TheCrew07

Reds' current signings as reported by BA. Linked to the feature article.

Cubs' current signings as reported by BA. Linked to the feature article. Yeiler Peguero, ss, Dominican Republic Tony Rijo, 3B, Dominican Republic Wander Cabreram, lhp, Dominican Republic

I'll get the stories up for the divisional signings later today or tomorrow.

I usually start with Newegg.com, here's a Lenovo. At work we've used Dell, Compaq/HP, and IBM/Lenovo laptops. My current Lenovo T410 has survived far more than it should have including being cartwheeled through a concrete parking lot via a 40 MPH wind gust when I was doing a wireless network survey.

Top 10 Fantasy Prospects: Free Jimmy Nelson

As has been posted repeatedly, the old percentage was 17% and it wasn't a June 1 date, the date moved from year to year. With the new percentage at 22% and Nelson already having service time his date is most likely pushed back to mid July. If he didn't have service time he could have been called up in the recent rash around baseball with prospects like Mookie Betts. edit. That percentage is service time among all players in the 2-3 year service window so the more players that are called up sooner, the quicker the date comes and vice versa. That's why the date isn't set, it's more of an educated guess based on what other teams have done/are doing with their prospects. Braun would have likely been pretty close to a super 2 if the Brewers didn't ink him to that original extension right away.

Bradenton's Kuhl cools off Fort Myers Pittsburgh righty shuts out top-scoring offense over seven innings

Johnson dominates in Smokies' return No. 7 Cubs prospect stronger than ever over 7 1/3 one-hit innings

Baseball America Prospect Report (July 3)

Bryant, Berrios named Pipeline Prospects of Month Cubs third baseman hits 11 homers; Twins lefty 4-1 with 1.54 ERA, 53 K's

Cedar Rapids fans Wisconsin 6-1 Kernels pitchers strikeout 14 Rattlers By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Cedar Rapids Kernels grabbed an early lead against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and their pitchers would not let it go on Wednesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Kernels topped Wisconsin 6-1. The Kernels (35-47 overall, 4-8 second half) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Zack Granite started the game with a double. Chad Christensen singled with one out to drive in Granite. The Kernels loaded the bases on a single by Bryan Haar and a two-out walk to Jason Kanzler. Then, Alex Swim lined a single to right to knock in Christensen and Haar. Cedar Rapids added to their lead in the top of the second. Granite scored from third on a wild pitch by Rattlers starting pitcher Barrett Astin. Swim struck again in the top of the fifth with a two-out single to drive in JD Williams from second base and the Kernels were up 5-0. Wisconsin (43-39, 7-6) got to Kernels starter Lewis Thorpe in the bottom of the fifth. Rafael Neda singled to start the inning. Thorpe struck out the next two batters, but gave up singles to Johnny Davis and Chris McFarland to load the bases. Thorpe was replaced one out shy of qualifying for the win. Chris Mazza took over to face Michael Ratterree. Ratterree sent a hard grounder to third that Haar made a nice play on after a tough hop. But, Haar dropped the ball making the transfer to throw to first and all hands were safe with Neda scoring. Clint Coulter was next and he sent a hard grounder to third, too. But, Haar fielded this ball cleanly and stepped on third to force McFarland for the final out. Cedar Rapids tacked on an unearned run against Astin in the top of the sixth. Tanner Vavra reached on an error. There were two errors on one play after a grounder off the bat of Ryan Walker that put Vavra on third base. Engleb Vielma slow chopper to short allowed Vavra to score the final run of the game. Four Cedar Rapids pitchers combined to strike out the Timber Rattlers 14 times and held the Rattlers to an unearned run on seven hits. Thorpe recorded eight strikeouts in 4-2/3 innings. Mazza had three in 1-1/3 innings. Alex Muren (2) and Hudson Boyd (1) finished off the Rattlers in the final three innings. The final game of the series is Thursday night. Tyler Alexander (4-3, 3.67) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Ryan Eades (5-7, 6.17) is set to start for the Kernels. Game time is 7:05pm. Thirsty Thursday presented by Arty's Old Fashioned and 95.9 KISS FM means 22-oz Pepsi products, 16-oz Miller products, or Arty's Old Fashioned drinks for just $2. Thursday is the final game of the Military Appreciation Series presented by American National Bank-Fox Cities. Take home one of the military-themed jerseys by submitting the winning bid in the silent auction that ends in the seventh inning of this game. But, enjoy the postgame fireworks first…just like the Founding Fathers would have wanted. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, you may follow the action several ways. The television broadcast will be on MYNEW 32's Sports Showdown starting at 7:00pm. The radio call is on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. The game will also be available to subscribers of MiLB.TV. WP: Chris Mazza (1-2) LP: Barrett Astin (5-4) TIME: 2:44 ATTN: 3,519 Wisconsin Boxscore I don't think I've seen Barrett Astin pitch well all season, he's had good games but never when I've been watching. His WP that allowed a run in the 2nd never appeared to hit the dirt until after Coulter got a glove on it, I thought that should have been a PB as it was a relatively decent pitch off the corner. I was multi-tasking doing my P90x so I didn't rewind and watch the pitch again. Clint Terry was very solid in relief. Paul Eshleman hasn't had a hit since June 15th though he hasn't gotten regular playing time since Cooper came back down to WI, regardless that's got to be tough. Michael Ratterree continues to watch FBs on the outside corner, he just doesn't like that pitch at all so he's going to have to adjust because that's where most A ball pitchers are going to try and work. Ratterree did make a very nice running over the shoulder catch late in the game. Johnny Davis (2-4,BB) and Rafeal Neda (2-4) had the multi-hit games for the T-Rats. This was perhaps the poorest defensive effort I've witnessed by the Rattlers all season. Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

