The Wednesday Mug

Yesterday was a big day for the Brewers despite a tough loss, as they selected Eric Arnett, a big righthanded starter from Indiana, with the 26th pick in the first round of the draft yesterday. McCalvy has a blog entry about it and the official site recap of day 1 of the draft. JS Online also has a recap. Battlekow's look at each of the picks will post at 11:45, shortly before the draft starts up again at noon. You can read through last night's draft open thread for some initial observations, and check out this Brewerfan.net thread to stay updated on the picks, with first-hand scouting reports.

We'll start out with some Brewer draft posts around the internet. Sconnie Sports has a collection of a few scouting reports, and Sheffield's House has a few ideas about the picks.

Strasburg negotiations have yet to begin, and The Washington Post details how they will probably go. I'd think Strasburg will eventually sign for about $15 million, but it could take awhile. R.J. takes what I feel is a really conservative look at Strasburg to determine his worth. 

The Pirates took Tony Sanchez with their first pick-- a huge overdraft by almost any measure. The reactions are coming in, and the Pirates fans are not particularly enthused.

Back to the Brewer news, Mike Burns is down to AAA and Mark DiFelice has returned. It's the right call. Burns pitched well in his only outing in the majors, but Smith could potentially be a high-leverage short reliever. His AAA numbers are quite a bit better than Burns's.

Dave Bush will make his start tonight despite taking a line drive in his last start. The staff expects him at full strength.

I like this concept. I have always disliked the argument that says relying on the home run is foolish because it will not always be there, so you need to manufacture runs. I for one would prefer to hit the ball far enough that the defense cannot possibly create an out instead of relying on putting it in play at the risk of hitting it at a fielder. That's also why I stress K/BB ratio so much in pitchers.

Because I mentioned it yesterday, I owe an update: Raul Ibanez heard about the blog post questioning if he was using steroids. He was going along very nicely, with a good analogy and a few good points about credibility, but then he did have to go and drop one of these:

"I'll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff," he said. "Make them accountable. There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother's basement."

From BBTF again, here's another good story on Eddie Matthews and hitting.

This is neat-- a minor leaguer blogging for an independent Tigers Minors site made his league's All-Star team.

I still don't really want to trade for Jarrod Washburn, but he's a case of statistical improvement being backed up by an actual change in stuff or approach. He's getting a lot more swinging strikes. In another Mariners story,

Brandon Morrow is going to be a starter again.

I wasn't able to join the draft party here at BCB last night due to being a high school baseball spectator, and I feel obligated to mention that Kimberly advanced through the sectional. The first game featured future Purdue ace Brad Schreiber throwing a 3 hit, 11 strikeout shutout and hitting 92 several times in the first few innings. I link this video not only because there's a few shots of Brad throwing, but there is also some footage of some very cool people carrying a couch (yes, I am one of them). The state tournament for all divisions starts next week at Fox Cities stadium-- make your way out there if you can.

Tonight's game is another 7:05 start in Milwaukee. The matchup is Dave Bush against our old friend Jorge de la Rosa. The draft open thread will open at 11:45, and we'll hope to see everyone here to discuss our future Brewers/ minor league roster fodder/ players with the coolest names.