TheCrew07

yea but he can like bunt... or something....

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Pre Game Audio Chris interviews catching prospect Cameron Garfield. It turns out his absence was in fact due to a finger injury, they discuss Cameron's goals, Cameron's opinion on pitcher Eric Arnett's struggles, and preparing for a team the 2nd time around.

When have I ever advocated trading pitching for pitching? It would be nice if one day the Brewers had some excess arms to trade but that certainly isn't the case today, nor has it been the case in Melvin's tenure as GM. I've only ever talked about matching up team needs. Some people around here think trading for pitching is impossible, I don't believe that notion to be true, but it's certainly more difficult now that the market has turned away from SLG and is more pitching/defense orientated. Which is not so coincidentally why I'm irritated with Melvin because he's stuck to his formula of averageness ever since he's gotten here. It works wonderfully for turning a morbid franchise into a competitive one, but we're experiencing the downfall of not having enough impact talent, especially pitching talent. Every year impact pitching gets traded, this year it happened to be for pitching, last year Jackson was moved for a single positional prospect. We can't just decide, "I want to trade now" and expect a good deal to be out there, acquiring pitching has to be a priority like it's been for TB. They jumped on some great deals, built a fantastic rotation through 3 trades (while developing their own pitching), and have now traded 2 players away that they originally traded for, and they still have pitching depth as an organization. The problem is simply that we have to give value to get value, and any time a hitter is productive very few people are willing to move him, and that seems to be the case with Melvin as well. Cincy had the stones to give up Hamilton for Volquez, and then of course Volquez proceeded to get Dusty Bakered, but when have the Brewers ever made a deal like that? The simple truth is that to acquire significant talent we have to be willing to trade a piece that would hurt to give up, no GM is going to take these video game trades that so many trades on this forum end up reminding me of. Trading Fielder would hurt, trading McGehee would hurt, trading Hardy before 2009 would have hurt, trading Hart when he was drawing tons of interest would have hurt, but that doesn't mean the team won't be better off in the long term trading those position players for pitching. Again this nothing to do with Hardy or Hart regressing at the plate, it's about trading from a position of strength to acquire a position of greater need. It doesn't matter who would have played RF or if Esky would have had to play short, the potential hole or holes in the lineup isn't what has been holding this team back, it's always been the pitching. In 2008 we had the best pitching we've had in the modern era and we won't be going anywhere until we can get back into that top tier of pitching, but we aren't going to get there signing aging averagish starters to patch the rotation every year. I'm not interested in patching the rotation, I've always wanted Melvin to build a rotation around youth but it's abundantly clear that we don't see eye to eye when it comes to building a contending team.

I tried to warn those that don't follow the minors about the pitchers coming up for the Cards, Cincy, and the Cubs...

Our rental also walked without compensation but then again many of us argued that probably be the case from the get go. Man I hated/still despise that Lopez trade, we were going nowhere.

I think it depends more on how the needs match up than anything else. I would have personally kept Scherzer and I'd be hard pressed to ever trade for a reliever, but those deals happened none the less. Getting back to the idea of trading, there are plenty of position player deals for pitching in the last 5 years but whatever we do it's going to require a team with lots of prospect pitching to be included, our best case is probably a 3 team deal unless Baltimore would want to make a splash. Like I've said many times, I don't have much faith that Melvin will do anything, because he hasn't done anything to this point and our young pitchers are actually starting to get close to MLB.

Basilone didn't fight on Iwo Jima with the 1st Marines, he was actually part of the 5th Marines for the invasion of Iwo. In this case stuck with the solider and not the original unit.

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Pre Game Audio Chris interviews pitching prospect Jonathan Pokorny.

