TheCrew07

Apparently I didn't wait long enough to post, the boxscores had correct player lines but the score, hits, innings, errors, and so one were not showing up. Lots of little technical issues tonight. However everything is functioning properly now. The quality of the BC audio is much better than the Huntsville audio, when the audio is actually coming through that is. Hopefully MiLB and the teams get past the glitches rather quickly. Fiers is cruising by the way, 4IP and 5Ks

The boxcores aren't working properly for either Huntsville or BC, but gameday is working for the AA game.

Wow, Fiers is the opening day starter for BC tonight.

Well Huntsville is having some technical issues with their audio, they didn't get the interview into the show, no commercials, and the MIC appears to be open to general stadium noise. Hopefully they get it figured out before game time.

It's no so much about entitling Parra to 30 starts, the valid question JB12 brought up is how do we continue to delevop Parra if he's not regularly pitching in games? If he is to be any part of the teams future he has to keep playing so he hopefully develops into something useful. It's the same concept as having Gamel ride the bench... once they stop playing, they stop progressing. The upside in Gamel's case was that he could still work on his defense when he wasn't playing, but what is Parra going to do if he doesn't pitch? I realize only 3 games have passed and I'd be willing to give Macha the benefit of the doubt if I had any confidence in him at all as a manager, but I don't. I completely understand the whole concept of the most productive players should get the playing time, that's not what I'm arguing at all. They simply can't keep Parra on the MLB roster for fear that another team will claim him and then pitch him as little as possible, his growth and development as a player will stop in my opinion as I don't believe his problems are physical in nature. Maybe Manny would be a better reliever as he wouldn't have to concern himself with pitching multiple times through a lineup, I'm open to the idea even though we desperately need starting pitching next season. Who knows, maybe he could spring board success in a relief role this season into a quality career as a starting pitching going forward. He needs to find confidence and to be more agressive if he's going to help the Brewers, he'll get neither being the last reliever off the bench, that's a not position you develop talent from, it is the position in the bullpen for players on the way out.

Mass, I'm unable to send or read PMs from work or I would have sent you a PM on this but did you ever find out if Nashville will be archiving their pre-game audio like in years past? I've been so busy that I've slacked horribly and haven't contacted any of the affiliates yet (I'll do that when I get home) to get permission to archive independently. It didn't occur to me till just now that I don't even have my new pc setup to archive yet. Sometimes real life is a royal pain to my Brewer fanhood.

I didn't explain that very well... I would have rather bought out through 2015 (the idea being we a lost of season production already in 2008) with option years in '16 and '17. I'd like to find a way to keep our core players around 10 years or so if they are still effective, but a minimum of 8. It all ties back to buying wins at a reduced rate, which is what the Brewers are doing with a contract like this. For the security of the deal, the player should be willing to forfeit some salary. My answer to the Braun question about money left on the table is 0, he sacrificed that additional income for a lifetime of security on the front end. We don't want our best players ending up in Fielder type situations where we have to pay market value, the Brewers are much better off making deals like they have with Braun and Yo, as in they need to assume some risk in order to gain cost certainty and roster flexibility down the road. I've beaten those concepts to death in other much longer posts in different threads, but I think it's worth repeating 1 last time. I'm thrilled that we'll have Yo through '15 if we want him and his contract will be extremely tradable if he would become the odd man out for any reason. We're due for some good luck with our starting pitching prospects health wise and I'm hoping that by '13 or '14 we find ourselves in the situation the Rays have been in the last couple of season where they are trading excess SP talent for needs elsewhere.

Dang, I would have liked a second FA year bought out with an additional option year, but this is definitely a step in the right direction from my perspective.

