And That

The Brewers may have had a pre-arranged deal with him. Or other teams may have not had a chance to do due diligence on him before he signed. It's not likely by any stretch, but I do believe there have been instances of minor league free agents becoming Rule 5 picks a few weeks after signing.

Salt River Rafters 0, Glendale Desert Dogs 10 Box Score Game Day Rafters get blown out, but maintain first place lead by percentage points. Isan Diaz lead off and played second base. He had a double in two official ABs, walked twice and struck out. He continues to play clean defensive at second, and started another double play. Brett Phillips took an 0-4, though he only struck out once. The Rafters allowed 10 runs, but no Brewers pitchers were involved. Rafters play again Thursday night against Mesa in a first-place battle.

Ran through the list last night and over lunch today, and these are the names I pulled out: [pre]Arizona RHP Palmer Betts ® RHP Blake Perry (A+) RHP Jency Solis (A+) LHP Angelo Almonte (DSL) Atlanta RHP Maikel Cleto (AAA) RHP Madison Younginer (AAA) C Willians Astudillo (AA) SS Daniel Castro (AAA) Baltimore RHP Jason Stoffel (AAA) LHP Andy Oliver (AAA) LHP Edgar Olmos (AAA) C/1B Wynston Sawyer (AA) CF L.J. Hoes (AAA) Boston RHP Roman Mendez (AAA) C David Sopilka (A+) CF Henry Ramos (AA) Chicago Cubs LHP Brian Matusz (AAA) C Tim Federowicz (AAA) RF Lane Adams (AAA) Chicago White Sox RHP Matt Heidenreich (AA) RHP Peter Tago (AA) RHP Jacob Turner (AAA) Cincinnati RHP Dayan Diaz (AAA) CF Yorman Rodriquez (AAA) RF Kyle Waldrop (AAA) Cleveland LHP TJ House (AAA) Colorado RHP Simon Castro (AAA) RHP Johendi Jiminian (AA) LHP Yoely Bello (A+) 2B Rafael Ynoa (AAA) Detroit OF Wynton Bernard (AA) Houston LHP Evan Grills (AAA) C Roberto Pena (AA) 2B Chan Jong Moon (AAA) Kansas City IF/OF Orlando Calixte (AAA) IF/OF Carlos Garcia (AA) Los Angeles Angels RHP Geoff Broussard (AAA) RHP D.J. Johnson (AA) LHP Brett Oberholtzer (AAA) IF/OF Angelo Amendolare (A) Los Angeles Dodgers RHP Logan Bawcom (AAA) RHP Lisalverto Bonilla (AAA) RHP Daniel Corcino (AA) RHP Seth Frankoff (AAA) LHP Jeff Malm (A+) IF/OF Zach Walters (AAA) IF Drew Maggi (AAA) 1B/OF Alex Hassan (AAA) CF Rico Noel (AAA) Miami RHP Kendry Flores (AAA) RHP Asher Wojciechowski (AAA) C Adrian Nieto (AAA) IF Danny Muno (AA) IF Garrett Weber (AA) IF Elliot Soto (AAA) RF Ronnie Mitchell (AA) CF Kenny Wilson (AA) Minnesota None New York Mets LHP Andrew Barbosa (AA) 1B/3B Eric Campbell (AAA) New York Yankees RF Cesar Puello (AAA) Oakland RHP Andres Avila (AAA) RHP Aaron Kurcz (AAA) 3B Colin Walsh (AAA) Philadelphia C Gabriel Lino (AA) 3B Carlos Alonso (AAA) SS KC Serna (AA) Pittsburgh RHP Jhondaniel Medina (AAA) LHP Kelvin Marte (AAA) RF Stetson Allie (AA) St. Louis RHP Jhonatan Escudero (A-) RHP Silfredo Garcia (A+) LF/1B Jonathan Rodriguez (AA) 1B/RF David Washington (AAA) San Diego 3B Mike Olt (AA) San Francisco RHP Preston Claiborne (AA) Seattle Mariners RHP Osmer Morales (A+) RHP Isaac Sanchez (AA) RHP Forrest Snow (AAA) LHP Kraig Sitton (AAA) SS Benji Gonzalez (AA) Tampa Bay RHP Jose Alonzo (A-) RHP Andrew Bellatti (AA) RHP Casey Coleman (AAA) LHP Adam Wilk (AAA) C Armando Araiza (AA) Texas RHP Jefri Hernandez (AAA) RHP David Perez (AA) LHP Juan Grullon (AA) LHP Victor Payano (AA) C Carson Blair (AAA) Toronto RHP Wilmer Font (AA) Washington RHP Paolo Espino (AAA)[/pre]

Barrios will also be eligible for the Rule 5 draft, assuming the Brewers don't put him back on the 40-man roster in the next month.

