HiAndTight

I hope Sanchez now, and then Kintzler and Stetter in Sept. The two of them are guys we know, but you know relievers, and then all the sudden they figure something out, and they're 2-3 year stars as middle relievers(before becoming overpaid and posting 5.00 ERA's while walking like it's a church group walking Branson. But it seems like with relievers that so often they spend so much time before they truly develop. They suffer arm injuries, spend years as starters because they've got big time arms and you always want to give a starter a chance until he proves he can. So you're left with a guy who's 27-28 who can throw 94-95 as starters and who try like hell to develop that 3rd pitch, but just can't do it. So they move to the pen where they develop into relievers and it takes a little while with some guys. Maybe not 28 or whatever, but they've been given every chance to use that plus fastball as a starter. Sanchez seems like the next in line behind Henderson. I'd like to see him up next.

I see these comments bashing the Brewers FO, and I kinda wonder....who are all the young guys we DIDN'T bring up that could have helped us in a race? I mean, I know I'm used to the Logan, and TCO7 comments about how Melvin isn't going to trade Greinke because...well....they just love complaining because their version of MLB 2012 worked out GREAT for him, so he just can't fathom why it's not working out for the Brewers. I mean, this FO has obviously been terrible, building up a team from nothing to a team that's been competitive for the last 6-8 years and was 2 games from the WS last year and could have been one single lineup move away from the world if not for Kotsay. So I ask, in the lineup last year, who should we have brought up? We have Prince, Weeks, Yuni(No SS to replace him with) changed McGehee with Hairston OF of Braun/CF platoon that was worth 6+WAR/Hart in RF C-Lucroy Pitchers-The obvious starting 5 starting pitchers, nobody was ready to replace them. BP-We brought up a guy called Axford...KIINDA an important part-We tried a couple other relievers. Who exactly should we have brought up for the post-season roster that we didn't? Please do tell? Or down the stretch that would have gotten us over the hump? You know, just because things get repeated time and time again, don't make them true.

Really looking forward tto seeing what happens to them NEXT season. Obviously it would have looked so much better to see them with 2.00 ERA's and 11.5/K's - per 9 and a 6/2 K/bb ratio, but in their first season of pro-ball, having not played after college last year, I'm not overly worried about the hit totals and the pour performances from Jungman and Bradley. 1st of all, what we're getting from Fiers and Burgos is like...reparations for past injustices. I don't mean that to sound racist, but hell, we did suffer with Neugy, Gold, Jones and a dozen more. Rogers looks awesome, Peralta's looking great, Henderson looks nice, maybe another Axford(not quite, but I never realized how hard he threw the ball...I always through he was a 90-92 type guy, we've got two guys who throw in the upper 90's from the Angels, Nelson might be the best of the all, and then obviously the three already up, two of whom I've mentioned in Fiers, Thornburg, and Henderson. I can only imagine Peralta will get a shot as well. Next year, who knows, Maybe Bucci and Hall will Scarpetta will be the next big breakout stars. That is if Scarpetta signs as a minor league free agent, and that's something I really don't have a read on. I would think there would be teams that would want a Ben Sheets type clone(sans the command) and hope they can help him develop that command. Let us not forget, the gap between Peralta and Cody was pretty damn close 2 years ago.

Let's not get carried away... Lets admit when we're wrong. Several posters, you and Logan chief among them where already bemoaning how Melvin wasn't trading Greinke to get back some young talent, and hwo if he DID trade him, it'd simply be for some below average major leaguers. Yeah, Yeah, I know. The Jerry Hairston trades for the likes of Erik Komastu have ruined this organization and you have deemed him a terrible GM because of his deadline trades, onely one o whch was of consequence and that awas the Sabathia trade. But it's easier to keep complaining than just say, eh, I was wrong.

It sounds like you've really done your homework here I just get so sick of guys who are likely overweight, sitting and eating fried chicken, getting greese all over their computers insulting a players toughness and bashing a player because of injuries he's had no control over. I'm guessing is some of these people(not those who question if he can handle the work load based on his history, that's perfectly valid, but those who have to have the biting digs) got off the couch and threw the ball once their arms would be in pain for weeks and they'd be out of breath walking outside in the first place. I thought these types of ignorant comments where reserved for the ESPN board.

