Jenkins5

I think even with how awful Garza was last year, he still has more value to the Diamondbacks at same price tag as Hill. Hill is virtually dead weight for that team. Garza at least has a track record. I wouldn't expect Top prospect in return. Isan Diaz would be the absolute highest value I see that we could get back. Overall make trade and find a gem in DSL or rookie leagues.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with what he had said. His issue and why the jsonline comment section type irrational, knee jerk, over reactive fans blew up is solely because he gets asked questions and tells the truth. We live in a world where truth is highly devalued. People need everything so sugar coated in order to make themselves feel good. A Brewer fan cannot handle a Brewer player simply saying that we are most likely not going to be competing for a playoff spot.... we all now that it true but it is not okay for a player to say so publicly. There prefer (actually NEED) the David Stearns, loop around the question, we are acquiring best talent to have sustained success in the future type answer. Only thing Lucroy is allowed to say, is "no matter the moves we make, we are going to go out and try to win the world series this season." Those fans can now sleep at night and the world is good. A GM doesn't need to go search to hard to find out Lucroy is a class act, blue collar, hard working, great guy, great teammate who is competitive and has a fire to win. They can ask anyone in the Brewers locker room or front office. Rangers can walk down and talk to Prince. His issue is he doesn't believe in lying or sugar coating the truth. Highly doubt a GM of a contending team is going to back away from Lucroy because he said he wants to compete, win, and get to a World Series. "Oh No! He may poison our locker room with that attitude!" "We can't get him! He is a cancer! He wants to win and will say it publicly!"

Garza's dead weight for Hills Dead weight

I have mentioned a Garza for Hill + prospect deal multiple times. Play him at 2b, 3b, 1b & mostly as pinch hitter. Issue is he interfers with Walsh & Villars playing time. The plus is Lopez or Hader are in rotation

I think we have no less than 5. Arcia Top 10 Phillips Top 30 Lopez & Hader 40-70 range Clark 75-100 (high pick who really produced....national guys eat that up.) Glad TH did our prospect list & couldn't even fit the 6th best lefty in baseball (milb) in our top 10. Much prefer when professional scouts over beat writers make list. Medeiros, Lara, Harrison, Gatewood, Williams, Demi O, easily could be on next years with good years Coulter is a guy who would be a 90-100 guy if he wasn't in FSL last year. Leaving him there all season really dragged him down

Couldn't find old Josh Hader thread but milb pipeline listed Josh Hader #6 lefty in minors. Lopez missed top 10 narrowly he is between 11-13 according to Callis & Mayo

I think If Blake Snell is on table you grab him without a doubt, DS likes value to much though so not sure he'd get enough else in the package to pull trigger. Jake Bauers is one prospect Id want back with him. Nationals If we can get Trea Turner, I'd be very interested! Arcia & Turner up the middle will be an unbelievable middle infield defensively. Mix in Phillips in CF as well. Not to mention he brings 80 speed and hasn't stopped hitting since being drafted. Turner is a solid SS but not in same ball park as Arcia. He would however be an above average to very good defensive 2B. The 2 other young prospects I'd want would be Jackson Reetz and Anderson Franco. They just don't have any pitchers I really like to through in. Their best pitcher is untouchable.

Colin Walsh, Garin Cecchini, Will Middlebrook, Johnathon Villar, Domingo Santana, Keon Broxton, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Zack Davies, Taylor Jungmann, Jimmy Nelson, Michael Reed, Orlando Arcia, Brett Phillips, Josh Hader, Jorge Lopez, Adrian Houser, Yhonathon Barrios, Damon Magnifico, Yadiel Rivera, Zack Jones, Corey Knuebel, David Goforth, Ariel Pena, Tyler Thornburg Think everyone catches my drift.....play, develop, and see who can play

You at least need Tate or Brinson, no questions asked. Brinson, Matuella, & Mendez (who fits DS mold to T) gets it done to me. Maybe add a not so known young Rookie ball player in as well

They really need to call Ben Sheets to talk to Jimmy as to how to deal with knowing if you give up 1 run in a game, your chances of winning are out the window. I give all the credit in the world to Sheets, that was his life most of his career. I am looking forward to seeing what young guys do with an opportunity. I want to see if some of these once good prospects now cast aways can regain form. I want to see if Santana is part of the future, is he the Corey Hart player I had been selling him as. I want to see Lopez & Hader get a look this season. I want Phillips & Arcia to make a debut. Most of all I want to make moves to make room for our young players to get opportunities and deepen our farm system. We are building for the future. He need to get guys on the field and bring in more talent.