? Coulter is 1 for his last 21 and still has an OPS north of .900, that's special regardless of position... and he's 20 years old in full season ball. What do people seriously expect?

Sounds Blank 'Birds, 5-0 Nashville's Pagnozzi Belts Two Homers; Nelson Picks Up 10th Win Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/0/6/82840306/cuts/MPS_1737_Large_na124duk_6skoolul.jpg NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds (46-41) extended their win streak to six games by shutting out the Memphis Redbirds, 5-0, Wednesday night at Greer Stadium, powered by Matt Pagnozzi's two-homer night and another quality start from Jimmy Nelson. Leading 2-0 in the 4th inning, Pagnozzi added to the Sounds' lead with a solo home run off the guitar scoreboard. The shot was the 31-year-old catcher's seventh of the season. Pagnozzi continued his attack on the scoreboard in the 6th inning with another dinger off the big guitar. The solo homer made it a 4-0 game for Nashville and marks Pagnozzi's fourth multi-homer game of his career. Guiding the Sounds from the mound was Pacific Coast League triple-crown candidate Jimmy Nelson (10-2), who served up 6 2/3 scoreless frames for Nashville to pick up his league-leading 10th win of the season. He limited the 'Birds to four hits on the night, twirling five strikeouts to bring his season total to a league-leading 110. Nelson's ERA drops from 1.66 to 1.56, which ties him with former Sound Brad Mills for best in the PCL. Nelson has now worked quality outings in 15 of his 16 PCL games this season. Nashville strung together three two-out knocks in the first inning to take an initial 2-0 lead on Memphis. Outfielder Jeremy Hermida drove a double to dead centerfield to score Jason Rogers 2-for-4, before being driven home himself on Sean Halton's RBI single. Hermida has reached base in each of his last 27 home games, marking the longest such streak among Pacific Coast League batters this season. Shortstop Hector Gomez connected for an RBI double in the 8th inning for the Sounds final run. Sounds relievers Alfredo Figaro and Jeremy Jeffress combined with Nelson for the team's PCL-leading eighth shutout victory. The win streak matches the Sounds' season-best, first winning six in a row from April 30 to May 4. The Sounds have recorded five runs or more in each of their last nine victories. The Sounds will look to sweep the Redbirds in Thursday's homestand finale at 7:05 p.m. RHP Taylor Jungmann (4-4, 5.14) will take the hill for Nashville opposite the Redbirds' LHP John Gast (1-3, 10.13). Broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5 The Game. Nashville Boxscore Woohoo just beat the Cards! Nashville pitching limited the Redbirds to just 4 hits, 1 for extra bases, Wong and Piscotty picked up a hit a piece. The only thing Jimmy Nelson hasn't done this season is hit, he's still 0 for the year, but the offense hasn't needed any kind of contribution from him and pounded out 12 hits tonight. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

It occurred to me while I was watching the T-Rats tonight that I complete forgot to mention Zach Quintana threw a very nice change on a couple of occasions last night, it was the sharpest secondary pitch he's had all year.

