How Will The Bonus Pool Be Split (The Signing Thread)

[jay87shot]

4 hours ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Good god. Someone give these guys a bottle of whiskey

Can't trade deadline, need to keep at it. August 1 though will be a sloppy night in the front office.

[wiguy94]

43 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

Once you go to a 4 year school, you're not draft eligible under after your Jr season or if you'll turn 21 years old by I THINK the end of the MiLB season, but not positive. I know there are draft eligible Soph's but they're rare. In fact, I think there was at least one that we drafted. Hollan from '21 perhaps? Maybe it was Riggio?

 

We drafted Riggio out of HS in 2021 and he was just drafted out of college this year

[brewmann04]

I think they did a great job adding arms to the system 

[BrewerFan]

8 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

We drafted Riggio out of HS in 2021 and he was just drafted out of college this year

I thought Hollan , Holton and Riggio were all in one class, but wasn't positive.

But Riggio is 21 so...draft eligible as a Soph. 

[Jenkins5]

Tod Johnson & staff may do better at turning over every stone looking for pitching. They really don’t touch D1 guys unless it’s more reliever & underslot. They hit all these Juco, small D1, D2 programs. 3 high school arms from areas that do get overlooked a bit with New England, Midwest (Indiana), and Washington. 
 

Just seems they out scout teams in these overlooked areas. They find guys who are athletic movers, have spin rates that are high, and natural feel for pitching even if arm slots or deliveries may be little funky to some. Identify those traits & then let pitching lab & coaches refine pitch strategy, teach them how to use & set up pitches for best outcome. Size doesn’t matter (unlike the Seid, 6’4+ 220+ strategy he was using for awhile) 

 

Birchard is my favorite college arm. Learned to trust that their first Juco guy will always be a stud. Myles Austin intrigues me like Woodward (the bonus he got was more than thought so they must really like the arm even with TJ). 
 

Getting Knath (17), Letson, Johnson, Chambers (17) in high school ranks brings some young arms we haven’t brought in much under Johnson (Lemon, Olsen, Jarvis, Low, Vire are only ones really coming to mind) to blend with young international arms we been signing. 
 

Love the draft & excited to see what they do this month! Only seen Wilken so far

[Austin Tatious]

Give Tod Johnson a raise.  I think the Brewers exceeded anyone’s expectation with this draft.  No one knows how these players will turn out but they did a great job putting us in position to get some hits.  They manipulated the draft pool well while still striving for upside even with under slot guys.  

[BrewerFan]

4 hours ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

It was so close to the teams signing every single top-10 round pick this year. The Cardinals' 10th rounder looks to be the only one that didn't sign, and even he apparently agreed before changing his mind. Wonder what happened there.

The Cards came to him and asked, "Do you think Baseball should be fun," and when he said yes, they pulled the offer. 

They can't have kids playing a sport as adults thinking it's "fun and games." How are they gonna explain a player smiling to the kids that go to the games?

How can Carpenter and Wainwright and future manager Molina continue to with their righteous indignation if they throw out one of those kids showing up pitchers by smiling?

 

Just wasn't a risk they could take!

 

(I don't like the blue font, hard to read against the background...so consider this my blue font).

[BrewerFan]

3 hours ago, Jenkins5 said:

Tod Johnson & staff may do better at turning over every stone looking for pitching. They really don’t touch D1 guys unless it’s more reliever & underslot. They hit all these Juco, small D1, D2 programs. 3 high school arms from areas that do get overlooked a bit with New England, Midwest (Indiana), and Washington. 
 

Just seems they out scout teams in these overlooked areas. They find guys who are athletic movers, have spin rates that are high, and natural feel for pitching even if arm slots or deliveries may be little funky to some. Identify those traits & then let pitching lab & coaches refine pitch strategy, teach them how to use & set up pitches for best outcome. Size doesn’t matter (unlike the Seid, 6’4+ 220+ strategy he was using for awhile) 

 

Birchard is my favorite college arm. Learned to trust that their first Juco guy will always be a stud. Myles Austin intrigues me like Woodward (the bonus he got was more than thought so they must really like the arm even with TJ). 
 

Getting Knath (17), Letson, Johnson, Chambers (17) in high school ranks brings some young arms we haven’t brought in much under Johnson (Lemon, Olsen, Jarvis, Low, Vire are only ones really coming to mind) to blend with young international arms we been signing. 
 

