Brew crew 92

Who? Besides Woodruff. The Brewers have a bottom 10 farm system right now, they don't have a true game changer outside of Hiura, and he's about to graduate off the list anyway. Too numerous to mention. But I’ll give you a couple, Houser and Rasmussen. Houser’s already making a name for himself on the crew’s big league staff, Rasmussen’s had a meteoric rise up the ladder to AA, and has the arsenal of a Tor or dominant pen arm. Look for Devon Williams at some point later this year to make his debut with the crew in the pen, with his near 100 mph FB. You should get a opportunity to watch him pitch in the futures game coming up. Tremendous depth of pitching all the way from The 2 Arizona rookie league teams thru AAA. Don’t sleep on this pitching.

I don’t live in Wisconsin anymore so I’ve watched all the teams tv broadcasters and most of the radio. BA is a pro, one of the best in the business, not my favorite, that would be Thom Brenneman, marty’s Son, of the reds, but right up there with the best. As far as Schroeder, he’s middle of the pack for me. Again I’m spoiled having Chris Welch and the cowboy, Jeff Brantley both former mlb pitchers doing color with Brenneman on the reds broadcast. That trio is the best there is, imo, better than most peoples favorite, Wisconsin’s own Duane Kiper And Mike Krukow with the Giants. Also impressed with Jack Morris, color with the Twins and Kirk Gibson, Color with the Tigers. On the radio side, for someone in his mid-eighties, Ueck is amazing, and Levering is the best I’ve heard out there. Others must agree, since he’s with Fox doing one of their Saturday games.

THIS FARM SYSTEM IS SEVERELY UNDERRATED, especially in the pitching department. We have an awful lot of under the radar, pitchability type pitchers that don’t get the attention of most because of whatever reason. The Stearns regime has, imo, done an amazing job of drafting AND developing. The fruits of which, will, over the coming years, make themselves known quite loudly.

I don’t think Stearns is going to get into a bidding war over anyone. Just not who he is. Quality starter, even a rental is out, imo. Under the radar move for a starter, maybe, but I don’t think so. How many starters has Stearns traded for since he’s been the boss? I can’t think of one. He’s going bullpen, and he’s going rental. And it again, won’t be a pitcher that he has to outbid to land.

Disagree. Houser's a pen arm; he's merely filling in as a rotation arm because he's capable of that. We don't know if Houser is a pen arm or a starter yet. I feel pretty confident saying he's not an ace, [sarcasm]though that'd be 6 we'd have if he were[/sarcasm]. But he DOES have a pretty nice 4 pitch mix(not devastating, but solid). Good velocity. He's got a BABIP against him of .425 in his stats and he's only started 4 games and has started throughout his minor league career. I'd leave him out there for the time being. Otherwise, given the options, just go back to Burnes and hope he figures it out. Without a couple of these guys just turning things around, the Brewers are gonna have to get lucky in order to turn it around. This team can't afford to go out and replace Cain, Aguilar, Shaw, Burnes and others who have performed this far under expectations. Chacin another. I still think Aguilar and Shaw will be good players in the future, but I don't know if they're going to do much this year. Sure doesn't look like it. And we don't have a farm system that is going to net big returns. Turang should be untouchable for any rental. I doubt the Brewers move him unless it's for something really franchise altering. So...mostly I think we just have to hope this team starts playing better and playing together. This site might not know if he’s a starter, but the brewers do. At least you are willing to leave him as a starter, unlike this board, who want him bullpenned. CC said he’s a starter moving forward. Other than maybe an innings limit, when he’ll probably then go to the pen. “Nice” “Solid” is underrating his 4 pitch mix, imo. Chris Welch, former big league pitcher and color commentator for the reds tv broadcast, used the phrase “devastating 4 pitch mix” and “exploding”2 seam with “tremendous tailing action”, “Great command, painting the corners all night”,. Obviously, impressed. I agree. Underrated is he. Not sure I agree with your comment on our farm not being able to net big returns. I believe Toby, when he says our farm is underrated. He knows more about our farm imo, than any one person, outside of the brewers themselves. I think Stearns has a myriad of options at his disposal, and could decide he wants to go big at the deadline, although that’s not his M/O. Under the radar moves for a pen arm or two and a bat, is my prediction.

That's one of those things you need to wait about 6 years at best to determine in baseball. A shortage of lefties doesn't mean you draft a bunch of lefties per say. Though if one from the SEC who strikes out 4 guys per inning falls to you, then OK. These drafts seem duller to me...they have the last few years at the time, but they've been far more productive than when they got flashy, higher upside young prep arms. The brewers have already stated, they didn’t have a plan of drafting LHP, the lefty’s just happened to be there when the crew made their picks. And yes I think we all know it takes years for players to develop or not, thus the 6 year time frame, but based upon Johnson’s previous two drafts, I see a uniqueness in his profile. The pitchability factor, deception, etc. then with the hitters, recognizing the hit tool over power, bat to ball, on base %. Speed and good defense up the middle, this is a great under the radar, but tremendous upside type draft. I’m predicting, when looking back 6 years from now, One of the best brewer drafts ever.