As do I. I truly appreciate the FIRST HAND opinions, not just reading their box scores and hearing how in this game they played well and did this. This isn't in ANY WAY the slightest bit of a complaint. This is just the fact of the matter. The fact is, it's difficult to get a real good feel for these guys on the scraps of scouting reports that are out there, and then just by reading their box scores. For instance, I now understand a LITTLE more why McFarland was moved off of SS(or at least is playing more 2nd base). If they don't think he'll be able to handle that long term and a ACTUAL PERSON who watched him play agrees, I will lower my objection a little bit. I still think we should try to keep him at SS as long as possible, but again, I haven't watched a SINGLE Helena game. So with all due respect to Teda-whatever, I appreciate the legit responses without the asinine whining because they didn't like the post. Again, it's a miserable season and the only thing I'm looking forward to following these guys and seeing what we have to look forward to and who is likely to stick. By the way, I thought I had Yadiel Rivera on there. That's obviously an egregious oversight. He's the top SS prospect in the system right now with Arcia down for the season. Incidentally, I've seen the numbers that Arcia has put up, but I'd also be interested in anyone who has any more insight on him. And moving away from the position players, does anyone know what type of stuff Gian Rizzo has? The guy has a .33 ERA right now unless I'm mistaken. He's absolutely DOMINATED in the Domincan Summer League and I'm excited to see what others think, what he throws and especially when he's likely to be coming stateside. I'd love to see him pitching in AZ right now, or even Helena.

Thank you. This is the type of discussion I was trying to get going that seemed to upset a poster for some odd reason. I love watching the young guys who have tools actually having success right out of the gate. That probably sounds obvious, and it's not like a 18 year old that struggles in his first taste of pro-ball is doomed to struggle, but it's that much more exciting when a young guy can come out and show that he can hang with these guys. I have to say, I'm really confused as to the Brewers approach with Shortstops. There is PLENTY of time between rookie leagues and the big leagues for a guy to move off of Shortstop, but when you have talents like Josh Prince who was supposed to be an above average fielder and McFarland who was graded as a 2nd/3rd round pick and as far as I know hasn't struggled to the point where you'd move him off short, or for that matter even have him playing there just part time. Honestly, these guys are what keeps us Brewers fans going during what is almost certainly going to be a string of 70-ish win seasons the next couple years. The prospect of a guy like Roache starting out in Appleton next year and getting a chance to watch him in person. In fact, I think the Rattlers have a chance to be a really prospect laden team next year.

Not trying to play catch up per say, just trying to get some opinions on these guys beyond their stat lines. Simply trying to get a discussion going on the younger guys, and in the link reports, any comments you make are seldom responded to as the next day, new link report and there is very little discussion. And in the articles about these guys, I equate them to the fluff pieces written about an UDFA out of Utah State or wherever in Packers training camp coverage. Jesus...are you kidding me? First of all, you know what's REALLY easy? Even easier than reading the link reports and scouting reports? NOT clicking onto a link. If you don't like what I post, frankly, too bad. I was simply trying to get a discussion going on the young guys in our system with tools beyond looking at their age, a scouting report that's dated by now, and the link reports that have almost no discussion back and forth since they're put out everyday. Essentially, I was asking the opinions of others as to what they think about some of these guys in lieu of the power 50. But again dude, if you don't like it, is it so hard to keep your mouth shut if you have absolutely nothing to add? Hold that thought...I already know my answer.

I was also talking about the beginning of the season, I had very little faith in the way our pen was constructed outside of krod/axford as the 8th and 9th guy... and as the season went on, I lost all faith in everyone. the rotation would give us 6+ innings, and then it would all fall apart. Why is that? Why going INTO the season would people have doubted the pen? I'm honestly not calling you a liar, perhaps there are people that did, but I think also a lot of people subconsciously look at the results and revise what pretty much everyone expected out of this pen. First of all, you say "outside of," Axford who was nearly perfect last year, and K-Rod who was about as good as a SU man as there was while he was with us. So right there you've got the 8th and 9th locked down. To add to that you added Veras, a guy who throws in the mid 90's with a very good breaking ball and was coming off a solid year, Loe who most thought would be a great fit as a middle reliever, expectations where high for Parra, and he showed why for long stretches this year after how he pitched in relief before he got hurt, and then we had Estrada as a long man, and a plethora of other options to take up the last spot in our pen. That seems about as solid a pen as you could ask for before the year started. Especially when you had; 1-Greinke-an ace who routinely goes 6-7 innnings, 2-Gallardo who routinely pitches into the 6th. 3-Wolf who's a 200 inning a year guy just about every year. 4-Marcum who's a very good pitcher, and 5-Narveson who performed much better than an average #5 last year. So I can't imagine why anyone would have been worried about our pitching this year, those 5 Ax, K-rod, Veras, Loe, Parra, Estrada-And then a number of other candidates.

