TheCrew07

Braun, Hart, Gamel, Cain, Lawrie for tools and/or athleticism at this moment... Down the road I like Gindl more on the corners, Schafer more in CF, Dennis has some very nice power potential... I'm willing to concede that while I like Gamel and Lawrie on the IF, they may actually end up in the OF. I like Cole, it's just that the best part of his game is drawing walks, I'd rather have impact bats that learn patience, or toolsy guys with room to grow. With Gillespie what you see is what you get.

A much needed outing for Welch.

If you think we were pimpin Nelson as a solution to Fielder leaving you're wrong... That whole conversation was meant to be about pitching and got hijacked into a thread debating the merits of the 2 players, similar to every mention of Escobar leading to a Hardy/Escobar debate. You're a statistical guy, you shouldn't have a problem understanding how Prince's horrible defense limits his total value and how 2 players could actually end up being more valuable than 1. Pitching, top of the rotation talent, that's all I've been posting about... As far as Gillespie goes, let's not get carried away, his arm is what it is. Gamel is a much more complicated player, because he has very good to great range at 3B, so he has the potential to be a good fielder at the position... it's apples and oranges. He may become a starter someplace, but I just don't see it, he's does many things well, some good, but I don't ever see him pushing Hart or any other starter off the current roster. He's a RH Gabe Gross, without the arm... He's a fine player and great depth, but corner OF spots is not a weakness in this organization, and there are some elite talents that are ahead of him on the depth chart.

Yea I got that, but you're trying to measure prospects using sabermetrics and if it's not all clean and tidy with established MLB players, it's definitely not going to work with prospects. Some guys will get results that vary greatly from season to season, and I can think of maybe 4 or 5 prospects that were a finished products when they came up, and they are all going to the Hall of Fame. Prospects are going to have warts, so while Gamel needs work on his D, or Escobar needs work on his O, if they are needed to plug a hole in Milwaukee they are going to be used. The idea is as they move up their results are hopefully trending towards their potential, but scouting is still king on the prospect side and rightfully so. Trends and incremental growth are much more important for a prospect than what he's done as of today, and if we wait until Projections and MLEs finally like a player, then they've probably coming up 2 years too late.

I ran all over NE WI today and missed this? What was a horrible day has quickly become my best bf.net day evah! How sweet is this? Welcome to the site Brooks!

Nice comeback win for Nashville tonight. The starting pitching for Huntsville continues to struggle. Not much offense in WI but the Rattlers ahead 2-1 late. Frederickson just so-so again he helped score a small ball run against him with a Balk...

Actually I would compare Gillespie to Gross and have in the past... he's a similar hitter, but he's RH instead of LH, and he doesn't have Gabe's arm, but I really like Gillespie as OF depth.

OBP? My goodness, I'm not suggesting he come up tomorrow or at all this year, but he's hardly been horrible. He's in that middle ground, and as JJ noted he's not making solild contact yet he's holding his ground, and as I noted his BB to K ratio still isn't where it should be. Escobar and Cain are going to be offensive projects, both were so incredibly raw when they were acquired, it's just the nature of the beast with those 2. However Escobar is within striking range of a very respectable offensive season if he'll get on a hot streak, it's one thing to look at his numbers without any context and it's another to follow his lines nightly. He hasn't be cold yet this season, and he hasn't been hot yet either, he's just been in the middle so far. 2 weeks from now he could easily be hitting over .300 and even then I wouldn't be calling for him to get playing time with the big club, it's not so much about the raw numbers like OBP and AVE as it is about growth, and to be honest this basestealing kick he's on kind of irks me. I'm sorry I ever suggested moving Hardy for pitching because no prospect has been so torn apart as Escobar has been since I've been on this board. It's unfortunate that there's so much focus on what he doesn't do than what he's capable of, I actually feel sorry for him. The ironic part of all this is that Hardy is actually my favorite Brewer and the only current Brewer that I have any memorbelia of. I'm not sold that Escobar will ever be an all-star, but I'm high on his potential and I'm happy that with Hardy moving on soon we at least have a capable prospect waiting as a replacement.

I wasn't suggesting they are all solid MLB players right now or will be in the future JJ, but they do provide value to the organization in a variety of different ways, more value than Neugy, Gold, etc.. for example Brantley was a piece that helped acquire pitching and a playoff appearance, the value in that is debatable, but it's still fantastic to flip a 7th round pick as part of a deal for a CY pitcher. Z did a heck of job with draft and follows and finding value later on in the draft. Most organizations wish they could pull 3 of those players over that same period of time, and we already have 3 MLB players from that round 5+ group in Hart, Parra, and Gamel, with the potential for more impact on the way. I also like Bowman but I left him off that list cause no one would agree with me yet, his bandwagon has plenty of room people!

No Salome again today... I wonder what's up? Nashville squandered opportunities in the 1st and 2nd innings. I like the current lineup for WI even without Green, I feel good about Dennis.