I think it's academic at this point. He likely knows when he's coming in well in advance. It's not like they're telling him to hurry up and get warmed up. When they know he's going to pitch, he probably knows well in advance at what point he's going to be coming into the game. So his routine is the same as when he's starting. I wouldn't draw any conclusion based on starting or piggy-backing with another pitcher. It's pretty much the same. Well then let me word it differently, his statistics, although small sample, are better starting out the game.

Easily Counsell’s worst week as a manager.

Probably not gonna happen for a while, home run just bought him another month.

No one said he's going to start at SS every night. He's versatile. Totally untrue about his defense as well. Dubon has very solid scouting reports about his defense, he's a far more polished middle infielder defensively than Hiura. Is he better than Arcia though? A rookie middle infield in a pennant race would be a crapshoot With this offense, give me the better hitter.

Second good outing in a row, seems to do much better starting. 3 ip 1 h 0 r 0 bb 4 Ks

I think the BEST we could reasonably hope for is that he becomes as good as Buehler. I don't know how he'd surpass him unless Buehler regresses. Also, as pointed out, Buehler is younger. So why wouldn't HE continue to improve? Buehler's stuff is better. Probably the best in the game. Woodruff's great, but you get way to eager to anoint guys aces or place them over others. I mean...we had 4 aces right now and Rassmussen was gonna be one next year. Have you EVER actually seen a team with 4 aces, much less 5? Just enjoy Woody throwing the ball well. Ok, that’s fair. I still believe when all is said and done, between Burnes Woody Peralta Houser Rasmussen > Multiple TORs.

There’s also risk involved in waiting to trade Hader. Risk from injury, and risk of regression, even if only slightly. With that said let’s get the franchise altering trade done, 4-5 top prospects THAT CAN ALSO BE TRADED FOR TOP PLAYERS TO HELP US WIN NOW! We can get a couple quality pen arms to solidify the backend, without giving up too much prospect capitol. And an offensive piece. Still win now! Still win now, just without Hader, and with 4-5 top prospects we can use to plug any holes.

I’d be for eating 15-17 of the 21 that he’s owed with a trade to the Dodgers or Angels or whoever, and get a more productive player for the four or 5 million saved off his contract.

We’ll know soon, what the crew already believes, that Houser is gonna be a stud in the rotation, he’s way ahead of Burnes/peralta with the command of his devastating 4 pitch mix. A couple of RENTAL pen arms should be reasonable prospect wise. The bat and or bats,rental and high salaried, to keep prospect capitol down, should be the preferred route. Rotation arm should be avoided unless rental(Wheeler) or tor(Bauer). Rental Rental, high salary.

Is there anyone else sick of the unbalanced schedule? Facing the Pirates what, 13 times in the last month and a half is ridiculous. I could do without the cubbies in MP 8 or 9 times a year. It gets old, same teams, same starters. I could do without watching Hurdle destroy his jaw, chomping on that gum, over and over again. Besides, just it being more fair and balanced, it would be less monotonous, like it used to be, when the schedule was balanced.

I don't think Stearns is looking at guys who have good splits vs NLC teams. That's not a great way to build a team. You're going to have either a limited group of candidates with decent sample sizes or you're going to have small sample sizes you're going off of. As for the question, I have no clue what they need. I'd give it another 2 weeks because as of right now this whole team looks bad. Though that happens when a team is struggling. 2-3 bats needed. 2 pen arms needed. Maybe some of the bats and arms can come internally(Dubon,Grisham,Freitas,Devon Williams,Perdomo). Cain’s lack of production needs replaced, Arcia’s lack of production too. Pina another and obviously Aguilar. Then the 2 pen arms to replace a hopefully traded Hader, but if he’s stil here, then Burnes can start the month of August in AAA, then recalled for the rotation or pen. This terrible slump has magnified the lack of tolerable plate approaches on this team, and some young,and, or fresh bats are needed.

