Austin Tatious

I just don't see Moose in the 3 spot in the batting order. Counsell wants the alternating righty-lefty hitters in the lineup, but Moose seems like a force there.

I was researching Zimmermann's numbers before I saw these posts, so it's interesting we are thinking the same thing. I have no idea how they'd work out the bloated contract, though.

It'd be huge if he can deliver.

The image of Broxton meekly waving at the same pitch three straight times is tough to undo. He brings a nice glove but man he was hapless up there.

Tethering us to Minnesota every year is frustrating and divorced from reality. I am old enough to remember our AL days, and the Twins summon as low of an intensity that you can find. I suppose MLB is obsessed with letting "natural rivalries" be played every year. However, Minnesota and Milwaukee is a farce in this regard. The subway series concept notwithstanding, I think it would be more fun if our matchups got spread around more teams.

Thanks for the perspective, NYChez. You may be onto something.

Good find. I will keep an eye on him. Thank you for pointing his story out.

I don't know if Meadows and Glasnow have been overrated. Maybe so. I liked Baz coming into that draft and the other two are name prospects. I'd be furious if I were a Buc fan. This is the type of move I fear for the Brewers, but it's nice that we didn't do it. Good for the Rays, they got what they wanted. Good for Milwaukee, I would have hated to give up that much.

I like the move. Fairly decently rated prospect at one point and there is zero risk. You sometimes see guys with decent pedigree and then they don't make it initially. Team 1 gives up on them, and they put it together elsewhere. This is not a guaranteed situation, but a low risk move.

Thanks for sharing your perspective. You're knowledgeable, so it's nice to see a fair, unvarnished assessment. I think you may be right but I do have optimism. I think in a few years, we could have injected the MLB roster with Ray, Lutz, Hiura, Turang, and perhaps a couple of the catchers (say, 2 out of Nottingham, Feliciano, and Henry) and maybe even Erceg. That's a considerable injection of talent. The crew from the aughts did not have the benefit of much talent infusion after the first wave (you could consider Lucroy perhaps). As injuries and age crop up on our current nucleus, it would be nice to inject this kind of juice into our lineup. Then, you have a number of promising young and precocious talents where some with high ceilings may put it together to provide even more, when you look at Rodriguez, Melendez, Abreu, Ward, and some others. As for pitching, I like Zach Brown and Ashby and perhaps Supak. But, the pitching depth down the line may need a boost. I would not put it at the same level as the position players, a group I am bullish on. I hope at some point, the Brewers can add some more high upside pitching talent. Every year, we will likely trade off some minor leaguers but I hope the bulk of these guys stay with us to continually inject new blood onto the roster. I think that's important. I would not be suprised to see Stearns trade off some assets for a big piece like Syndergaard or Degrom, or someone with high upside that we have not discussed. That's a good strategy and we can still have some talent that can be added to the roster.

This is great. We all appreciate the effort from Reilly. Kudos to all the participants. It looks like a rational list. I was surprised that I think my top 9 picks match, or at the least come very close, to our cumulative top nine. That's kind of fluky.

Over/ under on Miley having ten trucker hats?

1. Keston Hiura 2. Corbin Burnes 3. Corey Ray 4. Tristen Lutz 5. Brice Turang 6. Zack Brown 7. Lucas Erceg 8. Mauricio Dubon 9. Jacob Nottingham 10. Trey Supak 11. Payton Henry 12. Jake Gatewood 13. Adrian Houser 14. Mario Feliciano 15. Marcos Diplan 16. Troy Stokes Jr. 17. Carlos Rodriguez 18. Chad McLanahan 19. Aaron Ashby 20. David Fry 21. Caden Lemons 22. Joe Gray 23. Cody Ponce 24. Micah Bello 25. Larry Ernesto 17-25 on my list are more recent acquisitions (other than Ponce), but that’s a group of guys I’m excited about. Despite some graduations and trades, I still really like our system. The continual replenishment to the system under the Stearns regime has me pumped. And there are more. Still a very strong list.

I am very happy that we kept Ray, Hiura, Burnes and Peralta. I'd add Zack Brown and Tristen Lutz too. I am aligned with how Stearns is approaching value. These guys are going to inject juice into the roster over time. Love it. I am bummed about losing Jean Carmona but you have to give up something. I like the now and the future.

I’d be shopping Stokes, Ortiz, Santana and Supak around the league. That’s two pitchers and two OF. Let’s see what those guys can get you. I would not engage any discussion about Hiura, Ray, Zach Brown, and anybody with time before 40 man issues pop up. I’d actually like to see them keep Phillips. He’s the perfect number 4 OF.

Woodruff is a former top 100 prospect who can throw upper 90’s. His issue is figuring out how to keep hitters off balance. They seem ready for him. He’s got to mix pitches and location better, generate some movement, and get hitters off balance. But his arm is live and he should have good value. I’d hang on to Ray. His ability to generate extra base hits is impressive. It’s not just homers. He’s cranking doubles and triples too. And his steal percentage is high. I’m a big believer in continually refreshing the big league roster. Adding a Ray, Hiura, Nottingham to the lineup will help rejuvenate and energize the team. There are a number of pitchers to add over time too. As a small market team, this will be very useful and not something we’ve seen. I don’t like Archer as a match for us. There has been a lot of smoke on this so maybe it will happen. I’m rooting that it doesn’t happen unless the package is more reasonable.

