TheCrew07

Wow great thread. For me there were a ton of hard lessons, almost all pitching the side. Pitching wise is no particular order other than how they came to mind: Ben Hendrickson Manny Parra Kyle Heckathorn Eric Arnett Dana Eveland Zach Braddock Will Inman Hitting wise there were really only 2: Mat Gamel Angel Salome I am surprised that Matt LaPorta hasn't managed to stick at the MLB level but he had a blog which turned me off of him before he was even traded to Cleveland. Edit. I guess it would be fair to throw Taylor Green in there as a 3B, I thought he would be a nice stop gap player once Gamel was gone.

You know I didn't realize it until I watched video a couple of days ago but Ashe Russell is another low arm slot guy, cross him off my list posted in the speculation thread. I'm not sure how that got past me because when I went back and read sure enough all of the scouting reports note the low arm slot. Much like Medeiros he's filthy but I'm uncertain he'll be able to throw enough strikes as a professional.

Stephen Gonsalves, a Twins 4th rounder from 2013, has struck out 8 of the first 9 T-Rats. I have 2 thoughts on that. 1) Gonsavles tops out around 90, which is where Devin Williams is working today, but how is it that Stephen has nearly pitched a perfect game so far on strike outs? 2) It would be awesome to have a HS pitcher come through and dominate the MWL, it's been a while... Jake Odorizzi was the last. Nick Bucci was also up and down for that 2010 team and unfortunately neither is with the organization any more. Demuth singled as I was researching HS pitchers so at least they've gotten a hit now. edit. A 3rd thought, I wonder if Colby is at this game?

Organizations skimping on player development is nothing new but this was a very interesting article. Royals Got Bargain-Bin Scores In 2003 May 25, 2015 by J.J. Cooper

Rattlers fall 6-3 at Kane County Cougars earn split in series with Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/1/4/126272914/cuts/5_May23_Harrison_WEB_c50cafia_hqfav2v6.jpg Monte Harrison had two hits, including a 2-run triple, for the Timber Rattlers on Monday afternoon at Kane County. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GENEVA, IL - The Kane County Cougars went up 3-0 early on Memorial Day at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark and never gave up the lead on the way to a 6-3 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Markus Solbach allowed two unearned runs on one hit over 6-2/3 innings to earn his fourth win of the season. Four Kane County pitchers held Wisconsin's offense to four hits. Kane County (21-23) grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Marty Herum hit a solo home run to left-center with two outs off Wisconsin starting pitcher Joshua Torres for a 1-0 advantage. The Cougars added to their lead with two runs in the bottom of the second. Victor Reyes knocked in the first run of the inning with an infield single. Colin Bray made it 3-0 with an RBI grounder. Kane County was looking for more in the third inning as they loaded the bases on a pair of singles and an error. But, Torres kept the hole from getting any deeper by getting a strikeout and two popouts to end the frame and leave all three runners stranded. Torres would retired nine Cougars in a row before turning the game over to Gian Rizzo to start the bottom of the sixth. Rizzo got the first out, but allowed a triple to Henry Castillo and an RBI single to Jose Queliz and Kane County's lead reached 4-0. Wisconsin (13-32) rallied in the top of the seventh inning. Tucker Neuhaus reached on an error and Greg McCall drew a walk to force Solbach out of the game. Reliever Steve Hathaway got a strikeout for the second out of the inning. Monte Harrison cashed in the unearned runs with a triple off the wall in right to get the Rattlers to within two. Harrison had two hits on Monday - half of Wisconsin's total for the game. But, Kane County scored in the bottom of the seventh against reliever Josh Uhen. Herum reached on a dropped third strike and scored on a double by Joe Munoz. The Rattlers rallied again in the top of the eighth to cut the deficit to two runs. Jake Gatewood singled to start the inning and was on third with two outs. Neuhaus drove in Gatewood with a single off Cody Geyer to make it 5-3. Stryker Trahan hit a long solo home run in the bottom of the eighth off Orlando Torrez, the fourth Wisconsin pitcher of the afternoon, to give the Cougars their three-run cushion back. In the ninth, Kane County went to Zac Curtis, their closer. Curtis struck out the first two batters of the inning before Brandon Diaz drew a walk to extend the game. But, Curtis struck out the next batter to finish off the Rattlers. Curtis is 9-for-9 in save opportunities this season, including 4-for-4 against Wisconsin. The Timber Rattlers won the first two games of the series at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark, but came away with a split after dropping the last two games. Wisconsin is 4-4 on the first eight games of their road trip. The Timber Rattlers begin the final leg of their eleven-game road trip with a the first game of a three-game series at Cedar Rapids on Tuesday night. Devin Williams (0-2, 5.87) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The Kernels have named Stephen Gonsalves (4-1, 1.50) as their starter. Game time at Perfect Game Field is 6:35pm. Catch all the action on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. The broadcast may also be heard on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. HOME RUNS: KC: Marty Herum (4th, 0 on in 1st inning off Joshua Torres, 2 out) Stryker Trahan (5th, 0 on in 8th inning off Orlando Torrez, 1 out) WP: Markus Solbach (4-2) LP: Joshua Torres (0-2) SAVE: Zac Curtis (9) TIME: 2:40 ATTN: 5,567 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap

I posted that after Gomez' 2nd error of the inning but then Jeffress didn't record an out and Smith threw more gas on the fire and now Cotts, what a disaster. Cotts is my signal to walk away from this one.

Oh no doubt, it would be nice if he could be a 10 HR/year kind of dude.

Who's had the worse 6th inning, Lohse or Gomez?

Those were balls pulled mostly down the line and not shots to the gaps, Brad pointed it out a couple of times.

This, he's the reason I don't have the sound on when I actually watch a game these days.

Cougars shutout Timber Rattlers 2-0 on Sunday By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/5/4/126463854/cuts/5_May24LuisOrtega_WEB_bprkqt7q_sy9sqdcf.jpg Luis Ortega allowed an unearned run over seven innings and struck out two on Sunday at Kane County GENEVA, IL - Luis Ortega took a tough-luck loss on Sunday at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark as the Kane County Cougars beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 2-0. The Wisconsin starting pitcher was outstanding as he allowed one unearned run over seven innings, but was charged with the loss as Wisconsin's two-game winning streak came to an end. Ortega retired the first seven batters he faced in the game. But, Dane McFarland reached on an error with one out in the third. Ortega walked Fernery Ozuna on four pitches and Colin Bray reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Victor Reyes gave Kane County (21-23) the lead with a sacrifice fly to right that was deep enough to score McFarland. The Rattlers offense had a lot of chances against Kane County starter Brad Keller. Wisconsin had a leadoff single in the first, second, third, fourth, and sixth innings against Keller, but could not do anything with those opportunities. In the seventh, Keller walked a pair of batters with two outs and gave way to reliever Yency Solis. The Cougars reliever got out of the seventh on a foul pop to left. Ortega only gave up the unearned run in the second inning. The lefty allowed two hits and struck out seven over seven innings. Ortega set new single game highs as a professional in both strikeouts and innings pitched with his performance on Sunday. Kane County added to their lead in the bottom of the eighth inning against reliever Milton Gomez, who retired the first two batters he faced. Bray was hit by a pitch and Reyes followed with a single. Marty Herum was next and he singled to center. Bray scored from second just before Monte Harrison threw Reyes out at third for the final out of the inning and Kane County was up 2-0. Francisco Castillo, who had three hits on the night, started the ninth inning with a single off Cougar closer Zac Curtis. But, Curtis recorded his eighth save in eight opportunities this season by striking out the next three batters to close out the Rattlers. The final game of the four-game series at Kane County is Monday afternoon. Joshua Torres (0-1, 2.25) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Kane County has named Markus Solbach (3-2, 3.13) as their starter. Game time on Memorial Day is 1:00pm. Catch all the action on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 12:40pm. The broadcast may also be heard on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. Kane County also provides their MiLB.TV broadcast to subscribers. WP: Brad Keller (2-4) LP: Luis Ortega (0-4) SAVE: Zac Curtis (8) TIME: 2:12 ATTN: 6,283 Wisconsin Boxscore The story in this game was obviously Luis Ortega's awesome day. Monte Harrison had another great running grab today, hopefully his game will start slowing turning on all fronts. The Rattlers collected only 6 hits and in addition to Francisco Castillo's day highlighted above Dustin DeMuth had 2 hits as well. Wisconsin Recap

