And That

Ponce is still on the Biloxi roster officially, but will likely either be transferred to Rocky Mountain or put on the Biloxi IL by Thursday.

The Brewers all but finalize their rosters: Biloxi to San Antonio 3B Lucas Erceg Biloxi to Rocky Mountain C Skyler Ewing, LHP Nate Kirby, RHP Jorge Ortega, LHP Cameron Roegner, RHP Justin Topa, RHP Josh Uhen Carolina to Biloxi RHP Luke Barker, RHP Alec Bettinger, LHP Dan Brown, OF Cooper Hummel Carolina to Wisconsin LHP Aaron Ashby Carolina to Rocky Mountain RHP Alec Kenilvort, INF Tucker Neuhaus, LHP Drake Owenby, RHP Wuilder Rodriguez Carolina to AZL Blue C Robie Rojas Wisconsin to Carolina OF Zach Clark, RHP Dylan File, RHP Gabe Friese, RHP Matt Hardy, RHP J.T. Hintzen, INF Eddie Silva, RHP Matt Smith, RHP Noah Zavolas Wisconsin to Rocky Mountain C Jeyner Baez Rocky Mountain to Wisconsin OF Pablo Abreu, RHP Justin Bullock, OF Jesus Lujano, INF Connor McVey, LHP Michael Mediavilla, SS Antonio Pinero, RHP Peter Strzelecki, SS Brice Turang, RHP Chad Whitmer Rocky Mountain to AZL Blue INF Luis Avila, OF Micah Bello, RHP Tate Budnick, OF Joe Gray, RHP Tyler Tungate, RHP Lun Zhao AZL Gold to Wisconsin RHP Reese Olson DSL to AZL Blue RHP Jhoan Cruz, INF Victor Maria, RHP Jose Romero, OF Alwinson Valdez, 2B Felix Valerio, 2B Victor Vargas DSL Co-Op to AZL Blue RHP Daniel Acosta, RHP Moises Ruiz With that, the Brewers currently have the following active roster counts: San Antonio - 28 Biloxi - 30 Carolina - 28 Wisconsin - 26 Rocky Mountain - 30 AZL Gold - 29 AZL Blue - 29 DSL - 26 DSL Co-OP - 11 Future Contracts - 28 The full season clubs need to get down to 25 by Thursday. ***In general, players moved to the Rocky Mountain roster from full-season clubs are rehabbing injuries.***

