Austin Tatious

100%.

100%.

He had 40 doubles and an OPS over .800 and has had power in the past. He’s an accomplished hitter. IMO

Your money argument is nonsensical. You could take any mediocre player and compare him with a good player at that position and convince yourself that the incremental benefit isn’t worth it, one by one. And then you win 75 games. Rowdy, like Carter, is all homers and not much else. Even with his power he was a sub .800 OPS guy and couldn’t even knock in 90 runs from run producing spots in the order. He’s a subpar defender and could not even manage to hit .220. Comparing his strikeouts with Carter’s is way out on the margins. The Brewers need a force in the middle of the lineup, especially from the right side. Abreu solves all that Rowdy lacks. That’s worth the money difference. It’s precisely why Abreu gets paid. It’s precisely why other teams will be all over him. He may get priced outside of Milwaukee but it’s because he’s worth it.

Your money argument is nonsensical. You could take any mediocre player and compare him with a good player at that position and convince yourself that the incremental benefit isn’t worth it, one by one. And then you win 75 games. Rowdy, like Carter, is all homers and not much else. Even with his power he was a sub .800 OPS guy and couldn’t even knock in 90 runs from run producing spots in the order. He’s a subpar defender and could not even manage to hit .220. Comparing his strikeouts with Carter’s is way out on the margins. The Brewers need a force in the middle of the lineup, especially from the right side. Abreu solves all that Rowdy lacks. That’s worth the money difference. It’s precisely why Abreu gets paid. It’s precisely why other teams will be all over him. He may get priced outside of Milwaukee but it’s because he’s worth it.

Tellez may do better without the shift but I’d love to see us get Abreu or even Bell. We need a middle of the order bat especially to improve against LH pitching. Tellez is essentially Chris Carter. I am not saying he’s totally dumped like that but I doubt the FO sees him as a mainstay. If we trade a pitcher, perhaps Houser, I’d be all for signing Quintana. We have some good prospects. But there will be growing pains for sure no matter how good they will be in the end. I suspect the plan is to ease them in over the next couple of years while trying to stay in the race with a mix of vets leading young guys. Gradually, the young guys will get in place as regulars over a couple of year period. Re-upping with Wong signals that plan IMO. But by 2025 you might be looking at half a dozen regulars from our farm system. Guys that have been eased in. As an example, maybe Turang starts with 250 AB’s next year.

Tellez may do better without the shift but I’d love to see us get Abreu or even Bell. We need a middle of the order bat especially to improve against LH pitching. Tellez is essentially Chris Carter. I am not saying he’s totally dumped like that but I doubt the FO sees him as a mainstay. If we trade a pitcher, perhaps Houser, I’d be all for signing Quintana. We have some good prospects. But there will be growing pains for sure no matter how good they will be in the end. I suspect the plan is to ease them in over the next couple of years while trying to stay in the race with a mix of vets leading young guys. Gradually, the young guys will get in place as regulars over a couple of year period. Re-upping with Wong signals that plan IMO. But by 2025 you might be looking at half a dozen regulars from our farm system. Guys that have been eased in. As an example, maybe Turang starts with 250 AB’s next year.

Travers pitched when I was a kid. He was definitely a guy I would always hope on but injuries derailed him. I didn’t give up on him for years. Must have been 79 or 80, I remember him getting on a role and winning at a good clip. He was still young and I thought there was a lot more potential. If turned out that those years constituted his last hurrah. He might have had a different career today, the way pitching is handled more delicately.

Travers pitched when I was a kid. He was definitely a guy I would always hope on but injuries derailed him. I didn’t give up on him for years. Must have been 79 or 80, I remember him getting on a role and winning at a good clip. He was still young and I thought there was a lot more potential. If turned out that those years constituted his last hurrah. He might have had a different career today, the way pitching is handled more delicately.

There’s no way I’d trade Turang for a rental. Not a chance. And I don’t think Stearns is stupid enough to do so either. It’s not in his history. Turang is an ascending player who is improving and has more room to get better. The Brewers may be more apt to deal a resurgent Tristen Lutz or Joe Gray. Maybe a SS like Zamora or even Garcia although I wouldn’t be inclined to move the latter. The Brewers system doesn’t have super depth but their top ten list includes attractive prospects. You aren’t cavalierly dealing them for rentals or patchwork.

There’s no way I’d trade Turang for a rental. Not a chance. And I don’t think Stearns is stupid enough to do so either. It’s not in his history. Turang is an ascending player who is improving and has more room to get better. The Brewers may be more apt to deal a resurgent Tristen Lutz or Joe Gray. Maybe a SS like Zamora or even Garcia although I wouldn’t be inclined to move the latter. The Brewers system doesn’t have super depth but their top ten list includes attractive prospects. You aren’t cavalierly dealing them for rentals or patchwork.

