CheeseheadInQC

Because they wouldn’t have gotten picked at that slot if they didn’t agree to it ahead of time. If you figure your best chances of getting a slot deal are 30-35 and someone at pick 20 offers you pick 30 money, it makes financial sense to take it. And if you renege on the pre-draft deal and don’t sign, teams are going to be reluctant to pick you the next time around given how teams plan their draft around the bonus pool.

Wow, I really thought he was at least slot.

Who knows if there will be a chain reaction, but the guys who started along with him Saturday at low-A and AA also have a case for promotion

I am guessing there is an order the deals have to be signed for safety’s sake. If a significantly under slot pick pulls out after the rest have signed, it could cost you a pick. Unless the MLB has a contingency for that.

Judging by the prospects moved for rental bats last year, I would put the value at Guilarte (I have him 20th in the system for comparison sake) and one or two more prospects in the 25-40 range)

Are there flaws in the current system? Sure. But that doesn’t make unilateral disarmament a smart play. It means spreading risk around (don’t make the give everything to Gilbert Lara mistake again) and putting a big focus on player development.

From undrafted free agent to arguably the top reliever on a double-A squad in a year. Quite the season so far from Brady.

I like seeing some power from Areinamo. Now we just need a few more walks. While I don't have exit velocities, everything else is about his batted ball profile is pretty much indistinguishable from Lara. They are both line drive hitters who use the entire field and rarely swing and miss. The big difference hitting wise this season has been Lara takes walks and Areinamo doesn't.

Calzadilla has done a ton to hold that staff together, but I have to think, especially after yesterday’s game, the soon to arrive pitching depth will come in handy for the young and occasionally blow-up prone group.

Part of the reason they haven't had more success in Latin America previously is that for years the Brewers did this. For better or worse, a large part of scouting and signing in Latin America is about connections, and while the Brewers did still sign players from Latin America during that time period (Wily Peralta being one example I believe), their lack of a presence hurt them. They had to build it back up to get to the point where now, it is beginning to bear fruit. Now is the exact time that you don't want to get rid of it, especially with Manfred's slash and burn attitude toward the stateside minor league system. Are there flaws in the system that basically determines bonuses by skill and projectability as high school freshmen? Of course. <rant>It doesn't help matters perception-wise that some of the scouting service lists seem to serve more as bonus predicters. Medina was the Brewers top-rated signing his year but post-signing suddenly the write-ups on Perez and Quero were much more effusive. Same with Severino and Barrios vs. Lara.</rant> But in order to compete ESPECIALLY as a small market team, you have to get good at it. And the Brewers are finally starting to trend in that direction.

That's because I haven't submitted mine yet (still working on writeups). Not trying to be that guy ... just really high on Quero. I was the one (or one of the ones, can't remember) who had him No. 2 in the preseason poll.

@Brock Beauchamp This won't matter if the votes are tabulated by hand, but if it is done automatically, it appears as if Zamora is on there twice

While not all of them are going to make my list (although three are) several more possibilities to add, in alphabetical order: Patricio Aquino Juan Baez Ryan Birchard Filippo Di Turi Edwin Jimenez Quinton Low Eric Prado Yophery Rodriguez Jhonny Severino Tyler Woessner

My guess: Wilken - $2.7m Knoth - $2.8m Boeve - $800K Bitonti - $1.7m Woodward - $30k Birchard - $400k Pratt - $3.0m Kuehner - $15k Yoho - $25k Manfredi - $15k Austin - $10k My rationale (assuming that they are going to sign all 11 like usual): Unless something did change on Pratt's end, the Brewers were able to successfully float him to the sixth round. It would have taken a big bonus promise to do so. That means first-round money. I also think the college guys, especially once you got past the second tier, probably got squeezed a bit this year. It wouldn't shock me if Wilken ends up with the third highest bonus and Boeve gets less than you expect. Also, I think the math works, but I did it quickly so if not, it is at least close.

