Jose Cardenal1

Agreed that given the flame out rate on Pitchers you never have enough good prospects. That said, have the Brewers ever had more than 1 Pitching prospect ranked in the top 100 at any one time (we have 3 now)? Would love to add 1 more top 100 Pitcher in a Braun trade to add to the mix and then the strength of the top of the '17 draft is pitching too. At some point we are going to whine about not having any bats in the system.

Just want to point out that 7 of the top 10, including all of the top 5 were acquired via a trade.

Notice who isn't in the photo? Wonder where Gordo was that day.

Schlesinger is texting or reading e-mails at the table. Bad form. Stearns doesn't look like he touched his food. If I didn't know better I would think the meeting was not going well for the Brewers sake.

Yeah I didn't really see them winning 70+ games this year so they exceeded my expectations too. I kind of figured/hoping we would get 3 years ('16, '17, '18) of top 5 picks to go with whatever prospects we get in trades but that doesn't look like it will happen. Even with trading Braun this offseason, I feel like they will again win 72 games or so next year too. Damn you David Stearns for finding useful players (Broxton, Villar, Guerra, Carter) instead of tanking.

I look forward to the day when the Brewers OF is manned by 3 CF's (I guess it would be 1CF and 2 former CF's). Similar to the Brewers Inf. when they start 3 SS's (Arcia, Villar & Perez). Draft, sign or acquire as many CF's and SS's as you can get and they will be able to handle the other positions when the time comes.

I would pencil (not pen) Perez in at 3B for 2017, but with some spring training competition (Cecchini and/or a vet like A.Hill). The fallback would be him being a super-sub which as has been stated is still very valuable for a NL club. One thing that doesn't get brought up much is Perez's SB numbers. Think about 2017 with Perez, Villar, Broxton and Arcia getting starting AB's the whole season. 170+ SB's from those 4.

I wonder what Stearns feels about all of this. As was pointed out the Brewers are last in line when it comes to the affiliation dance, are in one of the worst ST facilities (at least based on the surrounding area) and very low on the totem pole for international FA. Is he: 1) feeling like Mark A. is unwilling to invest in these areas that you would think are very important to Stearns 2) feeling like he and Mark A. has not been well served by Ash (or are still paying the reputational price of the Melvin/Ash regime) 3) disappointed but understanding that the kind of organizational changes were looking for (affiliations/ST Facility/Instructional support system) is like turning a ship around in the ocean and takes a long time to get it right I hope it is #2 but fear it is #1. No matter what, publically Stearns will say it is #3.

Good list for what they are trying to do (i.e. build for future not the present). So many of these moves cannot be graded for many years. Plus there are some that cannot be viewed on their own. Example would be the Lind trade. On its own it will probably be a plus for the Brewers if any of the 3 young arms contribute in the Majors down the road. When you consider that the Carter signing was a result of trading away Lind that makes this trade already a clear winner for the Brewers and possibly a big winner if Carter either continues to produce the next couple years or gets flipped for some other piece and one or two of the young arms contribute later. Biggest move is the Lucroy/Jeffress trade and that could end up being a big negative if neither Brinson, Ortiz or Cordell make any impact but that is unlikely. Only other move that could be deemed a loser right now is the Khris Davis trade but again any contribution from Nottingham or Derby (neither showed well this year) down the road could offset or exceed Davis. Add in the nice Draft and Stearns clearly made strides towards building a contender down the road. Another year with a good draft and trades (Braun, Garza, Peralta, Thornburg) and the "Tear Down" portion of the rebuild would be complete and what is left behind will be a considerable amount of young talent to sift through and build both in the minors and in the majors (Broxton, Villar, Santana, Davies, Perez, Arcia, Nelson, Knebel). Starting in the '17-'18 offseason I could see Stearns start to make a couple win now moves (i.e. sign a more significant FA or trade a prospect or two to get a player in their prime or just entering it). Nothing overboard but just a move or two to indicate to the team and the fans that after lots of losing in '15, '16 & '17, the focus is now on winning games and stop worrying about selling pieces. They will still have a hard time getting to .500 in '18 but the emphasis will no longer be 3-4 years away it will be 1 or 2.

If one of the arms is DeLeon or Alvarez I would do it. Agree with others that McCarthy is just a salary balancer. Puig is a nice gamble to the upside. Could reshow his tools/talent and Stearns will flip him next summer for something worthwhile. Also, agree with molitor fan that if we came this close to dealing Braun he is all but gone this winter. I hope fans realize this when comes to Sept. 25th (last home game) and he gets an ovation for not only being a top 5 all-time Brewer, but also for handling this year (trade rumors, not trying to be a contender) with maturity and class.

Do we know that for sure? I would love for this not to effect the PTBNL, but trades can be structured in almost infinite ways. The PTBNL in the Sabathia trade was affected by how the Brewers did post trade. It is not out of the realm of possibility that there are caveats to the pool of players we have to choose from. You are probably right but I would not be so sure of myself.