Where The Top 30 International Prospects Have Signed

Ask BA: Who Gets To Chicago First, Bryant or Baez? July 2, 2014 by J.J. Cooper

Team-by-Team International Signings Tracker

Rattlers take down Kernels 1-0 in twelve innings Neda singles home winning run, Quintana & Archer combine on 4-hit shutout By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/0/2/82689402/cuts/Halcomb_Safe_d8p8x9wk_ulbszanv.jpg Steve Halcomb scores the winning run for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the bottom of the twelfth inning on Tuesday night. (Ann Mollica/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) GRAND CHUTE, WI - Rafael Neda's RBI single in the bottom of the twelfth inning sent the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to a 1-0 victory over the Cedar Rapids Kernels Tuesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Wisconsin's pitching tandem of Zach Quintana and Tristan Archer combined to shutout the Kernels on four hits and combined for eleven strikeouts. Both starting pitchers were in fine form. Quintana struck out five and allowed two hits through six scoreless innings. Cedar Rapids starter Aaron Slegers gave up just two hits over five innings. Rain halted play after Quintana got JD Williams to fly out to right field to end the top of the sixth. The grounds crew put the tarp on the field in a steadily increasing downpour. The game restarted after a rain delay of one hour and nineteen minutes. The pitching performances did not drop off in quality after the restart. Brandon Bixler and Dallas Gallant each tossed two scoreless innings out of the Cedar Rapids bullpen. Archer didn't allow a hit through his first five innings of work. Wisconsin (43-38 overall, 7-5 second half) had the first real scoring opportunity of extra innings. Johnny Davis reached on a bunt single against Jared Wilson in the bottom of the eleventh. Chris McFarland sacrificed Davis to second. Michael Ratterree drew a walk on four pitches. But, Wilson escaped the inning by getting Clint Coulter and Taylor Brennan to fly out to right field. The Kernels (34-47, 3-8) had a good opportunity in the top of the twelfth inning against Archer. Bryan Haar singled, the first hit off Archer, to start the inning. Williams flew out to center after being unable to bunt Haar into scoring position. Jason Kanzler lined a ball off Archer's glove for an infield single to give the Kernels runners on first and second with one out. Jonathan Murphy lined the next pitch to Steve Halcomb at first base. Halcomb doubled Kanzler off first base for an unassisted double play to get the game to the bottom of the twelfth in a scoreless tie. Halcomb started the bottom of the twelfth by drawing a walk against Wilson, who was starting his third inning of relief. Omar Garcia fouled off a bunt attempt on the first pitch. He swung and fouled off a pitch on a hit-and-run. Then, he was asked to get down the bunt with two strikes and he did. The sacrifice moved Halcomb into scoring position. Neda, who had been hit by pitches twice, walked once, and singled in his four previous plate appearances, lined the first pitch of his at bat in the twelfth to left. Halcomb beat the throw from Murphy with a headfirst dive to avoid the tag and the Rattlers celebrated their fifth walkoff win of the season. The victory snapped a brief two game losing streak for the Timber Rattlers. Game two of the series is Wednesday night. Barrett Astin (5-3, 4.40) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Lewis Thorpe (1-1, 6.50) is set to start for the Kernels. Game time is 7:05pm. The Military Appreciation Series continues on a WIXX Bang for Your Buck Night. Boxkar will perform a concert outside the stadium before the game begins. Then, head inside to enjoy Cher-Make hotdogs, Pepsi products, and Miller beer for $1. Active, reserve, or retired members of all branches of the military will receive a free reserved bleacher seat ticket to any of the three games in the series with a valid military ID or verification of form DD-214 at the box office. Friends and family members of the military member may purchase a reserved bleacher seat at a discounted price of $7.00 per ticket. Timber Rattlers players and coaches will wear military-themed jerseys and hats during all games in this set with the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Hats and jerseys will be available in a silent auction that ends in the seventh inning of the game on July 3. Fans may phone in bids for the jerseys on July 2 and July 3 from 9:00am to 2:00pm by calling (800) WI-TIMBER or (920) 733-4152. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Fox Valley Veterans Council Emergency Fund. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, there are many ways to catch the action. The television broadcast will be available on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel starting at 7:00pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. The game is also available to MiLB.TV subscribers. WP: Tristan Archer (3-3) LP: Jared Wilson (2-2) TIME: 3:24 (1:19 delay) ATTN: 2,849 Wisconsin Boxscore Well I've watched Zach Quintana pitch now 4 or 5 times and this by far the best he's looked. He was around the plate for most of the night. He did have some curious lapses like his 2 base throwing error on a pickoff attempt and he when hit the batter. The batter was left handed, Neda set up off the outside corner, and somehow Quintana missed all the way back across the plate by a good 3.5 feet and hit the batter in the back. Other than those 2 seriously inaccurate throws, he was outstanding. Tristan Archer was even better, how awesome is it to go 12 innings with a rain delay and get 6 innings out of each pitcher? Tonight was the tandem system at it's finest. This was the 4th time already that Aaron Slegers has faced the T-Rats and no one squared him up. He's a big dude, by the TV broadcast I would have guessed at least 6' 6" but he's actually 6' 10". He worked the T-Rat hitters well. Rafael Neda (2-2,BB, 2 HBP) was the hero and had a perfect day at the plate as well. Clint Coulter only has 1 hit on the homestand, the monster HR which TLB discussed in the LR over the weekend. I want to say he's 1-17 but regardless he didn't square up any balls tonight. Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