Love the draft & excited to see what they do this month! Only seen Wilken so far

Yes...to ALL of this.

I obviously don't know exactly how the Brewers go about things, but I VERY much hope that not only do they have a very good..."apprentice," type program.

I fear a brain drain with Stearns. Not all the top dogs(though perhaps some). 

 

But those scouts and Johnson, the pitching lab, Charlie Moore...so many guys behind the scenes that we hear or see VERY little about who churn out good relievers by unlocking a different sinker in the case of Peguero or they turn an awful defensive catcher into a guy ranked in the top 6 in throwing, blocking and framing as they did with Contreras.

But the to build the type of system we have now, it requires not just a big investment from ownership in the department(Which we've gotten) but as you said, those guys who go everywhere to uncover those arms, who develop relationships with the players, who gauge their demands so we can sign 18 guys in a draft class MOST of us would have been THRILLED getting ~14 players signed in.

So I hope we keep Johnson obviously, but it runs so much deeper than that. From top to bottom, we've never been run this well IMO(Stearns is also largely to thank for this) in the scouting department at all levels and we've never had a farm system that has Jackson Chourio and we're already looking at a 17 year old with a .300/450/550 slash line in the DSL who could VERY possibly become a top 100 himself next year and will likely/possibly start in full season ball next year before his 18th Birthday due to his advanced approach. 

VERY exciting time to be a Brewers fan at all levels...though, think about how good we'd look if we could afford a 4th OFer or a middle reliever for ~8-10M a year and get rid of our Latin American department all together! 

 

[wiguy94]

17 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

Yes...to ALL of this.

I obviously don't know exactly how the Brewers go about things, but I VERY much hope that not only do they have a very good..."apprentice," type program.

I fear a brain drain with Stearns. Not all the top dogs(though perhaps some). 

 

But those scouts and Johnson, the pitching lab, Charlie Moore...so many guys behind the scenes that we hear or see VERY little about who churn out good relievers by unlocking a different sinker in the case of Peguero or they turn an awful defensive catcher into a guy ranked in the top 6 in throwing, blocking and framing as they did with Contreras.

But the to build the type of system we have now, it requires not just a big investment from ownership in the department(Which we've gotten) but as you said, those guys who go everywhere to uncover those arms, who develop relationships with the players, who gauge their demands so we can sign 18 guys in a draft class MOST of us would have been THRILLED getting ~14 players signed in.

So I hope we keep Johnson obviously, but it runs so much deeper than that. From top to bottom, we've never been run this well IMO(Stearns is also largely to thank for this) in the scouting department at all levels and we've never had a farm system that has Jackson Chourio and we're already looking at a 17 year old with a .300/450/550 slash line in the DSL who could VERY possibly become a top 100 himself next year and will likely/possibly start in full season ball next year before his 18th Birthday due to his advanced approach. 

VERY exciting time to be a Brewers fan at all levels...though, think about how good we'd look if we could afford a 4th OFer or a middle reliever for ~8-10M a year and get rid of our Latin American department all together! 

Totally agree with everything you said here but Yophery turns 18 in December so just off on his age.  

[BrewerFan]

1 hour ago, wiguy94 said:

Totally agree with everything you said here but Yophery turns 18 in December so just off on his age.  

Ah...thought he was a June Birthday. That was stuck in my head for some reason. Anyway, kid looks brilliant...even at the ripe old age of 18 by December!

We've just gone sooo long where we'd have all our eggs in one basket so to speak. I remember, you NEEDED Mark Rogers to or Jones, or Jungman or Bradley or whoever it may be and now there's less pressure on them and it's just one group at each level with a couple guys who have big time talent.

[umphrey]

Interesting strategy this year. When we draft a college guy 11-20, it feels like we are just filling out the A/AA rosters. When we draft high school guys and go over slot to do it, the probability for them is quite low, but there is more hope of getting an all star there. 

[SF70]

5 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

Yes...to ALL of this.

I obviously don't know exactly how the Brewers go about things, but I VERY much hope that not only do they have a very good..."apprentice," type program.

I fear a brain drain with Stearns. Not all the top dogs(though perhaps some). 

