TheCrew07

I don't necessarily mean to suggest that the younger player is better, he's just cheaper... I think who's better for your team depends entirely on your roster make up. I just used the Brewers as an example, they'll need a good mix to stay competitive, they need to be value conscience. A team like the Red Sox or Yankees will spend big money on proven commodities, smaller market teams have to be more shrewd with their roster management.

Excellent interview, I really like Kremblas, he's brutally honest.

I don't think Jenkins contract had anyting to do with Braun at 3B... Jenkins is essentially a platoon player at this point in his career, who's being paid like a starter. To pickup that option would have been a bad business decision for the Brewers. Braun's greatest value to the organization would have been him sticking at 3B, in the same way that Gamel needs to stick at 3B, in the same way that Hall's greatest value was in CF. There were other options such as a Gross/Dillon platoon in LF, which would have been a fine stop gap for one season until LaPorta was ready. You wouldn't have gotten spectacular power numbers out of the example I mentioned, but a very decent OBP and respectable power. There's always another way... The front office decided that Defense was the problem and made the moves they did... I don't necessarily agree that the 2008 Brewers are significantly better than the 2007 Brewers as far as position players go. The pitching had the potential to be, but with Yo going down and Villy struggling as a SP, that hasn't materialized. At the plate Cameron was exactly what this team had too much of already... I like him as a player, but I don't agree that he was the best option for the Brewers at this time. We've essentially traded Jenkins for Cameron offensively, and I don't see how that makes the Brewers a better team. Defensively... between Braun's misplays as he gets used to LF, and Hall's ineptitude at 3B, the error totals might be down, but the "misplays" are about a wash between LF, CF, and 3B.

Any deal that includes LaPorta or Gamel for a frontline pitcher better be for a pitcher than we can control for at least 2 full years. To each his own, but I'm not into giving up 6-7 years of a potentially special bat for 3 wins that will matter. Since you don't get credit for half wins in a season, I fail to see how Bedard helps us get in the postseason this season... if in fact that would end up being the true result, so we're really talking about next season. How many win shares would you giving up over those 6 or 7 years in Gamel or LaPorta? Yes the Crew is still in the race, but they are 5 games back in the Wildcard. I'm not throwing in the towel, but if we're trading premium prospects, I want a relatively sure thing. Bedard is essentially replacing Yo this year, which puts us back to "even", but the Crew wasn't a lock before the season to make the postseason. If Sheets goes down for any length of time, we've gained absolutely nothing for giving up quite a bit of talent. I'd be much more receptive to this towards the trading deadline if we're just a couple of games out, I just have a hard time believing that this team is 1 player away from a playoff appearance.

Darren Ford with his 34th and 35th stolen base of the year in the first inning, manufacturing a run pretty much by himself. How good would he be if he had a respectable OBP? David Price who's pitching for Vero Beach has 3 BB vs 23 SO in 4 starts... and struck out the side in the first. edit. I should add just in case it's not common knowledge that Price was first pick in last year's draft and is returning from an elbow injury. edit2. Horrible bottom of the 2nd for BC, that's a tough hole to climb out of against a picher like Price. Vero Beach Bottom 2nd John Matulia singles on a ground ball to center fielder Darren Ford. Ryan Royster flies into a force out, right fielder Chuck Caufield to second baseman Yohannis Perez to shortstop Brent Brewer. John Matulia out at 2nd. Ryan Royster to 1st. Joey Callender reaches on force attempt, throwing error by second baseman Yohannis Perez. Ryan Royster to 2nd. Neil Walton singles on a fly ball to right fielder Chuck Caufield. Ryan Royster scores. Joey Callender to 2nd. Desmond Jennings doubles (3) on a ground ball to left fielder Anderson De La Rosa. Joey Callender scores. Neil Walton to 3rd. Rocco Baldelli singles on a ground ball to center fielder Darren Ford. Neil Walton scores. Desmond Jennings scores. Cesar Suarez grounds into a force out, third baseman Taylor Green to second baseman Yohannis Perez. Rocco Baldelli out at 2nd. Cesar Suarez advances to 2nd, on throwing error by second baseman Yohannis Perez. With Nevin Ashley batting, Cesar Suarez caught stealing 3rd base, catcher Martin Maldonado to third baseman Taylor Green.

