TheCrew07

I was hoping someone else would mention it so I'm not continually beating the Salome drum, but how the hell is he not in the futures game for the World Team? Hitting in the mid .300s in over 200 ABs is pretty freaking good not to be getting any recognition. I really wonder what the story is here, Angel just doesn't any run from anyone other than the Brewer scouting staff, Powell, and us fans here at BF.net. I'm really struggling to understand how his performance is continually overlooked nationally. From Ash's comments the other day we know other teams are scouting Huntsville heavily... this just doesn't add up.

Nix homers in the 1rst to put Nashville up 1. Ungs with a nice start but Jones had a tough inning, 2 hits and 2 BBs but limited the damage to 1 run and the score in Huntsville is tied. Braddock on short rest interests me, especially after how he pitched last time out, too bad BC is delayed. Seidel has pitched well the last couple times out, nice to see. Helena games need to start sooner on the weekends... just for my convienence. Wow that AZ game was SLOPPY. edit. As I was typing Jones gets into trouble again and ends up giving up another run, it would have been worse had Salome not gunned a guy trying to steal.

My family meets up at the McDonalds just south of Miller Park on Miller Park Way.

How many of those cheap talented players have lived up to the hype? I count 3, Braun, Hart, and Fielder. Hall was great 2 years ago, and crappy since. My boy Hardy is the ultimate roller coaster, Weeks is currently trending the wrong way... It's not like he has a team of all stars that fell into his lap. There's still plenty of time for the young kids to turn it around, though I'm admittedly not so sure that Hall ever will. The one place the farm system has failed to this point is pitching, the Brewers didn't get enough quality pitching through the system to go with the bats, and some of the bats haven't lived up to my expectations yet... I'm not talking all-stars year and year out, but I think both JJ and Rickie are capable of hitting much better than they have thus far in their careers. The upper system is still very heavy bat wise, and I hope they manage to turn some of those bats into long term pitching solutions and not waste them all on rental players trying to fill holes 1 year at a time. It's been pointed out many times that both young pitchers from the Giants were available this off season, and the Brewers didn't have the ammunition at the time to make a move. Now that some of the prospects are more advanced and succeeding in AA it opens up many more trade opportunities for Melvin with prospects and with proven commodities on the big club. We just need to be patient, this could be a banner off season. I was one of those people that thought this crop would hit well enough to overcome a lack of pitching, but I was wrong and that hasn't been the case. That's on me, not Melvin, he's done a fantastic job finding value where there was none, especially when the club needed it the most. I'm not so sure that Mark A. didn't have alot to do with the Linebrink move and the Suppan signing. The more I read and the more I see him interviewed, he seems to have quite a bit of the "we must win now" attitude and I'm unsure how healthy that is long term.... he bought a franchise in rebuilding mode and there's no quick fix to building a solid franchise, it takes time and patience. Don't get me wrong, I really like him, but it makes me question how much he has his hands in the pot so to speak. The notion has been in the back of my mind since the Suppan signing and it only continues to build momentum, and this is as good a time as any to throw my concerns out into the void.

Various strength coaches have hit on this topic 3 out of the last 4 years at one of the football clinics I frequent. Studies have shown a strong correlation between being overweight and being injury prone. The body does not handle the extra stress very well, but of course everybody's body is different and will react differently. Now that I'm thinking about this for the first time, Baseball isn't exactly known for it's conditioning of athletes, guys are like Kapler are not the average MLB player. I wonder if that has something to do with the injury frequency in a relatively non contact sport? Very short duration but very stressful (joints and muscles) repetitive movements on athletes in questionable condition... remember the Brewer 60 yard dash trials and how 2 or 3 of the guys hurt themselves just sprinting? This has peaked my curiousity... about all I really know for sure is that now that I'm back down around 200 pounds I have a ton more energy and I recover much quicker from workouts, even at 33 years old. My body did not handle all of the extra weight very well. I would agree that by non scientific eyeball approximation Sheets looks to have taken better care of himself this off season, and I don't believe it's a coincidence. I know this is very much like the "Is Prince getting fatter?" conversation earlier this month which I stayed away from, but everything I've read, have been told, and have witnessed personally leads to me to believe that there is a strong correlation between conditioning and injuries.

Well by that logic then Escobar and Brantley don't have a future either, since each is also repeating AA... Struggling in your first go round at AA as a very young player for the league doesn't mean much about their ability level. I'm still not sold on Escobar's bat, but he's having a tremendous season thus far.

Mass Hass, pouring salt in an open wound since 7/25/2007... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif I thought they'd be like 11 and 13, not 3 and 4. If I felt better about Dykstra I wouldn't mind so much... but that's a discussion for the other thread.

That was a quality addition to the discussion.