100%. Probably the most underrated Brewers prospect. He’s probably top 15 but rarely ranked up there.

100%. Probably the most underrated Brewers prospect. He’s probably top 15 but rarely ranked up there.

Sammon is mixed up. Quero is in no way a third tier prospect. He’s highly regarded. He must have goofed him up with Jose Sibrian.

Sammon is mixed up. Quero is in no way a third tier prospect. He’s highly regarded. He must have goofed him up with Jose Sibrian.

The recent upswing in stocks: counter rally in a bear market or we’ve already bottomed? I tend to think it’s the former.

Oil is trending lower and may continue to do so in the short term. And that might help bring a reading or two down for upcoming CPI prints. But, there is a long term supply issue and energy could go the other direction again. If so, some other inputs will need to come down, particularly housing, or else inflation could be choppy and a more protracted problem than people want to believe.

I’ve been going off the MLB write ups (just because I’ve followed their lists) and there is divergence from Frangraphs. For example, MLB has Locklear much lower (I think around 100). Will be interesting to see how it shakes out. I suspect Fangraphs will be closer to reality.

Regarding the first round, I’m hoping for one of the college pitchers. It’s hard to tell who might be available but going off MLB’s list there seems to be depth with college pitchers squarely where we are. The Alabama pitcher coming off injury, Connor Prielipp, might be my first choice. He’s from Wisconsin originally. High upside and reward could be tremendous. Also like Hughes, Tidwell, and Horton, in that order. I assume Rocker will be gone but if he’s there I would be interested. If all of those guys are gone, Hjerpe is interesting and his homer avoidance is super interesting. Ferris is an interesting high school pitcher but I would avoid prep guys this high unless they absolutely look overwhelmingly better than the college options because prep arms are a crapshoot. I’m fine with high school pitchers in the mid rounds but not this high unless it’s an unusual circumstance. (High school hitters are less risky IMO a la Turang who is developing nicely and was a steal where we got him. Just don’t compromise on hit tool. If you don’t have a hit tool as an amateur I just don’t like the profile and that seems obvious yet we have screwed that up in the more distant past like the Corey Rays of the world. Come on, if you can’t show a good hit tool as an amateur, against that level of competition, how on earth can you expect a good hitter as you go up the ladder? It’s a longshot to say the least. Turang was a high schooler and he looks good because he has a hit tool.) There are a couple of college outfielders who look ok in our range but none really seem to add much to where we already have great depth. Infielders in our range seem relatively weak. There is a catcher I like, Logan Tanner, but he’s rated lower (MLB has him at 41). Too bad our supp pick is after the second round this alternate year. I think the draft matches us at pitcher and that’s where I hope we go.

Very good article and well said. I like the term tendency and I suspect the main driver is identifying an under-appreciated asset more than anything. Whether it’s a Juco, or in Hawaii, or a player with value who is sliding, or a certain skill set, you might see the Brewers hiding in the shadows, waiting to pounce.

That’s a great story. I enjoyed it. I remember Riles. I am a tad older than you but I was a kid too. I remember the newspaper would carry stats for league leaders in the minors. I recall picking up on some Brewer prospects over the years. Bill Wegman at Stockton. Randy Ready. Dion James. Riles was one of those minor league stalwarts. This is off memory, but I remember Riles having phenomenal batting average numbers, probably at El Paso. So, I got excited about him as a prospect. Back then, that’s all I had to go on! But, in reality, he did have a decent hit tool. Staying healthy was an issue. That’s awesome how well he treated a couple of young kids. I wish all people had such grace.

Great post. Slaton was a mainstay in his time. He was on some teams in the earlier 70s that helped build the team for their run in the late 70s to early 80s. In 1982 he had a good comeback year. He was in long relief but he won 10 games and carried out some pivotal work for us keeping us in games that could have gone south.

Great post. Slaton was a mainstay in his time. He was on some teams in the earlier 70s that helped build the team for their run in the late 70s to early 80s. In 1982 he had a good comeback year. He was in long relief but he won 10 games and carried out some pivotal work for us keeping us in games that could have gone south.

I have been following Weston Wilson for awhile. We normally have someone with that profile almost any year. An unheralded guy without enormous tools but who is steady albeit without eye popping stats.. But he may be doing enough to get a shot. What’s hard to judge is his approach at the plate, whether he can stand in there against a diverse array of pitches, location, off speed, etc and have the juice to produce up here.

I have been following Weston Wilson for awhile. We normally have someone with that profile almost any year. An unheralded guy without enormous tools but who is steady albeit without eye popping stats.. But he may be doing enough to get a shot. What’s hard to judge is his approach at the plate, whether he can stand in there against a diverse array of pitches, location, off speed, etc and have the juice to produce up here.