I really like Chapman. As you note, a Gold Glove type guy. He's got big, big power, but the hit tool is lacking (and I don't know if it is good enough to reach the majors). He's probably lucky if he hits .250. If he can improve his average just a bit at AA, he'll be nice prospect. I think Matt Dominguez with Chapman. Gold Glove Defense, big power, but just doesn't hit or walk enough to stick.

I'd assume there would be a grace period. You can not punish a team in a new format based off the old system. If x is the punishment for going over, you can't change the punishment after it is broken. You are grandfathered in (you'd think. Plus while there is talk of the international draft coming, there has been that talk for a long time now. I am not going to plan my spending on something that may never happen. Setting up an international draft is very difficult, however it is the best way to go. The signing pools have been an absolute failure. Luxury tax penalties were not enough. Teams like Dodgers can easily spend the Brewers payroll for entire season on 16-17 year old kids in bonuses and taxes without blinking. Really should have included draft penatlies as well. Dodgers would think twice if the option was go over, get taxed, and lose a top pick for every player you go over. Signed 3 players after your reached your pool, must give up 1,2, and 3 round pick. Just because you have money doesn't mean you should be let break rules. In the next CBA, if once again the international draft is a bust, I really hope they use draft picks to deter teams. I honestly don't know what a fair way to do an international draft is. You can not simply go by record. Otherwise that is a lot of incentive to lose. If Brewers get competitive again they will never have a pick in top 20 in either draft....how we going to bring in top notch talent. You could go based on how much pool money the team spent the year before, lowest to highest. Then again if there are signing pools, that is a little more difficult. Can do a rotating draft position system like NBA has talked about doing. A lottery system. I really don't know what is the best way to go about which has been one of the main reasons it has been difficult to establish one.

Lol this 100% I started posting on this board at end of 2002 season or so right around the time of the great Delmon Young & Rickie Weeks draft debates. I was like 14 or 15 years old then. Since that time I have spent way to much time on here over high school work, college work, grad school work, and work work. If the Brewers left, I would probably still follow them over another team. Even if they move, it is still the same players, coaches, front office at least for time being. Otherwise I'd just follow rebuilding teams or teams I idolize their vision, approach, and style. I would follow Rays more closely, hard not to love them. Royals I greatly enjoy. Giants are very well run and managed. I could never cheer for Cubs, Cards, Reds. Pirates I respect a lot and think are run the right way, I'd want them to win Central every year if new Brewers moved out of Central. Cards are run the right way but their fans and stuck up perception of baseball is too annoying.

Here is an article that discusses everything well. Exactly what I said early about needing to trade him now. He loses too much value as his controllable contract ticks away & value is unlikely to increase enough that it is worth the risk of an injury or performing bad. http://mweb.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25453870

The A's match up well with what we lack in our system but I don't see how Lucroy is a need for them. Stephen Vogt is coming off a really good season and seems to be entrenched in the starting lineup. It's a shame because I would take that package in an instant. Yeah I didn't really get it either but ione of the articles I read early (I'll have to try to find link) mentioned Rangers, A's, & Nationals as the three teams that have had the most contact but are now backing off due to the asking price.

Think it is time to shift an eye towards 2016 international signing period. This is the best possible year for the Brewers to go all out with nearly half the teams unable to participate. Sadly, the Braves have already made the biggest signing (hand shake agreement) with SS Kevin Maitan who since 14 years old has been considered the next Miguel Cabrera and best player since Sano. They landed him for 4.5 million. Not many list that I can find but C Abraham Gutierrez is 2nd most common name you will see come up for non-Cuban players outside of Maitan. It actually sounds as though Gutierrez has closed the gap between him and Maitan. A top notch game changing catching prospect would look nice in our system. More over Brewers should really compete for Lazarito Armenteros! Kid is a freak for a 16 year old and has played against top notch talent. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/01/cuban-lazarito-armenteros-free-agent-mlb.html This is from summer describing signing pools for 2016-2017 http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2016-year-break-international-bonus-pool/ Outside of Lara Brewers have done a terrible job using international market to make this a deeper organization. Lara today is the only Brewer prospect to ever sign for over a million dollars. Only a handful have ever even received over $500k. You need to buy those lottery tickets! We have hit on some real bargains like Escobar & Arcia but you need to go after top notch talent. More lottery tickets you buy, the better the chance you win.

