narwhalattack

If he's a free agent I'm pretty sure the Brewers won't sign him, as 99% of the time they do not pay much attention to Japanese players (or so it seems). If he's entering the draft then he won't even get to the Brewers because there's very little chance 16 teams are going to pass on an 18 year old throwing 100 mph.

It's probably not going to be a costly move, given that the farm system is still recuperating from the 2011 Greinke trade. If Lester can be had for non-top prospects, then it would be nice to see Melvin consider that. Otherwise, I could see him going after guys like Brandon McCarthy or Edwin Jackson.

To be fair, that's what people were saying about Jorge Lopez after the '11 draft. I meant the first round. Forgot to mention so.

The Brewers could've drafted Fernandez, Guerrieri, Barnes, and Stephenson. But they HAD to draft the guys they deemed were "quick-to-the-majors". At some point they would have to take a pitcher who isn't very polished but has the stuff to become a very good pitcher. I don't think they're gonna get very far by drafting Aaron Cooks every time they draft pitching.

Well suffice to say I strongly disagree. I think he has the best control of anyone in our BP. He usually walks guys because he's working the corners. But is it fair to say then that you don't want Axford in Milwaukee? I mean if you're saying you don't want him at all because of his control, then I'm guessing you're strongly against Axford being a late inning guy for us next year as he actually has no idea where the ball is going at times and his control is much-much worse. K-Rod's issue for a period of time was his command, not his control. By the way, K-Rod has 6 walks in the last two months, and his BB rate is nearly identical to what his career average has been. He also has an xFIP of 3.77. So I don't think your post reflects what he's done in the last couple months for us whatsoever. Axford by the way has walked more more than one hitter per inning than K-Rod. Yes. I would love to see Axford traded. He's way too inconsistent with his control. I'm sick of bullpen's full of "stuff" guys. Give me a bullpen full of control guys. So you'd rather have a bullpen full of Livans?

The problem is that even when they do draft and sign high-ceiling players, they usually fail. I know I'm going beyond the Seid era by saying this, but look at Mark Rogers, Mike Jones, and Jeremy Jeffress. Only Mark Rogers turned out to be a viable major league player and even he had his share of troubles in the minors. And even if the Brewers signed Dylan Covey it would have been difficult to label the pick as a success, as Covey struggled in college. I think the problem lies more in the scouting department. I do, however, like the way the Brewers drafted in the 2012. Neither Coulter nor Roache are safe picks, but both have very high ceilings. Tyrone Taylor was viewed as extremely raw, but he's been doing very well until he got hurt and may be a future leadoff guy if everything turns out right. Hopefully the Brewers start drafting high-ceiling arms too. I still think about how they passed on both Fernandez and Guerrieri in the 2011 draft.

The Brewers should see what he can do in spring training. If his command is acceptable then they should give him a spot in the bullpen. If he finds success in the bullpen, maybe at some point they should stretch him out a bit and see if he can stick in the rotation.

I'm hoping for either Clint Frazier or Justin Williams as of right now. If the Brewers decide to go with a college pitcher, I'm hoping for Bobby Wahl, and maybe Karsten Whitson, but I doubt he falls to the Brewers. I wouldn't mind Colin Moran, though.

Oy vey! The Brewers' history of drafting HS pitchers is downright ugly. Yeah, high school arms in drafts are the biggest crapshoots, but at some point at least a couple of them should be able to pan out...

As of right now there seems to be some nice talent that are projecting to be at the top half of the 1st round. Some college guys include Ryne Stanek, Karsten Whitson, Bobby Wahl, Mark Appel, Colin Moran, Austin Wilson, Sean Manaea, and Kris Bryant. Some HS guys include Clinton Hollon, Jeremy Martinez, Oscar Mercado, Stephen Gonsalves, Zach Collins, Justin Williams, and Clint Frazier. The Brewers seem to be drafting based on minor league need, at least for the 1st round. For example, during the time of the 2011 draft, they were void in upper-level pitching, so they drafted advanced college arms in Jungmann and Bradley. During the time of the last draft, the Brewers were void in hitting in general, so they drafted Clint Coulter to provide a high-upside bat in the lower minors, and Victor Roache to provide a high-upside bat higher up in the minors. At this point my best guess would be that they would pick a HS pitcher who could provide high-ceiling pitching in the lower minors, or a college hitter because they could use some more advanced bats despite Hunter Morris or Scooter Gennett.

I wonder why Tyrone Taylor has been out so long. Is it because the org is being EXTREMELY careful about him? Is it because his injury is serious? Is it because there isn't any roster space in Helena right now?

I hope that the Brewers pick a high upside guy with their first round pick. Coulter and Roache brought some great upside with the bat. Now let's see if they can get another possible star-potential prospect with what is hopefully a top 10 pick. The next draft seems to be pretty thin on high school pitching, however.

If and once Hellweg comes to Milwaukee, his entrance song should be "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC.

I would agree with you if we were talking about the difference between 1 and 6 but 10 and 16 matters little, no? Eh, if they hadn't beaten the crap out of the Astros they would be getting the 8th overall pick, which would be better than both the 10th and the 16th pick.

