Austin Tatious

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.

Interesting interview from Foul Territory on an Athletic piece by Evan Drellich. Manfred apparently wants to push for revenue sharing on local TV rights with a salary cap. Union will fight to the death on it. The question is convincing the players it’s a win for them too. For example, could someone like Bregman make more if more teams get in there.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/12/white-sox-to-sign-bryse-wilson.html

Has there been any connection between Moncada and the Brewers? I’ve seen the Blue Jays and Cubs mentioned. I wonder what kind of contract he will command?

Good podcast and appreciated getting my question answered. Love the baseball talk on a cold December day.

1. By eschewing prospects as the return, I think the Brewers are far more comfortable with their long range prospects as is, especially with the recent draft classes, a number of top international prospects and six high draft picks slots coming in 2025. The bigger gap was at the MLB level. 2. I would have hoped for more roster control on a SP but clearly they felt they needed to get a quality guy there. 3. Regarding Durbin, they certainly liked his profile. I’m hoping he’s our new utility guy who can move around. I hope his arm is strong enough for third. If we go take a risk on a 3B with pop who may not be a sure bet, Durbin might be a hedge and hopefully be a big upgrade over Monasterio in that role. 4. I hope Tyler Black goes into the Jake Bauers spot. Would like to see him get some consistent ABs. I can’t see him at third or second.

I agree with the premise that we have enough flexibility with Ortiz and Turang that we wouldn’t be locked into only getting a 3B. But Murphy’s comments suggest the preference would be to leave Brice at 2B and you can move Ortiz to SS then with his stronger arm. There are some 3B options. With our history with Stearns, I wonder if we can get a guy like Brett Baty in exchange for a decent bullpen arm. We made the Taylor trade last year so there may be an opportunity there. Baty is a natural 3B. But even if you get Baty, with his weak MLB track record, you may want to upgrade the utility spot from Monasterio in case Baty can’t figure it out and you need another guy to step in. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/12/mets-trade-rumors-brett-baty-starting-pitching.html

Love the idea behind these podcasts. Length doesn’t bother me in the slightest. As for questions, maybe which players from the DSL you expect to see in Carolina and what we might expect in terms of adjustments and progress (eg, signs of ability to face breaking pitches, etc) ?

Yes but I think you meant to say Levonas who we didn’t sign with the 67th pick. So I think we get the 68th pick as a replacement. According to Baseball America, this year’s draft is supposedly shaping to be better on paper (at least at this early projection).

Las Vegas is growing but I wonder if it’s still early for them. I’d think Carolina pitched as like a regional team would be the top of the list and then maybe Nashville.

My votes 1. Henderson. No brainer 2. EMJ yes because he took a big step forward and his circumstance just changed accordingly. I could see a team like Miami or the like jumping on him if not protected. There are tools here and don’t rule out that he ends up more solid than more ballyhooed prospects like Wilken or even Adams. 3. Crow. Probably. They traded a decent asset in Taylor for him. They like his movement and he can potentially get in line to soak up innings. 4. Smith. Iffy and I lean toward no because reliever value not as high and his stuff is unremarkable. 5. Patrick. Doubtful. He’s been a fan favorite but it’s telling the FO literally never moved him up despite having many opportunities to do so. If you look under the hood, the metrics are not as impressive and that’s probably why there’s a disconnect from how the Brewers didn’t move him but the fans have been on his bandwagon. 6. Clarke. Out of the question.

I’ve got this guy ahead of Wilken. Boeve has a chance to be special in terms of OBP. He just gets on base and avoids K’s. The question is position. I am bullish.

Clearing out salary and opening roster spots

Great summary but I think it’s Coleman Crow.