Parra was not the main the problem in the rotation last year, the problem is that we've always lacked enough impact options. Prospects are going to fail, that's why impact depth is so important. Yo didn't pitch like an ace either and was ridden into the ground, and his starts got progressively worse on average as the year progressed. Yo didn't have a GameScore over 70 after July, and he didn't have an 80+ after Jun 5th. Why do you keep insisting Capellan was a high impact starter? He was traded for a closer that we were jettisoning because he hadn't performed well the previous season, he was clearly improperly ranked by BA based solely on Atlanta's reputation for developing pitching, not because his stuff was so good he deserved to be ranked there. It appears that it was a horrible scouting job by the Brewers. Even if you believe Melvin just got unlucky with JDLR and Capellan, what about the rest of the pitchers? As far as the Sexson and Thopmson deals, yes I believe he doesn't target young high risk/high reward anymore. Those 2 deals were pretty much back to back trade wise, and there hasn't been a pitcher acquired of the ceiling of JDLR or Thompson since. In fact, he hasn't traded for impact prospects of any kind, Lee was probably the most talented player but way past being a prospect... Gross, Helms, Overbay, Spivy, Moeller, and Counsell were all high floor type players, Gross being the only prospect. In Texas he traded Juan Gonzalez, a 2 time MVP for Thompson, Alan Webb, Frank Catalanotto, Bill Hassleman, and Gabe Kapler... doesn't that return strike you as eerily similar to the Sexson trade? I don't feel any need to further address what horrible value FA pitching is, like his FA signings have been better? Suppan, Wolf, Davis, and Looper? All finesse/control pitchers. I'm talking about acquiring impact talent and building a rotation that matches up with the best in baseball. Ultimately I would love to have the best rotation in the league, but I'd settle for the best rotation in the division. We only have to 2 ways to acquire impact talent, through the draft and through trades, we simply aren't able to afford elite players in FA. As far as building the best rotation in the division we aren't even close, as close as we got was 2008, and Sabathia's historic run (yes it was that good) was largely responsible for the end result. Either people are oblivious or they just don't care, but STL and CIN have better rotations now and very well positioned for the future, and the lame Cubs have 3 projectable pitchers between AA and AAA, as we as Dolis who is apparently hitting triple digits on occasion. As I've said literally hundreds of times, swapping out your 4th and 5th pitchers for a "better" pitcher doesn't mean anything in the post season. The idea should be to slot better pitchers at the top of the rotation pushing the 4/5 pitchers out of the rotation, not replace those guys with marginally better talent. Has having 1 stud pitcher surrounded by a bunch finesse pitchers of varying quality worked? Not just in 2009, but ever for this franchise? In 2008 we looked to have Sheets/Yo, then ended up with Sabathia/Yo/Bush. I love Yo, but he's not close to Sheets in his prime yet. and I don't even need pitching that good, I'd be happy with 3 number 2 type starters and then a 3 and a 4. You can be average, or a little above average, but if that's all your pitching is, in that league average range, that's all your team can be. Once again who do we match up well against in the post season? Look at the best teams in the NL? Do we match up with any? What about the AL if we luck our way into the series by some act of god? We have the 3rd or 4th best rotation in our division and in the bottom half of MLB as a whole. Look at the playoff teams for the last 15 years in either league, then look at their league rank. The only team that made a run was STL, and once they hit the post season they were able to shorten the rotation down to 3 guys and got tremendous pitching during the playoffs. Who do we shorten our rotation to? Yo, Wolf, and... ? No, I think Fielder's departure signals the end of the first wave of talent. but I recognize that many people think the team's window ends with Fielder, which is why I framed the statement the way I did. The system might have developed 2 HOF quality talents, had them on the same team together, and Melvin would have failed to assemble enough pitching around that talent to make a serious run. I do think that every move Melvin has made since 2007 has made remaining competitive more difficult, the rental player thing really hasn't worked out so well to this point, neither in results on the field or the talent coming back in the draft. We've just never had enough impact pitching in the rotation and with Parra's demotion to the pen, Braddock's conversion to reliever, that leaves us with Rivas and Rogers in AA. While I like both of those guys quit a bit, Rogers has been very uneven to start the season. Heading down to A+, I feel much better about Peralta than I do Scarpetta. Scarpetta's averagish velocity doesn't do it for me, Fiers has similar velocity to Scarpetta but much better control, both of those guys top out in 3 range in my opinion. In A ball it's been pretty miserable season thus far as the young pitchers adjust to the level of competition. Odorizzi appears to be the real deal, I really like Heckathorn's arm, but without seeing all those young guys pitch in person I have a hard time getting excited about the rest as potential impact talent.