In your outfield comparison, there is no tangible difference on the field, the difference is the salary that each player is making. The older 32 year old player in this current MLB player market is probably making around 10 mil per year, while the 22 year old is making 450-600k depending on what year of service time he's in. In respect to the Brewers, they'll need a good balance of high paid veterans and low paid rising stars to compete consistently. For example, I don't believe that free agent ptiching is a market the Brewers should be a long term player in... In most cases they'll have to overpay for a downward trending pitcher (assuming a standard peak year of 28 years old). I much rather sign the "core" bats longterm, and continue to trade for and develope young pitching. The Brewers have been very good at developing major league bats, but not very good with the arms. Arms in general are high risk to me, there is a much greater injury risk, both short term and long term with pitching than with hitters. I'll use Sheets as example. I like Sheets just fine when he's healthy (I've defended so many "Teddy Sheets" blasts from friends and family that I'm numb to concept now), but he's at the point where he's going to start trending downwards. He's absolutely worth whatever mid teen contract he's going to sign, but is signing Ben in the best long term interest of the organization? I see many pros and cons to signing to Sheets, and I know the Brewers can afford him, but the question that I keep tosssing around in my head is can they realistically afford to have that much money tied up in a pitcher on the DL? Ennder has posted the numbers many times how pitchers, any pitcher, is much more likely to go on the DL than a typical hitter in a given season. I would rather the Brewers use that money to make decisions about which of the young core of players they want around long term and lock them up like Braun. The organization will have a surplus of bats in the very near future, which can be used to aquire pitching. That's my opinion on the matter, I've never been a "win now" guy and I don't see how the Brewers can ever realistically be in "win now" mode. If the ultimate goal is to attain years of success, which I believe it is, then they always have to keep an eye on the future. However, If the idea is to get to a World Series and then sell off the team again... or rebuild the team again... well then we're playing under a different set of rules entirely. I would hope Mark A is in it for the long haul, but I unable to say for certain if that's true or not, and I don't think any of us really can, but I'm not sure I'd be into the Florida management style... World Series then firesale, World Series then firesale. I know many around here would take that 1 year of great success, but that concept doesn't fit my personality very well as I tend to get far too emotionally invested in our guys. I'd relish the WS appearance, especially a victory, but I'd be in anguish on the down cycles.

Excellent Stars Wars ref Stein, you continue to drop nuggets of enjoyable reading. The point has been made many times over that no beat write would ever report a story like this as he'd be frozen out by the organization. It literally takes someone with a little national clout to be able to get away with a report like that, it's just the way it is. Is it credible journalism? Like I said I'm not sure... I'm not going to totally dismiss it as such, but as I said before I'm not sure how to measure the effect a bad atmosphere has on a team. Especially when most of the key players were struggling are starting to ascend back up to respectability (yes there are exceptions). In some cases I would argue that "underperforming" players are actually playing more to their current talent level, and I don't really care what projection system had them doing what, but that's another topic entirely. You have proven you can't keep an open mind with your moron and blowhard comments above.... Ok... coming from the same person that posted 5 times in a row, and 10 out of the last 26 posts? It's one thing to be opinionated, it's another to lash out and force your opinion's down everyone's throat. You might be right, but does it really matter if anyone agrees with you? I don't see right and wrong here... I see differences of opinion.

We got him back because it turned out he wasn't ready... I fail to see how DM screwed that one up. He is and will be nothing more than role player for Milwaukee, the same exact role he would have in SD, not that there's anything wrong with be utlity guy, but it's not like he let Braun get away. The uproar over losing Cruz (a potential starter) was much greater than Crabbe, and he hasn't been able to stick in the bigs yet either. Every team has to have to role players to be successful, but I'm not going to get worked up when DM doesn't agree with who I think should be a utility guy for the big league club.

Clancy's influence is finally spreading...

That just made my day. Santo is probably my favorite Brewer farmhand of all time due to his 2006 pitching campaign. 16 innings pitched, 47 walks allowed. Oh yes. Go Santo! Be still my beating heart...

Wow, "Fire Marshall Bill"... that's + cool points in my book.

Surplus bats are not a bad thing... they can keep the best of the bunch and flip the rest for young arms. I've always been open to trading arms for bats, and I really like the idea X posted about drafting position players high and flipping them for pitching. That way the other organizations are weeding out the injuries and guys who just can't plain get it done, and the Brewers can trade for the quality arms that are left. I fully expect some of the outfield bats to be traded, there's no doubt there isn't room for all of them. If Lawrie sticks at C there's actually 3 top tier catching prospects and 2 second tier in the system. C is in such high demand that they'll flipped to fills holes else where in the system. If Gamel sticks at 3rd Hall has trade value, LaPorta could actually replace Prince down the road, allowing Hart to stay in right, and one of the younger players to play CF (Brantley, Cain, etc). I don't see how TGJ has a role with this team in 08, and certianly not next year, he's building decent value with his run at AAA. Again he's a good defensive player, but his offense is so limited power and OBP wise... His speed while good isn't exceptional, he does many things well, but nothing good enough to be a starter imo. I don't see Braun and LaPorta in conflict at all, if LaPorta becomes a starter, Braun goes to RF and Hart to CF. If they call up Gamel either he's playing 3B or Prince has been traded and LaPorta is now the 1B and Gamel takes his spot in the OF. Maybe Hart gets trade and one of those guys takes his spot. I'm not concerned at all, for me personally this is the most interesting time to be a Brewer fan in my 33 years, including the WS year in 82, which I was too young to appreciate it at the time. The big club is competitive and the minor league system is as stacked as it's been in my lifetime. It may not be rated very high right now, but with the years certain players are having, and if the draft picks play well, this will be one of the top rated systems next year. I think somehow some of our guys have been flying under the rader, Salome especially, as BA never ever mentions him as a prospect.