I think it all depends on what is too much for Lucroy. Unlike with Fernandez, we have no clue what the current asking price is. Is it Brinson, Tate, Ortiz, & Matuella? Is it simply asking for Mazara? Is it asking for a combination of 2 of the 3 of Mazara, Brinson, Tate (only want one to be center piece)....plus other prospects? Is it they are asking for bonus babies like Tavares who Rangers are not ready to move on from? Without knowing who Brewers are asking for or who Rangers are willing to give up. Hard to say if the trade we get back will be good enough. If DS is asking for the moon, maybe landing amongst the stars (a compromise) would still be very good. Read an Article that mention the A's to be in the mix with Nationals & Rangers. They don't have many high end prospects but no shortage of power bats. If you want 1B or 3B prospects, they have some to offer. No deal can be done without Barreto or Manaea. There system isn't strong enough. If we could land Lucroy for Manaea, Olson, Nottingham, and young low level prospect SS Franklin Barreto is not that great of of a defender at SS and I see him more as a 2B. Not a bad kid to match with Arcia. Age 18, hit .311/.384/.481 with 29 steals in the Northwest League. Then at 19 he hit Age 19, hit .302/.333/.500 with 13 bombs. He has a lot of pop in his 5'9 175 frame. Should be 20 in AA this season. 1B Matt Olson is a soon to be 22 year old masher. His power and discipline is arguably one of the best in all of minor league baseball. Reason he is not as highly rated (top 100 rankings) is because hit doesn't hit for much average. At MLB level he would most likely be a .250 hitter type hitter. That doesn't bug me though when he is going to walk over 100 a season LHP Sean Manaea is a well know lefty who was traded from Kansas City. He is one of the better lefties in the minors but has had injury issues. He was healthy in 2014, dominated. Was healthy 2nd half of 2015, dominated AA. He signed for a 3.65 million dollar bonus as the 34th overall pick in the draft. Was considered prime candidate for #1 overall pick prior to injury. 3B Matt Chapman is former 1st round pick who is a gold glove type of 3B with power. He really is your prototypical third baseman but not sure he will hit enough average. He will be 23 in AA this season and has improved over his first two years 3B Renito Nunez will be 22 in AA and is another Powerful 3B prospect. Okay defense but with him you are buying in on his power. SS/3B Chad Pinder will be 24 in AAA and is a solid defender at SS/3B/2B. Gives versitility, he hits for average, has some power, but strike zone control is an issue SS Richie Martin- 1st round pick, was a good college player at Florida. Good defender, bat is solid. C Jacob Nottingham- is a stud athlete who has good power, hits for average, and is improving behind the plate. He will be 21 and is a nice catching prospect to bring in. RHP Casey Meisner is a prospect I really like from the Mets who is big & projectable, with good command of strike zone. Has been very good so far in his career. Be 21 this season. SS Yairo Munoz made it to A+ at 19. Has a solid approach at the plate, has some pop, and has made great strides every year. OF Skye Bolt has awesome name, was incredible as a freshman but has yet to ever really get back to form. Very good athlete. RHP Dylan Covey only put him down because of Brewer history

