TheCrew07

Wow I'm watching the T-Rats and figured after Fiers first inning where he barely threw more balls than strikes that this would get away, I checked back in at Gameday during the recent pitching change and see he has 10 strike outs in 5 innings, quite the turn around. Didn't he have a real nice strike out game against the Cubs last year too?

It was Gian Rizzo, that's an odd mistake for them to make. edit. Thinking more about it DeMuth replaced Scooter Gennett, I wonder if that's how the mistake was made?

Ha! Yea because literally saying the same things in just about every post on this subject for half a decade makes people rats because they didn't agree with your perspective. A couple of years ago I started using the Cubs as an example because none of their fans would accept it was over for them until it had already been over for a couple of years... It was much of the same posting that went on here... we just need to be healthy, players x and y bounce back and we're fine, and so on. It was over when the Brewers acquired Marcum and Greinke, that was the last gasp, and by over I mean hope of legitimately competing for a championship. We can float around .500 never really seriously contending with the players the Brewers can afford in FA to plug holes, maybe even eek into the playoffs here and there, but that's it. Baseball is about pitching and the Brewers have never developed nor acquired the young impact pitching necessary to sustain this organization, and yes it really is that simple. I'm not changing my mantra now, the roster construction was flawed even when we had that entire young core of hitters, 1 or 2 of those players needed to be sold for young pitching for this to have turned out differently. I have been firm on this idea for a long time going back to my original suggestions of moving Fielder and/or Hardy for pitching. The Brewers as a franchise are completely predictable and it doesn't matter what arena you are competing in; sports, business, war... if you are predictable the competition is going to take advantage and you are going to ultimately fall far short of your objectives. The only real hope is that the people you are competing against are even more predictable or inept than you are, but in the case of the Brewers that's not the reality. The Cubs, Pirates, and Cards have excellent leadership and a wider talent pool to draw from, even the Reds have better and younger pitching talent than the Brewers. In the end this about objectivity, removing emotion and seeing the situation for what it truly is, and I agree with igor in that this shouldn't be about petty bickering and "I told you so", it should be about finding common ground, since we all root for the same team. There isn't much else to say that hasn't already been said 1000s of times and 100s of different ways, ultimately shouldn't the roller coaster we've been on stand for itself? Isn't the team record over the last 10 years evidence enough of the truth?

