TheCrew07

Who's been talking about Halton as legitimate MLB option other than JB12 the last 1.5 years? He's always been marginally productive, doesn't hit for enough power, and so on... but yet somehow in 2013 he's the best option we have for a 25 man roster spot. Rogers isn't going to jump out at you with any particular tool but there's probably enough there offensively that he could be a starter on a bad team or a bench bat. Believe me I understand Rogers' limitations and every statistical and age argument people are going to make, but there's reasonable chance Jason will have some sort of MLB career. Halton and Green aren't 1st division starters at 1B either... I think Gamel could have been, but who knows where his career is going to go after not playing for 2 straight years? Morris also could be a 1st division guy, time will tell with him as well. Again, there are just too many options to make Hart a qualifying offer. It doesn't make sense financially unless other players are traded, it doesn't make sense from roster building standpoint, and it doesn't make sense from a talent standpoint. We already have a plethora of 1B options on the 40 man roster, we have young players ready to immediately step into that position, and with our current financial commitments next year how could the team possibly afford to sign Hart? He may out produce all of those guys if healthy, then again he may not, and what reasonable expectation do we have that Hart wouldn't miss 20-30 games regardless? [pre]Year Age G OPS OPS+ 2007 25 140 .892 127 2008 26 157 .759 98 2009 27 115 .753 100 2010 28 145 .865 130 2011 29 130 .866 133 2012 30 149 .841 120 9 Yrs 945 .824 116 162 Game Avg. 162 .824 116[/pre] I think Hart would have been an .820ish OPS player this year, he might have able to maintain his .840-.860 OPS for a year or 2, but at some point his offensive value is going to start sliding every year. If I had to project Morris for 2014, I'd guess a low .800s OPS... probably in the .820-.830 range. He's putting up an .810 OPS in Nashville and he hasn't hit consistently in any month yet. I think Morris has legitimate chance to equal Hart's production in 2014, both guys have relatively the same floor, but Morris has the much higher ceiling at this point. If we're talking a 25 year old Hart there's no way I'm making this same argument, but we're talking about a 31 year old player coming off significant knee issues and a year long absence. Furthermore why would Melvin sign him and then flip him? When has DM ever done that? Gomez is probably the 1 healthy player that if packaged properly could bring back the young pitching we so desperately need I think there's less than a 5% chance that Melvin would ever entertain flipping him. Finally, people keep talking about Coulter as a C but I don't see it. Since he has a strong arm I think there's a reasonable chance he'll get tried at 3B, but he may ultimately end up at 1B. Garrett Cooper is another 1B from Auburn who's doing exactly what college players should do thus far in the Pioneer league. David Denson from this year's draft is the kid who hit the 515' HR, he's an intriguing HS player in AZ. I'm not big on Cody Hawn who's in A+ or Adam Giacalone who's playing in A ball, but at every other level of the organization above the DSL we have decent to good 1B prospects. 1B is not an organizational weakness... now if you want to talk about 3B, CF, SS, 2B, LHP, or impact starting pitching I'd agree that the organization has a need to do something.

Bad news for the Cubs and Jorge Soler. Soler suffers stress fracture in shin

Billy Hamilton of the Reds and once again and Jimmy Bosco of the Cards. Prospect Notebook: Slider Has Keyvius Sampson On The Right Track

I pointed at AA simply because I knew someone like you would look at his AA stats and say exactly what you said. Here's his career, he's not a 1st division player by any stretch, but he could be an adequate stop-gap if need be. I'm not advocating for him any kind of MLB role today, I'm saying there is a possibility he may provide value down the road. [pre]Year Age Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB BA OBP SLG OPS 2010 22 Brewers ARIZ Rk MIL 42 185 160 .281 .368 .394 .761 2011 23 2 Teams 2 Lgs A-Rk MIL 71 299 267 .277 .337 .431 .767 2012 24 2 Teams 2 Lgs A-A+ MIL 133 558 472 .301 .405 .449 .854 2013 25 Huntsville SOUL AA MIL 76 314 288 .236 .287 .410 .696 4 Seasons 322 1356 1187 .277 .357 .428 .785 A (2 seasons) A 130 549 479 .288 .366 .457 .823 Rk (2 seasons) Rk 49 214 187 .283 .364 .401 .766 AA (1 season) AA 76 314 288 .236 .287 .410 .696 A+ (1 season) A+ 67 279 233 .300 .416 .412 .828[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 6/27/2013. The point here is once again we have options. It's not Hart or bust, just like it's not Gomez or bust, or Aoki or bust, or whatever established MLB player's loss you want to claim will ruin the ball club.