System rankings really mean nothing. Milwaukee had the best system awhile ago and without major trades they go nowhere. KC had far and away the best system in baseball last year and they are still struggling to get the wins. Seattle's is different in the sense that most of their top prospects are pitchers, but you can't just assume all the players are going to reach their potential. If all of Seattle's players reached their potential they'd be a lot better than they are right now. Smoak and Ackley were fairly well regarded prospects. Yes they are young but you are making the mistake of assuming they will eventually get much better. So system rankings mean nothing? With all due respect, that's ridiculous. They mean almost everything. You're picking out a couple teams that had nothing at the big league level and had to count on everyone from their farm system panning out. If the Brewers had the top farm system in the game right now, I think that would mean something. Like it's meant something for the Braves, Rays, among other teams. That the M's have a loaded farm system, and have 4-5 legit building blocks already on their team, it's obviously very important to have that loaded farm system. That you just dismiss a highly rated system because that alone hasn't been enough, in the cases you mentioned, it's really been just one wave of elite prospects coming through. Teams like the Rays, Rangers, Red Sox at times, Braves, they develop their own prospects from within to supplement the building blocks at the big league level. So yeah, I'd say it's pretty damn important..

I was just about to post just this when I saw you did. Profar for Felix would be a huge risk for the Rangers, but he could legitimately be the key to the World Series in the next couple years...and they could win a couple WS with Hernandez and really build a dynasty. Of course if you're the M's, you DO have pitching prospects coming up, you are a organization that can spend money, and you have top young position prospects who are in their first couple years. Ackley, Montero, Saunders...pretty good trio. Makes sense to me why they'd keep him after losing Ichiro, but getting the bounty that they could get for King Felix would be amazing for them, and fit better into their window to compete. By the way, if he were to hit the FA market this year, I wonder what he'd get. If Hamels gets 6/144, does Hernandez get 7/175?

So what, we eat 10 million of the 30 owed to him the next two years in exchange for a decent arm in the lower levels? Given the current state of the Brewers, our payroll should be slashed, we should try to build a Packers like reserve fund to be used when we're actually a viable team again around '15/'16.

Why would you think that teams are offering scraps for Hart? That makes absolutely no sense. Hart's a valuable player and a nice bat for a team in need of one. I doubt we'd get a legit prospect for ARam, but I agree, dumping the 30 million owed to him would be worth it.

Trading Gallardo to me has nothing to do with his struggles and everything in the world to do with his value. If we're not likely to be contenders during his current contract, trading him is the fastest way to become competitive again. Greinke and Gallardo could net us a package of 4-5 top 50 prospecs.

