TheCrew07

This is going to sound weird but Wilson didn't look anything like the picture in my mind's eye, I was shocked.

I didn't even look to see if the game was broadcast in HD but I had no problems in SD when watching on Dish Network... I think I was watching 444?

Brewer has a quick bat, wow.

It's your dish alignment... I just got my new dish for the 61.5 location and I haven't had a problem since. Previously my SD channels would still work but my HD channels would crap out during weather. My brother turned me on to this helpful site. He actually aligned his own dishes, he said after every tweak he needed to wait a couple of minutes for the signal to come back but he was able to get a good signal and hasn't had any problems with his HD. He not a tech by stretch, he frames houses, so it's not all that complex to do yourself.

The more I think about this... the way things have fallen I think Gamel might get a mid season nod to platoon with Hall. It limits the team's vulnerability if his defense isn't good enough and provides favorable match ups both ways. That could be a very productive platoon offensively while allowing the team to work Gamel in at an advantageous pace. The guys at BCB were onto something when they suggested it earlier this off season. I was initially indifferent but the idea has really grown on me the last 2-3 weeks.

Just because he can play the corners doesn't mean he should. If there was an extended DL stint in either spot I would hope that Gillespie or Cain would get serious consideration over a "vet" like Pods. I wouldn't be opposed to him playing CF but I'd probably rather slide Hart over and call up Gillespie anyway.

I guess that depends on how willing we are to accept how heavily range is rated in defensive metrics. I understand why emphasis is placed on the extremes as it's the proper way to separate similar defenders, I just feel it's weighted too high. I admit to bias though, Hall absolutely has always rubbed me the wrong way, every time he holds the ball just so he can fire it across the diamond at the last second I want to throw something at my TV.

That was an excellent discussion as always my friends... It even appears that Mass joining me on the Trejo bandwagon! The breakout question would have been particularly hard to answer. Brewer, Braddock, Seidel would have been my obvious choices but there are so many guys with potential it's tough... I probably would have answered Trejo based on the knee injury that cost him last season, Frederickson if he can find some control, I really like Bowman for some reason and I don't even have a good explanation why. Other guys like Bramhall and Dennis who've flown under the radar thus far would have been solid picks, Dykstra though I would have preferred him on the infield, Gindl could have a really nice season at BC as Space Coast won't suppress his offensive numbers igniting another debate about height. Looking at the Latin pitchers Rivas and Peralta could explode... so many choices and not enough space to adequately cover them all.

It's doubtful you fried the entire circuit, you have a newer house with breakers in an electrical panel correct? Or are you in an older home that has fuses? Or fuses replaced by pennies (not that my parents ever did such a thing). Sometimes when the breaker gets tripped it sits just off center so that it looks like it's on, I used to have this problem quite a bit in one of my buildings at work before my servers had 20 amp dedicated circuits run to them. Try flipping the breaker all the way to off, let it sit for 5 seconds or so, then flip it back to on and see if that does the trick. It's unlikely, but you're sure there's no sub-panel in the garage that has a breaker tripped?

yea it's not showing up in my channel guide in any of the alternates either, lame.

