monty57

This was definitely a "throw stuff at the wall and see if anything sticks" year for CF, with a mix of veterans they were hoping could be flipped and young fringe guys they hoped could take a step forward. Stearns hit with Villar at SS and Carter at 1B, but unfortunately none of the CF guys have shown anything. I agree it's time to move on, and the answer will probably be Wren, but they probably want to wait to see how the trades pan out before making the move. There is a possibility the answer to this thread will be part of a trade. Note, I agree with almost all of the initial post except the "time to move Braun to first base..." part. He's the only OF who has done anything this year. He could get traded, but it's not because the mish-mash of guys in the minors are pushing him off the roster or onto 1B. Barring trades, 1B and LF will be our 3/4 hitters next year. Leave them alone... it's most of the other positions we have to worry about :-)

I don't think that is it. I think the problem is getting enough back to trade arguably the best player we have had since Yount and quite possibly the best we will see for decades(never know obviously). Braun is still a good player and still a fan favorite/marketable locally even if less than before. Trading that while paying a good chunk of his contract for good but not elite prospects may not make sense. It probably isn't that he is scared to trade Braun, but more the simple fact the value coming back may not be there. Well said. We don't need the salary relief, and with Braun in the 3-hole, our offense will be passable, even when Lucroy is traded. I still think Braun could be traded, but only if we get a really good return for him. If he's traded, I think it will be in a deal where the Brewers eat a good chunk of his salary and get impact player(s) back in return... a couple of guys who will be big parts of the next "core." Ideally (for me), both Lucroy and Braun are traded for big returns, we "punt" on 2017, letting the kids play, and are able to start to regain respectability again (in large part due to the prospects we get from Braun and Lucroy) in 2018. The worst case in this situation would be to take a junk return just to clear salary. Thankfully, that won't happen. Holding onto him because we can't get impact players back in return may not be what I would prefer, but it is not a terrible option.

Based on your logic, who cares what the Brewers did in 2006? Montgomery came on board in late 2014. That is really all that we need to judge at this point. He has since drafted three guys in the first round, two of which are in the top-60 prospects in all of baseball. Obviously we have no idea if any of the three that will pan out, but I don't care what Seid did; I care what Montgomery is doing. Fair enough. Let's hope Montgomery looks at the comedy of errors in Brewer 1st round drafts over the last decade and figures out how to turn around the poor evaluating and projecting that has plagued the organization. I am all for giving Montgomery a fair chance. I suspect he's going to hit on some post first round picks among Demi Orimoleye, Chad McClanahan, Lucas Erceg, Payton Henry and some others. A couple of points, though. 2006 was ten years ago, so it's a nice round number where we can look at a fair sample size. Players drafted in 2006 are still playing. Second, as you no doubt are aware, Montgomery came through Milwaukee before he went to Zona. He was part of the earlier process, so his fingerprints can be found in what was done. Drafting is the culmination of scores of information from scouts, as well as the department's processing, analyzing, etc. It's not as if the scouting director decrees some selection in a vacuum. The whole process in that decision tree needs to be considered. What was it that made Milwaukee think a .240 hitter his junior year and then got hot his senior year made him worth the seventh overall pick? These types of evaluations need to be examined and corrected. It's worth pointing out that the Brewers have had a boat load of high draft picks. If you look at where Kodi Medeiros was taken as a recent benchmark, 12th overall, the Cardinals haven't picked higher than 13th since 1998. There are factors for that as others have pointed out. But a contributor is also their drafting. In contrast, the Brewers have had numerous draftees that high or higher. I think a lot has to do with ownership philosophy as well. Before the Brewers started winning, they drafted for upside. Once they started winning, they drafted for guys they hoped could help the MLB team as quickly as possible, and recently they have started picking for upside again. As noted earlier, LaPorta (drafted during the "how can we quickly help the MLB squad") was drafted to be used as trade bait, since they already had Fielder. Regarding Medeiros, that was done right after the rule changes to the draft regarding "draft pool money," and he was selected ahead of where he was expected to go so that they could pay him under slot value, allowing them to draft and sign Harrison and Gatewood. We'll see if that pays off, or if they would have been better off signing the best player available, but at the time the Brewers had a horrendous farm and getting three high upside guys was pretty much universally praised. Now that we have a stronger farm, we seem to be looking for the best player available.

