TheCrew07

That's a blanket statement that I doubt plenty. You're not accounting for the different place the team is now vs. where it was over the past few seasons- competitive vs. not competitive. And even in recent trades of Gallardo and Greinke, they certainly did not trade for "proven MLB players." Even dating back to the era prior to their 5-6 years of being generally competitive, there are plenty of examples where the current front office traded veterans for unproven talent. I was referring specifically to impact talent, not to deals like trading Franklin and Estrella for Woolard and Villanueva, Gabe Gross for Josh Bulter, Kolb for Capella, K-Rod for Delmonico, Hall for Flores and so on. Don't get me wrong, I liked Villy, but he was never a top of the rotation piece nor should we have expected him to be given what we gave up. Those aren't the kind of the deals that put a franchise over the top and were largely swapping crap for crap. Villy was far and away the best player to come out of any of those trades. K-Rod was only player moved off the pile who had any significant trade value and I wasn't shy about my dislike of Delmonico from the start. Every trade of anyone any consequence has brought MLB ready talent, sure there might have an unproven prospect or 2 in there, but the focal point was a MLB or MLB ready player. Off the top of my head: Sexson... well the whole trade with the exception JDLR was MLB ready talent. Overbay... Gross and Bush Podsednik... Carlos Lee Carlos Lee and Nelson Cruz... Cordero and Mench Cirillo and Carl... Haynes, Blanco, and Wright Davis and Eveland... Vargas and Estrada JDLR... Graffanino Spivey... Ohka Greinke... Segura Gallardo... Sardinas I won't even get into buying assets that had no chance of putting the Brewers over the top like Lopez (twice), Linebrink, and Morgan. This organization has a long history of chasing a couple of extra wins at the expense of making significant change, or put another way like the company I work for tends to do in spending $20 in extra work to chase down $5 in cash. It may not seem like it but I pull most of my punches on the minor league forum because I know families read the link reports, so I try to be unbiased and to the point when talking about players, generally trying to stay focused on the positive aspects. However in private I'll let loose, and I've learned something new every year so I was feeling much differently about the way the Brewers were operating by 2008 and by 2011 I was pretty much done with the front office. I was quite naive when I first found this site but again I think there is a ton of information available in various forms on the internet if people are willing to take the time to dig in and educate themselves. My personal philosophy on organization building is pulled together from 1000s of difference sources over the years including insightful comments and idea from posters on this very site. The tragedy is that many posters will just to stick to the rut they are comfortable with and never really challenge their own beliefs so they aren't taking advantage of the difference of opinion/ideas to branch out or expand their mental toolbox available here. In general I'm not a fan of absolutes and in truth the only absolutes I subscribe to are that there is a correct way to throw a baseball and that the Brewers will never get over the top operating as they have. The Brewers have operated way too linearly for me and as such are conservative and predictable. Since the front office is neither innovative or aggressive I have serious doubts concerning their ability to learn from the past and correct mistakes. For example, Melvin has offered just about any player who's performed at all a long term deal, and he's gotten very lucky that the players turned him down. Signing pre-arby players to contact extensions is an excellent way to buy more value for the dollar but that's not a philosophy to bbe applied universally to every player who is productive. I actually thought signing Segura might have been a good idea as he converted from skeptic to believer in that first season, but I was wrong and wasn't patient enough. The object should be to have elite core to build around and then cycle everyone else through keeping the average age of the team in that 26-27 year age which naturally will balance payroll vs production and maximize value.

I'm not sure if this is funny, sad, or both. Goonies Promotion Goes Bad In State College July 22, 2015 by Josh Leventhal