Our staff only has an OPS + against of 84? My point which I didn't expand upon is that outside of beating up on Pittsburgh our offense certainly hasn't set the world on fire. I was curious what our OPS against was as a pitching staff. edit. I was just searching around for the answer to OPS+ against and stumbled onto the stat that the average age of our pitching staff is 31.1 years old. The last time it was over 30? 1985.

I enjoy the work you are putting in this year CJ. I was going to ask you earlier but forgot, is Workman just a hunch based on size and stuff, or is there more to it?

Did you mean "high floor'"?

Pitchers in BA's top 100? Aumont (93), Drabek (25). Max Scherzer was traded by AZ for Edwin Jackson, Brewer fans should remember him, I believe he no longer qualifies as a prospect. Brandon Morrow was also traded has a very nice arm but isn't a prospect anymore. he's sort of right there with Parra results wise. For reference our best MiLB pitchers didn't even make BAs top 100... Rivas gets so little love he didn't even crack the FSL's top 20 last year, which was a joke... some of that might be oversight like in Rivas' case but we had 3 players on the list.... Escobar, Lawrie, and Gamel in that order. I'm not saying pitchers are going to be falling out of trees into Melvin's lap, but trading for pitching clearly hasn't been a priority. We aren't going to be able to trade for pitching just because we want to, he has to jump on the opportunities when they present themselves like other organizations have done. He's seriously weakened his position because the situation got so bad it's clear to everyone around baseball that the Brewers need more pitching. I really wish we could have acquired Niemann or Jackson from TB, TB couldn't give Niemann away at the 2008 deadline and they traded Jackson for a single hitting prospect named Matt Joyce.

How many other teams have gotten to play 2 series against the Pirates? Also, what's the OPS+ against the pitching staff this season?

This is pretty much the case, but gets ignored around here all the time.That's simply not true. While the market has swung back towards pitching, some very intriguing pitching was just traded this off season.

Wow they followed Basilone to Iwo Jima, but I was sure Hanks said that they committed 3 full episodes to Okinawa during the behind the scenes. I guess I heard him wrong.

To address the first point which I didn't quote, you're right that Rogers hasn't done anything yet and to make mattersdock, Parra, and Jones are all in the pen. All the more reason he should have moved to acquire someone of #2 quality or better. Getting back to the part I quoted, apparently it's just convenient to ignore the Justin Thompson deal being a miserable failure just prior to him getting canned in Texas, and every starting pitcher that Melvin has acquired since? Even in the Sexson deal he covered his bets with Cappy. Furthermore he's hasn't even traded for a MLB pitcher since the team became competitive so where is this shift in philosophy towards low ceiling players? I'd agree that he shifted his focus to rental deals and the deals for Linebrink and Lopez were completely unnecessary, but he's been acquiring the same type of pitcher since his first deal in Milwaukee. The list is only a few posts up... the names are all right there. You've always defended Melvin, that's fine, you're certainly welcome to do whatever you want to do, but you've hardly been objective about his philosophy either. I was once like you, in Melvin I trusted... then I started looking at the state of the pitching, noticed what other teams were doing with their pitching, started reading more about pitching, started focusing on trends and value, and I've become progressively more frustrated with Melvin's lack of action since. Ultimately the proof will be in the results... when the team is only able to muster a single playoff appearance with Braun and Fielder together in the lineup then maybe you'll change your tune. I don't know. I know this though, he's had plenty of assets since 2006 to burn on a young #2 type pitcher, someone with stuff around Yo's level, and we haven't acquired a single pitcher of that caliber via trade. I'm not talking about players that run it up there 95+, I'm talking about players who know how to pitch and work in the low 90s. How many of those pitchers Melvin acquired can even break 90 MPH on their best day? That's all I've been trying to point out.

