TheCrew07

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?

I could see where potentially AZ wouldn't want to give up more than Holmberg for Gallardo, which is fairly reasonable from a talent standpoint. If Skaggs is absolutely off the table then move on, I have no interest in swapping #3s, even if the returning player will be much cheaper for years to come. We need a couple of guys with top of the rotation potential if we're going to be making moves. As much as I want a LHP and like Holmberg, he just doesn't have the upside I'm looking for. At worst we need to land at least one guy with a reasonable chance to be a #2 and maybe we're bad enough that we have a chance at a quick fix impact college pitcher next year like Rodon, though I'd like to see him improve his polish significantly before jumping on him specifically. Any draft 2014 pick won't help next season, but he could be in the mix for 2015 pending innings, effectiveness, and all that good stuff. We aren't going to pull a young pitcher with ace potential at the deadline, but I think there are some reasonable targets in those next 2 tiers down. If it doesn't work out, I'm okay with that too, unless that means Melvin starts buying short term solutions again this winter, at which point I'm driving down to Miller Park and giving someone a beat down to release my pent up rage.

Garrett Cooper profiled by MiLB.com PIO notes: Cooper shows confidence

That depends on what "really good" is? Aoki's wOBA (.326) is currently good enough for 38th. He's 47th (.7) in WAR, 43rd in OPS (.729), and 59th in ISO (.084). So he's pretty average as far as MLB OFs, and now that he's a free agent after 2014 that changes his value significantly. I think you are severely undervaluing Bradley because he's an "unproven" prospect and overvaluing Aoki. Would you trade Bradley for Nick Markakis because that's who Aoki is roughly equivalent to in the OF and from a contract status standpoint? I wouldn't make that deal. Here's Bradley's scouting report, I'd love to have him, but Gallardo, Aoki, + for the #12 and #25 prospects in baseball? There's just no way. [pre]Year Age Tm Lg Lev ERA IP BB SO WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB 2013 20 Visalia CALL A+ 1.26 28.2 10 43 1.116 6.9 0.3 3.1 13.5 4.30 2013 20 Mobile SOUL AA 2.04 70.2 30 69 1.189 6.9 0.4 3.8 8.8 2.30[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

There's no way we get both Skaggs and Bradley for Gallardo and relievers. In fact, there's no way we're getting Bradley period. Gallardo profiles like a #3 now, he's not the #2 he's been most of his career. Bradley could be an ace and will pitch for AZ in 2014. To even get AZ to think about Skaggs and Bradley in one deal you'd have offer both Gallardo and Gomez plus who knows what else, but I bet AZ would just want to send Eaton and different pitching back instead of Bradley.

Both team will want relievers sure... you build one deal around Gallardo, build the other around Ramirez. Skaggs is the best prospect so DM should focus there and build a package around Skaggs, If we can't pull Davidson, that's fine with me, we can always sign another FA to hold down 3B next off season. If the Dodgers want Ramirez and relief help then once again send whatever it takes to get the 2 guys we'd want. K-Rod, Axford, Henderson, Gonzalez, Gorzelanny, Badenhop, Kintzler, Figaro, whomever, send 2 or 3 to each team if necessary. They are relievers and we're trading up in value getting starting pitching and position players back. We have plenty of starting pitchers between AA and AAA that could potentially be decent relievers. If we have to throw a pitching prospect into each deal I'm okay with that, we'd be getting better pitching prospects than we're giving up. The only guy I'd rather not deal is Nelson, but if I have to give up Nelson to get Skaggs + Davidson, well so be it.

