Eye Black

For his career he has raked against the Brewers. Among teams he’s played more than 6 games against he’s faired better against the Brewers than anyone else. Moran’s career OPS versus the NL Central: Brewers (44 games) - .876 OPS Cubs (43 games) - .851 OPS Reds (44 games) - .814 OPS Cardinals (44 games) - .723 OPS

Via Adam McCalvy earlier today: Craig Counsell thinks there's still a "decent chance" the DH is back in the National League again in 2021.

@Brewers: The Brewers have signed LHP Hoby Milner and OF Dylan Cozens to Minor League contracts with invitations to Major League camp. Dylan Cozens has a career .802 OPS over 8 minor league seasons. Cozens was a 2nd round pick of the Phillies in 2012, and is the second former 2nd round pick they’ve signed to a minor league deal this week (Dustin Peterson was a 2nd round pick in 2013). Cousins is probably best know for hitting 40 home runs in just 134 games playing for Double-A Reading in 2016. Hoby Milner was also a 2012 draftee of the Phillies (7th round). He has a 3.40 ERA over 614.0 IP in the minors. Milner has only thrown 55.2 major league innings thus far. Both are likely ticketed for Nashville this summer, but are intriguing enough as additional opportunities to see if you can catch lightning in a bottle.

@Brewers: The Brewers have signed LHP Hoby Milner and OF Dylan Cozens to Minor League contracts with invitations to Major League camp. Dylan Cozens has a career .802 OPS over 8 minor league seasons. Cozens was a 2nd round pick of the Phillies in 2012, and is the second former 2nd round pick they’ve signed to a minor league deal this week (Dustin Peterson was a 2nd round pick in 2013). Cousins is probably best know for hitting 40 home runs in just 134 games playing for Double-A Reading in 2016. Hoby Milner was also a 2012 draftee of the Phillies (7th round). He has a 3.40 ERA over 614.0 IP in the minors. Milner has only thrown 55.2 major league innings thus far. Both are likely ticketed for Nashville this summer, but are intriguing enough as additional opportunities to see if you can catch lightning in a bottle.

Turang, Mitchell, Perez, Kelly, Small, Zamora, Feliciano, Ashby, Warren, Quero. Badler mentioned Eduardo Garcia just missed the top ten. Badler also said there is a tier drop off after Kelly at #4. Mentioned that Kelly versus Hedbert for the #3 spot is debatable.

In a vacuum I significantly prefer the approach where they look for talented players that haven't fully clicked but are at least still around their mid-20s (25-27) over signing guys that have seen a slight bit more MLB success but are either approaching or on the wrong side of 30. Most of them obviously won't work out, but there is seemingly a higher upside to if you do end up with a success story or two.

MLB Pipeline recently released their Top 100 Draft prospects for '21 For those that want to skip straight to the list of their top 100 draft prospects here’s the Link

Previously DFA'd OF Hunter Renfroe signed a one year deal with the Red Sox.

So we previously had a thread to discuss the 2020 playoff format Figured we should start a new one to discuss the post-pandemic playoff structure on the heels of this news today... Via this New York Post article, ESPN landing MLB rights to playoff round that doesn’t yet exist: ESPN and Major League Baseball are closing in on a TV deal that would provide the network exclusive rights to the first round of the playoffs, The Post has learned. Now all that is needed is a first round of the playoffs. That needs to be negotiated between MLB and the Players Association, which is to say that, while an ESPN-MLB deal is close, they are still far from knowing when — and even if — there will be playoffs expanded from 10 to likely 14 teams to include a best-of-three first round. In the deal between ESPN and MLB, the network would reduce the amount of national games it broadcasts, while increasing the number of marquee matchups. While weekday regular season baseball will almost be eliminated on the network, “Sunday Night Baseball” will continue with ESPN in talks to keep Alex Rodriguez as the main analyst on the broadcasts, according to sources. His partner, Matt Vasgersian, is probable to return, but a definitive decision has not been made yet.

