TheCrew07

Circle change maybe?

I've been watching, I like it so far.

That was me, here's what I wrote.. I wasn't trying to bag on Kremblas at all, I'm sorry if anyone took it that way.

let it go already

It is wrong that I've listened to so much Stars baseball this year I know the commercials on during the game by heart?

Again I ask... any word on Lasker and why he hasn't made a debut yet?

Pogo has some comments on him a couple of link reports ago... he went and got the ball well and has a very good arm.

Well I would guess Hart isn't available unless the proper deal comes down the pipe either... the question was besides Cain who else is there? Stevo threw a ton of names out there and I dropped a couple of my favorites. I'm curious why Marcum would be doable but not Shields, when TB is clearly much closer to the top of the division and will need help on the offensive side? I intentionally staid away from guys that were the #1 pitchers on their teams, and I listed players from teams that have a fair amount of quality pitching in the bigs and in their system. I would much rather have a rotation full of 5 #2's than a rotation of a 1, 2, and 3 #5's. A 2 type pitcher isn't a significant drop off and gives back excellent value. I just don't see the value in burning a premium offensive player like Fielder for someone we'll control for 1 or 2 years and then won't be able to afford again. I want a young workhorse type pitcher, and there are plenty around the majors to be had with a year or 2 under their belt, we get them after their growing pains are mostly complete. The next level down as I mentioned would be AAA and AA guys that are close to MLB ready, and there's a fair amount of them as well, guys like Niemann... but they'll likely struggle for a bit once they get the call, most young ptichers do. That doesn't bother me if they get their struggles out of the way in 2009 as I still think 2010 will be our next best shot after this year. If Fielder goes I want the maximum possible value for him coming back, and we simply aren't going to get that targeting "Aces".

In Lawrie's case I'd much rather was playing minor league ball as I'm biased and don't care at all about Canadian Pride, I want him working on his catching!

That's a puzzling one... unless they were going to move Prince in season for pitching like Lincecum or Cain (who I don't want anyway) but why would they do that right now? The time to trade Prince would be the off season if ever... I'm honestly stumped, I'm unable to come up with a logical reason why the Brewers would be interested in him at this point in time.

I wondering that too, just like I was wondering about Lawrie's 46" vertical leap... NBA players don't get off the ground that well. I was wondering if that was a typo, like should have been 92, and Lawrie's vert 36...

There's plenty of players that fit that bill... James Shields, Shawn Marcum, John Danks, Jarr Jurrjens, Joe Saunders, Armando Galarraga, Greg Smith just to name a few out of the American League that came up in my research for my Long Term Rotation Ideas thread. Some of these deals would work better three ways. Those are just some players I came across with MLB experience, there's many more players out there that are MLB ready but unproven like a Jeff Niemann for example, who would be much less expensive. I think sometimes we get too hung up on name recognition, and it's damn hard to follow every teams minor league system to know what's truly available. The key for the Brewers is to get a Sheets or Sabathia, before they are a Sabathia and have the name recognition and the expensive track record. I dont' recall a more even trade than Hamilton for Volquez, that's a fantastic deal for both sides. I'm not looking to fleece the other team, I want the talent to work out for both sides. I'm not into trading Fielder for 2 years of anyone, that's not maximum value to me. I'd rather get a Shields whom the team could control until 2014 or similar young horse. Just because a team is willing to trade someone, doesn't mean they have major flaws... What does an AL team care about Prince's D at 1B? Like endaround I'm not all that high on Cain, I think there are plenty of better options out there. Cain was one of the first players mentioned around here, and for some reason he continues to be the focus of trade rumors here on the site. There are a couple of organizations that Milwaukee matches up very well with directly, I don't think SF is one... but if there is a 3 way deal, then any number of those young players could be available. Maybe I'm just more of nerd and like doing player research more than most, but it's something I enjoy doing. edit. Stevo nice list, many of the same names.

Well I'm shocked, 2 plays at the plate and a nice play to end the frame and we go to the 11th, I thought I was going to bed.

Well that pretty seals the deal, who would have thought back to back errors...

I know this is wrong but I have a real hard time rooting for Cub players to do well... they are my Vikings of the NFL, Texas of College Football, Duke of College Basketball.

Salome is going to be an All Star catcher one day... that's 2 air mailed throws in this game, and he had an issue with that when he first started playing professionally... He'll fit right in! We need his bat for the stretch run!

If we're going to burn Fielder a starting pitcher, why not someone with a team option till say 2014?

Hopped the fence on I94 to get a game... If I did that I'd end up the clink. Good read though and good find Ajay.

Frederickson.. Yikes... and a LH pitcher to boot... limit that running game son! I hope they can work some magic with him over the winter. Fryer did nab the first runner tying to steal against Bowman, speaking of Bowman, his outing wasn't as bad as it seemed. He did give up double, single, double but Cline may have cost 2 runs with his fielding error as it could have been a double play play opportuinty, tough to tell from the game log. Ramlow gives up 2 runs late to tie the game... not a good night for pitching in WV, and a tough loss in extras. Edit. Anyone have any idea when Lasker is going to debut? Battlekow?

Sometimes I wonder if you're just trying to get a rise out of people.... this is similar to endaround posting earlier this season that Salome would have washed out by now if he wasn't a catcher. OPS at A+ Lucroy .907 which is 6 points better than his OPS at WV. I'll take the liberty of comparing against Gamel, Salome, and what we thought our everyday lineup would be coming into the year. Gamel .850 Salome .806 Braun .784 Hart .922 (At High Desert) Fielder Skipped A+ .924 at Beliot Weeks Skipped A+ 1.030 at Beliot, only 63 ABs though Hall .875 (At High Desert) Hardy .740 (At High Desert) Cameron .724 (At Prince William) Kendall .832 (At Salem) obviously aided by OBP though he actually managed 7 HRs. I see no reason to pigeon hole him as a backup right now when he's out performed everyone but Hart, Fielder, and Weeks, and Fielder/Weeks didn't have the opportunity to put up guady numbers at HD. He may very well struggle down the road, but I see nothing in his scouting reports or in his results thus far that leads me to believe he's a career backup.

