TheCrew07

Orlando is a tooth pick, his build is reminiscent of Escobar. He's been making much better contact lately and of the hits I've seen over the course of the season, most were line drives so he squares up the ball well. Will he develop power? I doubt it, because the Brewers don't seem to push the weight room, but he could. He could easily tack on 20-30 lbs of muscle without impacting his defensive game which would likely transform him offensively. However, he could eventually end up in that 8-12 HR range if his body fill outs naturally. His brother Oswaldo topped out at 17 HRs in the minors, I'd be thrilled if Orlando hit that many given the rest of his game as he runs well, has a strong arm, and has the potential to be plus a defender at defense first position. He does have a very nice eye and now that he appears to be relaxing more he doesn't chase out of the zone much. He'll easily carry an OBP .050 higher than his average so if can reach a SLG in the mid .400s in that .440-.460 range he'd be pretty valuable offensively as well. I think we'll have a much better idea how to project him by the end of the season. He did hit 6 HR in just 64 games in the DSL so there's at least a little juice in that bat that hasn't shown itself so far this year. My only 2 questions about Arcia at this point are will he hit enough and how much power will he develop? I'm actually fairly certain he'll hit for a high average when he settles in, but he looked so out of sync for about a month that I'm not willing to make any definitive statements about him yet.

Twist things much? Estrada, Gallardo, Axford, Fiers, and Figaro are not rookies and are not young. Yes young pitchers will be up and down but this was a winnable game when Burgos left, and for his line it should really only be 2 ER, nor should his ERA have been ballooned the way it was, he was a sacrificial lamb which horribly skews his season given so few starts. I don't see how this season can be remotely blamed on young players when injuries to older players and older players under performing are as much to blame as anything. While Lohse is pitching fine, the team isn't playing well when he starts for whatever reason. While it's certainly not his fault, he's hardly had a net positive impact on the team to this point. Even with the 2 blown saves the team would be under .500 in his starts. I would say that this is what happens when you don't have legit pitching and an aging roster.

For me there's more to this than just K-Rod the baseball player. He whined about not closing when he knew he wasn't going to get much of an opportunity. He's had multiple domestic abuse incidents. His FB is basically gone, his mechanics stink, he was never able to locate very well, and he's essentially just an effectively wild breaking ball specialist at this point in his career. We had 40 man roster solutions that make more sense not only for this season but moving forward as an organization as well. Finally, 2011 was not "pretty much the same" unless you conveniently ignore his declining stuff and you believe in FIP as a true representation of his pitching performance.