I disagree on two fronts. 1) 9 (likely 10) of 25 over 10 mos. is not modestly large. It is large. Period. 2) Agree movement (mostly down) from Melvin guys helped make Stearns guys look better but looking at "The Rest" I see just as many Stearns guys who could sneak into the next top 25 as I do Melvin guys. I was expecting an argument about Stearns having ammunition (assets willing to trade) that Melvin didn't. I was not expecting an argument discounting the amount of talent Stearns has added in a short time.

Stearns has been GM for less than 1 year yet is responsible for bringing in 9 of the top 25, including 5 of the top 7. Could add another also if PTBNL from Rangers is as good as we hope. Don't know if that says more about him or Melvin. Can't wait to see where we are next yr. with another offseason, draft and trade deadline. Go David, Go David...

The AA rule is that you can only send one player who hadn't reached AA by Aug. 1st. I thought about Ray but was thinking besides the rule above, that it would be awful aggressive to have tack that onto this season. Forgot about the Winter Ball rule, which makes Lopez ineligible (not because he played in the Majors - would need 1 yr. service time to be ineligible)

Maybe it is just me but I feel like in the past we already would have started a topic on this. i.e possible participants. Some potential participants in my eye would be: Coulter - especially if he hits well the last few weeks. A good AFL could reestablish him as a real prospect Phillips & Nottingham - A good showing in the AFL can let them forget about dreadful seasons at AA Bentacourt - see Phillips and Nottingham Roache - if he is healthy Wang - Had 145IP in '15 will come in around 135IP in '16 so he could safely add a few more innings in the fall Lopez - going to come in way under IP in '16 vs. '15 Regaining confidence could do wonders T.Archer & P.Gainey - because we always send a couple relievers

There is no way a team would allow another organization to dictate its own player movements like that. The one caveat to that there will be a "hold" on any of the potential PTBNL players to be promoted to the Majors prior to the end of the minor league season. This means no Sept. call ups for a Guzman or Mendez. If I recall correctly, the naming of the player will occur sometime between the end of the minor league season and the end of the World Series. I am beginning to think the naming of the player will occur immediately after the minor league season.

1. Lewis Brinson 2. Orlando Arcia 3. Josh Hader 4. Luis Ortiz 5. Corey Ray 6. Trent Clark 7 Phil Bickford 8. Isan Diaz 9. Brett Phillips 10. Marcos Diplan 11. Gilbert Lara 12. Cody Ponce 13. Devin Williams 14. Lucas Erceg 15. Jorge Lopez 16. Brandon Woodruff 17. Freddy Peralta 18. Jacob Nottingham 19. Kodi Medeiros 20. Monte Harrison 21. Miguel Diaz 22. Demi Orimoloye 23. Jake Gatewood 24. Corbin Burnes 25. Nathan Kirby

Why is Devin Williams still with Wisconsin? Spent all of '15 there. I get why they started him there this year with him starting this season late but its time to move him. Since late May he has a 2.40 ERA over 56.1 innings.

Assuming Braun plays at least 50 of the last 58 games and that his production is roughly the same as it has been so far this year, how much salary would the Brewers need to assume to make him a very attractive trade asset this winter? By attractive I am thinking along the lines of one Top 100 prospect and 2 other good prospects that would land on the Brewers Top 30 list (similar to Indians offer for Lucroy) Assuming the '21 option does not need to be picked up he is owed $78 (including the '21 buyout) for 2017-2020 (Age 33-36 yrs.) or $19.5/yr. At what average yearly salary would it be attractive to other teams? $15/yr (meaning the Brewers kick in $18 million)? Or would it need to be lower than that?

Feel bad for Perez. Would really have liked to see him play 3B for a month. I guess they view him as a super utility guy that plays Inf. & OF.

Maybe the PTBNL is currently on the DL. Brewers may want to see that the player comes back fine before accepting that player.

Biloxi could be awesome next year. Given their youth and lack of dominance this year I would have Phillips, Nottingham & Brinson repeat AA next year. Add in Ray along with Pitchers, Ortiz, Ponce, Bickford and possibly Diplan & Peralta.

My guess is TDA/Rosario/Smith are for sure. I would think probably two more players for Lucroy/Jeffress If the additional two players are Szapucki and Wotell (2 19yr old LHP) then I am OK with this deal. 2 Top 100 Prosp. 4 new guys on the Brewers top 30. and TDA who Stearns will likely flip in the next 12-18 mos.

What was interesting in that todaysknuckleball article is that the Reds are getting frustrated too with the lack of good offers for Bruce. Buyers are waiting for the Brewers and Reds to blink. I wouldn't be surprised that it will be Sunday morning until the really good offers start appearing. Cross your fingers Lucroy doesn't get hurt tonight or Saturday and he very likely will be sat down again on Sunday. Sure would be nice if Smith could work a clean inning this weekend too.

Per Jerry Crasnick, Lucroy can block trade to 8 teams Angels, Twins, Athletics, Padres, Mariners, Nationals, Tigers, and INDIANS. Gulp!