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This shows what the organization has done in terms of prospects - the depth. I know we all have the sentiment that we will be flush with high end pitching, but the reality is most of these kids won't pan out for various reasons, but the best way to counteract that is depth. If Melvin Hernandez stalls out at high A for some reason, I will be sad to see it, but there will be Jayden Dubanewicz, Ethan Dorchies, among a dozen of pitchers who could fill that void of next years A ball ace pitcher in Wilson or Wisconsin. Now teams like the PIrates and several other have better pitching prospects than the Brewers with a few high end elite prospects, but as far as depth of solid pitchers who have the ability to become more than that, I can't imagine another organization has that. You think big picture of controllable pitching (assuming current CBA rules into the future), and the Brewers have from Priester, Henderson, Miz, Patick through Cairone, Thompson, Morrison, Bentley, Holden, Roupe, Vucinovich, Flores, Episcope, its dozens of talented arms who can fill out a roster for a decade and a half. Only hopeful for continued improvement and health of these young kids. As the injury bug seemed to sap some of the excitement of this year (hitters and pitchers), but that is the risk with pitchers and why the adage is "there is no such thing as a pitching prospect". Which is mostly true, but if you have the depth you hedge your bets and set yourself for a higher chance of success.

Re: 40 man protection. I would do so for Coleman Crow, and +/- on Yeager as he has shown well but is advanced age for a prospect and guys like him are what the FO has excelled and finding. So with that said, they will likely protect Miller and Yeager and we watch Crow pitch elsewhere 🙄 Mitchell - definitely not someone to expect as a full time starter, but he has value as a bench guy, defensive player. His trade value is super low for all those reasons, so he is best to keep here, unless some team overvalues him and offers something, but otherwise keep him, but do not just DFA him. Like last year - a bat a preferably one that can play in the infield (3B, SS or 2B) is the primary need. We have to also temper enthusiasm on Durbin, as Ortiz when he came over looked like more O and OK D, and he has flipped that script this past season. He had some offensive pedigree, and Durbin could also maintain or regress. So still need someone to slot in with Turang, and then a Durbin/Ortiz combo of bench/starter "platoon" can help while awaiting the progress on several IF prospects over the next 1-3 years (Pratt, Wilken, Adams, Fischer, Made, Pena)

For Connor Thomas that is salt in the wound as the rule V pick up never amounted to anything, and there was opportunity cost (I won't revisit who we lost last year.....) but to now lose him as a free agent. Yikes. Nick DeCarlo that is a bummer, didn't get to see him much. But that is the business sadly.

Thanks for these up-dates Joseph. I am still following but taking a more mini-break from the minors after the end of the season results (both the minors with little success in the playoffs, and the big club) hope to see these bats get some reps and maybe parlay this into a big year next year.

Thanks @sveumrules i knew parts of that but appreciate the explanation to help me understand it all better

Ok. So I’m still confused- this old man brain can’t do this so well anymore- it’s a mutual option. The brewers are on the hook for $10M at least right? What if Woodruff declined his option first? And if they both decline it we can offer a QO and he either accepts it or if he signs with a team we get a draft pick? What if Brewers pick it up first- I mean it’s $10M extra which is a low additional cost for a vet who can reasonably provide a solid half year of front end starting pitching. But if they do and he declines can they still offer a QO? Anyway - I’m torn on running it back with Freddy and Woody and seeing what a full year of Priester, Patrick and Miz can do with Gasser, Henderson in the wings. Or let Woody go (maybe with a QO) and trade Freddy (albeit with either a less than exciting return), and see what Miz, Priester, Patrick, Henderson, Gasser can do gaining experience in a transition year before the possible shutdown in 2027 season.

Brewers will not lose anything, as teh Dodgers have not won a single thing. The Dodgers may be in the process of buying a title, but let's be honest no one on that team WON a game, the ownership is BUYING this. The Brewers have earned every ounce of every victory, so that's a moral victory to me

In reality the Dodgers are a well run team, who also has deep deep pockets, they have made good trades, good IFA signing and drafted/developed well, but also have a LOT of wiggle room and ability to have a deep line up when you can hand out blank checks to any baseball players, and also generate half of Japan's GDP. If the Brewers leadership had to ability/willingness (some of both?) to spend up to $150-200 million per year then you have another bat and another arm that could be a difference (imagine Adames and another SP on the current squad and the line ups don't look as bad). But yeah that payroll is way too much. And then Mets, Padres, Red Sox, Yankees leading the charge as teams who can just bloat the payroll when they want to. And glad you mentioned the bad teams not spending as another big problem too. Those owners just have a cash cow that they can ignore and still profit.