We would have to lose 2 starting pitchers for Parra to make it into the rotation, it appears that he's slotted as the long man right man. How long is that going to take to happen? What if it doesn't happen? I think many people are overreacting somewhat to the "we'll need 8 or 9 starting pitchers" idea. We won't need that many to make 20 starts, some of those guys are going to get 2 or 3 starts and go away. The 25 man roster is not a place where you store just in case type depth, that's what the AAA roster is for. I don't care who you are there is no relief pitcher that is going to be stretched out enough to just jump into the rotation, nor does bullpen work adequately simulate game conditions for Parra. He knows how to pitch, he's just doesn't assert himself on the mound. I thought Peterson said something pretty interesting, he was talking about pitchers and their identity. He listed guys like Sabathia and Santana who everyone knows what they pitch... FB, SLider, CB... or FB, Cutter, CH.... you get the idea. Then he asked... who's Manny Parra? He's just a guy with a great arm and 6 pitches, he needs to figure out an identity and narrow his focus. Sabathia pretty much said the exact same thing about Parra before he left, that he would be better off concentrating on his 3 best pitches.

I would be very pleased if this turns out to be true, a pitching contract that I can actually get behind would be fantastic! I'm hoping we buy out at least 2 FA seasons to get back that lost 2008 season, and for some team option years as well on the back end of the deal ala the James Shields contract. Let him walk when he's 30-31 if he's still pitching effectively...

Jeff Isom was on the radio up here as I was between accounts and mentioned that he believes they will play a twin bill tomorrow if possible starting at 6:05 PM. He guess Suppan would pitch the first game but had to confirm that with Melvin and Ash prior to making it official. I'm not sure they will get the game in tomorrow either, I would guess we have around 2 inches of snow on the ground and it's still falling though not anywhere near as heavy as last night. It's supposed to be sunny and in the mid 50s tomorrow, hopefully the field will dry fast once the snow melts.

WOOHOO! The link report returns! My favorite baseball day of the year.

Actually, the LaPorta stuff didn't come from X, it comes from Huntsville's GM Buck Rogers. Buck has proven to be very entertaining yet brutally honest, and I believe Mass Hass actually linked the write up from Buck about how LaPorta wouldn't sign his jerseys on the way out which were ticketed for a charity of some sort. I want to say it had something to do with disabled children, but I'm not sure. As far as what I think about LaPorta the player... well, I always felt the OF was a sham and he was a 1B. He has legit power, he's fully capable of playing at an all-star caliber level, but he also had some huge holes in his swing, and like we've found out with Corey Hart, MLB pitchers are going to exploit every flaw in a batter's approach until it's resolved. I always thought Gamel was the better prospect of the 2, but I'm not sure what his career is going to bring anymore either. I have no problem that Brantley and LaPorta were traded for pitching, I just would have preferred a different package and have consistently posted such prior to and immediately following the trade. I just wanted someone with longevity to pair with Yo and bridge the gap to 2011 or 12. but we've beaten that topic to death in other threads.

I think you belong on a Cardinals fan site since we are not classy enough for you. I see a great many people making a very well thought out and developed argument that keeping Suppan because of the money he's owed and jettisoning a younger pitcher with better upside in the process would be a colossal blunder. No one has said you to have to agree with any opinions presented on this site that are contrary to your point of view, but to question someone's intelligence when they make well thought out arguments contrary to your opinions is just as over the top as you claim the rest of us are. The problem isn't us, I'm sorry to say the problem is you. Ohh and by the way some of us dumb fans don't even have a page 14 or 15 as we have our options set to view more posts per page. Maybe if I wasn't so dumb I'd do the math to figure out which posts you referring to.

Well that's makes sense given the situation with Fielder and we do have pretty decent OF depth all of a sudden, but then what do you do with Halton? Apparently the organization thought the way Brantley was handled by DHing and playing 1B just so he could get ABs when he was really an OF was solid logic? I would agree that Dennis is more of a prospect in my mind, but Halton did exactly what college players are supposed to do in Helena, he should have his own everyday position other than DH. I say "BAH!" to putting multiple prospects at a single position on the same team.

Frederickson, Dykstra, Lintz, and Adams sure don't make the top of that draft look very good today. The most disappointing part of the draft from my point of view is not the HS kids, you'll miss on a bunch of those guys, it's the reported pre draft velocities of Adams and Frederickson that suddenly disappeared once they started pitching professionally, or maybe never had at all in games and just flashed at the workouts. There are still many players outside of Lawrie and Odorizzi having success; Bowman, Schafer, Lasker, Wooten (though injured), Bucci, Krestalude, Ritchie, and Meadows. It's certainly not a bad draft today, but it had the potential to be a franchise changing draft. If 1 or 2 of the 4 players I led off with break out then the draft suddenly becomes very intriguing.