If the Brewers were in contention, then a win today would please me, but because they're not in contention a win today would annoy me. If this team can't contend, I'd rather see them get a top 10 pick. No use ending up getting something like a 16th overall pick because that means that the team didn't get to the playoffs and that they won't get a really good draft pick either.

You still seem to be optimistic about Bradley. Sure he still has some time and has shown great stuff in the past, but his velocity has been down this year, which is pretty concerning. As for me, I'd like to see the velocity get back to the low-90s before I get excited about him.

I actually believe Hellweg will make it as a starter. He's actually done better as a starter than a reliever, and he has smooth mechanics to pair with his upper-90s fastball. Also, from what I'm reading, his change up seems to be usable. He also has an above average slider to round out his arsenal, so there's that. I think he has a chance to be a good #2 starter.

This is a great return for Kottaras! A cheap power arm that should be able to strengthen the bullpen for years to come!

Nelson not doing so well so far. May be a bit rusty after taking some time off.

Except that they can't keep supplying themselves with top major league players. THEY ARE NOT THE YANKEES!!! As a mid-market team, at some point they're gonna lose major league players, and at that point they have to hope that some top prospects will pan out and turn into above-average players. They're not gonna be able to buy talented major league players year after year after year. Look at the Rays. They don't buy their way into contention, but rather keep restocking the farm system and develop their prospects well. And eventually they get talented players to fill out the roster and they compete.

Hart will be a free agent after the 2013 season. Ramirez is overpaid (or, will be very overpaid in '13 & '14) and that money could be better spent in other places. Trading both of them could bring back some very good players. It is extremely unlikely that the Brewers will trade Hart or Ramirez at this time Major league ready players, as good as those two already are currently?? Because if not, you aren't getting their proper value. And if you are getting players that aren't as good, you aren't going to win as much. No thanks. too many here it seems look at youth and "manageable contracts". Yet, it's not our $$$ so who really cares how Mark A spends HIS $$$?? I'd be far more inclined as a fan, to go to the ball park when the team has some "stars" and win ball games, then I would be to go and watch some youth "develop" and lose 90 games a year for a couple years. Why do you think attendance has been 3 million plus?? Because the team has been successful. Not as many wins= not as many fans, that's simple logic. And with not as many fans, comes not as much revenue. With not as much revenue, comes a lessor payroll, which means a lesser talented team. It's all relative. So to say shedding contracts means attracting better Free agents. Not necessarily, because if big $$$ guys see talent that is below par, and don't feel they will win in Milwaukee, they won't come. The higher your payroll, the better the talent(usually, unless your a complete idiot of an owner), the better players get paid more. The better players are more talented, the better players means more wins. Is it really that hard to grasp?? And eventually they'll be free agents and at best they get sandwich picks. Without good prospects but with Hart and A-Ram the Brewers may win around 82 games, but with a stocked farm system they'll have a young roster a few years from now and most of these guys will be around for years. Why have a chance of winning for 2 years when you get a chance to win for several years with a stocked farm system? Sure, some of the guys in the minors may not pan out, but what other choice do the Brewers have if they're trying to supply the major league roster with quality players? They're not the Yankees so they can't buy a Mark Teixiera or a CC Sabathia at will, and they certainly aren't gonna go anywhere if they continue to fill the roster with Suppans and Loopers and Izturises. Sure, they MAY have a shot at resigning Hart and A-Ram, but they have other players to worry about as well. They're gonna pay Braun until 2020, Yo is still very young and it would be very nice to have him around for a while, Weeks may have a down year this year but we've all seen what he's capable of, Lucroy's gonna be here for a while, and at the end of the day it may be a little too difficult financially to keep Hart and A-Ram long term. With prospects, in the short term things may be pretty difficult, but the long-term rewards may be tremendous.

I'm very excited about some of the pitchers the Brewers have so far. In recent history they have miserably failed to develop pitchers, but if guys like Hellweg, Nelson, Pena, Thornburg, Jungmann, and Peralta develop into solid ML pitchers, then that would a huge success.

1. Segura 2. Nelson 3. Peralta 4. Thornburg 5. Hellweg 6. Roache 7. Morris 8. Pena 9. Jungmann 10. Bradley I'm pretty low on Jungmann and Bradley. Jungmann because even though he's a safer prospect, he doesn't strike out many guys and has a tendency to get hit around pretty often. He's more of a #4 starter, albeit he has a high probability of reaching that ceiling which is pretty valuable in itself. Bradley was more of the "upside" pick of the first round of the 2011 draft, as he was supposed to have a low-90s fastball and a plus slider(which is very good for a lefty). However he's taken a step backwards as his velocity took a dip and his strikeout rate has plummeted as of late. If this was last year it would have been likely that he's been going through a dead-arm period, but this late in the season one has to wonder if this is a more serious problem. Also, I was pretty tempted to put Tyrone Taylor in the top 10, but I want to see if his success will last as he faces higher-level competition. I'll wait until he gets to low-A.

Seems like most of the guys in Bullpen Banter approve of the trade. http://bullpenbanter.com/brewers-cash-in-on-greinke-but-did-the-strike-gold/ Only Sussman seems to be cynical about what the Brewers got out of the trade.

Just based on John Sickels ratings best possible would be John Hellweg (RHP) and Daniel Tillman (RHP) Tillman's in High-A. My guess is John Hellweg and Ariel Pena.