Lucroy is more of a finished product at this point than Salome, and while he's the same age and a level lower in the system, Lucroy is flying through the system. We're giving up a ton already and if it came down to it I'd rather give up Brantley than either Green or Lucroy.

I never said Nelson would be an all star, I never said he would be a long term solution, but if he can be a stop gap for a year or 2 that's fine, I don't even care about league average. My primary concern has been, is, and will continue to be the team finding a cost effective top of the rotation starter. I don't a see prospect deal getting us one any longer, nor do think that would be in the best longterm interest of the club. Since prospects were moved for Sabathia (with Brantley, Green, or Lucroy sill going) a prospect deal would hinge on guys we really aren't going to be able to give up if we want any sustained success like Gamel. I like Fielder, but his total value as a player isn't irreplaceable, his offensive value may be in the short term. His value as a player is roughly equivilant to a guy like James Shields, just about anyone will play better defense at 1B, thus making the entire infield defense better and I'm willing to take a hit in the middle of the order to shore up the rotation. While Salome is one of my boys, if a deal for Salome and Nelson could net us what we'll need I'd be all for it, I just don't see that as a realistic possibility for a young and established pitcher like Fields. Maybe if the team targets someone who's expendable like Neimann it could work, but he'll have Parraesque growing pains and I'd rather get a sure thing. If not then we're sitting around waiting on guys like Jeffress and Braddock to pan out, or hoping that Fredrickson and Bowman absolutely explode and fly through the system. Whatever the case, Nelson has value, that's all I've been trying to say.

What does Nieves throw, and how hard does he throw it? Anyone know? I did a search of the Minor League forum and came up empty trying to find a scouting report. edit. Nevermind, he was part of the draft preview and CJ laid it all down here. The one time I don't google...

I guess that depends on what you were looking for. He's not going to wow anyone with his stuff and his delivery is certainly long and funky... so I can see why scouts wouldn't be impressed. However, he located extremely well, mixed his pitches well inside and out, and showed pretty good reflexes so he appears to be a good athlete. He's just a kid a that knows how pitch but doesn't look like pitcher... if that make any sense.

I think it's different for every team... if the team is loaded with prospects like Huntsville, they should win and get better all at the same time. When you have a team like Nashville this season, well there's a reason no one educated on the minor league side is complaining about the results, other than Nelson and Rottino there's no one prospect worthy that I'd follow daily... therefore we just hope that Rottino is making strides behind the plate and Nelson has turned a corned in his career. On the flip side we know very little about the AZ kids, and that team never wins, so I'm looking for the couple of guys that are playing good ball in the middle of the storm down there. My expectations will differ with each team. Winning isn't the ultimate goal, but it still matters, and the managers should put their teams in the best position to win games. Their jobs are much more complicated than we give them credit for because they are juggling limited pitch counts for pitchers while trying to even out playing time for position players, all while doing their best to win games. It's not an easy job and it's a tough lifestyle for anyone. Like any baseball game it's going to come down to the pitching and while the organization sets up the rules, the managers still have latitude to shake things up and use guys in different situations. If a manager isn't making a difference with his players, what chance does he ever have of coaching at the MLB level? What may be true from a player development point of view, may not be true from a coaching point of view. From a player standpoint wins and losses don't matter, but I garuntee that if a given coach isn't getting the most out of his players he's not going to stick around very long. It's pretty easy for people who aren't directly involved to throw around opinions, but it's quite different when you're at ground level working with the young men. I guess the best analogy I have is that our coaching staff tries to go right by all the kids and getting them all playing time until they reach Varsity where wins and losses truly matter. We joke all the time about "JV State", and since there isn't such a thing we're going to keep as many kids interested as possible. The flip side though is we do care about wins and losses because we're comparing the relative talent level between our kids and theirs... maybe wins and losses was a bit extreme, we want our kids to be competitive... if it's a close game and our 3rd string JV Corner gives up a touchdown and we lose... well no one is going to lose any sleep. However we do evaluate our Frrosh and JV talent relative to the rest of the league, you always want your kids to be competitive. Of all the managers in the system Kremblas gets the least talent to work with every year, and he's consistently gotten results. Nashville's record certainly hasn't been a reflection of being prospect laden, anyone who succeeds there doesn't last very long (with the exception of Hart). I like what Kremblas does. he pushes the young men to become better all around players, and teaches them the games within the game. I find the notion that he's a "whiner" because he wanted a game called earlier misplaced... when you read the whole story you find out he was mad because the pitchers could not grip the ball and it was sailing on them all, some hit the backstop on the fly, so he was forced to use extra relievers. To me that's not whining, that's DiFelice getting hurt and Kremblas having to burn through the whole pen with 2 more games the following day, in my opinion Kremblas was being practical about the situation. Kremblas has his character flaws for sure and I'm curious about his actions surrounding the all-star game, but he's not a "whiner". Wins and losses are not meaningless, it's a good measuring stick to see how our kids compare against other talent in the leage, and it's an easy way to see where the talent is in the system if nothing else. In my time here and from reading his blog I've noticed Al tends to run very black and white, there's not a whole lot of gray in any of his opinions, and I suspect in his life. It's just the way he rolls.