Mark me down for Spiders as well.

Baseball America scouting report on Leo Crawford: Crawford is a soft-tossing lefty who succeeds on deception. His fastball sits 87-88 mph and only occasionally scrapes 90-91 mph. Despite that, he went 7-4, 2.18 as a starter while reaching Double-A in 2019 because batters can't time him up. He has a unique, stop-and-start delivery, alters the size and timing of his leg kick and dots the strike zone with solid control and command. He further disrupts hitters timing with his 77-78 mph plus changeup that looks like a fastball out of the hand and drops out of the zone, getting frequent swings and misses out front. He also has an upper-70s curveball. The Brewers have been acquiring bullpen arms with funk and deception, and Crawford fits that mold. He doesn't have enough stuff to start in the majors, but his unique look and fastball-changeup combination give him a chance to rise as a middle reliever.

The McCann signing should make Phillies fans happy for now since it decreases the likelihood the Mets are going to make a run at signing JT Realmuto. The McCann signing may not make Lucas Giolito quite as happy. This is probably mostly a fluke (especially given the samples), but as pointed out by a White Sox beat writer (link) Giolito’s career pitching splits by catcher are sort of stark...

Figured we could start a thread to discuss free agent signings of the caliber that don’t exactly necessitate their own thread. Here’s a start: James McCann signed with the Mets for 4 year, $40 million. Two years ago McCann was non-tendered by the Tigers.

Following up on this from earlier in the week, it was indeed a Rule 5 eligible prospect that the Brewers ultimately acquired.

For those interested in more general discussion on the MiLB reorganization here is another good option... Effectively Wild Episode 1628: What MLB’s Remaking of the Minors Means At the 15:04 minute mark they bring on Baseball America executive editor J.J. Cooper to talk about the ongoing overhaul of the minor leagues, the history of the relationship between the majors and minors, why MLB sought to consolidate its control over amateur ball and the minor leagues, the impact of the pandemic, the pending improvements in conditions for minor leaguers, the virtues of amateur ball versus affiliated ball, minor league owners as sympathetic figures, how the 120 affiliated teams were determined, efficiency vs. access to the sport, and whether baseball will be better or worse off in the long run.

In addition to occupying a 26-man roster spot Rule 5 selections also require a $100,000 transaction fee. That’s a high bar to clear in order to be considered “worthy” by other teams.

From Eric Longenhagen in his FanGraphs chat: Last I saw Crawford he was 87-92 coming out of the Tony Cingrani sort of release point. Milwaukee likes those pitchers who present an odd look, so maybe that's at play here.

Brewers announce they've acquired LHP Leo Crawford from the Dodgers to complete the trade. Crawford's best pitch is reportedly his changeup.

Not sure if anyone else caught this, but the Bobby Abreu is the number 1 player comp listed for Yelich. That is the exact same player comp that was previously listed for Trent Grisham.

This is the biggest thing that I think is getting overlooked. Mark owns the controlling interest, but may not have a majority stake in the club according to some speculation. If that’s the case you have a large group of investors expecting continued profitable returns and the team is seemingly more likely to operate as risk averse and on tightly orchestrated budgets.

Nate Lowe is fine and would've been an interesting trade target for the Brewers, but he's also a corner bat with a sub-.800 OPS who thus far throughout his young MLB career has only appeared in 71 games. They play different positions, but I wonder if this trade could preclude something involving Joey Gallo. Gallo only has two more years under contract and the Rangers aren’t likely to be competitive next year. The best prospect the Rangers are sending back in the deal (C Heriberto Hernandez) seems like a solid get for the Rays. Mario Feliciano would've probably been the closest equivalent the Brewers have in their farm system, although Hernandez is much younger and has put up more impressive offensive numbers at a young age. Also, just making sure we aren't mixing up Rays' hitters here? Obviously Nate Lowe (pronounced "LOW") is an inferior baseball player to Brandon Lowe (pronounced "LAU"). Don't get me wrong, I too would've been intrigued by Nate Lowe but it also would've required a bit of a leap of faith for the Brewers.

