Crash2303

mediocre...perhaps- certainly hasn't shown much in the past couple of years, but was coming on strong late. still 25- have to think there's more potential there. interesting note- since August 1 he's had an OPS of .913 and since August 20, has led the entire Brewers organization in OPS among regular players.

it does make a lot of sense, and I am curious why a bigger deal with Houston for a 3b/1b was not done at the time of the Carlos Gomez deal- throwing in some combination of K-Rod/Cotts/Lind- I can only assume that Hou did not want to part ways with too many of their young prospects, because it makes too much sense from the Brewers stand point to not have. either way- some previous discussion on the matter is listed in greater detail in the transactions/rumors forum here for those interested: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=33168

Houston has Jed Lowrie and the MLB level, Colin Moran at AA, and JD Davis at A+. Would one of them work for our 3B until Lara is ready? what would it take to trade one of them? Maybe Adam Lind & K-Rod?

what do you think of trading Garza + Gennett for Scott Van Slyke + Alex Guerrero this offseason? Gennett replaces Guerrero and Garza adds depth to the back of the bullpen. Although Scott Van Slyke is versatile, being able to play corner OF & 1B, he has been blocked by Gonzo, and a glut of corner outfielders over the last three years. He put up big numbers in the minors and has done well in the majors, even though it has been in a limited reserve/PH role. I think given a chance, he could be a solid first baseman. Assuming Braun stays in the OF (or is traded), Van Slyke fits a need- he is a FA at the end of the 2019 season. Guerrero has the higher upside than Gennett, but Gennett should be a decent starter for LA. we could also include K-Rod and receive another player to better equalize it.

SS Jean Segura C Jonathan LuCroy RF Ryan Braun 1B Adam Lind LF Khris Davis CF Ben Guez 3B TRADE for Garza and K-Rod 2B Scooter Gennett NOTES * In general, I think its looking more and more like management is going to try and stay competitive next year to keep people in the seats, which is why you didn't see a complete uhaul of players leave. if you look at the roster- if they can fill CF & 3B, it is likely they'll be a .500 team or better. unlike the NBA they don't need to tank to retool, we can trade a few spare parts to add to our young core in the off-season or next year and still maintain a good MLB team. * Ben Guez - nobody has mentioned him as being in the running for the CF next year. It is too bad what happened to him this season, because he most likely would have seen a lot of time on the MLB roster. but, Melvin has said he really likes him and wants to bring him back- unless we pick up a FA or trade, I think he's our starting CF over Wren, Reed, Peterson, Schafer. * Keep Wren, Reed, Arcia, Phillips in AAA for a full season there to refine their game- no need to rush them next year. * Domingo Santana will take over in the OF once Lind is traded at the all-star break. He'll take Kris Davis' spot unless Khrush Davis shows up between then and now, in which case I expect Braun to go to 1B. * I expect one or both of Gennett and/or Segura to be traded before the end of next season with Sardinas taking over starting duties and Rivera filling his utility spot. * 3B- big hole, with few if any viable options next season. Few FAs available there, so wouldn't be surprised if they use K-Rod, Garza, and Segura/Gennett to address 3B for next year via trade. If not I expect Dominguez, Perez, Gomez, Sardinas, Rivera, Rogers to battle it out in ST. I think Rogers beats them out, working on his D all off season. Though, really wish Taylor Green had panned out- he'd be perfect to slot in their for a couple years.

man, too bad about Garfield. his 2012 year as a 21 year old in A ball .910 OPS really had many hoping he'd be our catcher for the future. and although the brewers found some impact players in latter rounds, the 2009 draft continues to disappoint- now all our six picks in the first three rounds are out of the system, and none of them to date have made it to the majors. combine that with the well documented Mike Trout debacle, and well, disappointing. good luck Cameron and Eric Marzec, too

Just looking ahead- among others, all of these players below have a good chance of playing in Wisconsin at some point and in some combination next season: 1b- Denson, Perry, Karkenny infield- Lara, Allemond, Gatewood, Neuhaus, Aviles, OF- trent clark, Harrison, stokes, ormoloye, Rubio, Segovia p- Ponce, Kirby, Diplan, Walters, Yamamoto, V. Diaz, M. Diaz, Perrin, Trent that's 10-12 guys that are in most people's top 30 Mil prospects. it'll be fun to follow them, as well as the AAA team, which should be well loaded with talent.

It is not an uncommon strategy. In order to create enough money to sign a 1st round talent in the subsequent rounds like we've done the past two years with Jake Gatewood & (hopefully) Nathan Kirby, respectively, the team will use a midround pick (slot valued around 300-400K) and intentionally sign someone who was probably going far outside the 10th round, for 50K- thus saving around 300K extra to use to sign that top round talent, and the player gets the notoriety of being a mid-round pick, instead of 15th roundish pick. It has been standard strategy for the Brewers the last three years: 2015- 5th round- Blake Allemand (50K) 2014- 5th round- Dustin Demuth (50K) 2013- 6th round- Garrett Cooper (30K) and yeah, especially after the 20th round, most picks are signing for 10K or less. not much- but its that or Indy ball...yikes.

