TheCrew07

Pirates catching prospect Diaz showing defensive skills in AFL MLB.com Columnist Bernie Pleskoff

A lot of catching up to do today, I've haven't been linking anything... Top Cubs pitching prospect Edwards impressing in Arizona MLB.com Columnist Bernie Pleskoff

Hard-throwing Glasnow has bright future MLB.com Columnist Bernie Pleskoff

Subscriber Content... and of course Tom doing what Tom does writing about something other than prospects for BA. I guess at least he's writing what he knows about but nothing new in this piece for avid MiLB followers. Bittersweet Return For Montgomery November 30, 2014 by Tom Haudricourt

Subscriber Content Nothing Lost In Translation For Iglesias November 29, 2014 by C. Trent Rosecrans

Subscriber Content Glasnow Graded On A Curve November 30, 2014 by John Perrotto

Subscriber content Edwards Could Influence Cubs’ Offseason Plans December 1, 2014 by Gordon Wittenmeyer

Subscriber Content Cardinals’ Wilson Asking For Time December 2, 2014 by Derrick Goold

Age relative to level is a big deal, and I don't think there's much comparison stuff wise. Wagner has better control today but Glasnow has far and away the higher ceiling. Glasnow's "easy FB" sits 93-95 and he's hit 99, I like Wagner quite a bit but he's not at that same level prospect wise.

Everyone should stick around for a little... That was a Crazy Game of Poker... I've always been down with O.A.R.

I would go on at length about your post as I've done in the past, but I really have grown incredibly weary of this debate. The Brewers as a business have finite resources, Mark A's wealth is irrelevant. The continual hardline statements like "I just refuse to believe..." suggest that you really aren't interested in a reasoned debate of the facts, but instead rather simply pushing your opinion as fact.

Cravy could step into a MLB bullpen right away, I would agree that's he replaceable talent, but that's not the kind of talent we can afford to just be giving away because he doesn't scream "impact potential". I'd much rather trade the player than watch them walk for meaningless sum of money in the modern game.

I'm not digging the possibility of losing Goforth and a personal favorite of mine in Cravy at all.

2015 High School Top 100 With Commitments November 19, 2014 by Staff Report

Just curious, why not? Residue on the bulb will super heat and implode it.

Every make/model of car is a bit different but if you search on youtube you can usually find an exact video for your car make/model for simple things like swapping out headlights.

I don't think it's all that surprising if you watched him pitch... his control was poor for a MLB pitcher which is why he was behind in the count and getting shelled on occasion, but his stuff was plenty good enough for A ball, as evidenced by his successful "rehab" stint between WI and BC this year. There have been posters who've been pretty dismissive about how much the strike zone tightens as players move up but it's a big deal as hitters swing at less junk out of the zone. I'd like him to start in A+ and get a real solid half a season in before bumping up, but I'd be fine with AA as well if he holds his own. He's already behind the curve because of his origin, TJ surgery, and then being a rule 5 pick, so I can see where the organization would want to push him, but I'd hope they'd be less aggressive considering he's never pitched a full season in his affiliated career.

Peralta has neither the command/control nor a plus 3rd pitch at this time, he's a long ways away right now. He could be a late bloomer but just because a guy throws hard doesn't mean he has the potential to be an ace, those guys are pretty special. He looks like a pretty safe bet to be a #2 for his career but he'll already be 26 next year, it's not like he's a 22 year old phenom with plenty of time to figure it out.

I don't know that you need a true Ace, I would like 3 #2 type pitchers in our rotation. We don't have to match pitch for pitch if we can pickup ground in the bullpen or elsewhere. We just need legitimate talent in both the rotation and at the back of the bullpen so we somewhat match-up with teams that do have a true ace. There aren't many of those guys in baseball, and they have to be pitching like a true ace at the time for it to matter as well. Playoff baseball is all about match-ups and for example I don't think Greinke is a good match-up against more patient hitting teams since he works out of the zone looking to get hitters to chase. We need to be legitimately talented, but we also need the match-ups to work out in our favor so our strengths match-up well against their weaknesses. If your bullpen is *that* good, like with KC this year or STL a couple of years ago, that changes the dynamic and allows for much more aggressive pitching moves... you can pull a struggling starter right away before things get out of hand because you know there are off days coming in the near future. I don't think there's necessarily just one road to go down but I do think that you aren't going to be able to do it with a rotation of averagish pitchers whom have similar stuff. Those soft tossers are best used between pitchers with legit gas... for example in this last season rolling Peralta, Lohse, Garza gives the hitters 3 distinct looks where as rolling Lohse, Gallardo, and Estrada would have been basically the same approach 3 times in a row. The same goes for relievers... we really can't trot the same type of pitchers out there continually and hope to shut a line-up down for an extended period of time. I prefer bullpen guys with a big arm and 1 nasty plus pitch but I think if you sequence in those control pitchers at the proper time it can still work out wonderfully.

