TheCrew07

The Brewers not linked to any. July 2 Notebook: International Shortstops To Watch

Taveras gives the gifts on 21st birthday

Cards' and Pirates' prospects highlight the IL All-Star voting. Wacha, Cole take leads in fan voting

Max Walla just made a Willie Mays type over the shoulder catch with his back to the IF in front of the wall in right center. I didn't think he caught it initially.

So because he got hit in the head with a pitch and didn't light the world on fire in limited ABs when Texas called him up to ride the bench last season he's not a top prospect? Segura hit .209 through his first 72 ABs in August and he had the benefit of playing every day. Olt had all of 33 ABs in 16 games over 2 months last year... I think your expectations are way too high, established MLB players don't consistently produce over the course of a season playing every day.

It seems to me that is saying trade one of our outfielders for impact pitching. The outfield depth you speak of is Gindl, Schafer, Davis, Prince and Halton. None of which posted an OPS in AAA above .831. Three of them have (or had in the case of Schafer) one under 800 in AAA. That seems more like a bench player than a starting caliber outfielder on a competitive major league roster. To me that is a text book definition of creating a hole to fill another. Once again, it's a not hole if we have replacement player. The replacement doesn't have to be of equal value to make the trade a net positive for the MLB club and for the organization as a whole. I really don't think this concept should be all that hard to understand. If you can drop 2 WAR at one position but pickup 4-5 at another your team is still better. Regardless if you like WAR as a concept or not, frame it in real wins, the fact that pitching > hitting, frame it however you want, the team could still be better.

How so?

Steve is always an enjoyable listen, we're fortunate to have such good broadcasters up and down the chain. I had mentioned in another thread that I was looking forward to redeeming my April T-Rat tickets on the coming home stand but I just looked at the weather report and rain is expected Fri-Tue in the area which of course would be exactly the games I was planning to attend. It's a conspiracy I swear, all I want to do is play with the new Stalker gun... *sigh*.

I may be overvaluing what 4 years of a productive yet unspectacular OF (I think he could play CF) might be worth but at least I'm willing to go a different direction and attempt to fix the organization's main problem. Furthermore I never limited my trade options to Aoki, that's a creation of those who can't seem to fathom selling on high Gomez for that type of pitching when we have Schafer to replace him, coupled with the fact that we aren't winning with Gomez/Ramirez/Aoki and won't win with them unless we get better pitching. I think there are an awful lot of people who look very hard for reasons not to do anything, which is something I'm not predisposed to do. We "can't" do this, we can't trade him, we can't, we can't, we can't. Why not? Isn't doing something different better than doing nothing? I say again, if you don't like the idea of trading established players to go after the pitching we desperately need then what's your plan? How do we fix the pitching situation beyond "hoping" that some of our minor league pitchers ascend? My father had an annoying saying that I hated as a kid, but seems spot on in this case, "You can wish in one hand and poop in the other, then see what you get more of..." Peralta doesn't have the control or pure stuff to be a #1, he could be a nice #2, but at some point he has to start ascending from a performance standpoint. Nelson could be a solid #3 and is now getting his feet wet in AAA. Hellweg walks almost as many hitters as he strikes out in AAA so I don't see him as a top of the rotation candidate, Thornburg has struggled going back to last year, Jungmann doesn't have top of the rotation stuff nor does Bradley, and Pena is a bit of an enigma. He was awful after getting blasted in the Futures game last year, started this year very slow, but he's been on fire lately. However, Pena also walks too many hitters. Of all those guys I think Thornburg and Pena are our best bets for #2s, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting on it either. Just because Jungmann and Bradley were drafted high doesn't mean they are impact pitchers. We need 2 more legitimate #2s with 3+ years of team control to slot with Gallardo and we're a completely different franchise, if we can't find MLB ready-AA guys who fit that mold as trade options, then you go deeper down the chain acquiring as much potential top of the rotation potential as you can. It doesn't have to be Aoki, it doesn't have to be this season, if someone offers impact pitching for one or more of our aging MLB roster take the deal. I don't care of it's Lohse, any of the relievers, Gomez, Aoki, or Ramirez. Just say yes to impact pitching. 2 trades and we could be on a different path as an organization.