Ok, so lets stop and see what that'd take going through the lineup. 1B-What do we do here? I still think very highly of Gamel, but I suspect he's going to be shipped away for very little in the off-season. I really think he just never got the right shot in Milwaukee until this year and while he started out very good, he got hurt. So that means we re-sign Hart. I don't like the thought of a 32-33 year old Hart. Even at 1st base. I think he would command something like 4 years 50 million or so. 2B-Weeks? Ok, I can buy that. Or Gennett. SS-We'd have to hit, and it'd likely have to be for Simmons of the Braves(not likely) or Segura from the Angels(likely who we are targeting). 3B-ARam? I think he'll still be solid at 35-36, or he could be. I think .270/.340/.450 is probably realistic from him at that age with diminished range. C-We're set here for the long term. LF-Obviously set. CF-Schafer is probably a 2nd team starter of a #4. I'm at the point where I'd like to see Gomez every single day next year because of the way he started the season this year hitting .280 and he can just help you win a game in SO many ways that doesn't show up in the stat sheet. And again, this is a 180 for me from the past two years, but I still see something in him, and I think that on a team that's destined to lose next year, I'd like to just throw him out there and see if he can finally put it all together. The problem is you want to see Schafer to. Either way, this is a big position to fix. RF-Aoki's a pretty good bet to be a very solid player, especially when he's got a couple years in the league. NOW comes the problem. We'e got Gallardo who's contract would be coming up(we'd hold the option year). But to be a legit playoff team we'd need IMO a BETTER pitcher than what Gallardo has shown so far, so he'd either have to take the next step...which we've been waiting for for a while, or someone else would have to jump over him and become that ace. Lets even say we get that. We'd still need a viable #3/4/5. It's possible Thornburg, Peralta, Rogers, Bradley, Jungman, Burgos could fill out two of those spots and Fiers the other one. But it's not likely. Everyhing would have to go almost perfect for this to be the case, AND we'd have to draw 2.5-2.75 million to be able to afford a 110-115 million dollar payroll..which I think is possible. But we're going amost best case scenario's for all these things to come to fruition. IT's going to take a couple of TERRIBLE seasons and TOP draft picks and a couple of players in the minors to really outperform their projected numbers for us to be a playoff team in 2014 IMO. Especially when you look at the other teams and what they have coming up. Pitt-They're a good team right now, and they have four incredible young starters on their way up. 4 guys who can throw the ball in the upper 90's with ace like stuff, plus McDonald, McCutchen, Alvarez, Marte and they may get Justin Upton. The Cards are a team with three elite prospects, Carlos Martinez, Shelby Miller and Tavaras a top OF prospect. The Cubs are building from within and have the money to spend near the luxury threshold. That's just in our own division. You also have the Nats who look like long time contenders, the Phills should bounce back, the Dodgers are building... I don't see us competing in the next 4-5 years. Again, it'd take a freakish amount of good luck for us to hit on enough impact players to get back that spot....sans Greinke. If we sign him as a FA and hit on his trade that could change the entire pictue, but it's also highly unlikely.

I'd agree with you 100%, but Nelson hasn't pitched since June 30th. I haven't seen any kind of update on his health status, but I sure haven't seen him in a box score. Yeah, that's troubling, but with pitchers the Brewers take a hang-nail and sit them out for two months. Of course you also hear about how it's a minor injury and the next update is the had TJ surgery. Still I'd think a guy like Nelson would be a guy that people would know about if he had something serious going on. But I don't want to trade Nelson and for the love of GOD I don't want to try and be a playoff team in 2013 unless we sign Zach Greinke in the off-season after trading for Segura and Richards. Then we'd be bringing back the same team, plus a young potential stud at SS and a POWER arm that would probably just slide into the 8th inning role and could be a stud reliever for us and an eventual closer. I also don't want to trade Maldonado. Frankly...and it hurts to say this, I'd like to play out the first half of next year, see Rickie get off to a good start like he has several times in his career and perhaps he's hitting .275/.280 with a solid .365 OBP and 16 or so HR's at this time next year and we can can move him and start the process of moving Lucroy to 2nd base....if he has the agility for it. I don't know that he does. But I'd like to see if we could get both our catchers in the lineup.

By the way, I think Profar has a very good chance to be mentioned in that group with Harper and Trout over the next two decades as Profar is the youngest of the three, but plays the most important position. I think it's absolutely likely that Profar will have seasons in which he puts up superior numbers to Harper and Trout, but those two seem to be just most established right now. Profar though as I've said several times I believe is going to be unlike any other SS in the game right now. A 5 tool SS who has great plate awareness, walks, hits for average, will hit for power...a .850 OPS and a GG caliber defender while hitting leadoff. I think he's going to be the standard for Shortstop for the next decade to 15 years.

I do NOT think Fiers will be a better pitcher than Gallardo, but I don't think it's as outrageous as others are suggesting. Fiers has shown the ability to make adjustments throughout the game, his fastball is realy deceptive, he throws strikes, he has a very underrated curveball and he throws a lot of different pitches up there. Still, I think he's more likely to be a #3 and a #4 on a playoff team(maybe he keeps it up) while Gallardo is at leat a notch above. #2 and maybe a #3 on a really good playoff team. I still think about the heat I took when I suggested we trade Greinke and K-Rod for Profar and how I was told I was underestimating Greinke, and how teams trading for Greinke won't even take into consideration the draft pick compensation like how we apparently didn't take the compensation into account for Sabathia, which I thought was foolish as we very likely have Mike Trout patrolling CF for the Brewers right now if Tex takes the Red Sox deal or the O's deal or anyone else but the Yankees deal as we'd have been picking at #28 and where said to have liked Trout. Anyway, at least MOST of the nonsense about Profar not being enough for Greinke has subside. And I'd do Gallardo for Profar in a second. Realistically we'll end up trading Greinke for a package like Richards and Segura from the Angels and play him at 2nd.

