TheCrew07

Ha... well that's what I get, I look at twitter on the iphone, rarely on the computer, and it's been on the charger all night. Sorry Mass, and thank you for beating me to the punch as usual!

Is it too early to suggest that Jesus Sanchez be given a shot at a MLB bullpen role this season?

Kernels big first inning puts Rattlers behind the 8-ball Cedar Rapids wins game two 9-1 to sweep doubleheader By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - The Cedar Rapids Kernels scored eight runs in the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader at Perfect Game Field against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Tuesday night. The big inning allowed the Kernels to cruise to a 9-1 victory in the game a twinbill sweep. Cedar Rapids (9-3) sent twelve batters to the plate, cracked six hits, and scored eight runs in the bottom of the first to take immediate control of the game against Rattlers starting pitcher Jorge Lopez. Byron Buxton beat out an infield single to start the barrage. Tyler Grimes followed with a single. Jorge Polanco was next and his double drove in both runners. Dalton Hicks singled to put runners on the corners. Adam Brett Walker grounded into a force play at second that let Polanco score for a 3-0 lead. Then, Travis Harrison homered over the wall in left. His two-run line drive longball made it 5-0. Lopez would load the bases by hitting a batter and walking two before Buxton came to bat for the second time in the inning. Buxton doubled to drive in two runs and knock Lopez out of the game. Ryan Gibbard took over for Lopez with runners at second and third and one out. The second out of the inning came on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Grimes that scored a run to make it 8-0. The Kernels tacked on an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to a pair of errors and a passed ball. That made it 9-0. The Rattlers (4-6), who were shutout on seven hits in the first game of the doubleheader, had three hits through six innings and appeared to be headed to a second straight shutout. But, Michael Reed tripled to start the last inning for Wisconsin. Mitch Haniger got the run home with a grounder to third. But, the Rattlers would get no closer. The final game of the four game series in Cedar Rapids is scheduled for Wednesday. Preston Gainey (0-1, 18.00) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Kernels have Taylor Rogers (0-0, 0.00) as their scheduled starter. Game time is 6:35pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. HR: Travis Harrison (2nd, 1 on in 1st inning off Jorge Lopez, 1 out) WP: Tim Atherton (1-0) LP: Jorge Lopez (0-2) TIME: 1:51 ATTN: 611 Wisconsin Game 2 Boxscore Other than Michael Reed's triple in the final frame the only other positive on the night was Alfredo Rodriguez' 2-2 effort. The Rattlers pitched poorly, only had 4 hits, and played bad defense, this was as bad a game as they've played all season. Wisconsin Game 2 Recap Jorge Lopez has pitched 4.1 innings this season and has allowed 4 HRs in that span, I was looking forward to watching him pitch but at this rate I might not get the chance. Chris covered this in agonizing detail above but this was truly the game. Jorge made a good pitch to Buxton that turned into a fortunate base hit but the HR seemed to suck the life out of him, look at the all the free bases he allowed... especially after the HR. Cedar Rapids Bottom of the 1st Byron Buxton singles on a ground ball to shortstop Orlando Arcia. With Tyler Grimes batting, wild pitch by Jorge Lopez, Byron Buxton to 2nd. Tyler Grimes singles on a ground ball to left fielder Michael Reed. Byron Buxton to 3rd. With Jorge Polanco batting, wild pitch by Jorge Lopez, Tyler Grimes to 2nd. Jorge Polanco doubles (3) on a line drive to right fielder Mitch Haniger. Byron Buxton scores. Tyler Grimes scores. Dalton Hicks singles on a line drive to right fielder Mitch Haniger. Jorge Polanco to 3rd. Adam Walker grounds into a force out, shortstop Orlando Arcia to second baseman Alfredo Rodriguez. Jorge Polanco scores. Dalton Hicks out at 2nd. Adam Walker to 1st. Travis Harrison homers (2) on a fly ball to left field. Adam Walker scores. Niko Goodrum hit by pitch. Jhonatan Arias walks. Niko Goodrum to 2nd. Romy Jimenez walks. Niko Goodrum to 3rd. Jhonatan Arias to 2nd. Byron Buxton doubles (2) on a line drive to left fielder Michael Reed. Niko Goodrum scores. Jhonatan Arias scores. Romy Jimenez to 3rd. Pitching Change: Ryan Gibbard replaces Jorge Lopez. Tyler Grimes out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Tyrone Taylor. Romy Jimenez scores. Byron Buxton to 3rd. Jorge Polanco flies out to left fielder Michael Reed. Oddly Gameday fired up for Game 2. Wisconsin Game 2 Gameday