TLB you assumed I was talking about Escobar when in fact I wasn't... I grabbed BABIP because it's a fairly popular comparison stat these days. Just about every day there is a blog someplace doing a BABIP comparison between 2 players... BCB's Daily Brew has a pretty good summary of what's being said around the interwebs. It's one of my daily stops while most content is Brewer related, it usually links to interesting discussions elsewhere. I have no problem with people who think the Sabathia move was bold... I simply do not... I feel it was an obvious short term fix and Melvin border line overpaid to make it happen. If the Mets don't collapse how does that move look? Would people's opinions change? I'm not going to evaluate that deal based on the merits of a playoff appearance because I feel skews perception, I'm more interested in total value going both ways and the hole that was left behind. I don't know anyone that has said Escobar will hit this year... the point is simply that just because a certain metric projects a certain line for a player, it has absolutely nothing to do with said player's readiness. It's one thing to regurgitate the same national opinions, and it's another to make your own. When a player earns a label it tends to stick with him until he proves differently at the MLB level, typically BA's opinion of a prospect is what tends to stick. What about the various scouts who were quoted as saying that Escobar was the best prospect/player on the AA team last year? It must be wrong because it's not the opinion we most often read? I never said Escobar will succeed because I like him, that's just how you've continually spun it. I don't even want to discuss Escobar, I never did, and I'm sick to death of that discussion. The only statement I've made either way regarding him is that I'm pretty comfortable he'd hit a replacement level and that in my opinion he is trending in a positive fashion at the plate. Park and league factore are always moving, the minors are way too fluid to try to pigeon hole with advanced metrics. There's certainly limited value in that kind of analysis, but it's hardly anything I'd hang my hat on. Projection systems are not going to like Escobar because he didn't hit well in BC, he only has a track record of 1.5 years of average to above average offense... which is exactly why I pulled out Hardy's 2004 projection, to show how little projections mean when working with MiLB players. I'm not sure exactly how my arguing for pitching and that Escobar would be an adequate replacement has turned into me saying Escobar will succeed because I said so? I've only stood up for Escobar because he's not nearly as bad offensively and people have made him out to be, I'm much more interested in the rotation than who's playing SS. I realize I don't have the vocabulary or natural attitude to say exactly what I mean in as few words as possible so I try to attack the issue from as many different angles as possible so people get what I'm trying to say and it seems only a couple of people get it. I never wanted to move Hardy because of Escobar, I wanted to move Hardy for the same primary reason I wanted to move Fielder, because they have great value, aren't going to sign long-term, and we need top of the rotation talent. To me all the rest of this dicussion is about inconsequential side issues. I'm not anti sabermetrics, I never have been, there's great value in them, I've just consistently been of the opinion that they are used incorrectly. They are not absolutes like they are spun, and endaround used them as an absolute in the example I quoted, which is why I took issue with it and addressed the comments. Many of you are very good at doing player vs player analysis, but that's not what I've been posting opinions about, I've been posting about the best way to build a team. That's fair, you're entitled to your opinion. I would counter that you just don't catch it because you lean that way yourself. There are people that routinely try to apply sabermetrics to the minors and it just doesn't work that way. Raw athleticism, bat speeds, tools... all matter as much as the results. The minors are about development... some guys will perform at every level, some will suddenly have that light go on for them. That's what makes following the minors so much for me personally... the rooting for a player, hoping for a player, then suddenly the light goes and their natural talent starts to take over and shine through. Go back and read through the various threads on this topic, it's the same arguments about BABIP, MLEs, and projections every single time. Cold statistical analysis has it's place, but what is it grounded upon when it comes to the minors? This time last year one of the people I'm countering here said that Salome would have washed out already if he wasn't a catcher because he didn't hit enough and was too short. It's way too easy to play the "statistical" card in a disagreement because it's en vogue these days, any comment based on observation is slammed from the sabermetric mountain top on high. People can't even say X has been bad over his Y appearances without the sample size card coming out in full force, when the sample size was actually the point of the orgininal comment. There is value on both sides, unfortunately that idea seems to have gotten lost along the way. I don't feel it's a disservice to the truth to claim that either poster I challenged on this issue routinely dismisses anything other than statistical evidence. It's just way too easy to shoot holes in an opinion when someone bases it on something he/she observed. I believe that those who expect people to keep an open mind when it comes to statistical analysis should do the same for the other side of baseball because there has been spot on analysis that wasn't statistical in nature on this forum as well. For example, the various conversations about Weeks have highlighted this both ways. My point is and has always been very simple, when it comes to the minors and player development the grey areas of observation, opinion, scouting, desire, mental aptitude for the game, poise,and commitment are as important as the results. If you read my opinions on various prospects I'm all over the place, some guys I like because they perform but aren't toolsy, some guys I like because they have potential, and others because they have the tools and get results. Some how the diffcult to quantify has become dirty, I refuse to accept that as truth, because the grey area is what separates the performance of equally physically gifted players from one another. I honestly believe that the farther away we are from sports in general, the easier it is to believe that the unquantifiable has neglible impact on the athlete, and experience has taught me to personally believe the contrary.