River Bandits edge Timber Rattlers 2-1 Gennett goes 1-for-3 in first of four rehab starts for Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/4/8/121845948/cuts/5_1_15_Gennett_WEB_yaq91uwf_ibudnu6f.jpg Scooter Gennett went 1-for-3 with a stolen base and a run scored for the Timber Rattlers on Friday night. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Jake Hansel) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Quad Cities River Bandits took advantage of three Wisconsin Timber Rattlers errors to defeat the Rattlers 2-1 Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Wisconsin had nine hits, but could only push across a first inning run and saw their brief two game winning streak ended by the team with the best record in the Midwest League. Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Scooter Gennett singled to start the bottom of the first inning for Wisconsin. He moved to second on a grounder. Sthervin Matos knocked in Gennett with a two-out single and the Rattlers (8-14) were up 1-0. Mott Hyde reached on an error by Gennett to start the top of the fourth inning. A missed opportunity on a force play at second for what would have been the second out of the inning, allowed the River Bandits (16-6) to have runners at first and third with one away. Wisconsin starting pitcher Victor Diaz walked the next batter to load the bases. Diaz walked Jason Martin to force in the tying run. Reliever Tyler Linehan took over for Diaz and got out of the inning with a strikeout and a force out at third base. The Rattlers had an opportunity to retake the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Elvis Rubio started the inning with a single and Carlos Leal followed with a single to right to put runners on the corners. But, a safety squeeze attempt by Luis Aviles went awry with a bunt right back to the mound and River Bandits starter Chris Lee had plenty of time to flip the ball to the plate to retire Rubio at the plate. Lee would get the final out of the fourth and pitch around an error and a two-out hit batsman in the bottom of the fifth to keep the game tied 1-1. Alex Hernandez started the top of the sixth inning with a single. He stole second with one out and took third on a throwing error on the play. Martin put the River Bandits in front with an RBI single. Wisconsin had more opportunities after falling behind by a run. Rubio singled to start the bottom of the sixth inning against Keegan Yuhl, but was picked off first before Leal walked. In the eighth, Tucker Neuhaus doubled against Yuhl with one out and Leal drew another walk with two outs against reliever Ryan Thompson. But, Thompson struck out pinch-hitter David Denson to maintain the 2-1 lead. David Denson did not strike out, in fact he grounded out sharply to 3rd to end the inning. - TC07 Mitch Meyer extended his current hitting streak to four games with a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth. Thompson struck out the next three batters to close out the Rattlers. Gennett was 1-for-3, stole a base, and scored a run in the game for the Rattlers. He is scheduled to start at second again on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday for the Timber Rattlers on this homestand. Game two of the series is Saturday afternoon. Zach Hirsch (1-2, 3.24) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Quad Cities has Kevin Comer (2-0, 4.26) as their scheduled starter. Game time is 1:05pm. Festival Foods Saturday is Superhero Day at the ballpark. Marvel's Thor and Iron Man will be at the ballpark to meet young crime fighters and pose for pictures. If you can't make it out to the stadium, there are many ways to catch the action. MyNEW 32's Sports Showdown will televise the game beginning at 1:00pm. The radio broadcast on AM1280, WNAM starts at 12:45pm and may also be heard on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. Subscribers may watch the game on MiLB.tv. WP: Chris Lee (1-2) LP: Cy Sneed (1-2) SAVE: Ryan Thompson (1) TIME: 3:10 ATTN: 3,456 Wisconsin Boxscore I admit I don't understand the fascination fans have with watching MLB players on rehab assignments... every minor league team markets the rehab assignments like they are 2nd coming of Christ, and the TV crew literally talked about Scooter the entire game. I already know what MLB players can do and expect them to do well against subpar competition, and if I wanted to see big leaguers I'd just go down to Miller Park. I've just never got it, not since I first started following the minors all those years ago. Regardless Scooter Gennett was not sharp, offensively he made good contact but his single was a fortuitous skip under the 2B's glove. He made some errors in the field and on his "steal" he brought the big league team's poor base running skills with him to Grand Chute and was actually picked off. In fact he initially lolly gagged towards 2nd and then somehow the opposing player missed him with the tag on his slide. They replayed it 3 times and it was hard to believe he was safe even having seen it for the third time. Sthervin Matos made a fantastic play coming down the line on a slow roller, the more I watch the more he's looking like he could be a plus defender, he has all the tools. I would have never guessed this outcome after how tentative he appeared last year. Monte Harrison is just completely lost right now, he's constantly guessing and he's pulling his front shoulder open so excessively he's swinging through very good hitter's pitches in every single AB. The 9th inning was particularly frustrating as every hitter let the best pitch of the AB go bye without even offering. The pitchers walked more batters than they struck out (8-7) and the Rattlers basically gave this one away with walks and poor defense. Tyler Linehan was the exception, he was sharp for the duration on the mound. Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Bottom of the 9th Mitch Meyer singles on a ground ball to left fielder Jason Martin. Gregory Munoz called out on strikes. Monte Harrison strikes out swinging. Dustin DeMuth called out on strikes.

MLB Draft Pack: April 30 DAVID RAWNSLEY JHEREMY BROWN

PG College/Draft Chat: April 28 DAVID RAWNSLEY JHEREMY BROWN

Hooray for being a rampant organizational apologist across every forum on this board? Because what an aging player did last year is representative of what he'll do this year? Mark A. is that you? In Ramirez you're really going to defend a player who's over 35, has a horrible negative 3 year trend offensively, has no range in the field anymore, hasn't been able to stay healthy, and is going to retire after the season? Garza isn't terrible, but he's not exactly going to be bring back an impact prospect either, he's pretty much a #3 right now. Lohse never had stuff, his FB pretty much sits below 90, and he's also 36 years old and is getting hit hard. He could be a #3 for someone or this could be the beginning of the end. What are you going to bet on? All 3 of these guys would be traded at their lowest possible value, consider me underwhelmed as well.

What about another trade with TX for Nomar Mazara, Nick Williams, and Luis Ortiz? None of those guys are "sure" things, but all carry legitimate upside. Obviously the guy I'd really want to take a shot at is Joey Gallo but I don't know that he's a realistic target. Beyond Gallo being the premier power hitter still left in the minor leagues TX is off to a Breweresque start which in the past has suggested Daniels will sell, but one could make an argument for a Lucroy acquisition being key for 2016.

