Eye Black

I actually made a mistake. I had Corey Ray on my list at #9 then shuffled around a couple of guys before I posted it and apparently unwittingly deleted him. I am going to add him the top of my “just missed” list. Also, good point about the guys coming off injuries. I think they are players that will intrigue other teams, but might not return full value as you mentioned. Regarding Segovia he is Rule 5 eligible, I am just lower on him being an asset that other teams would desire.

With the trade deadline just over a month away I thought it might be interesting to look at things a little differently. Obviously we don’t know which players the Brewers are going to target. We also don’t know whether they will ultimately make a big splash or stick with smaller moves. One thing I am fairly confident about, however, is the Brewers will make trades prior to this year’s deadline. Who do we think are the players in the organization most likely to be traded prior to the deadline? This is obviously a subjective thing. There are players other teams will be more interested in than others, just as there are players the Brewers are going to be more willing to part with than others. I took a stab identifying which players I thought had some combination of both of those two factors. Below is the list of players I settled on. Players that I think offer decent value to non-contending organizations, but also players that the Brewers could stand to part with if it makes the current MLB team stronger. I included some select stats (which were current going into Sunday) as well as the players status regarding either Rule 5 draft eligibility or 40-man roster spot. 1. Jake Gatewood, 1B/3B (Double-A: .236 BA, .746 OPS, 28.3 K%; Rule 5 Eligible) 2. Troy Stokes Jr., OF (Double-A: .248 BA, .808 OPS, 29.1 K%; Rule 5 Eligible) 3. Bubba Derby, RHP (Triple-A: 69.0 IP, 3.91 ERA, 8.09 K/9; Rule 5 Eligible) 4. Marcos Diplan, RHP (Now in Double-A; High-A: 61.1 IP, 3.52 ERA, 8.80 K/9, 40-Man Roster) 5. Luis Ortiz, RHP (Double-A: 42.0 IP, 3.86 ERA, 9.86 K/9; Rule 5 Eligible) 6. Brett Phillips, OF (Triple-A: .246 BA, .750 OPS, 32.0 K%; 40-Man Roster) 7. Cody Ponce, RHP (Double-A: 58.0 IP, 4.81 ERA, 6.98 K/9, Rule 5 Eligible) 8. Kodi Medeiros, LHP (Double-A: 77.1 IP, 3.38 ERA, 9.19 K/9, Rule 5 Eligible) 9. Trent Grisham, OF (Double-A: .241 BA, .693 OPS, 21.1 K%) 10. Adrian Houser, RHP (MLB; 40-Man Roster/Active Roster) Some others I closely considered included: Corey Ray, OF (Double-A: .245 BA, .781 OPS, 27.4 K%) Brandon Woodruff, RHP (Triple-A: 40.2 IP, 2.43 ERA, 7.75 K/9; 40-Man Roster) Quintin Torres-Costa, LHP (Double-A: 30.1 IP, 1.19 ERA, 12.76 K/9, Rule 5 Eligible in 2018) Thomas Jankins, RHP (Double-A: 73.0 IP, 4.44 ERA, 7.40 K/9) Lucas Erceg, 3B (Double-A: .235 BA, .634 OPS, 15.5 K%) Zack Brown, RHP (Double-A: 85.1 IP, 2.53 ERA, 8.86 K/9) Phil Bickford, RHP (High-A; Rule 5 Eligible) Nate Griep, RHP (Double-A: 2.87 ERA, 7.76 K/9; Rule 5 Eligible in 2018) Trey Supak, RHP (Double-A: 26.0 IP, 4.85 ERA, 9.69 K/9, Rule 5 Eligible) Nathan Kirby, LHP (High-A; Rule 5 Eligible) Would be interested to hear what others think including a top 5 or top 10 most likely to be moved in your opinion?

9th round selection Arbert Cipion is officially signed and headed to the AZL. No word on bonus amount yet.