Lawrie and Coulter were catchers. What position guys are drafted at doesn't seem to make much difference. That's true of most positions, but I think that when they draft them they have a decent idea if they expect a guy to stick at a difficult position or whether they expect to move him at some point. Lawrie and Coulter were drafted for their bats. IIRC Lawrie was moved to speed up his route to the big leagues because he had such an advanced bat, while they never really expected Coulter to stick at catcher. There is a question about Nottingham sticking at catcher, but from some limited reading I've done I think he's doing okay defensively in Biloxi.

Hopefully Santana has a good second half. Beside Braun the outfield is not good. I am more hopeful for Liriano and am tired of Flores. That's what years like this year (and probably next year) are good for. We can let these guys play and see which of them have a future with the team. Braun getting traded would leave a huge hole, but there is no better time to let these once-promising young guys play every day to see what they can do. We look to have found a good player in Villar by giving him a shot. Carter looks a lot better than we hoped for. Getting rid of K-Rod and allowing Jeffress to close has made him a household name that could land us a decent amount in trade. If one of our young OFs takes off with everyday PT in the second half, that's all the better for the future.

I'm with Bill Hall Star. We will trade Lucroy and likely Braun in the near future, bringing back a lot of talent at all levels to add to what we already have in the system. 2017: We will have the current pitching with Hader replacing Garza. The lineup will be our shortfall, with the addition of Arcia and a hopefully healthy Santana not able to account for playing without Lucroy/Braun. It will be a down year overall, but we will have a lot more answers by the end of the season. The big variable is what we get back from Lucroy/Braun. We could get a couple of studs who are ready to step onto the MLB roster, which could even make 2017 more interesting, but I think this year will be a year similar to 2016. 2018: If we have most of our holes filled with MLB-quality guys and prospects we like, we will probably make a big free agent signing, likely a starting pitcher, and one or two other, smaller FA acquisitions. This is where we stop "shuffling deck chairs" and start the uphill climb. The playoff odds are probably slim at this point, but it should be when we can start seeing more positive results. 2019: Another FA signing or two, and more of our prospects hitting the big leagues, and we're in the pre-season playoff talks. Big stars get 8 years/$184M like Jason Heyward got from the Cubs...and he's hardly even a star, certainly isn't this year. Or the 8/$186M that Sabathia got, or 9/$214M that Fielder got. We should have around $90M/year in free cash flow with very little committed to future obligations. When the time comes, we should be able to land a couple of big FAs and still have financial "breathing room." We just need to make sure we continue to keep all levels of the farm stocked so we can continue to produce MLB talent that can play for league minimum, and avoid the wasted payroll on crappy $13MM role players. I'd rather have Davies/Guerra types at #4/5 with $25MM spent on a stud than waste the $25MM on 30-something FAs at #4/5 pushing us over budget. To the point made about the Pirates, Taillon was coming up with Cole, and unfortunately got hurt. He's now up, and he, Cole and Glasnow will likely make the next few years' Pirates better than the last few years' Pirates. Their refusal to "go for it" over the past few seasons puts them in a position to still have a promising future even with MLB success. This is how I hope Stearns plays things in the future. For now, it's building up the system from top-to-bottom in order to get us into the position to do this.We have a pretty good start, and the upcoming trades will push us a lot farther down that road.

