Austin Tatious

I hope we don't get Clevinger. He'd be about 30 by the time we'd be ready to compete. Let the Tribe keep him so they can feel better about dealing McKenzie and Hillman to Milwaukee.

I can understand people being jittery about relievers having been through Turnbow, Henderson, Ax, and Danny Kolb. But like a mutual fund disclaimer, past results do not guarantee future results. Jeffress is a former number one pick who had personal problems but ultimately put it together. He's not a flash in the pan IMO. He's still relatively young and has an electric arm. I think he's got considerable value as does Will Smith. We've had some solid Brewer teams who would have loved those two in the late innings.

Good catch, thanks. This collective bargaining agreement will be important. Man, I hope we get an international draft. That would really help the Brewers. We obviously have Arcia, and Franly Mallen is showing signs of life. We will see about Lara. He's athletic and young but so were D'Vontrey Richardson or Mike Felder once. You look at other teams' prospects and see the damage they are doing internationally and it is out of whack. We can do better internationally. A draft would put teams on a more even playing field.

I really don't think we are getting Bradley AND Zimmer AND McKenzie plus teens. I don't see it. I think the Tribe can leave their top 4 out but we get a higher volume of lower ranked guys. McKenzie is the guy to get. The Tribe won't want to give him up, but they have to give up something and they know it. This is why Milwaukee needs to put premium draft picks on high upside pitchers. Their value is astronomical. I'd want Mejia because it involves a premium position. From there, you can get a couple of other guys and bicker about the final parameters both ways. If Will Smith is involved, then commensurate value is coming back. Hillman, Chang, et al.

Can we go to a top 30 list (would match MLB lists) or even top 40?

Perez could definitely improve his walk rate. But, he's a determined hitter with a penchant for delivering clutch hits. I like his competitiveness. Honestly, if he could get his OBP up, he could be a legitimate starter. He's hitting .285 last time I looked but really needs to work some walks in because his OBP isn't much better. This has been his issue all along, and is not due to a short sample size. Love his versatlity, though.

I don't think Lucroy, Arcia, plus Phillips and/or Clark gets it done. The Brewers lack assets. Phillips could be nothing more than a 4th outfielder and defensive replacement late. Clark was taken fifteenth overall over Brady Aiken and a total unknown. Arcia is a slick fielder who is not hitting in a hitters park in triple A. Sale to the Brewers isn't really worth contemplating.

Cleveland can pound sand if they don't give up Tristan McKenzie or Brady Aiken. Those two pitchers are big risks as it is. Multiple teams are after him. It's auction style bidding. Cleveland can stand pat and see how they do while the rest of the league makes additions.

It's no big deal to me. If the Indians don't want him, they don't need to pay up for him. We've seen the value of top relievers in the past. There are comps. I mean, there's no point in Cleveland trying to minimize his value. I'm happy for him to stay in Milwaukee. Or, trade him to one of Cleveland's competitors. The media indicates a ton of teams want him, including the Bosox, Giants, and others. You either pay up, or he can go to a competitor. It's all a matter of free will, no pun intended. There are other relievers that may be within what value Cleveland will pay, Torres or Boyer, maybe. It's like a person trying to buy a house. If you can't afford a $1 million dollar house, there are the $200k houses you can be shown.

Sale sounds mentally unstable. MLB making money off marketing is part of business. And it's a business that allows him an eight figure salary, year after year. Sale, if you don't like what you think is corporate greed, give away your salary to charity. What's that? You like your high salary? Heck of a pitcher, though.

With the losses starting to mount, and the likelihood of trading off talent, I'd say we have a realistic shot at a top 3 pick. There are a couple of nice catchers projected high. JJ Schwarz has been much ballyhooed forever. There are some adequate pitching prospects when you look at Bukauskas and Greene. Montgomery will likely be very interested in Kendall, the Vandy outfielder. Kendall hits the sweet spot of what Montgomery is comfortable drafting in the 1st.

Thanks, Eye Black. I am in Chicago and my MLB pass forced me to watch the Cubs broadcast which is painful. I thought perhaps Stearns went into the booth for a bit. Usually Brewers website will excerpt the interviews and I didn't see anything.

