MadThinker88

Just placing this here for future reference... Jensen Lewis @JLEWFifty Mar 28 Crazy to think for the price of Francisco Lindor’s Mets contract ($341M), the #Guardians spent almost that on the following extensions/FA currently on the roster: $141M/7yr: JRAM $106.5M/7yr: Gimenez $33M/2yr: J.Bell $25M/5yr: Straw $20M/5yr: Clase $6M: Zunino $331.5M total ---------------------------------------------------------- & that was before this news broke on Weds evening https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/03/guardians-trevor-stephan-extension.html Note: No deals above were made to someone before their MLB debut... Not every deal is for mega dollars or going great (that Straw deal looks bad for the team at the moment), but a good front office (& I feel most believe MKE has a good FO) can effectively operate within a set of reasonable parameters.

Free/ open source material https://prospectdigest.com/milwaukee-brewers-top-10-prospects-for-2023/ Hope you enjoy. Feel free to discuss,,, If you get the book, it normally takes each team's list out to 15 or 20 with additional listings beyond that.

Good post & explanations there Mass Haas, Nice Job

Your offer would be DOA in the process as no player is signing for that long for so little. The goal of a contract like this is to buy out some of the FA years AND buy out all the arbitration years. In the Arizona case they got at least 6 of those years. Considering the bad taste left with Burnes following his arbitration hearing, there is good reason to avoid arbit hearings with others in the future.

I would think that the FO is keeping an eye on a group of players that might not make others teams coming out of camp that are out of options or opting out of minor league deals... I am unsure how much money the FO still has for its budget this season but the longer they don't use the amount (say its 5M), the more of a contract can be acquired at the trade deadline. 5M available now would pay for a 10M player brought in at the trade deadline...

I wouldn't look at 1.5M as the true number of the deal. A) Smith gets bonus money (up to another 2.5M) for games and games finished. I doubt he has much chance at a games finished bonus in MKE with a healthy Devin Williams around. B) Let's assume the bonus money is achieved, that is a 4.0M deal in a state with limited/ no state income tax. MKE would be paying @5.0M to match the deal.

I think you want to double check where guys pitched last year.. Gavin Williams (#2) had 16 starts in AA in 2022 so being in AAA midway thru 2023 is not out of the question. Tanner Bibbe had 13 starts in AA in 2022 so he could also see AAA midway thru 2023... As for a healthy use of Espino - depending on how things are going, bullpen arm is not out of the question... Either way he is R5 eligible this December... -------------------------------------------------------------------- Edits: Logan T Allen was working on a 4th pitch in AAA (IIRC a cutter) that was getting hammered & impacted his overall numbers. He is R5 eligible after the season so I would not be surprised if he is used as rotation or bullpen depth during this coming season if he remains healthy. No disagreement on Jason Campbell being years away. He was just drafted in 2022 & hasn't pitched in organized professional ball yet. IMHO his placement on top prospect listings is a mistake as he hasn't done anything yet. It will be interesting to see where they have him begin the 2023 season (in High A or in Low A). While not getting much notice at this time, a group of college pitchers from the 2021 Draft class are worth keeping an eye on: LHP Doug Nikhazy, LHP Will Dion (aka Little Kershaw), RHP Trenton Denholm & RHP Jack Leftwich. Member s of this group begin 2023 at AA or at High-A and that puts them in line to help the MLB club in later 2024 or for 2025. They would be Rule 5 eligible after the 2024 season... I am unsure which source you are using for the rankings, but I would encourage use of Fangraphs & their Roster Resource section... A lot of good info in there

The past few years when there was no minority ownership group in CLE, I would completely agree. Now that the Sherman shares have been bought by a new minority group (along with path to full ownership in 5 more years) and more money is flowing in, the payroll should continue to rise. I don't foresee Cohen levels of spending, but I suspect CLE will get itself back to the middle tier of spending.

Heck, Espino & Valera are hurt right now... If those 2 are healthy & performing, they might be filling roles in CLE by the trade deadline. Valera is already on the 40 man roster & Espino is Rule 5 eligible after this season. It will be interesting to watch how CLE handles its 40 man roster throughout the season. They already have a young overall group and there are even more young talented players on the cusp on the majors and due for Rule 5 roster protection after the season.

Cleveland is not making that deal for multiple reasons.. I also find it curious how you described the CLE pitching prospects (in bold above)... Pitching, Middle INF and outrageous depth are the key traits of the CLE farm system that have a consensus ranking between #3 and #5 in baseball this year. If the CLE pitching future is not bright, how dim is the pitching future for MKE in comparison???

