TheCrew07

Our GM is no different than the majority on this site that didn't want to move Hardy this off season, but now he's sort of stuck. Then again, maybe teams made offers, but they weren't very good and Melvin wisely declined them. We'll never know.

Growing up on and around farms I've always been down with animals, except for pigs... no use for em... ever. My last live in girlfriend and I decided to get some kittens, over the course of time, I grew to like them more than her, and I was the one who fed them and took care of them so I kept them both when she left. EVERYONE gives me grief about having 2 cats, but honestly, I really don't care. They are well behaved for cats, have decent personalities, and we get along real well. I actually prefer them to dogs now because they are very low maintenance, which works out well for my lifestyle.

both players you mentioned are LH, the wind at space coast blows in about 20 miles per hour almost straight in from left field if I remember correctly.

Could it be that split is due to following Scarpetta as a reliever, his stuff is so different from Scarpetta that he's a change of pace as reliever, but as a starter they have a chance to zero in on him? When I saw him in relief he featured his 2 seam fastball (almost exclusively) which does have nice movement. I wonder if he pitches differently as a starter?

I agree with you 100%. Bill Hall wants to stay in Milwaukee. He could be whining and complaining about his lack of playing time, but he is not.Didn't he already try that last year only to have even more fans turn on him... I agree that it's better than him thinking "I suck", but that's as far as the positives go. He wastes his talent and everything about his approach at the plate is wrong, he just doesn't get it, it's almost like he thinks he's unlucky. You would think a player in his position would be a little bit humble but off the top of my head I don't recall a player who's struggled like him standing in the box admiring warning track power like he does. I admit to bias, just about everything he does rubs me the wrong way, he's into self promotion, but he doesn't do anything to back it up at the plate and for every really nice play he makes in the field there's a "what the hell was that?" play or base running mistake. I've given up hope on him ever being more than a superb athlete who happens to play baseball... but at least from his point of view he did enough to get paid, and paid very well for his 2 year contribution. I used to get excited when he'd actually come through in a clutch situation, now my enthusiasm about winning is tempered because it means he'll keep getting opportunities to fail.

McPhearson has a 5 game hitting streak now, I was worried he'd struggle coming back up to WI after his hot start in Helena, but getting some hits in R+ seems to have jump started him.

You missed the whole point. This was one of the turning points for this organization along with signing Suppan which showed the Brewers weren't just another small market team willing to fade into oblivion like we also have for the past 20 or so years. We showed we were a team willing to go for it. Without the Suppan signing and this deal I doubt Hoffman would have signed here. I also doubt Braun signs the deal he did. They replayed almost the entire 2008 futures game during the rain delay, and I caught Melvin's comments again and caught something I had missed last season, as I was more tuned in to what he had to say about the prospects at any rate. At any rate, he said (and I'm paraphrasing) that it was of the upmost importance to end the long playoff draught, and that's why they went after Sabathia... applying that same logic to the previous season, that's what Linebrink was about. It didn't signal anything to anyone, maybe it meant something to you, the same way making the playoffs validated some people's fandom, but in hindsight it's pretty clear Mark and Doug were pushing hard to get the franchise into the post season, whatever the cost. Suppan is not and was not Reggie White, that acquisition didn't signal anything either... I get why people continue to make that comparison, but the 2 situations are completely dissimilar. Suppan isn't carrying the Crew to the promised land, he's not a team leader, and he's not an elite talent. He's average player who cashed in on his career years... that's it. Milwaukee still isn't an attractive destination for FAs because they'll chase the money, almost without exception. We'll get mid tier players, like we have since Suppan, but nothing more in FA, we just don't have the resources to win a bidding war against the big boys. The team arrived because they drafted very well and graduated an entire crop of effective position players to MLB (minus CF and C), not because Melvin traded for Linebrink or signed Suppan.