Turnbow lit up again, 1.1IP 2H 4ER 4BB 2SO

The Brewer's draft bats first, because that's the hardest tool to find, generally these players have been average to poor defensively. While coaching helps, I feel it's generally on the players to improve their all around game. If you can hit, you're going to play, and you're going to have to improve your defense as you go. This is the first wave, of many to come... I think the guys in the second wave will be more polished as there really isn't a need to rush them. The organization has some big bats in AA that could be pushed, but different members of the organization have been quoted recently saying that the team is going to stay together in Huntsville. It seems they are not going to aggressively promote any of the young bats, so they'll have more time than a Hall, Weeks, or Braun to develope their defense. I've said it before, but I think it bears repeating, that there are not many young players who have such a polished all around game that they are relatively finished products from the time they are drafted. If you run down the list of guys that had very short careers in the Minors and were all around excellent you end up with a list almost solely comprised of Hall of Fame players... Yount (who struggled early), Griffey, Puljos, Bonds, Arod... the average player, regardless of talent, has holes in their game that they need to work on.

Wouldn't Pogo know? Too bad he's been so busy this year.

Nashville loses but Katin goes Yaya again, too bad he doesn't walk more... 6 BBs to 63 SOs thus far. Rivas with 4Ks through 2. Huntsville and Jacksonville knotted at 1.

"How dare you drag Dillon's name through the mud by comparing him to DiFelice?" was my stab in the dark at pinpointing what was motivating the general reaction. Actually I like DiFelice as well, I just learned my lesson hyping players that have struggled in the past who are tearing AAA. My point was simply that just because is a guy 30 years old, doesn't mean he stunk and finally figured out, that Dillon and DiFelice have had different paths to where they are now, and it rubbed me the wrong way when TWR basically said to TLB that he had a thing for 30 somethings (paraphrasing)... I think most of us have a "thing" for anyone that can help the Brewers win ball games. I usually default to an assumption that 30ish year old players in AAA are 4A types, but I'll go do my due dilligence and research the player before proclaiming that publicly. I'm also a sucker for redemption stories as I posted before, so obvioulsy I'm rooting for both players to have success.

Fielder dug a ball out of the dirt!

Stocker took Weaver's spot, so nothing has to be done with Cain till Huntsville's first half is over.

What happened to the gun? I want pitch speed dangit! The count always being off is annoying but so is baserunner graphic. I hooked my computer up to my newer HD TV so I've been flipping between the game and my golf outing crap, and probably a third of the time when I switch over to the Brewer game they have the runners are the wrong bases. At least with the DVR I can rewind and figure out what happened for myself.

I'm not sure I've ever seen this in a professional game log... this sort of thing happens in High School. West Virginia Bottom 4th Curt Rindal doubles (8) on a ground ball to left fielder Hunter Mense. Lee Haydel singles on a ground ball to right fielder Michael Stanton. Curt Rindal to 3rd. Matt Cline grounds into double play, second baseman Ryan Curry to shortstop Emilio Ontiveros to first baseman Ryan Anetsberger. Curt Rindal scores. Lee Haydel out at 2nd. Eric Farris singles on a line drive to left fielder Hunter Mense. Pitcher Change: Eric Basurto replaces Jay Voss. With Jonathan Lucroy batting, wild pitch by Eric Basurto, Eric Farris to 2nd. With Jonathan Lucroy batting, wild pitch by Eric Basurto, Eric Farris to 3rd. With Jonathan Lucroy batting, wild pitch by Eric Basurto, Eric Farris scores. Jonathan Lucroy walks. Zelous Wheeler called out on strikes.

As good as the scouting dept has done Domestically and in Canada, the Latin scouting has really let the team down. They've paid an awfully lot of money, for hardly any returns to this point. I really don't have much faith in those signings anymore, sort of like drafting HS pitchers in the first round....

Nice work as always.

Dillon was a decent ceiling guy at one point, you should probably go and check his minor league career. He went to AAA in 4 years, which is very good... as has been pointed out many times, he was very up and down, likely due to health. (I've never read a quote from him where he addressed the issue). The guy was a 7th round pick, it's not like he was drafted late in the draft. He's been a monster since his back surgery, I have no idea how a guy who can put up an OPS above league average is short on talent. Apparently you haven't educated yourself on DiFelice's career much either, if you're comparing Dillon's career to DiFelice's.

I would think he'd be signed in the next 7-10 day if he isn't already. They've always gotten their picks into the fold as soon as possible.