Never Outhustled

Feel freee to load up todays BA Chat with Allen Mathews with Brewers related questions.

I'm telling you all...Moustakas will be a Brad Nelson type of guy if they pick him. The guy doesn't fit anywhere. I think he is a nice pick if you groom him and develop him into a good catcher in the system. With his bat, he will always be useful somewhere. But I don't think a player is done any favors by being switched from position to position in the minors like Nelson was and Moustakas would be. Nelson would be in the Bigs if he could hit. Nelson was regressing at the plate before he switched positions. IMO, Moustakas and Nelson just don't compare as hitters, and they don't really compare defensively either. Moustakas has the hands and arm to be a quality 3B. It gets somewhat overlooked that Domiquez is considered a future gold glove caliber 3B, yet its Moustakas who plays SS on there HS team. Theres not too many gold glove 3Bs that didn't play SS on there HS team. I would take Wieters no quesitons asked with that pick if he is available and then my next two choices are Smoker or Weathers. I like Casy Weathers, but I wouldn't take a reliever 7th. Do you think whoever drafts him will make him a starter? Colbyjack mentioned earlier he thought Weathers might be able to do that.

Per BA, Bryson signed for $300 K. Tons of big ticket signings this year, with 28 teams involved in the action.

Wow, thats really intriguing Indiansfan, and welcome aboard. Boras really thinks he can get $10 million for Wieters? Thats insane for a polished college player who still couldn't slug 600.At that price, I might prefer Parker at slot. But then again, wasn't Hochevar price sky high at 1st too? He signed for $3.5 mill, that is closer to acceptable for Wieters.

I thought the team should have never added him to the 40 man roster. I can't believe they continue to throw away money on him. TJ surgury and rehab costs the organiation big bucks. At this point, they should DFA him like Toronto did with Vince Perkins and Jesse Harper.

I can't believe Melvin thought it was necessary to call up our 5th best AAA pitcher. The results are predictable.

Ramlow was working one of the Brewers' radar guns from the stands during a Rookie League game last season. Ramlow said Jeffress topped 100 mph on six consecutive pitches. "It was 100, 102, 101, 103, 101 and 101," Ramlow said. "It was unreal. Then, he hit 94 to 98 the rest of the game." Wow. just wow.

with the 7th pick in the 2007 MLB Draft, the Milwaukee Brewers select Phillipe Aumont Given the fact that the Brewers have shown the last few years with the selections of Inman and Jeffress that they have no problem with short righthanders, I think Jarrod Parker will be the choice, assuming Moustakas is gone. Parker is more consistent with his velocity, and his secondary stuff is a little ahead. Aumont also has some family issues. I'm never excited about drafting HS pitchers (or used up college pitchers), but Parker has Roy Oswalt, Tim Lincecom type potential.

Cale Iorg, son of Garth Iorg, could get drafted despite being out of the country on a mission. Garth, the former Blue Jay 3B, is presently a minor league infield instructor. Is it with the Brewers?

Thats great info Dhonks and Pogocat. I hadn't heard that about him, but now that I heard it from you 2, I don't want him either. The Brewers have too much going right for them to mess around with a guy like that. As for where Salty could be dealt, I think Jim Callis had it right when he suggested Salty for Milledge. Milledge to replace FA to be Andrew Jones, and Salty replaces aging Paul La Duca. Also, it makes sense to deal a punk for a punk.

Awesome news on the DFEs. its like the Brewers already had there draft. The Brewers have had a ton of nice prospects from this process, though Parra was the only one previously with any national hype. To now land 3 hyped guys is a major shot in the arm. Also nice they didn't have to break the bank on Haydel, there was talk he might get 7 figures, the 2nd round money he got is more appropriate. Its nice that he's developed some pop instead of being just slap and dash. If he's grown this much this late, he might not be done.

Ford is just rediculous at A ball, I'm all for flipping him and the struggling Fermaint.

No word on Haydel or Bryson? The rest of the highly ranked DFEs have reportedly signed. This can't be a good sign. Yuck.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If Baseball America is right, and Matt Wieters falls all the way to St. Louis, if he is available, Wieters is the guy the Brewers SHOULD pick, but we all know they wont. Are you really that comfortable with Wieters production? It just hasn't improves since his freshman year, and his slugging % just really seems uninspiring. Recent Brewer collge pick sRyan Braun and Cole Gillespie outslugged Wieters in there junior year by 120-140 points. Wieters production and offensive profile in almost carbon copy of Jeff Clements, and he doesn't excite me a ton either. But if thats not the case, and they dont feel like getting the crowbar out to sign Wieters, then two other picks I would like to see are Smoker or Weathers. I too would be happier with Smoker than the pitchers that are really being connected to the Brewers.