Lee shuts down Rattlers offense Rattlers drop game one 3-0 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - One night after the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers scored 14 runs against the Cedar Rapids Kernels, Brett Lee and Tyler Jones combined to shutout the Rattlers on seven hits. The Kernels took game one of a doubleheader with Wisconsin at Perfect Game Field 3-0. The Kernels (8-3) took the lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the third. JD Williams singled to right with one out and took second on an errant throw behind him at first base. Jorge Polanco got Williams home with a two-out single to right and the Kernels were up 1-0. Wisconsin (4-5) put a two-out rally together in the top of the fifth inning as Chris McFarland and Michael Reed had consecutive singles that put runners on the corners against Lee. But, the Kernels starter escaped the jam by getting a grounder to end the frame. In the top of the sixth, Parker Berberet and Clint Coulter also came up with back-to-back singles with two outs for the Rattlers. But, Lee got out of it again with a chopper back to the mound. Cedar Rapids added to their lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth against reliever Austin Blaski. The right-hander walked the first two batters of the inning and a one out single loaded the bases for the Kernels. Romy Jimenez followed with a single to score the first run of the inning. An error on a two out grounder off the bat of Williams let another insurance run score for the Kernels. Mike Garza doubled to start the Wisconsin seventh, but he was stranded there as Tyler Jones got the final three outs. Lee pitched six innings and scattered six hits to earn his second win of the season. He struck out three and walked none. WP: Brett Lee (2-0) LP: Brent Suter (0-1) SAVE: Tyler Jones (2) TIME: 1:40 Wisconsin Game 1 Boxscore Brent Suter deserved a better fate, the ill-advised Mitch Haniger throwing error in the 3rd was the difference in the game, the Rattler bats just couldn't string enough hits together. Orlando Arcia is in a mini-slump, he didn't make good contact in game 1 and has been dropped in the order for game 2. Haniger did have another double, his 5th XBH of the season thus far. Buxton left yesterday's game in the 7th, didn't play in game 1, but led off game 2 with a perfectly placed jam shot on the IF for a hit. I have a feeling I'm going to be really tired of that dude by the time he gets promoted. Wisconsin Game 1 Recap Nothing here worth noting beyond Chris' story.

Well Lopez is struggling to get anything going in the early part of this season, already a 5 spot in the 1st for the Kernels in game 2. Game 1 story up soon.

PG field is a wonderful facility, now the franchise has to get with it and least offer Gameday and/or video, come on Cedar Rapids! The T-Rats are down late 1-0 in game 1... losing on an unearned run to boot. As I'm typing the Kernels load the bases with 1 out in the bottom of 6. edit. Darn, McFarland came up just short of a ball up the middle, knocked it of the tip of his glove enough that Arcia could track it down but the Kernels extend their lead.

Actually since another motorist called 911 on him it must have been fairly obvious he was having issues to those that were on the road with him.

