Eye Black

Thanks to a White Sox podcaster (Josh Nelson) here is a Google Doc Spreadsheet of the Average Rankings of Top 100 Prospect Lists. It has the three that have been released so far and it looks like he will update as the other lists are released.

MLB Pipeline released their Top 100 Prospects. Three current Brewers prospects appeared as well as two former Milwaukee farmhands. #56 - Keston Hiura #69 - Corbin Burnes #96 - Brandon Woodruff Ex-Brewers #27 - Lewis Brinson #71 - Monte Harrison Some prospects must have just missed, because two weeks ago a member of the MLB Pipeline staff had said 7 Brewers prospects would appear on the list.

To clarify, all he said 2 days ago was that Domingo was going to be traded to an AL team, possibly as soon as tomorrow (yesterday). He never specified that it was definitely going to happen today if not by yesterday. Did he really even say it was Domingo that was being traded? I honestly don't remember. Yes, LINK.

Good List, I'd add two more guys: Robbie Ray - 3 years control Mike Clevinger - 5 years control I wonder if packaging Domingo with one of our other starters would open discussions with these guys? Domingo and Davies or Woodruff package offered for either of these guys, both teams seem to have some decent SP depth. They would drop off on SP pitching but gain in the OF. Ray/Clevinger Anderson Nelson Chacin Woodruff/Davies Suter I like the list of young pitchers that you put together and really appreciate that you took the time to do so. As far as cost in prospect capital to acquire those pitchers, it would be immense. I don’t think Santana would motivate the majority of those teams enough to significantly move the needle on their interest. I think most of those teams would demand both Hiura and Burnes/Ortiz as a starting point for the discussion. I know that sounds steep, but that is the reality of trying to deal for an established young front end starter under team control. I know this is less exciting in the short term, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the Brewers target less proven arms that wouldn’t cost quite as much in current assets. A few guys that intrigue me as future MLB starters... Jacob Faria, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays (23 years old) - So I won’t even mention the stat line that would make even clancyphile blush. Faria had one of the best changeups in the minors. He uses a mix between his fastball and changeup to keep hitters deceived, which is probably one of the most underrated qualities in a young starter. The Rays have done a great job developing Faria thus far. This probably isn’t the top of the rotation arm we are clamoring for, but he is likely to be a very solid pitcher for many years to come. Ok, you want to pay a little more for guys you can dream on as future aces?... Alec Hansen, RHP, Chicago White Sox (23 years old) - I am going to let everyone in on a secret, in 4 years Hansen is going to be one of the best pitchers in baseball. He is listed by B-Ref at 6’7” which is cute, because he is now nearly 6’10”. Understandably it has taken him a little longer to develop, but I think part of the reason he isn’t ranked as a top 10 prospect in baseball is because of control issues which he has since seemingly overcome. He grew several inches during his college years and was a victim of extreme inconsistency. Now that he has settled in he is about to be scary good. His fastball sits mid-90s, but he can run it up into the high 90s. Right now he is overshadowed by bigger prospect names in the White Sox system, but if the Brewers truly want to take a stab at a future Ace that isn’t currently established or a considered a top 25 MLB prospect, then Alec Hansen is it. A.J. Puk, LHP, Oakland A’s (23 years old) - Puk would likely cost the most of these three, but has a chance to be a very special LHP. I won’t bring up that he was taken one pick after the Brewers selected in 2016 (oops, I just did). Puk has missed a ton of bats as a professional. In 2017 over 125 IP he had a K/9 rate of 13.2. He still needs to prove it at higher levels, but has a sky high ceiling.

Lathund’s post above (#348) is really spot on. If you’re someone who occasionally passes over the longer posts, I encourage you to take the time to go back and read it. It sums up nicely a lot of the thoughts I’m sure many of us have had about the recent moves.

To bad Gerrit Cole is no longer in the division, Yelich’s career line versus Cole: 9 hits in 17 ABs, 2 doubles, 3 HRs, 3 BB, 1.776 OPS. He has also excelled against some other notable pitchers including Max Scherzer (7–for-17, 2B, 3B, 2 HRs, 2 BB, 1.415 OPS), Jacob deGrom (14-for-32, 2 2Bs, 2 BB, .971 OPS), and Aaron Nola (6-for-16, 2B, 3B, BB, 1.125 OPS). He’s also 5-for-11 against Kershaw (all singles). All are extremely small sample sizes obviously.