Your opinions about Taylor Green aside as he isn't as far away as you think, unless he gets traded. What does 26 years have to do with anything? I keep seeing you posting all over the place that the player you want to aquire "virtually assures" a post season berth. How does one player assure anything? All it takes is one bad break and you're right back where you started. This team doesn't have the depth to be considered 1 player away... they are more realistically 2 or 3 players away from being assured anything. I have a problem with the whole "assured" notion anyway since the games are not played on paper, not played with projections or simulations, but played by real human beings where anything can happen... you mean like how Moss assured the Patriots that they were going to win the SuperBowl?

How does aquring a reliever for 35 innings at this point, maybe 25 innings around the trading deadline make this team significantly better? I could see giving up 2 second tier prospects because of the 2 draft picks, but I wouldn't give up much more than that. The only reason I tolerate the Linebrink deal is because of the drafts, and I'm not all that thrilled about Cutter. If we'd give up a Pena and a guy like Hand or Anundsen I could live with it. I just have a real hard time getting behind all these rental player deals people keep suggesting, why does 2008 "have" to be the year for so many people? Because the team was so close last year? The Brewer's rise over the last 2 seasons reminds me of the Packers in 93-95 gradually building towards the ultimate success. I see much better days with a much deeper team on the horizon, I'm not down with this "win now" philosphy that many fans and Mark A. seem to have, to me that seems like the surest way to keep the window duration as short as possible. Patience, my friends, patience.

That might be a little low, I peg his average velocity in the 94-95 range just based on what I've read, dialing it up to 99 when he reaches back.

Nashville has come back to even things up, Nelson has walked 3 times in 5 innings thus far. If I haven't mentioned it for the record yet Gagne and Turnbow can still in Nashville the rest of year. Wright with a real nice line through 6 scoreless tonight. Huntsville's offense explodes yet again. Even with Salome getting the night off Escobar has 3 hits, Gamel only has 1 hit but 3 BBs on the night, and Laporta with 2 hits, Brantley also had 2 hits before leaving with his injury. Periard with a very Suppanesque performance tonight with 8 scoreless, and the defense behind him had a clean game. Even with Green slumping to the tune of 7H in his last 37ABs his average is still 298. Cain has hit right around .300 the last 2 months and his average continues to slowly climb. Ford is starting to hit a little a better, .263 over his last 10, still not great but improving. Brewer... *sigh* I'm not even checking his lines anymore they've been so depressing all year, he's hitting exactly .200 right now with no HR after hitting 11 last year. If fact his power numbers are down drastically across the board. He's on pace for 142 SOs which would be an improvement over last year's 170, but he's also on pace for 45 errors which only be 3 less than year's pace of 48, so essentially he's the same player defensively. I know I've harped on his strike outs, but I didn't think a 20% reduction in SOs would ruin the rest of his offensive game, be careful what you wish for I guess. Rivas with his second subpar outing in a row giving up 2 bombs tonight, Mercedes and Lambertus each doing about what I expect now. WV is scoring some runs lately, which is a welcome change.

I hope he doesn't end up in the NL Central... I was assuming an AL team would pick him up... but I just got a sick feeling thinking about Sheets in a Cubs uniform... they have so many big contracts already I'm not sure they could pull it off, but the other teams in the central definately could.

Maybe he just needs some Jungle Karma... lets get him on Rome and then see what he does.

I read that as we aren't trading our premium prospects for a rental, but he'd unload 3 2nd tier players for one, probably similar to the Linebrink deal. This is a relief to me, as I couldn't see trading 7 years of multiple possible impact players for 3 months of anyone. I'm glad Doug thinks the obvious players in LaPorta and Gamel are untouchable. I don't know where people are coming up with if not Sabathia then Bedard? A rental is a rental and Melvin was talking directly to the idea of picking up rental players... again I'm glad he feels the same way I do that if you're trading premium prospects you want control of the player for whom you're trading for more than just 2-3 months. If you're going after Greinke, why wouldn't you use Fielder and pickup Greinke + quality prospect? Same Same for Cain... I really like Prince, especially his offensive production, but he's obviously the player with the most value who's the least likely to sign a deal buying out a year of free agency. While you won't replace the production in his bat, you can get somewhat close and upgrade other areas of need, like a starting pitcher. Whomever would play first would just have to be able to consistently dig a ball out of the dirt and the entire infield defense would improve. The net result of a Fielder trade should be greater than his Offensive value (his defense has no value in my opinion), and that sort of deal makes quite a bit of sense to me.

I say yes he signs. I think you can build a team around Braun and Hart.