Just a note that Grant Holmes would have to be a PTBNL unless the trade took place after his signing date last summer. A player needs to be a 1 year past their signing date to be included in a trade. As an aside for those don't read the draft or minor league forums Grant Holmes was of my targets at #12 last year so I would be ecstatic to get him. I liked him as a future #2 on draft day and he didn't disappoint in his debut.

So I finally got around to watching the first episode Timber Rattlers Field Pass last night, I believe Chris said it was filmed on media day. It was entirely a rehash of observations and interviews that have already been posted on this forum already but I'll quickly summarize Erickson's comments regarding the young players again in case these thoughts got bye other posters in the various threads. Gatewood- Grew another 1.5 inches since the draft and added 30 lbs over the winter, he's still learning to play in his new body. Harrison- Far and away the best athlete the Brewers have drafted since Matt has been with the organization. Medeiros- Doesn't have much control yet, hopefully will develop over time, the current plan is to set the catcher behind home plate and just let his fantastic movement get hitters out. Denson- His eye is almost too good, he takes pitches too close and ends up behind in the count. (These are pitches that would probably be balls at MLB, but not in A ball -TC07) The idea is get David ahead in the count and then get to hacking. Leal- Was Matt's surprise player that no one is talking about, said he was impressive behind the dish and at the plate with the bat during the spring. Matt also mentioned he expected players like Victor Diaz and Denson to take a leadership role in the clubhouse as they know what to expect now. I turned on tonight's game just in time to catch Erickson's pre-game interview with the TV crew and he talked mostly about the team's strike out issue and trying to put more pressure on the opposing defense. edit. Forgot about Leal.

My only thought about this game as I was following along on Gameday was how envious I am of the Cubs' position, they are essentially where we were in 2006 except they can afford to buy impact pitching in FA. For all the talk about prospects failing around here over the years that's as talented a young line-up as we'll see in the division, and that's without Schwarber who's tearing up AA as was expected. It bothers me that I'm jealous of the Cubs given how much I despise their entire fan culture and "lovable loser" garbage. Swap out Fowler for one of Baez or Alcántara, and Schwarber for Coghlan or Ross and that's as an impressive line-up you'll find in baseball from a raw talent perspective.

Mehring always has you covered with the Media Notes.

Hence the quote: Because the system is stupid, there are too many players with too many variables in play, and too few people to do the work. Simple solutions off the top of my head.... HS kids want to get drafted? Fine, declare for the draft by a certain date. College juniors want to get drafted? Fine, declare for the draft by a certain date. Force all players to have a MLB physical completed prior to the draft or prior to any contract negotiations. There are any # of incredibly easy things that could be done to tighten up draft process, just because the draft has been conducted this way for years doesn't mean the process is sound, rather it's carried out in a haphazard and illogical manner, which was the entire premise of the post you quoted. If fact just about every means of acquiring talent related to baseball could be easily improved, the draft isn't alone in that regard. Much of the way MLB conducts itself on this side of the business is completely antiquated including the MiLB system itself.

Tough question. I don't know that you can pigeon hole it in one particular way or another, it's really something that has to be taken case by case. For example when Arcia was in WI people raved about his low K rate and used that evidence of advanced plate discipline. In the truth the opposite was actually true, Orlando had bad discipline but had the hand-eye coordination to put balls in play that the majority of other hitter's just swing through. As such the many weak ground balls on half swings completely suppressed his batting average even though he had some of best hand-eye coordination I've seen, He's ascended as he's actually learned to swing at better pitches on a more consistent basis and just let his talent play. If you want to know what each hitter's particular current weakness is I can help with that, but there's not any 1 issue that's consistent across of the hitters. Obviously the high strike out rates aren't good but if I didn't think somewhat simple adjustments could make a significant impact I'd be much more concerned.

