Matt Breen

Thanks for getting things started, Joey Meyer.

I will add that there is a difference between a rumor and someone just making something up. Posting rumors from legitimate sources is fine - but unverified stuff is just a recipe for disaster.

Folks, I'm going to ask two things of everyone for voting. 1. Do NOT exclude a player from your rankings just because you think he's going to go past the eligibility requirements in the future. This is especially true for Brandon Woodruff and Brett Phillips. In the past, we'll have people say something like, "Well, I'm not voting for ABC Player because he won't be a rookie in a month." Please DON'T do that. If a player is eligible - then included them in your vote. We will toss ballots that don't play by these rules. 2. Do not mock or belittle other people's votes. If you want to say something - be polite in your disagreement or incredulity. Thanks.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we would like to invite everyone to take part in the 2018 Pre-Season BF.net Fan Community Top 25 Prospects voting. This will be our 12th community poll! Please take time and submit on this thread your top 25 Brewer prospects. Feel free to list any resources or news that you feel might help people with their voting. Voting is open, and concludes on Wednesday, March 28, which will give everyone two weeks to vote. There may still be some roster moves made in the next couple of weeks that affect your list - even after you’ve posted it - which is okay. Just go back and hit the ‘edit’ option on your post and do the updates. You can change your votes at anytime through March 28. RULES 1. Submit your Top 25 prospects, in order, by end of day on March 28. Put the player's full name to avoid any confusion (such as Devin Williams and Taylor Williams). Numbering them is helpful - but not essential. Also, please list your players from #1 to #25. 2. You MUST submit 25 prospects. If there are only 10 or 15 or whatever, your list will not be included. 3. You are encouraged to go beyond pick #25 - adding a few more is great. That way if someone in your top 25 is traded or released, or if you mistakenly miss a number (not uncommon), or list a guy twice, or whatever, I can just bump up your next player(s) into the Top 25. 4. Rankings are determined by total points. The top prospect gets 25 points, second prospect gets 24 points, etc. 4. As noted above, if you submit your list and want to change something, just add the change to the thread. I'll accept changes up to the deadline. 5. Within a week or so after the deadline, we'll publish the new BF.net Community Top 25. Eligibility guidelines: Rookie eligibility is determined by the same standards as MLB: “A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).” - Ineligible players: Josh Hader - Eligible players with ML experience: Brandon Woodruff, Tyler Webb, Jorge Lopez, Adrian Houser, Brett Phillips, Aaron Wilkerson, Taylor Williams Player notes: - Trent Clark is now known as Trent Grisham - Lewis Brinson, Isan Diaz, Monte Harrison, Jordan Yamamoto, Yadiel Rivera, David Goforth, Sean Nolin, Wei-Chung Wang, Michael Reed and Yhonathan Barrios are notable names that are no longer with the organization. Prospect Rankings: Baseball Prospectus Top 101: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/article/37535/baseball-prospectus-top-101-prospects-2018-top-mlb-prospects-ronald-acuna-victor-robles-vladimir-guerrero-jr-eloy-jimenez/ Baseball Prospects Brewer Top 10: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/article/34948/2018-prospects-milwaukee-brewers-top-10-prospects-lewis-brinson-monte-harrison-keston-hiura-rankings/ MLB Pipeline Top 100: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2018?list=prospects MLB Pipeline Top 30 Brewers: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2018?list=mil MinorLeagueBall.com Top 20 Brewers: https://www.minorleagueball.com/2018/2/21/17038344/milwaukee-brewers-top-20-prospects-for-2018 Fangraphs Top 100: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2018-top-100-prospects/ Fangraphs Top 30 Brewers: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/top-30-prospects-milwaukee-brewers/ Previous Polls: BF.net 2017 Post-Season Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=36082 BF.net 2017 Mid-Season Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=35723 BF.net 2017 Pre-Season Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=35089 BF.net 2016 Post-Season Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=34747 BF.net 2016 Mid-Season Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=34472 BF.net 2016 Pre-Season Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=33867 BF.net 2015 Post-Season Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=33436 BF.net 2015 Mid-Season Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=33032 BF.net 2015 Pre-Season Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=32447 BF.net August 2014 Top 25 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=31859 BF.net May 2014 Top 20 - viewtopic.php?f=64&t=31355 Please note that we reserve the right to throw out ballots if we feel that the voting was done without following the rules or spirit of the exercise. Thanks for participating!

Lol well of course but statistically we underperformed our expected run production as well. That's the question I'm asking. Its not just that Cains an upgrade... its that numbers would point to our team being similar to teams that outscored us by .39 runs per game... as is. Yeah, that was pretty simple. So here you go with something more thoughtful (I hope). 1. Our base running and defense are about league average according to Fangraphs. So I'm not going to focus on those too much. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2017&month=0&season1=2017&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=&age=&filter=&players=0 2. The DH. Even a bad DH is massively better than a pitcher. I'm just guessing, but maybe by having the DH you end up not having that automatic out in the lineup - which causes a drag on scoring. 3. Strikeouts. They aren't a huge deal - but yes, they do matter - even a little. Sometimes, an out is simply an out. But a strikeout with a runner at 3B vs a ball put into play (even if just a grounder or fly ball) leads to an out and no run - while the latter has a chance to score a run. 4. Below average performance with runners in scoring position (as noted by an earlier poster). 5. More consistent performances throughout the lineup. 2B, CF, LF and SS produced less than 2.0 fWAR last year. So, in this case, my guess is that the issue stems from multiple sources. It's a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Like so many things - it's not just one thing - it's many things (and I no doubt have missed some things). So, we need to cut back on the strikeouts, hit better with RISP, and get more consistent performances from half the lineup. Can't do much about the DH. Have we done enough to address those things? I'll say we've done something - is it enough is another question. Yelich and Cain are huge upgrades. They address lower strikeouts, better base running, etc. Arcia is entering his second full season - so there is hope he'll get better. 2B is probably the biggest question mark. I just don't know what to expect from someone like Villar. So, in the end, I think we've taken steps towards a better offense - but how big of steps we have taken will remain to be seen.

