Eye Black

Lots of good information on the July 2nd international prospect market (for 2015 and 2016) and some player videos in this Fangraphs piece, July 2nd Spending Plans Are Coming Into Focus Also taken from the article, this excerpt comparing last year's top players to this year's class.

Aren't those Miami guys both sophomores? Unless I am missing something, I don't think either is draft eligible until 2016.

Lineup projection from the Brewers Season Preview on Banished to the Pen. Thought this was one of the more likely projections I've seen, albeit not exactly the most balanced.

I haven't noticed this posted yet, but the video that accompanied this Adam McCalvy's article, Inexperienced Jungmann leads Brewers' rotation depth has some interesting tidbits. Jungmann talks about some adjustments he has made recently such as switching from the left side of the rubber to the 3rd base side. He also talks about remaking his curveball when he became a professional, and said that for his first two years of pro ball he basically relied solely on his fastball. With a strong spring it seems likely Jungmann will be next in-line when an inevitable injury occurs among the starting rotation.

There is supposed to be at least one very big target for the teams that are patient enough to wait for 2016 (assuming the current system doesn't change dramatically before then). Fangraphs labeled him the Next Elite July 2nd Prospect, 14 year old Venezuelan, Kevin Maitan. http://youtu.be/ZU2fXwYwgBo http://youtu.be/2rVoD4jATp4

Total bonus to Moncada was $31.5 million, for a total cost to the Red Sox of $63 million. Yankees offered a $25 million signing bonus reportedly with a willingness to go up to $27 million. Very curious what the Brewers offered Moncada.

I agree. The current method is horrible and creates a competitive disadvantage as only (at most) 50% of the teams have any realistic shot of signing these guys. In my opinion it's completely idiotic to, for a lack of a better word, punish athletes for being born in the US. MLB is a mostly US league, but yet we pay more to those born outside our own borders. Sillyness. There has been some speculation that the tax money collected by MLB from the Moncada signing will be used towards funding the development and implementation of an international draft.

And I'm sure a young Cuban kid with huge dreams has just been dying to make that one franchise that he devotes his career to be located in Milwaukee, WI. Surely that's what every young Caribbean kid dreams about when he's flipping that baseball up in the air & imagining hitting the WS-winning home run. Don't get me wrong, I won't count us out until Moncada has officially signed with a team. But I don't think we've got any kind of serious chance to sign him. The Red Sox had him talk with Luis Tiant and the Yankees countered with El Duque. [sarcasm]Maybe Yuni B. can put in a good word for the Brewers?[/sarcasm] According to the New York Post there may be a catch with signing Moncada.

Nothing all that new here, but the latest update from MLB Trade Rumors is keeping the sliver of a hope alive... It sounds like we should know early this week where Moncada is headed. Somewhat in the same way that its fun to picture how you are going spend your Powerball winnings right before the actual drawing causes hard reality to set in, it's fun to envision Moncada as a future Brewers superstar.

Well Baseball America just provided this information with their most recent top 100 list. Top 100: By the Numbers: By Draft Round 48 First 12 Supplemental first 8 Second 2 Third, Sixth 1 Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, 11th, 16th, 48th By Source 47 High school draft pick 30 College draft pick 22 International free agent 1 Junior college draft pick

I found this section from the article interesting... He doesn't necessarily have to go with the highest bid. I wonder if they are asking teams to guarantee him a spot on the MLB roster by a certain date (i.e. this year, next year)? From Moncada's standpoint that would start his arbitration clock and six years of team control sooner and may be worth more than an extra $3-5 million. Still, not sure any teams would go for it unless they were desperate to win the bidding.

Some great content from Baseball America following week one of the college season... Weekend Roundup: Kentucky’s Cody, Barrett Show Potential Draft Podcast College Draft Prospects Stat Roundup: Week 1 Includes some potential 1st round college position players with notable performances... [pre]Player College Team AB R H RBI SO BB SB XBH DJ Stewart Florida State 9 5 5 1 1 6 2 2B Ian Happ Cincinnati 16 4 7 4 2 2 0 2 2B; 2 HR Dansby Swanson Vanderbilt 14 3 6 2 2 2 1 2 2B; 3B Richie Martin Florida 10 4 3 2 0 2 1 HR Alex Bregman Louisiana State 12 1 2 1 1 0 1[/pre]

And for some information on the other Cubans you can check out this THREAD from the BF.net MLB Draft/International Talent forum. It's also a great place to share any scouting information you come across.

Well you can click all of the various article links within this Fangraphs article, Everything You Need to Know About Yoan Moncada for a lot of information including some scouting stuff and much more. Each date listed in the article is a link to the original full article. Or you can watch some game footage of Moncada and decide for yourself:

I really, really wanted the Brewers to select Grant Holmes, but after the Gatewood and Harrison picks I assumed the reasoning had to do with the ability to sign Medeiros under slot value (which of course they did by $305K), but was a little disappointed when they both signed for the exact same dollar figure. Of course its quite possible Holmes would not have accepted $2.5 million if he had been selected 10 picks earlier. I am still amazed that the Rockies got Kyle Freeland to sign for less than both of them ($2.3 million), at almost $900K under slot value.