That's your prerogative but I wasn't saying an AA player was even unavailable, I honestly didn't take the time to look yesterday nor did I research it in the past, I never expected to move Lawrie for that little of a return in the first place. I gave up on Melvin after 2009 and quit looking for younger solutions because it was a waste of my time to put effort into that issue. I was simply using an example that an alternative solution could have worked out better long-term. As for the "prospects fail" hyperbole that is bandied about this forum constantly, can we please move past that type of throw away statement? It's meaningless, every MLB player was once a prospect. Yes prospects fail for all different kinds of reasons but that's actually the argument to have more of them, not less. Of course you do realize that Segura was "AA guy" when we acquired him last season right? We've attacked these issues from just about every angle possible. I used it to do it trade by trade, many posters have pointed out the aggregate pitching result as well as the aggregate MLB team performance, we've pointed out the state of the organization as we've risen, leveled off, and now might be facing a decline. I'm honestly not sure what's left or a different way to make the same arguments again from a different perspective. The philosophies of organization and team building from Melvin's team simply haven't worked. We have an aging top heavy roster, MLB positional depth that's years away other than 1B, and fringe high upside pitching. 2 playoff appearances and 1 playoff series win is/was meaningless if that was our high point with all of the positional talent we had assembled. How does it get better from here? Where do we go? I don't think all hope is lost, there are possible moves which have been discussed that would have little impact on this season and set us up for a better future. The problem is that Melvin has never demonstrated a willingness to head down that road, and signing Lohse was yet further evidence of this regime's unwillingness to look past the season directly in front of them until there's no hope... then it's okay to sell or look ahead to next year, but not past next year... This is where we are: below .500 with questionable pitching once again, no first round pick, an aging core, and very little depth. We certainly didn't have to arrive at this point, the organization's path could have led down a different road. 1 or 2 men have made decisions which had the domino effect of putting us here. Mark A has been good for the franchise but if he's the driving factor behind many of these FA pitching acquisitions then he's as much a part of the problem as Melvin is. And If Mark A. is that kind of owner, then I don't hold out much hope because they can always find away to piss away more money on backloaded and/or deferred deals until this all falls apart the way it did for the Red Sox, Dodgers, and Cubs. The reality of sports in the modern era is that you need to turn over your roster to remain competitive, you can either embrace that fact as Pittsburgh and Green Bay do in football or Tampa Bay and Texas do in baseball, or you rage against it overpaying proven vets until their performance collapses because of age, injury, or both and then you essentially need to tear it all down and start over. I've never wanted to rebuild, I don't want to rebuild in the future, I've vehemently argued against the path this organization has been on because that's where we're heading. People can and will rationalize support for Melvin but the simple truth is that the best decision he made when getting hired was to retain Jack Z, but just about everything since has put the organization into a downward trend. The MLB performance continued to peak as the positional prospects graduated to MLB and matured into valuable and productive players, well at least when there was enough short term solution pitching on the roster, but the organization as a whole peaked around 2006-7 and it's been a slow and steady decline since.

Well at least the title made me chuckle, nice work Chris. Are you reading Chris' pre and post game work? If not why not?! Linguistically frustrated – Postgame post for May 16, 2013

