Crash2303

or maybe one of them is not a 4.xxERA guy and he becomes a solid starter, which is much more valuable to our team or to any team. but you don't really know unless you give them an opportunity. Trwi7- Re: Smith's changeup I was going off of memory from things I read on brewerfan along with the quote from Yost in the linked article. going into scouting reports it looks like he used the changeup in the minors, but has reduced his useage of it in the majors as a reliever and has graded as about average in its limited usage. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=8048&position=P#pitchtype

I know this was discussed somewhat in the offseason, but since we're not in contention and with the injuries and complete disaster of a starting rotation we've already seen auditions from Guerra and Davies. this would be an optimal time to revisit current relievers Thornburg, Blazek, and Smith & Nolin (once they return) in the rotation and see what they've got (especially Smith & Thorny). I think we're not dealing any of them this season, so we won't risk lowering their immediate value if they fail, but could always return next year to the pen or late this year if they don't work out. however, next year all could be potential trade candidates. they have already established themselves as valuable bullpen pieces, it would only improve their trade value and possibly improve our rotation by seeing if they're capable MLB starters. Thornburg Started all through the minors, and was being stretched out as a starter as late as last year in AAA. His most recent stint as a starter in MLB was in 2013, 7 GS, 43IP, 1.47ERA, 7.1K/9, 1.16WHIP Blazek A career starter in the minors, Blazek had been struggling with a move to the bullpen in 2013 as a rookie in MLB. Towards the latter half of 2014, Blazek moved back to the rotation in AAA and in 17GS, spanning 77IP he had a 3.62ERA, 7.1K/9, 1.25WHIP. Since then, he's found his groove and has been great in the bullpen. would that success continue as a starter? Smith As a starter in the minors, Smith was pedestrian with his fastball, plus change, and curve. but in his last year with KC, he developed a slider, which has become one of the best pitches in baseball. Here's an article that chronicles that development when he came to the crew http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/brewers-land-will-smith-and-his-possible-breakthrough/ He's not only been one of the best relievers in baseball, he also has low split differentials between righties and lefties. so why have we not tried him in the rotation yet? Nolin When he returns- he should get a shot at the rotation. He probably is more suited for the bullpen, as his pitches can "play up" there, as he hasn't been able to find much elite success as a starter in the upper levels. but, he's got the talent so why not see what he can do.

Breaking down this year's trade assets as well as beyond. No Future Beyond This Year Guys This year's "flip" candidates and guys who will not be on the team in 2017 barring something spectacular. Let's hope these players pick it up by the trade deadline or when guys return from the DL, as outside of LuCroy & Carter, I can't imagine at this point getting much if anything from any of them! In other words, these are the players who should be playing as much as possible in hopes of increasing trade value. Aaron Hill- .530OPS Chris Capuano- 4.50 ERA and walks are an issue Niewenhuis/Presley- .770ish OPS in limited action Blaine Boyer- respectable 2.84 ERA, but 1.50 WHIP suggests he's gotten out of some jams Freeman/Torres- cough, cough Jonathan LuCroy- not showing much power, but everything else looks good (too much value to not be traded before next season) Chris Carter- leading the majors in SLG%, if he keeps it up through the All-Star break, should get back a good haul, as he's signed next year too. We're Listening the following will be on the 2017 roster unless traded beforehand, but if they have good seasons, there is a likely chance they will be gone by this year's trade deadline or before the start of next season. With the exception of Braun & Garza, all of the following are young, cost-controlled talent. [signed through] Matt Garza- [2017]- will definitely not be on the team by 2017 trade deadline- hopefully he comes back strong from the DL. Chase Anderson [2020] Scooter Gennett [2019] Wily Peralta [2018] Ryan Braun [2020] Jeremy Jeffress [2019] Will Smith [2019] Tyler Thornburg [2019] Michael Blazek [2020] Fight or Flight: Auditioning these are the young guys who should be around in 2017 spring training but auditioning for a roster spot this year and need to be playing as much as possible to see what they've got in them after the trade deadline (or before) once any of the above guys are gone. For most of them, there's a good chance that if they don't make the roster next season they will be traded/released. Rymer Liriano- 0 options Ramon Flores- 0 options Hernan Perez- 0 options Ariel Pena- 0 options (not on 40) Sean Nolin- 0 options Junior Guerra- age 31 Hiram Burgos- age 28 (not on 40) Jaye Chapman- age 28 (not on 40) Garin Cecchini- 0 options No Pressure, but... Guys who will all but assuredly be in the Brewers system next year, and in the mix for a 25 man roster spot, but need (more) MLB exposure & development this year to see if they're part of 2018 and beyond or outside looking in as possible trade assets. Zach Davies Taylor Jungmann Colin Walsh Yadiel Rivera Keon Broxton David Goforth Tyler Cravy Damien Magnifico Yhonathan Barrios Michael Reed Not Interested Understanding that no one is truly "off limits", I see the only MLB players that would not feasibly be traded this season are: Nelson Villar Santana Knebel Tempting, but no. Don't Start Their Clock (or Trade Them) Orland Arcia Josh Hader Brett Phillips Jorge Lopez Apologies But, You're Of No Use to Us guys who will not be with us next year, and don't offer any trade value this year (unless they suddenly get hot at AAA and reach the majors and can be offed for a team looking for a 5th OF or last bullpen spot). Shane Peterson Jim Miller Cesar Jimenez Will Middlebrooks Mitch Lambson Eric Young, Jr Ben Guez Jake Elmore [/Whenever LuCroy is Dealtb] Audition time for Pinto, Pina, & Garcia