No, for the 100th time basing an opinion solely on the projections ignores the scouting aspect... projections are not absolutes, not in any case... established MLB player or prospect, they are just part of the puzzle and do not represent any player's true value. At best they are simply a pretty good educated guess, nothing more and nothing less. I've seen you guys continually rag on people that ignore advanced statistics but you're the same, you ignore the talent and scouting side forming opinions based solely on metrics, shouldn't there be a happy middle ground here someplace? It doesn't take a genius to see the holes in the work, no matter how well thought out... Take BABIP for example... because of how BABIP is used it's biased towards power hitters, because if 2 players hit for exactly the same average but one hits 30 HRs and one hits 2, the guy with 30 will have a more sustainable BABIP because he had 28 more hits removed from the equation so his average is lower. How often is that little tidbit glossed over in the various studies based on BABIP around the web? As far as what I believe about Escobar, I've never once claimed he'd replace Hardy's offensive value, I've stated numerous times I have no issue with him spending a season in AAA, and have repeatedly tried to make the point that the issue here is players vs draft picks because Hardy is moving on regardless. It doesn't matter if Brewer ends up being the replacement player, forget about the name of the player, Hardy will eventually be replaced by a prospect. Furthermore, I value the word of Don Money who doesn't lightly toss around praise, numerous other scouts that were quoted in AA game articles last season, and people within the Brewer organization, over those on this board that haven't seen the prospects play in person and try to tell me how someone will or will not perform based solely on metrics. I'd rather form my opinions based on all of the information available, including advanced metrics, however I believe that metrics are on thin ice when trying to project the future production of prospects, it's just way too nebulous to predict. The leagues all play differently, talent isn't spread equally between the teams and leagues, some players continue to grow while some plateau early, etc, etc, etc... What's the difference if the prospect breaks in this later this year or next, the reality is that eventually they'll have to break in, the sooner they break in, the sooner they get past their struggles if they will in fact struggle. Why exactly are you so concerned with delaying the inevitable? Every prospect will eventually plateau in the minors, if they keep progressing there's only so much they'll learn down there, eventually they need to face the fire. For arguments sake if Escobar comes out on fire in AAA would he be more ready in June than he is today? Other than the arby clock, what's the difference? Winning in 2009 shouldn't take precedence over the long-term future of the team. We lack quality pitching, provide us an alternative to acquire top of the rotation talent other than deadline deals and free agency and we'll finally have a quality discussion on the subject. Otherwise, it's the same tired arguments about BABIP and metrics, which don't have anything to do with the issue that many of us are trying to discuss which is how to acquire more affordable top of the rotation talent. I've already said I don't think Melvin will do anything, he's not a bold GM, he makes the obvious moves and does well evaluating talent, but in my opinion his moves have been of the routine variety. No I don't consider deadline deals as bold moves as that's what every club in contention does, it's the obvious move that fans have come to expect. That's why people continually post about acquiring Peavy, Halladay, etc... teams in contention acquire names at the deadline. I like him, it's just that for me personally he spends too much on the bullpen. isn't as aggressive as I would like on the trade front, and somehow locks up the wrong players early with the exception of Braun. Players like Helms, Hall, Clark, Turnbow. have not been money well spent, my feelings about Brady Clark aside.

I didn't intend to make it appear like I was limiting my injury assessment to the pitching staff, as I noted I believe pitching injuries are inevitable, that was intended for pitchers and position players alike. Position players would include off the top of my head Weeks playing hurt 2 years ago, Gamel playing hurt, Green trying to play hurt, and Braun playing hurt (at least in a pennant race so forgivable)

Why when they talk about Dice K's contract in the media or on COTs for example isn't the posting fee considered part of the contract? The Red Sox actually paid double for him, doesn't seem right to me. (not in this particular article, the posting fee was put front and center) I continually try to give Boras the benefit of the doubt, but he really wears me down at times. With the economic landscape in baseball this would limit signing players of Strasburg's caliber to the big 8 or so teams... how is that good for the game? When teams don't have an equal shot to build from within? All players should have to go through the draft, foreign and domestic, and I don't care if MLB slots the salaries, there has to be some sort of cost control in place.