Strong Glove Draws Cardinals To Oscar Mercado

All-Star Futures Game rosters revealed

Cards' RHP Alex Reyes. Reyes fans 11, earns first pro win

Newly drafted Cards' CF Jimmy Bosco Spikes' Bosco cycles in eighth game

Poor quality? Except for those 2 guys in AAA? Or Jason Rogers at AA? I'm going to jump out on a limb here and say that you really don't follow the minor league system at all? Jason has had a terrible June, but I think his true talent as a hitter lies between his April and May numbers. [pre]Split G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS April 25 108 104 15 29 7 2 2 18 3 16 .279 .296 .442 .739 May 28 112 103 15 29 7 0 8 25 6 20 .282 .321 .583 .904 June 22 89 78 4 9 2 0 0 7 10 15 .115 .213 .141 .355[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 6/27/2013. As an organization we have plenty of OF and 1B depth, but we are thin basically everywhere else. Unless by poor quality you mean we don't have a Prince Fielder who's going to hit 50 HRs in his best season to which I would respond, "How many teams do?". BA or someone else I regularly read did an article earlier this summer on the lack of impact 1B prospects around baseball. It's very late or I would take 20 minutes going to find it. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

LumberKings send Rattlers to seventh straight loss Clinton wins 6-3 behind three RBI from Taylor Ard By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are still looking for their first win of the second half of the Midwest League season. The Clinton LumberKings and Taylor Ard sent the Rattlers to a 6-3 defeat at Ashford University Field on Wednesday night. Ard homered and drove in three runs for the LumberKings to pace them to their fourth straight victory. Clinton (38-37 overall, 5-1 second half) collected a two-out, two-run single from Ard in the bottom of the first inning to grab a 2-0 lead. Orlando Arcia got Wisconsin (29-42, 0-6) on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning. He cracked a home run to lead off the frame to cut into the Clinton lead. The Rattlers had an opportunity to at least tie the game in the top of the fourth inning. Mike Garza singled with one out. Parker Berberet singled to left to send Garza to third. But, Clinton starter Matt Anderson retired the next two batters to end the inning. Ard pushed Clinton's lead back out to 3-1 with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Dario Pizzano made it 4-1 with a one out home run in the bottom of the fifth. The Rattlers tried to put together a two out rally in the top of the sixth. Roache was on base when Berberet and Alfredo Rodriguez singled to load the bases, but Anderson escaped the inning with no runs scored by Wisconsin. Clinton started to pull away in the bottom of the sixth. Marcus Littlewood walked to start the inning and moved to second on an infield grounder. Gaby Guerrero followed with a bloop single to right-center to drive in Littlewood. Guerrero was going to second on the throw home, but the throw was cutoff for a play at second. Unfortunately, the throw to second wound up back out in center to allow Guerrero to take third base. The infield came in to cut down the run at the plate. Tim Lopes hit a hard grounder near third. Garza made a diving attempt to stop the ball, but the ball glanced off his glove into foul territory for an RBI single and a 6-1 Clinton lead. The LumberKings went to Matt Vedo in the top of the seventh as their relief pitcher and he promptly loaded the bases with a pair of walks and an infield single. Vedo left the game as he injured his leg on the infield single. Tyrone Taylor greeted Clinton reliever Jochi Ogando with a sharp single to left that scored one run. One out later a sacrifice fly by Garza plated a run to make the score 6-3, but that was all for the Rattlers in the inning. Clinton loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth, but did not score to add any insurance. And the Rattlers almost made them pay for that lack of insurance. Wisconsin had two runners on with two outs in the top of the ninth. Garza sent a line drive that appeared to be heading to right-center. But, Lopes, the Clinton second baseman, made a leaping grab to deny Garza and end the game. There were bright spots for the Timber Rattlers. Taylor extended his current hitting streak to ten games with his single in the seventh. Victor Roache had three hits to lift his season average to .231 after he started the half at .209. Mike Strong worked 2-2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to give the offense a chance to come back. But, Wisconsin stranded eleven runners and - including the final game of the first half - the Rattlers have lost seven straight games. Game three of the series is set for Thursday night at Ashford University Field. Tyler Wagner (6-6, 3.78) is set to be the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Clinton sends Scott DeCecco (5-6, 4.50) to the mound. Game time is 7:00pm. Tune in for broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. HOME RUNS: WIS: Orlando Arcia (2nd, 0 on in 3rd inning off Matt Anderson, 0 out) CLN: Taylor Ard (5th, 0 on in 4th inning off Eric Semmelhack, 0 out) Dario Pizzano (5th, 0 on in 5th inning off Eric Semmelhack, 1 out) WP: Matt Anderson (4-6) LP: Eric Semmelhack (1-4) SAVE: Jochi Ogando (1) TIME: 2:37 ATTN: 1,152 All that is not gold – Postgame post for June 26, 203 Wisconsin Boxscore There are some individual efforts I'm really enjoying but it would be nice if the team would actually win some games. This T-Rats team isn't all that far away, instead of a different part of the team picking up the rest each night for a victory, a different part of the team consistently let's them down. Well to be fair the recurring theme has been too many free bases for the opposition, but regardless of where those extra bases are coming from, win some games gentlemen. Wisconsin Recap