I understand that he's not regarded as much of a prospect being so old for the level he's at, but how in the world did Yerison Pena NOT make the allstar team?

1 Orlando Arcia 2 Gilbert Lara 3 Kodi Medeiros 4 Trenton Clark 5 Tyrone Taylor 6 Clint Coulter 7 Monte Harrison 8 Jorge Lopez 9 Marcos Diplan 10 Taylor Jungmann 11 Nathan Kirby 12 Devin Williams 13 Michael Reed 14 Victor Roache 15 Cody Ponce 16 Tyler Cravy 17 Taylor Williams 18 Jacob Gatewood 19 Tucker Neuhaus 20 Corey Knebel 21 Demi Orimoloye 22 David Denson 23 Yadiel Rivera 24 Tyler Wagner 25 Nick Ramirez Apologies to Luis Sardinas (who I still consider a prospect and would be #10), Jorge Ortega, Joantgel Segovia, Cy Sneed, and Damien Magnifico, which would have rounded out my top 30.

well, it looks like we struck out on the slew of those (hard to sign) 1st-3rd round talent we took a flyer on at the end of the draft as they all have decided to go to college. unless you count Christian Trent, who PG had at #221, but BA did not even have in the top 500. either way- do you think it was worth it to draft those guys knowing you'd probably not be able to lure them to play or rather take some guys you know you could sign, but have a low % chance of ever making to the MLB?

Grasping at straws- but I keep thinking of a way to sign these early round late round picks, and I'm sure if Montgomery and crew have drafted them, they're thinking of any way possible too. However, is this at all possible within the rules? to sign them for whatever we can now (I'm guessing 100K to stay under pool penalty) and then have a handshake agreement that next year or somewhere down the line they would renegotiate their contract or give them some sort of extra bonus, or buy them a Ferrari or something? seeing how much college teams get away with, it's surprising to me that more pro teams don't try [under the table stuff] things like that...not saying they should, but just curious if they can...

If my understanding is correct, we have $7,743,800 to sign our first 11 picks (rounds 1-10). Assuming we sign the top 4 picks (feel free to substitute Orimoloye for Walters) for their cumulative slot value (about 5.8 million), that would leave us around 2 million left to sign the remainder 7 picks. That is also presumed to be around the amount of money that both Donny Everett and Justin Hooper were looking for (both projected mid-1st round picks). If we could sign one of those guys instead of picks 5-11, would you do it?

didn't know where else to put this, and I know no one else would appreciate this, but on this site- I had a dream two nights ago that the Brewers traded Dustin Demuth for first base depth with a AAAA 1B I had not heard of before. I remember having mixed emotions about it and was anticipating going to Brewerfan to read people's reactions about it and get more info. I had kind of forgotten about the dream, and had just operated under the assumption that this had happened. but when I went to check out the actual deal this morning, I realized it was a dream. how random is that? probably telling me, I'm consuming too much sports info. Has anyone else ever had a dream of the Brew Crew?

also very interesting that there was not a one walk issued in the entire game. does anyone know about how common that is? i follow box scores, and not something i am accustomed to seeing or at least noting.