Rattlers edge Kane County 5-3 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/1/4/126272914/cuts/5_May23_Harrison_WEB_c50cafia_hqfav2v6.jpg Monte Harrison doubled, scored two runs, and made some great catches in Wisconsin's win at Kane County on May 23. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GENEVA, IL - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the top of the seventh inning and went on to a 5-3 win over the Kane County Cougars Saturday night at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark. Greg McCall drove in three runs with his bat and Monte Harrison used his legs and his glove to help the Rattlers to their second straight win. Harrison doubled with one out in the top of the first inning and was at third with two outs. McCall dropped in a single just fair down the line in left to score Harrison for a 1-0 lead. Kane County (20-23) evened the score in the bottom of the second inning. Henry Castillo reached on an infield single with two outs. Stryker Trahan lined the next pitch to right-center and Harrison made a diving attempt. The ball popped out of the centerfielder's glove and Castillo scored from first and Trahan stopped at first with the RBI single. The Cougars took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third. Colin Bray singled with one out, moved to second on a ground out, and stole third with two outs. Marty Herum's infield single was enough to get Bray home from third for the go-ahead run. Wisconsin (13-30) tied the game in the top of the fifth. Dustin DeMuth singled to start the inning and stole second. Alan Sharkey singled sharply to right to move DeMuth to third. McCall's sacrifice fly to center was deep enough to drive in DeMuth with the tying run. Kane County had runners on first and second with one out against Kodi Medeiros in the bottom of the sixth. Medeiros, the Rattlers starting pitcher, recorded a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but was at almost 90 pitches for the game. Wisconsin called on Luke Curtis to come on for the final out and the right-handed reliever struck out right-handed batter Dan McFarland for the final out of the frame to preserve the tie. In the seventh, Harrison was hit by a pitch to start the frame. Then, Sharkey reached on a walk. McCall was asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt and it was a great one. The slow bunt up the third base line was fielded by the catcher Trahan who threw to first just in time to get McCall. But, Harrison noticed no one covering home plate and rushed home to score the go-ahead run without a play. Francisco Castillo followed with an RBI single to score Sharkey and the Rattlers were up 4-2. Tucker Neuhaus scored from third on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth inning for a 5-2. David Burkhalter, Wisconsin's third pitcher of the night, pitched a perfect seventh, but ran into trouble in the eighth. The Cougars had runners at first and third with one out when Henry Castillo sent a soft fly ball to shallow right-center. Harrison closed on the ball in a hurry, dove, made the catch and held on for the second out. The runner at third tagged and scored on the play, but the play limited the damage in the inning. Burkhalter kept Wisconsin up 5-3 with a strikeout for the final out of the eighth. Burkhalter pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning - with help from another great catch by Harrison - and picked up his second save of the week. Burkhalter also earned the save on Monday in the first game of the current road trip with four scoreless innings at Burlington. Wisconsin is 4-2 in the first six games of their eleven-game road trip. Game three of the series is Sunday night. Luis Ortega (0-3, 5.40) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Kane County has Brad Keller (1-4, 3.09) as their scheduled starter. Game time is 6:30pm. Catch all the action on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. The broadcast may also be heard on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. Kane County also provides their MiLB.TV broadcast to subscribers. WP: Luke Curtis (3-1) LP: Steve Hathaway (0-1) SAVE: David Burkhalter (2) TIME: 3:05 ATTN: 7,306 Wisconsin Boxscore Winning is fun! Monte Harrison has had a time in the field lately, literally falling 3 times going after fly balls with some other miscues mixed in there. However he was awesome tonight making 2 spectacular plays and nearly a 3rd. Kodi Medeiros has done pretty much what he's been doing since teams figured him out, he'll leave the ball up and give up some runs but he'll also have people chasing the ball over the place for strike outs. If he keeps the walks down, he limits the runs. David Burkhalter has been much better since 5/8, this tandem has been keeping the T-Rats in the game over their last 3 starts. This was a real nice game for the offense with 12 hits, every batter collected at least 1, Carlos Leal (2-5,2B), Francisco Castillo (2-5), and Elvis Rubio (2-3) had multi hit games for the Rattlers. Wisconsin Recap

That would be a depressing return for Garza considering our divisional rivals the Cubs got CJ Edwards, Justin Grimm, Neil Ramirez, and Mike Olt for him in 2013. What a difference 3 years can make. I generally don't like dealing for Yankee or Red Sox prospects because they are so overhyped and in this case Cecchini's 3 year trend is discouraging. I wouldn't mind shedding Garza's contract but I don't see Cecchini as a positive even though I thought he could be an average MLB 3B in the past. I'd rather go down to R ball for some latin prospect like Rafael Devers than acquire a player I'm pretty positive won't make any kind of difference for the Brewers.