Naivin makes a good point, I've see it happen many times... start favoring an ankle or a knee on one side, and you get a knee or hip problem on the other side as well. If he's not confident in the knee, he'll only do more harm than good... if he starts compensating for a lack of strength in the knee, there's no telling what issues he might bring upon himself. I'd rather be conservative with him at this point. On a side note, is Yo in Milwaukee rehabbing or Arizona? I swear I saw him at the Mac N Dons just south of the park on Miller Parkway around 2PM on Saturday before the game. If it wasn't him, it could have been a twin... my father and I were debating if it was him when he was walking in (didn't see his ride) and when he came in the manager immediately came out and took his order for him special, he didn't wait in line. His buddy talked on his Blackberry the whole time, and I didn't recognize him, he was a fairly built late teen early 20s Hispanic young man. I would have thought he'd be in Arizona so I was initially unwilling to accept it was him, but now I'm regretting not asking.

You're making the counter point against your arguement for us.... you can pay 5 other players what you would have to Ben. He's going to be 31 next season, he's going to start declining. Who knows what Ben Sheets you'll have at 35? Free agent pitching is not a good market for the Brewers, and if you won't at least concede the point that an $18 million contract would hand cuff the Brewers financially, then you simply aren't being objective. The issue isn't if they can afford Sheets, the issue is if signing him to a 4 or 5 year deal is in the best long term interests of the franchise? He isn't in the top 5 pitchers in baseball, he might be in the top 10 today, but again, where will he be in 5 years? For me, and I think for the Brewers, the issue isn't where Ben will be next season, but how productive he'll be in 4 seasons, because the Brewers cannot afford to pay any player $18 mil to be on the DL or ineffective. Also, in my opinion losing Sheets will not cut the playoff legs for years to come, there is literally a ton of talent that will available to help in the next 2-3 years in house. There's a wealth of information on the minor league forum if you're willing to get aquainted with the pitching and positional prospects that could have a measurable impact on the big club in the near future. I'm very intrigued by Braddock, Jeffress, Anundsen, Rivas, and Periard as SP but unfortunately they are all in A+ or A right now. The next teir down would be Hammond, Welch, Hand, and Miller all of whom are in AAA or AA right now. The top reliefs prospects are Pena, Aguilar, and Ryan... 2 closers and a setup guy all in AA or AAA... Positional players you have Gamel, LaPorta, Salome, Escobar, Brantley, Lucroy, Green and possibly Cain in the top tier, guys that have the potential to be everyday players... The next tier down is absolutely loaded Rottino, Nelson, Gillespie, Katin, Iribarren, TGJ, Errecart, Bell, and more..... and those I listed are just they guys that could contribute in AAA or AA right now. There isn't going to be room for all of these bats, so some are going to be moved to fill holes elsewhere. If Ben Sheets leaves in Free Agency the sky will not fall, I promise. The system is plenty deep to help fill voids created by trades, or in trades to aquire pieces to fill the voids. The Brewers are well positioned for the near future, Melvin just has to play a good game of chess. edit. Fixed gramar and completed a thought.

More likely we'll keep the best 2 and flip the others... and we're both happy getting arms/needs for bats.

If Milwaukee traded Sheets they would not get any premium prospects back... Melvin said it himself, he'll trade quanity, but not quality.

Dillard maybe, but Jackson... he's simply not a good a player, he's been borderline horrible in both the rotation and the pen.

I'm not intrigued by any of those free agent pitchers, I still think trading Prince gets the most value back to plug holes this off season. If that doesn't happen I'm fine riding out next year with what we got.

What GM in their right mind is going to give up premium prospects for a rental? I don't get all these proposed trades that include top prospects for rental players, that just doesn't happen. I really like Inman and that he was a top prospect, the organization obviously felt otherwise. Even if someone offered prospects for Sheets, he's not going anywhere, we'll get draft picks for compensation. The Brewers most certainly have the smallest market in MLB, that point has been hammered into the ground, it effects everything including their TV contract. Having a middle of the pack payroll simply means that they don't have much more to spend on players. If the Brewers break the top 10 in payroll, I'm going to seriously question the profitability of the franchise. If you think that overspending for free agent pitching only affects one player, I think you're very mistaken, there is a domino effect that you're refusing to consider. Suppan is around for 2 more years and will not be coming off the books, he has a no trade and then a limited no trade. In the short term can the Brewers afford Sheets? Absolutely, but long term his contract will have negative consequences. The young core of hitters is reaching arby, and they'll want to resign 2 or 3 of those guys long term, I much more concerned with the long term health of the franchise than I am a playoff appearance this year. I honestly feel the best years with this current team are about 2 years away, there's plenty of talented help coming, and I see no reason to panic. The Brewers could very well could make the playoffs with the Wildcard this year without having to make a single move.

His knee would be physically strong enough for full speed straight line movements by the end of the Sept, but not lateral movements. While every athlete heals at their own pace, I've never seen someone with an ACL get back on the field and be productive in less that 10 months. A 5 month recovery time for a blown ACL would be the fastest I've ever heard of and I would term it as a medical marvel.

Old news bud, the entire lower Brewer system was doing this when Yo and Rogers broke in... they would flip flop piggy backing so both guys got to finish. It has it's merits I guess.