Harper is already a "star?" Mike Trout is already a "star." Bryce Harper is a solid player thus far and little more when you look just at his production. Now obviously everyone can easily predict that he's GOING to be a star, but Harper's got a .268/.340 .785 OPS while playing and he's been a below average fielder this year. So at .268 with a .785 and below average D, he's hardly a "superstar," and if you want to stick your head in the sand and just lump all players who haven't yet become star players into one group, ie, Profar is as likely to be a bust as any other top prospect, then Bryce Harper is just as likely to be a bust as Adam Lind or any other highly regarded past young OF'er. Of course most people realize that ridiculous talent that is Jurickson Profar as they do with Bryce Harper and his incredible talent.

No, but we COULD just link it to the thread that I started suggesting the VERY same thing... And it has and had nothing to do with any of his pour starts. It's actually quite simple. 1-Gallardo has a LOT of value. People who are pointing out that he has 2 years left on his contract and a 3rd year that's guaranteed to be picked up if he stays healthy and he projects to be a durable starter. 2-The Brewers do NOT project to be competitive in the next 3 seasons. So that leaves us with; 3-Either keep Gallardo while we're a bad team and keep him just so we can hope to be a 75 win team rather than a 70 win team, OR we can trade him for several top prospects who can help us in 3 years when the rest of our young prospects are either ready to truly contribute or are entering the upper levels of the minors and can provide valuable trade assets, or who we can wait for to develop along with the rest of our young guys. To dismiss trading Gallardo is incredibly short sighted. If you KNOW you're not going to be good for the next 2-3 years and that's how long Gallardo is controlled for, exactly what sense does it make to keep him when right now is probably the height of his value?

WE...WE THE FANS want to lose games this year, not the manager, not the players, not the front office. The fact that Roenicke is managing the way he is while trying to win, might be good for the fans who realize now it's over(and I would bet anything they have something like a 20-10 August) but if this is how he manages when he's TRYING to win? C'mon. And what's wrong with taking out a pitcher who you're trying to showcase who's at 87 pitches and is absoltuely dominating? I don't know. Common sense. If it was 100 pitches, fine. But a complete game 3 hitter going just a couple over the minimium up till that point at 87 pitches and looking as good as he looks there was no reason to take him out. AT LEAST throw him back out there for the 8th, and a CG would have made an even better impression.

Seriously. I'm not being sarcastic, I miss Yost. I think this team is 5-6 games better with Yost. Last year I thought that Roenicke got way too much crap. This year, I just genuinely think he's about as bad as you can get. -Taking out Greinke WHEN YOU'RE TRYING TO SHOWCASE HIM and you're winning with 87 pitches... -Taking out Axford for K-Rod when they're both struggling and one is your future long term closer and the other is going to be gone. -The safety squeezes TWICE today with the PITCHER on deck.... -And of course the single move that if you're in Boston, New York, Philly might have gotten you straight up fired for that single move, the move that may well have cost the Brewers a chance to win the world series......starting Mark Kotsay in CF with the best defensive CF'er in the game(IMO) and another very good one in Morgan, you instead opt for a 1st basemen in center field. Look, you can't win without good players, and even then, if you lose, it's not always on the manager, and this season's struggles are not all on Roenicke. Last year it seemed to me that his shifts, the way he seemed to improve as the year went on with the BP and the lineup(ie, Hairston Jr.) among other things kinda negated his pitfalls. But he's gotten worse. I imagined he'd learn from his mistakes, but he's literally gotten worse. And the Greinke decision...on every level was just mind blowingly stupid. He said he still felt strong, he was just blowing the Phills away, retired 18 of last 19 and last 13 overall, 12 ground balls I believe, and you had dozens of scouts there. So it cost you a game, AND Greinke going 9 and just a few over the minimum would have been a pretty impactful way to say, "hey, he's just fine, my asinine decision to start him three straight times didn't screw him up." Oh, and of course there is the issue with young players. Actually using about 9 of Gamels at bats last year(it was obviously more...) to point out some correlation between he and Green was just amazing. Bottom line- There are but a few pitching coaches, managers and hitting coaches IMO that make a difference out there in a positive way. Most coaches make the same decisions. But RR has just made so many poor decisions, our pitchers nibble despite having great stuff and our hitters....I guess are fine, but aside from that, with this being the year of mass exodus from the Milwaukee organizaton with Grienke, maybe Marcum(guessing he'll be back for the arby #), Wolf, K-Rod and the other 6-7 players who probably won't be back(Kottaras, Veras, Loe, Izturis, Ransom, Ishi...) I think the coaching staff HAS to follow them out the door. This team can't go forward with the same coaches. I have NEVER been more frustrated with a team in my life. This is a team that has all the talent it needs to win this division. This is a more talented team than Pitt and most of the NL. Luck has hurt us, the pen has KILLED us, our record is not all on Roenicke, but he's shown enough. He's not equipped to manage at this level. Simple as that.