I can handle arguments against prospects, but not ones that are completely projection based. Projection systems aren't able to account or predict breakout seasons. We should absolutely take the data into consideration, but in my opinion it's not rational to base one's entire opinion on projections or MLEs, they don't mean squat in the end, especially for young men that are still growing into the game. What did PECOTA say about Hardy in 2004? I just posted that last week... not that Escobar will follow the exact same career path and hit for as much power, but they have been somewhat similar to this point, only JJ had the benefit of rolling through High Desert, which made every prospect look like an all-star, and Escobar went through BC where RH batters go to die. As far as Escobar vs Weeks, Escobar's OBP will not approach Weeks' this year, he's developing more patience, but he's a much more aggresive hitter and Ks too much relative to his power. Weeks would really have to stink for an extended period of time for Escobar to get a look. I'm not against acquiring some prospect pitching that's 2 year's away... that works out almost perfectly given the big league club, Suppan's contract and Looper's option. The point about pitching is that system needs an infusion of top of the rotation talent, we've always had plenty of guys that profile as 4/5 or bullpen players, I'm not sure why Wright and Green are better depth than Gulin and DiFelice were? They system has players like Dillard, Cody, and Anundsen at AA or higher this season as well. We lack top of the rotation talent. Jeffress and Braddock are not sure things so I will continue to view pitching as the top priority until proven otherwise. There's no downside, say we get 2 young arms, if Jeffress and Braddock make it the team is in a much better position going forward with quality depth and mutiple options available. If nothing else, there's less reason to push the youngsters harder than they need to be pushed, but chances are 1 or 2 of the arms will flame out due to performance or injury and we'll need that depth, which we don't currently have.

I'd wait for the 3AM reboot, I don't recall ever being able to set the DVR the day before because the games are always on the alternate channels for us.

That's close enough to give us first hand reports from Helena! I expect you to plan accordingly...

My father's MRI was a little over $400 up here in Green Bay, that's what I get for just googling "MRI Average Cost" or something similar, I remember it was a bunch of question/answer sites, I should have done more research on the cost. $400 is probably less than they spend on a scout's expenses over the course of a week during the season with travel, hotels, meals... It's so cheap relatively speaking, I'm not even sure how to qualify the apparent reluctance... what's $400? They could do every pitcher in the organization every year for that amount of money. Actually that would make sense, they could baseline all of the shoulders and elbows when drafted/acquired. Hell, they could probably get a volume discount... The reason I bring up the baseline concept is it's a good way to track the effects and recovery of concussions, more a football thing, but it's the injury we're most concerned with. If I were in baseball, I'd be worried about shoulders and elbows and be looking for a way to monitor the health of those joints. If they didn't want to do the entire organization every year it would still make sense to baseline the joints so there is a comparison available and maybe they spot some issues early, what's another $800 before you sign an injured kid to a contract? X the Brewers do many things very well, but I believe it's fair to say that diagnosis and treatment of injuries isn't one of them... For example there was no reason for Jones to go through what he's gone through. Sure some of that is probably on him, there's any number of ways he could have negatively impacted his own recovery, but the organization should have been there to shut him down. How many pitchers keep coming back for after having major shoulder and Tommy John surgery? I remember after Jones' first surgery there was some rhetoric out of the organization that he wasn't mentally enough to pitch through the discomfort... I believed it, but after seeing him go throw multiple surgeries since and his determination to make it back, I was wrong to accept was reported. Especially when Rogers ended up on a very similar course... There's simply no way I would question Mike's toughness or his determination. This isn't about pitchers getting injured, I believe pitching injuries are inevitable... this is about one injury leading to another, players on the field when they should be rehabbing, and so on... basically in my opinion questionable diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

He's like the anti-ACC coach... my god those people are going to hate him. Maybe he'll play up and down, but I highly doubt it, this will be interesting. I bet he wins some big games though, taking those teams out of their rhythm.

He's a clown, at least Tom H will be critical of the team, even if his criticisms are off the mark. I'll take "big boy" time over this joker...

Very good points Robert... but I would counter that there is simply no way there are 50 position players with a better bat than Salome... Weeks and Fielder were (in one case still are) horrible defenders in the minors and it didn't hurt their prospect status at all. Neither player put up the numbers that our latest crop did in AA either. I know our prospects have warts, but there's some bias in play here in regard to Salome. It seems to me that the criteria for which players get dinged for defensive issues on these prospect lists is somewhat arbitrary in nature. Maybe they are valuing defense more than they did in the past but it seems to me that defense is largely ignored the more toolsy a player is, or the more power potential a player has... I understand the stardom issue, but I'll take the depth of the system now over the system that was headlined by Weeks and Fielder every single time. Can't miss prospects... is there such a thing? Delmon Young anyone? Gamel is lower than he should be, he played injured most of the second half and still put up better numbers than his healthy peers for the season. This time next year we'll be talking about how Gindl is too short to be a prospect... what does it matter if these kids can play, sometimes we look too hard for flaws. Gamel will hit, Salome will hit, and this year will tell us definitively about Escobar, if he was "lucky" or if his offensive game is coming around. I have faith in Cain, I love Lucroy, and Brewer is turning me into a believer again. I want to feel good about Jeffress and Braddock but I honestly worry about both of them and we desperately need more physical talent in the rotation. I like guys such as Rivas, Seidel, and Peraird because they have the tools but none of them has broken out yet. That doesn't even take into account last year's draftees or players like Dennis who've flown under the radar thus far. (I want to throw Trejo in that mix but that lame knee injury! Right now it's just a man crush but I still have hope) We're still top heavy with bats in that there's no question, but we have very solid depth in pitchers and position players in the system, and there are potential all-star players in that mix of position players at the top of the system. At the very least I believe Salome, Cain, and Lucroy are under rated by national publications at this time, and Green doesn't get enough love because he's not toolsy. Lucroy in particular is puzzling, because he's made such strides defensively since he was drafted and yet his offensive accomplishments have been dismissed because he was an advanced college bat. He's a C! Give the young man some love!