Sounds Pluck Redbirds 8-5 Nashville Rides Seven-Run Sixth To Victory; Schafer knocks season-high four hits Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/7/8/82650978/cuts/Logan_Schafer_627_Large_f8i7bkmz_1ywidow6.jpg NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The first-place Nashville Sounds (45-41) used a seven-run explosion in the bottom of the sixth to pick up an 8-5 win over the Memphis Redbirds (38-45) at Greer Stadium on Tuesday night, extending their win streak to five games. Nashville trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth when Jeremy Hermida jump started the Sounds' rally with a one-out solo home run. Hermida finished the game going 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. He has now reached base in 26 consecutive home games, the longest streak by any player in the PCL this season. Following Hermida, seven straight Sounds batters reached base safely. Shawn Zarraga tied the game with an RBI single that scored Sean Halton. Hector Gomez then followed with an RBI double that gave the Sounds their first lead of the night at 4-3. The big blow of the night then came off the bat of Pete Orr, who then knocked a two-run, pinch-hit triple. Orr is now hitting .362 with hits in 18 of his last 22 games. Nashville added to the lead with a Logan Schafer RBI double and an Eugenio Velez run-scoring single. The seven-run inning tied the Sounds' season high for runs in one inning. The outburst came after rehabbing Cardinals starter Joe Kelly kept the Sounds offense quiet throughout the first half of the game. Kelly finished his rehab outing with four scoreless innings while allowing three hits and two walks. Sounds starter Ariel Pena also shut the Redbirds out for the first four innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth when he allowed a three-run home run to rehabbing Cardinals infielder Kolten Wong that gave Memphis a 3-0 advantage. Pena finished the game allowing three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings on four hits and four walks while striking out eight. Reliever Alfredo Figaro (3-1) earned the win, tossing one pitch to end the sixth inning on a fielder's choice. Nashville got on the board for the first time in the bottom of the fifth when Schafer singled home Gomez. Schafer finished the game with a season-high four hits in five at-bats. Despite being interrupted by a brief 25-minute rain delay, Sounds reliever Brent Leach provided two innings of scoreless relief in the top of the seventh and eighth. The Redbirds added two more runs in the ninth on a two-run homer from Randal Grichuck, but Sounds reliever Arcenio Leon got the final out shortly after. The Sounds will continue their series with the Redbirds on Wednesday when RHP Jimmy Nelson (9-2, 1.66 ERA) takes to the hill opposite Memphis LHP Tyler Lyons (2-0, 5.22 ERA). Jeff Hem will have the call on 102.5 The Game. Nashville Boxscore Beat the Cards! There are some really nice parts of Ariel Pena's line tonight such as his 8 strike outs, but then you see the 4 walks, 4 hits, and 3 earned runs in just 5.2 innings. Pena needed 103 pitches just to get that far, throwing 63 for strikes... and he added a WP for good measure. Arcenio Leon is struggling to get his feet under him in AAA, I would have rather Goforth got bumped up instead but I suppose Arcenio is 27 years old and it's time to see if he can sink or swim at AAA. Shawn Zarraga (2-4, 2B) just keeps hitting, even though he's been in the system for what seems like 10 years already he's age appropriate for AAA. I sure would like to know all that changed for him this off season. Jason Rogers started with a bang over the weekend but he's been quiet since. Nashville Recap This much goodness deserves to be highlighted again, the only bad thing about the inning was poor Jason Rogers accounting for all 3 outs! Nashville Bottom of the 6th Jason Rogers strikes out swinging. Jeremy Hermida homers (9) on a fly ball to right field. Sean Halton singles on a ground ball to center fielder Randal Grichuk. Caleb Gindl walks. Sean Halton to 2nd. Shawn Zarraga singles on a ground ball to center fielder Randal Grichuk. Sean Halton scores. Caleb Gindl to 3rd. Hector Gomez doubles (14) on a line drive to left fielder Scott Moore. Caleb Gindl scores. Shawn Zarraga to 3rd. Offensive Substitution: Pinch-hitter Pete Orr replaces Alfredo Figaro. Pete Orr triples (4) on a ground ball to right fielder Stephen Piscotty. Shawn Zarraga scores. Hector Gomez scores. Logan Schafer doubles (4) on a fly ball to center fielder Randal Grichuk. Pete Orr scores. Pitching Change: Dean Kiekhefer replaces Zach Petrick, batting 9th. Eugenio Velez singles on a line drive to center fielder Randal Grichuk. Logan Schafer scores. Jason Rogers grounds into a double play, shortstop Greg Garcia to second baseman Kolten Wong to first baseman Xavier Scruggs. Eugenio Velez out at 2nd. Nashville Gameday