I don't see Villar as a 3rd baseman for very long. You have the backlog of Rivera, Arcia and Ortega lined up at short. Are you going to flip them? Barring something happening in the trade or FA market, it's lining up for Arcia to be our starting SS next year, with Villar at 3B, and Rivera probably being a utility guy. That retains our productive lead-off hitter, and allows Arcia to get his feet wet as a 6-7-8 hitter. I know the "traditional 3B" is a lumbering power hitter, I'll take a guy who provides solid defense, with good OBP and base-running skills. Of course he may falter, and this year may be a fluke, but that's true of most players. He's looking very good this year and deserves a starting role next year, while Rivera looks like a good candidate to be a defense-first utility guy. As important as anything, i think Stearns really wanted to open a starting position at corner OF for Santana, but unfortunately he's been hurt most of the season. This was the reason Davis was traded. We had a surplus, and Stearns traded away the guy that made the most sense to trade. When the trade was done, he was looking to bolster their minor leagues, and he did that, with the key piece being a highly regarded catching prospect, an area where we were thin, along with a SP prospect with some upside potential. I hope that even when we are out of the "rebuilding" stage, we still look to trade the veteran when he's blocking a minor leaguer who is pushing his way onto the MLB roster. There's always risk, but that's a good way to help remain younger and cheaper. I agree that is's a shame Santana has been sidelined with injury this year. When looking at how down we'll be when Lucroy and potentially Braun are traded, it's easy to forget about Santana. We won't be able to make up for the loss of Lucroy/Braun, but a healthy Santana (along with whatever we bring back in trade) will help our offense be a little less anemic next year.

This is an interesting year, because the only situations I can think of where we traded our best player were Sexson and Greinke, and it's arguable whether Greinke was our best player. I'm all for trading Lucroy because he's a FA after next year, and I don't think we'll be good next year, so trade him while he has the most value. I'm also up for trading Braun, but only if they can get good players back for him. Again, I don't think we'll be good next year even with him, and age/injury will probably start to slow him down by the end of the contract, so if we can get some good prospects for him, I'd trade him. I'm a little less on board with those who want to trade everyone who has value. I think we will probably trade a reliever, but we'd better get a great offer, as we have the valuable guys under team control for years. I'd have no problem if we hold onto all of Thornburg, Jeffress and Smith if there aren't "blow me away" offers for them. I also wouldn't mind holding onto Carter, as we don't have anyone else at first base, and I don't think we'd bring back anything substantial for him. With the exception of Garza, I hope we don't trade any of our starting pitchers, as we will need a rotation next year, and I doubt we'd get more for any of them right now than we'd get a year from now. If Stearns trades Lucroy and Braun, we will not be good, but we will at least have the early foundation of a team, and our current farm plus the guys we'd get back in trade should allow us to start building on that foundation, getting out of the downward swing and into the upward swing of the rebuild. Trading those two doesn't mean we should give up everyone. That could lead to some really bad times.

What he's done in a couple of month in Colorado is pretty meaningless. He is a better hitter than any of our pitchers. If we got into an extra inning game, we should have a much better chance of winning with him coming in to hit rather than bring forced to use a pitcher due to a short bench. There is no potential of getting an extra year of control with this move unless they feel like keeping him there nearly the whole month. It could matter if he's going through a rough stretch in the next couple of years and gets sent down for a while. Every accrued day has meaning, as you never know what will happen down the road. Davies is an easy guy to cheer for, but his ceiling isn't that high, so it's well within reason to believe he could see more time in the minors in his career. At the end of the day, this is a pretty minor move, and guys with limited service time who are not signed to a guaranteed contract get jerked around all the time. If there is even a slight improvement to the MLB team (i.e. having a full bench instead of being a player short) then I don't see the big deal.

When did it become good business to take money out of the pocket of a performing employee for no organizational benefit? With that logic, shouldn't Hader and Arcia be on the 25 man roster, as they are better than some of the guys blocking them? They would make a lot more money over their careers if they were on the 25 man roster now, but they could be kept in the minors until next year in order to retain a year's service time, costing them millions of dollars over the long run. The CBA is set up the way it's set up, and teams are going to play within those rules to do what they think is best for the team. Wilkens isn't anything special, but he is a bat off the bench, which we needed far more than a 5th starter. Wilkens offered little value, while Davies offered no value over this time frame. How many people would have been up in arms if we trotted out a pitcher to pinch hit because we had a short bench? Wilkens was probably also chosen because the team won't really care if they lose him after this stint. Attanasio has been very kind to Boras over the years, so while Boras feels it helps his client to speak up about this minor move, it is very unlikely to have any affect on future negotiations with Boras clients. Finally, nothing I have ever heard from Davies or his parents would make me think he would let this effect him. He seems to be a guy who has always had people writing him off because of his size, and having to do much more than the next guy in order to advance. If anything, I think he'll just take this as "fuel" to keep him motivated.

