TheCrew07

Umm, Gamel is blocked, sitting in AAA for 3 years, and raked when age appropriate for his level. Chris Dennis doesn't belong in A ball for 3rd season either and his recent demotion makes the opposing point against you, his success at A ball doesn't mean anything more about his future than Walker's has. Both players you cited are horrible examples to use to make your point. The question was is he a legit prospect? The answer was he's too old and advanced for his level to know for sure, he's no different than Thornburg or Ross... college players dominating a level of competition that you would expect college players to dominate if they are going to pan out. He's hit the ball very well to start season, but he's not a 19 year old playing against advanced competition for the first time either. Time will tell, I'm not sure why people are in such a rush to judge.

BA would put him in the "Man among boys" category right now, he's too old and advanced for the level he's playing at.

I think you missed the point my friend... it's only hindsight in that I'm applying what I know now to what I didn't know then. If we were to take the same group of posters from this forum now, how would we react to the trade using only the stats through 2005 and their scouting reports? I really liked the way Dave Bush played the game, he played without fear, he was a bulldog on the mound during his time in Milwaukee, but there is literally no way I pick him out of the group of Toronto's MLB ready pitchers at that time, and I'm certain no else would either. We've become so much better educated over the years as a site (or maybe I just caught up?) that I would shred that trade if it happened now, the same way I attacked acquiring Marcum this winter. Ultimately we gave up impact talent for a finesse pitcher that should have been acquired for similar talent years earlier. Like Peaveyfury said last year, and rightly so, I've crapped on just about every move Melvin has made the more educated I've become and the more research I've done. He's wasted a plethora of resources over the years for very little return... the Morgan deal is looking to be extremely economical and maybe his best trade in Milwaukee. It's hard to screw up when you trade for Sabathia, Marcum, and Greinke, the pitchers are going to pitch well enough to have an immediate impact and in Sabathia's case the playoff appearance meant more to people than what would come after it. The fallout is harder to see and anticipate, and many posters around here still refuse to acknowledge that acquiring Sabathia directly led to the poor starting pitching in 2009 and 2010. Milwaukee just doesn't have infinite resources, every move has had a domino effect and will continue to domino, including the Marcum and Greinke deals. We won't win consistently by patching the organization's holes with temporary solutions, we'll only win consistently when our farm system can sustain the big league team, and there's no way that can happen cycling talent the way that Melvin does. Somehow we've gone from trying to replace the depth lost in the 1st wave of talent that graduated to MLB with a 2nd wave, to trading away almost the entire second wave, and now we're trying to rebuild the system and replenish the MLB roster with wave 3. Color me unexcited about the direction of the organization... I long for 2006 when I was filled with overwhelming optimism, instead of the pessimism and contempt I now have towards the front office in general.

I see no difference between the people that took advantage of this promotion, and the clowns that stock up on tickets for promotion days to sell the items online, or those that chase HR balls and then demand a significant return if it's a milestone ball. In all cases someone is taking advantage of the process for personal gain while taking opportunities away from another fan, and events like this should be about the experience. It doesn't matter to me if rules are broken or not, I consider it to be extremely poor taste to conduct one's personal business this way. Fan giveaways, baseballs in the stands, treasure hunts... as a group baseball fans used to go out of their way to make the experience special for the kids. Now it's difficult to take a family to a game and sit in those sections because there's no such thing as game etiquette or class anymore... people will say whatever awful thing they feel like, stand up in front on you when the pitcher is about to deliver a ball to home plate, and so on, because on the whole people have become extremely selfish. Seriously what's so difficult about waiting for the half inning to get up and get out of your seat or watching your mouth if kids are around? I had ticket packages or have sat in in just about every section of Miller Park over the last 10 years (packages down the 3rd base side, single game tickets behind the plate and down the right field line), and the only experience which was far and away better than the rest was sitting in the club seats (I've never sat in any of the family sections). Both times I sat up there the game experience was very enjoyable even though the Brewers eventually lost the game. My Cub games were far away the worst experiences, I will never attend another Cub game at Miller Park. The sad part is that in most cases the people who act in such a matter are so pompous as to brag about what they've done, as if being some self indulgent stain on society is a badge of honor? They also tend to be so ignorant or maybe narcissistic they don't understand why other people take issue with what they do... it just blows my mind how selfish people can be. I once saw Brett Lawrie sign about 30 cards for a guy at a T-Rats game and found myself thinking that there's no way in hell I'd sign that many cards for someone, and I'd probably never sign for an adult outside of a team event which is part of the gig, I'd just sign for kids. I know there's fraud there to, people sending kids in to get items signed, it's just too bad the innocent intent has gotten replaced by selfishness and greed over the years.