The tarp actually got picked up by the wind and got stuck up in the old light fixtures over the outfield wall, the fire dept came and helped get it down, some if it was still out beyond the OF wall at game time. I missed the pre-game watching the futures game, but I jumped on right as he started telling the story. I was multi tasking as that was right about the time Esky was getting his second AB, so I might have the details wrong but that's what I took away from it. I guess he was discussing it with O'Brien and neither of them had ever seen the wind pickup a tarp before, another new "first" if you will.

How so? We didn't make the playoffs, still don't have any high ceiling pitching in AAA, the 2 draft picks are Dykstra who his father aside is having a horrible season and Frederickson whom I really like but has been up and down all season. I don't see how the team has come out ahead in that deal at all, maybe they broke even.

My boy Bowman doin it up again.. I'm sort of bummed he pitched well enough to work his way out WI before I got to see him pitch, but good for him.

Who had that idea? I don't think anybody here said that. I don't think anybody in the media proposed that? Where is this coming from?Us casuals, the little people that don't understand baseball... Actually Nate did propose a trade of that nature, but out of literally dozens of ideas offered up, that's the one that Al chooses to zero in on.

Normally I would agree, but for this season I'm fine with Yo sitting home resting up.

That was refuted by their beat writer immediately following the original twitter or whatever it was.

i agree, i'm very intrigued by Hall as well, they had better sign him.

Steve interviews Dan O'Brien, Assistant General Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. Steve and Dan discuss Bucci, Odorizzi, and Arnett. They transition from the young pitchers to discussing identifying deliveries and athleticism. Dan gives a break down of his current job and makes a quip about not dealing with agents anymore. Dan goes on to discuss how minor league player evalutions affect trades, monitoring the trade market, and the value of compensation picks. All around another excellent and very informative interview from Steve.

Either Chris didn't have an interview or missed it, I didn't start recording until 6:23 so it's possible I just missed the interview.

Brett had a technical problem today, the volume was super low during the interview and cut out for me completely about halfway through.

Thanks, I've been using mp3mymp3, but it doesn't function on the laptop, would be nice to get something that works on the laptop as well.

I viewed that as "whatever", every SP pitcher in the organization for the most part outside of Yo at one point or another has had a post or blurb out of someone about being a reliever, projectable pitchers with high velocity and only 2 polished pitches always seem to get that label regardless of the organization. Heck, Parra even got that label because of health concerns in the past... There's a chance that Rogers, Jeffress, and Peralta will all end up in the pen, but they will be given every opportunity to succeed as SP. To me that's no different that calling Scarpetta's delivery messy... none of our pitchers in A ball repeat their deliveries well, that's just the nature of the beast for most prospects.

804 I agree with Corbeau, your Brewer comps aren't very good comps at any stage. Just looking at baseball-reference doesn't give one the true picture of what's happening with a player's development or their stuff. I don't want to shred up your post but a good example of this is your spin on Braddock. He's been dealing with injuries and emotional issues, on the injury side the problems have lingered because he was misdiagnosed numerous time sby the training staff, and it appears he's doing very well with the emotional issues. No one knows for sure if this switch to RP is permanent or just a "get him through the season healthy thing" like they are doing with Rogers. Many of us hope he gets his 100 IP this season and is allowed to start again next season, the organization has been intentionally ambiguous about his status only saying that he's a relief pitcher for now. Personally, with Jeffress continual struggles on and off the field, I hope they covert him back to the rotation for next season. The thing is his relief appearances are actually on a schedule so he's getting in more IP per week than Rogers is as a starter. Odorizzi had a rough 1st outing but has been solid since, and he's actually in R+ not R. Peraird's results have never matched his stuff but there's still hope. I agree that the initial statement you were responding to was off the mark, and it's obvious you put significant time into the BoSox system, but I'm personally hesitant to make comp claims between players in systems, because it's rare that players match will match up that well. They were certainly closer than one of our own here posting that Dillard was a comp for Feliz... We have no player of Buchholz's talent or level of accomplishment in our system at this time, but that's only because he's in AAA and our best Pitchers are in AA through A+ right now. Overall I like our pitching depth better, I just wish we had any as advanced as Clay.