Because contracts are not everything. As much as I like money, talent is why teams pay. Conforto's career minor league OPS is .854, while Braun's career major league OPS is .911, so Braun on the decline at the end of his current contract could very well be better than Conforto ever reaches. But really, anyone who is trading for Braun is looking at what he will do for them in the next year or two. Braun's OPS is currently .917 vs Conforto's .741. OPS isn't everything, but that's significant, and it is very, very likely that Braun will be better than Conforto at least this year and next year, which should help the Mets if they are looking to win the World Series in that time frame. Conforto looks like a guy who should have a good MLB career. Braun could end up in the Hall of Fame. Braun is a very special player. Conforto is not worth Ryan Braun, and as others have said, the only way the Brewers make that deal straight up is if they need to save the money. They don't. The Mets need cash more than the Brewers, so if Braun were going to the Mets it would be very likely that the Brewers would eat a good portion of Braun's contract and get more talent back. Conforto may be one of those pieces, but certainly not the only piece.

Might be a little off topic, but Arcia started at 2B for the 2nd time in 10 games yesterday for the Sky Sox. I think Stearns likes versatility, so having him put in some time at 2B is probably nothing more than getting some experience there. If there is anything more than that, it's probably in case Gennett struggles and they bring him up this year as a 2B. They would probably move Villar, but it wouldn't hurt to know that Arcia could play there as well. But yeah, I wouldn't complain if it means Trea Turner is coming over in trade.

No way in hell would the Mets even consider trading Matz for Lucroy. Young lefties with his kind of stuff and under team control until 2022 don't get traded for a 30 year old catcher with only a year and a half of team control unless their GM is a complete idiot. They can look to find a bat at the deadline which wouldn't include trading one of the best young pitchers in the game. I agree, which is why I don't see a deal with the Mets. They want to give up their "spare part" in Wheeler so they can keep all their gems. I'd ask for one of the gems. If they're willing to put the "spare part" into the rotation, then we could make a deal. If not, then we politely decline their offer (or just use it to help push up someone else's offer). Don't get me wrong, Wheeler is a very good pitcher, but the Brewers don't need a guy with limited team control who is coming off of a major injury. It just doesn't fit into their current plans. If we can't get Matz (which we probably can't), then we deal Lucroy elsewhere.

I don't think they'd get much now, so he provides more value to the Brewers as a cheap starter this year and next when they need warm bodies in the rotation. If he's still putting up decent numbers at this time next year, he would bring back a lot more in trade, and we may be able to use the spot for a prospect who has earned his shot at the majors.

So you think the Brewers could still land the Red Sox untouchable prospects Devers and Espinosa In today's baseball, I don't think there's anyone who is truly "untouchable." Heck, there were rumors that Trout could be traded this year, and if he's not untouchable, no one is. If he were traded, there would be "untouchable" prospects going back to the Angels. The question is whether Lucroy is good enough to bring back an "untouchable" prospect, and I think that's a possibility, though not a given. I think it's more likely he'll get several "Top 100" guys rather than a "Top 10" guy, but this past offseason, Stearns was asking for the moon for Lucroy, which is why he wasn't traded. I believe that other GMs were worried about Lucroy's injuries and his less-than-stellar 2015 season. He's answered these concerns by putting together an MVP-caliber season. Right now, he's probably the best offensive and the best defensive catcher in baseball. Guys like that don't come on the market often, someone will pay heavily for it. Whether that means "Top 10" guy will depend on how much the market heats up over the next month. A lot of people were surprised at the willingness of teams to trade away top prospects last season in trades for players like Tulo, Price, Cueto, and Hamels, and hopefully that trend continues this year.

