Off-Season Link Report: Latest -- Huntsville News

[Al the Thinking Man]

I do recall many folks down on the Sexson deal said we should have taken Hanrahan because he had ace potential, not just another guy like Caps and DLR. I don't know Joel from Adam, I just found it odd this guy ranks DLR higher.

[MassBrew]

C'mon, I can't understand why the Brewer young'uns aren't up in Helena working on fundamentals at this time...

 

www.helenair.com/articles...704_01.txt

[MassBrew]

Would the folks in Huntsville look to acquire an affiliation with the apparently available Atlanta Braves for the 2005 season? David Weiser provides perspective at his www.starsboxscore.com website. Despite recent successful AA campaigns and a slew of Brewer "name" prospects about to debut there, there's little doubt the local (and ticket-buying) fan would prefer a Braves affiliation.

 

(And to the many who profess that affiliation issues mean little in the overall scope of things, that may be true -- but not to the many friends and family of the players who visit us here, wondering where their buddies, sons, brothers, etc., might be located...)

 

In addition to clicking on the link in bold above, also be sure to visit David's "stuff" page in which he updates the signing and/or availabilty of all the minor league free agents with Southern League ties, with particular attention paid to current and former Brewers:

 

http://www.starsboxscore.com/standing.html

[lend d money]

My family and I have made trips to Huntsville the last two years. Unquestionably, the Braves are the "cat's meow" down there. I am kind of ambivalent about Huntsville. I really like the people and the cheap flights, but I don't know if we could find somewhere closer and a better stadium. A good number of their seats are downright embarrassing(no backs, cracked, etc.).

[MassBrew]

All-you-can-eat nights at Pohlman Field!

 

www.snappersbaseball.com/...ss_id=1237

 

http://worldwide-web.com/JeffreyBabad/Simpsons/Captain/captain.gif

 

Best Simpson's episode ever -- and yes, we've discussed it in the Off-Topic forum before...

[Al the Thinking Man]

A good number of their seats are downright embarrassing(no backs, cracked, etc.).

 

Gosh, let's go out of way to keep this fine franchise. Let's hope they allow us to stay, huh? Lend, I think you just made my point that it hardly matters who our affiliate is, as most of us had no idea our franchise had worse seating than my high school.

[Mike2k33]

I agree that where our affiliations are truly does not matter.

 

However, it's nice to know that this site has the strong connections with the Brewers' farm teams that we might not have with different teams. Also, it's nice to have a good organizational relationship with the farm teams and their surrounding communities. Without that the organization would have yet another black eye, though obviously not a very noticeable one that would only effect certain small areas. Overall these are minor worries and really would not play much of a roll in the affiliations in the future.

 

I will say this, I don't care about the fan's comfort in our farm system (except for maybe Beloithttp://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ). The only thing that matters is that our prospects get every chance to succeed, wherever they play.

 

Hmm, all you can eat and a ticket, all for $10? I'm there.

[mothershipconnection]

I could care less if the farm teams moved elsewhere, as long as its closer to where I live.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[madbad2000]

Gosh, let's go out of way to keep this fine franchise. Let's hope they allow us to stay, huh? Lend, I think you just made my point that it hardly matters who our affiliate is, as most of us had no idea our franchise had worse seating than my high school.

 

Which is it Al? In another post you were clamoring about how we missed out because Apple-ton reupped with Seattle. Which is it?

[MassBrew]

We'll help the Snappers a bit more by directing more traffic -- so who will be 2004's three Beloit bobblehads?

 

www.snappersbaseball.com/...7099135057

[MassBrew]

Mark Prior and Dusty Baker were among the honored guests in attendance when RHP Jason Shelley received this award last Sunday. Congrats, Jason! Among greater Chicago's finest, and a nice story among the Brewer "finds" in 2003...

 

www.oursportscentral.com/...p;t_id=969

[batman]

I hope that the organization sees Jason Shelley as proof that scouting the Independent Leagues is well worth the investment. It is hard to believe that no one picked him up before we did - his numbers were staggering.

 

Good stuff,

~Bill

[MassBrew]

Beloit Daily News Sports Editor Jim Franz with a nice report from the Beloit stop on the winter tour:

 

www.beloitdailynews.com/104/brew24.htm

[Al the Thinking Man]

Nice writing. Let's promote this guy to the JS.

[BrewCrewin2005]

I agree, we could use some better brewer writers in the JS like him.