My opinions on Rangers Prospects **Lewis Brinson (#4) vs *Nomar Mazara (#2) I would take Brinson over Mazara mostly because I think offensively they possess same power upside and ability to hit but overall Brinson is a far superior athlete and defensive player. Brinson has body to continue to fill out, He can stay in CF and be a good defender and has the arm to play RF. Mazara is a has a good arm, and is average defender but is only a RF/LF guy. Really, there is no need for both Santana and Mazara, both are similar. Brinson brings flexibility and high ceiling. Ryan Cordell (#6) People love to throw his name in because he may have potential to play 3B but overall he will be 24 this season, put up numbers in High Dessert which doesn't impress me at all, and struggled pretty bad in AA. I don't see him as much more than a 4th OF in the future. Overall I avoid him. Luis Ortiz (#5) I talked about in early post but has all the talent but a 20/21 who shows no care in taking care of his body or controlling his weight as a professional is not a guy I really want to gamble on. *Dillion Tate (#3) Vs. **Mike Matuella (#7) Here we got two high end #1 overall candidates. Main thing that separates the two is the concern for Matuella after Tommy John surgery and other health injury related matters. Matuella is built like Jungmann with a 6'6-6'7 220-230 frame and when healthy has made scouts believe he is a true #1 pitcher. Tate is a little more undersized at 6'2 165 but has powerful stuff. Neither has really pitched yet (Matuella 0IP Tate 7IP) but both are 21 with high ceiling. Tate is the safe pick out of the two, however for the same reason, he is more of a center piece of a deal. Matuella is a big risk but due to that, he can be added to a trade. I personally take a chance on Matuella so you can still get a higher prospect like a Brinson. Luke Jackson (#8) Vs. Andrew Faulkner (#12) Luke Jackson: Looks like Rangers have moved him to the pen for the most part but he is a power arm that could be a nice piece at the back end of the bullpen. He use to be highly regarded but his star has dropped a little bit. It is said he can work near triple digits out of pen. Andrew Faulkner is a lefty who has a good 90-94 Fastball but needs to refine off-speed offerings. He could be a #3 to back end of rotation guy but has been used more out of the pen now by Texas as well. Unless we are trading a bullpen arm with Lucroy, I don't take either due to uncertainty of their ability to start. Both are MLB ready arms. Faulkner would be good add if Smith was in deal, Jackson if another arm like Jeffress was. Young Arms: Yohander Mendez (#10) Brett Martin (#16) Ariel Jurado (#17) **Yohander Mendez fits the DS type perfectly. Just turned 21, lefty, very projectable body, K's 1 per IP, great command of the strike zone with few walks. Issue is he still mostly throws 87-90, tops out at 92. Still plenty of time to increase though. *Brett Martin is a soon to be 21 year old pitcher who should be in A+ this season. He is a lefty with good size (6'4 180) who sits 89-93 right now. His best offering is a curveball and the hope is he can add more power to curve & fastball as he continues to mature. *Ariel Jurado is in his age 20 season and will play in A+. Another DS guy. Not big at 6'1 180, throws a 89-91 mph sinker that hitters struggle to square up on. He k's 1 per inning and walks very few. To me he appears to be Jorge Ortega who can actually miss bats. Projects to be a back of rotation inning eater. Young Infielders: Josh Morgan (#11) Yeyson Yrizarri (#13) Travis Demeritte (#14) Michael De Leon (#19) Ti'Quan Forbes (#21), Ronald Guzman (#23) **Josh Morgan is a favorite of mine, he is a versatile defender who is able to play SS/2B/3B. He is an offensive minded hitter though. He squares up on balls, hits for average, walks a ton, doesn't K much, and has some pop that should increase. Not a speedster though. Will be 2o in A+ this season. Seems like a DS guy Yeyson Yrizarri will be in age 19 season and will play in A ball this year. Cannon for an arm and good range on defense. Projects to have the bat to play 3B down the road if he was to outgrow SS (only 6'0 175 though) Free swinger who will rake up K's and not walk much but does hit for decent average with some pop potential. Travis Demeritte is a 2B/3B former 1st round pick with massive power potential. At age 19 he smoked 25HRs in A ball but then was suspended 80 games for PEDs. Not a big contact hitter, average has been low and k's a lot but it is said he does have potential to hit for average. Has shown ability to walk. Will be age 21 season in A+ *Michael De Leon will be be in age 19 season and is an extremely polished defender. He is an outstanding SS despite lack of speed and is said to be able to play everywhere on the diamond outside of catcher and CF (due to speed). As a hitter he isn't nearly as polished. Rangers are aggressive with him, having him play age 18 season in A ball. At 17 he saw time in AA, two stops in A Ball, and a stop in AFL. If his bat comes along he could be a very good utility player to have. **Ti'Quan Forbes is a favorite on this site at 6'3 180 and will be 19 most of the season in A ball. All the loves comes from the high ceiling Forbes possesses. He mostly plays 3b now, he is not a great SS despite good range and strong arm. He can play 2b or CF as well. So far he has not flashed what many scouts believe he can. Many scouts believe he can develop good power, hit for average, will be able to walk, and steal a good amount of bases. Could fit well with our young raw talent in that age group. **Ronald Guzman was open in the Rule 5 draft this year but no one took a shot at the freshly turned 21 year old former bonus baby. When signed he was believed to have more upside than Mazara but hasn't developed as quickly. He will be at A+ again or move up to AA this season. He is more of a Lyle Overbay as of right now where he is a more of a professional hitter than a guy who hits for power. Still young and big so power will come. Walks have dropped a little bit but has shown in past he can take walks. Young OF's Eric Jenkins (#9) Leondy Taveras (#15) Jairo Beras (#23) Eric Jenkins is a soon to be 19 year old who made it up to A ball briefly last year. It was rumored around draft time the Brewers liked him a lot. He is very athletic and is game is speed. He once was reported to run a 6.3. He has a poor arm in the OF but due to speed he can stick in CF. His bat doesn't have a ton of pop but he can drive it to the gaps or pull it down the line. He is an OBP guy who will walk. Overall speed kills. 6 triples, 27 SBs 35 runs in his debut 177 ABs **Leody Taveras is a 2.1 million dollar bonus baby and little cousin of Wily Tavares. He has yet to play yet but will make his debut this season at 17. Consider one of the best all around players in this years class, he is 6'1 160 right now who is consider advanced compared to his peers. He has a solid arm that can play in CF or RF but his game right now is speed and should be able to stick in CF. It is believed he can hit 15+ HRs a season. **Jairo Beras is a freshly turned 21 4.5 million dollar bonus baby who should be in A+ this season. He is 6'5 180 raw, high ceiling OF prospect. He has plenty of power projections and good speed for his size. Really loaded with tools but needs to put them all together. Had a very good season at 20 in A ball **means my top targets *other targets

