BrewBalls

More than likely he will be cut before the end of spring training. No harm in at least bringing him in to gauge his current abilities.

If we are projecting he will continue to improve this season don't you think there are one or more GMs who agree with your analysis and are wiling to pay for this potential based on his current body of work knowing this production will only cost them the league minimum next season. If his production does blow up next season so will his salary ($6-7MM versus $3-4MM) next season since arbitration weighs heavy on HR numbers. Remember, seven years ago, Prince got $33MM (7, 11 and 15) for his three arby years which I could see Davis getting something similar in today's market if he can continue producing at a similar rate..

I don't see Davis putting up numbers to different than last season so I would look to trade him now. His value to a team with payroll restraints would be drastically increased over his value once he is arbitration eligible since power pays in arbitration.

Melvin Upton, Jr is an interesting option depending on who else the Padres are willing to add in for taking on his contract. Luis Perdomo fits the criteria Stearns is looking for in a pitcher and would be a nice piece to add to our farm system. Maybe we do a Segura and Jeffress for Hedges, Perdomo and Upton, Jr.

I think if the Brewers are willing to eat a portion of his salary say $12-16MM ($3-4MM/year) they could get a solid return for Braun. Although personally, I would prefer to trade Davis over Braun. He should net the Crew a top 100 prospect + another low level player. The Angels could use a cheap OF option but their farm system is not the greatest. Would Gatto and Ward/Cowart be fair value?

Dunn is a good player but he would present the same issues MCW currently does with his inability to shoot. Our floor spacing would not improve from his inclusion in our starting lineup. On the other hand, Demetrius Jackson his the exact skill set we are looking for in a PG. He is quick, a good ball handler, possesses above average court vision, can knock down the three consistently, and plays solid defense. His only flaw is his height 6'1" which he can somewhat compensate for with his sturdy 194 lb frame. Next draft a back up big in the 2nd Rd (i.e. Meeks or Kaba) Then sign Mayo (3yrs/$27MM) and Ryan Anderson 3yrs/$36MM) as free agents and we should be pretty set. PG - Jackson, MCW, Ennis SG - Middleton, Mayo, Vaughn SF - Giannis, Inglis PF - Parker, Anderson, JOB C - Monroe, Henson, Meeks/Kaba

Good explanation Thurston! Those who assume these three young pitchers must have low ceilings just because they are not top ranked prospects are looking to shortsighted. Lara was ranked #14 coming into the 2015 season between Victor Roache (13) and Jason Rogers (15) who are both replacement level prospects at best. It took a full season of exposure in rookie ball to get him into the top five where he truly belongs. And this is a player who was considered the 4th best international prospect prior to signing in 2014. Can you now understand why three young unknown players who were signed when they were 16+ from the D.R. and never played higher than short seasons in the DSL wouldn't be rated high yet. I highly expect at least one of these pitchers will break into our top 30 list within the next 2-3 years.

This gets me even more excited about this trade. Thank you for sharing. I do not pretend to know anything about these three pitchers but the all do carry similarities (High K/BB% and good control). So I was good with the trade because I at least felt Stearns wasn't just drawing straws hoping he got a good one but instead went into the trade looking for prospects who possessed specific traits or advanced metric numbers.

I think what 502 is saying is that you really have no idea what GMs were offering. I think it's silly to rip these international prospects that are all ~18 years old because they're not on a top 30 list yet, but even if that is granted, the main point is that people are angry and believe that they knew a better offer was on the table. That's what he was getting at. The Peterson/Zunino rumors were out there among others, and those rumors have snowballed into the theory for many that they KNEW something like that was out there from several teams and that they also are of the opinion that that offer is clearly better than what he got. Again, the latter part of that (thinking that the package the Brewers got was inferior to the artificial offers) is annoying to me, but OK. It's the fact that people believe that they know something was better out there that is interesting. I've seen a few/talked to a few people thinking it was a crappy return and that Stearns should have waited longer, etc. You really have no idea. It is entirely possible that he messed up the timing and picked the wrong return, but I tend to believe that the offers out there were way lower than some believe...and when once criticizes, they seem to do so KNOWING that there was a better offer out there (in their mind). Couldn't agree more.

For a catcher he still put up some decent numbers in AAA last season: .305/.379/.461

But this time we found one on the clearance rack! Why does it even matter when we are hoping to lose 90-100 games next season? At least the potential of becoming a serviceable player is still there.

I see him as an option at 3B depending on his defense. Otherwise, he could be an option at 1B as a platoon mate with Rogers or a solid bench player who can fill in at 4 positions. Any way you look at it the Brewers got a cheap roster option for virtually nothing.

Also no players taken from Detroit so hopefully our PTBNL will be announced soon.

Great move and adds another position player to our active roster. I really like the way Stearns is building this years roster. Young versatile players who can get on base at a decent clip.

I wouldn't be too worried if I'm Scooter that a guy who's already 26 (Scooter's 25) and barely has any experience above AA is going to take my job. For all we know they drafted Walsh to play 1B or 3B. I bet Walsh had more walks last year than Scooter has had in his entire MLB career. You are correct and its not even close (44 BB for his career).