[MassBrew]

Jeriome Robertson and Brian Duckworth, obtained from Philadelphia over the winter, will compete for jobs in the bullpen.

 

Let's see, it's the off-season, and you're responsible for an every-other-week major league notes column (swapping off with Drew), and not much else. So glad such effort goes into that assignment, Tom. By the way, it's Brandon.

 

Nice writing. Let's promote this guy to the JS.

 

All summer long, we'll read better journalistic efforts (both stylistically and factually) from Huntsville, High Desert, and Beloit. And that's not an automatic, because the Indianapolis Star coverage of the Indy club is dreadful.

 

Thank you to guys like Jim Franz in Beloit and Mark McCarter in Huntsville.

[MassBrew]

Lots of ballpark renovation talk in Huntsville:

 

www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...183471.xml

[1992casey]

The end of the article states, "with the forced resignation of president Ulice Payne, the chances have greatly lessened for a Stars game at Milwaukee's Miller Park this summer. Payne was trying to organize a two-game series in which Huntsville and Birmingham would play one regular season game in Milwaukee and another at Chicago, home of the Barons' parent club."

 

Maybe something will still work out.

[SoCalBrewfan]

This one is almost heretical...after Fielder and Weeks, they have Manny Parra at 3 and then Hardy at 4.

 

www.creativesports.com/ne...0&zoneid=8

 

Complete list:

 

Fielder

Weeks

Parra

Hardy

DelaRosa

Jones

Nelson

Hendrickson

Martinez

Hart

 

plus Krynzel, Gwynn honorable mention

[lend d money]

A friend provided me with a copy of Sports Weekly(who by the way rated our farm system EIGHTH, that's nuts) this weekend. It stated that Jorge de la Rosa allowed one or zero runs in 17 of 22 starts last year. That's phenomenal! It made me wonder somewhat why everyone seems to be so sour on the Sexson trade(perhaps, its just the surrounding circumstances of losing a valuable player). Someone like that must have some serious upside. I think we got a capable catcher(something we didn't have) and two pitchers(also an area of need) who at the very least should be strong competitors for immediate or future rotation spots. If they parlay Spivey into something, then that has to be factored, as well. That's not too bad for someone you would lose in a year anyway. I'm personally unsure of Overbay, so I'm not really counting him and Counsell is one and done. Getting back to my original thought, are their surrounding circumstances(age, league, etc) that should temper my enthusiasm over de la Rosa??

[MassBrew]

While some select farmhands will report to Brewer minor league camp as early as February 21st, the Brewers overall report date of March 14th for both pitchers and position players is about as late as any team in baseball. Check out San Diego:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...es/?id=594

 

The early report date of the 21st for some of the Brewers' kids would seem to be the equivalent of the work done in fall instructionals, which was eliminated as of last season by Doug Melvin and staff. And no, we don't have a list of the early invitees.

[Al the Thinking Man]

why everyone seems to be so sour on the Sexson trade

 

Considering the Marlins got Choi and a Capuano "type" for a season of Lee, it's getting tougher and tougher not to say we got a ton back. No doubt de la Rosa is the one key to it, however. If he is indeed worthy of the Top 100 accolades he's been getting, or just finishing outside of, it'll be dandy.

[danzig6767]

Getting back to my original thought, are their surrounding circumstances(age, league, etc) that should temper my enthusiasm over de la Rosa??

 

This team has to find some quality pitching at some point if it ever plans to succeed.Since we all know it wont come from the free agent market,its mostly going to have to come from the minors.With the success rate so iffy with young pitchers,having a decent number of legit prospects is very important.De la Rosa seems to be pretty highly thought of,i'm glad we have him.It's one more solid pitching prospect that is in a group of young pitchers with a chance,hopefully just by odds a few pan out.

[igor67]

I do seem to recall that Doug stated they felt that it was more productive to do extra instruction in the spring than the fall league and that was their motivation for the change. The early reporting date would seem to validate that for all those who took it as a sign the team wasn't doing all it could do to make the prospect thing work.

[gregmag]

I think Danzig nailed it. Pitchers develop unpredictably. Having a large number of talented guys with upside is the best thing a team can do (short of drafting Mark Prior). This year, with a bunch of solid pitching prospects at the higher levels, will give us a much clearer picture of the pitching situation (say that five times fast). Also, if we get a top college righty out of the draft, we'll have a pitching-side Weeks -- a marquee guy to top a solid group.

 

Greg.