Ellis hurls best pro start for Wahoos

Pirates' SS Michael Fransoso. NYPL notes: Fransoso settles down

Marcum like FB...? Where did you get that scouting report? Everything I've read this year says that he works more like Gallardo did at that age, 91-94 and topping out in the mid 90s. Skaggs velocity has increased each of the last 2 seasons, he's from the some Angles draft class as Mike Trout. You might be looking at a draft day report? Fangraphs has his average FB at 89.8. That's right in line with all the other soft tossers we've masqueraded as starting pitchers the last decade under Melvin. Lets not jump to conclusions over a grand total of 9 starts over 2 seasons in which he's performed poorly. If I thought he was going to have an average FB velocity below 91 I wouldn't be championing him at all.

If Z sells in Seattle he might be out of a job. He needed Hultzen and Walker to arrive a year sooner.

Cedar Rapids spell over Rattlers continues Kernels top Rattlers 3-1 on Independence Day for seventh win in a row over Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - The three-game winning streak that the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers brought into their Independence Day game against the Cedar Rapids Kernels was halted by a pair of home runs and solid pitching. Wisconsin dropped their seventh straight game to Cedar Rapids with Thursday's 3-1 loss to the Kernels at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Milwaukee native Adam Brett Walker put the Kernels (52-30 overall, 12-2 second half) up in the bottom of the second inning. Max Kepler has just been hit by a pitch and Walker was ahead 1-0 in the count. Walker lined a home run to left-center on the next pitch to give Cedar Rapids a 2-0 lead. Alfredo Rodriguez singled to lead off the Wisconsin fourth inning for the Rattlers first hit of the game. Michael Reed drew a walk to put two runners on base. But, Montanez retired the next three batters of the inning to keep the Kernels up 2-0. Rodriguez started another attempted rally in the top of the sixth for the Rattlers (34-45, 5-9). He singled with one out. Reed followed with a single and Tyrone Taylor walked to load the bases. Montanez struck out Victor Roach for the second out and left the game for Alex Murin to face Mike Garza. Murin got Garza to line out to right to end the inning. Wisconsin did break through on the scoreboard in the seventh. Parker Berberet singled and Chris McFarland drew a walk. Tyler Roberts bunted the runners into scoring position. Max Walla's grounder to first got Berberet to score. The Kernels used the longball to pad their lead in the bottom of the eighth. Dalton Hicks cracked a two-out solo home run to center off Preston Gainey and the Kernels were up 3-1. Milwaukee native Tyler Jones, who had pitched a scoreless eighth, tossed a 1-2-3 ninth with a pair of strikeouts to earn his sixth save of the season,. The final game of the two game series is Friday night in Cedar Rapids. Leonard Lorenzo (1-4, 5.73) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Kernels have Brett Lee (5-4, 3.89) as their scheduled starter. Game time is 6:35pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. HOME RUNS: CR: Adam Brett Walker (13th, 1 on in 2nd inning off Ryan Gibbard, 1 out) Dalton Hicks (13th, 0 on in 8th inning off Preston Gainey, 2 out) WP: Josue Montanez (3-1) LP: Ryan Gibbard (3-2) SAVE: Tyler Jones (6) TIME: 2:23 ATTN: 5,631 Torment us with their loss – Postgame post for July 4, 2013 Wisconsin Boxscore Chris did his best to keep us entertained but this one just drug me down, friggen Cedar Rapids... It's nice that the WI natives keep doing their part to drive that knife in deeper during the season series as well. Wisconsin Recap

I know, I quoted their rankings earlier, and that was this off-season, I believe the mid season 50 is due next week. Bradley is the superior prospect today.

Pretending that we're anywhere near as competent an organization as St. Louis is a recipe for disaster. I despise the Cards and La Russa specifically, but he got the best of every Brewer manager since we moved to the national league. We've had no manager who would have been as creative as TLR in 2011, he was tactically superior to every manager we've had. As for the Braves comparison, how about a little bit more in-depth analysis of the situation than "teams found a way"? That's awfully superficial and skips right over the heart of the matter. Who beat the Braves and how their did pitching match-up to the Braves? I used baseball-ref because it's easy to see complete statistics for each team and series results. '91 - Twins in the WS, similar pitching '92 - Jays in the WS, similar pitching '93 - Phillies in the NLCS, similar pitching '94 - No postseason '95 - Won WS '96 - Yankees, similar postseason pitching '97 - Marlins in NLCS, superior pitching '98 - Padres in NLCS, similar pitching '99 - Yankees in the WS, similar postseason pitching '00 - Cardinals in the NLDS, similar pitching '01 - D-Backs in the NLCS, superior pitching '02 - Giants in the NLDS, similar postseason pitching '03 - Cubs in the NLDS, superior pitching '04 - Astros in the NLDS, superior pitching Once again in the postseason the depth of your pitching roster doesn't matter as there are too many off days, your depth doesn't get tested. ATL had a great 1-3, sometimes just a great 1-2, but every team that beat them was able to match them by shortening the rotation and bullpen. Regardless I'd much rather have 4 NCLS and 3 WS appearances in a span like that than our 1 NLDS and NLCS where we weren't even competitive the first time and the 2nd time we were at the end of our run. The only starting rotations that were obviously worse than them during the regular season were the '96 and '99 Yankees and '02 Giants. Towards the end of their run many of the teams actually had better pitching than the Braves. Note that I'm not going to by staff ERA, rather comparing the top pitchers in the bullpen and rotation to one another for each team. It would be nice if some research effort would be put into the other side of this debate rather than continually dropping superficial generalities into the discussion.

Back to Cedar Rapids for the T-Rats, that's disappointing, even without Buxton that's the best line-up in the MWL. Hopefully this series goes better than the last one.