With all the rumors out there, I think Braun will be traded, and I think the Brewers will get a nice return. This snippet from MLBTraderumors.com is nice to hear: "...Brewers owner Mark Attanasio is more concerned with ensuring that the Brewers receive premium talent than he is shedding a portion of Braun’s notable contract." I think the Brewers could get a decent return for Braun without eating any salary, but if they eat salary, they should be able to get multiple "Top 100" guys for him. Stearns is in a very good position in that he arguably has the two best commodities on the market, and other GMs will be bidding against each other to get them. All it takes is for one of them to get anxious and offer up what Stearns wants, and we could end up with a gold mine.

There is no chance that the Brewers simply let Peralta go at season's end. He will be affordable and could easily bounce back. For what it's worth, he still throws hard, is in his prime years, and has decent control. He was the MVP in his last start, as well. I see him back with the team in August and September..... Then we'll have him for an additional year, as well. In my mind, he's STILL one of our best pitchers, even though his stats say otherwise. Garza on waivers? If a pitcher exactly like Peralta were a free agent at next offseason, would you want the Brewers to offer him a $4-5M deal? I really hope he can turn things around, but if he gets shelled at Colorado, and continues to get shelled when he inevitably gets called back to the majors later this year, then I don't see it being worth the risk of signing him to play next year. If they believe they can fix him, they have this whole year to try. If he's still pitching the way he's pitched for the last couple of years, they may be best served letting him be someone else's problem. I understand he's been with the Brewers since he was a young teenager, and he showed promise early, but he's been terrible for quite a while now and we're getting to the point that we have better options for a lot less money. It would suck to get nothing out of him, but it would suck more to pay him millions to post an ERA over 6.00 while taking up a rotation spot better utilized by a pre-arby prospect. As to Garza, I was responding to a poster who mentioned eventually putting Garza on revocable trade waivers so he can be dealt after the trade deadline. No one is likely to claim him after a few starts, as they would be on the hook for his contract, and that gives him another month's worth of starts to prove himself for potential trade.

I'd doubt he'd be traded by then, but there is always the trade through waivers with a few extra starts that one could envision. Garza is a perfect guy to put on waivers. If someone claims him, they just cleared the Brewers of a whole lot of money they would otherwise owe next year, and in the likely event that no one claims him, it gives him extra starts to show other teams that he's worth trading for. I don't expect much (if any) talent back, but it would be nice if someone else would pick up his salary for next season. As to Peralta, he is in his first year of arby, making $2.8M. Getting sent down is reason to believe that he won't get much of a raise going into next year. At around $3M, if he can be a decent middle reliever he's worth having around. If he remained in the MLB rotation all year, even pitching poorly he'd still probably earn $4M+ next year, at which point he'd be tough to justify even if he was an okay middle reliever when we have so many pre-arby guys as alternatives. I think the most likely scenario is that he is let go after the season, and someone else picks him up as a back-of-the-rotation starter/long-man in the pen for far less than the Brewers would have to pay him in arby, but there is a chance he regains his form as a starter, or that he gets converted to a reliever where he may succeed. They have to pay him this year regardless of what happens, so they're sending him where he can do the least amount of damage, hoping he "finds it" and can be of some value in the future

The holier-than-thou Cards took the guy linked to PEDs

5'11, 185 lbs and questions about whether he can stick at CF. I'll just have to trust the Brewer scouts on taking him over some SP who look pretty good.

I don't see any way Braun and Lucroy's trade value could get any higher than it is right now. Failing to trade them now could seriously harm the future of this franchise. Hill is almost sure to go, and Carter is probably at a high trade value as well. There may be some fans that get upset, and undoubtedly some "talking heads" will rant a bit, but the Brewer brass can't fall off the wagon this quickly in regard to the rebuild. The return we get from the upcoming trades is going to be what could allow us to build teams that could compete for division titles and World Series appearances in the coming years instead of perpetually being a few games back in the hunt for the second Wild Card spot.