Done. Why do we need 4 1B stacked up between MLB and AAA? That's not depth, that's horrible roster management.

Nate I'm not talking about a couple of inches either way, obviously the strike zone is going to be inconsistent when it's being judged by humans. I'm talking about outside corners like Maddux used to get, I'm talking about 4-5 inches off the plate, or 3-4 inches low on some of these zones. The strike zone will tighten up as pitchers move up the chain.

I think that's equally a draft and developmental issue. If you draft guys who don't have plus stuff and/or control then they are going to move more slowly... seriously if developing MLB plus pitches was that easy every pitcher would have them. I don't mean to suggest that the Brewers are great or even good at developing pitchers, but let's be honest, most of these guys have had a very long way to go to become MLB quality starters. I have many issues with the Brewers' development staff, but the pitching progression isn't one of them. They are baselines you need to have success at each level and if a pitcher doesn't have pretty good arsenal with decent control they are going to get shredded at AA. Their are some very wide or low strike zones in A ball that pitchers can take advantage of, those advantages start to disappear the higher up the ladder you go. For example Lorenzo was exploiting a particular umpire's strike zone last night, the T-Rats have had that same crew a bunch over the last month so they know the nuances of both umpires' zone very well.

Jimmy Nelson will represent the Brewers, congrats! 2013 Futures Game: United States Roster 2013 Futures Game: World Roster Futures Game Chat With J.J. Cooper

Tournament Of Stars: Well Armed

This is worth a read, Allie basically tells pitchers exactly what they need to do to get him out, interesting. South Atlantic League All-Star Game Outtakes: Stetson Allie

Hooray? http://replygif.net/i/133.gif

That's a pretty simplistic view which is ignoring everything else that's been going on with the offense. What evidence do you have that the Brewers would be in the bottom 3rd offensively trading one guy? I could see that if they traded Ramirez and Gomez then lost Braun to a suspension, but I believe you're vastly overstating your case.