I'm not sure LaPorta is going to be counted as one that got away, we needed to move surplus bats for pitching, it was extremely predictable and logical, I'm just bummed they went a different way than I wanted them to. If my choices were Escobar, Gamel, and LaPorta to headline a deal, I'm sending LaPorta packing every single time. I would think Eveland and Sarfate may one day qualify, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over losing them either. Neither has put it together yet and I'd take Bush over Eveland right now... actually it's funny that Jackson was supposed to be the best pitcher in the Overbay deal, Bush just kept getting better. Sarfate landed back on the DL recently if I remember correctly, and he never threw enough strikes when he was here to get a serious look. I'm still bummed about Pena's lack of success, including Seattle... it's disappointing when a guy isn't able to harness stuff that good. I hope Nelson does well and has a solid career, he's just not special in any way, but he has decent chance to be productive for someone. Gross didn't come up through system so like Cruz I'm not sure how he qualifies as one that got away. I'm not a big fan of that trade either, but at least Butler is pitching well this season. That trade looked much worse coming into the season than it does now. TGJ might have a productive career yet, but I doubt that's happening with the Brewers, he may get a shot in 2010 if he's still around and Cain isn't ready, but I hope not. I don't have anything against him personally, he's just too slappy a hitter for me. I hated the Cirillo move, it was another in a long string of horrible moves by former FOs... Haynes, Blanco, and Wright... yuck.

I'm not sure where people get the notion that Escobar is struggling at the plate? He's bounced between .250-.270 most of the year. He hasn't gone cold for an extended period of time, nor has he gotten extremely hot at the plate yet. He just *is* so far... but he's started hitting 2B again recently, he had 3 2B and 2 HR for quite a while there which was odd (Wilson has a similar issue going at A+ and he's much more of a power hitter than Escobar). I still don't like his BBs to K ratio though, but who knows. Brewer, Salome, Dykstra, Trejo, and Zarraga are guys that have surprised me with how poorly they've done at the plate, those are the guys I was intrigued by who've struggled in my opinion.

Absolutely Jack and his staff were a large part of the trades as well, I have no problem with that.

I was going to hit the game and grab some Digital Video for everyone but work is going to keep me and the game is on TV anyway. Guess I'm not getting down there in person till June.

I already posted what I thought I had read or heard through pre game audio previously in the Cruz thread. I'll search around, it it was pregame audio that's lost forever, if it was in print maybe Mass linked to it on the minor league forum. What does Beane have to do with Melvin? Beane himself said he wasn't involved past the initial rounds. We have had some early round successes to be sure, but the Brewers have had great success in later rounds as well... Hart, Parra, Gamel, Salome, Brantley, Gindl, Green, Cain, and Scarpetta all come to mind off the top of my head. I'm not sure how much input he had with International Signings either. I'm sure Melvin gives his input, but the draft was hardly his baby. I found it, I knew I had seen it on Brewerfan.net someplace. Link below, no linkage with IE 6.0 at work. http://forum.brewerfan.net/search.php?keywords=348515/t/Hey-Colby-a-question-about-how-the-Brewers-handle-the-draft.html#reply-348515

The year of the rain outs... I say retractable roofs for everyone!

It's permanent... he had the surgery while in college if memory serves me. One of the better educated staffers will correct me if I'm wrong.

I believe so. The CF always gets priority when fielding a ball (it's always his ball if he wants it) so the more out of zones playes the CF player makes, the less plays the players along side him can make in the fringe zones between them. I don't want to get started on UZR again, but in a nutshell that's my problem with zones in general, I wish they measured defense differently.

I like the Jones for Jeffress swap, the AA rotation has been so bad outside of Cody I doubt that's the last move we'll see.

Can you prove that? Because my impression is the exact opposite as I posted in the Cruz thread, I admit though that I may have my stories crossed up.

I think there's a disconnect here on whom we are comparing to whom. I was complaring both players to their actual replacements in the lineup. If you can replace Weeks' production with Gamel's, what have you really lost offensively? The problem obviously is defense, we all saw Mat's total game last night... great range and a fantastic play (I didn't realize his arm was that good), and then the horrible throw later in the game. He has the potential to be a plus defender, no one knows how long it will take to get him there, or even average.

I hope not for his sake, he's just never hit enough, but if Corporan continues to get a look, I have to believe Palmisano could latch on someplace.

I hope not for his sake, he's just never hit enough, but if Corporan continues to get a look, I have to believe Palmisano could latch on someplace.

Green's injury is not career threatening in any way, it may suppress his play for a while, but the early returns are encouraging. Plenty of information at the address below (no linkage, we have IE 6.0 at work and the formatting gets all messed up) http://www.davidlnelson.md/Wrist_Fracture.htm Edit: activated link

He's a fine defender, just doesn't have a very good arm anymore post shoulder surgery.