Roache & Lopez put Rattlers over the top Rattlers defeat Kane County 4-2 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers[/b] GRAND CHUTE, WI - Victor Roache had a hand in three runs and Jorge Lopez allowed just two runs as the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers beat the Kane County Cougars 4-2 Wednesday night at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Roache had three hits, drove in two runs, and scored once while Lopez struck out five over seven innings to pace the Rattlers to a win in the final game of the five game series between the teams. Alfredo Rodriguez started the Wisconsin first inning with a single and a steal of second base. Michael Reed bunted to move Rodriguez over to third base, but Rodriguez was still at third with two outs. Roache came through with a double to center to send Rodriguez home for a 1-0 lead. Kane County (32-47 overall, 2-11 second half) tied the game in the top of the third inning. Gioskar Amaya singled and a throwing error after a sacrifice bunt by Brad Zapenas put Cougars on second and third with no outs. Jorge Lopez retired the next two batters to keep the runners at second and third. But, a two-out, infield single by Dan Vogelbach drove in Amaya to tie the game. Wisconsin (34-44, 5-8) retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Roache started the inning with a single. He went to third on single by Mike Garza. The Rattlers had runners at the corners with one out and Parker Berberet at the plate. Berberet sent a chopper back to the mound. Cougars starter Michael Heesch went to second for the force on Garza, but Berberet beat the throw to first deny Kane County an inning-ending double play to allow Roache to score the run. Kane County rallied to tie the game again in the top of the sixth. Lopez walked Albert Almora to start the inning. Vogelbach was next and he lined a double to right-center to drive in Almora to make the score 2-2. The Rattlers responded in the bottom of the sixth. Tyrone Taylor walked with one out. Then, Roache smacked a triple to the gap in right-center to knock in Taylor with the go-ahead run. Garza added an insurance run with a single over the drawn in infield to get Roache home for a 4-2 lead. Lopez worked a scoreless seventh inning to hold the lead. The seven inning outing for Lopez was his longest as a professional. He allowed two runs - one earned - on five hits, walked a batter, hit a batter, and struck out five to put himself in position for the win. Taylor Mangum came out of the Rattlers bullpen and pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to preserve the win for Lopez and earn his fourth save of the season. Roache needed a home run to hit for the first cycle in Timber Rattlers history, but popped out to second base when he led off the Rattlers eighth. Taylor's hitting streak ended at 16-games as he went 0-for-3 in the game, but those were about the only downers for the Rattlers as they won their third straight game and wound up with four wins in the five game series against the Cougars. The Timber Rattlers begin a five-game road trip with a matchup against the Cedar Rapids Kernels at Perfect Game Field on Thursday evening. Ryan Gibbard (3-1, 5.77) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The Kernels have Josue Montanez (2-1, 4.28) as their scheduled starter. Game time is 5:05pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 4:45pm. WP: Jorge Lopez (4-6) LP: Michael Heesch (3-7) SAVE: Taylor Mangum (4) TIME: 2:11 ATTN: 4,705 I checked one last time before posting and sure enough Chris' post game is up. Mehring adds some notes on Taylor Mangum who I forgot to discuss below. See them driven before you – Postgame post for July 3, 2013 Wisconsin Boxscore David Chavarria for President! If you're asking whom then boo! He's the Rattlers pitching coach, and he's done a wonderful job with this pitching staff. Since May 12th Jorge Lopez has a 3.45 ERA in 47 innings. He's allowed 24 runs, 18 earned, and he's walked 23 while striking out 43. Lopez is listed at 6' 4" 165lbs, that seems about 10-15 lbs low, but the crazy part is that he still has projection left and is topping out at 96. If you can't tell I'm actually starting to get excited about Lopez again. I talked about his night in detail in some previous posts. Unfortunately Tyrone Taylor's hit streak came to an end, he jokingly called it before the game when a TV crew was interviewing him and mentioned the streak, he fired back with a thanks for jinxing me. Look for his interview with one of the local TV stations later tonight or tomorrow. Victor Roache smashed the ball his first 3 times up, the 2B and 3B were not misplayed gifts, they were rockets out to right center. Mike Garza reminds me a little bit of Mat Gamel with the glove, he picks it very well but then makes throwing errors which leave you thinking, "Huh?". He's made a nice play with the glove in just about every game I've watched, but man does he throw a lot of balls away. Speaking of which Adam Giacalone doesn't impress much with the bat, but man can he play some 1B. He scoops better than anyone the Brewers have had come through since the T-Rats have been an affiliate, and he'll flash the leather in the field making stellar plays on inbetween hops, line drives, and even a diving catch here and there. I'm pretty sick of Dan Vogelbach, the Rattlers played a Fielder type infield shift against him and he still drove in runs. He tried to steal a base tonight and was actually safe, but called out by the ump, and it looked like his manager was giving him the business on the way back to the dugout. He's a stout dude, but again he moves better than you would think. Wisconsin Recap Garza's 14th error on the season cost a run, his errors always seem to hurt badly. Kane County Top of the 3rd Gioskar Amaya singles on a line drive to left fielder Victor Roache. Brad Zapenas hits a sacrifice bunt. Throwing error by third baseman Mike Garza. Gioskar Amaya to 3rd. Brad Zapenas to 2nd. Oliver Zapata pops out to shortstop Adrian Williams. Albert Almora grounds out, third baseman Mike Garza to first baseman Adam Giacalone. Dan Vogelbach singles on a ground ball to shortstop Adrian Williams. Gioskar Amaya scores. Brad Zapenas to 3rd. Jeimer Candelario flies out to left fielder Victor Roache. Wisconsin Gameday edit. And MH beat to it again.