 

But those scouts and Johnson, the pitching lab, Charlie Moore...so many guys behind the scenes that we hear or see VERY little about who churn out good relievers by unlocking a different sinker in the case of Peguero or they turn an awful defensive catcher into a guy ranked in the top 6 in throwing, blocking and framing as they did with Contreras.

But the to build the type of system we have now, it requires not just a big investment from ownership in the department(Which we've gotten) but as you said, those guys who go everywhere to uncover those arms, who develop relationships with the players, who gauge their demands so we can sign 18 guys in a draft class MOST of us would have been THRILLED getting ~14 players signed in.

So I hope we keep Johnson obviously, but it runs so much deeper than that. From top to bottom, we've never been run this well IMO(Stearns is also largely to thank for this) in the scouting department at all levels and we've never had a farm system that has Jackson Chourio and we're already looking at a 17 year old with a .300/450/550 slash line in the DSL who could VERY possibly become a top 100 himself next year and will likely/possibly start in full season ball next year before his 18th Birthday due to his advanced approach. 

VERY exciting time to be a Brewers fan at all levels...though, think about how good we'd look if we could afford a 4th OFer or a middle reliever for ~8-10M a year and get rid of our Latin American department all together! 

 

And to nit-pick further — Charlie Greene, not Moore, leading the worlds best catching development system.

Anyone following the Brewers system since Stearns took over should have been able to see the incredible job done by him and his first hire, Matt Arnold, in rebuilding this teams infrastructure.

First the analytics department, then the PDS, then hiring Tod Johnson to fix the amateur draft. Mike Groopman to improve the international department, then Matt Klentak, who’s taken it to a new level. Scouring the independent leagues for bullpen arms. And finally, re-vamping the hitting development system in ‘19 & ‘20.

They now have one of the best organizational infrastructure teams in baseball, and without the trillions spent like the Dodgers. 

Anyone concerned with the teams prospect procurement systems prior to this last draft-class, should have zero worries moving forward, even if the Stearns “brain drain” takes some of our best. It’s like Tampa & Cleveland now, systems deep with talent, knowledge and experience, able to get the next man-up to keep the train moving.

This is the best time in franchise history to be a Brewers fan. These organizational departments assure success moving forward. Book it.

[Playing Catch]

11 hours ago, Jenkins5 said:

Tod Johnson & staff may do better at turning over every stone looking for pitching. They really don’t touch D1 guys unless it’s more reliever & underslot. They hit all these Juco, small D1, D2 programs. 3 high school arms from areas that do get overlooked a bit with New England, Midwest (Indiana), and Washington. 
 

Just seems they out scout teams in these overlooked areas. They find guys who are athletic movers, have spin rates that are high, and natural feel for pitching even if arm slots or deliveries may be little funky to some. Identify those traits & then let pitching lab & coaches refine pitch strategy, teach them how to use & set up pitches for best outcome. Size doesn’t matter (unlike the Seid, 6’4+ 220+ strategy he was using for awhile) 

 

Birchard is my favorite college arm. Learned to trust that their first Juco guy will always be a stud. Myles Austin intrigues me like Woodward (the bonus he got was more than thought so they must really like the arm even with TJ). 
 

Getting Knath (17), Letson, Johnson, Chambers (17) in high school ranks brings some young arms we haven’t brought in much under Johnson (Lemon, Olsen, Jarvis, Low, Vire are only ones really coming to mind) to blend with young international arms we been signing. 
 

Love the draft & excited to see what they do this month! Only seen Wilken so far

I wonder if they try to stay away from arms that are overworked. It seems like the organization is very disciplined with monitoring pitch counts and innings as guys climb the ladder. They also, obviously, trust their method of coaching pitchers.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The Brewers definitely have a knack for going after Juco arms - which tend to not be nearly as overworked as D1 college pitchers and are draft eligible earlier than 3 yr college players.

[Kellerowl]

9 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

The Brewers definitely have a knack for going after Juco arms - which tend to not be nearly as overworked as D1 college pitchers and are draft eligible earlier than 3 yr college players.

Not necessarily.  Jucos have no contact rules where as D1s have very strict contact rules and work outs.  Thats why most kids go to juco to get the work in, grow and develop and then transfer.  It all comes down to the system and player.  Did they play summer ball, do they throw a lot in the fall.  Jucos play lots of games in the fall whereas D1s really dont but intersquad.

