SRB

He's an MLB-caliber SS in his early 20s with upside. If he were actually a great player right now then then there's no way the Brewers (or any other team) would be trading him.

SS Jean Segura 3B Aramis Ramirez Brewers pay all or most of A-Ram's remaining salary for CF Brandon Nimmo RHP Michael Fulmer RHP Marcos Molina If they don't like it they can take a hike.

How about an Orimoloye-Harrison-Clark outfield? They could do feats of strength/raw athleticism between innings.

Typically I think of these lists as ranking a combination of upside versus probability of contributing value to the franchise at the major league level. Jungmann has already produced more fWAR (+0.6) than the vast majority of these players likely ever will, simply by making it to the majors and pitching well for a few starts. That's why I find it very hard to fit him into a prospect ranking. He's already contributing so to avoid placing him in the top-3/top-5 (where I don't think he belongs) it would have to be based on just his upside (which is probably a mid/bottom-rotation starter), but if we are ranking by pure upside then how is Lara not ahead of Arcia? If it was just a cup of coffee before he went back down to develop more (like Joey Gallo) then ok, but I feel like Jungmann/Knebel/Cravy have all graduated from being prospects.

If Kansas City is interested in Parra, I would push for RHP Scott Blewett -- second-round pick last year, age 19, having a very nice season in Class A -- and another piece.

The thing about first round picks is that they aren't all created equal either. As much as Arnett was a disaster, we were picking #26, not #5. Granted some teams consistently pick low and do well, like the Cardinals, but we've established that that's due to satanic rituals and the consumption of human babies.

I did not rank Jungmann, Knebel, or Cravy. 1 -- LHP Kodi Medeiros -- I may be mocked for this after Baseball America just called Orlando Arcia a top-10 prospect in baseball, but I am still an unabashed Medeiros fanboy. When he was drafted many raved about his raw stuff, the only question was whether he could harness it in games. I think he is having an unheralded great season as one of the youngest players in the Midwest league, with a 9.3 K/9 and by all accounts a ridiculous ground ball rate. The 4.0 BB/9 is not concerning if you look at the litany of future ace pitches who had similar control issues as teenagers at A-ball. 2 -- SS Orlando Arcia -- I did not realize how highly outside observers evaluated him until I saw him at #8 on the recent Baseball America midseason top-50. Very excited about his potential, but also cognizant that any guy who can play shortstop well and maybe hit is going to be treated as an elite prospect. Still a long ways to go but at least theres a chance Arcia could truly become a star player. 3 -- SS Gilbert Lara -- What used to be pure potential is starting to manifest itself in glowing scouting reports. 4 -- RHP Jorge Lopez -- I'm relying on the buzz around Lopez turning things around this season (and according to some scouts deserving consideration as a top-50 prospect). The stats alone don't marvel me, but I remember all the praise for Lopez's curveball and upside back when he was drafted. 5 -- CF Tyrone Taylor -- He was a top-100 prospect coming into the season, and he's not having a breakout but he hasn't been a disaster either (.715 OPS last season, .656 OPS this season). He's only 21-years-old and was never considered an elite bat. I think he still has a solid chance to be a major league CF. 6 -- CF Monte Harrison -- As anecdotal as it is, I've been very impressed with Harrison's attitude and comments in interviews. I think he has good makeup, which is a big plus when you have the ridiculous physical tools that he does. He will be a project, but his upside is still enormous. 7 -- RHP Devin Williams -- An underrated prospect among Brewer fans because he was a second-round pick perhaps, though at the time some pundits considered him a clear first-round talent when the Brewers took him with their first pick. Fairly young for Wisconsin and having a great season. 8 -- SS Jake Gatewood -- I'm still giving the 2014 draft picks a big leash based on potential. Gatewood has shown glimpses of his potential this season, even though he still hasn't come close to figuring things out. 9 -- OF Clint Coulter -- An .805 OPS this season, perhaps suppressed by an artificially low AVG. Nothing wrong with Coulter, but he drops to #9 in the list because the system is getting better and because, as a corner OF, it's just hard to standout. 10 -- OF Trent Clark -- Drafting the guy with the best hit tool in the high school draft class seems smart to me, because it's easier for a fantastic athlete like Clark to fill out and gain some power than it is for a guy with plus raw power to learn how to hit (see: Roach, Victor). My only concern is that Clark's grip will limit his power potential, and/or that the Brewers will screw him up by making him change something. 11 -- OF Michael Reed 12 -- RHP Marcos Diplan 13 -- LHP Nathan Kirby 14 -- RHP Tyler Wagner 15 -- OF Troy Stokes 16 -- OF Demi Orimoloye 17 -- OF Victor Roache 18 -- RHP Cody Ponce 19 -- RHP Nash Walters 20 -- OF Joantgel Segovia 21 -- OF Brandon Diaz 22 -- 3B Dustin DeMuth 23 -- C Carlos Leal (Ok, I will get on board!) 24 -- RHP Cy Sneed 25 -- LHP Wei-Chung Wang