A-Wolf hasn't been nearly as bad IMO as his numbers would indicate. Or at least he has more value to a team down the stretch than this years numbers would suggest. He's pitched quite a bit better as of late and his fastball looks like it has more life to it. Scouts look at the big picture. Wolf's been throwing the ball better, his stuff has been better, and if you're a team like the Nationals who are rumored to be interested in Greinke..which seems ridiculous to me(they want a window apparently to re-sign him...I guess his contract would run out by the time the big two would be eligible for Free agency and Werth would be just about up as well) as they want to save Strausburg. But a guy like Wolf makes infinitely more sense. Just a guy to give you quality innings and take the mound every day. I think Wolf to Washington makes all the sense in the world. And I think his value is slightly underestimated on here. If he leaves a game with runners on, they seem to score every time. And of course, though it's of little value, but he should have 6-7 more wins. Not that it would impact his value. As for next year renegotiating with Wolf....that makes no sense to me. He'd get 6-7 million I'd imagine on the FA market, maybe even 2/18 based on his track record at most, and we have too many pitchers who should be able to match his performance coming up. Maybe if he didn't have the buyout, I'd go 5 million in our situation, but he wouldn't anyway. If it really came down to it though, I'd pay 2 million of his contract...

Clearly the Brewers are suffering from a pretty serious gap in our prospects right now at the higher levels with the only young position players of note really being Gamel who much to my disappointment may have lost his oppurtunity with the Brewers as I think it's likely that the Brewers stick with Hart and Aoki next year and open up CF to Gomez and Schafer(I'd like to see Gomez just given the everyday job again and see what he can do with it as he was really performing well prior to his injury, and he shows some incredible signs at the plate, has great bat speed, and every physical tool needed to not only be a good player, but a superstar. Now I'm not expecting that, but I do think he was rushed up a bit too early and once you're relagated to being a platoon player at age 25 years old, you tend to press. But I digress. Just wanted to get some thoughts on the young guys we have coming up who seem to have a ton of tools, but are still a long way away. I think when you break them down, the system looks a little bit better than I think some have us currently ranked. Anyway, just wanted to some thoughts on these guys, many of which are recent signees. 1-Lance Roenicke What’s the deal with this kid? Is he a legit prospect, or is this just small sample size run amuck? Because he seemed to be drafted as an organizational favor as is so often done, but he’s performed exceptionally well. 2-Chris McFarland I knew last year when we grabbed him out of FSU that he was a guy who should have been picked much higher. My question is, I thought he was a SS? Why is he getting so much time so young playing 2nd base? I thought his upside was that of a starting SS? Perhaps a D’vo type talent, but at SS. What’s the reason for playing him at 2nd in rookie ball? 3-Jose Pena He was a bit of a bonus baby IIRC. He’s putting up big numbers. Is he a guy who has the ceiling of a everyday big league RF’er? I understand that’s tough to say definitively at this stage, but I’m just talking upside. He’s certainly performing well. 4-Clint Coulter Another catcher who it sounds as though may not stick there. He’s a personal favorite of mine as a HS Wrestler as I was and as a state champ at my weight. Of course he won state in a weak wrestling state and probably doesn’t place at Wisconsin, but he did do it as a Soph. I’m only half serious here. Does he project to be a long term C or does his bat have enough in it to potentially play 3rd, 1st, or a corner OF spot. He’s really hitting the ball well as of late. But with little power. Still, the kid was in HS last month basically. 5-Raul Mondesi Jr Another bonus baby. He’s striking out at a very high clip. He’s also young. I remember his old mans cannon of an arm that may not have been Clemente like, but it was pretty damn close. Roache is obviously a guy I’m interested in. 30 HR’s in what I believe was the first year of the new bats is impressive. Is he a guy who can be a .280 hitter with great plate awareness and hit 30-35 HR’s, or what’s his ceiling, defensively as well. 6-Josh Prince-CF???????This is the most baffling thing the Brewers have done in quite some time to me. Take a guy who I was under the impression was a serviceable Shortstop, and from what I saw could field the position and move him to the most crowded position in the big leagues? 