TheCrew07

Pretty sure Melvin gets credit for his signing. I hope people are starting to realize that a John Axford implosion isn't imminent. I know a lot of Brewers fans are still hesitant to accept closers, but he's way younger than Hoffman and has better stuff than Turnbow did. Let's just enjoy having a high quality closer right now.He was signed by Jay Lapp, the Brewers Canadian scout. Here's a feature article about Lapp that battlekow, now Sessile Fielder posted that I'm having trouble linking: Brewers have luxury in Lapp Bob Elliott/Toronto Sun The list of players scout Jay Lapp has drafted for the Milwaukee Brewers over the years outnumbers most scouts. Alexandre Periard, Mark James, Mehdi Djebbar, Chris Dennis, Cam Robulack, Adam Arnold, Nicholas Bucci, Marcus Knecht, Nick Fogarty, James Kottaras and Chandler McLaren. Some signed with Milwaukee. Some went back to school only to re-surface, as Knecht did Tuesday with the Blue Jays, and others were released. But thanks to Lapp, the Brewers have been the most active club when it comes to drafting Canadians and with the most in the minors. So, who did Lapp land in this year’s draft, which wrapped up on Wednesday? Windsor right-hander Joel Pierce in the ninth round and North Vancouver outfielder Rowan Wick in the 18th. A bad year? Not really. How many Canadian scouts signed a pitcher currently closing games for a major-league club. Lapp, 48, drove from London in the midst of a storm to sign John Axford of Port Dover at an indoor workout inside The Baseball Zone in Mississauga before the 2008 season. Now, Axford has completed all four save opportunities for the Brewers. That’s why Lapp, 48, is the winner of the Jim Ridley Award in memory of the late Jays scout as we hand out our 17th annual scout-of-the-year honours. Periard has a 2-4 record with a 4.71 ERA at double A- Huntsville Stars, Dennis of Amherstburg, has six homers and 29 RBIs at class-A Wisconsin while teammate Nick Bucci of Sarnia is 3-2 with a 1.74 ERA, earning Midwest League all-star honours.

Strong opinions? Those are observations on his current repertoire, he's being discussed like we discuss any other prospect on the minor league forum. I suggest you read up on the many conversations over there concerning Austin Ross starting in May as a reference. No one has said he can't be #2 some day, but he's a long ways from that of level of success at this point in time. Outside of Mayo from MLB.com you won't find many prospect gurus who have written a glowing report of Jungmann and for good reason based on 3 games I've seen him pitch now. He doesn't seem nearly as MLB ready as he was billed. All of his pitches need refinement and he could use serious mechanical adjustments as well. Not to mention he doesn't come off very well in interviews at all. He's got the body and frame the Brewers really like, he's a got a nice arm, he's athletic, and he's competitive on the mound... but none of that means he'll fly through the minors and be a top of the rotation pitcher for us. There's plenty of reason for pause so far with this draft pick. I think you misunderstood what I meant or maybe I wasn't clear enough... his FB was mostly sitting 90-91 after the 2nd, he was sitting mostly 93 early on. When I talk velocity I usually specifically mention if I'm talking about a pitcher's top end but generally just give the average velocity. I'm more concerned with where a pitcher actually works vs where he maxes out. Starting pitchers usually max out 3-5 mph over their average velocity. I apologize for the gross misrepresentation of his performance.

Quad cities just put up a 6 spot in the 3rd, while WI is tied in the 4th, the window is closing quickly.

Well he's out of the game already here in the 5th, I thought he threw a couple of better curves today, I still like his change, he showed some nice athleticism again, but his control was pretty bad after 2nd. edit. His FB was 90-91 after the 2nd. He was hitting 93 in the first.

I'm watching the game on the DVR right now. The pitch in the first for that K was a nice change up, he hasn't thrown one since. I still like that pitch more than his curve, I don't get why he doesn't throw it more. I'm watching the 3rd right now and his control is terrible walking the first 2 hitters and now a wild pitch as I'm typing this, but he made a real nice athletic play on what was supposed to be a sac bunt. He fielded the bunt bare handed and got the lead runner at 3rd, showed real nice quickness and athleticism for a guy his size. He just got another K on the best curve I've seen him throw, not a hard break, but it had real nice vertical 12-6 drop. Another K to get out of the inning with a change that wasn't located well, way up in the zone, but the hitter swung through it. edit. I kind of like this Randall guy from Florida, he doesn't throw hard at all, hasn't hit 90 since the first inning, but every pitch has so much movement, I wouldn't mind if the Brewers picked him up next season. There have been some impressive throws in this game, the SS from TX just made a beautiful play across 2B to get an out and FL's C made an awesome throw to 2B, he's got a cannon.

Why is Braddock just a LOOGY?

That stood out to me as well... I wouldn't agree that's being focused, I would qualify that as being rude. Obviously I have no love for Melvin, but come on, at least return his phone call. As long as he's not calling you on a day when you are scheduled to pitch, how does that conversation impact your focus at all? This dude better be able to pitch down the road because his interviews really rub me the wrong way.

