Selig causes another bench clearing brawl

Once upon a time there was a disagreement during a baseball game that led to a bench clearing brawl, how do you correct that from ever happening again? If you are Bud Selig, you don't, and you don't even acknowledge that there is a even a problem. That is what happened Sunday during the Brewers-Pirates contest. If you have not seen the play you can see it here.


This incident is the one of many unnecessary multi-player incidents that seem to occur weekly MLB baseball in this so called "Modern Era" of baseball. It should be of no surprise to anybody that the commissioner does absoultly nothing to address the issue nor acknowledges that there is a problem while his counterpart league have resolved their issues years or decades ago. Bud Selig sits around while the kids run the household, but this no surpise to me since he has proven before that he is weak on punishment.  

I have written about this before, but it amazes me that nothing is done about a simple rule change. Suspend the players that join in from the outside and suspend anybody that comes out of the dogout/bullpen.

In this case, Gomez will get what he deserved unlike last year, he escalated a shouting match with the pitcher. This appear to be the one thing that Gomez needs to work on or he will self-destruct as everybody will try to get into his head all the time and provoke fights with him, especailly since it appears that Selig will do nothing to curtail these indicients from occuring.

The use of instant replay should used in these situations (if commistioner do nothing does nothing) to assist in ensuring who should be ejected. I would normally expect this to be an easy thing to change, but given that it took 10 years longer than it should have just to get replay, I'm not expecting any changes anything soon.

In the end, it should be of no surpise that if at the end of the season attendence is down, what is the cause of it. The lack of changes or the delay to put in much needed changes will be the downfall of MLB if drastic action to bring back the youth to the game are not implemented. There are other sports that will be more than happy to fill its spot, this incident is just one of many problems with baseball.

Thoughts for the week

It has been a while since I have published a meaningful post so here is goes. This week I would just like to do a couple of quick hitters thoughts.

• A big win for the Badgers on Sunday over Michigan State. A couple of things I noticed with the victory.
• Traevon Jackson did come up with the big shot, but did do plenty along the way to shoot the team in the foot. When Traevon does not think about the shot is when he comes through.
• Sam Decker comes out with another below average game. He was only 3-8 from the field with all 3 pointers along with 2 free throws. Decker, who claims that he was going to be more aggressive inside took only 3 shots inside. It appears that Decker let the NBA 1st round pick status go to his head.
• Bo Ryan has shown that he is unable to learn from his past mistake and truly understand how good coaches play certain situations. The other night Bo did not understand that in a last shot situation with under ten seconds. You should get the ball in the front court and either take the shot or make one quick pass and then shot. Traevon hesitates and the game is lost. Tom Izzo being down 3 at the end of the game, inbounds the ball, makes one quick pass and buries the three. Only the three ball hurts you, but yet he seemed not ready to cover it.
• Bo Ryan as has the trend to put the final play in the hands of the point guard. This is generally countered by the double team, but this did not occur Sunday. Any team that plays the Badgers should understand this and exploit it in the future.
• I have been doing a lot Olympic watching and have noticed a couple of things.
• NBC has to be thanking the television gods for the location of this Olympics and the location in 2018. This time difference between Russia and the United States allows NBC to cut the broadcast/sport down and insert as many additional commercials. There should be no reason that NBC loses money this year. I think that is why some people do not watch, or do not watch as much as they should.
• On the lighter side of news, I was crowed 1st division champion on Saturday on Smallball.com on the football side.
• I see that the Brewers are having another go around with K-Rod, any guesses to who will he be traded to?
• Flappy Birds is a really addictive gam.

Dale Sveum: Another incomplete MLB manager fired

No, that is not a typo in the title of this post, I did not mean incompetent, incomplete is a much more realistic term. On Monday, the Cubs fired Dale Sveum as manager with one year left on the contract. As a former Brewer player and coach, I have a little something to say about what went down in Chicago.

Dale Sveum was always a iffy choice to head up a major league baseball club. A major league manager needs to posses the ability to manager players on both side of the ball. Sveum never showed the ability to manage a pitching staff during any of the two seasons, but the warning signs were there for the Cubs even before the first interview.