Too bad I'm unable to hide this thread so I'm not tempted to read it, I find it completely distressing that we had to trade both Overbay and Lawrie to Toronto to get the 1 player we should have picked up from the start. I find it hard to believe that any one of us on the minor league forum would choose Bush/Jackson if you put McGowan, Marcum, Bush, and Jackson's stats side by side even if you didn't know what they threw. When you take account what they threw, it makes even less sense as Bush, Jackson, and Marcum all had similarish velocity (yes I remember Jackson was a LHP), who had the best rate stats between those guys? Look at their Minor League stats through 2005... I can see shying away from McGowan who far and away had that best stuff, he always had some issues for being a top of the rotation talent. I just don't see how we willingly ended up with the 2 pitchers who didn't have an out pitch and didn't miss bats. Putting everything together side by side for each pitcher I'm still shocked that Melvin took who he took, and that's why I have no faith in the organization turning the corner for a significant amount of time with him at the helm. Looking back I'm ashamed I was initially okay with the deal based purely on superficial analysis of where the players were drafted and not the actual talent that we acquired. It didn't take long to figure out none of the players was anything special and the Overbay trade was one of many eye opening occurrences over the years for me.

The more I think about Rogers' injury, the more I wonder about misdiagnosis. How does a pitcher get carpal tunnel in both hands that kept getting worse? I just can't help but wonder if there is a more serious nerve issue going on here? It wouldn't be the first time... it took the Brewers 2 years to diagnose Braddock correctly. I've been around locker rooms my entire life, that's part of being a coaches' kid, but I don't recall an injury that affected both hands at the same time that wasn't spinal/neck in nature. In fact, I've never heard of a such a thing as Mark is going through myself, carpal tunnel just doesn't seem to fit, it's a repetition injury, and how is he getting a repetition injury on his glove hand? Now apparently his left hand has healed but his right hand is in a splint between starts? If it's that bad, why is he throwing at all? Thoroughly confused.

Mostly for selfish reasons. I haven't liked anyone that this site has championed since I started hanging out around here, from Ginter, to Gross, to Hall, to Branyan... the more people post about those guys, the more I dislike them, and in some cases the more I hate them.. Branyan would strictly be a PH, he doesn't have any defensive flexibility anymore, and I simply don't care for him based on my irrational dislike at a personal level. If the BP didn't have 2 too many pitchers in it and the team didn't have 3 Cs on the MLB roster, then maybe adding a player with such limited flexibility would make sense. However, given the current state of the bench and bullpen, it doesn't make any sense to further handcuff a manager who's already iffy on the strategy side of things.

Exactly, a 1.5 WAR season is extremely conservative... the only way I see that happening is if he suffers another injury and only plays half a season. edit. I should add, whom exactly do we trade to acquire a different SS this season, it's not like the system is overflowing legit prospects.

Just say no Branyan.

Just because we like a guy, doesn't mean he was respected nationally. Every BA chat pretty much went like this... Q: Eric from Madison asks: Why isn't Corey Hart on the list, where is he ranked? Do you Corey Hart andor Dave Krynzel making the Brewers roster next spring? http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/chat/assets/space_clear.gif A: Chris Kline: Hart is in the 20-30 range and both players should be in the mix for making the big league roster next season. I'd take Krynzel, simply because he can do more things; better speed, more of a catalyst in the lineup and better defensively. Lest you forget that Kevin Mench kept Hart in AAA for a second go round...

late night games make people cranky.