JDLR was a high upside pitcher no doubt, but he had significant control issues and was nearly out of options in addition to being stalled in AAA. He is not someone I would have championed if that situation came back around today, I'm a much more educated fan today. He remains the only high upside pitcher Melvin has acquired via trade, and that was in first off season as the GM of the Brewers. Can we stop pretending that he's acquired anyone with top of the rotation talent since then? Capuano is/was a finesse pitcher. Bush is a finesse pitcher. Jackson is a finesse pitcher. Villy is a finesse pitcher. Cody is a finesse pitcher. Davis is a finesse pitcher (wire claim). Ohka was a finesse pitcher. Vargas is a finesse pitcher. Cappelan - who knows what the organization saw here, his velocity was never close to what he was advertised as. He topped out at 93 as a reliever. Butler- The most projectable of all the pitchers acquired since JDLR, but looks to be a back of the rotation starter at best. Yes every team has to fill out it's rotation, but that's not really the point people are making. It's same argument that was continually made for Suppan... it doesn't matter if he's league average for a 5th starter, that wasn't the role he was acquired to fill. Sure some of those guys had nice seasons at various times, but they got bye solely on pitchability. Those pitchers also have so little margin for error that you tend to get significant swings in their results from year to year. What has Melvin done for the starting pitching since 2007 when the team looked to be on the verge? Where are the other top of the rotation starting pitchers this team so desperately needed to go with it's core of positional talent, especially once Sheets had trouble staying healthy? We had Yo in the pipeline, that was it at the time. Braddock, Rogers, Parra, and Jones were hurt... where was the pitching going to come from if not acquired via trade? Even Melvin's FA acquisitions have been the same type of finesse pitchers in Suppan and Wolf. We can maybe get to the post season with Yo, Wolf, and 3 other guys but we don't match up with any team rotation wise in the post season. We didn't even match up in 2008 with Sabathia as a rental. This isn't about clawing our way into the playoffs, it's about truly being competitive once we get there. Our rotation is currently Yo, Wolf, Davis, Bush, and Narveson but with 2 different moves along the way it could have been like Yo, Buchholz/Jackson/Niemann, Marcum, Wolf, Narveson/Parra. Which rotation would you rather have? Which is the most cost effective? Which would be the most productive? I'm just throwing names out there of guys there were on the block, available, or traded for by other teams. Yea Buchholz wasn't available last season, but he was prior, just like Niemann was available in 2008 but not in 2009. I was never high on Matt Cain but I was wrong about him, he's become a very solid pitcher despite a lower K rate, he was another pitcher on the block prior to 2009. Melvin wasn't limited to the current rotation, he just doesn't trade for upside pitching after getting burned by JDLR and Justin Thompson, he pursues pitchers and players with high floors because they carry less risk. In fact he got lucky that Parra and Rogers have come back to be starting pitchers at all. I completely and totally reject the notion that Melvin did the best he could with the starting rotation, he took by far the most conservative course he could once the team became truly competitive and that includes acquiring Sabathia. What could be more safe than trading 4 players the organization wouldn't miss for a former CY winner? Even if the trade hadn't worked out many fans still would have been fine with the deal because he "went for it". There was absolutely no short term downside with that move at all, and many people refuse to see the 2009 as even partial fallout of the Sabathia deal, which it clearly was as we burned our most expendable assets for a 4 month solution and didn't have much left besides Hardy to deal with following the trade. As a point of curiosity, google the Juan Gonzalez trade some time and look at how many of those players were ultimately signed by the Brewer organization.

This is only the 2nd time the T-Rats have faced Liam Hendriks and I'm already tired of the guy, I hope he's promoted before the T-Rats see him again.

Wheeler was incredibly hot to start last season and then fell off, he's been very inconsistent in full season ball. Check out his month to month splits on minor league splits, he's another guy that's just very tough to get a read on. I actually liked Wilson more than him coming into the season. Also to be fair, I don't recall a single prospect list anywhere that has Wheeler in the top 30, I just double checked BA and he's not there.

Obviously I like Perez given what I posted in a different thread, but why would we want another Gomez? Another guy approaching 2 full years of service time who's been relatively putrid, in his first full season last year he couldn't post a league average OPS despite hitting 20+ HRs. I'm not a fan of Scheppers or anyone that won't sign with the team that originally drafts him, but I'd rather take back Scheppers and Perez than hope Davis into something at MLB. In fact with Smoak already being called up by Texas, I'd rather focus on Baltimore and one of their top arms plus Josh Bell. Not that Smoak is tearing it up, but it appears Texas already made it's move.

If we aren't getting 2 top 7ish prospects from an organization, then there is no point in trading Prince. Davis is a horrible acquisition, we'd be better off moving Gamel over to 1B immediately.