Found? I linked the article on top of the part I quoted like I always do... The point is to click the link and give BA's website the hit if you are interested, I'm not archiving full articles here. We do that in the Link Reports, but that's a different scenario... Outside of the Link Reports on the minor league forum I'm not looking to "borrow" content, I want to drive traffic to the websites that are doing the work, and even in the LRs we push people to the popular blogs we utilize so they get as many hits as possible. I believe that if people are serious about following the minor league side of baseball they should fork over some coin and pay for the information from BA, PG, BP, or whomever so I'll quote some teasers to hopefully spur interest to drive traffic and revenue for those sites. The free information from various sites around MLB.com and MiLB.com are fantastic, but they are also biased and in many cases the extreme best case scenario, especially the stuff from Mayo and Pleskoff; it reads like what parents would say about their kids. MLB has a vested interest in pimping their prospects so that everyone believes there is hope, it keeps fan interest high even in the lean years. Personally I want the cold hard truth, just give me the facts without the fluff, but being a fan should be about finding what works for you. If a poster prefers MLB.com and Pleskoff to BA and JJ Cooper I have no issue with that, that's why I provide the links; bookmark and regularly visit the sites that work for you. In case anyone is wondering I find PG and MLB to be similarly positive about every prospect they write about and for good reason. I think BA and certain prospect gurus like John Sickels are more in the middle, the rest of the information is going to vary based on the source. For example I find some stuff at fangraphs to be very insightful but many times you're just going to get the organization's take on their own prospects... I can get that from TH and the JSO after already having heard it in an audio interview from the LRs. Of course there are also people I generally avoid like Keith Law because he plays favorites; his guys can do no wrong and everyone else sucks type thing. Regardless I'll continue to provide the links (with the exception of ESPN), do with them what you will.

Subscriber, nothing new. Team-By-Team International Forecasts July 1, 2014 by Ben Badler

Subscriber. Signing Predictions For The Top 30 International Prospects July 1, 2014 by Ben Badler

Kaminsky hurls seven scoreless frames No. 3 Cardinals prospect scatters three hits in longest start for Chiefs

Bryant's slam, Ramirez's blast pace I-Cubs Club's No. 2 prospect slugs one, player/coach adds his first with Iowa

Baseball America Prospect Report (July 1)