Barrios is back on a minor league deal with an invitation to MLB spring training.

Salt River Rafters 5, Peoria Javelinas 4 Box Score Game Day Rafters remain in first place by percentage points. Brett Phillips struck out 4 times, but also managed a single and a run scored in 5 ABs. Jacob Nottingham went 0-3, though he scored twice and walked once. Behind the plate, not so great. Two throwing errors to double his error total to 4, and opposing runners were successful in all 4 attempts against him. I'd have to go back through the box scores to get his exact CS%, but I'd guess it would have to be below 20%. No wild pitches or passed balls today, though. Tyler Spurlin was the only Brewer to pitch, and was once again unscored upon, throwing two innings and allowing a single. He also struck out 2, and lowered his AFL ERA to 0.73. He retired all his non-strikeout victims on groundouts. His AFL GO/AO ratio is currently a robust 3.50. Rafters play again on Wednesday afternoon.

Maybe, though I'd like to see if Cooper could finally tap into some of his power potential in Colorado Springs by playing him at first almost every day, and the outfield situation there already may be pretty crowded, with Brinson/Phillips/Cordell/Wren/Taylor all in the mix.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/minor-league-free-agents-2016/#mefEJEI9A1qrMoT6.97 Dig in. From my reading of the situation, the Brewers don't have an abundance of need for depth at any particular position in the minor leagues, one of the benefits of having very arguably the deepest farm system in terms of prospect quality in baseball. Forecast of 2017 rosters They could probably use a middle infielder or two or three in the upper reaches of the minors. I currently have Angel Ortega being Colorado Springs' starting SS and Chris McFarland being the Sky Sox' second baseman, and I doubt that will be the case for either. I assume they'll also bring in an upper level catcher or two, ala Rene Garcia, Josmil Pinto and Manny Pina last offseason. They have a lot of pitching and outfield depth so I don't see those as needs at all, but I'm sure they'll find some people they like and bring them in anyway.

Salt River Rafters 5, Surprise Saguaros 8 Box Score Game Day Salt River loses, but remains percentage points ahead of Mesa in the standings. Thanks, tie and cancelled game. Isan Diaz went 2-5 with a strikeout. He also committed his fourth error at shortstop, which was part of the Saguaros' five run rally in the bottom of the eighth. It was listed as a missed catch in the box score, and an assist was given to the second baseman, so I wonder if they ran into each other. Diaz did start two double plays. Brett Phillips got on base 3 more times, once on a single and twice via walk. That would be 14 walks in 38 AFL at-bats. He also stole a base, his 3rd in 5 attempts, scored twice, and tallied two RBIs. Jacob Nottingham, at DH, went 1-4 with a single, RBI, and strikeout. Javi Salas made his first non-starting appearance of the AFL season, and results again were not there as he allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk in 2 innings. He struck out a batter and hit a batter. Salt River plays again on Tuesday afternoon.

Whomever is injured, traded, or awful in spring training. The odds of one of those guys not starting on the DL are not great. Nelson and Anderson have options. And if you're content with those 6 guys as your starting pitchers next year, then that's fine, but to me there's way too much that could go wrong with that set of pitchers. I think standing pat and hoping for the best from those guys is foolish. MLBTR has Morton going to the Royals for 1 year/$8 million, FWIW. Morton, 33 this month, is an under-the-radar rotation candidate who will sign a one or two-year deal. The Pirates traded Morton to the Phillies in December 2015, but he suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in late April. Assuming the medicals check out, the groundballing righty should retain the skills for a sub-4.00 ERA in 2017. The Phillies could bring him back, or the Royals, Braves, Reds, Rockies, Astros, Angels, Marlins, Padres, Mariners, Rangers, and Athletics could be matches. Mr. Lucky To Have An ERA Under 4.00 indeed. $8 million is more than I'd give him, but it wouldn't surprise me if that ended up being a good deal for the team that signed him.

I think Taylor Williams is close to a lock at this point as well, unless he has a setback, which makes it 39.

