MadThinker88

Not a bad option but attempting to relocate a team to another town isn't a snap of the fingers... Issues of location & league balance need to be considered.. After the Indians got involved with the Columbus (GA) RedStixx (South Atlantic League) it took years to get the franchise moved to Lake County (OH) and then another couple of years to get realigned and part of the Midwest League..

I can almost guarantee the Astros will want to partner up with the new San Antonio franchise. That will free up Fresno. The issue is, until the new stadium in San Antonio opens up in 2019, I doubt anyone will want to move. Even then, would the Brewers want to affiliate with Fresno? I imagine maybe the Dodgers would want Fresno and the Brewers could land in Oklahoma City? http://ballparkdigest.com/200905261902/minor-league-baseball/news/affiliate-dance-2012 According to link, the OKC team is partly owned by the Dodgers. I doubt they would move without something changing in that relationship. Earlier in this thread there was a link to an item from Baseball America where it was being suggested that the Brewer affiliate would end up being Fresno...

Ok. Ok. Typo. I meant 5 years starting with 2016...

I can't speak for justifications, only what they published for the world to see. Additionally, some sources are hampered by timing.. Most books are sent to print in late Dec or early January so moves from later in the offseason can be missed. I think that was a huge difference for the Analyst book vs other sources... Let me be clear- the Brewers have made great strides in the last 10 months, but before that (for many years) the farm system was in the lower quarter of baseball... I firmly believe that the Brewers are on the right path but it's going to be about 5 seasons (2106 being the first of those) before they seriously contend again. They are lucky the Reds are in WORSE shape right now

Not surprised by Phillips. He spent most of last season in High A ball so I would expect a start in AA and if performing well and there is a spot in AAA come June 1, he then moves to Colorado Springs.. I am surprised at Nottingham starting in AA. He split last season between low and high A ball. Kinda of figured he was High A bound to start and likely heading to Biloxi in June...

To hopefully make it little easier on the eyes.. At this point I have for overall system rankings: (Brewer rank on that source) Baseball America - 9 Baseball Prospectus - 10 Keith Law - 5 John Sickels - 5 Prospect Digest (Book by Joseph Werner - a very good resource) - 6 Minor League Baseball Analyst (another book) - 20 Bleacher Report (Feb '16 ranking) - 9 MiLB.com (overall ranking) - 11 MLB Top Prospects - 18 Scouting Book.com - 18 This gives the Brewers an average of 11.1 and 11th place overall among the 30 teams.

I'm tried to attach a table I compiled of the various organizational farm rankings (and their sources) for each team. No luck so I went with cut n paste approach. Sorry the columns don't line up nice The source order goes: Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, Keith Law, John Sickels, Minor League Baseball Analyst (a book), Prospect Digest (another book, great resource I must add), Bleacher Report, the final overall listing from milb.com, MLB Top Prosepcts and scoutingbook.com PS: the only constant across all 10 sources is the LA Angels in dead last... RANK Avg rank Team \ Source 1 1.400 Los Angeles Dodgers 2 3.100 Atlanta Braves 3 5.800 Colorado Rockies 4 5.900 Boston Red Sox 5 6.500 Minnesota Twins 6 7.300 Houston Astros 7 7.400 Philadelphia Phillies 8 7.600 Pittsburgh Pirates 9 10.200 Texas Rangers 10 10.600 Chicago Cubs 11 11.100 Milwaukee Brewers 12 11.300 Tampa Bay Rays 13 11.700 Cincinnati Reds 14 12.200 Washington Nationals 15 14.900 Cleveland Indians 16 15.900 St. Louis Cardinals 17 16.200 Oakland Athletics 18 16.300 New York Yankees 19 18.800 New York Mets 20 19.700 San Francisco Giants 21 21.200 Kansas City Royals 22 22.300 San Diego Padres 23 22.700 Arizona Diamondbacks 24 23.300 Toronto Blue Jays 25 23.800 Chicago White Sox 26 25.500 Baltimore Orioles 27 26.500 Seattle Mariners 28 26.900 Detroit Tigers 29 28.600 Florida/ Miami Marlins 30 30.000 Los Angeles Angels RANK BA BP Klaw Sickels MiLB Analayst Prospect Digest B/R overall MiLB.com MLB Top Prospects Scouting Book.com 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 1 2 1 2 3 2 1 2 1 13 2 2 3 2 3 6 3 7 4 2 7 7 4 12 6 4 4 5 10 6 12 9 3 6 1 3 5 10 7 3 8 10 3 5 3 8 8 6 2 8 17 3 14 5 6 9 5 4 7 8 4 6 10 6 10 8 7 6 9 8 11 6 8 12 4 12 4 8 4 7 9 7 9 9 7 8 16 11 5 13 17 10 20 12 4 16 5 4 10 14 7 14 11 9 10 5 5 20 6 9 11 18 18 12 13 11 14 9 11 2 14 13 10 16 13 12 14 12 11 13 8 13 12 9 13 14 5 13 15 17 7 21 15 10 14 5 15 16 15 11 13 18 14 12 16 11 23 16 14 19 19 15 17 11 18 18 17 11 17 18 17 18 18 13 15 19 19 15 10 18 17 16 13 14 21 18 16 17 19 12 19 15 21 16 21 19 26 17 15 16 22 20 19 25 21 20 9 20 21 25 22 15 21 21 23 23 22 16 19 22 22 23 21 22 25 18 20 23 23 23 25 21 25 20 23 22 24 24 19 24 17 24 23 21 29 24 24 22 25 25 22 24 20 24 20 27 25 23 20 22 24 24 29 23 20 27 26 26 27 26 27 27 29 22 27 27 24 19 27 28 28 28 26 26 25 26 28 26 24 28 26 27 26 28 27 27 28 26 29 25 29 29 29 29 29 28 28 29 29 28 28 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

John Sickels finally posted his system rankings. Brewers are 5th overall.

I take this idea of a commitment issue with a grain of salt. Don't believe it. If there was truely an issue there, the Tribe would have moved him during the off season for the best package possible instead of having pitch in Spring Training and then impact his value with a move to the bullpen...

FYI - Bauer in for relief of Salazar in the 6th inning at Texas. 9 pitch inning Walk - Strikeout - 4-6-3 DP Its one of the free games on MLB.TV this afternoon if your inclined to watch for yourself on how effective or ineffective Bauer is..

As a Tribe fan first, let me point out that your missing a large part of the puzzle with Bauer. He struggled big time in the later part of last season and was sent to the bullpen for most of September 2015. In the process he led the AL in walks allowed. CODY Anderson and Josh Tomlin pitched very well down the stretch. This spring all 3 pitched well and while Cody still has options available, the Tribe wanted to see if they could continue working with Bauer in the pen to continue his turn around (a la Carlos Carassco). Bauer is a thinking man type of pitcher and always is tinkering with his pre game warmup, his windup, etc. He also tries to throw @7 different pitches. The Tribe wants him to focus on his best 3 or 4 offerings and to keep attacking the hitters. When the rest of the staff is racking up strikeouts, Bauer's walk issue stands out like a sore thumb. Now I am sure if the right trade offer came along for him (or anyone else) the Tribe would listen and might even pull the trigger but the Tribe isn't actively shopping him and they wouldn't make a deal for cast offs and lottery tickets.