AAA roster (and discussion on new stateside roster limits)

[Ro Mueller]

I'm reviving this thread since we're getting into the heart of 165-stateside MILB player limit compliance.

How will we integrate 22 draftees (okay, maybe 18 will sign), along with non-drafted signings (e.g. 6 last year: Hunt, Jackson, Whiting, Root, Durow, Alejandro Rodriguez)?

We also have 4 pitchers which may be activated from long-term injured lists soon: Jason Woodward, Gerson Calzadilla, Easton McGee, Ryan Birchard.

[CheeseheadInQC]

4 minutes ago, Ro Mueller said:

I'm reviving this thread since we're getting into the heart of 165-stateside MILB player limit compliance.

How will we integrate 22 draftees (okay, maybe 18 will sign), along with non-drafted signings (e.g. 6 last year: Hunt, Jackson, Whiting, Root, Durow, Alejandro Rodriguez)?

We also have 4 pitchers which may be activated from long-term injured lists soon: Jason Woodward, Gerson Calzadilla, Easton McGee, Ryan Birchard.

Do you think teams are going to try to push UDFA deals until the offseason?

[Joseph Zarr]

15 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

Do you think teams are going to try to push UDFA deals until the offseason?

I do not. No. I think teams will go quite hard after their preferred UDFA's. I think the competition will be fierce. And, I think the turnover we about to see might be stifling to say the least. 

[Ro Mueller]

17 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

Do you think teams are going to try to push UDFA deals until the offseason?

Super secret, pre-agreed deferred signings which don't get announced until October? That's something to look out for, but then those players would presumably miss out on the first-ever (unofficial) Extended Summer League.

But I think non-drafted players will be rather desperate to sign and smart clubs will happily scoop them up.

I'm curious how many releases we'll see across the MILB landscape over the next 4 weeks - perhaps a slew of 6th and 7th-year minor leaguers.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

It will be interesting to watch.  Note that the last official ACL games are on July 25th.  Most of the draftees are pitchers which historically dont get much playing time above rookie league anyways.  I guess my question is do the Brewers need to count these players against the 165 limit since they are unlikely to play in any official games?  I could see Burke and Dinges going to low A after a little time in Arizona, but I'm not sure anybody else might.  My guess is that the pitchers will all work out in Arizona playing unofficial games.

That being said, my unofficial count is that the Brewers are at 145 on the 165 limit (minor leaguers not on the 40 man roster). Even considering the few guys coming off the 60 day IL, they should be in a pretty good situation.  Maybe a few pitchers might be let go.

[Ro Mueller]

I'm tracking daily MILB releases now, as I think we're in the tightest period for teams to comply with the 165-maximum stateside player limit:

• July 22 - 10 releases
• July 23 - 10 releases
• July 24 - 19 releases (including 4 by the Brewers)
• July 25 - 22 releases
• July 26 - 28 releases
• July 27 - 7 releases
• July 28 - 15 releases

That’s a whopping 111 minor leaguers released over 7 days.

[Ro Mueller]

Tracking Week 2 of wide-scale minor league cuts:

- July 29 - 36 releases
- July 30 - 21 releases (including 1 Brewer)
- July 31 - 8 releases
- August 1 - 37 releases
- August 2 - 25 releases
- August 3 - 17 releases
- August 4 - 27 releases (including 1 Brewer)

Oh my - that’s 282 releases over 14 days.

[Ro Mueller]

The deluge of Minor League roster cutting continues into a 3rd week, as Major League teams strive to get their stateside MILB rosters down to the maximum 165-player cap (excluding long-term injuries):

- August 5 - 37 releases
- August 6 - 25 releases
- August 7 - 17 releases (including 1 Brewer)
- August 8 - 16 releases
- August 9 - 8 releases
- August 10 - 6 releases (including 1 Brewer)
- August 11 - 5 releases

That's now 396 players released over the past 3 weeks.

[Playing Catch]

20 hours ago, Ro Mueller said:

That's now 320 players released over the past 15 days.

Roughly that many players drafted in the top 10 rounds of the draft, and none of them are going TO the DSL. While it is weird to witness, it was predictable.

[Ro Mueller]

3 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

Roughly that many players drafted in the top 10 rounds of the draft, and none of them are going TO the DSL. While it is weird to witness, it was predictable.

Yeah, not a surprise in light of the new MILB roster rules, but still noteworthy. The "new normal". I'll keep tracking until the wave subsides.

[Playing Catch]

1 hour ago, Ro Mueller said:

Yeah, not a surprise in light of the new MILB roster rules, but still noteworthy. The "new normal". I'll keep tracking until the wave subsides.

Oh for sure. Especially interesting to see what the Brewers do. This contributes to the roster crunch of guys coming off the IL. I suspect, too that the recent promotions of Misiorowski and now Henderson spells some cuts to the AAAA staff.

Depending on how it shakes out, this could be the lack of a couple of small-time trades from our bullpen depth mildly frustrating. Although, I suppose this is the challenge for all the teams. AAAA-level pitchers probably weren't in very high demand.