Cedar Rapids pulls away from Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/1/4/4/129205144/cuts/6_June_6_Rubio_g3w9ow6k_ml1fqfmi.jpg Elvis Rubio went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Timber Rattlers Tuesday at Cedar Rapids. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - The Cedar Rapids Kernels scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break open a close game and went on to defeat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 6-2. Cedar Rapids (55-41 overall, 14-12 second half) got on the scoreboard first. Sean Miller singled to start the third inning, but was erased at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Tanner English. The Kernels sent English on the first pitch to Nick Gordon and it paid off for them. Gordon laced a double to left-center and English raced home from first for a 1-0 lead. Wisconsin (31-64, 8-17) answered back in their next at bat. Alan Sharkey doubled to start the top of the fourth inning. Elvis Rubio, who had two hits in the game, knocked in Sharkey with a one-out single to tie the game 1-1. But, the Kernels retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with three consecutive two-out singles. Brian Navarreto started the rally with a bloop single to right. Austin Diemer followed with a single. Pat Kelly smashed a grounder up the middle and shortstop Blake Allemand made a diving attempt, but the ball deflected off Allemand's glove and into center to allow Navarreto to score. The Rattlers got the game back to even in the top of the fifth. Sthervin Matos tripled to start the frame, but was still at third base with two outs. Luis Aviles drove a single into center and Matos scored. English put the Kernels back in front in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff homer. Cedar Rapids added to their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Wisconsin starting pitcher David Carver, who was making his Midwest League debut, walked the first two batters and reliever Scott Lieser took over on the mound. Lieser got the first out on a popup, but Kelly lined a single to left-center to score one run. A misplay on the hit allowed a second run to score and Kelly to take third base. Sean Miller made the Rattlers pay for the mistake with a single to drive home Kelly and the lead grew to 6-2. Jorge Felix pitched a scoreless seventh inning to maintain that lead. Felix allowed two runs on five hits and struck out seven over his seven innings to put himself in line for his fifth win of the season. The Rattlers got two runners on with two outs in the top of the ninth inning against reliever Josh Bard, but he ended the game with a strikeout. Wisconsin is 1-12 in thirteen games against the Kernels this season. Game two of the series is Wednesday afternoon at Perfect Game Field. David Burkhalter (3-5, 4.07) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Cedar Rapids runs Ethan Mildren (2-1, 2.20) to the mound. Game time is 12:05pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 11:45am. The broadcast may also be heard on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. HOME RUN: CR: Tanner English (4th, 0 on in 5th inning off David Carver, 0 out) WP: Felix Jorge (5-3) LP: David Carver (0-1) TIME: 2:13 ATTN: 2,236 Wisconsin Boxscore Elvis Rubio (2-4) had the only multi-hit game, this road trip cannot end soon enough. Wisconsin Recap

Reed like Eric Farris before doesn't have plus speed or he'd be a legitimate option in CF, he's just a damn good baseball player and makes the most out of what he has. Many times people try to correlate stolen bases with speed and while that's true of MLB base stealers with high totals, it's not a universal truth when talking about minor league players as the disparity in pitching and catching from team to team plays quite an effect until AA when the gap starts to narrow but even then there are significant swings in quality. When he was in WI Erickson felt that Reed was the 3rd best option in CF behind Taylor and Haniger, and I believe that was a fair assessment having watched them all. Taylor hit a ton of ground ball doubles down the line last year so his drop in OPS shouldn't be surprising, how will Reed's power develop I'm not sure, it's not like he's a tooth pick, at 10-15 HRs per season he'd be pretty valuable.

Yep I stayed up late to watch episode 4 last night and was rewarded... wow, just wow. I like it but I can understand where it's not for everyone dealing with the darker side of life. I had a real hard time following Breaking Bad all the way through for that reason and I wasn't alone in my circle friends. True Detective just doesn't put me off in the same way.

