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We will see. Molina had potential l but was a LHP and we just signed a zillion of those. This reeks of a Hudson for Chambers trade last year, but maybe less upside on both. And that’s why we keep T. Jay on the 40 man so he could be dropped - as opposed to a real prospect?

lol. Good for you. And that makes me laugh -,since all last summer that was my evening - get home - have dinner - and enjoy my adult beverage (or 2) and watch some minor league baseball. still none of my business- but appreciate you answering!

When will the Nashville podcast be recorded? A few questions for that - first, what to make of Freddie Zamora? (He had a promotion that may not have been earned, but he did fair when there) And do we still have Collins/Hicklen under control? What are their futures? Will Chad Patrick be ace of AAA, or the #5 starter in Milwaukee? (With a homegrownish rotation of Henderson, Miz, Hunt and even Wichrowski at some point) Do we still have Tyler Jay, and if so what are we thinking he brings? I mean keeping him and losing Shane Smith is a head scratcher for me. Abner Uribe will be back from injury - and will start in AAA I assume, so what to look out for him? Finally - who plays in Nashville in 2025 - not many Shucker earned a promotion but some will have to move up to fill the roster I assume? And not Nashville, but general - who are your favorite UDFA from the past few years, and favorite Indy ball signings? (I know Joseph loves Gardner). Last and way off topic - @Joseph Zarr - what are in your cups - looks like you have 2 or 3 cups during the podcast (you can message as oppose to answering here, or just ignore since it is none of my business).

@Joseph Zarr - you recorded the biloxi episode already? Look forward to it. Bummer - I was going to ask a few questions but I’m sure you both probably went over what I wanted to hear anyway And looks like duewizard asked most of them too. 😃

Great listen, thank you @Spencer Michaelis and @Joseph Zarr. What a christmas present to listen to this. Thanks for taking several of my questions - I'll try not to have so many for next time.

The 2007 season was a major turning point. Good recap and nice memories. That was the beginning of the first wave after rebuilding from the worst times of Brewer history, as Fielder, Weeks, Braun along with Hall, Hart and Hardy created the young core that fueled the 2008-2011 playoff pushes. Back then finding pitching was the Achilles heal of the BrewCrew (while CC Sabathia and Zach Greinke were big trades, no consistent starter developed other than Gallardo, and we had to rely on guys like Suppan and Wolf for big innings over those years). The Braun era also bridged to the Yelich / pitching led seasons that fans know now, and that has become the new standard bearer. Exciting times. This is close to the era that existed before I was a fan - the 1978 - 1983 Brewers who had a winning record and would have made the playoffs multiple times if 3 division or wild card teams existed back then. But that leads to the other memories for me the 1987-1988 seasons, where the Brewers were very competitive and would have been in the mix for playoffs if a different system was used. The 1987 team was better in record than the WS champ Twins, and only finished second because of the dominant seasons the Tigers and Blue Jays had. That was the 13-0/first no-hitter season and also sported the 12 game losing streak. The 1988 team wasn't quite as good, but was within a few games of the BoSox who really struggled in September, and a good final push by the Brewers would have seen them as a Division winner, but they were 4-4 in the last 10 days of the season. But were still one of the top 6 teams in the AL and could haven been playoff caliber with different rules. The 1992 team was the last peak of that Young/Gantner/Molitor led teams that started in the late 70s and essentially ended in 1992. And from that point on the Sal Bando / Selig "dark era" teams of the late 90s and early 00s were awful and didn't have a winning record for a decade and a half, and wasn't even closer than 8 GB in any division until the 2007 seasons. To put that in perspective the Brewers from 1993 - 2006 had one .500 season (2005) during that time and no playoff pushes (closest finish was 3rd place, 8 GB). While from 2007 - 2024 they have had 12 winning seasons out of 18, and 8 playoff appearances. This was even factoring in the 2015-2016 mini-rebuild, and also has the sub-.500 2020 team that made the playoffs (as karma's way of not giving the '87, '88 or '92 teams their deserving chance). So this is the really the best the Brewers have truly been in their history. The 1978-1983 span was amazing, but this 2018-2024 run of 6 playoffs in 7 yeas and 4 division titles I think surpasses that.

Well put. It’s one thing for like the Pirates or the A’s (until this offseason) whose owners don’t care about winning, and get stuck in losing. Another for clubs like the Cards now or the Brewers for a decade where they tried but weren’t very good. Now the teams who are really good at scouting, development and coaching (Rays, Guardians, Brewers for example) get punished because not only can’t they compete with the insane multi-billionaire owners with revenues streams to match, but that can’t even keep their best players. A true cap won’t ever fly - wealthy owners don’t care enough and the players unions won’t ever accept it. But the luxury tax - maybe keeping it and not going up with it - along with some incentive (like maybe pooled money to help keep stars on their teams like a “Jordan” rule in baseball) would be good. Just believing that a Burnes or an Adames or Contreras truly could stay for a long term would help teams and their fan bases. Otherwise it is back to the 50s 60s where the poor teams are the feeders for the big clubs - thats what MLB is looking like these days.