They aren't cheap.. when I had mine on my knee it was very expensive, MRIs were the latest and greatest thing at the time (1993). The cost has come down, it depends largely on where and whom... I've seen between $1200-$2000 dollars per when I was looking at them last fall, I'll shoot our trainer an email and find out about what it costs in North East WI. I will say that I believe an MRI is peanuts in comparison to how valuable young, producing MLB players are. Again I don't believe the team is intentionally devaluing their assets, I just don't understand why they aren't more proactively protecting their investments. edit. fixed shoddy grammar edit 2. I'm so dumb I totally forgot my father had an MRI done on his shoulder 2 weeks ago, he's going to look at the bill and let me know.

For position players, where there's no structural damage to the shoulder... Chronic pain over 6 months isn't tendonitis, it's something much more serious, and sometimes an impingement isn't a minor injury turns out to be a bone spur or rotator cuff injury that needs to be surgically repaired. To me this looks like another waiting game for nothing... if rest and rehabilitation is going to do the trick, results are seen over a period of weeks, not months. I realize that shoulder and wrist injuries can be very difficult to diagnose, which is why the lack of the MRIs is particularly disturbing to me. There's no recovery time for an MRI, and if there's nothing found then it makes sense to go ahead and do exploratory surgery, but why not do both as soon as possible to get the athlete into recovery as soon as possible? Why wouldn't the Brewers want their athletes to begin rehab over the winter or as close to the original injury date as possible? What logical explanation is there for sitting on an injury for 6 months?

At the very least, it's never a bad thing to have to have a prospect pushing 2 MLB players. I know it's not quantifiable, but I know from experience that players tend to perform better when someone is pushing them. If Weeks or Hardy goes down with an injury Escobar is coming up, and in Weeks' case if he does no better than last year it's possible they may give Escobar a shot there as well. Throw in Gamel, Salome, and Cain... if all those guys play well there's going to plenty of competition for roster spots next season. Including 2 top 30 prospects in the Sabathia deal? My goodness, I would have given up my Brewer fan status and become a full time fan of the Rays. Any GM that would give up 2 prospects of that magnitude for a rental shouldn't have a job, much less people advocating it... there's just no way we get players of similar talent back in the draft with our current draft positions. I too would love to have Brantley at the top of the order, but I like Cain's upside better and Green was hurt so if I was Cleveland I would have taken Brantley as well. I'm of the opinion the team missed it's window to move Hardy, unless he's traded mid season, but I just don't see getting a MLB top of the rotation arm for 1+ years of Hardy. High ceiling prospects would be realistic at this point, but there's a short list of teams with prospect pitching to burn. Maybe I'm reading too much into Melvin's comments, but my gut feeling based on what's been reported is that the team is going to ride out both Hardy and Fielder. Whomever said JJ isn't going to volunteer to take another player's job might be on to something, though it's likely both he and his agent know how valuable Hardy will be in the FA market as well. As far as Weeks in CF... the team already missed it's window on that move as well, unless Cain totally tanks this year, it looks like the stars have aligned for him to be the CF in 2010. Weeks doesn't get to hardly any line drives and doesn't seem to be be all that instinctive of a baseball player, my gut feeling is that he'd do no better than Hall did out there, without the benefit of having time to grow into the position.

Here's the Senior Tribute from this year's highlight film for the football team.. The quality is poorish because it's the same file I uploaded to our website and I'm working against space limitations on the site.? Also some of the game film is crappy because our DV camera died in the middle of games twice on us this year.