If we're trading with AZ and Bradley is untouchable, which he should be, then we should target Skaggs, Davidson, and Holmberg. Send whatever it takes to get that package. Then you can flip Ramirez + for Stripling/Lee and Seager from the Dodgers and I'd be super excited about the future. Skaggs is a #2, Stripling/Lee and Holmberg should be #3s, Davidson could take over 3B in 2014 and we'd have Seager and Neuhaus behind him in the minors. We'd have 2 legit 3B prospects and we have 3 legitimate SS prospects between A+ and R+, hopefully between those guys we'd get our 3B of the future and a 2B to pair with Segura. We'd still be very thin on 1/2 type pitchers as an organization, but if Peralta ascends I'd take 2 #2s and 3 #3s for the rotation. Edit. I don't really care who we throw in for AZ, any of the AA/AAA pitchers not named Jimmy Nelson.

To the 9th they go, tune in now!

Best news of the night, Erickson told Mehring that the contact play is dead and the T-Rats won't be using it anymore. Small victories.

Yep I've been keeping an eye on it since Mehring brought it up earlier.

I think that's pretty wishful thinking. Peralta has a chance. I don't have any faith in Rogers' ability to stay healthy, and he's never thrown enough strikes. Thornburg leaves too many pitches up in the zone. Hellweg doesn't miss many bats or throw enough strikes. Fiers and Burgos are control guys. Jungmann walks too many and doesn't miss bats. And scouts universally think Nelson is a #3 best case, which is fine, I keep hoping there's #2 upside with Jimmy though. We don't have a Skaggs, Walker, Hultzen, Bradley, or Barnes type. Peralta was the only top 100 player in the organization, we can "hope" all we want, but that doesn't mean these guys are going to ascend and out pitch their stuff. Even if the rotation does improve, how will we match up in the post season pitching wise? I guess going 1 and done in the playoffs will put butts in the seats but competitively that doesn't interest me at all. I want to get on top of the pitching situation once and for all, then we'll be truly competitive, even in the post season.

Because the cheaters are always ahead of the testers? See Lance Armstrong, Track & Field, Barry Bonds, etc.

Lopez just climbed the ladder with 93 mph (the pitch before was 94) FB and Reggie Golden swung right through it. Man I do love attacking hitters up and out of the zone, it's such a hard pitch to lay off of. Lopez is a flashing a nice slider tonight, I was wondering if that's what he was throwing in his last start... 87 mph in tonight's game. I just looked as his BA scouting report again and they didn't mention a slider but did mention a change, which I haven't seen much of. He has his better curve tonight as well, he's looking very sharp.

Chris said Arcia was around the team today using a crutch, but no boot or cast on the ankle.

In fairness to Ynoa he's been hurt, he was the A's 18th rated prospect coming into the year: [pre]Year Age Tm Lg Lev Aff W L W-L% ERA IP BB SO WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB 2010 18 Athletics ARIZ Rk OAK 0 1 .000 5.00 9.0 4 11 1.111 6.0 1.0 4.0 11.0 2.75 2012 20 2 Teams 2 Lgs A--Rk OAK 1 4 .200 6.46 30.2 25 25 1.826 9.1 0.9 7.3 7.3 1.00 2012 20 Athletics ARIZ Rk OAK 0 1 .000 5.40 10.0 9 6 2.000 9.9 0.9 8.1 5.4 0.67 2012 20 Vermont NYPL A- OAK 1 3 .250 6.97 20.2 16 19 1.742 8.7 0.9 7.0 8.3 1.19 2013 21 Beloit MIDW A OAK 2 1 .667 2.14 54.2 18 48 1.152 7.4 0.5 3.0 7.9 2.67 3 Seasons 3 6 .333 3.82 94.1 47 84 1.367 7.8 0.7 4.5 8.0 1.79 Rk (2 seasons) Rk 0 2 .000 5.21 19.0 13 17 1.579 8.1 0.9 6.2 8.1 1.31 A (1 season) A 2 1 .667 2.14 54.2 18 48 1.152 7.4 0.5 3.0 7.9 2.67 A- (1 season) A- 1 3 .250 6.97 20.2 16 19 1.742 8.7 0.9 7.0 8.3 1.19[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table He'll be back in Oakland's top 10 after this season, he's been really good in 2013 and was very impressive when I saw him pitch. I was skeptical of him going into that game, but came away impressed. Typically command is the last thing to come back after TJ surgery and I'm willing to buy that he wasn't fully recovered for the 2012 campaign based on what I saw against WI.

Jorge Lopez looked pretty good in the 1st. He was ahead of every hitter, made a mistake a to Almora on an 0-2 pitch who cracked a grounder at Garza which took a wicked hop and hit him in the shoulder for a hit. The thing I like the most... He was 0-2 to Candelario who was the last batter of the of the inning, then just missed, and I do mean just missed the outside corner, but then came right back and painted the inside corner to catch him looking. No messing around wasting pitches out of the zone trying to get him to chase, just attacking.