Warning Sign #1: Former power player generally don't make good managers
Players that generally have good careers with the potential for power do not do well as managers because they are unable to identify issues with players. Managers that seem to have played little or poorly have more time to watch other  players and identify mistakes and take the needed corrections. There is always the exception to the rule, but for every Joe Girardi there are many Charlie Manuel's


Warning Sign #2: No Pitching coach experience
Sveum entered the Cubs job with no pitching experience, not even at a basic level. If you are that one sided in baseball, it is like getting hit with a 2X4 when you have to care about the other side of the ball.

Warning Sign #3: 2008 season
This should have been the biggest reason not to hire Sveum. After Ned Yost was fired near the end of the season Sveum was named the interim manager and continued the effort of Yost to mismanage the pitching and having to overusing C.C. Sabathia. This was a sign that he was unable to manager or turn around a pitching staff. This should have raised the red flag for all teams that Sveum could not manage both side of the game.

The Cubs did not heed warning sign #3 and made the two year mistake of allowing him to manage their team. Some guys are just not cut out to be Major League managers. If he wants another shot at managing a MLB team, he should go down to a "AA" or "AAA" team to manage, learn the ropes and if it works out, it works out. In this case, Dale Sveum will make a good hitting coach and that is what he should do.

Brewers End of Season Grades

Another season is in the books for the Milwaukee Brewers and while the season was far from perfect for what fans were expected, this blogger knew it was coming. With that being said I have completed a season ending grade list.