Is it correct to charge Hinton with a BS when he didn't allow any runs because he allowed 2 inherited runner to score? Runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, a sac fly to LF (with the runner moving up to 3rd on a play at the plate?) and a single off of Halton's glove for the 2 runs.

Hip flexor... he might not have to go on the DL, but he'll likely miss a start.

How about instead of a loser's mentality, maybe in fact a realistic view of the way the game would likely go given what happened to Marcum in the first? How many times does a starter not make it to the 2nd inning and the team wins a game? That was the reality of the situation.

Green plays 3B and can manage 2B, he's as much a SS as McGehee is.

Are you kidding me?

Yep, 2 screamers and a pop up, but I'll take it. Estrada needs to eat a ton of innings tonight.

Geez... that hurts. Game tied though.

Braun's ability to get hits off of pitcher's pitches is very nice to have.

It's not that our offense isn't capable of keeping pace, it's that I'm not liking how Estrada is pitching, that strike 3 call to Ortiz was a gift. Losing Marcum today has the possibility of messing up the entire series, unless Estrada finds his groove and can eat 5 innings.

This might get ugly. I agree about Loe, though RR doesn't seem to view him as a ROOGY, I was posting from RR's perspective. However, looking at the truth of bringing up DeFilice, that would be the hardest bullpen to manage in the majors.

I didn't have any problem with keeping Estrada around and I'm sure he didn't either...

No one any of us wants to see start in the MLB. I'd take Peralta over anyone in AAA. DiFelice is getting stretched out currently though, and he's been good.DiFelice is a ROOGY unless he's magically able to get lefties out now. The most likely scenario is Estrada goes back to the rotation and they call up another reliever. It could be DiFelice, but then we'd have 2 right handed specialists and 1 left handed specialist... not exactly optimum bullpen configuration.

This pitch count is getting excessive for a single inning, our minor league pitchers would have been pulled at 30 pitches. I hope he gets out of the inning here without getting hurt. well it looks like he tweaked something... get somebody up in the pen. edit. Estrada just got up as he gets out of it

I would love for Arnett and Walla to be impressive this season... love it. Though I guess all of us would like that wouldn't we?

Why do people keep posting this? Has everyone forgotten that he actually got 1 more minor league rehab start than he needed? He was fully stretched out when he came up to Milwaukee. Once again there is a disconnect between certain metrics that are mostly based on peripherals and the actual results on the field. People are going to tell us he's unlucky because of his LOB% over his last 40 starts, throw out xFIP which is meaningless in this context, compare his rate stats to other true aces, and so on. The only problem is that he's continually pitched below his talent with the exception of his CY season. All of the rate stats, metrics... all of that is true, Greinke does compare favorably to Sabathia and other top pitchers in every way but the actual result on the field. So why is that? Well if you dig a little deeper looking at his GSC, his game logs, and actually pay attention to how he pitches in the games then it's a not a mystery at all. It's not that he's unlucky, it's that he grooves way too many FBs. He get's away with a fair amount of them, in fact he keeps hitters off balance enough that they watch many go by without even taking a swing. However if a hitter is looking FB when he throws one... well you don't get to the majors if you can't consistently hit a thigh to belt high FB over the heart of the plate very hard. That's not Zach getting unlucky, that's Zach putting pitches in horrible location, regardless of the ultimate result, those are hitters pitchers. Simply put he gives up more runs than he should because his FB location is sloppy at times. I took quite a bit of flak for point out how uneven he's been over his career and that overall I viewed him as more of a #2 than a #1, and still believe my assessment of him was on the money. People around here over valued him based on his talent and his 1 CY season, but over the entirety of his career he hasn't pitched as well as a Halladay or Sabathia, though that's what people thought we were getting. Apparently that's what Melvin thought too because we gave up an avalanche of talent to acquire him, we paid much more for Greinke than we did for Sabathia and we aren't going to get nearly the same result. Zach will be unwordly for a couple of games, then he'll crash and post a sub 20 GSC... those extreme lows bring down his overall pitching line. All MLB pitchers are inconsistent to a certain degree, even the greats, compare his GSC in 2010 to Sabathia and you will see what I mean. The one thing he does very well on a consistent basis is pitch deep into games, which is something this team really needed. There's a ton to like about Greinke, but the excuses need to stop. Pitching is ultimately all about location...

