TheCrew07

I dont' see how this topic is downer, there are so many quality arms to follow. While no one has been Yo or Inman type dominant, there have been some very solid seasons, and some of the younger guys are holding their own while they figure it out. I'm not ready to close the book on guys like Seidel, and even Tyson while he gives up way too many hits, his K to BB ratio has been outstanding all year. To answer the question... Chris Cody, Mike Ramlow, or Donovan Hand would be my best guess. Hand will settle in at AA, Cody and Ramlow have put up nice numbers all year. Next year should be interesting, lots of very intriguing arms in the system. Excluding this year's draftees and Scarpetta; Rivas, Seidel, Anundsen, and Ramlow will be in A+. Cody, Jeffress, Braddock, and Periard should join Hand in AA as starters... Bramhall, Baron, and Wahpepah should be in AA as relievers as well. Hammand, Wright, and Welch will probably be in AAA. Ryan will probably get bumped to AAA, but I'm unsure what will happen with Aguilar, and if Pena doesn't make the 25 man out of ST next year I'll be very disappointed. Narron, Ungs, and DiFelice... I'm not going to even attempt to predict what will happen with these 3. When you toss in this year's draftees, Scarpetta, and dare I say Rogers... there should 3-4 pitchers that I'm very interested in following pitching every day of the week, it will be a fun minor league season. I'll call my shot for next year... Bowman will be the Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

I'm so shocked I actually don't know what to say.

I'm not sure I see that, the Brewers are pushing 3 million in ticket sales already, it's not like they are going from 1.5 to 3... we're talking about a much smaller jump.

no i'm still at work unfortunately, no broadcasts tonight and following the MLB game on gameday

? That's backwards, the teams that do the best and sign the free agents get penalized the most. Bottom 15 are 2nd round picks, top 15 are 1st round picks.

It's Brantley or Green, Agent39 confirmed the press reports.

For a long time I thought Hall was the worst baserunner I had witnessed at the MLB level. Braun's exploits lately have me second guessing that notion.

I thought it was a numbers game thing initially, now it looks like they liked his tools and he's made a nice transition. I have to be honest, I never thought he'd hit this well. It's always nice when a prospect jumps up his game and surprises me.

I got my 4 pack for Christmas from my family, who knew the Tuesday night game against Colorado I really didn't want to drive down to would be a big deal?

It's more a competitive balance issue, the Brewers slightly overspent for a couple of players, and aren't able to afford what's a pretty reasonable payroll. What should be done? Well the obvious answer is a salary cap and a unified TV contract that equally distributes the revenue to all teams. Then it comes down to how well you manage your franchise, instead of the size market your team happens to occupy. I have no complaints about what the Brewers have done, please don't misinterpet my little rant.

I was busy all day so I just had a chance to catch up on my reading/viewing. It's kind of depressing that Mark A. said the team would lose money this, and I'm somewhat surprised. I knew they were close to the break even point already, but I didn't think they were that close. I'd guess that any playoff revenue if it should come our way would help off set that somewhat, but still I didn't think 5 mil would push them over the edge. This doesn't change my opinion of the deal at all as it's a temporary issue, but I thought it was worth noting. I shouldn't be surprised as I've been one of the people continually pointing out that the Brewers didn't have the money to resign Sheets and Sabathia, but I still am. I figuring the team could comfortably afford the current payroll, this is honestly just plain stupid. The economics of baseball are entirely messed up, and something needs to be done.

Doesn't he still have a limited no trade? I thought the first 2 years were no trade, then the next 2 a limited no trade?

normally I avoid one line posts like the plague, but there's been some really good humor around here today, obviously people are in good spirits for good reason.

I might buy a season ticket package.. that's how excited I am. I'm trying to temper that excitement by reminding myself that I rarely get what I want.

Once the whole PTBNL nonsense (yes it's nonsense because I just want to cry now and get it over with so I can be happy about having CC) started I posted I thought it came down to Green or Lucroy. I honestly don't know who I'd want to give up out of those 2 guys, Lucroy or Green. Green is more versatile and LH, but Lucroy could be our catcher of the future. That's one call I'm glad I dont' have to make. If Jeffress is in any way included as the PTBNL, I might not get out of bed for a week.