You absolutely NEED Garza out there if you ever want to get ride of him and his contract. You put him out there a pray he regains form and value. If for whatever reason Brewers were to decide not to put him out there (I can't think of any reason outside of to give a young arm a chance to not start him), you would simply fill it with Thornburg or Pena who both have proven they can be effective starters. I don't see any reason why instead of Thornburg or Pena you would bring in a 35 year old guy who will pitch good 1 in every 3 games he pitches.

It could just be be me but my feelings towards our rebuild begin to turn pretty negative (which I have been 100% with DS so far) and be less excited for our future if Lucroy is still here by opening day. We are trying to rebuild, bring in the best talent as possible, yet we haven't trade any of our most valuable pieces. It is much easier to be excited about a rebuild after you make a Gomez trade or a Lucroy trade and see the exciting talent we are building around. Unless some team is beyond desperate because their catcher broke their leg, I see almost no shot of Lucroy being traded once the season starts. It just doesn't happen in baseball with front line catchers. So really we got Lucroy whose stock is in limbo. He had a down year (even if he recovered for the 2nd half) and the concussion but he is still very cheap for 2 years. If we do not trade him now, he could have another down year (marking two in a row), have more injuries (teams will see has a problem), and now he is only cheap for one season (bringing value down.) Of course he could come out and have another 2014 season and helping his value a lot in terms of production yet he is still less controllable by seasons end. I want to infuse our system with the best talent possible.Trading Lucroy now is the best way to do that. I will hate to see us have to wait another year to do so.