You may ultimately be right but I would also suggest that you interpret it that way because that's what you would like the team to do as well since "every season is special". The Brewers MO has been to trade for proven MLB players, in that there is no doubt. However the crux of the debate is what is best for the future to which my simple answer remains, get the best talent possible. Once the "MLB experience" filter is applied the number of trade options becomes vastly reduced as does the potential impact quality of players being discussed. What team is going to give up a young impact pitcher already in the major leagues for the stretch run? Who's going to make their rotation worse during the season? Almost every suggestion you make is for a MLB proven piece, regardless of retread status, or some kind of prospect viewed as under valued like Voglebach, who's work in the field makes Fielder look like a good 1B. So I ask, are there any scenarios where you would take back an impact prospect in AA or A+? I ask because it seems from your posts year after year like you'd rather take a flier on every single marginal player DFA'd than ever trade an established MLB player for a package of prospects. If that's the case, what is ever going to change with this franchise? At some point the Brewers will just magically start developing elite pitching? That's the fundamental issue here, how can the Brewers build a rotation good enough to compete with the best the league has to offer not being able to compete in FA? Swapping out marginal production for similar players or scrap heap crap isn't going to get that done. What franchise would really trade a young, healthy, and productive impact pitcher already in their rotation at the trade deadline? What contender is going to give up established corner IF prospects from their line-up at the deadline? To me that's not a plan, it's not even a rational concept, it's the same obtuse thinking the Brewers have been operating under for the duration of Melvin's tenure. When franchises are just trying to be "the best team they can be in a calendar year" there's no real direction but rather just haphazard hole plugging or player swaps, there's no meaningful or definable end state. Being "competitive for the playoffs" is neither a definable plan or moving the franchise forward towards a chose end state, it's an abstract definition open to interpretation. I have 2 primary goals, to field a rotation with longevity that is among the top 3 in the NL and to win a WS. To achieve those goals I believe the Brewers have to trade for young impact pitching in the minors, have to be willing to cycle aging veterans off the roster even when the team is winning, and build as robust a talent base to drawn from as possible. I don't believe in limiting options, or arbitrarily filtering talent based on what is rather meaningless criteria in the end, such as "MLB experience"... why do I want another Dave Bush? Or Yuni B.? Or Wes Helms? We can develop those kinds of players internally... we have them now... Jason Rogers, Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett, Jimmy Nelson, Taylor Jungmann, and Tyler Cravy. Impact pitching is my primary driving factor, overall talent is my secondary concern, and I don't care what level of baseball they are playing at as long we can control him for than 3 years. That's how the Brewers can obtain and sustain a high level of success. 2 playoff appearances in 10 years isn't success, it's not even mediocre, it's only slightly better than nothing, and the results are completely unworthy of the positional talent which has come through Milwaukee in those 10 years. The fact that so many people think it's an accomplishment worthy of celebration is more a reflection of how bad the Brewers were, rather than unbiased assessment of what they did with the talent they had. In 2004 if someone had told us the Brewers would only make the playoffs twice in the next 10 years and only win 1 playoff series the majority wouldn't have believed or accepted that was the best that group of prospects could do. I personally wouldn't have and in fact I probably would have walked away from brewerfan.net and not ever participated in any of the stuff on the draft and milb forums. That's not winning, that's moving the franchise to mediocrity and then spinning wheels hoping for the best. The Brewer's last 10 years isn't acceptable for any other major sport in WI with the exception of maybe the Bucks, whom the Brewers are in danger of becoming. The Packers, all Badger teams, and Marquette basketball have set a much higher standard than that. We've had a phenomenal 20 years with regular playoff/bowl appearances, multiple Superbowl and Rose Bowl appearances, NCAA tournament and national championship hope, and of course national championships from Badger hockey. For example I don't care about the state teams making the NCAA tournament, I care about getting to the Final Four so likewise I don't care about getting to the playoffs and being 1 and done in baseball or football, I care about regularly appearing in the the championship games and winning titles. There are teams out there like the Rays who have done more with much less from a payroll standpoint... it's not about how much you can spend, it's about how much talent you can acquire. We need to focus less on spending money and more on ultimate value as a franchise or the Brewers will stay right about the same place as they've been, because that's all you can really achieve when you buy talent and max out the payroll in the low $100 mil range. The Brewers will never be able to buy enough wins to compete with the larger markets, a different set of tactics is required to achieve and sustain success.