Two things are very wrong with a couple of previous posts. 1) It's basically held true that if you aren't willing to learn from history, you're doomed to repeat it. If you want to know the best way forward from your current point that information is going to come from studying and correcting the mistakes made in the past. To be bold you have be willing to think out of the box, see the entire situation, see where the market is weak and strong and exploit that advantage. It shouldn't be about evaluating just the 2015 MLB Brewers, or the 2014 MLB Brwers, or whatever ever other Brewer team one chooses to cherry pick. Rather to legitimately discuss where the Brewers have come up short, and they have obviously come up short, it's necessary to dissect not only the MLB roster, but the entire organization, and it's management. Once a reasonably unbiased assessment has been made, then you apply those same processes to the other teams within the NL Central. Where have they been, where are they now, where are they going? Once done with that you have to look at the entire NL and then if you have the time you can evaluate what's happening around MLB as a whole. It's impossible to have intelligent discussion on organization building when the discussion is limited to "I liked the Sabathia trade because I wanted to see playoffs in my lifetime". Not only is that a very selfish point of view, it is also so incredibly narrow that 100s of other important variables are being left out of the discussion which had a trickle down effect to today. Too often people cherry pick to prove their point when the whole truth is readily evident in the Win/Loss records of the MLB team and organization as a whole, and it has nothing to do with bad luck, these were predictable decisions being made. It's no different than when posters write things like, "What was Melvin/Seid/Mark A./whomever supposed to do?" and then the answers are dismissed because they don't fit the particular poster whom asked the question point of view. Don't ask the question if you aren't willing to listen to the answer. None of this was fate, the trades made by Melvin weren't the only options available to him, they are simply the direction DM and MA chose to take this franchise and it hasn't worked out over the long haul. 2) It's not revisionist history to criticize decisions made in the past when those same posters criticized the moves at the time it happened. Rather that's what the rest of the world would consider being consistent in their convictions. There are posters who float around with the prevailing winds and readily change their opinion and then there are posters whom are passionate about their points of view. It's not only extremely rude but also dismissive to continually frame arguments regarding the past as "revisionist history" which has been regularly done on this forum for years. If you don't have the posting history, then don't assume that just because someone disagrees with a particular move they are using the benefit of hindsight to form their opinion. There was a small group of posters arguing against this eventuality for years, long before it was the prevailing opinion of the site. I said before this shouldn't be about "told you so!" but I do find it disheartening that posters are completely unwilling to concede or even consider the enormous negative consequences of the trades Melvin has made, as well as the idea that the Brewers have wasted too much of their limited resources over the years. I would have thought the truth would be self evident at this point. Yes there were positives, but there were great costs in all of those moves as well. Melvin has been here more than a decade, however for the purposes of this discussion I think it was fair to take his record from the time the team was actually ready to compete. [pre]Rk Year Tm Lg W L W-L% pythW-L% Finish GB R RA Top Player 1 2015 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 16 27 .372 .384 5th of 5 11.5 167 216 R.Braun (1.0) 2 2014 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 82 80 .506 .495 3rd of 5 8.0 650 657 J.Lucroy (6.7) 3 2013 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 74 88 .457 .468 4th of 5 23.0 640 687 C.Gomez (8.5) 4 2012 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 83 79 .512 .526 3rd of 6 14.0 776 733 R.Braun (6.9) 5 2011 