Per MLB Trade Rumors Updates on the Top Cuban Free Agents the Brewers are currently in the mix for three of the four top Cuban players:

Baseball Prospectus Organizational Rankings Brewers come in at #26. Link includes a short summary of all 30 organizations and some other notes such as each teams "must-see" affiliate.

Just a friendly reminder that if you subscribed to MLB.tv last season the service will automatically renew (for $129.99) on February 28, 2015. To cancel you have to login to your MLB.com account and click the "Audio/Video Subscriptions" link along the left side of the screen. I know the auto-renew has gotten a couple of folks in the past.

While it may be coincidence, it's interesting that he has used six of those seven 1st round selections on pitching. Overall, I like what Montgomery has done with his drafts for the Diamondbacks. Some other notable players he has drafted outside of the 1st round include: RHP Evan Marshall (4th Rd in 2011), RHP Jake Barrett (3rd Rd in 2012), 3B Jake Lamb (6th Rd in 2012), SS Andrew Velazquez (7th Rd in 2012), and Justin Williams (2nd Rd in 2013). It's too early to evaluate the 2014 draft picks, but it appears Montgomery's final draft with the D-Backs was high-risk, high-reward with his first five selections all being high school players. Touki Toussaint has an incredible curveball to pair with his mid-90's fastball and his ceiling is very high, but I don't love the fact he cost the Diamondbacks $360,000 over slot value to sign. Still, I like the idea of taking a chance on high upside players similar to Toussaint.

Thanks TLB! Yesterday Kiley McDaniel came out with another thorough update on the Cuban prospects mentioned above... Yadier Alvarez Emerges While Other Cubans Move Closer to Deals. And the FanGraphs podcast discussing the recent showcase in the Dominican that included 18 Cuban players can be found here... FanGraphs Audio: Kiley McDaniel on His Dominican Sojourn

Looks like that is a YES

In that particular game the catchers were having trouble all day long with this. Rawlings, the presenting sponsor for the event, had given all of the players brand new Rawlings gloves. Certainly a nice gesture (and to make sure their competitors equipment wasn't represented on the field), but watching those kids try to catch advanced pitches with brand new catchers gloves was a tough sight at times.

Another Cuban infielder who profiles as a 2B, and might be a stretch for 3B is 21 year old Andy Ibanez. Ibanez defected from Cuba back in the Fall and is expected to sign with an organization for the 2015 season (likely to start at high-A or AA). Andy Ibanez (2B) From NBC Sports: And here is a small portion of Baseball America's player profile on Ibanez:

A heralded young Cuban player, 18 year old Yadier Alvarez has reportedly created a lot of buzz among scouts with his workout yesterday. Yadier Alvarez (RHP) From Jon Heyman: Again, video courtesy of Fangraphs Kiley McDaniel:

The Moncada signing is going to come and go over the next couple of weeks, but there are still many other notable Cuban players currently being scouted by MLB teams. I think it's worth starting a thread to highlight some of these other talented Cuban players and evaluate which players may make sense for the Brewers to consider. There have been a handful of other (non-Moncada) Cuban ballplayers making headlines recently. Let's start with some information regarding the Free Agent from Cuba expected to have the most immediate impact at the MLB level, 29 year old Hector Olivera. Hector Olivera (IF/2B) [pre]Year G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS 2003 132 119 32 38 6 3 1 11 5 0 7 20 .319 .367 .445 .813 2004 298 282 47 92 10 4 6 35 7 7 12 32 .326 .362 .454 .816 2005 77 296 252 42 66 8 4 3 35 5 6 35 24 .262 .351 .361 .712 2006 89 409 359 72 113 15 1 6 32 7 4 28 26 .315 .370 .412 .782 2007 84 394 323 91 114 25 3 10 45 21 1 55 28 .353 .467 .542 1.009 2008 84 398 332 84 115 23 5 16 71 8 3 55 24 .346 .444 .590 1.035 2009 89 411 345 76 111 34 4 14 54 0 1 56 29 .322 .415 .565 .980 2010 86 394 346 83 110 25 1 16 70 2 0 37 21 .318 .390 .535 .924 2011 60 264 214 48 73 10 0 17 42 0 1 44 22 .341 .462 .626 1.088 2013 73 273 228 44 72 11 2 7 38 0 0 38 25 .316 .412 .474 .885 10 Seasons 642 3269 2800 619 904 167 27 96 433 55 23 367 251 .323 .407 .505 .912[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 2/12/2015. From MLB Trade Rumors: Here is some video courtesy of Fangraphs Kiley McDaniel of Olivera taking an impressive BP session (and ending with a live at-bat).