Rattlers edge Kane County 3-2 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/8/8/118574088/cuts/Angel_Ventura_Article_Photo_zqt03vc9_xuiy982s.jpg Angel Ventura pitched six scoreless innings at Kane County on Monday night and earned his fourth win of the season. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GENEVA, IL - Angel Ventura pitched six scoreless innings and got just enough offense as the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers defeated the Kane County Cougars 3-2 Monday night at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark. Carlos Leal gave the Timber Rattlers (31-63 overall, 8-16 second half) a 1-0 lead. The Wisconsin designated hitter, who had three hits in the game, cracked a leadoff home run in the top of the fourth inning. The homer, his second of the season, put the Rattlers in front for the first time in the three-game series at Kane County. Ventura kept the Cougars (57-36, 21-4) in check through six innings. Ventura allowed four hits and pitched around four hits and a hit batsman with two strikeouts while keeping the Cougars off the scoreboard to put himself in line for his fourth win of the season. Wisconsin added to their lead in the eighth inning against Cougars reliever Myles Smith. Smith issued three walks in the inning, including one to Alan Sharkey with the bases loaded to score Blake Allemand. In the top of the ninth with two outs and none on base, Brandon Diaz, who had two hits in the game, was hit by a pitch from Smith. Diaz would steal second on the next pitch, but had to leave in favor of pinch-runner Mitch Meyer. Then, Allemand lined an 0-2 pitch in to right to drive in Meyer for a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Kodi Medeiros had pitched the seventh and eighth innings without incident, but gave up a leadoff double to Henry Castillo and hit Joe Munoz to start the ninth. Medeiros would retire pinch-hitter Michael Perez and Victor Reyes on flyouts. But, Chuck Taylor and Ildemaro Vargas delivered consecutive RBI singles to cut the Wisconsin lead to 3-2. Additionally, the single by Vargas sent Taylor to third with the tying run and Vargas took second on an error on the play to put the winning run in scoring position. Medeiros ended the game by getting Cody Regis to ground out to third. Wisconsin had ten hits in the game as they went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Their only hit with a runner in scoring position on Monday was Allemand's two-out single in the ninth to plate the immensely important insurance run. The Timber Rattlers continue their road trip with a three-game series at Cedar Rapids. Game one of the series is Tuesday night at Perfect Game Field. David Carver will make his Midwest League debut for the Timber Rattlers. Cedar Rapids sends Felix Jorge (4-3, 2.06) to the mound. Game time is 6:35ppm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. The broadcast may also be heard on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. HOME RUN: WIS: Carlos Leal (2nd, 0 on in 4th inning off Josh Taylor, 0 out) WP: Angel Ventura (4-4) LP: Josh Taylor (1-1) SAVE: Kodi Medeiros (1) TIME: 2:43 ATTN: 3,423 Wisconsin Boxscore Well never a dull moment for this team. Angel Ventura put zeroes up even though he wasn't throwing strikes, his control comes and goes. Kodi Medeiros was up to 94 but once again was leaving balls up and it cost him in the 9th. To get the last batter he went breaking ball on the outside corner, breaking ball on the inside corner, and then got the grounder to end the game. For whatever reason he seems to locate the breaking ball better than his FB or slider. Brandon Diaz (2-3,BB), Blake Allemand (2-5), Elvis Rubio (2-5), and Carlos Leal (3-4, HR) had nice games at the plate. Diaz stole his 23 base in 32 tries, that's a 72% success rate at this point and has been on some kind of tear at the plate since June. Leal has also been hot of late, hitting well over .300 in his last 10 games. Diaz left the game after his HBP and then SB in the 9th, Chris said it was a hard tag at 2nd on the same hip in which Diaz was hit with the pitch. There was some yip yapping between Vargas and the Rattler dugout afterwards. Wisconsin Recap

I'm not sure how to describe what happened with the end of 3 without spoiling anything but this season has been pretty intense so far, more like season 1. If you liked Falling Skies you might like Defiance from Syfy which I stumbled into when it was added to Amazon Prime. I saw the Tyrant promos on FX but haven't checked it out.

Dustin DeMuth broke his hand per Chris on tonight's broadcast. If he makes it's back there won't be much of the season left when he does.

Hoffman is just coming back from TJ surgery, he didn't pitch for almost a year, he has legit stuff despite what his small sample statistical sample would suggest.

Well they are on the road, maybe that's the deal.