Awesome thanks guys!

Thanks so much Minigoon.

Ohh my... Lansing Watches A Walk-Off Hit Get Wiped Away

That was a very well written and even handed piece.

Cubs' SS Javier Baez FSL notes: Baez makes it look easy

Josh Harrison, Vic Black, Kris Johnson, and Tony Sanchez of the Pirates, Billy Hamilton and Greg Reynolds of the Reds. IL announces Triple-A All-Star roster

Cardinals Sign Dominican Shortstop Hector Linares

What does that have to do with starting his career with arm injury and TB taking it easy with him the following year? The Rays have always been very diligent regarding IP. He threw 133.1 innings his last season at Vanderbilt. This is a snipit of BA's take on him after 2008: Here's his 2008 gamelog: [pre]Rk Date Lev Tm Opp Inngs Dec IP 1 2008-05-22 A+-FLOR Vero Beach Devil Rays Clearwater Threshers 1-5 W 5.0 2 2008-05-28 A+-FLOR Vero Beach Devil Rays St. Lucie Mets 1-6 W 6.0 3 2008-06-02 A+-FLOR Vero Beach Devil Rays Jupiter Hammerheads 1-7 7.0 4 2008-06-07 A+-FLOR Vero Beach Devil Rays Sarasota Reds 1-6 5.1 5 2008-06-16 A+-FLOR Vero Beach Devil Rays Brevard County Manatees 1-5 W 5.0 6 2008-06-21 A+-FLOR Vero Beach Devil Rays St. Lucie Mets 1-7 W 6.1 Player Moved from A+-FLOR to AA-SOUL 7 2008-06-26 AA-SOUL Montgomery Biscuits Mobile Bay Bears 1-6 W 6.0 8 2008-07-01 AA-SOUL Montgomery Biscuits Mississippi Braves 1-6 W 6.0 9 2008-07-06 AA-SOUL Montgomery Biscuits West Tenn Diamond Jaxx 1-7 W 7.0 10 2008-07-12 AA-SOUL Montgomery Biscuits Mobile Bay Bears 1-7 W 7.0 11 2008-07-17 AA-SOUL Montgomery Biscuits Birmingham Barons 1-5 5.0 12 2008-07-23 AA-SOUL Montgomery Biscuits Tennessee Smokies 1-6 6.0 13 2008-07-28 AA-SOUL Montgomery Biscuits Huntsville Stars 1-8 W 8.0 14 2008-08-02 AA-SOUL Montgomery Biscuits West Tenn Diamond Jaxx 1-7 W 7.0 15 2008-08-07 AA-SOUL Montgomery Biscuits Birmingham Barons 1-5 W 5.0 Player Moved from AA-SOUL to AAA-IL 16 2008-08-13 AAA-IL Durham Bulls Norfolk Tides 1-4 L 4.0 17 2008-08-18 AAA-IL Durham Bulls Indianapolis Indians 1-5 5.0 18 2008-08-23 AAA-IL Durham Bulls Indianapolis Indians 1-4 4.0 19 2008-08-28 AAA-IL Durham Bulls Norfolk Tides 1-5 W 5.0 Player Moved from AAA-IL to MLB-AL 20 2008-09-14 MLB-AL Tampa Bay Rays New York Yankees 3-8 5.1 21 2008-09-18 MLB-AL Tampa Bay Rays Minnesota Twins 7-7 0.2 22 2008-09-22 MLB-AL Tampa Bay Rays Baltimore Orioles 1-6 5.1 23 2008-09-26 MLB-AL Tampa Bay Rays Detroit Tigers 6-7 1.0 24 2008-09-28 MLB-AL Tampa Bay Rays Detroit Tigers 4-5 1.2[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 7/3/2013. I'm certainly not going to say definitively that the college workload his junior season will have a negative impact on Price's career, I simply stated what I remember, and that college workloads concern me. Historically many of those big college arms are going to need surgery early on professional ball. They get abused in HS, then they get abused in college again. The harder the MLB team pushes the player, the more likely there is to be problems. I think TB handled Price as a best as they could in comparison to the Cubs and Prior for example. Strasburg needed surgery right away and I'm not sure what Washington could have done differently. I just wonder if maybe the high flame out rate for even college pitching is related to their workload, how many stressful games does each arm have in it before it's done? Gallardo had outings in HS where he went 100+ pitches including 1 where he went to almost 150. Had he gone to college would his arm have lasted this long? I would take Rodon again but that doesn't mean I'm not concerned about his workload. edit. I called his last season at Vandy his "senior", corrected, bad habit from working with HS kids so long.