I count this one as well... ~traded Jonathan Lucroy for Francisco Mejia, Greg Allen, Yu-Cheng Chang & Shawn Armstrong

Somewhat interesting... If you go to either Lorenzo Cain or Christian Yelich's Baseball Reference page, they are both listed as each others match as 2nd closest batter all-time in Similarity Score.

Nicely distributed batted ball approach (Career Percentages)... [pre]Pull% Cent% Oppo% 32.2 % 38.2 % 29.6 %[/pre]

Or what if Braves have a change of heart and want Yelich so bad they decide to offer the Brewers Ronald Acuna for him?! The possibilities are endless!

Rosenthal Article: Brewers face some big decisions after scooping up elite outfielders Yelich and Cain He says that sources have told him the Brewers have discussed moving Ryan Braun to 1B. He isn't sure the Brewers are going to move Santana because he thinks they want Yelich in LF, Cain in CF, and Santana in RF. He brings up Thames .664 OPS against left-handers in comparison to his .933 OPS against righties. He doesn't use the term platoon and Braun in the same sentence, but he certainly seems to allude to it. Also brings up Attanasio having a close relationship with Braun as a reason they might be careful about letting it be known that they would want trade him (he cites avoiding the McCutchen situation). He says a trade of a current outfielder remains the most likely outcome, but thinks trading Santana would "deprive the Brewers of the chance to build a powerhouse offense."

So lets assume Domingo Santana is indeed traded to an American League team this weekend. With the help of Roster Resource I went through the list of American League teams to see who could use either an outfielder, DH, or right-handed power bat. If you think I missed something, or one of the listings doesn’t make sense to you, by all means please share that along with your reasoning why. My five categories below are: Smoke Signals, Need OF, Need DH, Seem Unlikely, No Way. Smoke Signals Indians (lost a Santana, could use a Santana) Need OF Tigers White Sox (have a lot of OF prospects, but hey so did the Brewers) Rangers (need a CF more than corner OF) Blue Jays (they did just acquire both Granderson and Grichuk however) Need DH Red Sox Seem Unlikely A’s Royals Mariners Rays Astros No Way Yankees Orioles Angels Twins

He is not his agent anymore. Yeah, Baseball Reference still lists him even though Cain fired him back in 2011 (as Josh was very open about on a recent podcast). Looks like Josh was getting a lot congratulations tonight from a lot of folks on Twitter that didn’t realize they weren’t currently working together.

If I got to write the script on the next set of moves it would be to trade Santana to the Indians for Mejia and to sign FA’s Alex Cobb and Neil Walker. Mejia is probably a year away yet, but he could be a really special bat within a few years.

I am not sure if this has been posted, but worth the read from Fangraphs: The Brewers Are Here I thought this was a fun fact... ...and there are plenty more, so check out the article.

Gee I hope not. Don't mess with success. Throw him in the lineup with the same swing and approach and naturally let a few more of those balls he hits wind up over the fence. We’ll see, I think there is a decent chance we will see them try it with him. This also reminded me that Barry Bonds was his hitting coach at one point which made me chuckle for really no reason.

Miller Park is a better offensive park than what he's used to. I would imagine that evens out some. Dan Szymborski said Miller Park is typically the 2nd or 3rd friendliest park to left handed hitters in MLB. He believes the Brewers will try to get Yelich to focus on more loft in his swing. Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs has had a couple articles on Yelich where he pointed out that Marlins Park really suppress left handed power. The ZiPs projection added a few home runs to Yelich’s 2018 projected total after the trade.

I’m with you on Lutz. If reports of his pre-draft 110-mph exit velocities are accurate he has a chance to be a difference maker with the bat.

Lewis Brinson (Tweet) seems pretty happy to being going back to where he grew up.

Santana would be a lot easier for the Brewers to justify hanging onto if the National League implemented the DH. I do think it is going to happen in the near future, but unfortunately for the Brewers probably not soon enough.

Sorry if this was posted already, I couldn’t keep up. David Stearns: Others mentioned it as well, but getting a player like Yelich in his prime with five years of control is rare.

Per Dan Szymborski here are Lorenzo Cain’s ZiPS projections over the next 5 years (over 12 WAR would make the $80 million a very good deal)...

I chuckled at this...

That’s a lot of money, but WOW!

This is a really good point regarding the KATOH projections aligning similarly to the players this Front Office has seemingly valued.