Bambis Bombers

If Crow does not sign, it will be interesting to see what happens with the negotiations between the Orioles and Brian Matusz. From what I've read at BA and BP, the Matusz camp wanted use the Crow deal as a baseline for any agreement with Baltimore.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h243/DIMPHardcore/tonybullpentorres.jpg Got this one off last night's game thread from the Cardinals blog Viva El Birdos. Someone photoshopped TLR's face onto a photo of the Iraqi Minister of Propaganda after LaRussa blasted a local reporter for blaming the loss on the Card's bullpen.

Joe Thatcher got rocked this afternoon, giving up 5 runs in two thirds of an inning. SD loses, 9 to 5. He now sports a hefty 8.42 ERA.

2008 ninth round pick Michael Bowman continues to impress. Two more scoreless innings with 3 Ks.

At the end of the 2007 season, Elias had Rauch ranked as the 10th best NL reliever, firmly in Class A territory.

Looking at the Elias rankings at the end of last year, Randy Wolf made the list as the 55th best NL starting pitcher. The lowest ranked Class B NL starting pitcher was 42nd ranked Rich Hill of the Cubs. Wolf's ranking at the end of 2008 will benefit from his 2006 stats being removed from the evaluation (only 56 IP and a 5.56 ERA). His brutal record away from Petco and a suspect Astro relief core does project him to significantly improve his 2008 season stats. There are a number of starting pitchers ranked ahead of him (Capuano, Matt Morris, Freedy Garcia, etc.) that will fall in the rankings offset by pitchers ranked below (Lincecum and Lohse) that will likely pass him up.

Five stolen bases off Frederickson / Fryer in the first three innings of West Virginia tilt against the Charleston RiverDogs.

Adrian Rosario getting the start for the Baby Brewers today, matching up against KC's 3rd round pick Tyler Sample

brosto1 Makes you wonder if Melvin is leaking info to the press to attract some other offers and pressure Cleveland into closing the deal .

Here's the BA blurb on Fryer prior to the 2007 draft.

wvpowerblkwel, thanks for the first hand report. I was pleasantly surprised at Merklinger's line tonight - what speed was his fastball topping out at?

Jim Callis of BA had this to say on Wednesday when asked about the status of the negotiations between Lawrie and the Brewers: Rodney (Minneapolis): What's a fan to think of this Lawrie stuff between his national team commitments and his signing with the Brewers? This won't stand in the way of him signing, will it? http://assets.espn.go.com/i/sn2.gif Jim Callis: (2:57 PM ET ) No. He'll turn pro this summer.

Did the Brewers anyone on the first day of the international signing period? Sound like the Padres made an initial splash, per Ben Badler at BA.

Here is the Baseball America scouting report by when Reinhardt was drafted in the 6th round of the 2005 draft by the Rays.

Official confirmation of the signings of Wooten, Luetge and Roberts from Brewers.com Brewers announce three additional draft signings 06/30/2008 12:16 PM ET MLB.com MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Brewers have signed three additional draft selections from the 2008 First-Year Player Draft and have now signed 32 of the 54 players that the team selected and one passed over player, it was announced today by Jack Zduriencik, Vice President - Special Assistant to the General Manager for Player Personnel. Of the first 20 draft selections by the Brewers, 18 have now signed. These three signings include 13th round pick (398th overall) RHP Rob Wooten from the University of North Carolina, 21st round selection LHP Lucas Luetge from Rice University and 38th round pick C Mike Roberts from Virginia Military Institute. Wooten went 6-2 with a 1.87 ERA (62.2ip, 13er) and five saves in 44 appearances during his senior season at North Carolina. He helped lead the Tar Heels to the College World Series semifinals before being eliminated by the College World Series Champion Fresno State Bulldogs. Luetge also participated in the College World Series and went 1-0 with a 6.16 ERA (30.2ip, 21er) and one save in 17 games (3 starts) during his junior season with the Rice Owls. Roberts batted .298 with nine home runs and 44 RBI in 50 games played during his junior season at Virginia Military Institute.