There's simply no way you watched him catch on any kind of regular basis, he spent half the time on his knees trying to get a low target (which isn't uncommon for bigger catchers, but there aren't many around) and had trouble with balls in the dirt regardless (which was uncommon) so I believe Colby's assessment was pretty much dead on. Clint was an awful catcher, even for A ball he was far below average, and while he had a break out year with the bat if there was any chance he could stick behind the plate I believe the Brewers would have kept him there. I like Coulter very much and I'm unable to decide whom I like the best out of Taylor, Arcia, and Coulter, but that doesn't mean a position switch for Clint wasn't long overdue.

Season thread archived here. As the article highlights Vogelbach's below average defense I figured I'd drop a tidbit that I believe our own David Denson has to the potential to be average at 1B. He started very poorly but made noticeable strides during the season on scoops and was generally much better around the bag by season's end even though he missed significant time with that broken bone. He's more athletic than you would think from first glance. Cubs Get Calls To Pry Away Vogelbach November 2, 2014 by Gordon Wittenmyer

The danger here is assuming that everything else will stay consistent from last year, which is basically how MA and DM manage the roster. 1B sucks so they go out and get 1B who hits RHP well but meanwhile a different leak springs someplace else... it's a never ending cycle. They patch the bullpen and the starting pitching sucks, they patch the starting pitching and the bullpen sucks, the defense sucks so they target better defenders and then the offense sucks... around and around we go. The simple truth is that this team has never been 1 or 2 players away, not ever with the current Front Office staff or Ownership. Lind is a huge upgrade from Overbay from a power perspective, but somehow oldy Overbay was fairly clutch notching 35 RBI in only 258 ABs. I'm not championing RBIs but I am pointing out much like when the team won the majority of Braden Looper's starts that replacing a bad player who experiences some good fortune and/or over performed with someone better doesn't necessarily equate to more wins the following season. On paper there's no doubt who the better player is, but the ultimate result on the field may not be what people expect. I liked Lind as a prospect way back in the day, but he's another 1 year patch, maybe 2 who's the wrong side of 30. I do understand the thinking, it's a RHP heavy division, he mashes RHP, I get all that... but he's also facing the downside of his career and is a liability with the glove which will hurt his total net value. Do I think a move like this vaults us past the Cards and Pirates (assuming Kingham and Taillon end up pitching for them next year)? No I don't, I think too many posters are being dismissive of what's happening in Chicago as well because they have so many prospects. Well the Brewers once had this awesome wave of prospects and after next year Braun and Lucroy will be the only ones left. Yes prospects fail, but they also succeed, and we hit HRs with Fielder, Braun, Hardy, Hart, Weeks, Gallardo, Escobar, Cain, Odorizzi, and Lucroy. We had a massive flame out of our own in Manny Parra, and I'm sure one of the Cubs' prospects will flame out as badly, but the difference is that they have 4 players to cover SS and 2B, 3 for 3B, 2 for CF, and 3 for the corner OF... many of those guys have positional flexibility and can play more than one position. All they need to do long term to contend is to add MLB quality pitching and it just so happens they have an avalanche of money to do so in FA over the next 2 seasons. Our best hope is that they sign the wrong guys and stumble along with mediocre pitching for a while, but I don't think that's a realistic possibility with their front office staff.

Glasnow captures Starting Pitcher MiLBY Top Pirates prospect puts polish on raw profile in another big year By Sam Dykstra / MiLB.com

Bryant's big season earns offensive MiLBY Top Cubs prospect led baseball in homers, batted .325, stole 15 bags By Josh Jackson / MiLB.com

Is that supposed to be a joke? After the all-star break in 2010 Macha sat Escobar every time he went 1-10 in a series claiming he was trying to hit HRs... he of 21 HRs in 2974 ABs. I wish Alcides would have filled out his frame more as he had double digit HR potential at his peak but those guys who go play winter ball aren't going to do that. Escobar only got a chance in 2009 because Melvin basically stole an extra year of Hardy's service time, that had less to do with Alcides than it did Hardy as Macha had no alternative but to play him. Macha was the worst offender of the bunch which is why the organization latched onto McGehee at 3B over Gamel. Yea I know Mat blew out his knee 3 times so hasn't amounted to much but that doesn't mean his career path had to go the way it did. Sitting a top prospect on the bench, something he's never done, while adjusting to MLB pitching was a terrible way to introduce him to Major League baseball. Macha was the one manager that I truly despised.