No divisional prospects in today's post Tuesday Prospect Notebook

Cingrani and Soler discussed, subscriber content. Minor League Opening Day Brings Explosion Of News

I'm not sure why you keep posting this misinformation. Shields is the only homegrown player that TB has spun off. TB built their pitching through trades, not through player development, and they didn't trade from a position of depth to acquire any of Garza, Jackson, or Kazmir. TB trades veteran MLB players for prospects, looking for future long-term production. Milwaukee trades prospects for short term veteran solutions, looking at short-term production. If you want to be technical, both teams have traded from depth, as Milwaukee's positional depth made LaPorta and Brantley expendable. Depth isn't the central issue for either team, and hasn't been. Unless you want to talk about lacking pitching depth and how TB chose to address the situation vs Milwaukee's lack of pitching depth which to this point has not been resolved and in my opinion should have been Melvin's focus since day 1 on the job. TB has been focused on building around long-term pitching solutions since Friedman took the helm, the Brewers have been playing whack-a-mole with roster holes since Melvin took the helm. The organizational philosophies of TB, PIT, SF, TX, or even STL are much different than what's going on here in WI. The Brewers have been and continue to operate on the exact opposite side of the coin than other competitive teams with a definable long-term strategy in place. The rest is going to be a more drawn out analysis of that last paragraph: It's not about depth, that's an oversimplification of very complex organization building issues, the issue is about maximizing the return from every asset within the organization. For example, I agree that locking up players early and buying out arbitration/FA years is a good idea, I've been championing it for a long time. However I vehemently argued against extending Axford and McGehee, in fact I wanted to flip both if possible, thank god they went year to year. Melvin has a taken a good concept for building a core player base and taken it to a bad place extending any player who's productive at the MLB level. Sometimes it will work out like with Lucroy and Braun, but for the most part it's been a rotten strategy... Helms, Clark, Hall, and I have serious concerns about Gomez for example. Every GM is going to miss in Free Agency but Melvin's FA record is pretty terrible. I personally think FA is a trap where you end up paying a player more for what he's done in the past than what he's going to do in the future. Look at all of the dead money Melvin has spent in FA over the years and the total WAR accumulated for that money spent; Cameron is arguably his best signing of all those players, hopefully Lohse turns out as well. Regardless we are paying much more for marginal win that the league average. Look objectively at every trade since the Sexson trade (which was about turning around a morbid MLB team since the farm system was loaded), where's any long-term impact pitching in any of those trades? Did he trade for equal value or move up in value like TB did to build their rotation? No, he's consistently taken players back with well defined floors, players who had a small likely hood of failure. Those are not bold moves, they are extremely conservative moves because they are all low risk, even trading for Marcum, Sabathia, and Greinke. All were low risk because the Brewers knew exactly what kind of performance they could expect from all 3 pitchers. Just because TH and other reporters call the moves "bold" in their stories doesn't make it so, none of Melvin's moves have carried much, if any risk. For example if the Brewers wouldn't have made the playoffs in 2008 everyone would have said, "at least he did something". Since they made the playoffs it's "we made the playoffs because of Sabathia". Either way the organization sells tickets and Melvin is the hero because he took action. Only a growing minority of posters opposed that trade on principle. People are satisfied with the Greinke trade because we got Segura back, but so far we gave up 2 middle of the diamond performers, and one of the better pitching prospects in baseball for a year and half of Greinke and Segura. Would the Brewers have been better off long-term with Escobar at short, Cain in CF (who had already outplayed Gomez), and Odorizzi in the rotation with Peralta and Gallardo vs Segura at short and hoping for something out of Hellweg (I do believe he's at least a bullpen arm) and Pena? That's the difference in philosophy, in my personal life I invest in my future, I live below my means, and when it comes to the Brewers, I tend to take a similar approach, I'm looking to maximize assets with a long-term outlook. I don't want to go back an rehash every Melvin trade, I've done that so many times it's not worth the time and effort to do it again. The evidence is pretty overwhelming, he's looking at the player's floor more than their ceiling and his marquees trade have all been for "sure things", all low risk. He's not bold, he's conservative, and he's never valued young pitching as much as he should. There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect was the mantra for many years in the early to mid part of 2000s, it was bogus then and it's bogus now. Young #2 pitchers have been and continue to be the best value in baseball, that should have been our trade focus, like it was for TB. It's the same for the playoffs.. yes we made the playoffs twice with our positional talent, but was that the best we could do? Making the playoffs twice, winning the division once, and winning 1 playoff series? I would certainly hope that's not our ceiling as a franchise, but based on Melvin's entire history as a GM including his time in TX, it appears that his philosophy of "best production for the available cost" will limit us to that. Why? Because most of our holes have been due to never building any pitching depth, instead he spends money on pitchers in FA that best case have been slightly above average. If your rotation is average, your ceiling as a team is average, you aren't going to win a championship when you have to beat 3 teams who all have superior pitching to your own. That was the case in 2008 and again in 2011, we were out pitched and in some cases the other team played superior defense as well. Maybe the most over-hyped Melvin attribute is his nugget mining when in fact all he does is continually bringing back players he already had a relationship with. He wasn't finding those guys (Kapler, Pods, Davis, etc), he's recycling them, just like he's doing with Yuni B right now. When looking objectively at Melvin's tenure what has he really done? He inherited Jack Z's entire staff (most of which are now gone), he inherited a ton of positional talent, but he knew he had no pitching and the best he could do for the rotation was to trade prospects for 4 for total years of 3 different proven MLB pitchers? To me that's an incredible waste, not just in resources by trading away assets for short-term solutions, but by failing to capitalize on all of the homegrown positional talent when we had it. 1 divisional crown and 1 playoff series win for all that talent? Just about any GM in baseball could have done that well with that much "free" talent any many would have gotten more back by simply just cycling the older talent out. I would agree that this organization building stuff is all about depth, but Melvin doesn't build it like TB, STL, TX, or even SF. He spends his depth to temporarily patch up a hole until another leak springs, he's nothing like the best GMs in the game, he's wasteful, he's conservative, and he's not an organization builder. He's above average at patching the MLB roster from year to year and that's about it. The Brewers spend all their money on the back end of player development, the MLB roster, where everyone can see it like the large market teams. The best organizations are spending more on the front end where only us internet nerds who follow prospects see it to build up a talent base, building homegrown depth, and are saving money on the MLB roster. The better large market teams like Texas are maximizing the return spending on both ends, though spending wisely on the MLB roster, unlike the Yankees and Angels for example. It's not about trading depth away, it's about building depth and cycling talent, and cycling talent is the key element that Melvin lacks as a GM. He's done it once and I actually really liked the second Greinke trade given the circumstances, I'm pretty high on Segura and Hellweg, but his hand was forced. He would have rather resigned Greinke than do anything else. If that had been the case now the difference would be Greinke instead of Lohse (who's pitched better than I had hoped, at least early) and some scrub to play SS in addition to the rest of our injuries, our positional roster would be more of a temporary disaster than it already is. You can't predict when an injury will happen and that's why having a strong organization is more important than just having the best MLB roster possible. When you don't have depth 1 or 2 key injuries or under performing players and your season is sunk because you have no other options.