Good point, I completely missed that he is no longer on the list. And yes, these lists are just that a best guess at an organization, and with the Brewers it's tough, as there is a top 5ish, then a 6-30 middle where many players are all about equal and rated depending on how you personally rank (closer to bigs, ceiling vs floor, potential tool, prior track history). And as an aside on the player, I mean I get that we are down on Lara after a just-OK season. But he was a 20-year old in high A, who had a down year offensively compared to his expectations, but he is an elite fielder, makes contact, and wasn't he also in the discussion of good swing decision and/or contact rates? His lack of power as a smaller player is the main negative - as we have plenty of defense first, solid contact guys like Frelick, Turang and we talk about them like it's a negative. But if he can get some gap power he can be a top 10 prospect again. Of note, it seems that the organization, challenging prospects like him or a guy like Wilken hurts their ranking, not that the player or team worry too much. But Wilken. who is way down on many lists - but imagine if he started in high A like B. Taylor (prospect and #1 pick of the Rays in '23), and mashed, and then had a good month at AA, he'd be surefire top 100 prospect like Taylor, but struggling to hit AA pitching and having that facial injury makes him an after thought now it seems.

One more follow up to add - reading some of the end of year prospect ranking list. Can you elaborate on Luis Lara's season? He was so young, and was streaky, but I view it as a major success, however his prospect status has slid quite a bit. Is he still a real prospect considering most players his age were is the ACL or in low A?

Yeah. I was going to argue that they are basing it on pure projection - thus young guys or high draft picks. But Durbin at 15 ahead of Wilken and Adams nixes that. Yeah it’s a weird list. I’ll read their write ups this weekend and see if I can glean anything. But it’s part BA high ceiling, and part name recognition it seems. Does anyone know when JB (Aram and Jack) will post their lists - I think it was early January last year? EDIT: it was 1/7./24 for the Call Up podcast last winter.

TRats question First off - where do we see a lot of these guys next year. I mean Areinamo, Adams are locks to go to AA, but Lara probably yes given the full season. Pratt (who moved up to AA for the playoffs)? What about E. Fernandez Garcia and Vargas who by ages/AB should move up? Hall or Burke or Wood repeat A+? What to make of H. Perez who came back healthy with some pop? The starting rotation had a lot of arms. Talk about W. Rudy the “ace” of the staff who is not as well heralded. And Aquino was good, and Cornielle looked great but was repeating a year in high A, so how does that work into evaluating them? Plus Manfredi who looked great at times and may now be a reliever- or will he go back to stretch out as a starter again? Finally the bullpen - who was the best “closer” -Yoho was amazing in his short stint but obviously is closer to the bigs than A ball now. But Y. Rodriguez, Costello, Root and Rund all closed/saved games and are all still with the organization right? Who looked best, and what they need to work on? Finally a couple of swing men in Cruz and Fitzpatrick, do they have starter stuff, or middle relief only? What was the most surprising player (T. Bryant jumps out to me given the spark he was in the ‘pen)? And there were several injured players (Jimenez, Birchard who missed time), and what players can come back from injury? Finally the future of Victor Estevez-the guy is a future MLB manager of the year right? And if so what year? OK that’s like 17 questions 😳 ‘Thanks!!

I also would put him in the lower third. I would have him 18-19 range because of a lot of higher ceiling players and some with better tools (Quero, Pratt, Made, Payne, Peña, Y Rodriguez, Wilken, Boeve, Adams, Bitonti as position players). But just my opinion. Interesting to see the variability among posters here.

How does the posting process work - I read how the dollar amount is calculated for the transfer fee and that it counts against the international pool budget. But can the player select the team, or are they obligated to the highest amount. And is the contract a 1-year deal, or does it have to be multi-year? What I am truly asking, is the do the Brewers truly have a shot, or does the player have all the say, and by factoring in advertising/merchandising will they automatically choose LA/NY/Bos/SD, even if the contract is smaller due to international free agent pool limitations?