but how much better would the brewers (and those other teams) have been if they hadn't given them that many ABs? even though we didn't have many other options within the system, many were calling for both of them to drop in the order, especially McGehee who was given an incredibly long leash to figure it out in the heart of the order.

One month into the season and most of our top prospects haven't done much to take that next step forward. I know it's only one month in which is nothing, but it raises eyebrows that so many of our top 25ish have performed so poorly. Really, outside of Arcia each one is off to a terrible start. here's hoping they are continuing to work through their struggles and improve. TOP 25ish Phillips- .250 BA and .388 SLG in AA Lopez- just under a 9 ERA Hader- dominating, albeit in AA and having large pitch counts knocking him out early Taylor- .581 OPS Nottingham- .169 BA and his .553 OPS is lower than Taylor's OPS- yikes! Medeiros - through 5 starts, like Lopez, just under a 9 ERA I.Diaz - had a multi-hit game yesterday moving his BA above the Mendoza line Gatewood- no walks, and with his homer yesterday, boosted his SLG% to a robust .326 and has 31K in 92AB to boot Harrison- .167BA/.218SLG/.435OPS makes Gatewood look like Ichiro worsting him with 32K in only 78AB Coulter- supposed to have this big power- well, his 2nd HR yesterday moved his SLG% to above .300 Davies - getting blown up in 3 MLB starts Reed - although getting on base, not showing the power we hope he would develop (0HR) Houser- 7.20 ERA Broxton- Ks are still a problem, was demoted to AAA Rivera- as advertised- good D, terrible hitter in PH opportunities Roache- ditto to Coulter, but only 1 HR so far in Biloxi Neuhaus- was off to a great start than got injured Denson- 0HR and .328 SLG Jungmann- although not technically a prospect, still one of our young projectable talents and has been atrocious at the MLB level, was demoted and had an equally horrid start in Colorado. Flores- using his opportunity to showcase a hollow bat THE GOOD- SOME OF OUR LOWER PROSPECTS ARE PERFORMING WELL Johnny Davis' bat is doing well, though he's 26 in A+ Stokes, M. Diaz, F. Peralta, Diplan, Ortega, Wang all solid starts Woodruff and Derby have been lights out STILL WAITING Demi, D. Williams, Clark, Ponce, Lara, Kirby, Liriano, T. Williams

does anyone know where I can find team pitching splits for home/away for the Sky Sox? I cannot believe these pitchers are really that bad this year! its a joke for jungmann to be sent down to work on his pitching in this park. I wonder if there's some stat that could quantify or interviews with pitchers who've pitched here or for the Rockies as to whether their mechanics were screwed up having to mitigate the atmospheric differences and affect on their pitches between home/away games.

eh-hem...hello? -Ben Guez

Thought it worth comparing our BF prospect list to a composite list of well respected prospect sources. So many to choose from, but I included six rankings. Four from national sites (Callis/Mayo on MLB.com, Hardicourt on Baseball America, JP Breen on Baseball Prospectus, Sickels on SB/MiLB) and one local list (Miller Park Prospects/DoU) who follow the Brewers affiliations much closer, but may lack the scouting resources of the national brands. and a sabermetric approach from Fangraphs with a split vote of lead prospect analyst, Dan Farnsworth and the KATOH algorithm). Here is the result (BF rank): 1. Orlando Arcia (1) 2. Brett Phillips (2) 3. Jorge Lopez (3) 4. Trent Clark (4) 5. Gilbert Lara (7) 6. Devin Williams (12) 7. Kodi Medeiros (8) 8. Cody Ponce (10) 9. Tyrone Taylor (17) 10. Josh Hader (5) 11. Isan Diaz (9) 12. Jacob Nottingham (6) 13. Clint Coulter (13) 14. Monte Harrison (11) 15. Zach Davies (14) 16. Michael Reed (16) 17. Nathan Kirby (19) 18. Demi Orimoloye (15) 19. Adrian Houser (21) 20. Jacob Gatewood (20) 21. Marcos Diplan (18) 22. Rymer Liriano (25) 23. Yadiel Rivera (23) 24. Taylor Williams (30) 25. Javier Betancourt (32) overall, the composite is pretty close to what we came up with here! Not on Composite Ranking: Cecchini (24) & Broxton (22). interesting disparities: Devin Williams and Tyrone Taylor are esteemed much higher on the composite scale, while Josh Hader and Jacob Nottingham are rated much higher among BF voters.