Final: Nashville 7, Memphis (Cardinals) 4 Sounds Win 7th Straight Game, 7-4 Over Memphis NASHVILLE - The Nashville Sounds extended their winning streak to seven games by defeating the cross-state rival Memphis Redbirds, 7-4, in front of a season-high 8,520 fans on Friday evening at historic Greer Stadium. Nashville (16-6) finished the month of April with the best record in the 16-team Pacific Coast League. Sounds starter Chuck Lofgren (4-1) pulled into a tie for the league lead by earning his fourth win in five starts. The southpaw turned in his second quality start of the year, holding the Redbirds to two runs on three hits over six innings of work. The Sounds took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning against Memphis starter Lance Lynn, plating three unearned runs as a result of a pair of Redbirds errors. Jonathan Lucroy had a bases-loaded fielder's choice groundout for Nashville, and Trent Oeltjen added a two-out RBI single in the frame. Joe Koshansky pushed the Sounds' lead to 4-0 in the fifth when his bases-loaded sacrifice fly brought home Adam Stern (3-for-5), who singled earlier in the frame. Memphis halved the lead to 4-2 in the sixth when center fielder Shane Robinson (2-for-3) belted his first home run of the season, a two-out, two-run shot to left off Lofgren. The Sounds got a run back in the bottom of the frame against the Memphis bullpen. Trey Hearne hit Oeltjen with a pitch to open the inning before Johnny Raburn singled to put runners on the corners. Shortstop Luis Cruz upped the lead to 5-2 with an RBI single to center. The visitors made a game of it in the eighth, pulling within a run at 5-4 before leaving the bases loaded. With one out, Bryan Anderson, Donovan Solano, and pinch-hitter Kevin Howard strung together consecutive singles against Mitch Stetter, the third of which made it a 5-3 game. After John Axford took over on the Nashville hill, Robinson singled to load the bases before Daniel Descalso drew a run-scoring walk from the right-hander to pull Memphis within a run. With the bases still loaded and only one out, Axford recovered to strike out Allen Craig and induce an inning-ending pop-up from Mark Hamilton to escape the jam without further damage and preserve the one-run advantage. For the second time in three innings, Nashville answered a Memphis score in the top of an inning with runs of its own in the home half as the Sounds got both runs back against Fernando Salas in the bottom of the eighth. Pinch-hitter Norris Hopper delivered an RBI single to plate Oeltjen, who had opened the frame with a double. Stern added a run-scoring knock later in the frame to extend the Sounds' lead to 7-4. Closer Chris Smith retired the Redbirds in order in the top of the ninth to notch his minor league-leading 10th save of the year. Lynn (0-2) took the loss for Memphis after giving up four runs (one earned) on six hits over five innings of work. Sounds second baseman Ray Olmedo singled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to seven games, matching Eric Farris for the longest effort on the club this season. The teams continue the series with a 6:35 p.m. matchup on Saturday night. Right-hander Marco Estrada (1-0, 2.74) will take the hill for the Sounds to face Memphis left-hander Rich Hill (1-2, 5.16). Nashville Box ScoreLofgren with a nice start for the Sounds tonight, going 6 IP giving up 2 runs, only 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 3. Unfortunately he did allow a HR which is how both runs against him scored. Mitch Stetter was tagged for the other 2 runs, giving up 3 hits against a single strike out. Axford couldn't limit the damage for Stetter, allowing 1 of the inherited runners to score. Smith with a quick 1, 2, 3 inning with 2 strike outs to close out the game. Offensively Stern (3), Oeltjen (2), and Raburn (2) had multi hit games and Oeltjen also doubled for the only XBH of the game. Nashville Game Log Shoddy defense in the 1st allowed Nashville to jump out early. Nashville Bottom 1st Adam Stern singles on a ground ball to left fielder Allen Craig. Ray Olmedo reaches on force attempt, fielding error by shortstop Donovan Solano. Adam Stern to 2nd. Adam Heether grounds out to first baseman Mark Hamilton. Adam Stern to 3rd. Ray Olmedo to 2nd. Joe Koshansky walks. Jonathan Lucroy grounds into a force out, shortstop Donovan Solano to second baseman Daniel Descalso. Adam Stern scores. Ray Olmedo scores. Joe Koshansky out at 2nd. Jonathan Lucroy advances to 2nd, on throwing error by second baseman Daniel Descalso. Trent Oeltjen singles on a line drive to right fielder Mark Shorey. Jonathan Lucroy scores. Trent Oeltjen to 2nd on the throw. John Raburn grounds out to first baseman Mark Hamilton.