• Jonathan Lucroy (B+) - Once of the most consistent players over the entire season minus a slow start. Made the transition to playing first base on a as needed basis. The only thing holding this grade back from a "A" was some base running blunders that occurred throughout the year along with the slow start to the year.
• Juan Francisco (F) -Too slow, Too Fat, Too many K's. His new name should be Juan Fran-wiffo
• Rickie Weeks (D) - Once again Rickie has another slow start with a season ending injury, I almost think that is Weeks gameplan at the start of the season. He is too slow and too fat, he got away from the way he got in the major leagues, with his speed.
• Jean Segura (A) - Jean had his breakout season at the plate and in the field, a well deserved top grade.
• Aramis Ramirez (C-) - Ramirez has outlived his welcome in Milwaukee, a very streaky season for when he was healthy. He is too slow and on the DL too much to be of much use for the Brewers anymore. Time to move on.
• Ryan Braun (C) - Based solely on his play, Braun would get a "A", but given the events of the season, I have downgraded him to a "C". It will be long road back for Braun, and some people will never forgive him even if he cures cancer, provides world peace and finds Jimmy Hoffa.
• Carlos Gomez    (B+) - An above average season for Gomez who signed a contract extension before the season. Did recently start to cool off at the end of the season and is plagued by the injury bug.
• Norichika Aoki (B-) - The faults that did not show themselves during last season seemed to manifest themselves during this season. Seemed to not be able to slap the ball as well, plus Aoki seem to have troubles covering right field from time to time. Overall though, he did have an average year and used his speed efficiently.  
• Yuniesky Betancourt (D+) - Making another trip though the Brew city did not prove any better for Yuni-B. To slow, too inconsistent.
• Logan Schafer (C-) - Too young and inconsistent. Most likely will be no better than a defensive replacement.
• Jeff Bianchi (C-) - Not enough speed, not enough power to be an every day starter. Only a utility or every fifth day starter.
• Scooter Gennett (C+) - A breath of fresh air from the play of Rickie Weeks given the defensive play that he provided this season, but it was a tough year for Scooter. His power is below average, he has trouble with lefties and drawing walks. He was able to hit righties over .300, so there is hope. He should compete for a starting job next season, but could be beat out.
• Martin Maldonado (D) - When working with pitchers from the minors, he seemed better, but struggled at the plate for most of the season. He is replaceable.
• Caleb Gindl (C) - Capable backup player, will have to see how he develops 
• Khris Davis (C+) - After a slow start, Davis has been able to turn it one with the bat. Does continue to struggle from time to time in the outfield.
• Sean Halton (C) - Started the season slow, but near the end of the season started to play more consistent.
• Kyle Lohse (B) - Overall an average year for Lohse coming over from St. Louis, did have his moments without Dave Duncan to oversee him. St. Louis appeared to know what he was doing when letting him go just like with Suppan and Looper.
• Wily Peralta (C+) - Wildly inconsistent throughout the year, when he was on, he was on. Threw a complete game shutout on July 9th.
• Yovani Gallardo (C) - Most people would think I'm crazy for giving the grade I have to Yo, but given that he has now pitched about 5 1/2 years in the major leagues (1/2 of 2007, missing most of 2008) that he would learn how to pitch the complete game. He has too many pitches too soon in the game. Many times he has 25+ pitches in the first inning, but does not give up any runs. So he is only able to go 5-6 innings. With stuff that Yo has, he should be able to 7+ innings consistently. Gallardo does not always have to go for the K. Gallardo did once again present a threat at the plate this year.
• Marco Estrada (C-) - Another year of solid 5 inning starts. After that, disaster. Did fill in in the starter role again this year, but injuries once again plagued hit. Better fits a long reliever role.
• Jim Henderson (B) - Solid in most of his appearances, does not rely solely on the fastball.
• Brandon Kintzler (B) - An acceptable bounce back year lowering his ERA to career lows with a good strikeout to walk ratio, could be a good 8th inning man next year.
• Burke Badenhop (C) - Was not worth the money we paid this year, but given what we gave up, the deal was average. Might be worth a look next year if the price is right.
• John Axford (F) - I understand that Axford is no longer a Brewer, but I had to give him his grade. Does not throw anything but a fastball and that pitch can give him trouble at times. Has the tendency to overthrow the fastball which causes trouble. Please use the following guide to evaluate Axford on any given day. Pitch MPH <= 94 - Doing Good; <=96 At the limit; <= 97 All over the place; >= 98 Do not have your drink on the ledge behind the plate. Unfortunately he was at 97+.
• Mike Gonzalez (F) - I don't know who is more to blame, Melvin for signing Gonzalez or Gonzalez not declining the offer stating he really can not pitch. Melvin of all people should know that you just don't sign a lefty for the sake of signing the lefty. We won a division back in 2011 without a single lefty in the bullpen. Gonzalez lack any kind of control or ability to work the corners of the plate. Let this guy go and be someone else's problem.
• Tom Gorzelanny (C) - I was always nervous with this signing. One good season generally should not be a reason to sign a guy especially given the past seasons and how he done against the Brewers. Gorzelanny was a good long reliever, but an awful starter. The Brewers should only keep him if they plan to use him as a long reliever.
• Donovan Hand (C-) - A roller coaster first season for Hand. While he shows the ability to get batters out, he is no starter, or at least right now not a starter. Should work at the middle relief.
• Tyler Thornburg (C) - I consider this a bounce back season for Thornburg. Seemed to be able to get batters out and string together good starts. My concern is that this was done against teams that were already out of playoff contention so the focus might not have been all there this year, but might have lit him up at the start of the year.
• Johnny Hellweg (D) - Wild, Wild, Wild. That is the book on this guy. Can not go more that 5 innings and goes through these painful stretches where he can not get anybody incurring large pitch counts.
• Rob Wooten (C-) - Did get use through some tough games when the Brewers were not playing their best. Does posses the ability to be a 8th inning or closer in the future, but the 7/8th is most likely his role.
• Jimmy Nelson (D+) - Only played in a couple of games this year for the Brewers, but I'm concerned with the pitches to the backstop along with the high pitch counts, but he is only 24 years old.
• Chris Narveson (I) - Another season cut short by the injury bug. One might ask if his time might be done in Milwaukee given that he will be 32 years old when he comes back and he can only give you 6 innings max a start.

Selig continues poor punishment record

Given the events of last nights altercation between the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves, I would have expected some kind of punishment to be handled down, but once again the kids are running the house with no guidelines to controlling the household.

First and foremost, I will state that I agree with the Gomez suspension for 1 game. You can not jaw with everybody around the base paths and not expect something to occur. I also agree with the suspension of Reed Johnson, though I like how he then hid behind his coach after getting his shots.