Wisconsin wins 3-1 in Clinton to take series By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers won their second game in a row with a 3-1 defeat of the Clinton LumberKings Thursday afternoon at Ashford University Field. Wisconsin manufactured a couple of early runs and a trio of pitchers kept the LumberKings in check. The Rattlers (8-13) went up 2-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. David Denson drew a leadoff walk and Greg McCall singled. Mitch Meyer dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position. Gregory Munoz drove in Denson - and moved McCall to third base - with a ground out to second. Monte Harrison made it 2-0 with a two-out RBI single. The LumberKings (8-13) threatened in the bottom of the third inning as they loaded the bases with no outs. But, Rattlers starting pitcher Angel Ventura escaped the inning without allowing a run by getting a pair of foul pops and a strikeout to end the frame. Sthervin Matos and Tucker Neuhaus started Wisconsin's fourth inning with consecutive singles. The duo pulled a double steal and Matos scored when the throw to third sailed into left field. Ventura left after four innings and Josh Uhen pitched a 1-2-3 fifth before Orlando Torrez entered for the bottom of the sixth with the Rattlers up 3-0. Torrez proceeded to retire the first ten batters he faced in the game. The first Clinton hit off Torrez was a one-out double by Estarlyn Morales in the ninth inning. Morales took third on defensive indifference just before Chantz Mack drew a walk. Daniel Torres grounded into a force play at second that scored Morales from third to break up the shutout bid. Kristian Brito was next and he lined a double into the corner in left to put the tying runs in scoring position. Torrez ended the game by getting Chris Mariscal to pop out to second. Uhen, the Oshkosh native, picked up his first Midwest League win with his perfect fifth inning. Torrez earned his first Midwest League save with his four innings of work in the game. Wisconsin took two of three games in the series at Clinton. The Rattlers have won five of their last six games. The Timber Rattlers return home to start a six-game homestand on Friday night. Wisconsin will host the Quad Cities River Bandits Friday night at 6:35pm. The Rattlers have named Victor Diaz (0-1, 2.35) as their starting pitcher. The River Bandits will have Chris Lee (0-2, 5.74) as their starting pitcher. Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Scooter Gennett, who played for Wisconsin in 2010, will play game one of his four game rehabilitation assignment for the Rattlers on Friday. To order tickets for any of the four game, use this link, call (920) 733-4152 or (800) WI-TIMBER, or stop at the Timber Rattlers Ticket Office at Neuroscience Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Also on Friday night, North Shore Bank and the Timber Rattlers are teaming up to giveaway an adorable Webkinz cow for the first 500 kids who are 12 & under to attend this game. There will also be great fun for everyone in the family on a North Shore Bank Family Night. Children 14 and under may participate in Kids Run the Bases thanks to Molina Healthcare after the game. If you can't make it out to the game, there are several ways to follow the action. MyNEW 32's Sports Showdown will televise the game beginning at 6:30pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. The broadcast is also available on the internet through TuneIn Radio and IHeartRadio and MiLB.TV. WP: Josh Uhen (1-1) LP: Jeffeson Medina (0-2) SAVE: Orlando Torrez (1) TIME: 2:47 ATTN: NA Wisconsin Boxscore Well the Jake Gatewood injury stinks but what a nice stretch of games for the young T-Rats. Wisconsin Recap

Rattlers break out the offense in 10-2 win over Clinton Neuhaus has three hits & three RBI in return to lineup By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had their highest offensive output of the season on Wednesday afternoon at Ashford University Field and beat the Clinton LumberKings 10-2. Tucker Neuhaus celebrated his return from the disabled list with three hits, including a home run, and three RBI to pace the offense. Wisconsin (7-13) had Gregory Munoz and Monte Harrison draw walks to start the game and the first of five Clinton errors loaded the bases with no outs. Clinton starter Lukas Schiraldi got a strikeout for the first out of the inning. Then, things got weird. Neuhaus sent a grounder to second baseman Francisco Wawoe, who stepped on second to force Dustin DeMuth. The throw to first was wild and both Munoz and Harrison scored. Neuhaus reached second base as DeMuth was jogging to third. The umpires ruled the runs as crossing the plate, but Neuhaus was out due to DeMuth trying to confuse the defense (Rule 7.09 (e)). That's how the inning ended. The Rattlers added to their lead thanks to another error in the third inning. What would have been the third out of the inning, turned out to be a bad throw and Mitch Meyer scored from third on the play. Clinton (7-13) cut into the lead in the bottom of the third when Wawoe scored from third on a wild pitch by Wisconsin starter Milton Gomez. But, that was the only run Gomez would allow. He went five innings and struck out five while allowing just three hits. The Rattlers scored three times in the top of the fourth inning to take control of the game. Neuhaus was on third and scored when Schiraldi balked. Later in the inning, the bases were loaded with one out when the LumberKings misplayed another potential inning-ending double play with a bad throw to first and two runs scored for a 6-1 lead. Greg McCall came through with a conventional RBI single in the fifth inning to make it 7-1. In the sixth, DeMuth's RBI double with two outs scored Harrison from first base and the Rattlers were up 8-1. Clinton scored their second run of the game in the sixth inning against reliever Luis Ortega on an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of Martin Peguero. Neuhaus closed out the scoring with a two-run home run in the top of the ninth. The Rattlers previous high for runs in a game this season was five. Game three of the series is another afternoon game. Wisconsin has named Angel Ventura (1-0, 0.75) as their starting pitcher. Jefferson Medina (0-1, 4.50) is set to go for the LumberKings. Game time on Wednesday afternoon is noon. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 11:40am. The broadcast is also available on the internet through Tune In Radio. Wisconsin Boxscore Well this would have been a fun one to listen to... LAME WORK! There isn't much I can add since I missed out on the audio and the 2 game stories covered everything else. I guess there is something now that I've thought on it a bit, today's performance was the Tucker Neuhaus I had hoped the Brewers drafted. Hopefully this is a sign of better things to come. David Denson got a much needed breather today. Wisconsin Recap

