When I was a kid, I used to pick up a copy of USA Today's magazine Baseball Weekly whenever I could. It was full of stats and articles that you couldn't find in normal newspapers. It was also responsible for sparking my interest in following minor league prospects.

I recall one mid-90s Brewer prospect that I was pretty excited about. Valerio De Los Santos pitched for the class-A Beloit Brewers (now known as the Snappers, a Minnesota Twins affiliate), and put up some decent numbers. It was a dark time for pitching in Milwaukee, and I would have loved to have his 3.55 ERA in the Brewers rotation. Valerio eventually made it to Milwaukee, but was a reliever by then. In 2003, after a couple of decent seasons in the major league bullpen, there was talk of moving him back to the rotation, but he was instead shipped to Philadelphia for a PTBNL (who was never named, as far as I know) in a late waiver trade. After this, he pitched bits and pieces of 2004 and 2005 with Toronto and Florida, but was never very effective.

This morning, I noticed that at age 35, Valerio De Los Santos is alive and pitching with Colorado's AAA affiliate. He's on the DL right now, but has actually done ok in relief. He was in the starting rotation briefly, where he didn't fare so well, but it would not surprise me one bit if Valerio gets one more shot in the majors as a LOOGY. Who knows, he might even have a few years of Brian Shouse-like success.

God, I feel old.

Rich over at Craven Cottage Newsround pointed out an article posted on Paul DePodesta's blog. He describes possible outcomes of management decisions using this matrix:

Does anything scream "Bad Process" more than Ned's decision to use (and stay with) Julian Tavarez in Saturday night's loss to the Twins? Let's follow the Twins half of the 11th inning:

- J. Tavarez relieved S. Torres
- D. Young struck out swinging
- B. Buscher singled to left
- B. Harris singled to center, B. Buscher to third
- M. Macri hit for M. Guerrier
- M. Macri walked, B. Harris to second
- C. Gomez struck out swinging
- A. Casilla grounded out to shortstop

0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors

Fool me once, shame on me. Bases loaded w/ one out is usually not a good situation, at least if you're a pitcher. Tavarez was lucky to get out of this mess. Bad Process, but it turned out ok equals dumb luck, says our Moneyball hero. After the Brewers fail to score in the bottom of the 11th, Ned fails to realize that he lucked out, and sends the ineffective Tavarez out for another go. The results are predictable:

- J. Mauer singled to second
- J. Morneau walked, J. Mauer to second
- J. Kubel walked, J. Mauer to third, J. Morneau to second
- D. Young grounded into fielder's choice, J. Mauer out at home, J. Morneau to third, J. Kubel to second
- B. Buscher singled to center, J. Morneau and J. Kubel scored, D. Young to second
- M. DiFelice relieved J. Tavarez
- B. Harris flied out to deep right center, D. Young to third
- M. Cuddyer hit for B. Bass
- M. Cuddyer tripled to deep center, B. Buscher and D. Young scored, M. Cuddyer scored on center fielder M. Cameron's throwing error
- C. Gomez flied out to deep left center

5 runs, 3 hits, 1 errors

Fool me...you can't get fooled again! The Twins scored 3 more runs on Cuddyer's little league home run after Tavarez was removed, but the damage was already done.

Yosted once again.

Found at an antique store in Madison, the best St. Louis Cardinals pennant I have ever seen:

The World Baseball Classic was a pretty neat idea. Well, not really a new idea, but a neat one nonetheless, that probably should have happened sooner. While we're at it, we might as well set up a Champions League-style club competition. Most every other major sport has this. Football has a number of continental and world club competitions. Ice hockey and basketball have simlar setups. Baseball is right up there in terms of international ubiquity, so why not? If the Brewers played some team from Japan in a meaningful competition, I'd definitely go. Who's with me?

He's better than Ben Broussard,
He's thinner than Ryan Howard,
Tim Dillard, Dillard!

Two years ago, Tim Dillard was a prospect on the rise - brewerfan.net's Power 50 had him as high as 11th in the organization at one point. After a mediocre 2007, his first season in AAA, he's starting to look like his former self again in Nashville. Strikeouts are back up and walks are back down as he's posted a 2.70 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 23 1/3 innings. With four pitchers in the Milwaukee rotation struggling to get through 5 innings, you can't help but to look at other options. Dillard is 24 years old, but his pitching arm is much younger. He was drafted by the Brewers as a catcher, but was moved to the mound upon arrival to rookie ball. He has much less wear (and experience) on his arm than most 24 year olds, one might expect him to bloom a bit later than most pitching prospects. Despite this, Dillard is still younger than several of the non-prospects currently filling Nashville's rotation. It's too early to give up on him as a starter. Dillard may not be a future ace, but his minor league numbers indicate that he could be a future (circa 2005) Dave Bush. And I think that is something we can all live with at this point.