Austin Tatious

Dunn’s K’s are frustrating but I’d much rather see him than have a progress-stopper veteran idling at the spot. He does have extra base hit upside.

The organization has done a really good job of balancing different position groups and across different levels. We can legit go after almost any profile. I really like our position group depth so I hope we can add some really good pitching upside this year.

Is Mike the son? I totally believe his account. His explanation makes sense and is consistent with what the organization has said for years as to their strategy.

Agree. I think Lawler develops for a year and then Suarez leaves in free agency. Or maybe Suarez is a mid-season trade candidate. Either way, a spot is coming open.

Of our first six high draft picks, I wouldn’t be surprised if at least three are pitchers with a particular emphasis on juco or high school arms with the peripherals they like such as spin rates and movement.

Hoping Josh comes back better than ever. It can happen. The intensive physical therapy following surgery is a major factor, allowing pitchers to focus on strengthening the entire arm and core, which can result in better throwing mechanics and potentially increased velocity. You never know how he responds. Tough at a personal level but it can make him stronger. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/brewers-prospect-josh-knoth-undergoes-tommy-john-surgery.html

I think we are going to love Boeve’s hit tool, but it will be interesting to see if he’s really going to be a first baseman and not play 3B, and to see where he is with injury recovery. One way or another, I’ve got to believe he needs another step in the minors.

I’m glad we didn’t settle on DeJong. Bad peripheral numbers that would have drove us nuts and he’d be a progress stopper for young guys. That salary and where he ended up shows that winning teams were not clamoring for him. I am hoping that some surprise is looming. Either a trade that has been in the works or some confidence in an internal option, whether it’s moving Frelick or a young guy like Boeve being healthy and ready soon. Regarding Frelick, he can be a real sparkplug but I hope there is a plan to tap into some extra base pop. Three homers and thirty ribbies is not what anyone is looking for. Love his energy, athleticism, and defense but we need respectable pop from him. If Frelick can get his .OPS from .655 to .740, with say, a .270 average, 8-10 homers, 32 doubles, 6 triples and 60 rbis while using his athleticism to convert to 3B nicely, that would be a huge plus. Those are hardly excessive demands. The guy was a first round pick, has excellent athleticism and has ability. It’s time to take a big step.

DeJong isn’t a philosophical fit so I’d be surprised if he is on the table. Brewers just don’t look for his profile and approach.

Instead of DeJong I hope we can swing a trade for somebody.

Excellent piece, Jack.

Here’s a pretty sober eval on Baty https://blogs.fangraphs.com/what-happened-to-brett-baty-man/

Maybe Boeve is ready by June. He’s got a very advanced bat.

Toss a reliever at the Mets for Baty. He hasn’t proven anything and the Mets don’t have a spot for him. Let him compete with Dunn and Durbin.

If not a trade then maybe Kiki Hernandez?

Personally I like how the Brewers are allocating their resources on player development, pitching lab, international market infrastructure, and the draft. They see where the rules allow them to excel and they are very opportunistic and find inefficiencies to exploit. If they get hamstrung with a bad contract, it would be a terrible risk and set the organization back. We’ve already produced a number of young talents with several more coming in the next couple of years. Who’s to say we won’t have a very electric young core in a couple of years? I think Mark has learned from some of the bad contracts he gave out earlier and we have different strategy now. I like the way we are doing it.

I’m sure you’re going to cover a lot of these anyway and I kind of have more general organization questions. I’m really intrigued by your thoughts about: 1. How do you forecast the MLB futures of some of the following pitchers, and how you would stack them in that regard: —Mis, do you think he can have enough command potential to be a MLB starter? Are his control issues correctable? —What’s a good comp for Logan Henderson? Can he be a back end of the rotation mlb starter? He really seems Iike a guy who knows how to pitch. —Is Carlos Rodriguez more of AAAA pitcher or do you see enough tools to be a MLB starter (or longer relief). He doesn’t seem to be very electric, or do you see something elite in an area that could be his calling card (command, break, movement etc)? —Very intrigued by KC Hunt, like Henderson, what’s a good comp, is this a guy who can really emerge and surprise? -Wichrowski- power arm but do you like his repertoire as a starter and how do you stack him with Henderson and Hunt…he seems higher than Rodriguez to me. 2. An aside but as a random tangent, someone asked me what the difference is between command and control? Thoughts? 3. What’s your overall assessment of starting pitching depth in the organization in terms of legitimate potential MLB starters with respect to organizational depth and numbers? —how do you see some of the high school draftees shaping up Knoth, Meccage, Letson, et al? —where I’m going with this is we have six high draft picks and we don’t tend to deploy big money in the International market on pitching, so do you expect maybe 3 or more of the 6 first picks in the 2025 draft to go toward pitchers? 4. Tyler Black. He seems to be a lightning rod. I feel like he kind of stagnated last season but I think this guy can be electric or at least an ignitor. Does he have enough arm for the OF? At least in left? I’d like to see a commitment to get him MLB at bats, how do you see it? —suppose we move Frelick to third, or trade trade him for a 3B, can Black help in the OF —any thoughts on Frelick? Phenomenal defender but his lack of extra base pop got to be ridiculous- do you see a turnaround? It sure would help his value 5. OF and C depth. I am very hopeful on Braylon Payne. Yophery is interesting. But with so Many high upside infielders on board, I could really see replenishing the system in the OF and C because if you look big picture over the long run, we might actually start bringing more OF to get the next wave going. Same thing at C where the depth past Quero looks super iffy 6. Not a minors question but relates to the organization, how do you see the Brewers addressing 3B and potentially getting some more pop over there. When you lose Adames on the left side, you’d think Ortiz is going to slide over. Murphy is in record as saying he likes Turang at 2B. Feels like they’re waiting for someone’s cost to come down whether in terms of trade capital required or capital for a free agent.

The hoarding category is very odd. Sounds like somebody pouting that the Brewers won’t trade them their nuggets. Find your own.

Big Woody fan and wish him all the best to getting back out there for the Brewers. This a high quality pitcher and guy.

He’s a progress stopper for other players at the MLB level. I hope he is headed for the minors as an extra depth piece. He’s a known quantity, and not in a good way.

Is Eugenio Suarez possibly available? Don’t the DBacks need him at third? If he’s legitimately out there, I hope we are in on it. He’s got a big contract but is there a creative way we could work it?

I’d like to see Black get on track for at least 300 mlb at bats at some combo of 1B and DH, batting 7th or lower. He can still prove to be a dynamic offensive player.

I won’t be surprised if this drags into February and we wait out someone who’s not getting as much as they expected. Capitalizing on a market inefficiency. I do think they will get someone with some pop who can play 3rd. I did some searching on Moncada and I don’t see any Brewer speculation although those things can come together quickly. I know he had an injury shut down his winter league season. I also don’t have a good feel for what kind of money it will take. He’s going to try to sell his upside but there’s risk that should hurt his value. The most predictable outcome might be DeJong at a favorable salary for the Brewers. He brings some pop but I’d rather take a risk on someone else with upside.

I’m a regular listener and enjoyed it. Caught it on YouTube so was nice to put faces to the names.

If he were coming back to the NL, Arizona has to be about as good of an outcome as we could want. At least it’s not the Cubs.