Quad Cities survives late Rattler rally Bandits get by Wisconsin 3-1 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had a frustrating Thursday afternoon in a 3-1 loss to the Quad Cities River Bandits at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Bandits scored all the runs they needed in the fifth inning and held off a pair of late comeback attempts by the home team. Quad Cities (23-16) scored three times in the top of the fifth inning. The first two batters reached on a walk and a single against Wisconsin starting pitcher Austin Blaski. Teoscar Hernandez was next and he bunted up the third base line for a sacrifice attempt. Blaski fielded the ball and had a play at third for the force out, but he threw wildly and the ball wound up in left field. The runner scored and the Bandits had runners on second and third with no outs by the time the ball was retrieved. Carlos Correa made it 2-0 with an RBI grounder. Miles Hamblin singled in Hernandez for a 3-0 lead. The Timber Rattlers (18-19) got a run in the bottom of the fifth. Orlando Arcia singled to start the inning. Tyrone Taylor doubled in Arcia to cut the Quad Cities lead to 3-1 and put a runner at second with no outs. But, the Rattlers would strand Taylor on the bases in the fifth. Wisconsin tried to put together a rally in the seventh as Arcia and Taylor singled with one out to put runners on the corners. Then, Michael Reed hit a line drive that was ticketed for the left field corner. But, third baseman Ryan Dineen made a backhanded grab of the liner for the second out. Wisconsin would strand both Arcia and Taylor to end the inning. In the ninth, Arcia walked with one out and Reed walked with two outs. Both walks were against Quad Cities closer John Neely. Mitch Haniger, who had three hits in the game, worked the count to 3-2 and lashed a wicked grounder to third that deflected off Dineen into short left field. However, the ball caromed to Correa, who threw the ball back to Dineen at third base as Arcia had rounded the bag too far. Arcia tried to make it to the plate, but was out for going out of the baseline as he tried to avoid the tag and that was how the game ended. Wisconsin outhit the River Bandits 9-7 and stranded eleven runners in the game. The Timber Rattlers begin a 13-game, 14-day road trip with a game against the Burlington Bees at Community Field in Burlington, Iowa on Friday night. Ryan Gibbard (2-1, 2.03) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Reid Scoggins (0-1, 1.29) is set 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. WP: Mike Hauschild (2-0) LP: Austin Blaski (2-1) SAVE: John Neely (7) TIME: 2:35 ATTN: 3,469 Wisconsin Boxscore Well that was tough way to lose. I am happy with Tyrone Taylor and Orlando Arcia putting up 2 hit efforts, not to mention Mitch Haniger's 3 hit day. It occurred to me as I was driving around yesterday that maybe Haniger is still in WI to be a "steadying" factor, kind of a role model for the younger guys as they progress through the start of their first full season of professional baseball. If that's the case, I can get behind it. Normally I would say Austin Blaski got a raw deal but he committed 2 errors and the big one which allowed the majority of the damage in the 5th to take place. Jonathan Armold has some interesting peripherals going through his first 3 games. I'll have to keep an eye on him and see what he throws. Wisconsin Recap Both halves of the 5th. Quad Cities Top of the 5th Austin Elkins walks. Jordan Scott singles on a ground ball to left fielder Tyrone Taylor. Austin Elkins to 2nd. Teoscar Hernandez reaches on a force attempt, throwing error by pitcher Austin Blaski. Austin Elkins scores. Jordan Scott to 3rd. Teoscar Hernandez to 2nd. Carlos Correa grounds out, second baseman Christopher McFarland to first baseman Adam Giacalone. Jordan Scott scores. Teoscar Hernandez to 3rd. Miles Hamblin singles on a line drive to left fielder Tyrone Taylor. Teoscar Hernandez scores. With Jesse Wierzbicki batting, passed ball by Clint Coulter, Miles Hamblin to 2nd. Jesse Wierzbicki grounds out, pitcher Austin Blaski to first baseman Adam Giacalone. Miles Hamblin to 3rd. Ryan Dineen flies out to left fielder Tyrone Taylor. Wisconsin Bottom of the 5th Orlando Arcia singles on a ground ball to second baseman Austin Elkins. Tyrone Taylor doubles (8) on a line drive to left fielder Jordan Scott. Orlando Arcia scores. Michael Reed grounds out, shortstop Carlos Correa to first baseman Jesse Wierzbicki. Pitching Change: Mike Hauschild replaces Colton Cain. Mitch Haniger singles on a line drive to left fielder Jordan Scott. Tyrone Taylor to 3rd. Victor Roache grounds into a double play, shortstop Carlos Correa to second baseman Austin Elkins to first baseman Jesse Wierzbicki. Mitch Haniger out at 2nd. As Chris noted the T-Rats had opportunities to take this game back with runners in scoring position through each of the last 3 frames. Wisconsin Bottom of the 7th Jose Sermo lines out to third baseman Ryan Dineen. Orlando Arcia singles on a ground ball to center fielder Teoscar Hernandez. Tyrone Taylor singles on a line drive to center fielder Teoscar Hernandez. Orlando Arcia to 3rd. With Michael Reed batting, Tyrone Taylor steals (9) 2nd base. Michael Reed lines out to third baseman Ryan Dineen. Mitch Haniger flies out to right fielder Ariel Ovando. Wisconsin Bottom of the 8th Victor Roache strikes out swinging, catcher Roberto Pena to first baseman Jesse Wierzbicki. Adam Giacalone flies out to left fielder Jordan Scott. Christopher McFarland singles on a line drive to right fielder Ariel Ovando. With Clint Coulter batting, Christopher McFarland steals (3) 2nd base. Clint Coulter grounds out, third baseman Ryan Dineen to first baseman Jesse Wierzbicki. Wisconsin Bottom of the 9th Pitching Change: John Neely replaces Mike Hauschild. Jose Sermo strikes out swinging. Orlando Arcia walks. Tyrone Taylor pops out to first baseman Jesse Wierzbicki in foul territory. Michael Reed walks. Orlando Arcia to 2nd. Mitch Haniger reaches on a fielding error by third baseman Ryan Dineen. Michael Reed to 2nd. Orlando Arcia out at home, shortstop Carlos Correa to third baseman Ryan Dineen to catcher Roberto Pena. Wisconsin Gameday

