trwi7

I like to think there was a wang on one side of the coin.

Holy eyebrows.

Big Ten Tournament champions and #1 seed in the Midwest Regional! Face North Dakota Friday at 7 CT on ESPNU. Ferris State and Colgate the other matchup in the Midwest.

I know it's unlikely he reaches it, but I'll take Francisco's potential over a 37 year old Overbay.

Because they took a chance thinking that no one would take a guy whose highest level pitched was the GCL. It was worth the risk for the Pirates to leave him unprotected with their pitching depth hoping they could develop him for another year without having to protect him, just like it's worth it for the Brewers to hold onto him in the bullpen this year so we can keep him and send him back to the minors next year to hopefully develop him as a starting pitcher.

Just did a quick and simple bracket of my own taking into account attendance, no teams from the same conference playing in the opening round and fairness. St. Paul Regional (1) Minnesota #1 overall seed (4) Mercyhurst #16 overall seed (2) Quinnipiac #8 overall seed (10) St. Cloud St. #10 overall seed Cincinnati Regional (1) Ferris St. #4 overall seed (4) North Dakota #13 overall seed (2) Wisconsin #5 overall seed (3) Minnesota St. #12 overall seed Worcester Regional (1) Boston College #2 overall seed (4) Colgate #15 overall seed (2) UMass-Lowell #7 overall seed (3) Michigan #11 overall seed Bridgeport Regional (1) Union #3 overall seed (4) Vermont # 14 overall seed (2) Quinnipiac #6 overall seed (3) Providence #9 overall seed Simple. Overall the seeds are very fair. Minnesota and St. Cloud State will sell out the St. Paul Regional. Minnesota gets the weakest team in the tournament for their opening game and either the weakest 2 seed or second weakest 3 seed if they win. Boston College gets basically a home regional that will sell out as will UMass-Lowell. They also get either the second weakest 2 or 3 seed if they win. Union doesn't get the closest regional but they weren't taking the Worcester Regional from any halfway decent Massachusetts team anyways and since Boston College is stronger than Union, they actually deserve the "home" regional. Union gets the next best thing in the Bridgeport Regional taking on the second strongest 4 seed in Vermont. Quinnipiac is the second strongest 2 seed and is located in Connecticut which will help attendance. Providence is the strongest 3 seed but its proximity to Bridgeport as well as being in Hockey East, which is likely sending 5 teams to the tournament puts them here. Ferris State is the weakest 1 seed and gets put in the regional closest to them in Cincinnati. They face the strongest 4 seed in North Dakota which has a great fan base that travels everywhere, so attendance shouldn't be a huge issue. Wisconsin as the strongest 2 seed potentially faces the weakest 1 seed and also faces the weakest 3 seed. Wisconsin's alumni base is all over the country which should be okay for attendance and Cincinnati isn't that far from Madison/Milwaukee/Wisconsin.

It's ridiculous that they put Wisconsin in St. Paul when you already have Minnesota there. Selling tickets in St. Paul when Minnesota and St. Cloud State are in the bracket is not going to be a problem.

I'm amazed Bill Michaels has that many interviews considering 99% of his show is spent talking about the Packers and his low testosterone levels.

What is this fascination with Ike Davis? There's a pretty decent chance that he's no better than Francisco or Overbay and we don't have to give anything up for them.

If he gets hit around that just makes it that much more likely that he doesn't make the team, which Roenicke probably wants because he doesn't have gritty veteraneyness. The good news is Duke pitched the 9th inning today and gave up 3 runs without recording an out.

Not me. Went to opening day once and it is the most overrated day of the year.

Another consideration is Wang is already on the 40 man roster. You would have to add someone like Duke to it, which makes no sense.

I think Wisconsin is a lock for a 2 and having their first two games in Milwaukee. Nobody has the resumé of Wisconsin in terms of quality wins except Kansas.

Why would we not just keep him instead of trying to work out a deal? He's pitching well enough to make the team. If he falters in the bigs or he's not pitching a lot and we need the spot for someone else, that's when you call the Pirates looking to deal. Don't just give away young players when you don't have to.

Zach Duke does nothing for me and if he's going to take the spot over Wang, I'll be pissed. Just put Duke in the minors for depth and keep Wang so you don't have to work out a deal.

Another scoreless inning today (groundout, ground ball single, double play). Only threw 5 pitches, 4 were 92, 1 was 93.

Oops, yes I was. That's a much kinder bracket.

It doesn't guarantee a 1 seed. They still have Wisconsin as the first #2 seed and the worst bracket possible. Playing the toughest #3 seed North Dakota and if they make it past them, likely Minnesota, the #1 overall seed. I really hate the way they do brackets. I understand wanting to put teams close so the places aren't empty but Minnesota doesn't need help. Put us in Cincy. We shouldn't have to face the toughest #3 seed and then the likely #1 overall seed for a trip to the Frozen Four. And I know that's just a projection and it probably won't shake out like that but that fact that it's even being printed by a reputable website angers me.

Where was he walking? It's not like a cactus just jumps out onto the sidewalk or driveway.

I might buy this if Morris wasn't horrible in 3 out of his 4 years in the minors. He's topped an OBP of .310 once in 4 years. Not what you're looking for from a guy who played college for 3 years and was old for every level he played in. Mike Trout made his major league debut at the same age Hunter Morris was OPSing .883 in college. Even with Morris' "great year" in 2012 he's only hit .271/.320/.487 in the minors. Meanwhile, Trout, while being at least a couple years younger than Morris at every level hit .326/.428/.516. Morris' OBP was lower than Trout's average. Which makes it all that much more concerning that Morris can't win the job and that they had to go out and get Overbay and Reynolds in the first place. When has Morris shown this? I must have missed it.

I wish we could work out a deal with the Pirates to keep him and let him go to the minors as a starter but if that can't be done, I'd keep him on the big league roster. Hiding a lefty reliever from matchups is the easiest thing to do and it won't be a complete waste of a roster spot either.

[sarcasm]You should take his job. Your takes are pretty awesome.[/sarcasm]

I don't get Rosenthal's thinking here. The Tigers lost their left fielder, so they'll go and get Francisco? Unless they plan on moving Castellanos to left field and play Francisco at 3rd until Dirks is ready to play again but that seems unlikely to me.

I'm pretty sure they knew, they just tried to rehab it and avoid surgery, which obviously didn't work.

It can't be Obee. What if we sign Wes Obermueller?