That's like asking why our prospects don't make significant strides defensively while they are in the minors? I would think when LaPorta DH'd that FP played CF to get his bat in the lineup? I didn't really pay attention to who played where quite honestly, I'm mostly going off of what we've speculated, Agent 39 has speculated, and Money discussed. I really wanted to go on an X type rant about the defensive progress of the Brewer prospects but I bit my tongue. "Why isn't Brantley playing CF?" might be the most frequently asked question about him the last 3 years. I always thought it was because he was playing with guys like Ford and that he was versatile enough and polished enough out there that it wasn't a concern, they were just trying to get his bat in the lineup everyday. Since the organization didn't have an over abundance of 1B, it made sense to plug him him there to fill out the lineups. That may not be the case, in which case it really ticks me off that the young man wasn't being developed properly on the defensive side. The 1 good defender the team developed (Hardy) was a natural, I find this trend disturbing and I'm curious why it hasn't been addressed properly. Is it the coaches they hire? Roving instructors? By all accounts the team just a great job getting coaching to the kids (WV's management made it a point to mention it), but there's no translation to the field. At the same time, Brantley always profiled as a lead off hitter, and if he has defensive issues his developement has been seriously hampered by wasting away at 1B all these years. If it was that obvious to us that he profiled as a CF, the scrub fans who follow the minor leagues, I would think it be obvious to Nichols as well.

Ha! The thread title made me laugh out loud... the poor guy... ha-ha.

I looked at the 2009 draft some last night, which is something I don't typically concern myself with until March or April preceding the draft. If both Sheets and CC walk and are signed by the teams I would expect them to be signed by, the Brewers will have 5 picks in the first 35, and this draft looks to be loaded with quality HS bats. Colby might weigh in on this, but with all of the pitching last year and Lawrie there is the potential to completely reload with an entire wave of pitching (2008) and hitting (2009) that will be essentially be ready at the same time. As I mentioned I hate to give up Green, because he's versitile (sp?) with power and LH, but the future could be pretty outstanding.

Colby, Nice call on Josh Prince, .341/.398/.561 so far with 7 Errors and no HRs.

I think you overvalue Roberts in relation to the Brewers as they can take care of the middle IF in house if they so choose. Roberts is a fantastic player, but the Crew wouldn't resign him, he'd only be here a year. Is that worth a top prospect or two only to have him sign with the Cubs? As an organization the biggest holes aftter the Sabathia trade (which included Taylor Green a 3B, 2B prospect) are 3B (because of Hall), 2B (Weeks could still turn it around), and Pitching. The immediate need for the big club is starting pitching, the cream of crop is going to get moved for pitching, in that I have no doubt. It's entirely possible that Hardy, Weeks, or Fielder get moved to aquire pitching this offseason, in which case Gamel and Escobar's services are immediately required on the big league level. Every other team wants Gamel and Escobar, rightly so, but they are far too valuable to the Brewers to be moved for players approaching the end of their deals. To move either, the Brewers need players they can control for mulitple years. Of the guys you mentioned, Sherril is only player that matches up exactly with what the Brewers would be looking for, a quality player in a position of need that they can control for multiple years.

I'm not exactly sure how trading LaPorta translates into Gamel being an OF. I think we all expect him to move if his glove doesn't improve, 1B is just as likely as the OF in my opinion.

If Brantley is going to have any potential value, he needs to play CF everyday. Cain can bounce around between all 3 spots, his bat potentially plays on the corners as well. I don't think this changes anything to be quite honest. Based on Money's comments I think the Brewers have him projected to be the CF of the future, next year wouldn't shock me, but I'd say no later than 2010.

I was just reading NSBB, they sure do have some clowns over there. I had almost forgotten why I quit lurking. This race is much tighter than many of them think, especially if we face off in the playoffs.

Having Hall and his 6 mil per year contract would hang up aquiring an expensive 3B, I'm not sure about Huff. Roberts would be for Weeks straight up I'd have to think, he'd be 1 year solution for us, maybe a lower level prospect thrown in. I'm not sure how Luke Scott would fit into the Brewers plans, his only asset is that he's a LH hitter, Hart and Braun are both more productive, and the Brewer's system is absolutely loaded with bats. We need pitching. Sherill could have a nice role, Gagne will be gone, maybe that opens door for Luis Pena (thought of as our closer to be), but I would think aquiring starting pitching would be the priority over the bullpen. What do you think it would take to get any of the 3 players I'l list below? The text was taken from a post I make about finding longterm rotation solutions. David Hernandez and/or Bradley Bergesen I like Chris Tillman as well but he's not very economical with his pitches which is why I didn't include him initially. I wouldn't mind picking up 2 of these 3 AA pitchers in a deal. Baltimore needs SS, 3B, and OF help.

That's so easy I'm embarrassed I asked and didn't figure it out on my own by now. Thanks Casey.