I left him and Cravy both off, not so much for what they are but rather for what they aren't. The Brewers need to make room for Cravy in the rotation or someone in front of him has to completely flop, but I believe he's a MLB pitcher. Rogers through no fault of his own is stuck behind Lind and ultimately probably ends up in a platoon since the team is RH dominant, though I think he could capably hold down 1B until someone better comes along, kind of like Gennett at 2nd and Segura at SS. This list much harder to do since 2013 and if Leal and Orimoloye wouldn't have been so impressive I would have included them based on the fact I think they are MLB players. I went almost entirely with upside at the end of my list and Sneed throws harder than Cravy. Many years both guys would have been around 10. I didn't get Perry into my top 25 either.... this is the best top 25 list we've had in years. I had Kirby in the mid teens and he's a guy I spent quite a bit of time on prior to the draft, he would have been an easy top 10 guy in years past.

He's not so young, already 30.

Interesting... the Marco Estrada effect perhaps? The downside would be since he's not elite what are they looking to give up to acquire him? I doubt we're talking a prospect I'd be thrilled to get like Norris or Hoffman. I believe Fiers has 3 or 4 years of team control remaining according to Cot's? It's hard to tell because he's been up and down so much. From Cot's: Michael Fiers rhp 1 year/$0.5125M (2015) 1 year/$0.5125M (2015) re-signed by Milwaukee 3/15 1 year (2014) re-signed by Milwaukee 3/14 1 year/$0.498M (2013) re-signed by Milwaukee 3/13 1 year (2012) re-signed by Milwaukee 2/12 1 year (2011) contract purchased by Milwaukee 9/10/11 drafted by Milwaukee 2009 (22-676) (Nova Southeastern U.) agent: Select Sports Group ML service: 1.085 Rotoworld also lists him as arbitration eligible in 2017. Here's BA's midseason top 10: 1. Daniel Norris, lhp 2. Dalton Pompey, of 3. Jeff Hoffman, rhp 4. Miguel Castro, rhp 5. Richard Urena, ss 6. Anthony Alford, of 7. Matt Boyd, lhp 8. Sean Reid-Foley, rhp 9. Rowdy Tellez, 1b 10. Max Pentecost, c It should be no surprise given my earlier comments that I really like Norris and Hoffman but I wonder if a #3-5 (depending on the year) type like Fiers would be enough? Would they be willing sacrifice 6+ years of Norris who still needs some development time or a pitcher with #1 overall draft talent like Hoffman for an instant rotation solution? I'd probably be willing to do a Castro/Pentecost trade even though Castro is a low arm slot guy and Pentecost is still rehabbing after his 2nd shoulder surgery (2 over the winter), taking 2 guys back with significant upside for a very solid yet unspectacular MLB contributor seems pretty reasonable.. This is the team that traded away both Syndergaard and Nicolino for veteran pitchers so there is a precedent for them to deal potential young impact pitching for immediate MLB results.

Actually what matters is how you match up in the head to head series.... in a series the better team is usually going to win where as in a 1 game playoff anything can and will happen. It's not getting to the playoffs that matters, it's how you match up when you get there. There's a lot of different ways to get to the post season but if you aren't able to find a way to match up from the pitching perspective, then it's over. It doesn't matter what mix between starters and relievers a team uses to get the job done because there are plenty of off days to rest, it just matters to put zeros up on the board. If you don't have strong starting pitching then you need 1 heck of a bullpen to lock down games after the starter exits in the 4th or 5th inning. If your bullpen is relatively weak then you need to be able to push starters to at least 7 innings or preferably more. The Brewers might have been a more talented team as a whole than the Cardinals in 2011, though I personally don't believe that to be true, regardless however one chooses to see the overall talent of the 2 teams in the end the pitching didn't match up. St Louis couldn't get the starter they needed so instead they went and got some more relievers and shortened the game for the more suspect starting pitching on the roster. It was a savvy move and ultimately paid off with another WS appearance and title. The Brewers barely got past AZ who was about as unimpressive as a 94 win team can be, the best SP on that staff that year was Ian Kennedy who has only managed 1 year with an ERA below 4.0 since. AZ's bullpen wasn't all that impressive either. People can say the Brewers were 2 games from a WS which is technically true, but I honestly believe from a talent perspective the Brewers just didn't match up. The Brewers won a slug fest in game 1 (9-6), won a close game (4-2) in game 4, but with the exception of a tight game 3 in which the Cards won 4-3, the rest of the games were blowouts; 12-3 in game 2, 7-1 in game 5, and 12-6 in game 6. The Brewer pitching was awful as whole, Wolf was the only starter with a decent game in that series and it was a series that wasn't anywhere near as close as it looks on paper at 4-2, the run differential was awful in just 6 games. The Brewers were quite literally destroyed in that series and it's been a downward slide ever since.