ha- thought that should have been in blue, until I looked it up- 5 for 8 with a HR and two doubles. has he finally figured it out? (not sure if that last question should be in blue either)

MVP- Scooter Gennett- boasted a 1.538OPS in 26AB going 12/26H and 4HR. Here's hoping he stays hot! CY Young- Chris Capuano- won a roster spot with his performance of 1.42ERA and 8K along with 1.03WHIP over 12IP and 9 games Rookie of the Spring- Yadiel Rivera- his .964OPS and 3HR along with stellar D, got him a spot on the opening day roster. What Kind of Laugh is that Award: Best Social Media Post- Brett Phillips- heck the award is named after him- I'd include a link, but I think we'd all appreciate that I don't. Don't Forget About Me: Most Impressive Performance of Someone Who's Not Going to Make the 25man Opening Day Roster- Andy Wilkins- went 7 for 19 and 2 HR in just 19AB to give him a 1.165OPS. Best Play/Highlight- Eric Young diving catch http://m.brewers.mlb.com/mil/video/topic/8879232/v563675483/milchc-young-jr-makes-a-terrific-catch-in-left Best Moment of the Spring- the Brewers press conference announcing that Hank the Dog is still alive. Worst Moment of the Spring- definitely Rymer getting drilled. scary. glad he's going to be alright. Stats Don't Mean Anything Award: Just Working on My Kinks- many to consider including Peralta, Garza, Blazek, Boyer, but I'm going with the first ever three way tie between Villar, Hill, and Anderson. I'd post their stats-(yikes!) but in their case, "stats don't mean anything". Who Won Spring Training Award- Jonathan LuCroy for playing well and remaining healthy. (knock on wood after reading this sentence)

Now that ST is wrapped up, thought it would be fun to pick out some winners from the spring- who would you give the following awards to? feel free to add your own awards too for fun: MVP- CY Young- Rookie of the Spring- What Kind of Laugh is that Award: Best Social Media Post- Don't Forget About Me: Most Impressive Performance of Someone Who's Not Going to Make the 25man Opening Day Roster- Best Play/Highlight- Best Moment of the Spring- Stats Don't Mean Anything Award: Just Working on My Kinks- Who Won Spring Training Award-

1 Orlando Arcia 2 Brett Phillips 3 Jorge Lopez 4 Trent Clark 5 Josh Hader 6 Gilbert Lara 7 Kodi Medeiros 8 Jacob Nottingham 9 Cody Ponce 10 Isan Diaz 11 Tyrone Taylor 12 Monte Harrison 13 Nathan Kirby 14 Demi Orimoloye 15 Devin Williams 16 Clint Coulter 17 Marcos Diplan 18 Zach Davies 19 Michael Reed 20 Sean Nolin 21 Adrian Houser 22 Bubba Derby 23 Jacob Gatewood 24 Rymer Liriano 25 Ramon Flores

I always appreciate the alumni page that is posted each year, highlighting mostly significant players from the year before. I love to check up on former brewer players and farmhands throughout the year and am glad when updates are posted that guys like Scarpetta are still bouncing around trying to make it or that Segura (and weeks!) is tearing it up in spring training. However, with so many guys who have left the organization both in the majors and in the minors I think it would be awesome to have a anchored forum topic (probably in the minors forums) with updates from former brewer system players, with the first post, a listing of all the current professional players, listed by league level, with a link to their stat page. I remember a few years back there was one that was kept pretty up to date. this would keep things streamlined in the brewers transactions pages. anyway, was wondering if that was in the works this year, and if not the reasons why- and if one of them is having someone to post it and keep it updated, I would be willing to make the initial post and do my best to keep it updated.

Thanks for the update- that definitely lessens the logjam- glad to hear he'll be sticking at SS, at least in the short-term. I was going off of this reference from Diaz last month: along with Chris Kusiolek's informative fall instructional first hand account that said Gatewood didn't look very smooth at 3B- with that said, who knows- Lara still may end up starting in Wisconsin, but really - I don't see any reason to rush him.