Subscriber piece. July 2 Preview: Four Venezuelan Names To Remember

I posted on this concept numerous times over the last 5 years so I'll try to quickly summarize key points. Extending Segura is a must if he's willing, it takes 2 to tango so hopefully he's amenable. The Brewers have to change their thinking on Latin America. Since the Brewers cannot compete dollar with the large markets for impact MLB talent, Milwaukee needs a larger base of talent. Even though LA is rife with corruption the Brewers have to do a better job injecting young talent into the system. In a year like this where there's no 1st round pick, the slack could easily be picked up in LA, the Brewers have never come close to maxing out their international bonus pool number (new concept, see the draft forum for details) in any year since of I've been following this site. Given the need for impact pitching and the organization's horrible track record in that regard I would look around for scouts that have done very well identifying pitching talent and hire a couple to fill newly created positions such as regional pitching crosscheckers. Any of number of changes to the scouting side could provide better results but as I don't have a window to the exact process with the Brewers it's difficult to comment in great deal. Again not being able to compete on the backend dollar wise I'd be looking to spend more up front. If it's more scouts, more crosscheckers, different people, a different scouting director... I'd be willing to spend more to bring better talent into the organization. I would build around pitching first, the Brewers have been a bat first team for far too long and it's not working. To that end I would look to acquire as much young pitching talent as possible each year. I would not limit my trade possibilities to the best available MLB player, I would rather look towards acquiring the best possible package in each trade instance. In effect no quantity deals... ever. No more rental players or short term solutions. I want to solve problems, not temporarily patch them. I would take a serious look at some of the medical personnel throughout the organization and make changes. There's no reason a professional athletic trainer doesn't do a knee stability test that any high school trainer can do before sending an athlete back onto the field and other numerous incidents over the years, especially on the MiLB side. I would hire a nutritionist for every level and I would change the locker room spreads at all levels. I would increase the Per Diem on the minor league side so the players could afford to eat something other than fast food. On the minor league side I would also provide the players with 2 meals per day. I would look at buying a AAA and AA franchise so I can control over what happens with the facilities at the 2 most important levels. Weight training, indoor practice facilities, locker room, training/rehab additions would be my primary focus. Instead of encouraging players to participate in winter ball I would institute mandatory off season training programs to force them to become better athletes through strength/core/flexibility/speed training with an individualized regime for each player regardless of position. I'd like to keep them active but let them get away from baseball and reset mentally, the days of players coming back having put on 15 lbs of bad weight should be over. It's time that the Brewers catch up with modern athletic athletic development. If a player wants to skate bye on natural talent and god given frame he's not my kind of guy and I'd look to move him. I would cease signing players in their early to mid 30s to any contract extensions or contracts greater than 2 years. I would instead focus on providing a robust talent base behind that MLB team that can continually provide options to the MLB club. This should enable a more evenly spread out payroll as opposed to the top heavy nature of the current situation, ensure the club remains competitive year in and year out by providing a constant flow of young talent, provide enough depth to cover major injuries, provide more trade options to fill holes if the system fails to develop players a key position, like 3B for example, and finally provide enough financial flexibility that the team isn't always riding the profitability line. Winning puts butts in the seats, the best way to remain competitive is to not operate on a "yearly" basis, I want to get away from the practice of focusing on patching the MLB roster from season to season with overpriced and declining players. Fans might not like the lack of national headlines or lack of moves in Free Agency, but I firmly believe that in many ways FA is a trap where you end up paying a player for what he's done rather than what he's going to do. To that end they might walk away initially, but they'll come back when the team starts winning. I'm not looking to play the organization building game the way it's advertised on ESPN and MLB network, to beat the teams with much greater resources we have to exploit the weaknesses in the system. Baseball is the only major sport where young cost controlled players are freely given away for aging "proven" players, I'd like to exploit that fact by being more aggressive. Most every player should be on the trading block at all times for the proper return, I'm not into arbitrarily waiting until the deadline or the player's final contract year. If there's a move out there which can maintain performance in one season and set me up for more future success, I'm going to entertain that deal 9 times out of 10.