Here's my top what turned out to be 128. The prospects are grouped by OFP, which is based on scouting reports and adjusted for risk level, age relative to league, defense, and a number of production metrics. I tried to stay out of the way of the data as much as possible so no one got any special adjustments - if I made a change to any of the formulas, the change was made globally. If I don't have a scouting report from an outside source and I haven't seen the player myself, the player got a max base OFP of 35. Statistical adjustments were made based on both current year and 3-year production timeframes. If you're unaware, OFP stands for Overall Future Potential and is more or less synonymous with FV (Future Value). It's a player's scouting grades condensed into one catch-all future potential grade. I would call a grade of anything less than 35 an organizational player, so players with OFPs of 30 and under are not included here. These OFP grades are fluid, though. Players move between 30, 35, and 40 pretty regularly. Let's go: [pre]----------65 OFP Players---------- 001. Keston Hiura, 2B, San Antonio ----------60 OFP Players---------- -none- ----------55 OFP Players---------- 002. Corey Ray, CF, San Antonio 003. Zack Brown, RHSP, San Antonio 004. Tristen Lutz, RF, Carolina 005. Brice Turang, SS, Wisconsin 006. Troy Stokes Jr., LF, San Antonio ----------50 OFP Players---------- 007. Mauricio Dubon, SS, San Antonio 008. Lucas Erceg, 3B, San Antonio 009. Aaron Ashby, LHSP, Wisconsin 010. Andres Melendez, C, Colorado Springs ----------45 OFP Players---------- 011. Braden Webb, RHSP, Biloxi 012. Trey Supak, RHSP, Biloxi 013. Carlos Rodriguez, CF, Colorado Springs 014. Miguel Sanchez, RHRP, San Antonio 015. Joe Gray, CF, Colorado Springs 016. Trent Grisham, OF, Biloxi 017. Je'Von Ward, OF, Wisconsin 018. Jacob Nottingham, C, San Antonio 019. Tyrone Taylor, CF, San Antonio 020. Micah Bello, CF, Colorado Springs 021. Joey Matulovich, RHSP, Wisconsin 022. Eduardo Garcia, SS, DSL 023. Payton Henry, C, Carolina 024. Reese Olson, RHSP, Wisconsin 025. Lun Zhao, RHSP, Colorado Springs ----------40 OFP Players---------- 026. Bobby Wahl, RHRP, Milwaukee 027. Marcos Diplan, RHSP, Biloxi 028. Jesus Parra, SS, DSL 029. Max Lazar, RHSP, Wisconsin 030. Pablo Abreu, OF, Wisconsin 031. Jake Gatewood, 1B, Biloxi 032. Logan Gillaspie, RHRP, Wisconsin 033. Clayton Andrews, LHSP, Carolina 034. Larry Ernesto, OF, Colorado Springs 035. Dylan File, RHSP, Carolina 036. Cody Pone RHSP, Biloxi 037. Adrian Houser, RHSP, San Antonio 038. Angel Perdomo, LHRP, Biloxi 039. Jon Olczak, RHRP, San Antonio 040. Eduarqui Fernandez, OF, DSL 041. Quintin Torres-Costa, LHRP, San Antonio 042. Justin Jarvis, RHSP, Colorado Springs 043. Caden Lemons, RHSP, Colorado Springs 044. Felix Valerio, 2B, AZL 045. J.T. Hintzen, RHRP, Carolina 046. Drew Rasmussen, RHRP, Wisconsin 047. Tom Jankins, RHSP, Biloxi 048. Adam Hill, RHSP, Wisconsin 049. Phil Bickford, RHRP, Carolina 050. Wes Wilson, INF, Biloxi 051. Korry Howell, SS, Colorado Springs 052. Jose Sibrian, C, Colorado Springs 053. Cody Beckman, LHRP, Carolina 054. Antonio Pinero, SS, Wisconsin 055. Mario Feliciano, C, Carolina 056. Michael Mediavilla, LHRP, Wisconsin 057. Edwin Sano, INF, Colorado Springs 058. Franklin Hernandez, RHSP, Colorado Springs 059. Eddie Silva, INF, Carolina 060. Alec Kenilvort, RHRP, Biloxi 061. Robbie Hitt, RHRP, Wisconsin 062. Jesus Lujano, OF, Wisconsin 063. Luke Barker, RHRP, Biloxi 064. Jake Hager, SS, San Antonio ----------35 OFP Players---------- 065. Alberis Ferrer, INF, AZL 066. Cam Robinson, RHSP, Colorado Springs 067. Abner Uribe, RHRP, AZL 068. Michele Vassalotti, RHSP, Colorado Springs 069. Bowden Francis, RHSP, Carolina 070. Devin Williams, RHRP, Biloxi 071. Yeison Coca, INF, Wisconsin 072. Nate Kirby, LHRP, Biloxi 073. Joneiker Ponce de Leon, SS, DSL 074. Tristan Archer, RHRP, San Antonio 075. Dan Brown, LHRP, Biloxi 076. Brendan Murphy, LHSP, Colorado Springs 077. Luis Avila, INF, AZL 078. David Fry, C, Wisconsin 079. Pablo Garabitos, OF, Colorado Springs 080. Aaron Familia, INF, AZL 081. Brady Schanuel, RHRP, Colorado Springs 082. Tucker Neuhaus, INF, Carolina 083. Max McDowell, C, Biloxi 084. Nick Egnatuk, 3B, Colorado Springs 085. Nate Orf, INF, San Antonio 086. Wade Beasley, RHSP, AZL 087. Cooper Hummel, OF, Biloxi 088. Chad McClanahan, 3B, Wisconsin 089. Rob Henry, OF, Carolina 090. Luis Aviles Jr., SS, Biloxi 091. Francis Florentino, OF, Colorado Springs 092. Scotty Sunitsch, LHSP, Wisconsin 093. Brad Kuntz, LHRP, San Antonio 094. Karlos Morales, LHSP, Colorado Springs 095. Rodrigo Benoit, RHRP, Biloxi 096. Carlos Herrera, RHRP, Wisconsin 097. Daniel Castillo, SS, AZL 098. Peter Strzelecki, RHRP, Wisconsin 099. Gabriel Garcia, 3B, Wisconsin 100. Nate Griep, RHRP, Biloxi 101. Erys Bautista, 1B, DSL 102. Ernesto Martinez Jr., 1B, Colorado Springs 103. Alwinson Valdez, OF, AZL 104. C.J. Hinojosa, INF, Biloxi 105. Nate Rodriguez, C, Carolina 106. Jesus Chirinos, C, AZL 107. Leoner Colina, RHSP, AZL 108. Joantgel Segovia, OF, Carolina 109. Alec Bettinger, RHSP, Biloxi 110. Jose Alberro, LHRP, AZL 111. Nash Walters, RHSP, Colorado Springs 112. Oswel Leones, OF, AZL 113. Johnnys Cabrera, C, DSL 114. Cam Roegner, LHSP, Biloxi 115. Victor Vargas, 2B, AZL 116. Michael Petersen, RHRP, Carolina 117. Brayan Salaya, RHSP, Colorado Springs 118. Branlyn Jaraba, 3B, DSL 119. Wilfred Salaman, LHSP, Wisconsin 120. Jayson Rose, RHSP, Wisconsin 121. Bubba Derby, RHRP, San Antonio 122. LG Castillo, OF, Wisconsin 123. Blake Lillis, LHSP, Colorado Springs 124. Christian Taugner, RHSP, Carolina 125. Gabe Friese, RHRP, Carolina 126. Wilber Diaz, RHSP, DSL 127. Freisis Adames, RHSP, Colorado Springs 128. Nelson Hernandez, RHSP, Carolina[/pre]

Will have a full rundown of this later, but Roegner was transferred to Rocky Mountain. Could be working through an injury.