So many other things come into play, as I'm guessing most of the 22 teams ahead of the Brewers on the list has had at least one compensation pick within that time frame, with teams such as the Red Sox, Yankees, A's, Braves Sure, some of the teams that spent more than the Brewers had more picks, just like all 7 teams that spent less than the Brewers had less picks. The annoying part is when similar market divisional teams without extra picks like the Pirates and Reds outspend Milwaukee, and teams with somewhat significantly fewer picks, like the Cubs and Tigers, outspend the Brewers by over $3 million each. which allowed the team to sign Rolando Pascual What ever happened to the budget we used to have for signing latin players? Wasn't the idea of closing down there academy in the Dominican suppose to save money for signings like this? No, they don't go over slot value much, pretty much adhering to the commissioners office's recommendations, which is frustrating when players such as Jered Weaver, Stephen Drew and possibly Matt Wieters become available, Homer Bailey is an example here of how not paying a little over slot has burned us. The Reds were willing to pay it, and thats part of how they outspent Milwaukee without having extra picks. but pick-by-pick, they aren't cheap, as they don't reach for a player and sign them for below slot value Ya , your right, though both Jeffress and Rogers took a little less than slot, as did disappointing 3rd rounder Josh Wahpahpah, though not significant amounts. While the team hasn't had a DFE candidate that everyone is well aware of, guys like Lorenzo Cain, Darren Ford and Zach Braddock signed for more money that you may think I'd hope they would pony up to sign a few of these guys from the draft of 2004, as they originally only signed 8 players after round ten, and half of them were college seniors. 25 players total seems to usually be the bottom number of players signed, and I've counted as many as 35 a few times. I didn't take the time to count up all the signings for each team, because many of these later signings are just cheap college players, and have little impact on budgetts. I don't suppose you have the list of the teams in order with the amount they have spent? Sure, I could do that, I'll try to get it posted by the end of the week. In all, I was maybe a little harsh calling them extremely frugal. I'll just say somewhat frugal, or just unaggressive. However, I see little eveidence to call them spenders, and I really hope that changes this year, like we're hearing.

X, where have you gotten those figures? Are they based on BA's ranking of the top 10 rounds? Does it factor in total draft budget (picks signed after the 10th round, DFEs It is calculated from BAs 10 round figures. It does not include players signed after round 10 or DFEs, as all the DFEs for the Brewers have been drafted after round 10. I should have noted that. However, I don't think that it would have a big impact. Many other teams have a higher sign later in the draft, and bonus money for some of those can be found in BAs advanced draft database. For example, Boston spent 1.25 Million total on there 16th and 18th picks last year, and the Cubs spent 500 K on 14th rounder Drew Rundle. The Angels are 1 of the few teams rated behind us, but would jump past us if I added in the 2.1 million they spent in 2004 on middle rounders Nick Adenhart and Mark Trumbo. Many teams sign DFEs. The Brewers did not have a big ticket DFE the last 3 years. Many of the teams that don't use the DFE process sign more players originally. If I added in the extra 400 K for RJ Seidel or the extra 100K for Alex Perdiard, without adding in others teams later signings, it would have almost no impact on the rankings. A majority of big ticket signings after round 10 are HS players, and the Brewers have signed just 6 HS players total after round 10 in the last 3 drafts.

BA said (in their blog maybe?) that Moustakas was moving up boards quickly. He's a guy I would love to see us get but I'm prepared to try to justify a prep RHP to myself. Moustakas was moving up the boards quickly because most didn't have him in there top 30 to start the season. A few broken records later, he's a possibility for the Brewers at 7 I just don't know who'd steal him from us. #1 Tampa has admitted they've narrowed there list to Price, Wieters, and Vitters, and Price seems to be a foregone conclusion. #2 KC seems to be focussing on pitching. #4 Pittsburg won't pick a Boras client. #5 Baltimore likely won't pick a Boras client either, per BA. That seems suprising, but I guess they've avoided Boras draft picks in the past. Thats leaves us with just #3 Chicago and #6 Washington. Moustakas would be a good pick for the Cubs, but they seem to be in love with Vitters. Washington is thought to be open to picking a Boras guy, but most think it will be a Boras pitcher, like Scherzer or even Brackman. I like our odds, if we only pony up the cash.

I don't think DFE's should count as steals. That's really just a crap shoot and an organization who's willing to throw down money on a gamble. I agree DFEs shouldn't count, but I disagree there a gamble. The DFE process is designed to take away the gamble. You get to follow the player a full season longer, and then make an informed signing. I don't think they should count as steals because many DFEs aren't players who aren't highly thought of, there just more difficult signs. The DFE process has allowed the Brewers to be very efficient with there money. They sign fewer players originally, then sign the most desireable after the DFE process.

Seriously - how can Ned expect to score many runs when you trot out a couple guys with OBP's below .300? Don't blame Ned, Mench is clearly Melvins guy. Melvin drafted and developed him and Texas, and then traded for him when things started to go south in Texas. Yost has little choice in the matter. What do you want him to do, leave Mench on the bench and start Jenkins or Gross against lefty pitchers? Hart can't start in both LF and RF, even he isn't that fast.

And because that gap between the two has closed, that along with some inside info, is why I believe Moustakas won't even be available for the Brewers pick. I hope I'm not putting you on the spot again asking you to share, or at least hint at, your inside info? Thanks as always.

The Brewers always spend when it comes to the draft, The Brewers have been bigtime frugal when it comes to the draft in the Mark Attanosio era. The teams has ranked just 23rd in signing budget the last 3 years. Thats pretty sad considering the team picked 5th 2 of those 3 years. The team results have been good despite there penny pinching ways, so hopefullt Attanosio is realizing that he has the right peolpe in place here to invest his money in. Adding Moustakas would be a bigtime cue. He has a very good chance of being the best player to come out of this draft. He has more power and better defensive tools than Vitters.

Hall is just as good a hitter as Crawford, and the D-Rays have outstanding 3B and SS prospects playing well at AA, Evan Longoria and Reid Brignac.The D-Rays focus continues to be finding competant pitching.

Aquino will have his rehab assignment expire soon, does anyone know when? That could impact this decision. Joe Dillon and Jose Macias have prior experience at 3B, so the promotion could be just about anyone.

Thats great news that the organization thinks enough of Jeffress development to get him playing in real games. Its a big relief actually.

Patrick, Moustakas has blown Vitters away statistically this year, do they play similar competition? Do they play each other? Some still consider Vitters the top HS hitter, why the huge difference in production? And while were discussing Vitters, how would you compare him to the how you felt about the 2 SS's that played at his HS previous to him, his brother Christian, and your 2002 favorite, Scott Mooore?