I think you are reading too much into Knoth's MLB.com ranking. Like Misiorowski last year, he was on the rise before the draft and MLB.com never caught up (They had Misiorowski 78th last year. Fangraphs, for instance had both in their respective classes' top 30).

It is going to be interesting to see everyone's list. There are a lot of permutations with top players. My preliminary one for instance has Knoth as the top of the draft picks and Adams in the top 10. Also, on Quero's floor, I'm sticking with Maldonado. And given the length of his career, that is a pretty good floor.

The Brewers haven't missed signing anyone in the first 10 rounds under the current system. I doubt it starts this year. I'd prefer they draft a few more signable players on day 3 than they did this year (presumably, who knows, maybe they sign more than I expect), but the fact is, under Manfred's the best thing for baseball is less baseball regime, the number of rookie league jobs that have been cut is more than the number of rounds cut at a time when the Brewers are graduating more players from the DSL than they ever have. Signing all 20 isn't that big of a deal.

I think there is an argument to be made for Quero, but it partly depends on how you value ceiling and floor. I kind of think floor gets underrated among top prospects (who wouldn't be top prospects if the ceiling wasn't also at least fairly high), so I'm in the sweet spot for putting Quero high.

The five position players on the ACL team team most likely to get promoted include two catchers, a second baseman, a shortstop and a third baseman. They'll have enough behind the plate and infield between those guys, the holdovers and the top two prep infielders. They should be fine there. Coming into the draft, I was actively rooting for no college middle infielders after the first couple of rounds simply because there were less opportunities for playing time there for non-top prospects. The outfield on the other hand ... outside of Mercado, who probably already should be in full season ball by age and performance, most of the ACL outfielders are getting either minimal playing time or flat out struggling to consistently put the bat on the ball. Yophery Rodriguez could skip the ACL, but it wouldn't shock me if an infielder like Jhonny Severino gets moved to the outfield along with a few holdovers just to get all the best prospects in the lineup. The place where they needed depth for Carolina was the pitching staff. Carolina has more pitchers in line for promotion than hitters right now, and the ACL pitching staff doesn't have many standouts. The pitching heavy draft makes sense logistically, even if I doubt many of the Day 3 prep hurlers sign.

I'm a little late to the party (need to retrieve my password from the desktop to get back logged in on my phone), but I'll echo everyone to say I'm feeling much better about the draft than I was 24 hours ago. 1. I like what I've read about Boeve as a player, but his profile has such a narrow development path that I was a little disappointed when it looked like he was going to be the third best prospect from this year's class. But as the sixth best? That's a good draft class. 2. Yes, I said sixth. I just automatically assume at this point that any JUCO pitcher the Brewers take is going to turn into a legit prospect. 3. The logistics of the Wisconsin and Carolina rosters are going to be interesting next year. It gets glossed over because of the number of top level prospects in the outfield, but the infield was already deeper on the lower levels (you could make a case that the top three prospects on the ACL team are all infielders) and this draft just increases that disparity. Yophery Rodriguez pulling a Chourio/Mendez/Lara and reaching A ball early next year could help, but it wouldn't shock me if a couple of infielders get cross-trained just to get the bats in the lineup. 4. The Brewers taking a fifth-year freshman seems like the perfect follow-up to taking a fourth-year JUCO and a D-II pitcher on day 2 last year. Let it never be said that the Brewers leave any stone unturned when it comes to locating college pitching. 5. As intriguing as all of these third basemen or likely future third basemen are, I'm sticking with Knoth as my favorite pick from the draft class. I'm a sucker for upside arms.

It wouldn't shock me if he ends up being the biggest bonus like Misiorowski was last year.

Along with Whitman, a few prep pitchers and corner infielders there too

Two years in a row (mentioned Misiorowski last year)!

Kind of hoping for two pitchers with these next two picks

Well, if you wanted power ...