This is likely to be the final roster, sans Kekai Rios, who will be the third catcher and not on the active roster.

RHP Danny Reynolds has been released. Pitched with Biloxi and, briefly, Colorado Springs last year.

Yelich being traded today IMHO

He was scheduled to pitch for the first time this spring a few days ago, so perhaps yes to both?

More roster moves as the full season minor league rosters start to take shape: San Antonio to Biloxi RHP Nattino Diplan, RHP Nate Griep, LHP Angel Perdomo Biloxi to San Antonio RHP Zack Brown San Antonio to Rocky Mountain RHP Phil Bickford Biloxi to Rocky Mountain LHP Jake Drossner Wisconsin to Rocky Mountain RHP Franklin Hernandez

LHP Christian Trent has been released. 24th rounder in 2015, last pitched in 2016, spent the last two years rehabbing injuries. Appeared in some minor league games this spring. RHP Justin Topa has been signed and assigned to the Biloxi roster. Originally a 17th round pick of the Pirates in 2013, he was released by the club in April 2017, played indy ball in 2017, was signed by the Rangers in June of last year, pitching in A+ and AA for them, and then became a free agent again last November. Here's a scouting report from a few years ago.

Chase needs 26 more days on an MLB roster to reach 5 years.

The most infuriating thing about this is being reminded of Ken Macha.

RHP Conor Harber has been released from the Biloxi roster. The Brewers took Harber in the 16th round of the 2015 draft out of the University of Oregon. He made four starts in Biloxi at the tail end of last year after pitching in Carolina for most of 2017 and 2018.

This part is going to be almost impossible to know due to a few factors. -I'm sure the Brewers are doing a cost segregation study on improvements to Maryvale. Some of the improvements will be able to be expensed on their own merits, and quite possibly in 2018. -Some of the improvements to the existing structures could be bonus depreciation eligible, and quite possibly in 2018. -However, due to the incredibly confused language in the tax law, there is significant conflict between depreciation, qualified business income (which is a whole other can of worms for sport franchise owners), and the business interest expense limitation. In short, there are a bunch of tax treatments the Brewers could opt for, depending on the nature of the improvements, the activity the improvements are related to, the tax status of the LLC members, and a number of other factors. -I'm not sure if the Brewers are a calendar year or fiscal year entity. Even beginning to guess what the organization's net profits are, taxable income, or anything else like that currently is not possible. The Brewers and their CPA firm(s) probably don't even know what it is yet. I'd also suggest it may not matter a whole lot. The Brewers' owners are driven by a desire to increase the value of the franchise. If they think spending some extra money now will help them be able to sell at a much higher rate later, they'll spend the money.

Remember to add a few beyond #25 just in case.

Roster moves as the full season minor league rosters start to take shape: San Antonio to Biloxi INF Blake Allemand, C Alex Alvarez, INF Luis Aviles Jr., 1B Jake Gatewood, RHP Devin Williams Biloxi to San Antonio 2B Keston Hiura, RHP Miguel Sanchez Wisconsin to Rocky Mountain C Kekai Rios, RHP Austin Rubick Rocky Mountain to Wisconsin RHP Logan Gillaspie, RHP Franklin Hernandez

RHPs Renny Tolentino, Chris Hall and Andrew Vernon have been released. Tolentino was signed as a non-drafted free agent last June and pitched in the AZL. Hall was a signing of out an independent league last August and pitched late in the season for Helena. Vernon was the club's 28th round pick in 2016 and missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John. RHP Johan Belisario has been signed, per a Brewers PD tweet. He was a Tigers farmhand from 2010 until his release from their organization this spring. Has never pitched above A-ball. The Brewers have also apparently re-signed RHP Jorge Ortega and assigned him to Biloxi. Not sure if he is being brought on in a coach's role or what.

No. There are no formal records kept online.

Valerio is currently assigned to the DSL club. He is not currently in stateside spring training.

Given how tightly packed the NL is likely to be this year, I'd argue that even the smallest marginal improvements "move the needle" for the club. One or two wins are likely going to matter, a lot. And I'd say replacing Petricka (or whomever you consider the 12th/13th member of the staff to be) with Kimbrel is at least a small marginal improvement.

Or another way of looking at it (sorry for the ugly chart, I don't have a lot of time at the minute): This is Jimmy's WPA on a 10-game moving average by appearance, with a linear trendline thrown in for kicks. To me, the outlier is clearly between starts 71-81ish (need to adjust the numbers because the first data point is actually the 10th game), aka the tail end of his 2016 season. (This doesn't include the AAA data I mentioned in the prior post.)

Given the 2014 campaign he had at Nashville, I'd be more inclined to call 2016 the outlier. DRA- is on the far right. His total 2014 DRA- was about 82. https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/card/65895/jimmy-nelson

Yah, $430 million seems light to me by at least $100 million.

Abner Uribe throws 95, apparently.