[Jenkins5]

5 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

The Brewers definitely have a knack for going after Juco arms - which tend to not be nearly as overworked as D1 college pitchers and are draft eligible earlier than 3 yr college players.

Agreed, Also with high school & these Juco/little D1 D2 teams, they more go out & pitch more naturally. NCAA D1 kids who spend 3-4 years on campus get more over-coached mechanically and strategically, along with the beat up work load they are given. Could make it harder to help make some of changes they’d like to unlock what they think that pitcher can do. They come more polished but not always in way you want them to. 
 

Top D1 programs are rigorous & they build their pitchers up for 3-4 years the way they need them to be & through their strategies that may not align with Brewers. Juco/D2, they have pitching coaches but not near the rigor. Those arms are just more raw that you can really build up way you want them pitching the ball.
 

 

[Scooterfletcher]

Letson was the guy I hoped we’d have enough left over to sign.  Phenomenal work this year regardless what happens!

[BrewerFan]

20 hours ago, SF70 said:

And to nit-pick further — Charlie Greene, not Moore, leading the worlds best catching development system.

Anyone following the Brewers system since Stearns took over should have been able to see the incredible job done by him and his first hire, Matt Arnold, in rebuilding this teams infrastructure.

First the analytics department, then the PDS, then hiring Tod Johnson to fix the amateur draft. Mike Groopman to improve the international department, then Matt Klentak, who’s taken it to a new level. Scouring the independent leagues for bullpen arms. And finally, re-vamping the hitting development system in ‘19 & ‘20.

They now have one of the best organizational infrastructure teams in baseball, and without the trillions spent like the Dodgers. 

Anyone concerned with the teams prospect procurement systems prior to this last draft-class, should have zero worries moving forward, even if the Stearns “brain drain” takes some of our best. It’s like Tampa & Cleveland now, systems deep with talent, knowledge and experience, able to get the next man-up to keep the train moving.

This is the best time in franchise history to be a Brewers fan. These organizational departments assure success moving forward. Book it.

Nit pick away...I always slip up on Greene and Moore. 

 

That last line is why I am SO incredibly excited about this team. I really believe one of these years things are going to come together. A healthy year from Misiorowski, Ashby steps up and becomes a #2, Peralta, Gasser and I mean...who knows who else it could be...and Uribe looks like a future Clase type reliever, offense coming up in droves.

 

I wonder when the Brewers start to consider a long term deal for a guy like Chourio? You'd think of all the prospects we've had, he'd be like Braun. One you look to sign immediately. Or hell, more like Longoria/Franco.

That's just so premature, but he's the type of guy you need to keep around. He's a franchise building block. 

[BrewerFan]

2 hours ago, Scooterfletcher said:

Letson was the guy I hoped we’d have enough left over to sign.  Phenomenal work this year regardless what happens!

That was my guy originally as well, but when I saw the Morton comp, the spin rates, the 97 velo...and the Brewers thought there were similarities to Burnes.

But when it comes to this stuff, I'm more like a 15 year old in HS. My eyes go right for those nice, dancing...spin rates and those big, beautiful...fastball. I take solace in knowing that the people who know what they're doing are looking a bit deeper than I would have!

This was a late revelation, but Leston is younger, he's throwing 94(both are upper Midwest, so little difference there). 

A couple years from now and Leston could be in AA and our next rising pitcher and Morton could be a 2nd/3rd round pick.

[SF70]

4 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

Nit pick away...I always slip up on Greene and Moore. 

 

That last line is why I am SO incredibly excited about this team. I really believe one of these years things are going to come together. A healthy year from Misiorowski, Ashby steps up and becomes a #2, Peralta, Gasser and I mean...who knows who else it could be...and Uribe looks like a future Clase type reliever, offense coming up in droves.

 

I wonder when the Brewers start to consider a long term deal for a guy like Chourio? You'd think of all the prospects we've had, he'd be like Braun. One you look to sign immediately. Or hell, more like Longoria/Franco.

That's just so premature, but he's the type of guy you need to keep around. He's a franchise building block. 

Long-term deals for both Chourio & Quero. The young ages they will hit the bigs warrant an all-out effort at extending them into their early 30’s, to potentially get 8+ prime years from both. 

The ability of this team to discern/scout upside pitching past the first round is extraordinary and when combined with the PDS that gives me extreme confidence in the pitching train moving along quite nicely far into the future.