LumberKings stop Rattlers winning streak By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/3/6/121164336/cuts/4_Apr28_ElvisRubio_9kc9b2a8_37mh8qub.jpg Elvis Rubio had two hits and scored a run in Wisconsin's 7-2 loss at Clinton on Tuesday night. CLINTON, IA - The Clinton LumberKings defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 7-2 Tuesday night at Ashford University Field. Arby Field homered and drove in three runs as the loss ended Wisconsin's longest winning streak of the season. Wisconsin (6-13) grabbed the lead in the first inning. Monte Harrison's hard grounder to short skipped into short center and he hustled into second base for a double. Then, Brandon Diaz bunted out in front of the plate and the throw to first was wild. Harrison raced home with the run and the Rattlers were up 1-0. Diaz was at second with one out in the first and dove back into the bag to beat a pickoff throw. He appeared to jam his right hand into the base and had to leave the game for pinch runner Mitch Meyer. Clinton (8-11) took the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Joe DeCarlo started the inning with a double and took third on a single by Wayne Taylor. Daniel Torres drove in DeCarlo with a single to tie the game. Kristian Brito was next and his liner to third was dropped by Sthervin Matos. The runners on base had frozen where they were, but Matos rushed a throw to second and the ball sailed into right field to let Clinton load the bases. Arby Fields drew a bases loaded walk to force in Taylor with the go ahead run. Gianfranco Wawoe swung at the next pitch and hit a sacrifice fly to left that made it 3-1. Fields struck again in the bottom of the fourth inning when he hit an 0-2 pitch from Wisconsin starting pitcher David Burkhalter for a two-run home run to right and the LumberKings were up 5-1. Clinton starting pitcher Pat Peterson struck out ten Rattlers and allowed two hits over five innings before giving way to the LumberKing bullpen. The Rattlers got to reliever Troy Scott for a run on the top of the seventh. Elvis Rubio, who had two hits in the game, singled with one out and went to third on an errant pickoff throw. Carlos Leal drove in Rubio with a groundout to make it 5-2. Wisconsin reliever Gian Rizzo pitched an 1-1/3 of scoreless relief and struck out three LumberKings before turning the game over to Kodi Medeiros to start the sixth. Medeiros pitched an uneventful sixth, but loaded the bases with one out in the seventh on a single, a walk, and a hit batsman. Medeiros got the second out on a strikeout, but allowed a two-run single to Estarlyn Morales that gave Clinton a 7-2 lead. The loss ended Wisconsin's three game winning streak. The win ended Clinton's three-game losing streak. Game two of the series is Wednesday afternoon. Milton Gomez (0-1, 12.27) is the scheduled pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Clinton will counter with Lukas Schiraldi (1-1, 5.27). Game time is noon. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 11:40am. Wednesday's game is also available on the internet through TuneIn Radio. HOME RUN: CLN: Arby Fields (1st, 1 on in 4th inning off David Burkhalter, 1 out) WP: Pat Peterson (3-1) LP: David Burkhalter (0-2) Wisconsin Boxscore Positives... well as mentioned in the game story Elvis Rubio had a nice night at the plate and Gian Rizzo struck out 3 of the 4 batters he faced. Arby Fields, the #9 batter who was walked with the bases loaded and then hit a HR (on an 0-2 pitch as mentioned above) had exactly 2 hits on the year coming into today's game. David Burkhalter just doesn't have much consistency in his game yet. I was thinking as yet another starting pitcher racked up an enormous amount of strike outs what the Midwest League record is for SOs in a season? I went searching and found out it was the 2004 Dayton Dragons with 1381 which featured none other than Joey Votto. The team finished 48-92 so their 1381 strike outs over 140 games is a rate of 9.864 strike outs per game. In Wisconsin's 19 games they have 209 strike outs, a rate of 10.842 per game, 140 games at the current pace would be 1,518 strike outs, obliterating the record. Wisconsin Recap