Final: Huntsville 10, Birmingham (White Sox) 1 by Aaron Morse, Huntsville Stars Huntsville snapped a three game losing streak thanks to the long ball Friday night against the Barons, defeating Birmingham 10-1 to even the current series at one game apiece. Steffan Wilson started the home run derby with a long blast to left field off Barons starting pitcher Matt Long in the first inning. Chris Errecart scored on Wilson’s first home run of the year. After sending his first inning double off the wall, Errecart had another look at Long in the third inning and took full advantage with a shot that cleared the left field wall and brought home Taylor Green. Starting pitcher Amaury Rivas’ showed why he sits near the top of the Southern League in most statistical categories. Huntsville’s ace tossed seven innings and remained unbeaten, moving his record to 4-0. Rivas threw only 78 pitches and saw 24 Barons, he struck out four and walked one. Through five starts, the 24 year old Dominican native has allowed only three earned runs. Zelous Wheeler stretched his hitting streak to 12 games with a single in the fifth inning. When his streak began against Jacksonville, Wheeler’s average was just .125; he has since been moved in to the middle of the lineup and following Friday’s 2-4 night that included his third home run of the season the Stars infielder is batting .344. Game three between the Stars and Barons starts Saturday night at 6:30. Alex Periard (1-2 4.37) is scheduled to battle Jhonny Nunez (0-2 6.20) for the leg up in the series against in state rivals. Pre-game coverage on the Huntsville Stars Radio Network begins at 6:15 CDT, play by play coverage can also be heard online at www.huntsvillestars.com. Huntsville Box Score It's no secret I'm an Amaury Rivas guy, and he continues his strong 2010 campaign going 7 innings, allowing just 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and striking out 4. Donovan Hand follwed Amaury with 2 scoreless innings of his own, adding 3Ks and no BBs. This is Donovan's 3rd shot at AA and predictably he's gotten incrementally better with each go round, he's certainly earned a promotion to Nashville. Defensively a clean game from the Stars, errorless games have been tough to come by even though they've been among the league leaders in turning DPs this season. Offensively a huge night as you would guess from the score, but no one had a better night than young Brett Lawrie who went 4 for 5 with a 2B and a 3B. Haydel, Wheeler, Green, and Errecart all added 2 hits a piece. Haydel and Errecart added 2Bs, while Wheeler, Errecart, and Wilson all homered, not a solo shot among the 3 HRs. Huntsville Game Log Not a single monster inning, just solid hitting through out the entire game.

Final: Brevard County 5, Tampa (Yankees) 3 Brevard Country Box Score I'm filling in for MH and BK tonight. Josh Prince had his best night in his last ten games, and maybe this season going 2 for 4 with a 2B. He's back up to a .200 BA following today's action, it's been a tough start to the season for him, certainly not the fireworks he started off with in Helena last season. Zarraga and Cline both add 2 hits, Zarraga with a 2B as well, bumping their season lines to .417/.500/.962 and .309/.364/.764 respectively. Zarraga is tough to get a read on, he's only had 12 ABs on the season and they actually had him sacrifice in a crucial situation earlier in the week, but his bat has always carried some potential. Fiers continues his fine season thus far, though not as dominant in this one. Frerichs had 3BBs against 1K in his 2 IP but didn't allow a run. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t503&t=g_log&gid=2010_04_30_breafa_tbyafa_1 Brevard County Game Log Fiers had an interesting bottom of the 2nd. Tampa Bottom 2nd Neil Medchill homers (1) on a fly ball to left field. Jose Pirela grounds out, second baseman Sergio Miranda to first baseman Brock Kjeldgaard. Melky Mesa hit by pitch. With Mitch Abeita batting, Melky Mesa steals (6) 2nd base, . Melky Mesa advances to 3rd, on throwing error by catcher Anderson De La Rosa. Mitch Abeita walks. Trent Lockwood strikes out swinging. Jack Rye strikes out swinging