Breaking Down The Top Bonuses Of The 2015 Draft July 20, 2015 by Teddy Cahill

2015 Milwaukee Brewers Area Code Roster July 20, 2015 by Staff Report

Somehow Cubs games always ended up in my ticket package even though it was very small # of games, and I instantly grew to hate the Cubs games at Miller Park and would sell my tickets. Drunken idiot Brewer fans are bad enough but the Cubs fans were actually worse, combined it was a near disaster. In the first 3 summers we saw at least 3 fights on the way to or out of the stadium each night. The last game had a mini brawl on northeast side of the stadium after the game. The last 2 years we had the ticket package we sold our Cubs tickets because my dad and I didn't want to drive down to deal with all the garbage that came with the opponent. The Wrigley Field north stuff really pissed me off but those games just weren't worth it for 5 hours round trip in the car, the entire experience was pretty miserable. I'm sure it didn't help that we had a weekend package, maybe it would have been different during the work week but that wasn't really an option for us.

People do realize that an injured MLB player cannot be a PTBNL correct? I have no problem with idea of acquiring Wheeler but it would have to be an off season move.

I watched the first season and by accident I noticed it was on last night. My summer Sunday night viewing is the The Strain on FX and 2 shows from TNT; The Last Ship and Falling Skies. As I'm down with Rachel McAdams and liked season 1 I watched the first episode via On-Demand after I finished up The Strain last night just to see check out season 2. I was intrigued enough enough I was going to watch the 2nd episode but it wasn't in On-Demand for some reason, I briefly started the 3rd but after 5 minutes it was clear skipping an episode was a bad idea so my plan is to catch up on True Detective during the week. Almost all of my shows run on Sunday nights now so I usually watch 2 then catch up with the rest on the DVR later which is an issue with older Time Warner Cable's older DVRs like I have, I can only record 2 shows at once so anything more I'm recording the rerun later that night. Alcoholism seems like it's going to be a common theme again this season, but I'm definitely going to get caught up.