No idea offhand how they're chosen, but Phillips has a .434 OBP. Not too shabby.

AFL East All-Stars 4, AFL West All-Stars 12 Box Score Game Day Brett Phillips and Jacob Nottingham represented the Brewers in the mid-season All Star game. Phillips went 0-2, striking out both times. Nottingham had an RBI double and a run scored in two ABs. Rafters get back to it on Monday afternoon.

Goforth survives another day, for some reason.

Spurlin and/or Uhen might be pitching their way into 40-man contention given the ability they've showcased in the AFL. Tyrone Taylor is probably a few years away from being able to hit enough to stick at the big league level. I don't think the Brewers protect him, which would have been shocking to predict a few years ago. That said, he would be a decent Rule 5 selection for some other team in a buy-low kind of sense. He's ready defensively, it would just be a question of trying to hide his bat for a full season.

Salt River Rafters 7, Surprise Saguaros 6 (10 innings) Box Score Game Day From Friday. All Brewers offensive players had the day off for the first time this season. Conversely, all three Brewers relievers pitched, and with good results. Josh Uhen went first, taking over in the bottom of the 4th. He allowed two singles and a walk over two innings of work, striking out three. Uhen's ERA dropped again, to 4.50. His fastball sat 94-96, though it tailed off towards the end of the outing, closer to 93. Sliders were 80-84. Tayler Scott threw the 8th inning and allowed a single. Fastball velocity was down a little, to 90-91. Tyler Spurlin got the save, pitching a scoreless bottom of the 10th. He hit the first batter he faced, the second batter lined into a double play, and the third batter grounded out. Velocity was down a little for Spurlin as well, about 88-91.

Nelson and Peralta are going to be 28 next season. Anderson will be 29. If any of them are going to change from what they currently are, it would take a pretty drastic adjustment. Like for Nelson, to stop giving people first base. For Peralta, to get in shape and find a slider. For Anderson, stop giving up home runs (he was 5th in HR/9 for pitchers with at least 150 IP). That Anderson had one good month at the end of the season and Peralta had two, makes me worried that the Brewers forget about the early year terribleness. Time will tell if their late season successes can be replicated going forward. I'm dubious.

That he missed last year due to a non-arm injury is precisely why you might be able to get him at a value. Anyway, Mr. Lucky To Get a 4.00 ERA compares this way since 2011, when he drastically altered his mechanics: ERA Since 2011 Charlie Morton: 3.97 (3.86 xFIP) Matt Garza: 4.07 (3.84 xFIP) Wily Peralta 4.18 (4.05 xFIP) Chase Anderson 4.26 (4.25 xFIP) Jimmy Nelson 4.38 (4.38 xFIP) He's apparently the only Mr. Sub-4 ERA of that group. Morton also had the second highest GB% over that timespan for all pitchers with at least 500 innings. (Keuchel is first.) Peralta, Anderson and Nelson are all in their late 20s and we know what they are for the most part. Which is, apparently worse than Morton. Edit: Also just saw that Nelson lead all of baseball in walks issued in 2016. Did not know that. Edit 2: Also led all of MLB (tied with Sale) in HBP. Together with the walls that's 103 free passes issued in 2016. And he didn't even need 180 innings to do it!

Uhen's slider is nice but his arm drops a bit when he throws it. That tell will get around pretty quickly unless he makes an adjustment.

So by 11 you mean 6. Got it. Please see explanation about how this move has nothing to do with Josh Hader elsewhere in the thread. Morton is a better MLB pitcher than Wang. You're saying Garza/Nelson/Peralta/Anderson are all obviously better than Morton? I don't think so. That group of pitchers is not close to good enough to not bring in competition.

Please name the 11 or more in-house options.

Considering he fractured his wrist about 6 weeks ago, I really hope he wouldn't be getting in fist fights.

I asked JJ Cooper at BA. Here is his response: The player stays with his “old” AFL team and it doesn’t count to his “new org’s” allotment. Daniel Palka was traded last year during the AFL and stayed with his old club. From what we understand Alcantara is not changing teams. Alcantara being the guy who was just traded for Cameron Maybin.

Barrios will need to be activated by 4pm CST on Monday the 7th. It's the same deadline as for submitting a qualifying offer and exercising options. If he is outrighted off of the 40-man roster, he would (I believe) become a minor league free agent. Though maybe not, depending on how they treat his 2010 season.

Salt River's Thursday game was cancelled due to rain.