[pre]Cardinals Lineup Brewers Lineup 1. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B 1. Eric Thames (L) 1B 2. Greg Garcia (L) SS 2. Christian Yelich (L) CF 3. José Martínez ® 1B 3. Ryan Braun ® LF 4. Marcell Ozuna ® LF 4. Travis Shaw (L) 3B 5. Yadier Molina ® C 5. Hernán Pérez ® RF 6. Dexter Fowler (S) RF 6. Jonathan Villar (S) 2B 7. Harrison Bader ® CF 7. Erik Kratz ® C 8. Kolten Wong (L) 2B 8. Orlando Arcia ® SS 9. Luke Weaver ® P 9. Jhoulys Chacín ® P[/pre]

If the Brewers aren’t planning to sign any of their selections after the 10th round for over-slot deals they would have up to $4,151,895 to spend on their two remaining top ten players (Brice Turang and Arbert Cipion). That number includes the 5% overage which comes with a tax penalty (Brewers went 5% over their draft bonus pool last year as well). If Cipion signs for his 9th round slot value ($146,200) that leaves $4 million for Turang, which was his rumored asking price. I think Turang ultimately signs for less than that and the Brewers will take a stab at signing some additional later round picks, but either way they are in good shape with their remaining bonus pool.

It seems both alarming and that is likely a product of an offense that has such a wide gap between the producers and non-producers.

Aaaand you would be correct **Sigh**

He looked safe to me.

Jesús Aguilar with an opportunity here to send Cardinals fans into a complete tailspin.

Travis Shaw with an opportunity here to send Cardinals fans into a complete tailspin.

I am so mad about the Yelich HBP right now.

It seems like Matheny is trolling the Cardinals fans calling for his ouster with this move.

Haudricourt Tweet... “Brewers announce that CF Lorenzo Cain left the game with groin tightness.”

With Brad Miller now playing at home in Miller Park, how many former/current major leaguers have played in a home ballpark they shared a name with (first or last name)? Click the spoiler for four (but see if you can come up with any first). I’m not sure if there are any more than these...

[pre]Cardinals Lineup Brewers Lineup 1. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B 1. Eric Thames (L) LF 2. Tommy Pham ® CF 2. Christian Yelich (L) RF 3. José Martínez ® 1B 3. Lorenzo Cain ® CF 4. Marcell Ozuna ® LF 4. Travis Shaw (L) 3B 5. Yadier Molina ® C 5. Jesús Aguilar ® 1B 6. Dexter Fowler (S) RF 6. Jonathan Villar (S) 2B 7. Yairo Muñoz ® SS 7. Manny Piña ® C 8. Kolten Wong (L) 2B 8. Orlando Arcia ® SS 9. Jack Flaherty ® P 9. Junior Guerra ® P[/pre]

Currently unsigned 20th round selection Joey Matulovich, RHP, California, had a nice long relief outing in the Cape Cod League last night, ARTICLE LINK. From the article... ”The man who kept them in the game? Joey Matulovich. Matulovich came in to relieve Feole and dazzled over four innings of work. Matulovich struck out five Braves and did not allow any runs or walks. “Joey did a great job. I thought his last inning was his best. His curveball was his best. He’s a competitor so we will get some good innings out of him,” Sneddon said.”

Tonight is the worst collective defensive performance I can remember from a professional baseball team. Wow.

This is a weird game so far. This doesn’t seem like the Cardinals of old.

Brewers hitters making some really hard contact off Martinez so far tonight.

I don’t think I have ever seen a warning track ball at Miller Park misplayed that terribly.

That wasn’t exactly the start I had hoped for.

Yes, so he would remain eligible to win the 2019 Rookie of the Year award, but he would still accrue 30 days of service time. The important aspect is that a September call up would mean that instead of the Brewers being able to bring him up in late-April 2019 and maintain an extra year of team control they would have to wait until the end of May 2019 to call him up in order to not risk losing that extra year. Another way to put it is you don’t want him to have 172+ days of service time at the end of the 2019 season. Any days he plays in 2018 will likely result in less days he would play in 2019. I guess it’s always possible they don’t try to manipulate his service time and just give up the extra year of control, but I think that’s unlikely.

Craig Counsell acknowledged that Freddy Peralta will start on Tuesday versus the Royals.

[pre]Cardinals Lineup Brewers Lineup 1. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B 1. Eric Thames (L) LF 2. Tommy Pham ® CF 2. Christian Yelich (L) RF 3. Jose Martinez ® 1B 3. Lorenzo Cain ® CF 4. Marcell Ozuna ® LF 4. Travis Shaw (L) 3B 5. Yadier Molina ® C 5. Jesús Aguilar ® 1B 6. Jedd Gyorko ® 2B 6. Jonathan Villar (S) 2B 7. Harrison Bader ® RF 7. Eric Sogard (L) SS 8. Yairo Munoz ® SS 8. Manny Piña ® C 9. Carlos Martinez ® P 9. Brent Suter (L) P[/pre]