I get what you are saying now, I was genuinely curious why you thought ground ball were less injury prone but I see I just read your statement from a different point of view. I agree on the big bodied pitcher thing, that's definitely been the trend, all of the higher round picks fit that height profile.

My personal observation is that he works low 90s and has a decent slider. I've only watched him pitch once, and I didn't watch all that closely, it's just worked out where I'm usually able to catch a Magnifico or Lopez start. The early rain/snowouts really put a damper on getting to T-Rats games in person as I knew May and the first part of June would be tough because of work. I have access to a stalker gun now so I'll probably hit up a bunch of games next homestand and start redeeming all these tickets from April. I'll post more personal observations then. For what it's worth here BA's scouting report from last year:

Plenty of divisional and top prospect notes in this one. Prospect Notes From All Four Class A All-Star Games

July 2 Notebook: Pitchers Draw Scouts To Colombia

2013 Big League Debuts And Their Signing Scouts

The West (T-Rats) loses the MWL All-Star Game in the bottom of the 9th after scoring 3 in the top to tie it, and Reds' prospect Jesse Winkler wins the HR derby. Damien Magnifico acquitted himself well pitching a scoreless 2/3 of an inning. More tidbits on top prospects in the story Winker pumps homers, bumps Foster

Following on Gameday makes it less painful... ohh a Grand Slam... now down 10-1, well back to what I was working on earlier.

More love for the Pirates organization. All-Star Game has Bucs on right track

Ha awesome!

The answer regarding how would we get a top of the rotation starter for Aoki would be simple, you take the best talent available. Once you start placing limits on the talent you want back such as MLB ready or AA you arbitrarily limit your options. I'd take an A ball pitcher for him like Stephenson, Guerrieri, De Paula, Glasnow, CJ Edwards... yes I know some of those guys are from the division but I'm just saying that I'd go down to A ball to get better talent if I had to.

Yesterday I looked at the team statistics for the MWL, today I'll do the individual hitting and pitching. Midwest League Batting Leaders Looking at T-Rats in the top 20. AVE 1. Devin Travis (Tigers) - .350 2. Byron Buxton (Twins) - .344 ... 10. Michael Reed - .302 ... 13. Tyrone Taylor - .297 14. Mitch Haniger - .297 OBP 1. Byron Buxton (Twins) - .431 2. Devin Travis (Tigers) - .423 ... 8. Mitch Haniger - .399 ... 16. Michael Reed - .383 SLG 1. Brandon Drury (D-Backs) - .564 2. Byron Buxton (Twins) - .561 ... 4. Mitch Haniger - .510 OPS 1. Byron Buxton (Twins) - .992 2. Jabari Henry (Mariners) - .927 ... 5. Mitch Haniger - .909 ... 22. Michael Reed - .802 Midwest League Pitching Leaders Looking at T-Rats in the top 20. ERA 1. Justin Hancock (Padres) - 1.73 2. Austin Blaski - 2.01 ... 22. Tyler Wagner - 3.32 SO 1. Robert Stephenson (Reds) - 85 2. Pierce Johnson (Cubs) - 74 ... 10. Tyler Wagner - 59 WHIP 1. Dylan Unsworth (Mariners) - .90 2. Jeff Ames (Rays) - .91 ... 10. Austin Blaski - 1.12 ... 15. Tyler Wagner - 1.18

Hmm, I looked at it 3 times today, they must have made an error and corrected it. There's still a chance then.

I thought posted this but apparently not as I don't see it in the thread. Local Opposition Could Hinder Biloxi Ballpark Project

Sad story for the fatality who was going the wrong direction but it could have been much worse. E-Twins involved in fatal bus crash

Did you click the link in my previous post? The little calculator next to each pick gives the total the Brewers can spend. Assigned Pick Values, Bonus Pools By Team lays out the penalties for being a certain percentage over the pool amount. I quoted the part relating directly to Denson.

How are ground ball pitchers less injury prone?