I'm so anxious to see what they do at Wisconsin this year. With Gatewood's move to 3B, that can almost assuredly mean that Isan Diaz will play at 2B, since he would have been the more logical move to 3B. Which must mean that Lara will be starting the year in A ball. they must like what they've seen by him this spring and will give him the Denson/Gatewood/Harrison treatment, of seeing what he can do there, and if he looks overmatched send him down to Helena in June. This also means that unless they are targeted for A+, Collymore, Neuhaus, Iskendarian, & Cotto will be trying to find playing time as all over the field and DH, when applicable. Because one would have to figure that Clark, Harrison, & Stokes are entrenched in the OF as well. and to boot you've probably got Denson & Rubio on the squad too. dang. Cannot wait to see them play this year!

stupid question- can i use my same brewerfan login and password? not seeming to work or do i need a different one?

if the brewers want a non-40 man guy (ie Perez) to make the 25 man roster, I'm curious who you would think has the best chance of slipping through waivers?

which is why we may have really undervalued Sardinas or are undervaluing Flores (not on MLB.com top 30). hard for me to imagine that in one poor season, playing without consistent ABs as 22 year old in the MLB, that he could have dropped so precipitously in value, when some prospects are coming out of college at that age and going into A ball.

very bold ranking for Peralta. others (BA) would argue if he's even the best prospect of the three (Herrera & Missaski). I also thought Rivera was way too highly ranked, especially above Gatewood. I agree w closetbrewerfan that his performance in Appleton hurt his prospect status. if he started and finished in Helena with those numbers I think there wouldn't be as much of a dark cloud over him. those Ks just affirmed people's fears of his long swing etc not being able to handle more accomplished pitching. I feel that Diplan is continually undervalued for everything that he brings. And where was Ramon Flores? Can't believe he wasn't on their top 30 list, especially over Barnes (no disrespect- a great late season and AFL performance). Altogether our top ten is outstanding, though agreed without a lot of elite talent, in fact I think our top 25 is as deep of a talent pool as in all of baseball. it would not surprise me to see 7-8 players on the bottom of the next top 100 list. and most likely with looming trades of Lucroy, Hill, Garza and who knows who else- it could get even deeper! good things for the future.

He's been buff for awhile. NFL genes. nevertheless, these pics say that his .237 SLG% in the AFL was a fluke. hoping for a big year.

this team could look entirely different after the trade deadline. So many pieces that could be moved: Carter, LuCroy, Hill, Anderson, Nieuwehuis, Gennett, Garza. not to mention young, controllable guys, like Smith or Peralta. with so many likely deals, it makes it plausible that we stash some major league guys with options in AAA like Jungmann in order to hold on to the assets listed above with no options left.

so...?

Best- every trade Stearns made, I think we came out net plus. Worst- not giving Rogers and Sardinas a chance to prove what they can do as full time starters and possibly boost their value. Fear- Davis & Segura are going to have great years Surprise- thought we'd get more consensus top 100 prospects. I love our cumulative returns, a lot of value there with upside. but, surprised that in a total compilation of Rogers, Lind, Sardinas, K-Rod, Khrush, Segura and Sneed, Wagner & Seidenberger we didn't target/receive really any "top tier" talent. Nottingham and Diaz are probably the highest rated, but are on few top 100 lists. Love- acquiring "flip" candidates: Carter, Anderson, Hill, keeping Garza Underappreciated- 40 man/DFA/waiver juggling

barring any other major move, i am optimistic about this year's team. in spite of trading away so many veterans for prospects in the rebuild, i think this team is going to surprise a lot of people and surpass most everyone's expectations (especially national pundits). I like that Stearns and Co. haven't completely dismantled the team (despite what many writers are saying), but have added guys like Chance Anderson, Carter, Hill and Niewenhuis as well as young players who are looking for an opportunity to shine like Santana and Liriano to keep the team looking respectable. there are A LOT of "ifs..." just like last year, but I'd take the odds on most of the "ifs" that people have mentioned. and if even half of them turn in our favor, i think they're going to sport a pretty good team. I'm not saying a playoff contender, but a competitive one, which is more than most see them as. I'd love to see this team jump out to a great start, if nothing else to spite all the haters. with that said, even if we're in spitting distance of the last wild card spot come the trade deadline, i would still look to deal Lucroy, Hill, Garza, Anderson etc if they are playing well and we get a good offer. KEY IFs: If Peralta and Nelson take the next step If Santana comes out big, replacing Davis If Lucroy, Garza and Braun produce near career norms If Hill and Carter have bounce back years If young players like Jungmann, Villar, Liriano, Flores step up in their new roles If the bullpen pitches as good as last year

assuming we don't add anyone else to the 40 man before spring training, the new available spot makes the 25 man roster prediction all the more interesting. this obviously opens up hope for the likes of non 40 man guys like Perez, Middlebrooks, Guez, who otherwise were on the outside looking in.