Kane County stops Rattlers 1-0 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/5/4/137440854/cuts/Jon_Perrin_WEB_w38v30u8_sth09tks.jpg Jon Perrin pitched five scoreless innings and struck out four for the Timber Rattlers Sunday at Kane County. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GENEVA, IL - The Kane County Cougars scored an unearned run in the sixth inning of Sunday's game against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. That was enough for the Cougars to pick up a 1-0 victory over the Rattlers at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark. The win was Kane County's seventh straight. Wisconsin starting pitcher Jon Perrin kept the Cougars off the scoreboard through the first five innings. The right-hander allowed three hits and struck out four. But, the Rattlers offense couldn't solve Cougars starting pitcher Markus Solbach, who tossed seven shutout innings, allowed four hits, and struck out three without a walk. Kane County (57-35 overall, 21-3 second half) broke the scoreless game with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth. Reliever Tyler Linehan got the first out of the inning, but Ildemaro Vargas reached on an error and Cody Regis drew a walk to put two runners on for Marty Herum. Herum lined pitch deep to center and the ball dropped in for a double to score Vargas for a 1-0 lead. Herum, a native of River Falls, Wisconsin who played college baseball at Wisconsin-Whitewater, went 2-for-3 with a walk on Sunday. He is 26-for-63 (.413) with nineteen RBI in sixteen games against the Rattlers this season. That run was all the Cougars needed to win for the eleventh time of their last twelve games. The Timber Rattlers (30-63, 7-16) had four hits in the game and just one of the final ten batters in the game reached base. Cody Geyer took over for Solbach and retired Wisconsin in order in the eighth and Zac Curtis worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 21st save of the season. Curtis is 6-for-6 in save opportunities against Wisconsin this season. Sunday was only the fifth time this season the Timber Rattlers have been shutout, but the loss dropped their record in games decided by one run to 6-21. Game three of the series is Monday night. Angel Ventura (3-4, 3.70) gets the starting assignment for the Timber Rattlers. Josh Taylor (1-0, 2.61) is scheduled to start for the Cougars. Game time is 6:30pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. The broadcast may also be heard on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. Subscribers to MiLB.TV may watch the game on that platform with the Kane County announcing crew. WP: Markus Solbach (9-2) LP: Tyler Linehan (1-4) SAVE: Zac Curtis (21) TIME: 2:14 ATTN: 5,808 Wisconsin Boxscore First a correction about Marty Herum, it turns out he's a WI boy, he's from River Falls even though his home town is listed as St Paul which I relayed in a post about him last week. Chris mentioned it on the air today and I reached out for some Whitewater folks I know to confirm, my bad there. (*also in the game story now that it's up, yes usually I write my comments before the story pops). I laughed earlier this month when I read Taylor Jungmann's quotes bemoaning the organization's focus on walks because winning and losing often comes down to a series of events that are usually impacted by unnecessary extra bases, especially in the minor leagues, like today's game. Matos has an error, Tyler Linehan walks the next batter and then gives up a double so the Rattlers lose. That run doesn't score with out the error, the walk, or the double and that's pretty much the story of the 2015 Rattlers, they rarely pick each other up and get paper cut to death. Actually that's how I rate minor league relievers as well, if they allow a bunch of inherited runners to score I'm not going to think much of them because they don't have the stuff to stop the bleeding on their own. Jon Perrin has been pretty darn good 2 outings in a row, his strike percentage wasn't as good as last time (19 of 23) but I'll take 42 of 60 every time out, he also picked off his 2nd batter in his limited time with Rattlers. Sthervin Matos (2-4) committed what turned out to be the costly error previously discussed but also produced half of the offense. Natanael Mejia contributed a nifty pick off at 1B, Wisconin Recap

No question pitchers are a bigger risk, but injuries can hit anyone. Look at Profar with Texas. Not long ago he was the number one prospect in baseball and now he may never amount to anything. Not only that but if we don't trade for young impact pitching and aren't developing it, how exactly are we going to acquire any with longevity? Is the plan going to be short duration proven MLB players forever? The Brewers aren't able to go 7 years for players in FA so they are out of the impact pitching market, they haven't been drafting/signing and developing impact pitching, so if the Brewers don't assume some risk and trade for it then what exactly is going to change? People keep talking about getting Syndergaard which is not going to happen, the Mets acquired him in A ball, that's the smart play. That's exactly where Lucas Giolito is right now... I understand and appreciate the fascination many fans will have with MLB ready and MLB proven talent, but all that does is limit the possible return. The Rays plucked Scott Kazmir from AA in 2004, in 2007 and when Texas acquired Neftali Feliz and Elvis Andrus at the deadline for Teixeira both players were in the low minors. Feliz was a 19 year old fireballer in R ball and Andrus was 18 years old in A+. In 2012 Miami acquired Justin Nicolino when he was coming out of A ball. Almost all of the best high ceiling minor league pitchers are in AA or lower... Glasnow (AA), Reyes (A+), Urias (AA - coming off elective eye surgery), only Luis Severino (Yankees) and Daniel Norris (Jays) are currently pitching in AAA. Aaron Nola is highly rated but he's a #3 and always have been, and it wouldn't make sense for the Phillies to trade him anyway. We're dealing with a very short list of prospects here at the top of the list, there are guys further down BA's midseason top 50 like Hoffman and Newcomb who are extremely intriguing. The Brewers don't really match-up at all with Yankees, do match up with Jays, and arguments could be made for first 4 prospects I mentioned previously in different posts; Giolito, Glasnow, Reyes, and Urias. 2 of those players are unfortunately in the division so we'd have to be willing to give our rivals a temporary boost and take a longer view, which doesn't seem like Melvin's MO. As teams have actually started to care about drafting and developing players instead of continually moving around MLB assets prospects have gained more value. It's pretty hard these days to trade for an impact pitcher in AAA, why wouldn't the team just call him up to be their 5th starter instead of trade him? That's why there has been very little impact pitching in AAA over the last 10 years. I think the Brewers pro-player scouting dept is better than the amateur division, it's different scouts spending time watching the minor leagues than it is out scouting amateur talent. Yes there is risk, but the organization has to take calculated risks on the correct talent to get over the top. I'm not risk adverse but I don't want the organization to be wasteful either, I want carefully thought out and calculated risks taken. I'll take my chances with the pro-player scouting, they've done a pretty good job over the years. Many posters are incredibly risk averse, which means they disinclined or reluctant to take risks. We can't change out the GM because it could get worse, we can't trade for prospects because they might fail, and so on. However while focusing on the extreme negatives the number of possible outcomes becomes limited, and in the end the situation tends to deteriorate anyway because issues rarely take care of themselves. That's exactly what happened to the US Military in Iraq and Afghanistan, I'd recommend the books Cobra II and Not A Good Day to Die, and that's certainly been the case for me as I've progressed through life. Operating in an ultra conservative manner rarely leads to the desired end state regardless of where or how you are tactically competing... sports, business, military... in the end it's all the same. If you are conservative and predictable you will lose, if you are foolish and wasteful you will lose, the key is to find that sweet spot in the middle where calculated risks are taken and goals are achieved. I'll finish the post with a couple of my favorite quotes from antiquity: It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. - Sun Tzu He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. - Socrates