The Brewers also passed in the Triple-A portion of the Rule 5 Draft. I understand why teams shy away from making picks in the major league portion, but am always surprised when they don't take someone in the minor league portion. It's even less risk, and occasionally has a big payoff. In addition to not selecting anyone the Brewers didn't have any of their minor league players selected in the Triple-A portion of the Rule 5 Draft.

I think that’s a possibility as well. If it is the case then it’s likely someone on the list below. Dodgers minor leaguers that are Rule 5 eligible: Donovan Casey OF/RHP Brett de Geus RHP Omar Estevez SS/2B Marshall Kasowski RHP Jeren Kendall OF Logan Salow LHP Justin Yurchak 1B/3B Guillermo Zuniga RHP Cody Thomas OF Parker Curry RHP Nolan Long RHP Brayan Morales OF Carlos Rincon OF/DH Errol Robinson SS/2B/3B Cristian Santana 3B/1B/SS Jordan Sheffield RHP Shea Spitzbarth RHP Leonel Valera SS/3B/2B Nick Yarnall 1B/OF Two Dodgers were selected during the Rule 5 Draft major league portion, RHP Brett de Geus was taken by the Rangers with the 2nd overall selection and RHP Jordan Sheffield was taken by the Colorado Rockies with the 8th overall selection. RHP Shea Spitzbarth was then selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 1st selection in the Triple-A portion of the Rule 5 draft. Also, infielder Errol Robinson was taken by the Cincinnati Reds in the Triple-A portion.

Lots of teams taking players in the Rule 5 this year (12 of the first 14 teams took someone), but the Brewers at #15 have passed in the major league portion of the draft. EDIT: 18 total players were taken in the major league portion of the Rule 5 Draft. Here is the now completed the major league portion of the Rule 5 Draft (two teams took a second player): 1. Pittsburgh Pirates -- Jose Soriano, RHP (Angels) 2. Texas Rangers -- Brett de Geus, RHP (Dodgers) 3. Detroit Tigers -- Akil Baddoo, OF (Twins) 4. Boston Red Sox -- Garrett Whitlock, RHP (Yankees) 5. Baltimore Orioles -- Mac Sceroler, RHP (Reds) 6. Arizona Diamondbacks -- Zach Pop, RHP (Orioles) 7. Kansas City Royals -- Pass 8. Colorado Rockies -- Jordan Sheffield, RHP (Dodgers) 9. Los Angeles Angels -- Jose Alberto Rivera, RHP (Astros) 10. New York Mets -- Luis Oviedo, RHP (Indians) 11. Washington Nationals -- Pass 12. Seattle Mariners -- Will Vest, RHP (Tigers) 13. Philadelphia Phillies -- Kyle Holder, SS (Yankees) 14. San Francisco Giants -- Dedniel Nunez, RHP (Mets) 15. Milwaukee Brewers -- Pass 16. Houston Astros -- Pass 17. Miami Marlins -- Paul Campbell, RHP (Rays) 18. Cincinnati Reds -- Pass 19. St. Louis Cardinals -- Pass 20. Toronto Blue Jays -- Pass 21. New York Yankees -- Pass 22. Chicago Cubs -- Gray Fenter, RHP (Orioles) 23. Chicago White Sox -- Pass 24. Cleveland Indians -- Trevor Stephan, RHP (Yankees) 25. Atlanta Braves -- Pass 26. Oakland A's -- Ka'ai Tom, OF (Indians) 27. Minnesota Twins -- Pass 28. San Diego Padres -- Pass 29. Tampa Bay Rays -- Pass 30. Los Angeles Dodgers -- Pass ROUND 2 4. Baltimore Orioles -- Tyler Wells, RHP (Twins) 14. Oakland Athletics -- Dany Jimenez, RHP (Blue Jays)