there are certainly some older nationally ranked prospects who never reached their potential- in addition to the already mentioned Meyer, Surhoff, & Billy Jo, there was Glenn Braggs (incredible minor league numbers), Tyrone Hill (super hyped BA prospect), Narcisco Elvira, Jamie Cocanower, Mike Birbeck, Duane Singleton, Angel Miranda, Valerio De Los Santos. Here are some others that never reached the hope we all had for them for various reasons: * Nick Neugebauer- I thought he was going to be better than Sheets (injuries cut him short)- I was so excited how he started out in 2001 in AAA (as a 20 year old!) * Rickie Weeks & Brett Lawrie- thought for sure Lawrie'd be the next Ryan Braun. Every year, I say this is the year Rickie breaks out (recalling those scouting reports of gary Sheffield comparisons and uber fast batspeed). this year was no exception, and no exception to the disappointment. * Jeff D'Amico & Cal Eldred- both had injuries plague them, but when Eldred went 11-2 as a rookie- I think we all thought he was going to be a future ace * Brad Nelson & Hunter Morris & (Kevin Barker)- I still remember one of those scouting reports on Nelson with his "barrel size chest". both had a great year in AA that made me a believer * Laporta & Gamel - even without the injuries to Gamel, not sure he would have been more than a AAAA player like Laporta * Jose Capellan & Jorge De La Rosa & (Ben Diggins)- La Rosa ended up turning it around w/ Colorado of all places, but I was so excited when we picked these highly ranked guys up in trades * Ben Hendrickson & Manny Parra - I thought both would be great mid-rotation starters for years to come * Jungmann & Bradley & (Thornburg & Burgos)- verdicts still out I guess. I loved Thornburg from day 1- especially those scouting reports likening him to Tim Lincecum. Burgos' WBC was awesome- seeing him match up against all-stars- hopefully he can still harness that awesomeness for the Crew one day. * JM Gold, Eric Arnett, Mike Jones, Mark Rogers & Antoine Williamson - all 1st round picks- I always had them penciled in, in my future Brewer rosters I'd create. what a let down that none of them were ever penciled in for the real thing * Zach Braddock & Angel Salome - maybe not stars, but both had me really excited at different points. always believed Salome would be able to hit .300 in the show, and Braddock's K-rate was awesome to see in the boxscores. both sort of went AWOL. * Cristian Guerrero, Raul Mondesi, Cutter Dykstra, & Tony Gwynn, Jr - never really bought in that they'd be stars, but was still disappointed that these sons of allstars didn't do more * Jose Mieses & Jose Garcia- both pitchers didn't receive national attention, but both put up good numbers- was really hoping they'd turn out, and was always curious if that infamous Mieses palm ball would translate to success at the MLB level and equally disappointed that we never got to see the answer, because injuries took them both out. * Taylor Green, Caleb Gindl, Jeff Bianchi, Logan Schafer, Dave Krynzel, Sean Halton, Shawn Zarraga, Josh Prince, Kentrail Davis, Cody Scarpetta, Nick Bucci - 2nd tier prospects who I thought "for sure" would have been solid MLB contributors/bench guys at worst...and probably best too. * Yohannis Perez, Rolando Pascual, & Jose Garcia (OF) - some latin American players that never reached the level that their signing bonus hinted that they would reach. especially for Perez, who pulled a Wang and sat in Milwaukee for a season, thought for sure he'd be there again in a couple years.

Each year I enjoy taking a look at a 25 man roster of X-Brewers currently playing and compare it to the current team LINEUP CF Lorenzo Cain KC LF Michael Brantley CLE 1B Prince Fielder (L) TEX RF Nelson Cruz SEA 3B Brett Lawrie OAK 2B Rickie Weeks SEA SS JJ Hardy BAL C Matt Pagnozzi ARZ BENCH UI Alcides Escobar SEA 1b/3b Juan Francisco (L) TB OF Norichika Aoki MIA C George Kottaras (L) OF Tony Gwynn WAS STARTERS Zack Greinke LAD CC Sabathia (L) NYY Yovani Gallardo TEX R.A. Dickey TOR Jake Odorizzi TB RELIEF Jose Veras HOU Tom Wilhelmsen SEA Zach Duke+ CHW Tom Gorzelanny (L) TB Craig Breslow BOS Mike Adams Jorge De La Rosa (L) COL

Looks like its to the pirates: http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/first-baseman-hunter-morris-headed-to-pirates-in-trade-040215

now if he could just hit the ball...

wow! if that's accurate- that's really, really fast. though to put Jesse Owens in perspective his 1936 Olympic record setting time of 10.3 sec in the 100m, is around what topflight high schoolers run now- Jeff Demps, in HS, ran a 10.1 a few years ago and is now in the NFL. I remember we had Chris Morris in the mid-2000s, who had over 100 SB one year down in A ball or something. I don't know what ever happened to him- but he had to be pretty fast. also, I remember people saying Manuel Melo in the DSL was lightning fast. others that come to mind in recent years are Darren Ford, Kennard Bibbs. this makes me want to make a top 10 list of fastest Brewers ever.

I'd say Top 10 (in no order): Johnny Davis Omar Garcia Monte Harrison Josh Prince Troy Stokes Michael Reed Tyrone Taylor Brandon Diaz Chris McFarland D'Vo

Yeah, I remember that write up. However, I don't think beating Gomez means he's the fastest. I'd put Omar Garcia and Monte Harrison in that conversation too. Gomez can blaze, obviously, but I don't think has the same speed he did when he was younger.

who would you argue is currently the fastest player in the Brewers system?

would like to see some more power hitters drafted. on another note- with what we know at this point, who would you wager will have the better career when it's all said in done of our 3rd round picks from the last three drafts? Cy Sneed- 2014 Barrett Astin- 2013 Zach Quintana- 2012

Assuming we sign our 2nd pick of the draft, SS, Jake Gatewood, do you think this could negatively influence the potential Gilbert Lara signing? Might Lara look at the Brewers and see a talented logjam at SS- and think there might be a better opportunity somewhere else? Franly Mallen- DSL Jacob Gatewood- R Tucker Neuhaus- R+ Orlando Arcia- A+ Yadiel Rivera - A+