Neither, you over value his trade value. Gamel for Buchholz would be a fair deal value wise, neither you or I would probably want to make that deal, but recently history has shown that to be accurate. I assume you're familiar with Edwin Jackson's career as he's been in the AL East? He was best pitcher moved this past off-season in a trade. He was pitcher with very good stuff who hadn't quite put it all together, but he had been trending positively and still put a respectable 4.42 ERA, the only reason I didn't make a lot of noise for him was his K/9 became pedestrian last year and I wasn't sure what that meant. (I whined for Niemann over Wright and Green though, I've been enamored with the Rays approach to building a team for a couple of years now). I feel he had established that he was a solid #3 in most rotations, with a chance of being better, but the Tigers only had to give up Matt Joyce to get him. Part of that I'm sure is that the whole world knew with Price joining the rotation this season the Rays would have to move a pitcher at some point, which hurt Jackson's value. In no way did I know or expect that Jackson would finally put it together, he's BB/9 dropped yet again and his K/9 has rebounded, he's been fantastic, but I want to make it clear that when he was traded I think most people viewed his as a #3 or #4 pitcher in most organizations. Matt Joyce has intriguing power potential and is LH, but he was a very small price to pay. I've already pointed out Garza for Young, then there's Volquez for Hamilton that stands out as well. Why am I pointing all this out? Because what's fair value for a value, and what fans want in a trade, are usually 2 different things. For example, your initial proposal for some of our young starting pitching wasn't all that bad value wise, but most of us are going to be very hesitant to trade pitching when we don't have a solid MLB rotation to begin with, especially for a player like Penny. Was he worth the prospects? Probably, though 1 high ceiling at most in my opinion, but if I'm moving players that I think we *need*, I'm going to want a hell of a lot more back than Brad Penny. I really like Buchholz, always have, he's by far the best pitcher in AAA who might be available (I personally prefer Feliz, but I've beat that drum to death), but his value has been hurt by the fact that the Sox keep going a different way, sort of like what happened with Niemann in TB (his peripherals still stink, but the stuff is there) whom they couldn't find a taker for last season. In no way am I saying they are similar pitchers, just that getting stuck in AAA for more than one season hurts a prospect's value. In addition he's never pitched more than 150 innings, he looks to be on track to do that season, and it might not be a bad thing from health standpoint to reach that threshold for the first time at 24 years of age. However, he's doesn't appear to be stretched out enough for 200 IP, which again hurts his value. His AAA results are fantastic, his limited MLB track record not so much. Hardy is approximately fair value for Buchholz, the Brewers may have to send another minor prospect now that he's become a glorified rental. Even so, he's a top 4 SS in all of baseball value wise, last season only Ramirez, Reyes, and Rollins had a great WAR value, he's put himself in that top tier. Hardy's value has been established in 2007 and 2008, Buchholz has no established value outside of his potential, his true value is impossible to define, but history shows that MLB players carry much greater weight in trades, as they should. You don't want to make the deal for all of the correct reasons, and I agree with the way you view it, I feel similarly about moving top prospects for rental players, but that doesn't mean the proposed trade would not be fair value for both sides.

Chris interviews manager Jeff Isom. They discuss Trey Watten, Dave Bush, and pitcher's BP. Apparently Peralta and Tyson can swing it a little bit, and Isom claims Tyson is his best outfielder!

Brett interviews a player I have a huge soft spot for, Mike Jones. I've listened to Brett talk about the illness now 3 times and still have no idea what was ailing Mike.

You severely over value him and I'm going to leave it at that.

Who's his representation? edit. Just googled it...I should have looked it up before I posted, but it wasn't a surprise... Freaking Scott Boras....we've actually done well with him the past. I'll be pissed if he walks, I could care less about getting the pick again next year.