Remember the good ole days when our stars were in the news for hitting HRs and pitching complete games? That was fun... Now it's PEDs, domestic violence, and DUI... Yo has never really taken a big jump forward, he's pretty much been the same 6 inning guy for years now, logically people are going to start asking questions about his drinking impacting his playing career. Given the resources at his disposal it's difficult to fathom being in that situation and I do realize that he's just a person who's going to make mistakes, but .22?

I'm not sure I'm digging this and normally I like teams stepping outside the box. The Astros are going to use tandem starters through AAA... how does a pitcher learn how to be a MLB pitcher if never pitches at least 7 innings in a minor league game? I really wish someone would pony up to have a highly regarded university study pitch counts and mechanics so we would get some definitive average ranges for innings, games, and seasons. Astros Turn To Tandem Starters

Subscriber piece discussing the WV squad Big-Money Talent Fills Pirates’ Low Class A Roster

Hmm, I'm not liking Gagnon's start at all, I was liking him as a mid to back of the rotation after watching him pitch last year. edit. Obviously there's still plenty of time for him to ascend this season, I was speaking specifically to his first 3 starts. He pitched awesome in BC last year and is basically repeating...

Rattlers crack Kernels Wisconsin crushes three homers in 14-2 rout at Cedar Rapids By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - The weather hasn't warmed up yet, but the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers offense brought the heat on Monday night. Wisconsin banged out sixteen hits, including three home runs, on the way to a 14-2 victory over the Cedar Rapids Kernels at Perfect Game Field. Tyrone Taylor and Michael Reed each drove in four runs for the Rattlers. Mike Garza, Jose Sermo, and Taylor all cranked their first home run of the year to get the Rattlers to the .500 mark for the season, Wisconsin (4-4) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Reed doubled with two outs to drive in Sermo for the early advantage. But, the Kernels (7-3) answered in the bottom of the second. Adam Brett Walker hit a home run over the wall in center to tie the game 1-1. Garza put the Rattlers back in front with a lead-off home run to left-center in the fourth. Chris McFarland followed with a triple to right-center. That would be the first of three hits on the night for McFarland. Reed pushed Wisconsin's lead to a pair of runs with a sacrifice fly to center that was deep enough to score McFarland. The Rattlers offense sent ten men to the plate in the top of the seventh inning and scored six runs to grab a big lead. Parker Berberet doubled and Clint Coulter walked with one out to set up the inning. Then, Sermo launched a three-run homer to left for a 6-1 lead. Garza and McFarland kept the hits coming with consecutive singles. Reed was next and he lined a triple to the corner in right field. Taylor finished off the streak of seven straight Rattlers to reach base with an RBI single and the Rattlers were up 9-1. Wisconsin poured it on in the top of the eighth. There were two runners on with two out and McFarland sent a fly ball deep to right field. Walker made a leaping attempt on the catch and the ball hit the heel of his glove. The play was ruled a three-base error and two runs scored. Reed would draw a walk to bring Taylor to the plate. Taylor lined a three-run homer to left and Wisconsin's lead was 14-1. Damien Magnifico was the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. He went five innings and allowed only one hit other than the homer by Walker. Magnifico walked none and struck out five. Leonard Lorenzo tossed three scoreless innings and struck out five in relief of Magnifico. The Kernels did score in the ninth on a solo homer by Dalton Hicks off Rodolfo Fernandez, but it was too late for the Kernels. The teams will play a doubleheader on Tuesday night in Cedar Rapids with game one starting at 5:00pm. Wisconsin will send Brent Suter to the mound as the starting pitcher on game one. Jorge Lopez is set to go in the nightcap. Cedar Rapids has named Brett Lee as their starting pitcher in game one, but had not announced their game two starter as of the writing of this article. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280m WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 4:40pm. HOME RUNS: WI: Mike Garza (1st, 0 on in 4th inning off David Hurlbut, 0 out) Jose Sermo (1st, 2 on in 7th inning off Matthew Tomshaw, 1 out) Tyrone Taylor (1st, 2 on in 8th inning off Josue Montanez, 2 out) CR: Adam Brett Walker (1st, 0 on in 2nd inning off Damien Magnifico, 1 out) Dalton Hicks (3rd, 0 on in 9th inning off Rodolfo Hernandez, 2 out) WP: Damien Magnifico (2-0) LP: David Hurlbut (1-1) TIME: 2:48 ATTN: 703 Wisconsin Boxscore What Chris didn't mention was this was actually the first time all season the Rattlers had double digit hits, and my goodness was it a hit parade. There was a ton of good contact which you could hear through the crowd mic, it was a joy to listen to this game. The only bad news from the entire contest was that Orlando Acria's hit streak came to an end, he only smoked 1 ball and it nearly carried over Buxton's head after he initially misjudged it. I would very much like Chris McFarland and Micheal Reed push themselves up farther in the line-up, it would be great to have legitimate prospects hitting 1-6 line-up... similar to the 2008 Huntsville line-up. Both McFarland and Reed had a 2B and a 3B in the game and it sounds like McFarland can really run. PG had McFarland's 60 time as 6.47 which is plus, just to provide some context I read somewhere that Hamilton ran a 6.22. For those that don't follow the draft and scouting an average time would be in the 6.7-6.9 range. Wisconsin Recap This is worth a look, the young Minnesota pitchers weren't fooling anyone, look at how busy the left side of the diamond was... All the more impressive is the fact that Rattlers haven't had on field batting practice in a week. Jose Sermo says, "What up?!" The 7th in all it's glory. Wisconsin Top of the 7th Mitch Haniger pops out to shortstop Niko Goodrum. Parker Berberet doubles (2) on a line drive to left fielder J. D. Williams. Clint Coulter walks. Jose Sermo homers (1) on a fly ball to left field. Parker Berberet scores. Clint Coulter scores. Mike Garza singles on a ground ball to right fielder Adam Walker. Christopher McFarland singles on a line drive to left fielder J. D. Williams. Mike Garza to 3rd. Christopher McFarland advances to 2nd, on a fielding error by left fielder J. Michael Reed triples (1) on a fly ball to right fielder Adam Walker. Mike Garza scores. Christopher McFarland scores. Tyrone Taylor singles on a fly ball to right fielder Adam Walker. Michael Reed scores. Pitching Change: Josue Montanez replaces Matt Tomshaw. Orlando Arcia grounds into a force out, shortstop Niko Goodrum to second baseman Jorge Polanco. Tyrone Taylor out at 2nd. Orlando Arcia to 1st. Mitch Haniger grounds into a force out, shortstop Niko Goodrum to second baseman Jorge Polanco. Orlando Arcia out at 2nd. Taylor's blast was Weeksesque, a line drive rocket to LF, McFarland was probably robbed of a triple by the official score keeper, Chris didn't agree with the scoring. Wisconsin Top of the 8th Defensive Substitution: Romy Jimenez replaces center fielder Byron Buxton, batting 1st, playing left field. Defensive switch from left field to center field for J. Williams. Parker Berberet walks. Clint Coulter strikes out swinging. Jose Sermo singles on a line drive to center fielder J. D. Williams. Parker Berberet to 2nd. Mike Garza pops out to first baseman Dalton Hicks on the infield fly rule. Christopher McFarland reaches on a fielding error by right fielder Adam Walker. Parker Berberet scores. Jose Sermo scores. Christopher McFarland to 3rd. Michael Reed walks. Tyrone Taylor homers (1) on a fly ball to left field. Christopher McFarland scores. Michael Reed scores. Orlando Arcia grounds out, shortstop Niko Goodrum to first baseman Dalton Hicks.