That stinks. There are some years where you just get drilled by injuries. This year is getting nuts.

This is an interesting thread and I respect all views. It's interesting to see different perspectives. I can even have my mind changed by a persuasive point. As for me, I couldn't possibly be happier with David Stearns at the moment. I like where we are as an organization, and I like his big picture concepts. Sure, he's going to have some misses, because baseball is a sport played by humans and no one can predict the future. We cannot say whether the failure to land Machado is a bust yet or not. Let's see if Corbin Burnes, who the Orioles were fixated on, turns into a stud pitcher. Last year, we passed on Hader for Quintana. I think Burnes and Hader will be critical pieces for years. If I am wrong then maybe we should have Quintana and Machado for two months. I am also going to predict that the Orioles bit off their nose to spite their face because I suspect our offer will end up having been the better one. The Dodgers gave up a lot of filler. I think the rate of addition to our farm system is higher than the rate of losses from trades and "graduations." We have Chad McClanahan, Tristen Lutz, Carlos Rodriguez, Jean Carmona, Brice Turang, Joe Gray, Micah Bello and a host of other talent with high upside coming. Frankly, my bigger fear is we lose Stearns at some point. Maybe my mind will change if he makes a bizarre trade, like including Hiura or Ray for JT Realmuto, but the mentality so far has been outstanding. Unlike the run we had from 2007-2011, we can expect new talent to refresh the roster continually. That gives me great hope. Bottom line, we don't need to take one hack at the playoffs in 2018. I go the opposite direction. If you take enough hacks at the playoffs, and you will break through and be on the right roll at the right time if you are in it consistently. Look at the Cardinals. They won a world series or two without the best talent. But things fell in place. That's what I see for the beloved Brewers and I couldn't agree more.

From what I saw of Ray in college, I think he's got the arm for right field. You could go Yelich-Cain-Ray from left to right. Personally, I hope we hang on to Brett Phillips as I think he can be a heck of a fourth OF. A competent Logan Schaefer.

Arica deserves credit for manning up instead of pouting with the demotion.

Agreed. There are no guarantees, but I like that Stearns kept him off limits in trade talks.

If I were a scout and I saw Josh, I think I’d be enamored with him. I’m not saying he’s Johnny Bench but he looks pretty good to me physically and skill wise. His turnaround defensively has been impressive. A couple of years ago there were skeptics that had him as a first baseman. He’s young but not ready yet. No crime in that. Agree with the premise he needs to play every day at AAA. He needs more time in the oven. Taking the analogy further, we took him out of the oven, stirred, and put him back in. I suspect that may happen some more. But, I like his athleticism, especially for his size, his swing, his arm...I don’t know how high his ceiling is but I see a guy who has a good chance at being productive.

That’s a hellacious lineup for the Dodgers. You never know on any given day, but the probabilities don’t look good for Milwaukee. We have free fall.

I don't recall any "nerds" questioning his offense. It's always been his defense which was bad to begin with and that was before to ACL injuries. He can't move laterally very well at all which is going to hurt him against small forwards and he isn't really big enough to bang with power forwards. Good thing Hoiberg's teams don't really play defense either so maybe it will work. Expect a lot of 120+ point losses next year. His offensive efficiency has come under heavy criticism. I don’t want to give the overconfident guys more mentions than they deserve, but they are out there en masse. As for defense, if you handle him correctly and install credible team defense, he can be fine there.

The Bucks' whole approach is wrong. You save big money for impact players. Knock it off with Henson, Delladova, Snell and company. You can round off the filler spots with smaller deals and by sound drafting. The idea that they did Bartlestein a solid just to gain favors with him is laughingstock material. He's only guiding players to Milwaukee where it makes sense, period, and not out of some loyalty to the Bucks lol. That tweet was so bizarre that it sounds like someone in the Bucks asked for good pub. Kowtowing to an agent is not a good look. As for Parker, he's a mixed bag. Being on the cover of SI as a high schooler may have led to some entitlement issues there. His obvious pouting and demeanor is pretty weak. But, management did a poor job of handling him. Your employees are all different, and trying to reach them at a level where you can relate to them can get them to perform their best, AND be loyal to you. Obviously, none of that happened here. There is blame to go around. As for his play, the analytics nerds are overconfident in their definitive assessments of him as a player. The world isn't so simple, and as you gain experience, you realize how overconfidence is such a negative trait. This is a 23 year old kid who has had injuries and hasn't been coached in good team principles on either end of the court. The Bucks' offense last year was a joke as they stood around taking turns going one on one. Team defense was non-existent. The Bucks' did not reach Jabari at a positive level, instead alienating him. His offensive inefficiency at age 23 under poor coaching may not be there if he can get good coaching. He's a talent and I am not going to write him off like the overconfident bunch. Will he stay healthy? That's the question, but the Bulls signed him to minimize risk so that's not really the issue at the moment.