Let’s say you could get a package like this right now for Hader. OF Yordan Alvarez RHP Corbin Martin RHP J.B. Bukauskas 1B Seth Beer You get 6 years of a power hitting lefty to play in left field, having your outfield locked up for 4 years. Martin you could slot into the rotation right away and let him continue to develop at the MLB level. Hoping that he heads into 2020 as a mainstay in the rotation. Bukauskas has the makings of being a dominant relief pitcher and could slot into the bullpen mid-season 2020. Beer would give the Brewers a legit first base prospect, something that they do not have in the minors or at the MLB level for that matter. Assuming that the Brewers retain one of Grandal or Moose after this season, you could head into 2020 with a 1-5 of: CF Cain RF Yelich 2B Hiura LF Alvarez 3B Moose/C Grandal Hiura and Alvarez would each have 6 years of control. Pairing those two with Yelich for multiple years would give the Brewers a very strong young nucleus to build around with your main 3 guys making under $17 million combined each of the next 3 seasons. Braun’s contract would be off the books the following season and allow Stearns to go out and get another big bat to add to the mix. Having 4+ years of control of Woodruff, Burnes, Peralta, Martin, and Bukauskas to pair with Nelson if he returns and Davies, would give the Brewers a lot to be excited about on the pitching side as well. The selling of Hader isn’t the start of a rebuild. It’s retooling the roster to add a cheap impact bat like Alvarez for 6 years while adding other high end talent to the system. I can tell you one thing though. 6 years of Hiura and Alvarez hitting in the middle of the lineup with Yelich is pretty dang exciting. Great post. This is exactly what Stearns should be doing, calling the Rays, Twins, Astros, Dodgers, Braves, even the Padres, and get the best prospect package he can get for Hader THIS deadline, he will never be more valuable than he is right now. Disagree with some that say we can get just as much when he has 3 yrs of control. These teams have the prospect package available to satisfy Stearns. Might be 2 or 3 top 50-75 with 2-3 more youngins 125-200. I trust Stearns to sell high enough on Hader to completely re-tool. Then go spend on rental pen arms, get a rental bat and still compete for the central this year. This is a sellers market. Hader could tip the scales to teams like the dodgers, Astros, Twins, Braves, Rays.

Ok, I don't know how a team with 4 aces and a 5th coming next year would need a 180 million dollar payroll, but whatever. But yeah, there's no difference. It's always been the same, some really good teams, the next tier, teams that could win if they get hot and so on. The Astro's are hardly a new phenomenon. And it took 5 years of them just completely tanking to get there. Also....this was literally the argument I was making to YOU about a month ago. That just upping their payroll and signing one pitches wasn't going to guarantee Ueck or Selig get to see a World Series or that just spending money doesn't guarantee anything. If anything, spending smart if far more important. If the Red Sox weren't still paying Pablo Sandoval they could have spent some money this past off-season. If the Cubs weren't paying Heyward, Darvish among others, they too could have spent money. The Dodgers spent more than any team in baseball history a few years ago and didn't win the WS. Tank for 4-6 years and get very very lucky, might work, with the payroll @ 140 or less, but probably not. Even the tanks that do this would need a payroll over 140, imo. We’ll know in the next 3-4 years, with the white Sox, 4-5 with the tigers, 5-7 orioles, we’ll see if any of these teams can do it with a lower half payroll, I predict no, until they spend. The Padres will do it in all likelihood, without the horrible tank, because their payroll will be up close to the high payrolls. We can continue to pretend we have a real chance with a payroll 70-100 less than the superteams, or some day forgo the annual 20-60 mil. Profit and actually spend smart, yes, but spend to at least have a REAL chance to win.

Analytics have separated the high payrolls from the rest of the pack more than ever before. It’s become too easy to be smart, with all teams having the same information. Used to be high payrolls making the mistake of overpaying. No more. Teams can’t outsmart, baseball is gravitating to superteams, and those teams all have payrolls over 190. Most between 200-240. The brewers, unless their payrolls take a leap upwards to 180+ in real contention years have no chance to win. The tax thresholds should also leap upwards because of the new national tv deals. So everyone should bump up 20 or so. Next year’s high payrolls will be 220-260. Watch the Dodgers Yankees Astros and tell me the brewers have a chance.

To the inside baseball world, scouts, front office, I would argue Woodruff right at this second, is valued as high as Walker Buehler, or any other young stud pitcher we can think of. I would be willing to bet you a significant amount of money he is not considered to be in the group with Walker Buehler. It's always that extra step or 4 too many. Brandon Woodruff is great. Walker Buheler has been better and is younger. Better production+more talent+younger=more value. At least it does as long as their team control is the same and they are. I don't believe anyone wouldn't take any pitcher we've got and trade him for Buehler really without giving it a second thought..and take about .02 seconds to decide to do so. All your points are correct, except I would argue no pitcher in baseball is improving as quickly as Woodruff, with his trajectory being what it is, he’ll surpass Buehler any start now.

This is the number one problem we have with the offense. So bad he can’t hit leadoff where he belongs. Almost .100 points lower getting on base. Not sure we can hope he gets better after the break if this is thumb related.

Keep swinging for the fences!

I’m sure at some point in time, one of their hitters will, while swinging hard, barrel a ball with a launch angle high enough, to hit one over a wall in some stadium, probably PNC, and there it will be, a run.

I believe DEVON Williams to be an option at some point past his futures game this Sunday. Having a great year, and has high leverage stuff, FB 95-98, good breaking ball.