Like one of my previous posts , how does McCann not get anything out of this, just like Matt Kemp earlier this year? How can not punish the secondary and third party offenders who commit equal or greater offenses than the people caused the initial starters. McCann ignited the fight, yet he gets nothing. This can no longer occur now or with the new commissioner in a couple of years.

You can not have these major brawls night after night in baseball. People might say that it is going to occur over a 162 game season with 30 teams, but honestly how is it even remotely acceptable in baseball, but in any other job where you work 3 times the hours a night for double the number of nights a year? If you start a fight at a normal job, you are out of a job, but in baseball you might not even get a fine.

This needs to change now, any person who does joins a fight should get ejected and suspended for future games. Period!

Selig allows fights to continue in MLB

If you have not heard by now, during the 4-0 victory for the Brewers over the Braves during Wednesday's game, there was a little scuffle between Carlos Gomez and the rest of the Braves after his home run which ignited a beach clearing brawl. In this post, I could take the high level perspective on this and talk about the unwritten rules, but I want to have a different take on the events that occurred.

Bud Selig has lost control of the ship or at least lost control of the ability to right the ship when events occur that require a review and change in the rules. Even before I started this blog I knew the rules had to change, I even mentioned some of these rule changes within a previous post.

This is a simple rule change, simple! Any player who joins a fight outside of the original parties are ejected and hit with a suspension. This fact eludes Bud Selig that the rules have to change or at least he has to make the attempt to change the rules, even if the players union might reject them, then it is not on Bud.

Some will say that fighting is part of the game and that these "unwritten" rules are part of the baseball tradition. This complete bull, traditions are meant to be broken(or else there would still be gladiator fights at the Colosseum) and the rules should be changed. Baseball has been stuck behind this "unwritten" rules for too longer and something has to change, the first being the way we police the game.

One additional question I have out of the game today, how does Brian McCann not get ejected from the game? He escalates a volatile situation by standing in front of the plate and then gets in the face of Gomez. This is another problem with the MLB umpiring today, the inability to get the call right when large scale situation occur. Like in the NBA and NCAA basketball, the use of replay could have led to additional player being dealt with during the game [cough] [cough] Kelly Johnson [cough].


What do I expect in the end? Nothing. Bud might hand out a couple of fines and maybe a 1 game suspension, but nothing to address the root cause of the issue. In the end, what will it take for change? Season ending injury, career ending injuries or maybe incident that might end the reign as commissioner.

Only time will tell.

Baseball Tonight Disrespects Brewers

It has been said that ESPN has a unhealthy obsession with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. This was no more true than on Baseball Tonight on Sunday before the baseball game. They displayed the lineup of the St. Louis and progress to talk about the lineup and the key players. Then the lineup of Milwaukee was displayed and following a brief mention that the Brewers were 20 games under .500 we progress to start talking about the players for the Red Sox and Yankees while the Brewers lineup was still on the screen.

I understand that Brewers are not in playoff contention, but I would at least hope that ESPN could give the common decency to give one minute towards the lineup.

Brewers: I called it in May

I'm going to take another crack at this blog thing, but not post as often. With summer over I'm hoping to be able to spend more time posting and less time debating what to post.

I was looking back at my past posts and say this post dealing with Brewers in May and thought this would be a good post to pick back up on. The first thing I would like to say is..... I told you so. The Brewers sucked for the rest of May, Rickie Weeks has been replaced with Scooter which was then covered up with his "injury", the budget bullpen has given up game after game. The years of trading away the upcoming talent has led the Brewers to be in cellar while Pittsburgh and Kansas City battling for playoff places for many years to come.

The Brewers do not have the benefit like Pittsburgh or KC, we do not have much if any minor league talent upcoming that can step in that has not been called up already. Sean Halton is still a so-so player along with a disappointing season for Hunter Morris plus Mat Gamel tearing something every year leaves the first base position very uncertain.

The third base position is another area of concern, with the possible exception of Taylor Green, nobody has ever stood out as even a remote possibility of coming up since Ryan Braun. I know people will say that Mat Gamel was at third, but we all know that he was going to first base once Prince left.