Kiley McDaniel/ ESPN posted their farm rankings on 2/3/23. The full listing is behind the paywall but I was able to learn that MKE was listed at #15,,

Overlooked with the release of the farm system rankings by Keith Law on 2/2, was the release of the farm rankings by Prospects1500 on the same day. They listed the MKE system as 15th overall. The site had ranked MKE 23 in 2022 & 28 in 2021. This is open source/ free content to review.. https://www.prospects1500.com/milb/2023-mlb-farm-system-rankings/ One other note: the site published the various team rankings of the 28 different site contributors so everyone can see the various opinions. The link from within the article is below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R4brOcuH6Behz5R-FzKhRYtl_f3IWBaJk67sQ6-LCgk/edit#gid=0

I was about to reply with the same message. To be honest I am surprised ANY club was allowed more than 1 complex level team last year. MKE was 1 of a handful of teams with 2 complex level teams. The way the contraction was communicated and the stateside team development player limit was explained, it was to put all clubs on equal footing. How some clubs got to have more players/ a 2nd complex team seems inconsistent. Since the Jacobs brothers (& then the Dolan's) took ownership of the CLE franchise, the one constant was putting money into the farm system. It was explained as a multiplier effect. $100k is a drop in the bucket for a paying a MLB salary but the same $100k could pay for multiple milb players & their development over 1 year.

A couple of ways to look at this ranking from KLaw. 1) Its high praise being #8 when the best ranking given to MKE in the last 5 years from Keith was #25 (in 2019). In 2022 he had the system as #26 & he ranked the system dead last in 2020, 2014 & 2011. 2) Its 1 informed opinion among many and until other places list their rankings we cannot be sure if Keith is the high man/ low man/ somewhere in the middle of the group. IMHO I am surprised by the ranking of 8. I was figuring the system was more likely in the 11-15 range. As the other sites roll out their rankings we shall see how it all shakes out.

I think the idea/ hope of Yandy Diaz can be put to bed.... https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/rays-close-to-contract-extension-with-yandy-diaz.html 3 yrs at 24M along with a possible 4th year option.

Kinda surprised that the ProspectsLive release of the Brewer top 30 prospects was not shared here. It came out on 12/31/22. I picked up membership to see a few other teams so I will shared the names in the MKE top 30 listing. https://www.patreon.com/posts/milwaukee-2023-76569237 The full reports for all 30 runs 16 pages long.. Its well worth the $5 (+tax) for 1 month to get all the various team reports. 1. Jackson Chourio, OF - 70 OFP 2. Sal Frelick, OF - 55 OFP 3. Joey Wiemer, OF - 50 OFP 4. Brice Turang, SS - 50 OFP 5. Garrett Mitchell, OF - 50 OFP 6. Jacob Misiorowski, RHP - 50 OFP 7. Jeferson Quero, C - 50 OFP 8. Eric Brown, SS - 50 OFP 9. Robert Gasser, LHP - 45 OFP 10. Tyler Black, 2B - 45 OFP 11. Robert Moore, 2B - 45 OFP 12. Hendry Mendez , OF - 45 OFP 13. Luis Lara, OF - 45 OFP 14. Abner Uribe, RHP - 45 OFP 15. Eduardo Garcia, SS - 45 OFP 16. Ethan Small, LHP - 40 OFP 17. Logan Henderson, RHP - 40 OFP 18. Hedbert Perez, OF - 40 OFP 19. Jadher Areinamo, 2B - 40 OFP 20. Jace Avina, OF - 40 OFP 21. Stiven Cruz, RHP - 40 OFP 22. Janson Junk, RHP - 40 OFP 23. Carlos Rodriguez, RHP - 40 OFP 24. Freddy Zamora, SS - 40 OFP 25. Zavier Warren, 3B - 40 OFP 26. Gus Varland, RHP - 40 OFP 27. Johan Barrios, 3B - 40 OFP 28. Felix Valerio, 2B - 40 OFP 29. Matthew Wood, C - 40 OFP 30. Daniel Guilarte, SS - 40 OFP

CLE is not taking calls on Jose Ramirez as the extension Jose signed has a FULL NO TRADE CLAUSE. For those unaware - Jose overruled his agents last spring and pushed for this deal to get done as he wanted to remain in CLE. Otherwise CLE was close to dealing Jose at the end of spring training 2022 (rumors were to San Diego)..