True, but we usually get a top 25, a couple of other top 50, and several other that would be 50-85, and various outlets have different rankings. For example Jackson Chourio was MLB #16 in 2021, Yophery Rodriguez was #22 in 2023, and Jesus Made was #23 (with Jorge Quintana at #13!) in 2024. So maybe a little lower, but they may have gotten some guys who would in the 50-80 range too. Or maybe there is an international prospect who is out there who can pitch and could be had for a posting amount that could be a nice addition to the rotation ... ahem. 😉 But for reference here is a great blog post about the IFA signings in general that shows it is a crap shoot and the Chourios and Ethan Salas' of the world are in fact rare.

OK. I suck at the advanced metrics, and know enough to get me in trouble. So I will agree with what you have there, as I don't know enough to have a good discussion about it. And will agree he did have good stretches in 2022. This I agree with which is why I say I would love to be wrong. But his control issues are not new, and were downright awful last year. Having watched about 10 of his starts at AAA (give or take), outside of that 3 start span where he still struggled with command, I am not sure anyone would walk away feeling confident about his future, which is why some of us (at least 1 or 2 posters also mentioned it) postulated that we thought he *could* be a DFA candidate because no team would stash him on the 40 man roster with his poor results and take on guaranteed salary (and I didn't explain the DFA comment earlier, it was in the context of opening up a 40 man roster, and that few teams would risk that claim). But his change as a reliever was so great to watch, that is became must see video when he entered the game. But I don't think at this time point I would rely on a lot of IFs to pencil him in as a possible starter now. I like Ashby a lot and hope he becomes a #3 starter, that would be awesome, but he looked nowhere near that last year, and he had a magical August/September, but I'm not ready to assume he can be a reliable starter, and his value as a long reliever and late inning reliever may be good for a team that's competing. If they were out of contention then yeah see what Miz, Ashby, Hall, Henderson can do, but expecting them to fill out the starting rotation, or assuming Woodruff is health, or assuming no regression for a guy like Myers is just so many question marks, even for an organization so good at pitching development. Bottom line - I agree he has the stuff, the potential, and has shown in flashes that he can be good. But with injury, inconsistencies, and only a 1-2 month resurgences (as a reliever) I put Aaron as a big question mark for 2025 right now. I want the stuff/potential to come together, but his command (lack thereof for most of last year and even higher BB rates prior) will be one of the keys for his success if he can overcome, which may not be an easy thing to do.

I will admit I have no idea what the team was thinking, but there was some discussion amongst folks here that he could be a DFA candidate given his incredibly poor results last season. That was his line from 2022, and his ERA 4.81 as a starter and WHIP 1.45 as a starter, and his FIP was 4.52 not too bad I agree, but far from a great track record, so that was part of the thinking - he was OK/decent as a starter, then got hurt, and was awful as a starter last year. Last season in the minors outside of his 5/25 - 6/5 run of three quality starts at AAA, was a disaster. His season was salvaged by his move to the bullpen in August, where he thrived as 1-2 IP reliever. I stated I would love to be wrong about him, but it got to the point where I would not even watch his starts in July because he would just blow up - his 63 walks and 73 hits in 65.2 IP as a starter in AAA. That is not good no matter how you cut it. Not sure what it was - maybe focusing on just an inning or two, and allowing to max out on his pitches as a reliever clicked for him. But nothing there screams - we have a solid #4 or #5 starter for this season if we want to compete.

I agree Jackson Chourio is the major outlier. Guys just do this normally and routinely. And most IFAs who are signed at age 16/17, should take 5-8 years to make it, and that would put them at 22-25 years of age which is more normal for most players to make or contribute in the majors. And like the draft, only a small percentage make it. The Brewers clearly have been adept at signing these players the last few years, but still outside of Quero (who has yet to debut) and Chourio, there has only been Uribe who have made the team or on the cusp. Most are at AA or lower. And some of Chourios' "classmates" - most notably Areinamo - can still make it, but getting 2-3 regular MLB players from an IFA class, is like getting 2-3 MLBers from the draft which is a good thing. You routinely want a few players every year coming from your draft/international scouting to come to the bigs. And if you can get a star player every few years that is amazing. But also on the flip side - you need good scouting to get these players, and even Chourio was not the jewel of the list back then, but is clearly the jewel of that class now, so you never know what you have at first. And give it a few years and then you will see if things pan out.