In depth discussion of the possibility of Houston selecting former Pirates #1 pick Appel starts about 1 page down followed by a question regarding Taveras vs Profar and more in depth analysis. Ask BA: What Leverage Does Appel Have?

I wouldn't think so, but using him as a starter in the minors provides him with greater opportunity to work on all of his pitches during games as well as side bullpen sessions to work on his command/stuff.

Chris mentioned a 99 mph FB earlier in the game on 2 strike count, Damien's arm certainly isn't in question.

Same way offensive side... Brett Carroll who's too old to be considered a prospect (this isn't a prospect based award system though) makes the list for the Pirates. James Ramsey a CF prospect for the Cards and Stetson Allie who's now a 1B for the Pirates also make the list. Offensive Players of the Week

MiLB's weekly awards feature continue... Ryan Searle a Cubs' prospect is the only divisional winner Pitchers of the Week

Less than shocking feature... IL notes: Cingrani on fast track to Cincy

This was pretty interesting, many divisional mentions 2013 Big League Debuts And Their Signing Scouts

Hooray for bad weather... Weather Spoils Wisconsin’s Opening Week

Nope, an organizational uniform appearance policy, this goes back all the way to the first year of the T-Rats being a Brewer affiliate, I was discussing the policy with both sets of pitchers who were charting pitches one summer evening behind home plate. The Brewers had a policy but the opposing team did not, I no longer remember who they were affiliated with at the time, I want to say it was the Angels but I'm not sure. As a coach for many reasons that I won't go into here I'm in favor of standard appearance guidelines, if nothing else at least you have a professional appearance going for you. Ohh, and I like the high pants look myself and always have, and I honestly miss leggings. Old school all the way baby!

Stetson Allie who was featured by MiLB over the weekend discussed here. Monday Minor League Prospect Notebook