I don't follow these guys, so thank you all for the information you provide. That said, I hope that the Brewers can land a potential ace pitcher, and that they don't "go cheap" in order to get more depth in later rounds. That strategy was great for a few seasons when our system was devoid of talent, but now our system has depth and needs superstar-potential talent.

Or hottest name on the injury report. We have two solid OFers that have been injured often and a black hole in CF. Probably want to keep all the depth we can get. There are a few things i'd look at here. 1) What are your realistic goals? I think that if you want to win this year and next year, Braun is a very valuable member of your roster. This is why competing teams would like to trade for him right now, and would probably give up some good talent to get him. If your window is a few years out, then Braun's most productive years will be spent on a losing roster, and by the time you're looking to compete, he will be pushing into his mid-30s. This is probably where the Brewers are, which is why it may make sense for them to trade him. 2) What can you get for Braun this season? This is the big question. When it gets mentioned that someone good will be traded from the MLB roster, it's easy to forget that we will be getting a lot of talent back. In Braun's case, he should return a couple good prospects. Probably one who will be with the MLB team in the near future and one or two that are a little farther off. Alluding to point (1) above, if your time horizon is a couple of years out, then the combination of these prospects could be better than having an older Braun on the roster in a couple of years. 3) How will Braun age, meaning will he still be healthy and productive in the final few years of his contract, when the Brewers are realistically shooting for the playoffs? I start getting wary of players when the get on the wrong side of 30, and really start worrying when they hit their mid-30's. Age is not good on athletes, and everyone eventually hits a wall. Braun is a Hall of Fame caliber talent, but he's also been prone to injury throughout his career, and currently has chronic issues with his back and thumb. I don't know how good he will be in a few seasons, but part of the question of trading him has to be whether you're willing to take the risk of him succumbing to age/injury and not being an above average talent at the point the Brewers will be trying to compete for the playoffs. It would be tough to see Braun go, but it would probably be best for the franchise. If he stays somewhat healthy, I think it will probably happen this year, and at that point, I would think that Broxton will get plenty of PT, and we will be glad we have some of the veteran "scrap heap" guys to fill out the roster for the remainder of this season and into next until our better prospects start to hit the MLB field. 4) Do we have any alternatives? Outfield is probably our most loaded position throughout the farm, and the question isn't whether they are capable of replacing Braun in 2016, or probably even 2017, but whether in 2-3 seasons some of our OFs will be capable of replacing the older version of Braun. In other words, if Braun is an average OF in 2018, can one of our OF prospects be better than theat? This is the reason people want to see what some of the young guys can do in a season like this one. Broxton may be a bust, but he has the physical tools to be good. He has the potential to be a guy who could play above average in the MLB OF in 2-3 years, whereas Kirk N. probably does not. Whoever it is who steps up, when looking at our franchise as a whole, I don't think that we should have a problem finding three capable OF in a couple of years.

I'm guessing the Brewers will be stuck with Garza the rest of the year, and hope he strings together enough decent starts to have a market this winter. He has a long track record, so there is a chance that if he pitches well for a month someone will trade for him, but I think trading him in the offseason is probably the most likely scenario. Of course, if he pitches poorly no one will trade for him, so we'd just cut ties and eat his 2017 salary. I don't see any way he's with the Brewers to start next year, so hopefully he can pitch well enough to make some people forget that 2015 happened. As to who gets replaced, I think most of the Timber Rattlers' staff could do better than Peralta at this point, so he'd better be the guy who loses his spot. As mentioned earlier, a bout of "Shoulder fatigue" can put him on the DL, give him a two week break and then let him pitch for a while in A/AA to straighten things out.

Could, but won't. Yeah, my guess is that barring injury Hill will get the majority of PT at third until he gets traded. At that time, Perez will get most of the PT at third, with Rivera getting called up as "super utility guy." Although he's obviously the most talented of the bunch, I doubt Arcia will get called up until at the earliest September. I'm not even sure he'll be the starting SS to start next year, as they may keep him down until cutoff next year.