Huh? We drafted Lucroy in 2007, two years after Braun, and I have yet to see Lucroy play for any other team but Milwaukee. Lucroy isn't saying he doesn't want to play here. He is saying that he doesn't want to waste his career on a perennial loser, and since 2011 (let's see, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015...) the Brewers haven't been doing much winning at all. What competitive player wants to spend the remainder of his time in the bigs on a team that is going to suck? The man is a competitor, and that is the kind of player we want on this team, not some schlub like Kyle Lohse, who was "encouraged" after giving up four runs in 6 innings his last outing. We don't want people here who are just going through the motions, and collecting a paycheck. We want winners. People who want to make the playoffs, and go to the World Series. If we trade Lucroy because it's the best thing for our future, ok. But if some of you are telling to get out of here for speaking his conscience, I have to seriously question those people. By career Brewer I mean Braun will very likely retire a Brewer, a la Robin Yount. Lucroy will be gone sooner or latter. I'm not offended by his comments, I just find the Lucroy adulation funny considering what the reaction would have been if, say, Ryan Braun had made the same remarks. Lucroy has always seemed a little standoffish to me yet he's the guy most people love, whereas Ryan Braun has never seemed like anything other than a nice guy and yet (even setting aside the PED stuff) he's always been viewed as a prima donna jerk for some reason.

Lohse seems like a guy who would pitch for the Twins.

Personally, I would recommend that Jungmann be excluded, given that he is 100% going to be ineligible very shortly, and given that his recent MLB success is probably going to skew the vote (it's hard to fit that onto a "prospect" ranking).

Can you imagine the reaction if Braun or Gomez said this? Yet they are the jerks and Lucroy is the fan favorite, ok. Anyways, please trade Lucroy while his value is still high. He is not the face of the franchise. Braun is the only career Brewer on the roster right now.

Wow! I am genuinely shocked (and pleased). I was thinking he was top-50, maybe top-25, but top-10 is elite. This is the highest a Brewers prospect has been ranked since Rickie Weeks (#8 pre-2005), and the third highest in the history of Baseball America's Top 100s (Rickie Weeks, #4 pre-2004; Ben Sheets, #5 pre-2001). The caveat being that this is the midseason top-50 not the annual top-100 list, but still. As an added bonus, I hope this means we can comfortably trade Segura and hopefully get another top-50/top-100 prospect in return. In theory you could try him at 2B, but he probably has more value as a trade chip right now.

[sarcasm]In a rare maneuver, the Milwaukee Brewers have placed Matt Garza on the 15-day DL prospective to 116 days from now.[/sarcasm]

Just off the top of my head: Shelby Miller for Jason Heyward (MLB not AAA, but close enough) Jacob Turner (pre-2012, #22) for Omar Infante and Anibal Sanchez Trevor Bauer (pre-2013, #14) for Didi Gregorious Tyler Skaggs (pre-2013, #12) for Mark Trumbo Whether you think Syndergaard (pre-2015, #11) is substantially better than any of those guys (and there are probably many more I'm not thinking of) isn't really the point. I want a top-25, top-15 pitching prospect for somebody Lucroy (who is way more valuable than the chumps involved in the above trades) at a minimum. None of the Braves pitching prospects were even ranked top-100 prior to this season. They are pure risk.

No, that's where all the risk is. The value is in an extremely rare commodity like Lucroy who, at least if you value him as a cost-controleld MVP-caliber catcher (which some teams surely do), is worth Syndergaard +++.

I doubt many of this year's draftees will start as top-100 prospects. Maybe the top-5 or so.

I don't think the Braves have the prospects to land Lucroy. None of them are too exciting to me.

Gallardo's K/9 is all the way down to 6.35 this season. Good luck sustaining the ERA... (Happy he is doing well though!)

I certainly hope Medeiros will be. I still think he's the best prospect in the system (depending on how well Lara performs). 9.4 K/9, 3.01 FIP, and a ground ball machine (only one pitcher in the Midwest league has thrown more innings without giving up a HR this season) as one of the youngest players in the league. He's on his way to being elite.

Interesting tidbit from BA prospect hot list, regarding Lopez:

I'm happy we got at least one top-30 guy.

I like Hernan Perez, I'm hoping he can become a longterm utility guy for us. But penciling him as a longterm starter at 3B (where he played a 2 of 731 games in the minors) because he's had a hot couple weeks doesn't make sense. If you think he'll be able to hit enough to be a major league 3B, then he should be bumping Segura or Gennett instead, because that kind of bat would be much more valuable at SS/2B (which Perez can play).

I think people are getting a little carried away with Hernan's hot streak with the Brewers - his combined season line is still a <.600 OPS and he's playing 3B... Whatever his merits as a possible utility SS/2B, there is literally no way he should be starting a substantial number of games at 3B longterm.

Medeiros is the best SP prospect in the system, and the gulf between him and everybody else is enormous. Not even close. Between his age, strikeout rate, not-unacceptable walk rate, and ground ball dominance, he is very quietly having a fantastic season. I could see him slingshotting into a top-25 prospect after next season.

5.1 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 7 ER Oops, better make that "negative one Orlando Arcia"