The Brewers are still among the best run organizations, with 5 division crowns and 7 playoff appearances in the last 8 years, with 2 NLCS appearances, and doing so with pretty much a bottom half to bottom third payroll all of those year (maybe 2018 was higher since a lot of the big spenders were not doing it that much). And the team has a good chance to still be playoff bound and even Division crown worthy for most of the decade with so many younger players and a bevvy of prospects (knowing that even only a handful will make it to the bigs). This is the year a big bat would have been helpful to keep the line up solid 1-9 as opposed to a few holes. And this is the first time since 2019 the starting pitching is not in the upper tiers (especially with Woody's injury), although last year the pitching was statistically good even if the stuff wasn't as good. So optimism is there. Also optimistic that a salary structure (maybe a soft cap with a very punitive salary tax like the NBA) can help bring some balance back to the MLB structure.

Good question And also - why the option to ACL as opposed to Nashville? Is there a distinction or does that affect the roster in some way??

Ok. So we may have some pitchers that could be ready for playoffs. If the team can hit there’s a chance of winning a series, but the offense has not been so good lately like most of the Month. I have ptsd from that 2021 offensive implosion and dread a repeat.

The offense is brutal right now. Can’t expect the pitching to throw shutouts every game. This offense has morphed into a 2021ish offense in the past month. From the line up will beat you down and score runs by submission to one where yeah if get that big inning it’s ok, otherwise we wait for a pitcher to give up 0-1 runs. Not how playoff wins happen. Phillies with their struggles a little bit are still scoring runs. And the Cubs have found more ways to score the past 2 weeks. Ugh.

Thanks again for sharing Agree Bonet sounds interesting, and not sure what to take from Garcia, as his numbers implied some contact, but we will see if he can continue to hit as he moves up. Gotta keep that catching depth going, and with Quero, Dinges, and maybe Wood, would love to see Garcia or Corobo step up as the next prospect to follow.

Offense far and away. The team's OPS is back to April/May territory. And a guy like Chourio is ice cold right now. And Contreras (is it both hands that are injured??). Turang and Frelick are back to their norms which is fine, but not quite back to their July/August splits. If there is a key moment in a game, I'm not sure who I want up to bat, maybe Yeli. The starters without Woody can be OK but not elite, and the bullpen is dependent on Megill's health (to have a set 4-some of Megill, Uribe, Koenig, Ashby at the back end) and possibly the return of a pitcher like Hall and/or Miz's role to give you some solid middle inning relief. So unless the team starts hitting, I can't worry about the pitchers right now.

Sorry I was going with the other theme- 3 wins and 4 Wins gets to the WS. Should have put it in blue. I was trying to be cute.

So the real magic number is 7.

Nice win by the Sounds, as they made ... ready for it? ... a lot of noise late in the game. 😁 But Cornielle had a solid start 6K, and only 2 ER, but 95 pitches for 4.1 IP is what has been his problem. I still see reliever in him as pitch count isn't as important. Craig Yoho - since August 10th he has allowed just 4 walks and 1 ER (2 BB and 1ER in one game in late August), so he has been pretty good. Would love to see him get that control and force his way on to the roster next year, as the club needs some solid relievers. Finally, a huge shout out to @Ro Mueller @Jim Goulart @Joseph Zarr and @Ben Lepak for the minor league Link Reports!! And the daily minor league game threads as well. Amazing job (again!) and so much fun. I patterned myself after most of the clubs and was here a lot early, and then mid-season but faded late, but it has been so much fun, and definitely saw several players who could be future Brewers (with health and continued progress) who had some great seasons. Pitching was interesting as no one really took the mantle as a pitcher to watch (last year Yoho and Hunt were those guys), but a lot of depth (particularly in the lower ranks, and a possible logjam in the upper levels if no trades and if all healthy), and the '23-'24-'25 HS pitching classes will be interesting to watch and hopefully a few (like Letson) can distinguish themselves as core prospects. I know there will be the AFL, but this marks the end of the true milb season. So I will be resting up to get back in shape for next April. Thanks to those who help set this up and to a lot of the posters in the daily game threads who I won't list specifically since I'll forget someone, but you all know who you are. But I will highlight one poster in @MudcatsfaninBrunsCO who will hopefully still enjoy the game with us now that the Mudcats will officially start their new history as the Wilson Warbirds.

It's a mutual option and if he is really bad, Brewers won't pick it up, and if he wants to pitch he will turn it down and go someone (hey I hear the Dodgers are looking for another pitcher🙄). So Woodruff's Brewer career is over, while overall MLB career is likely in doubt but still salvageable in the future. What will be most disappointing for me as a fan is that his last playoff appearance was in game 4 against the Braves where he pitched to keep it tied, and then Hader gave up the game- and series-winning HR to end that season. Still wild to think that was 4 years ago and that's the last appearance he will ever have a Brewer in the post-season.