It depends on what type of team you are trading with and when, if the team is contending there aren't going to be established MLB players coming back for a top prospect during the season, in the off season anything can happen. Historically all the trades were for players with very limited MLB experience and were made between teams that weren't in contention looking to improve weaknesses. Just because there isn't a precedent doesn't mean it's not a good idea to do prospect for prospect swaps. 10 years ago no one was buying out arbitration and FA years from young players either. I would be livid if the Brewers traded Arcia for some MLB piece...

Correct, with his current body type he's a high .600s to low .700s guy at his peak... and by low .700s I mean like .720ish. not like .705... I think that Castro's .777 of last season his probably around his ultimate ceiling.. 30+ doubles, 10+ HRs, and he'll walk more and strike out less than Starlin does. He's also much defender than Castro so he'll provide more ultimate value in the end. Around a .290 AVE, .350 OBP, and .450 SLG seems like good ultimate peak projection if he fills out his body in a best case scenario. Of course if he continues to significantly improve his plate discipline he could be a .300+ hitter in his best years which bumps everything as well. Escobar hit 8 HRs as a 21 year old in AA but he's never hit more than 5 in any MLB season so I could really see Arcia putting up anywhere from 5 to 15 HRs per season depending on if his body type stays more like Escobar or moves more towards his brother Oswaldo. I don't mean to suggest that Alcides and Orlando are similar hitters because they aren't, but they had similar body types... in that 6' 170lb range in AA, though Orlando is a year younger. I could talk all day about adding muscle and flexibility vs adding weight... Escobar has just added weight through his career, and I fear that Arcia may be similar given his heritage and how slow baseball has been to promote athletic development (outside of PEDs). Hardy didn't add that power until he got hurt and spent all his rehab and off season working in the weight room, he was looking to be in that 10ish HR range until then as well so ultimately we never really know how motivated a player will be to improve in that regard.

So you think 1 prospect is worth a former CY pitcher having a career year, one of the better young CFs in the game, a MLB utility guy, and a questional MiLB catcher? Futhermore why would the Brewers want a 31 year old Greinke and his salary/contract, another utility IF, and a probably never will be MLB C? Also, why would the Dodgers want to give up MLB pieces when they are chasing a World Series and looking add more MLB impact pitching for the 2nd half? I swear you post crazy stuff just get everyone else's dander up. If we were trading Arcia with the Dodgers we'd be looking at getting back either Corey Seager to be our 3B or Julio Urias to be our ace of the future in a straight up deal. Seager is still playing SS for them in AAA so I don't see them swapping SSs with us but they would shift him to 3B if they brought Arcia into the fold which makes Urias the only realistic Arcia target with LA.