PG Pre-Draft Top Prospects Just a reminder that PG continues to post in depth player profiles and state by state prospect lists. Please check the excellent Draft Section regularly as there is simply too much information to link here.

Top 100 Draft Flashback: Impact Players, Notable Flops

No divisional prospects Thursday Prospect Notebook: Max Fried Extends Scoreless Streak

Actually it's our money, or rather you people that still buy tickets and attend the games it's your money, as I dropped my ticket package in 2010 since that's really the only way to make my voice heard. Mark A. pays no payroll out of his own pocket, the team pays the players and in the case of last year when they end up in the red has to take on more debt to cover the difference. I don't mean to start of philosophical debate on the escalating value of the franchise vs any more incurred debt. I'm merely pointing out again that very few owners in any sport actually stick their own money into the payroll. The team spends the money that we as fans give them plus whatever other revenue streams they can drum up. Melvin is spending the team's revenue which in reality is our money, not Mark A's.

The Rattler game from MiLB.com's perspective, unfortunately Correa is going to get a lot of press when he does well and as Chris noted in the blog recap he's tuning up WI pitching so far this season. Healthy Correa keeps hits coming

Cubs' RHP prospect Tayler Scott highlighted here, nice story. Scott, Cougars combine on three-hitter

Final: Quad Cities (Astros) 9, Wisconsin 4 Quad Cities tops Timber Rattlers Bandits bang out 14 hits to stop Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Quad Cities River Bandits used a pair of four run innings to push their way past the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Wednesday night with a 9-4 win at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Teoscar Hernandez led the way for the Bandits with four hits, three runs, and an RBI. Related Content Quad Cities (22-16) scored first. Hernandez singled to lead off the game. Miles Hamblin doubled to right with one out to drive in Hernandez for a 1-0 advantage. The Timber Rattlers (18-18) rallied with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. They loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of walks and an error. Alfredo Rodriguez, Brent Dean, and Orlando Arcia delivered consecutive RBI singles to put the Rattlers up 3-1. Tyrone Taylor grounded into a force out at second base and that got another run home for a 4-1 lead. But, Quad Cities answered with a pair of four run innings to take a 9-4 lead. Their first four-spot was in the top of the fifth inning. Rattlers starter Leonard Lorenzo gave up a walk and a single to the first two batters of the inning. Hernandez singled in the first run and chased Lorenzo from the game. Carlos Correa greeted Taylor Mangum to the game with an RBI single. Miles Hamblin followed with another RBI single to tie the game and put runners on the corners with no outs. Mangum got Jesse Wierzbicki to ground into a 6-3 double play, but the run from third scored to put Quad Cities up 5-4. The River Bandits pulled away with four more runs in the top of the sixth inning against Damien Magnifico. Brian Balsik was at first with one out. He stole second on a pitch that went to the backstop. Blasik took off for third and drew a throw that wound up in left field to allow him to score. Roberto Peña would double and take third on a grounder for the second out of the inning. But, a wild pitch by Magnifico let Peña score. Then, Hernandez singled. An error on the play let him take second. Correa doubled, his third hit of the night, to drive in Hernandez for an 8-4 lead. Wierzbicki would single later in the inning to drive in Correa for the final run of the game. Quad Cities outhit the Timber Rattlers 14-9 and drew ten walks against Wisconsin pitching. Arcia had three hits, stole a base, and drove in a run for the Timber Rattlers. Michael Reed had a pair of hits and moved his hitting streak to nine games for Wisconsin. The final game of the series and the homestand is Thursday afternoon. Wisconsin has Austin Blaski (2-0, 1.44) as the scheduled starting pitcher. Quad Cities counters with Colton Cain (1-4, 7.96). Game time is 12:05pm. The first 1,000 fans to attend Thursday's game will receive a poster of Timber Rattlers pitcher Damien Magnifico courtesy of Dunkin Donuts. Thursday is a Baker Tilly Business Person Special with WVBO and WNAM. A business card and $11.50 will get you a box seat ticket, your choice of beverage, and your choice of a brat or a hot dog. This offer is also available to seniors aged 55 and older. Arty's Old Fashioned Drinks also present a Thirsty Thursday with 95.9 KISS-FM. Soda, Beer, and Arty's Old Fashioned Drinks are available for $2 during the game. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 11:45am. Thursday's game is also available on MiLB.TV. WP: Michael Dimock (5-0) LP: Taylor Mangum (1-3) SAVE: Daniel Minor 91) TIME: 3:31 ATTN: 4,502 Chris goes old school with tonight's post game quote, a most unexpected source if I may... Rearview Mirror – Postgame post for May 15, 2013 Wisconsin Boxscore This was a forgettable pitching performance, nothing more really needs to said on that front, let's just move on. Clint Coulter was the beneficiary of another night off but Brent Dean struggled in his place committing an error and 2 passed balls. The T-Rats had 3 errors in total tonight which made me curious where they ranked in the league defensively. Coming into today's action they were tied with 2 other teams for 6th worst having committed 46 errors in 35 games. Lake County is the current bottom dweller with 63 errors in 36 games. However the Rattler catching trio has committed the most passed balls with 17. Lansing and Dayton are right there with 16 and 15 respectively. When you add it all together and adjust for number of games... well it's really late and I'm extremely tired so my math might be shoddy but I'm pretty sure the young T-Rats are bottom 3. Wisconsin Recap I was following the game via twitter from up north and this made me happy. Wisconsin Bottom of the 4th Victor Roache walks. Adam Giacalone reaches on a force attempt, fielding error by shortstop Carlos Correa. Victor Roache to 3rd. Christopher McFarland walks. Adam Giacalone to 2nd. Alfredo Rodriguez singles on a ground ball to left fielder Jordan Scott. Victor Roache scores. Adam Giacalone to 3rd. Christopher McFarland to 2nd. Brent Dean singles on a line drive to center fielder Teoscar Hernandez. Adam Giacalone scores. Christopher McFarland to 3rd. Alfredo Rodriguez to 2nd. Pitching Change: Michael Dimock replaces Mitchell Lambson. Orlando Arcia singles on a line drive to left fielder Jordan Scott. Christopher McFarland scores. Alfredo Rodriguez to 3rd. Brent Dean to 2nd. Tyrone Taylor grounds into a force out, shortstop Carlos Correa to second baseman Brian Blasik. Alfredo Rodriguez scores. Brent Dean to 3rd. Orlando Arcia out at 2nd. Tyrone Taylor to 1st. With Michael Reed batting, Tyrone Taylor steals (8) 2nd base. Michael Reed strikes out swinging. Mitch Haniger strikes out swinging. Back to back tweets about 4 run innings for the bad guys made me consume another beverage or two. Quad Cities Top of the 5th Roberto Pena walks. Jordan Scott singles on a ground ball to right fielder Michael Reed. Roberto Pena to 2nd. With Teoscar Hernandez batting, passed ball by Brent Dean, Roberto Pena to 3rd. Jordan Scott to 2nd. Teoscar Hernandez singles on a line drive to right fielder Michael Reed. Roberto Pena scores. Jordan Scott to 3rd. Pitching Change: Taylor Mangum replaces Leonard Lorenzo. Carlos Correa singles on a ground ball to shortstop Orlando Arcia. Jordan Scott scores. Teoscar Hernandez to 2nd. Miles Hamblin singles on a ground ball to right fielder Michael Reed. Teoscar Hernandez scores. Carlos Correa to 3rd on the throw. Jesse Wierzbicki grounds into a double play, shortstop Orlando Arcia to first baseman Adam Giacalone. Carlos Correa scores. Miles Hamblin out at 2nd. Rio Ruiz pops out to shortstop Orlando Arcia in foul territory. Quad Cities Top of the 6th Pitching Change: Damien Magnifico replaces Taylor Mangum. Brian Blasik walks. Terrell Joyce strikes out swinging. With Roberto Pena batting, Brian Blasik steals (2) 2nd base, . Wild pitch by pitcher Damien Magnifico. Throwing error by catcher Brent Dean. Roberto Pena doubles (6) on a fly ball to left fielder Victor Roache. Jordan Scott grounds out, third baseman Alfredo Rodriguez to first baseman Adam Giacalone. Roberto Pena to 3rd. With Teoscar Hernandez batting, wild pitch by Damien Magnifico, Roberto Pena scores. Teoscar Hernandez singles on a ground ball to third baseman Alfredo Rodriguez. Teoscar Hernandez advances to 2nd, on a throwing error by third baseman Alfredo Rodriguez. Carlos Correa doubles (4) on a fly ball to center fielder Mitch Haniger. Teoscar Hernandez scores. Miles Hamblin walks. Jesse Wierzbicki singles on a ground ball to center fielder Mitch Haniger. Carlos Correa scores. Miles Hamblin to 2nd. Rio Ruiz strikes out swinging. The T-Rats had a chance to answer back after the Quad City 5th but came up empty. Wisconsin Bottom of the 5th Victor Roache strikes out swinging. Adam Giacalone doubles (6) on a fly ball to left fielder Jordan Scott. Christopher McFarland walks. Alfredo Rodriguez strikes out swinging. Brent Dean hit by pitch. Adam Giacalone to 3rd. Christopher McFarland to 2nd. Orlando Arcia called out on strikes. Wisconsin Gameday