Well the guy I wanted to the Brewers to draft instead of Pokorny hasn't even made it out of the GCL, it's a conspiracy against that pick.

You're the devil! Next you'll post that the Cubs don't bother you either.

Hart is probably the best example from our system, he was never rated very highly and managed to be an All-Star and land himself a nice contract. The Brewers haven't had much success with players in the system coming out of nowhere to have success. Lots of relief pitchers have the career that you're looking for, because no one who follows prospects really cares about relievers so they don't get much run. While there is a guy or two every year, it doesn't happen all that often. In fact the odds are stacked the other way... fringy prospects who were pimped around here that fell off cliff getting their MLB shot or fizzled in the upper minors. Every system has guys like our outfielders and our pitchers, that's why the system isn't anything special right now.

Casey... that was pretty horrible looking.

I don't know, we could go 23-0 vs the Cubs every year and I'd still hate them with a passion, I always have hated the Cubs because of WGN when we first got cable. The Cubs are like the Vikings for me... My 2nd favorite team is whichever team is playing them.

Rickie certainly has had a tough start to the year defensively. At least Wolf gets out of it.

I didn't like the Nelson pick on draft day, and he didn't heat up last year in Helena untill I pointed out how crappy he started out the season in one of my recaps, so here's hoping history repeats itself.

Might be time to update your sig!

Why did the Brewers think it was a good idea to put both young catchers one 1 team? They were fortunate that Garfield hurt so no one's playing time was really impacted by the move. Even as a temporary move it doesn't make any sense, why give him playing at the expense of D'Vo who is on a tear right now, let Richardson run his hot streak out, he needs the confidence. Hell, Schafer is a minor leaguer, just let him get his feet wet where he's going to play, why does he need a rehab assignment? This isn't a knock on Logan, I like him as a prospect, I just don't get the placement at all. I wonder if Reid Nichols is still pulling the strings on this stuff?

Did anyone else watch this? Nothing much new except for the revelation that the staph infection he had over the winter would have killed him, it was only caught on a routine checkup.

He was on everyone's radar after his performance in Helena. His walk rate the early part of last season was bad enough it gave many people pause. I haven't heard anything new on his velocity since the early part of last season, but I believe your stretching the upper end some. He's a fringy prospect for me personally but the organization really likes him and we'll see how he progresses throughout the season. He's one of those guys who's going to have to succeed in AA before I get excited. Then again, I don't get excited about much anymore.

Exactly. I want to like this guy and think "superstar" but I keep seeing Mr. Up and Down. Can't make it thru the 5th without getting in trouble. I'm having a tough time seeing what all the hype is all about. I'm starting to believe that his ERA last year might be more indicative of the type of pitcher he really is. You keep seeing Mr Up and Down in 3 starts? WOW.Ha... yea that's what I said. If you watch, early in the game he's getting by with pitches thigh high over the heart of the plate, batters aren't even swinging. Later in the game those pitches are getting hit hard like they should. I don't think his location has been all that sharp in any of his starts so far, I have no idea how the hitters are so off balance they let those pitches go by early, but they aren't later in the game. Hence the uneven overall performance. Hitters are going to make adjustments, pitching is about location and pitch selection. It truly is very simple, either you hit the spot or you don't as pitcher, and if you don't you're hoping to get lucky. Afterall every MLB hitter can hit a grooved fastball or they wouldn't be playing MLB in the first place. I have no doubt he tired with so many pitches in a single inning, that was a stupid decision, our MiLB pitchers would have been pulled 17 pitches sooner. However, he just not pitching well, because he's not hitting spots in general, it has nothing to do with him being stretched out, he's been stretched out since his last rehab start.

You must have missed his explanation, it was a head scratcher. It was something to the effect that Lucroy is important in the 8th spot because he clears the pitcher from having to leadoff an inning, as if that's somehow more important than having more runners on base in front of Braun and Fielder home runs. He lost me a little bit with that one, I've been trying to be patient with him considering I was so critical of Macha's handling of young players. It was a video interview during one of the broadcasts recently.

I have problem with people using "building arm strength" up as an excuse for Greinke. He's fully stretched out, has been for 3 starts, he's just been uneven.