Great point.. The determination of a site for a new major league ball club is only the tip of logistical iceberg.. How would the minor league setups be impacted. If for example Nashville did not get a relocated team but did get an expansion club, where does the MKE AAA affiliation go? What cities are the minors expanded into so that 2 new clubs have 4 full season minor league clubs each?? After the contraction of minor league clubs happened a few years back, the newly signed PDA (Player Development Agreements) items were for 10 years in length. In the past those agreements were for 2 year increments which made for some occasional chaos but also allowed for easier change & adjustments. One other point: Yes it has been a while since MLB expanded but that time since has also allowed MLB to consider how they want to set up a new club.. How did it go last time? What aspects of the prior expansion worked and did not work?? How many drafts & years of minor league games does the new club get BEFORE having to put a new team onto a major league field???

Despite what Scott Boras & his PR machine wants fans to believe, there is a tangible issue that is causing concern for teams when Correa goes thru a physical.. The length of deal being signed is inviting the level of scrutiny by the teams. Correa might be a case better suited for ongoing shorter deals with higher annual value each year in order to quiet team concerns and keep the money flowing..

I am not here to defend Bauer at all, but it needs to be pointed out that he had a ton of "baggage" BEFORE this issue with "rough sex" was revealed. He wore out his welcome in both Arizona and Cleveland before reaching free agency with the Reds to sign with the Dodgers. With the suspension now concluded yes he has the chance to play again. That said, some club (if not the LA Dodgers) has to give him the chance. The Dodgers could very easily tell Bauer to stay home and send him his paychecks for the remaining season of the contract. Whichever direction this goes it will be interesting to watch so grab some snacks and your favorite beverage, sit back and enjoy this circus....

At some point all smaller market teams have to bite the bullet and commit to multiple products from the farm system (either their own system or youngsters from other farm systems). Its just the way it is with the game. IF the reports are to be believed last off-season CLE thought it had deals in place for Winkler (w/ Cinci) or Matt Olsen (w/ Oakland) for once the lockout ended. We know now that the trades did not happen and as a result CLE committed to a large number of players from its own farm system. That commitment was rewarded by the performances of Andres Gimenez, Steven Kwan & Oscar Gonzalez. Until a player gets a full chance, one never knows for sure if the player will succeed or fail at the MLB level. Hopefully MKE will give multiple young players a chance in 2023 and be well rewarded by providing the chance

While Owen Miller can "play" all the INF spots, SS is likely the weakest of the 4 positions for him. When he is hot... play him as often as possible. Heck he was hitting cleanup with a ton of doubles in the early part of 2022 season. When he isn't hot (the majoity of the time)... he will be frustrating to watch. Tito played him all over the place across 2 years.. I got the sense he is someone better suited to be playing/ focusing on just 1 place. He seemed to make many of the routine plays, but there would be a bonehead mess-up from time to time which made fans question his focus/ ability.. Not everyone is suited to be a utility guy and that might be the case for Owen. Either way, I wish him the best moving forward.

The Crew took 2 players. One in the MLB portion & another in the AAA portion of the draft. No other team took a player that MKE left exposed for the taking (& the Phillies selected a combined 8 players themselves). Its clear the MKE system has some very good individual talents, but could this be a subtle indication that the overall system is not as strong or as deep and many MKE fans would like to believe??

The CLE signing of Bell is a direct result of a minority owner being located & approved by MLB during the 2022 season. Nearly 25% of the club was tied up in escrow due to John Sherman departing to purchase controlling ownership in the KC Royals a few years ago. I doubt the CLE payroll will get over $100M this season but even a payroll of $85M - $90M is a major step up from the past few years, As for the opt out after 1 year, that is standard contract practice for the Boras clients. I'm stunned that CLE even engaged with Boras. That has been a rare occurrence in the past.

Just to chime in on the question earlier (about a milb free agent signing & being still eligible for the Rule 5 minor league draft portion): unless there has been a rule change the answer is a definite YES. I can even site another example for you: Martin Cervenka in Dec 2017. Cervenka was a European ballplayer signed & developed by CLE. He moved thru their system and attained milb free agent status after the 2017 season. He decided to sign with San Fran and continue in their minor league system. During the minor league portion of the R5, Baltimore selected him and since it was the minor league phase, there was (and still is) no return to the former club mechanism. Cervenka continued to play in the Baltimore system during 2018 & 2019. He moved over to the Mets system in 2021. IIRC he has retired as he did not play anywhere in 2022 & never reached the major leagues.