Why can't that be flipped around? How do you know he shopped Lawrie at all and didn't jump on the first offer because it was for "effective veteran" pitching? We all know Melvin's trading MO, and the problem here goes beyond if Marcum was the best veteran pitching option available or not. I wanted Marcum bad prior to his 2008 injury and then I wanted no part of him, it was like bad joke to the use organization's best hitting prospect to acquire him for just 2 years after I repeatedly argued that either Marcum or McGowan should have been the targets of the Overbay trade. We historically had no pitching, we weren't developing pitching, so our best options were 2 injury plagued years from Marcum, 1.5 years of Grienke, and 4 months of Sabathia? How did those moves solve anything? Why would you limit yourself to expensive veteran players just to continually have to plug the same holes over and over? The answer is simple, there's no long-term plan in place here, it's just whack-a-mole with empty roster spots filling them as best as Melvin can each year. I would have rather done a AA prospect swap than acquire Marcum post injury, that pitcher would have started in AAA and could been in Milwaukee for the second half of 2011 and would still be pitching for us now. It's disheartening that people think 2 playoff appearances and 1 win playoff series win mean Melvin's done even a good job as Milwaukee's GM over the last 6 years. Apparently it's very easy to forget that if the Mets don't completely collapse the Brewers don't make the playoffs at all in 2008, Sabathia or not. Would the excuse have been, "well at least he tried..."? The idea that Marucm was the best solution for the team's pitching needs is the problem. I'm not a huge Lawrie fan, in fact I think he's a jerk, and it won't bother me if he goes the way of LaPorta before him. What I do mind is continually wasting assets for short-term solutions regardless of how good they were, I want to solve problems, not temporarily patch them. How many rental player moves did Melvin make? What was the net effect? Why is it okay he never looked to build a young rotation to go with the young hitting he was gifted? Simple truth is that our pitching was terrible prior to his arrival, has continued to stink since he's been here, and I'm not certain the future is going to be any better. People continue to rationalize Melvin's trade history but the numbers don't lie, we've never had enough pitching to make a serious run at anything and we're back to the bottom of the barrel again this year. Melvin has some fine qualities but identifying, trading for, and building around pitching is not even remotely one of his strengths as evidenced by the woeful pitching performances of both Texas and Milwaukee during his tenure. He'd be much better off in a large market where could just buy whatever he needs, in Milwaukee he's just squandered our limited resources year in and year out.