Where were Stearns' comments? Is there a link to them?

I like Johnny...a lot. Love how he's put together, and his athleticism. He plays hard. Outstanding profile of the type of player Stearns seems to covet. But, yeah, it's amazing what a slow learner he is. Before he got picked off, I literally thought he was a couple of steps too far. The edge where the corner of the grass is, is too far IMO in that situation. The circumstances made literally no sense based on score, who was coming up, there was a runner on third too, etc. I will say, I feel like he's a competitive kid. He's aggressive. He obviously gets upset too at his mistakes. He's not nonchalant. But I honestly can't figure out how you can make that mistake, time and again. Smart aggressiveness seems to be possible. I don't think they are mutually exclusive. But, I love the player and want more like him.

I agree, very excited. But why 1b? Every projection I've read says he has plus athleticism, arm strength, and accuracy for third. That's hilarious.

Great post. That's where I am.

Wasn't the Mejia with PEDs a different guy? Mets pitcher, not this one? Or is there more than one Mejia with suspension history?

I'd be open to Nelson to Boston for Kopech and a second piece to offset the risk brought on by Kopech. Boston still needs a pitcher.

Mejia, the Giants pitcher, looks interesting but he's 23 and in triple A. I doubt he's enough to get Will Smith, a bona fide stud.

I don't like Bradley's (lack of) contact rate. I'd take Meija and McKenzie as my starting points. Maybe throw in Chang and Hillman and call it a day. That avoids their top 4. Find a way to get SF a reliever for 1b Chris Shaw. Keep your powder dry for more trades in the offseason and next year.

If you look at a large enough sample size, you have sufficient data to determine drafting competency. Parsing out any given year is not sufficient due to sample size variations. The more fair evaluation is to look at a longer term period and look at the body of the work. No one could seriously say the Cards are anywhere near as bad as the Brewers have been in the first round over the ten drafts from 2007-2016 when you compare the bodies of work. For this discussion, the Cards have turned over a bit of their roster and have stayed contenders. They didn't need to collapse. They reload. Milwaukee can't reload with Evan Frederickson or Eric Arnett or Jed Bradley. Just by fluke, you'd probably hit on some of these high picks. The Cards haven't had a top 12 pick in eighteen years. Someone born the last time the Cards had a pick that high would be in college. Yet they found Wacha, Shelby Miller, Lance Lynn, Piscotty over their last ten years. That's not a one or two year variation. When they have picks, they hit on enough. No one can hit on them all. But when you hit on enough, you reload. It's like a miracle for Milwaukee. Nothing to show for the last ten first round drafts on the Big League roster. I agree that the Cards have further done well in lower rounds, including the likes of Carpenter and Matt Adams. I'm going to drop out of this discussion now because I've said my peace. I'm not sure anything I said was that controversial and I suspect the Brewers are actually doing what I am suggesting. Take a look at what went wrong with the run of bad picks and figure out what in the analysis broke down, year after year after year. Were they looking at wrong attributes? Did they not take into account makeup? Did they overrate a good senior year as an older draftee and ignore a mediocre three years before that? Do they consistently mismanage the pool money? That's basic quality control.

Great post, high heat.

I'm taking high upside talent. We don't need a bunch of Matt Mieske's, to steal a name from another thread. Now I might be willing to take multiple high upside teenagers. I want athletic talent with lots of tools. The choices I am fine with, fewer high upside advanced prospects or more high upside teenager prospects at lower levels. The only way I'd want the Matt Mieske's of the world would be as the 4th piece. Even then I'd rather it be a lottery ticket. We already have considerable depth. We will be doing our top 25 lists next month. We will have lots to choose from. We could honestly do top 50 lists. That's how much depth we have. That's not the issue. High upside athletes with high ceilings is what is missing. A couple of elite bats and a couple of TOR prospects are needed in the worst way. Matt Mieske. Ramon Flores. These guys can be picked up any offseason for limited resources.

No. Virtually anyone drafted seventh overall will be perceived as having that kind of value as a prospect. We are not here to re-litigate the Sabathia trade. Rather, LaPorta illustrates player identification at a premium draft position.