National college notes: April 28 JHEREMY BROWN, PATRICK EBERT, ANDREW KRAUSE

PG College/Draft Chat: April 28 DAVID RAWNSLEY JHEREMY BROWN

College Draft Prospects Stat Roundup: Week 11 April 28, 2015 by Hudson Belinsky

Lack Of Consensus Defines The 2015 Draft Class April 24, 2015 by John Manuel

Subscriber content featuring Cole Sands who's brother Carson was drafted by the Cubs last year. Sands Blazes His Own Path, But Hopes To Match His Brother’s Draft Success April 28, 2015 by Teddy Cahill

I've been a tad forgetful lately so I'm going to mention this here, Brandon Diaz just left the game injuring his wrist or arm sliding back into the bag.

Corey Seager... the prospect I wanted as a PTBNL in a possible Ramirez dump to the Dodgers after that great first year in Milwaukee. He had to be a PTBNL because when we were discussing it weren't past his signing date yet. 2 years later the kid has become an absolute stud, is the #5 prospect in baseball now, and we're going to pull him with Wily Peralta? There's no way... You have to target those players with great upside before they've established a name as a great prospect in AA. I've said for a long time that Peralta is a #3 because he doesn't have the command/control nor the 3rd pitch necessary to be a front line starter... people see him throw 97-98 and think that means he has the potential to be a #1, but there's more to pitching that pure velocity. I don't know if the Brewers have a player that could pull that kind of talent 1 for 1... maybe Gomez or Lucroy depending on a bidding war, but Wily Peralta certainly isn't going to get it done. If we're talking about getting players with legitimate impact talent then we have to look at the lower levels of the minors because we don't have the horses to pull one of the best prospects in baseball. It takes the right team, with the need, a high level of demand, and perfect timing to pull off a deal like that and as sellers the Brewers have never been that aggressive. It doesn't it mean it can't be done, Tampa routinely pulled off model MLB for prospect deals under AF, but there is maybe 1 or 2 of those deals out there in a given year and if you aren't aggressive then you miss the opportunity.... and no, there's nothing aggressive about targeting pitchers who have won a CY award, there's no immediate risk in acquiring that kind of player and even years later people will dismiss any downside with the standard, "at least they went for it" mantra. I want the Brewers to be unique, to be out in front of the curve but there simply isn't the management in place to do so. They do things they way they've always been done and only move to a strategy once it's been proven by another team, which means that we as fans literally have no chance of rooting for a dynasty because the team has neither the resources to buy impact assets or the vision to reposition those assets in a manner which will create a sustained culture of winning and a high level of success. I truly believe that 2011 is the best this franchise can do operating the way it has, I've been posting about these issues for a very long time, and I'm passionate about my opinions on organization building. I'm not a fatalist, I just saw this outcome coming a long time ago because we lacked young impact pitching and still do, that's the only sustainable currency in baseball... young pitching talent. Pitching talent is the true power, and we don't have it, which is why we've always been destined to be nothing more than blips on the radar, that's why I was so negative about Marcum, Sabathia, and Greinke... I'm all for trading prospects, I believe the Brewers need to aggressively move their pieces around the board, however I'm not into the limited value we got from those moves. We've set the bar way too low as a fan base, the end goal shouldn't be the playoffs, the end goal should be a Championship, and everything literally has to go perfectly for a organization to win a title in a 2 year or smaller window. In truth, everything went about as perfect as we could have hoped in 2011 and it still didn't happen. Not to mention we got a little more than 1 full year of Greinke and gave away 24 years of team control to acquire him, and of course took on his salary on top of that talent cost. Was 4 months of Sabathia worth 6 years of Brantley? Leave the playoff appearances aside, I'm talking about the ultimate talent pool of an organization, unfortunately people get so caught up debating the merits of individual player vs player comparisons that they've missed the much larger picture. The Brewers model never was and never will be sustainable, the euphoria of making the playoffs doesn't change that fact. Every positive has a negative and for too long the Brewers and many fans have ignored those costs, pretending that they didn't exist, yet here we are.

Roache didn't hit well enough to earn a promotion, it's that simple. I'm glad he's hitting well now but as I said I'm not convinced that a couple of weeks means he's truly ready for AA.