There is no reason to think they are unlikely to amount to anything. All three project as plausible major league arms even if they end up being bullpen guys. Lind was pretty much worthless to this team and if he was just released would probably get a one year deal worth about what he is getting payed now. The only argument I can see against this deal is that the team needs a 3B more than pitching but they can find a 3B with other assets. Im sure someone smarter than I would have this answer, but it is a very low percentage of any rookie ball/short season players ever reaching the majors and none of these guys are classified as elite. On a percentage basis, there is every reason to think that none of these guys will ever amount to anything. Its highly likely that Zach Davies has already pitched more major league innings than all three of these guys will ever pitch. I have no problem trading away Lind of course. It was a good thing to do for the future, but these guys are really low level assets. The reason none of these pitchers are known commodities is they were signed internationally and have only pitched in the DSL which is a very short season. International players who are signed at a young age (usually 16) tend to fly under the radar since there are usually few scouting reports or information on these players. Even when Aroldis Chapman signed his contract with the Reds the general public knew very little of him prior to him holding his workouts for scouts and GMs. Will they be top of the rotation starters? Probably not. Although the odds greatly increase if you are hoping they develop into valuable assets for future trades of become quality relievers. We traded a year of Aoki who was on a extremely cheap contract for Will Smith and i remember people were upset all we got back was a reliever. do you think they are still upset with this trade today?

I don't think we need to go the scorched earth route but do think it doesn't hurt to tank the next couple of seasons to land top 5 draft picks. This is how Houston was able to load up their farm system with top tier talent. Currently they have 3 players in the top 60 who were all drafted top 5 (Bregman #21, Appel #43, Tucker #56) and two others who were considered top 25 prospects in the past who are now parts of their current core (Correa #2 in 2014 and Springer #23 in 2013). My guess is we do not need to tank for 5 years since we already possess some top level talent in our system (Arcia, Phillips and Clark)and already hold the #5 pick in this years draft but 2-3 wouldn't hurt. In the meantime, I'm okay with fielding a team with players like Reed (CF), Rogers (1B), Villar (3B), Rivera (SS) and Maldy © if we are picking up studs in the draft.

You could also say the reason our system has steadily improved over the last couple years is because Montgomery has chosen to draft younger higher ceiling players like Clark, D. Williams, Harrison, Medeiros, Gatewood and Orimoloye instead of college players (Arnett, Jungmann, Bradley and Heckathorn) who were suppose to move through the system faster but carried far less upside. I personally do not see any problem trading Lind for three young "unproven" pitchers instead of a player like DJ Peterson who offers little upside at this point and would clearly be starting his service time before we are competitive. The key to a successful rebuild is having quality players at all levels so you can sustain your success similar to how the Rays operate. You have a wave of players come up, supplement with cheap FA and trades then restock your farm system when your young stars who are getting close to free agency. You basically determine if you can afford to extend them and do you have another option in the minors who can replace his production. All the while you have a steady flow of young talent supplementing your current roster. Not all of the players you trade for will become bonafide all-stars. But having the back of your rotation, bulpen and bench full of cheap players will help offset the cost to extend your stars.

I'm sure that I'll end up watching / listening on the radio to about 90% of Brewers games throughout the rebuild - because that's what I do - but I'll be scaling back my trips to Miller Park if they're not playing good baseball (either due to style of play or talent discrepancy). There's a difference between being a "die hard" fan and subsidizing a non-competitive team; it's not bandwagon fandom, so much as rational behavior. I can understand your point. I'm sure my family will be doing the same. At least our home games against the Cubs will still sell out with all the Chicago fans willing to make the trip.

Put me down for Rogers. His solid offensive production at every level earns him the right to be given the chance to at the very minimum compete for the starting 1B position. Besides what do we really have to lose?

You can allow your revenue to plummet when your payroll is on the $60-70 million range versus $110 million to start the season. Bandwagon fans will come and go based on if the team is winning or losing but die hard fans who understand the rebuild process will still show up.

Were the Cubs still lamenting their crappy 2013 record during the playoffs this year, or were they happy to have Kyle Hendricks as the #4 starter all season because they traded away Ryan Dempster in 2012? Don't forget, losing a lot of games allowed them to draft high enough to get Baez, Almora, Bryant and Schwarber.

And for those wanting to acquire top 100 prospects, Lucroy is the one asset we have which should net us at least two.

True, however our young pitchers are and to have someone as valuable behind the plate mentoring the pitchers throughout the game is invaluable. I don't see Lucroy going anywhere this year to be honest. I would love to see him traded as his value is somewhat high right now, but the perks of having him behind the plate for one more year are too rich. Plus, he could have a monster season this year and increase his trade value even more. First off how do we even know he is a good leader? It isn't like pitchers excel under him. I just don't see that argument. Brewers can go get a veteran off the scrap heap for $3mil if they insist on giving their pitchers a young catcher Secondly two years is going to trump one year no matter what. From the "rival executives" source many around the league expect him to bounce back so I doubt his value has fallen much. Right now he is somewhat. a long term piece and next year he is just a one year rental. His value will never be higher than it is now. And to anyone worried who our next catcher will be just remember 1.5 years ago our farm system was one of the worst in baseball and now it is one of the best. Agreed. Even if we went with a platoon of Maldy and say Brayan Pena our young pitchers should be in good hands. And if a recall correctly, Lucroy has never really graded out well when it came to his game calling. So of all of the things to worry about if he is traded this should be towards the bottom of the list.

My vote is for Davis. We need to create a spot for Santana and Braun is likely not going anywhere for at least another year.