My bad for missing this, I haven't been watching the MiLB Prospective blog closely because in the past many of those posts became feature stories. I'll keep a better eye on it. Jesse Winker of the Reds and our own Tyler Wagner discussed Ten first-half climbers: Midwest League

The Pirates are featured prominently, the only guy who prospect watchers might not be familiar with is Orlando Castro whom I've posted about a couple of times now, a small but intriguing LHP. Ten first-half climbers: South Atlantic League

Subscriber piece loaded with international news. I didn't see the Brewers linked to anyone. July 2 Notebook: Trade Troubles Brewing

Oscar Taveras back to the DL with the same ankle problem that's been bothering him all year. Kelly to remain in relief role until July 6 start

Tyler Lyons back down to AAA Lyons authors one-hitter in PCL return

Just Ruben Gotay of the Cards who is not a prospect. It would be nice if Tyrone Taylor would get some love nationally. Prospect Notebook: Gary Sanchez, Taijuan Walker & Texas League All-Star Game

Pizzano homer stops Rattlers Clinton beats Wisconsin 2-1 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - Clinton LumberKings outfielder Dario Pizzano came up with big hits against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers often in the first half. He did it again in the first meeting of the second half with a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to provide winning margin. Clinton topped the Timber Rattlers 2-1 Tuesday at Ashford University Field. Wisconsin (29-41 overall, 0-5 second half) jumped in front with a run in the top of the first inning. Orlando Arcia reached on an error and Tyrone Taylor followed with a single to put runners on the corners with one out. Taylor extended his current hitting streak to nine games with that single. Victor Roache was next and he delivered a sharp single to left to drive in Arcia for a 1-0 lead. Rattlers starting pitcher Leonard Lorenzo pitched out of a pair of early jams and was cruising through the middle innings. But, he walked Ketel Marte with one out in the bottom of the sixth and fell behind Pizzano 1-0. Pizzano hit the next pitch over the wall in right field. That put Clinton (37-37, 4-1) up 2-1. Lorenzo allowed two runs on four hits with five strikeouts over his six innings, but took the loss. The Rattlers had chances in the seventh and eighth innings. Mike Garza singled to start the seventh inning, but Adam Giacalone grounded into a double play to stop the rally. Orlando Arcia singled with two outs in the top of eighth to get Taylor to the plate. Taylor sent a pop fly to shallow right near the foul line that looked like it may drop. But, Jabari Henry made a sliding catch to deny Taylor his third hit of the game. Wisconsin went down in order in the top of the ninth and dropped their sixth straight game. Taylor went 2-for-4 in the game and is 18-for-31 (.581) during his nine-game hitting streak. Game two of the series is Wednesday evening. Eric Semmelhack (1-3, 4.14) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Clinton will send Matt Anderson (3-6, 4.48) to the mound. Game time is 7:00pm. Tune in for the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. HOME RUN: CLN: Dario Pizzano (4th, 1 on in 6th inning off Leonard Lorenzo, 1 out) WP: Charles Kaalekahi (1-0) LP: Leonard Lorenzo (1-4) SAVE: Scott Bordonaro (1) TIME: 2:29 Wisconsin Boxscore Too bad for Leonard Lorenzo who pitched far and away his best game of the season thus far. Every single walk and misplay has seemed to come back and bite the T-Rats all season. Tyrone Taylor sucks and stuff, that's all. He's not going to get many national accolades because he's not a power guy, but he's been as white hot as any Brewer prospect in a long time. The only better stretch I remember was Mat Gamel's 33 game hit streak, and maybe someone else will recall, but I'm pretty sure Mat didn't hit over .400 when he was on that run. Victor Roache has been hitting much better since the break while Orlando Arcia is back on the 1-4, 1-5, 1-3 0-for plan, but he's been more aggressive lately, hopefully both players on the verge of an extended hot stretch. Wisconsin Recap This play wasn't even close, Chris was confused why Marte even tried to stretch it? Clinton Bottom of the 3rd Jabari Henry strikes out swinging. Ketel Marte singles on a line drive to right fielder Max Walla. Ketel Marte out at 2nd, right fielder Max Walla to shortstop Orlando Arcia. Dario Pizzano flies out to left fielder Victor Roache.