I do not doubt that the Crew seriously entertained adding Arrieta, but they simply put their resources (dollars and prospects) into Cain and Yelich. As people have noted, it was just hard to see the Crew adding a $25M salary in the coming years. They might have managed it in 2018 - but with scheduled raises and arbitration awards - our payroll commitment would have been pretty high. While many of us - including myself - are concerned about our pitching depth, I can understand that the club really saw the Cain addition as a really huge improvement. Perhaps they just don't see Arrieta as that big of a deal over someone like Suter. That's a bit hard to believe - but you never know. Obviously, Cobb is still available. We will see if the team goes in that direction or just runs with what they have going forward.

2B and CF. Cain will be a huge upgrade. 2B is another story. Team is hoping for Villar to rebound.

I’m a bit surprised we didn’t go after Arrieta. Oh well.

I want to point out that it is not the style of BF.net mods to publically call out posters - in fact, this information is only public because HH has decided to make it so. HH was politely asked to stop posting his supposed 'insider' information on the site. Nothing more. No one threatened him or drove him off. As you can guess, he has not taken the high road in this situation.

I am going to add this bit of information about the HH drama - courtesy of a baseball writer. He said a person with high level access to a major league front office would never be so blatantly stupid as to repeatedly share priveleded information with a guy posting the stuff on a message board. If a team's inner workings were being openly and accurately discussed on a message board - the team would find out who was behind the leaks very, very quickly. And heads would roll. It is 'beyond ridiculous' - his words - that a ML executive would do such a moronic thing and threaten his or her career. Do leaks happen? Absolutely. But to have a single source provide a steady stream of info to a guy posting on a message board over the course of weeks and months is crazy.

Mlbtraderumors reports that Luc had a 3 year/$21M offer from Colorado earlier - but turned it down.

Good situation for Luc. If he can have a good year, perhaps he can bet a decent contract next year.

Jim Bowden is reporting that Cobb and Lynn are both still asking for contracts guaranteeing them more than $50M. Although Bowden says 'all are waiting for 3-Year deals under $50m so they don’t have to give up draft pick compensation according to sources' - which makes no sense, because the $50M has nothing to do with the compensation given up by the clubs. That just improves the compensation of the teams that lose the players.

As people have noted, Knebel isn't going to be dealt because no team that needs him will have an elite starting pitcher they will give up for him. Now, fast forward to the trade deadline - and we will see where Milwaukee is in the race. If this team regresses badly and is out of contention - and Knebel is doing great - they should entertain dealing him. But right now, he's an integral part of a team that we expect to make a playoff run. As said earlier - this is just not the time.

If Lynn doesn't get a good deal, he might bet on himself and take a one year contract. A lot of people are leery of him -- his peripherals weren't great and he's a year removed from major surgery. Perhaps he feels that if he can put up similar numbers in 2018 he can re-enter the market from a stronger position.

Yeah, that's the kind of thing that makes you willing to take the guy. Lynn was the lowest guy on my list of starters, but I'd take the guy at that price.

Oh man. There's low balling, there's insulting a guy, and then there's that offer. I'm so curious how this all ends, I can't imagine a contract that insultingly low gets accepted by anyone. Maybe Lucroy or Moustakas take low dollar deals, but not the pitching. I'm guessing that some of these will be one year type deals with vesting options - sort of like the Logan Morrison deal. $10M in 2018 with a $12M option or $2M buyout - that kind of stuff. Teams are trying to protect themselves from commitments (unless it looks okay for them). Still, 2 years/$12M is really low. Perhaps it had a bunch of bonuses - $1M for 20 starts, $1M for 30 starts, etc., etc.

I saw this interesting tidbit about Lance Lynn: Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reported in his most recent podcast that the Twins threw out a low-ball offer of about $12MM total over two years. Obviously the Twins are fishing for someone desperate to accept any offer, but I think a lot of teams are doing this exact thing - lowballing players and hoping someone gets desperate and bites. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/03/placing-the-remaining-top-50-free-agents.html

There's an extensive 25 man roster thread in the major league forum for those interested: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=35951 I will lock this thread.

Well played, my friend.

Folks, I'm asking everyone to stop talking about HighHeat and if he is legitimate or not. It only gets the topic off target - and it seems to cause nothing but arguing. And at this point, he's stated that he's done posting any more information - so there's no need to debate the subject any further. If you believe the guy - fine. If you don't - fine. No matter what happens with Cobb or anyone there will be questions. So let's just drop it. Thank you.

I'd imagine Luc is going to want to sign sooner than later. The basic idea is you want to give your catchers more time to learn the team's pitchers and so forth. It's just not as simple as being a first baseman or pitcher or whatever. As people have noted, the market has been quiet for Lucroy. I never thought he'd be out of work like this.

If they go into late April, there's a good chance they go into June (after the draft) as that's when a player is no longer tied to draft pick compensation. And Cobb, Lynn and Arrietta - along with Moustakas - all cost the team that signs them a draft pick. At least that's been the rule in the past. I don't think it has changed. But if a guy is willing to wait a month into the season to sign, he might wait another month - removing the draft pick compensation tied around his neck.

With Lincecum signing with Rangers, we'll lock this topic.

I think it's just common sense that these guys will sign sooner than later. They'll want to get into camp and be ready for the opening of the season. Arrieta seems to be holding things up at this point - but even with Boros as an agent - he'll eventually want to get signed.