If Quintana is healthy, plus he had been pitching poorly prior to his injury stint. Miz is too volatile to start in my opinion. But we will see. Just sucks to lose a quality pitcher like Woody again. Twice in 3 years to have him go down when the team is entering the playoffs just sucks. His last playoff pitch for this team will have been in 2021. Just crazy to think that.

Woody missing the playoffs will feel like that gut punch in ‘23 and the team really didn’t bounce back from it. The offense is ok but lost a lot of mojo the past month. Without dominant pitching I’m not sure what to expect. Peralta and priester followed by ? and ? is no way to match up in LDS and I would imagine Philly would be looking forward to that since they lost their ace.

For Vaughn I wonder if you took his 2024bWAR and his Chicago WAR this season (negative maybe?) and compared to his WAR with the brewers and what that improvement looked like, I’m sure pretty good bump.

Thanks for the update ARobs. EMJ signed as a minor league free agent to return with the club last year if I remember correctly. And would therefore me a free agent again at season's end, with Burke, Adams, Boeve and even Bitonti all fighting for 1B/DH roles in the minors and A. Vaughn still arbitration eligible, I have to think this will be the end of EMJ's time with the Brew Crew, and if so (I may be wrong on some of my assumptions), he should latch on to a team needing a left handed bat with some power potential who can handle 1st with first rate splits ability.

Yay Nashville offense. Biloxi - what a season. I mean in early April I thought this team was heading toward a repeat of their 2024 season with no offense, who squeezed their way into the playoffs with some amazing pitching in the second half. But late April this offense came alive after Garret Spain's arrival (technically a demotion from AAA), and while his numbers never popped he was a guy in the center of a lot of success (key HR, key catch or throw, etc). The offense was led by Wilken, Adams, Pratt and Lara and supported by Warren, Murray and R. Rodriguez, and looked like a runaway team in the Southern League. But injuries, man, the big what-if's for that club. It was Rodriguez who went down first, and while not a prospect he was a good veteran catcher with solid offense as an over-age player (26 years old, but his OPS was .941). Then it was Adams in that awkward collision at the plate. And as the team cruised to a first half title, Wilken suffers his second freak injury in as many years. There were so many nights of a single man bench. The team got his second legs late in the year with Matt Wood and later Blake Burke who both hit really well in the Southern League (Burke especially) which is no small feat. Luis Lara had an exceptional year, I mean an OPS .712 with 44 SB and gold glove defense as a 20 year. Cooper Pratt put himself as a clear top3-5 prospect, but whether it was nagging injuries or something his month-by-month splits showed good-bad-good-bad-good, so consistency was a challenge for him. They got Adams and Wilken back at the very end but neither really looked like the late April - early June versions of themselves. Boeve was never fully recovered this year I don't think. Made had a cup of coffee and showed he belonged. But that offense never clicked like they did in May, or even in late July or August. Pitching was very solid for most of the year, and that original Cornielle, Hunt, Kuehner, Mendoza and later Wichrowski rotation, that was later augmented with Coleman Crow. And when he was promoted, then it was Tyson Hardin, who then was shut down for a while until the end of season. The bullpen was solid with Yeager, Childers, Bowman, Bryant and Manfredi. But injury to Bryant in late July, promotions to Yeager and Childers really hit that bullpen. Overall a team that a ton of prospects, but man injuries (and a few promotions which is a good thing) really depleted the squad. I think they would have had a chance to truly compete for the Southern League title, but they felt like they limped along at the end and ran into a buzzsaw team in Montgomery who won what 8 straight against the Shuckers. This minor league season has been so fun, but I feel like a lot of the clubs in the organization, I kind of just limped along to the finish. I couldn't even get myself to watch the game last night just nervously looking at the scoreboard from time to time, and the 8th inning collapse just crushed my night. The good news is a lot of the names I typed here will be back and likely in AAA, or back in AA, and several will find their way on to the big league roster someday as there is a lot of talent here. While Nashville still has their season to wrap up this is not the end of affiliate ball, but it is right around the corner with the 3 games this weekend to play.

So you're saying there's a chance ?? 😉

I have to wonder what the plans will be. He will be a minor league FA, and he has the tools, and while I doubt he will be an MLB starter (as much as I pull for him, but his inconsistency, pitch counts will limit him) I think he can be a valuable arm as a bullpen piece. But he may not want to join the very crowded field of pitching prospects at the upper levels (Wich, Kuehner, Rodriguez, Crow, Letson, Hardin etc) to compete for innings and ultimately 40 man spots. But trades, injuries will ultimately sort this out. But Cornielle may want to try to sign with an organization that has less pitching depth to give himself a shot at making the bigs. I will be watching his offseason for sure.