So, how do you fix the Milwaukee Brewers?

1. New Hitting Coach - This is more of an understatement, the Brewers have been plagued with hitting coaches that fall in love with the long ball with the expense of the strikeout. We need a hitting coach that can relate to the young players and wants to stick around. In recent years, Sveum was the closest to breaking our bad batter habits. This hitting coach has to understand that you can not solely rely on the long ball. Look at St. Louis right now, they are at the top of the league in record and in all batting categories with the exception of Home Runs.
2. Invest in the Bullpen - It's time to end the era of the "Budget Bullpen", it is time to invest money in someone who is young and can pitch consistently. I'm not saying go out and get an all star bullpen, but go out and get one good player to help.
3. Quit selling the future - The past five years have been like the Stock Market Crash in 1929, a lot of people were getting rich with quick short term gains, but in the end were in the poor house. The same holds true with a baseball team, if you sell off your long term solutions for the short game, you will have a losing club in a couple of years. It is time to stop selling the minor leagues away and start keeping some of these players

There is no reason that the Brewers could not play winning baseball in a couple years if they did not employee the above suggestions.

Now I can not go an entire Brewers post without saying something about my "favorite" GM in MLB Doug Melvin. Doug has really had it tough this year of all the years with the sort of bait-in-switch Ryan Braun pulled on him this year denying everything about his PED's along then taking the deal from Grandpa Selig. Still that was no excuse for the budget bullpen along with not addressing the first/third base situation.

Its time to let the rookies play and wait until next year!

Brewers have season ending issues

Long time no posting... I had to take a little break from posting, but now I'm back to talk baseball, specifically Brewers baseball. In case you did not notice the Brewers were able to pull one out Monday against the Pirates, but one win in May does not make a season.

The Brewers as a whole and in the long term are all on the 60-Day DL with season ending problems. The most recent series against the Reds and Cardinals go a long way in proving that pitching wins you games in the long term and home runs win you a couple of games.

Brewers GM Doug Melvin and his budget bullpen time over time have caused the Brewers major trouble. Now the starters are getting into the mix when it comes to giving up runs with Burgos giving up a nice 10 spot the other night due to the overused pen. Years of pillaging the minor leagues for the short term victory has now come bite Melvin.

If you look at the trade that essentially won them the division, the Brewers gave up four major league players for a year and a half rental (Cain, Escobar, Jeffress, Odorizzi) and while winning is important while you can, long term success is more important. These guys would have would have all played important parts of the lineup for the Brewers since we would not have Segura.

The next person I would like to zero in on is Rickie Weeks. Whether the numbers the support this or not, Weeks has regressed in the past 4 years overall at the plate and remained level with the defense. Weeks has lost his way in how to bat and what kind of style he played when he was first called up to the major leagues. When he first came up, he was a average power, speed player that would beat out the high chopping play. Now Weeks has packed on the pounds and is carrying a couple of jelly rolls. I really wonder how many half step out plays Weeks would have beat out if he would drop about 10 pounds.

Do not hold your hopes up for this season, the team structure is too far gone to win anything. The overall issues of the Brewers in the end center around them being good, but just not good enough to compete in the division or in the wild card playoffs. The Brewers need to work on establishing the pitching in the minors and the draft. If the Brewers do take their lumps for the next couple of seasons and do not trade away the future, there is no reason this team can not win the division. 

Time to relive Schroeder's No-Hitter

Another April 15 has come around again on the calendar which means it is time for Brewers color commentator to relive when he pitched the Brewers only no hitter in franchise history. Pitched? No, I did not make a mistake, or at least I did not make a mistake in the eyes of Schroeder.

I know really that Juan Nieves pitch that day, but you would think the way Schroeder carries on about the game that he pitched and played the other 8 positions which the exception of that play in centerfield by Yount (he only acknowledges that due to the overwhelming video evidence of the diving play).

This year has presented a problem for Schroeder with no game on Monday for him to live in his own glory, relive his warped reality, make a bigger deal out of his meteoric playing career. The only thing I can see happening is him reliving the day twice, once today and second on Wednesday. Whatever the outcome, it will be a another year in the books for the Schroeder no hitter parade.