Having elite prospect procurement systems will help keep the team from having to sell-off most of their good veterans, thus avoiding down periods and keep this a contending team year after year. 

MA — extend Arnold-Johnson-Klentak and Greene please.

[BrewerFan]

15 hours ago, SF70 said:

Long-term deals for both Chourio & Quero. The young ages they will hit the bigs warrant an all-out effort at extending them into their early 30’s, to potentially get 8+ prime years from both. 

The ability of this team to discern/scout upside pitching past the first round is extraordinary and when combined with the PDS that gives me extreme confidence in the pitching train moving along quite nicely far into the future.

Having elite prospect procurement systems will help keep the team from having to sell-off most of their good veterans, thus avoiding down periods and keep this a contending team year after year. 

MA — extend Arnold-Johnson-Klentak and Greene please.

One reason the Dodgers system ALWAYS looks so damn loaded...is they're not calling guys up early. They let them force their way into the lineup, they're not called up out of necessity. 

I made a thread people...generally disagreed with talking about trading Yelich after this year to move the contract and the main thinking was...if you can lock those guys up(And Quero certainly belongs in there) and you have a core that's locked in long term, you've just got these guys coming in waves. I'd include Frelick, Wiemer...Turang in that list. At the price I'd like to see Frelick and Turang at this point, it's probably not in their interest since they got 1st round money, but Wiemer?

8 years, say 40M with 2 option years and then you can build in incentives. 30, 40 HRs...make it so he CAN earn another 10-12M. I don't know how realistic that is, but I really believe if you do this with our best prospects, even if one turns out to be a Hiura type...you'll still be coming out well ahead.

[Playing Catch]

Who are the recent comps for guys that get "premature" extensions?

- The Braves' core-4: Acuna, Albies, Riley, Harris II.

- Wander Franco

- Scott Kingery

Any others of note? I'm blanking on others.

I guess I'm trying to figure out the cost-benefit risk/reward of these extensions. I just don't think they've seen enough from Wiemer to be convinced that they really need to buy out FA years for some players.

[Joseph Zarr]

On 7/26/2023 at 5:26 AM, SF70 said:

And to nit-pick further — Charlie Greene, not Moore, leading the worlds best catching development system.

Anyone following the Brewers system since Stearns took over should have been able to see the incredible job done by him and his first hire, Matt Arnold, in rebuilding this teams infrastructure.

First the analytics department, then the PDS, then hiring Tod Johnson to fix the amateur draft. Mike Groopman to improve the international department, then Matt Klentak, who’s taken it to a new level. Scouring the independent leagues for bullpen arms. And finally, re-vamping the hitting development system in ‘19 & ‘20.

They now have one of the best organizational infrastructure teams in baseball, and without the trillions spent like the Dodgers. 

Anyone concerned with the teams prospect procurement systems prior to this last draft-class, should have zero worries moving forward, even if the Stearns “brain drain” takes some of our best. It’s like Tampa & Cleveland now, systems deep with talent, knowledge and experience, able to get the next man-up to keep the train moving.

This is the best time in franchise history to be a Brewers fan. These organizational departments assure success moving forward. Book it.

I'm not crying. You're crying.

[BrewerFan]

6 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

Who are the recent comps for guys that get "premature" extensions?

- The Braves' core-4: Acuna, Albies, Riley, Harris II.

- Wander Franco

- Scott Kingery

Any others of note? I'm blanking on others.

I guess I'm trying to figure out the cost-benefit risk/reward of these extensions. I just don't think they've seen enough from Wiemer to be convinced that they really need to buy out FA years for some players.

Julio Rodriguez. I've seen SO many articles calling for Acuna Jr to hold out and wondering will he(all mention how exceptionally rare that is) because he signed such a terrible deal. For some reason, I don't see those about Albies. 

But I think Julio Rodriguez is probably a pretty good outline. 12/209

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/seattle-mariners/julio-rodriguez-23850/

The contract just blows up with the incentives. I'd stay away from that. But you see why there could be an issue with Yelich's contract. Rodriguez gets paid very early on here...BUT it also stays pretty flat. In 4-5 years, that 18M is going to look like an absolute drop in the bucket.

[Robocaller]

Our high draft picks have been doing amazingly well. If Boeve maintains his newly found power, he will be a huge steal. 
Does any of the prospect rating sites do a re-grade of teams draft after the season?