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 96 66 .593 .556 1st of 6 -- 721 638 R.Braun (7.8) 6 2010 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 77 85 .475 .468 3rd of 6 14.0 750 804 R.Braun (5.7) 7 2009 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 80 82 .494 .481 3rd of 6 11.0 785 818 P.Fielder (6.3) 8 2008 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 90 72 .556 .539 2nd of 6 7.5 750 689 C.Sabathia (5.2) 9 2007 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 83 79 .512 .515 2nd of 6 2.0 801 776 C.Hart (4.7) 10 2006 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 75 87 .463 .440 4th of 6 8.5 730 833 B.Hall (5.8) 11 2005 MilwaukeeBrewers NL Central 81 81 .500 .519 3rd of 6 19.0 726 697 G.Jenkins (4.6)[/pre] Over that time (Melvin's best possible sample) the Brewers are 837-826 which is a .503 winning percentage. It's nearly impossible to be any more mediocre than that. There are other small markets who have been to the WS and sustained success much better than the Brewers from year to year, I don't believe that a .503 winning percentage was the best the Brewers could have been over the last 11 years. The overall record is tells part of the picture, the but the most obvious deficiency has always been the team's pitching, this table tells the story without having to say much else, it was never adequately addressed. FYI "PAge" is the average age of the pitching staff, and finish is within the NL Central. [pre]Rk Year Finish RA/G ERA G IP H R ER HR BB SO WHIP SO9 HR9 PAge 1 2015 5 5.02 4.60 43 378.0 379 216 193 55 131 346 1.349 8.24 1.31 29.6 2 2014 3 4.06 3.67 162 1457.2 1386 657 594 167 431 1246 1.247 7.69 1.03 29.0 3 2013 4 4.24 3.84 162 1442.2 1401 687 615 175 466 1125 1.294 7.02 1.09 28.8 4 2012 3 4.52 4.22 162 1453.2 1458 733 682 169 525 1402 1.364 8.68 1.05 29.0 5 2011 1 3.94 3.63 162 1441.2 1348 638 582 147 440 1257 1.240 7.85 0.92 29.3 6 2010 3 4.96 4.58 162 1439.0 1487 804 733 173 582 1258 1.438 7.87 1.08 29.2 7 2009 3 5.05 4.83 162 1435.0 1498 818 770 207 607 1104 1.467 6.92 1.30 30.0 8 2008 2 4.25 3.85 162 1455.2 1415 689 623 175 528 1110 1.335 6.86 1.08 29.9 9 2007 2 4.79 4.41 162 1444.1 1513 776 708 161 507 1174 1.399 7.32 1.00 29.1 10 2006 4 5.14 4.82 162 1425.2 1454 833 763 177 514 1145 1.380 7.23 1.12 28.3 11 2005 3 4.30 3.97 162 1438.0 1382 697 635 169 569 1173 1.357 7.34 1.06 28.0[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 5/23/2015. Here's the Brewer rank by runs allowed in the NL for each of those years. 2015 - 15th 2014 - 10th 2013 - 9th 2012 - 13th 2011 - 6th 2010 - 14th 2009 - 15th 2008 - 4th 2007 - 9th 2006 - 14th 2005 - 6th Shouldn't it be obvious what the organization's Achilles heel has been? Who's ultimately responsible for that deficiency? Has the team's roster building strategy proven effective or sustainable? I believe the answers to those questions are obvious which is why I've been arguing so vehemently against management's strategy for so long. It's not about being a Melvin or Attanasio hater, in truth I like both gentlemen on a personal level, it's about cold evaluation of facts. Which I admit for me is rather easy because I don't have any sentimental attachments to any of the players or people in management, I care only about the bar I've set for the organization. I believe that Melvin and his cronies like Reid Nichols need to go, I believe that Mark A has to hire the next Andrew Friedman and have enough trust in that man to stay out of baseball decisions, and I believe that the Brewers desperately need to change their tact and learn how to continually turn over their roster every year. Recently the Brewers have done a decent job taking their extra $20 million from MLB and reinvesting that money on amateur talent from Latin America, but it's too little too late at this juncture, and the team should have been investing in amateur talent all along. However I question if the team wouldn't have gotten that extra revenue if any significant changes would have taken place and the team would have just continued to spend all of its available resources on the MLB payroll like it did in the past. That strategy left little wiggle room in the draft and led to a woeful record developing international talent, MLB's changing of the rules and extra TV contract revenue have been as, if not more important, than the Brewers making a significant change in tact.