Brewers: I saw this coming

With another loss early in the in season to the Diamondbacks on Sunday, the Brewers fall to 1-5 on the season. While most baseball people would say that it is too early to panic, I say just say the opposite. Especially given the lack of high quality free agent moves the Brewers did this past off season, it is time to look at making some changes.

The reason that this season is off to such a season is Doug Melvin. This bad start is the fundamental problem I have with Brewers GM Doug Melvin, he sometimes does not do the hard work to find that value for a free agent in the off season like another GM's would. Melvin employs a more wait and see philosophy. Melvin does not change the equation, he does not make the big off season move but instead we struggle in the same areas year after year.

If the Brewers are close in July, he pulls off a "Big Deal" and pillages the minor league system. We usually end up with some washed up pitchers (Cough.. Michael Gonzalez.. Cough Cough) who make their final playing destination Milwaukee.

Another problem with Melvin is the drafting that has occurred under his reign. Now I understand that is really took over a club that was underfunded and at the bottom of the barrel, but Attanasio has been in control of the club since 2005, so we have been able to put the club out of the basement and yet we do not see any major draftee's from him in the major leagues with the exception of Yovani Gallardo and Ryan Braun. Most of the players that came up were the product of Dean Taylor or via data that remained during Melvin's first year.

It is time to relook at the talent we are bringing up from the minor leagues, Kris Davis continues to struggle, Mark Rodgers is non-existent, Fries is getting wipe lash from all home runs he is giving up, Thronburg is having troubles (I think we brought him up too early). We rely on trades too much and wash up free agents, it time to not only look at the talent on the field, but who placed them there which means I would send Melvin packing!

Yovani Gallardo leaves me with an uneasy feeling

Just a short entry today, does anybody else get that feeling when Gallardo pitches, he is just messing around? The guy with top stuff all-ways has 100 pitches by the 5th inning but yet he can get strike out over strike out. How?

Gomez deal has this person concerned

It was announced recently that Carlos Gomez signed a 3 year, $24 million extension with the Brewers through 2016. All I have to say is that the Brewers and other MLB teams never learn when giving out large contracts.

Like Bill Hall before him, Gomez has received a large extension for the future years for a better than usual year, I do not say all-star year because the numbers he had last year were only good numbers for him. He also has the tendency to end up on the DL more than I would like for someone who is getting $8 million a year. If he is even better this year, he will want even more money, if he is off, teams end up eating the contract, giving this kind of extension in this era is pointless, the teams are generally get burned.

It is funny that the Brewers have not learned from the Bill Hall deal who never lived out his deal with the Brewers. Gomez can be streaky at times, he can focus on the long ball too much while I would use the great speed he does possess. Only time will tell if the Brewers did the right thing and I sure this is not the first posting about this deal and it will not be the last.

Baseball season is here again

Today marked the first spring training game for the Brewers, which means the snow will soon be melting and Spring is right around the corner. It also means it is the start of the long series of posts of Brewers, Timber Rattlers and Rafters baseball along with other thoughts throughout Major, Minor, and Summer League baseball.

It does amazes me that out of the four major sports in the United States (Football, Baseball, Basketball and Hockey) that Baseball has the longest Spring Training/Exhibition season but nobody seems to care or want the baseball pre-season to be reduced.

The concern in the other big three sports is the concern for injury in games that "don't count", but in baseball, the concern is lessened for some reason. You would think that pitchers would be the most concerned with injury. I know the spring training is the time for pitchers to work on their timing, but also they are also only one pitch away from season ending injuries.

Anyway, baseball season is here!

Axford Contract Makes Me Nervous

Just a quick thought for today... On Friday it was announced Brewers closer John Axford signed a deal for $5 million to avoid arbitration and this is a little concerning.

I subscribe to the theory that fastball pitchers can not be your primary closer. My thought process behind this logic is that players near the end of the game are generally more cautious when swinging the bat looking for their pitch. Fastball's are generally easier to hit since they do not have much movement to them which makes them bigger targets to hit.