7-Mitch Haniger I haven’t seen his name on the link reports as of late. Now I’ve had 3 weddings, 2 bachelor parties, a birthday party in Vegas, and got together with all my college friends for a week up on Lake Minaqua. So I haven’t been up to touch. I haven’t seen him. Is he on the DL, or what’s the deal with him? 8-Cameron Garfield This kid is tearing it up right now in Low-A ball, but I thought his defense has always been a question mark. 9-Shawn Zarraga The obvious next question. Does he have the bat to stick at a corner spot? It seems like the Brewers are starting to churn out catchers pretty quietly under the radar. Maldy, obviously Luc, Garfield, Zarraga, Coulitier. That’s 5 legit catching prospects or big league catchers. Obviously the later three are a long way away, but we’re a long way away from needing a big league catcher. My only hope here is that Kottaras is gone and the human pitching tire doesn’t catch for us again after this year. It makes me question Wolf a bit that he prefers him over a guy like Maldy especially, but Lucroy as well. What, he can’t get through a game with the other two and would rather have a guy out there who lets a fastball on the inner half become a passed ball as he did vs the Phillies with Parra on the mound on what was a strike with a man on 3rd base? It’s baffling. 10-Tyrone Taylor He’s obviously come out of the gate like a mad man. He’s hitting the ball exceptionally well. Again, are we looking at small sample sizes, or are we talking about a guy who might have just been a bit of a steal? And then two potential 1st basemen in; 11-Hunter Morris who’s absolutely dominating in AA with an OPS over .900. The 4th round pick who passed up signing with the Red Sox as a 2nd rounder is really starting to look like he could be a solid big leaguer. And 12-Jason Rogers who went through a white hot stretch. Now I know that none of these guys are Brett Lawrie types or Ryan Braun type players, but when you toss them into the Gennett, Schafer, Gindl, Green and Gamel types who I’m still very high on, I think we’ve got enough players with the tools that I think our minor league system is a bit underrated when it comes to position players, and with guys like Braun, Lucroy and Maldonado, which could end up being an absoltely elite catching duo, in fact such a good 1-2 that you may try to get Lucroy some playing time in the OF, or somewhere else on the field so you can give Maldy 2-3 starts a week behind the plate and Lucroy 3-4. Weeks is locked up and I'm still confident in his ability. Aoki, Gomez who I'm stubbornly still intrigued by, and I think it just takes a 1-2 or 3 of these guys really exploding through the system to give us a nice big boost. ESPECIALLY if we can net a couple 1st round picks for Marcum next year, or at least offer him arbitration and trade him next deadline to stock the system, get something for Greinke, Simmons from Atlanta at this point would be a dream(which is funny because I was told how much I was underestimating Grienke when I wanted to trade him plus K-Rod or even Axford for Profar). Anything for K-Rod, etc..etc.. Just wanted to get some other thoughts on our future positional prospects. They’re obviously behind the pitching we’ve got, but just wanted to get some others opinions on what we’ve got coming up through the lower levels. I guess our system just appears to be such a giant mess right now, not because of a lack of talent per say, but because of the inequity in position players at the big league level, the big salaries of some of the guys on the big league club that are pretty much wasted in Greinke doesn't re-sign as Aram and his 15 million per the next 2 years is an awful waste if you're not cotending. The same could be said for Hart and Weeks. But we've obviously got the arms on the way up that with some luck could develop as a group. Not 7 or 8, but just 2 or 3 guys who can hit his ceiling. Anyway, post your thoughts on some of these guys. I left off a few obvious. The Davis' duo, Reed as well as others. But these seem to be the guys with the most tools and pure talent...except for Roenicke which just baffles me at this point. Maybe he'll be like his dad. 96 wins 1st year in the system, then 75 the next! Hope not though.

I view him differently. He's been dominant, and perhaps last years debacle is behind him and he's back to his 2010 form. Homer Bailey just dominated us after him being a pitching machine for us and suffering a plethora of bumps along the way. I'm not convinced, but I'm a lot more optomistic than last year.