I think he's a utility guy which is why the Brewers have been using him as such. He's not a flashy defender anywhere, doesn't have a plus tool, but he's steady. Matos has better tools across the board and I think Brennan was superior to him from a tools standpoint as well. DeMuth has the much higher floor though.

Sneed shines as Rattlers shutout Kane County By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/6/8/126076468/cuts/5_22_Sneed_WEB_bef3qc1f_6c6synno.jpg Cy Sneed struck out six over eight shutout innings at Kane County on Friday night to earn the win in Wisconsin's 4-0 victory. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GENEVA, IL - Cy Sneed pitched eight shutout innings and received enough offensive support to pick up the victory in the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-0 win over the Kane County Cougars Friday night at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark. The game was a pitchers' duel from the start as Sneed, the 3rd round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2014 draft, matched up against Touki Toussaint, the #1 pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the same draft. Toussaint kept Wisconsin (12-30) off the scoreboard through six innings. He allowed two hits, walked two, hit one, and struck out one. But, Sneed kept Kane County (20-22) off the board as well. The Timber Rattlers broke the scoreless tie with two runs in the top of the seventh inning. Greg McCall singled to start the rally and was bunted to second by Sthervin Matos. Francisco Castillo knocked in McCall with a double to center to make it 1-0. Elvis Rubio followed with an RBI single to left for a 2-0 lead. Sneed took his shutout through eight innings. He faced just three over the minimum over his eight frames thanks to a pickoff and a pair of double plays. Sneed scattered six hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out six as he tossed 91 pitches (68 of strikes) on the night. Wisconsin added to their lead in the ninth inning. Jake Gatewood stepped in with the bases loaded and two outs and looped a single to right that drove in two runs for a 4-0 lead. Tyler Linehan worked a perfect ninth inning to close out the game. McCall and Sthervin Matos each had two hits in the game for the Wisconsin offense. Sneed earned his second win of the season, broke a personal four-game losing streak, and dropped his ERA to 1.81 for the season. Game two of the four-game series is Saturday night. Kodi Medeiros (1-2, 5.35) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Ethan Elias (4-1, 1.53) is the scheduled starter for the Cougars. Game time is 6:30pm. Catch all the action on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. The broadcast may also be heard on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. Kane County also provides theirMiLB.TV broadcast to subscribers. WP: Cy Sneed (2-5) LP: Jeferson Mejia (0-2) TIME: 2:27 ATTN: 9,178 Wisconsin Boxscore Well I talk a little of smack about the organizations' pitchers not getting through 6 and Cy Sneed pitches a beauty, maybe I'll do that more often! What a fun game this was until Sthervin Matos hurt himself on a late slide into 3rd on Tucker Neuhaus' double in the 9th. Hopefully it's nothing serious but Chris said the trainer was looking at Sthervin's knee and I don't want to speculate on the injury without having seen it. Regardless though the young Rattlers needed a victory like this and hopefully Matos is alright. Wisconsin Recap

Subscriber Content Top 20 Prospects In Cuba: 1-10 April 28, 2015 by Ben Badler Top 20 Prospects In Cuba: 11-20 April 28, 2015 by Ben Badler

Maikel Caceres Leaves Cuba To Pursue MLB Deal May 5, 2015 by Ben Badler

Cuban Pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez Closer To Signing May 7, 2015 by Ben Badler

Subscriber Content Teenage Pitcher Cionel Perez Leaves Cuba May 17, 2015 by Ben Badler

Subscriber Content Norge Ruiz, Cuba’s Best Pitching Prospect, Leaves Cuba May 22, 2015 by Ben Badler

The 2 missing Draft Packs, I love this series of articles by the way, one stop information for so many different prospects each time. MLB Draft Pack: May 14 MLB Draft Pack: May 7

I'm not so much concerned with the Brewers saying "Player X or Y isn't available" in the media, or even early on in this process to other teams. I do worry that history suggests we aren't going to get the kind of player movement many of us are hoping for. I would hope if a GM calls back and says something like in Atlanta's case, "I know you said Lucroy isn't available but what if we give you Max Fried, Lucas Sims, and Ricardo Sanchez ?" that the Brewers would seriously consider the offer. 2 players with #2 upside and a 3rd with #3 upside is huge for an organization that doesn't really have legitimate #2 starter upside anywhere today. The Brewers have a couple of players with that ceiling, and none above A ball, but the results just haven't come along to the point where I'd comfortably throw that label on them. I really struggle with the notion that in baseball people naturally assume that you're either a buyer or a seller, why can't a team be both and remain competitive?

MLB Draft Pack: May 21

A local kid getting some pub! Turchin takes torch at Pre-Draft Jeff Dahn