^ great point He is averaging 33.5 Doubles, 14 Triples, & 16.5 Homers between 2014-2015 or 65 Extra bases a year. His speed and ability to drive the ball to all fields/gaps. He is entering his 21/22 aged season so you would figure he would continue to grow stronger and add more pop. I think with Phillips we are at least looking at a Brett Gardner type player. If you look at Gardner's 162 game averages, I think they match up pretty well to Mavericks skill set right now. Gardner didn't really start hitting for power (16/17 Hrs) until last two seasons (age 30/31). Adam Eaton is another CF who is a little more productive than Gardner than matches what I think we can expect from Phillips (but much more SB's) All stats are baseball reference 162 game averages and WAR Gardner 162G, 91 R, 24 2B, 8 3B, 10 HR, 53 RBI, 35 SB, 62 BB, 118Ks, .264 ave Slash .346/.392/.738... 3.8 WAR Ave over 6 seasons / 7.3 WAR in 2010 rest usually low 4's. Eaton 162G, 104 R, 30 2B, 11 3B, 9 HR, 53 RBI, 18 SB, 58 BB, 121Ks, .284 ave Slash .355/ .407/ .762... 4.6 WAR over last 2 years / 5.2 WAR in 2014 I be fine with having Maverick give us this from the #1, #2 spot in the order. I know most of us would hope for more of a Pollock or Betts Betts 162G. 104 R, 44 2B, 7 3B, 19 HR, 78 RBI, 23 SB, 55 BB, 93Ks, .291 Ave, Slash .348/.471/.818 6 WAR in 1st full-time season (2.1 in only 213 PAs season before..8.1 total) Pollock 162G, 91 R, 36 2B, 7 3B, 15 HR, 59 RBI, 27 SB, 46 BB, 92Ks, .294 ave Slash .347/ .464/ .811... 4.93 WAR average over last 3 years, 7.4 WAR in 2015 Could Phillips become Trout, maybe. But I am expecting Gardner/Eaton and hoping for Pollock/ Betts. That just seams most realistic to me. Either way he will be a 4-7 WAR a year guy if he falls in this range of Gardner to Pollack Trout 162G 119 R, 36 2B, 8 3B, 35 HR, 99 RBI, 28 SB, 90 BB, 161Ks, .304 ave Slash .397/ .559/ .956... 9.3 WAR average over last 4 years, 10.8 WAR in 2012

I have liked Ortiz since the draft, wanted him over Kodi however, due to weight issues, I'd pass on him. He ballooned in High School before getting serious before senior year. Now he has put it all back on. He isn't 6'7 like CC and can hold 270-300 well. Think it's said he is back up to 250-260. That does play well for health. Sure Colon and some other pitchers have done fine from being overweight but that's not the rule. Tate & Matuella I think offer more. Both #1 overall quality arms coming out. If Matuella's arm regains form, he'd be a steal as the 2nd guy in the trade. Brinson I'd take over Mazara. Brinson has continued to really improve his game. Odor or Profar are also two guys who Rangers have to decide on who is their future. Gladly take Profar from them. Forbes is the classic young Boom or bust talent I could DS going for otherwise any of their young international bonus babies.

I'm sure Jose Reyes was just "lucky" when he was hitting 12-17 a season between 2005-2012....but continue Some players are more prone to triples. Speed and being able to go line to line help a lot. Phillips is a guy with loads of speed & is a professional hitter. He can take an outside pitch and rip it hard down the left field line, pull an inside pitch hard down the right field line, can square up and drive a ball hard to the gaps. Now I do agree there is luck involved don't get me wrong. However it is not all luck. The Park & defensive players, shifts, bounces of the ball all factor in. Point being, if you go through history and the top triple hitters, most fit a similar profile of being fast & all field professional hitters. Speed isn't enough because guys like Gomez who are fast but power, pull hitters hurt chances of triples. Professional hitters who aren't very fast, physically have to have to many factors go right (prince Fielders triples & inside park homers) to get them. Sometimes a Gettis flukes in there but overall probability of hitting triples does increase with certain offensive attributes.

That is not unusual, I'd bet if he started in AA again, those numbers would go back up. In AAA, we will hopefully see those Coors Field video game number all the way up til HS is called up

I wouldn't trade Coulter for him. Coulter is going to bust out this year offensively even more so than he did in Wisconsin. BC is death for a hitter like him, increasingly so once you get into the humid season where the air is too heavy and thick for the ball to travel. FSL & BC will hurt any hitter who has lift in his swing. Slap hitting, short & low line driver, and ground ball hitter are only ones who really excel. Biloxi and Southern League are perfect for bats like his to shine. Moreover, we need 1B just as bad as 3B. If Brewers are willing give up on arguably their top outfield arm in system, Coulter is a prototypical power 1B. With the logjam we have in OF in the near future, 1B is probably the best bet for him.