Tony Sanchez, Alen Hanson, and Nick Kingham of the Pirates plus Jesse Winker of the Reds discussed. Prospect Notebook: Taijuan Walker Showing Consistency In 2013

A timely article on the subject from BA. Will New Ballparks Follow New Owners In Las Vegas, Augusta?

Sure you can, but it's not just about Segura because then we'd have Odorizzi, Escobar, and Cain. Odorizzi would be in the rotation for us, we'd still have an excellent defender at SS in Escobar, Lohse wouldn't be around, and we'd still have a 1st round pick this season... and the domino effect goes on and on. Picking up Segura who everyone apparently undervalued doesn't justify continually trading for short term pitching. We're as fortunate to have Segura as we are to have Aoki who Milwaukee didn't even scout. I'm thrilled to have Segura, I have no issues with flipping Greinke, I just wouldn't have targeted him, Marcum, or Sabathia in the first place. Having made different moves we'd certainly have a different team than we do now but I have a hard time believing we'd be worse off from a pitching standpoint, in fact I think we'd actually be better all the way around. I know people valued the playoff appearance in 2008 or think that Melvin made the only moves he could but I just don't feel that way.

Cubs' CF prospect Matt Szczur featured here Smokies' Szczur making his own luck

A nice Jed Bradley feature from MiLB FSL notes: Bradley gets back on track

subscriber piece Clubs Wondering Where All The First Base Prospects Went

It's possible but unlikely that's the cause of his low K rate, every pitcher in the minors is focusing on specific pitches, mechanics, and so on. There are no finished products just pushing their way up ladder, those guys are usually college "once in a generation types" like Strasburg and Prior, they don't come around all that often and don't spend much time in the minors to begin with. I don't buy the "he's working on stuff" excuse because every minor league pitcher is working on stuff, even the top prospects. At some point, hopefully by the time they reach AA, results start to match potential or the player isn't much of a prospect. The season is young and Taylor's possible MLB career is still in front of him but even a ground ball specialist like Brandon Webb had career K rate over 7 in the majors and a K rate over 8 in the minors. I'm a K rate guy, I think that's one of the better predictors of future success which is why I don't fall all over myself for players like Jungmann and Hall who have K rates in that 5-6 range. Taylor Jungmann Jimmy Nelson Statistically and stuff wise Nelson and Jungmann are far apart. They both throw a heavy 2 seam, but Jungmann had better control coming into professional baseball while Nelson had better stuff, he at least had a plus secondary offering coming out of college. Right now Nelson's K rate is almost twice Jungmann's at the same level while Nelson's BB rate has significantly dropped off and Jungmann's has climbed to over 5. Nelson is a year older but in the context of this discussion I don't think that means all that much. The telling part of that article to me was Jungmann's quote about not worrying about the walks because 3 of those guys he was trying to strike out anyway. First that's kind of backwards logic to start with, I know what he's getting at but regardless you put a guy on base without him having to swing his bat which means you had no chance to record an out. Second he "is" trying to strike guys out by getting players to chase pitches out of the zone and it's not working all that well which suggests that his stuff isn't that good, or he's not locating it well enough, or some combination there of. I realize we desperately need Jungmann to succeed, but if he wasn't a first round pick, if he was drafted out of HS like Hall, would anyone really be talking about him given his stuff and peripheral numbers? Don't get me wrong I like Hall as a pitching prospect, but who's posting about him as a potential #2?

Very interesting Up-The-Middle Players Narrow Production Gap With Big League First Basemen

Prospects/Draft Chat With Jim Callis