Axford uses the fastball as his primary pitch regardless of the situation. His slider is inconsistent at best and his changeup is still a work in progress. Players learn quickly about pitchers strengths and weaknesses in the major leagues, so the very pitch that led to the ascendent of Axford also led to his struggles last season since there was not another pitch to turn too. Axford seemed to bring it together near the end of the season, but when you are out of the playoff race, some players do "check-out" which leads to easier outs for Axford.

I could see issues were forthcoming with Axford when he started to over-throw the ball without early detection and correction. Normally Axford can throw the Fastball effectively at 95mph, but last season the fastball started increasing to 98 - 100mph becoming more and more wild. This should have been caught early and corrected, but nothing was done until it was too late, the damage was done.

What enhances my nervousness is we have been through this before with Derrick Turnbow. Another pitcher who used his Fastball as his primary pitch with no consistent secondary pitch. Turnbow blazed a trail through batter after batter for 1 1/2 seasons, but hitters adjust and Turnbow went into freefall.

With the new contract in hand, it will be interesting to see if Axford can handle the pressure of everybody seeing if he is worth the money and pitch at a consistent level.

Up and Coming Brewers Minor Leaguers

In this post I would like to highlight a few minor league players in the Brewers system I will be watching for the upcoming 2013 minor league season. This is just my opinion and is not based on any other thing than my thoughts:

1. Hiram Burgos: This guy has rapidly progressed through the Brewers farm system to the point, with a good season in AAA, could be pitching with the big club. The key with Hiram will be consistency. Can he string together a series of starts that prove he is ready for the Major Leagues?
2. Hunter Morris: When the Brewers drafted Morris, they sent him directly to the Timber Rattlers. I'm honored to have see him play in person and knew that they had somebody special. The only concern at the time was Prince Fielder was playing first base, but guess what no Prince. It will be interesting how he plays this year and if he gets a shot at the major leagues.
3. Drew Gagnon: This pitcher seems to be the player that nobody is talking about, or I'm just not looking in the right places. I have also seen this guy pitch in person and I was impressed. He has a low 90's fastball with a good breaking slider. Success in Low A Appleton did translate to High A Brevard County. Where he ends up this year is all up to him.
4. Scooter Gennett: When first looking at this guy, I thought he was small, but fast for a second baseman, but this guy has progress well.
5. Jason Rogers: This guy has great power, good doubles power. The only issue I see with Rogers is his tendency to swing wildly.
6. Johnny Hellweg: A pickup in the Greinke deal, this guy needs to be able to put together consistent starts to move up the Brewers system. A good Arizona Fall League season for Hellweg has put him on the right track.
7. Khris Davis: I saw him play a couple of years ago in Appleton and he had good power. Since then, he has developed nicely playing in AAA at the end of the season.
8. Taylor Jungmann: This pitcher started out on fire last year, but cooled off as the season progressed. To progress, Jungmann needs to show more consistency as he gave up more than 1 hit per inning pitched.
9. Josh Prince: This is the wild card in the bunch I'm watching. This guy had a good AFL season, but with an up and down batting average, 2013 should show if Josh is the real deal.
10. Lance Roenicke: This guy started in Helena and got off to a red hot start. Then he was transferred to Appleton and also got off to a good start before cooling off at the end to a near frost. 2013 for Roenicke will show if he has the ability to bounce back and progressive up the farm sys

I have extremely grateful for the MILB.TV to be able to watch the majority of these players. It is well worth the price.

Parra Finally Gone

On Friday, the Brewers decided not to tender an offer for pitcher Manny Parra. With that, that should end the career with the team he showed so much promise. He threw a perfect game while in Nashville back in 2007, but that appears to have been the beginning of the end of this left handed pitchers time in Milwaukee.

Parra never had "The Pitch" needed to get out of situations which resulted in walk after walk, hit after hit, home run after home run. Melvin likes to fall in love with certain players, thinking that with additional time he will be vindicated, but it seems like that rarely works.

I'm glad that we got rid of Parra, he was not going to get any better with the Brewers and was just going to be a target for the fans taunts and boo's.

I hope Melvin goes out and fines a quality left handed pitcher and not another teams leftovers that could not cut the mustard.