That's as thin as thin gets... you've been in locker rooms, what pitching coach or manager is going to tell a player to limit his talent? They knew he had a pro career in front of him. I prefer power arms who can pitch off their fastball, and yes there are quite a few players who have success pitching backwards the way you suggest. However that's not what Jungmann was doing in either game... I'm not a college baseball fan, I'm a hockey fan so when I'm not watching Brewer related baseball I'm probably watching the NHL this time of year. I'll watch the Brewer draft picks in the CWS, but that's about it so I hadn't seem him pitch before the regionals... people are saying those were not 2 of his better games... I honestly don't know. What I do understand now is how someone with his physical gifts is rated as a middle of the rotation guy, I thought maybe his velocity was being overstated or something along those lines, he gets that rating because none of his secondary pitches are impressive. It's doesn't matter if he buries the pitch in the dirt or not, that's not what makes a good curve (I'm talking to you Bill Schroeder, at some point the pitch has to look like a strike to get a swing) and I already stated he pretty much locates it where he wants. He spiked a couple curves per inning, the observation has nothing to do with where he was choosing to locate the pitch. The movement of the pitch simply isn't special, it's not a plus pitch, it doesn't break all that hard or far, it's just an average pitch at next level. He thought he pitched pretty well against ASU which tells me that his curve is exactly what we're seeing. It needs more depth and bite to be a plus pitch, it needs to look more like what Sheets threw if he's going to throw that many curves in a game. It's loopy now and if college hitters can continually track the pitch and make contact with it, then the pitch obviously needs improvement. He'll have success early in his pro career pitching off of his FB, but if he doesn't improve the quality of his pitches then he's going to struggle as he moves up. He certianly has enough talent that he could do very well and end up a top of the rotation guy if he continues to improve, but at this moment in time he's not a #1 or #2 in an MLB rotation, he's more like a #4 or #5.

Yes I've had surgery on both knees, and I need shoulder surgery that I've been putting off because I really don't want my arm in a sling for a month when I have major networking projects that I need both hands for going on at work, but thanks for asking. I don't like being knocked out at all, in fact I hate it, but at least one second they are counting down and the next you're in the recovery room. It's just unnerving losing all that time in a finger snap I guess. Furthermore I pretty much spend my entire life around recovering athletes, we always seem to have someone coming off a knee or shoulder problem the last 10 years, the shoulder problems are all kids that wrestle which has me wondering if it has something to do with the way they are training. The wrestling team won a team title last year, and this year 3 kids won individual titles, so it's hard to question what's going on given the level of success they are having. It's not about the risks inherent in surgery, it's about the shorest recovery window possible. I'm not a person who believes in the chiropractor... either there is something that needs to be fixed, an injury, or it's just an owie and we move on with life. If we think a kid might need surgery we don't mess around hoping it gets better, we wait for the swelling to go down and get an MRI. If we still don't know we get a 2nd or 3rd opinion, and sometimes (twice recently) a young man had to have exploratory surgery to figure out exactly what was going on. A meniscus (cartiledge) tear complicates a knee injury because the tears don't show up well on MRIs and loose flaps can actually lock up the knee. At our level every single day you waste on the front end also costs the athlete on the back end, because he/she is missing out the opportunity to play another sport. I realize that we're blessed with care that far exceeds what other high schools in the area are getting because our trainer is that good, he could easily be working his way up the ladder to a job with a professional franchise. He's set the bar for me, and like I said previously, you don't see the other high profile successful programs in the state, both professional and college, messing around with injury diagnosis and treatment the way the Brewers do. It's not just a Brewer thing, it's a baseball thing, baseball teams seem obsessed with doing things the way they've always been done, generally speaking there's a lack of interest in investing towards the building of athletes, it's mostly an environment of survival of the fittest. Which is very backwards if you think about it, because the pittance spent on the front end to provide proper nutrition and strength/conditioning programs can save millions in FA on the backend. My point was/is, if you know surgery inevitable, then the question becomes how to get the athlete back participating the quickest, because most of our kids are multisport athletes. In this case, Mark isn't close to effective pitching with the injury, he can't locate, his FB velocity has disappeared, he's in constant pain, and surgery is inevitable. A Cortisone shot may temporarily fix the swelling and pain but to what end? Is 50 IP of horrendous results really worth the effort? I don't believe it is, and while I feel very bad for Mark having to go under the knife again, the situation won't resolve itself by doing nothing. Get the surgery done, get healthy, and prove everyone who's doubted you along the way wrong. The issue started sometime March, it's now mid June, and this is a professional organization who's product depends entirely on the health of it's athletes. What's a reasonable time frame to get from diagnosis, to treatment, to recovery? Days? Weeks? Months? In my opinion he should already be on the recovery phase of the cycle, they've had plenty of time. Again, this isn't the first situation and these occurences are not rare... Gallardo went back in the game with a blown ACL then came back to pitch on it in the same season, Green and Periard having to wait through the winter for treatment, Braddock's misdiagnosis for years, Weeks playing injured with nothing to gain, Cain and Dennis coming back too soon to get reinjured, Mike Jones going from one arm problem to the next (which isn't natural), Bryson basically being refused treatment and needing surgery immediately following the Sabathia trade, Rogers needing multiple shoulder surgeries, Schafer going from one injury to the next in the same season, need I go on? Compensation injuries are completely avoidable through proper rehabilitation techniques, and the players that get 1 leg injury, then have another, and then another... it's not that they are injury prone, it's that they aren't being properly rehabilitated before returning from injury so they end up going from injury to injury until the season is over or they get shut down, putting up subpar stat lines along the way. In this case, the best treatment and rehabilitation plan is to treat the symptom and hope for the best? That's laughable... the Brewers need to be better at this stuff than other organizations because they have a much smaller window for error, and to put it simply, they aren't.

I just wanted to drop by and say that I hate losing to the cubs more than anyone else in baseball.