A Lee Tunnell quote from last season keeps sticking in my head. He said that he thought Odorizzi was a more advanced pitcher than Arnett when they were in Helena together. Just because Arnett was a college pitcher doesn't mean he has the polish necessary to move quickly, he had a sort of a weird college career. However I do agree that it would be great for all of the projectable arms between Wisconsin and Huntsville to dominate this season.

I hate when I predict doom and gloom and it comes true but it looked all along like Suppan was going to be the 5th starter regardless. Suppan may very well outpitch both Parra and Narveson, and I still won't feel any better about the situation. I just makes me livid that we are paying our 5th starter the most money in the rotation and while any production is better than no production, I really hope this cycle of signing FA pitchers halts immediately. Rivas, Rogers, Butler, and I'll even throw my boy Bowman into the mix really need to come through this season. It wouldn't hurt if Jeffress comes back and can actually pitch in the strike zone as well... of course I hope he's staying clean too.

It just occurred to me that Seidel isn't listed on any rosters either, which is curious. It seems we have some talented players who should be playing in WI or above not on any rosters at the moment. edit. I had that post which BK linked and had totally forgotten about it, it's hard to get anything past Mass.

Periard's results have never matched his stuff, this will be his make or break year I think. He works in the low 90s, has a good sinking FB, and decent secondary pitches, he just hasn't had good results thus far.

The most obvious difference is that the TV contract in the NFL is equally shared between all of the teams. Green Bay is in fact the smallest market in professional sports. The Packers will not be able to compete without a salary cap, the revenue sharing will not be enough, there are plenty of worries floating around 1265 Lombardi Ave these days.

Wow, Fiers to the rotation... I wonder if that's to give him more pitches to work on something specific. I'm not surprised about Frederickson, we heard such good things coming out of instructs but his results in the spring training boxscores still left quite a bit to be desired, he just doesn't throw enough strikes. The tag team is a bit of a surprise as well, unless Watten didn't get stretched out enough. It's too bad about Dykstra, but the writing was on the wall when he didn't make the WI roster to start the season, unless of course he's hurt.

I was surprised that Nieves is back in the rotation, I only saw him pitch in relief last season and while his 2 seam fastball has a ton a life, that's all he threw the couple of times I watched him pitch. He occasionally mixed in a slider as a second pitch, maybe a better word would be "rarely".

I'm not a fan of back to back posts but I was actually coming to this to post a different observation. The WI team should be extremely fun to follow: I love the pitching, Garfield is an exciting C prospect, on the infield I'm intrigued by Gennet, Halton, and George, and in the outfield I'm extremely excited about Richardson and Dennis. I have a hard time believing that Dennis is moving to the infield, unless him and Halton were going to alternate between 1B and DH? I'm not a fan of players splitting time though, I hope he stays in the OF for now. My only question on the pitching side would be who's going to be paired with whom? I'll always find the pairings intriguing. Though each time I count I actually come up with 9 starting pitchers, if there will be a 10th I'm curious who it will be... And That's guess of Pokorny is probably the most logical. edit. Mr Mehring is clutch as usual. I just had a chance to talk with Rattlers pitching coach Chris Hook. Here is the Timber Rattlers pitching rotation for the first ten games (or the first two times through the rotation)* There will be a tandem system for three of the spots and stand-alone starters in the other two spots. April 8-10 v. Kane County: THU: Nick Bucci/Del Howell FRI: Efrain Nieves SAT: Jake Odorizzi/Damon Krestalude April 11-13 v. Clinton SUN: Eric Arnett MON: Maverick Lasker/Kyle Heckathorn TUE: Howell/Bucci April 14-16 @Burlington WED: Nieves THU: Krestalude/Odorizzi FRI: Arnett April 17 @Quad Cities SAT: Heckathorn/Lasker

They could flop Davis and Haydel pending the health of both players, but I believe it's unlikely. Schafer will be the everyday CF in AA when he's healthy, at which point Cain will bump to AAA, and Gindl belongs in a corner OF spot in AA. That basically only leaves Haydel who isn't an uber prospect, but definitely has earned his shot at AA to be bumped by Davis.