He was mostly bad all last year as a starter. I know he had a start or two in the bigs, but in Nashville he had a few nice starts, but had issues with control/command and had big innings that limited any effectiveness as a starter. Once he went to the bullpen he went from a DFA candidate to a 40 man roster pitcher. I don't see him as a starter at this time point based upon both his injury history and the results of last season, in addition to the fact he wasn't great as a starter prior to the injury. I would love to be wrong, but counting on him or DL Hall to be starters when both look like solid bullpen arms is not the best if you are trying to truly compete. If this is a retool type of year - go with what you have and see if you get lucky - then yes stretch them out and see what happens. If this is a year they want to try to go for a 3rd consecutive division title, then can't expect him to be a starter. Like above, with Peralta and Cortes yes you have 2 MLB starters. Woodruff is coming off major injury. Myers had an amazing season, but I am not ready to anoint him as a top/middle of the rotation piece quite yet. The rest are young and/or limited as starters. The Brewers have been excellent at running out less experienced arms in the past and found ways to make them work (Jason Alexander for example; or how we had a near Cy Young two half seasons from Eric Lauer), but having 3-4 pitchers you can count on consistent, reliable innings is so important to not tax the bullpen. Plus pitchers can get injured, and we need starters to be insurance in case of those things.

Right, that pick must be signed or it doesn't carry over. I suspect it will be an underslot player, which serves two purposes - makes sure we get a player we like, and then use the money saved on that and likely another first or early second day pick and then use it for the 11-20 rounders.

For the T-Rats video - did you get questions (did I miss it)? Or are you still taking for questions? And if still taking them - how do we get them to you?

If Cortes is healthy, and has an expected season based upon his track record, he will be either traded for prospect or two at the deadline if the Brewers are not having a playoff caliber season, or he will get a QO and leave as a FA and we get the same compensation as Williams if he just stayed plus a utility player in Durbin. i do think the brewers factor the draft picks in and wonder if that was part of the calculus in the Burnes deal (get players with control AND a draft pick), and this one (a controllable player, and a pitcher who can provide value next season plus who would gain the draft pick). So it’s not do we get players or draft pick for an impending FA, but gain player(s) AND a pick still.

Agree. The quantity of starters is high, and several in the minors too. But, unless this is a “soft” retool year which this trade argues against, then they need the quality. Last year it was Peralta, Rea and Myers (and Gasser for a few starts) who covered the quality innings until Civale arrived. But with Rea gone, Myers no longer a rookie and unknown entity where regression can occur, Gasser in the shelf. That leaves Hall (ineffective as a starter last year). Woodruff (coming back from serious injury) as the other MLB starters. Sure Miz, Henderson or Patrick could be a quality starter, or Ashby or another arm could cover starts. But by keeping Peralta, Cortes and Civale at the top of the rotation you have some quality innings on a consistent basis. Civale or Cortes are sure fire candidates for a trade deadline deal if this is in fact a down year (and boy it’s hard to always stay competitive with losing quality like Hader, Burnes, Adames and D Williams in a 2.5 year span). If not one or the other pitch their way to being a QO’d free agent and another early round pick. So in some sense I guess I agree with @Jason Wangthat a starter could be traded but disagree it will be this offseason - and expect next trade deadline if it happens.

What a way to start my Saturday. 4.5 hours of minor league recap 😉😃 I got caught up on both videos. Wow. Amazing job @Joseph Zarr @Spencer Michaelis Thank you both for doing that love the videos added, and you really went into something on so many different players. No need to keep it under 2 hours, just cover what you cover, as there is a lot going on in the minors. (Well I guess the Shuckers recall could be under 2 hours as there are 2-3 months of the season that don’t need any review sadly) Looking forward to the T-Rats review. That was my favorite team of the year. A very deep lower levels of the minors with so many intriguing players.

Uribe's biggest issue last year was his emotions/maturity but meaning in the way that most recall - like his fight. His body language on the mound and how he let innings or batters get away from him. The year before he was new, and surprised people and things were working well. Last year they weren't. The stats/metric people can remind me and others how the FB had changed both in velocity and movement, but he didn't seem to respond well, that led to a few disaster innings if I am remembering correctly. If his FB remains electric and it can be elite, then he can be a mainstay as the RHP, or set up or possibly closer. Agree that Megill is #1 to be closer, then Payamps, and then it is up to Yoho, Uribe and maybe even Miz.

I will disagree. His "ceiling" is mid-rotation starter, however, his secondary pitches were not as effective (some of the metrics or pitching savvy commentators please correct me here if I am off base), and his prior arm injury probably limited his SP potential. That is why (as I still seek counseling) I believe Chad Patrick was added and Smith was not. He could be a middle-to-high leverage BP arm. I think his floor is middle leverage BP arm right now. I think the emergence of Wichrowski, Hunt and Yoho from '23 draft, and I would assume that the team eyes some break out form '24 arms, led to this gamble. A team is never perfect, but I would imagine that he would have been at least valuable trade asset, although I don't know the details on that - if we had say traded Smith Monday, would he still have been rule V eligible? Or could the other team still add a player like him to the 40 man roster after that deadline date?