Matt Breen

I'm still perplexed by us adding the guy. They must see something. Let's hope so.

Dodgers return on Busch seems pretty light. Nothing wrong with the players they got - just really, really young guys - I think both teens. Interesting deal.

Thanks for all the work.

Thankfully, no one else voted in such a fashion. I was ready to act if people started getting weird. One thing you can do when doing polls like we did is to toss out the highest and lowest ballot of each candidate. It prevents one person from spiking (or tanking) the vote. But it never got to that, so I never had to do so. In the end, the old forum votes were fun. Way more work than what we do now, but still fun.

I've always liked Arraez, and having him would be awesome. But what's the trade? The Marlins will want young talent. What's it going to take? Would Turang and Wiemer work? I don't think that's enough. Maybe replace one of those guys with Black? I'm not sure what the Marlins need, but I'm guessing they'd ask for Quero or Misiorowski. Not thrilled about dealing either of those guys, especially the former. I guess it can't hurt to ask. We got Contreras for Ruiz last year - so you never know.

Team already said that Yelich is playing LF. Whether we want Yeli at 1B or not, the team said it's not happening. So I'm not sure why we dwell on it. Maybe down the road we can revisit, but for now, it isn't happening.

Hampton is a nice arm and definitely worthy of getting a hold of. Pereira is really iffy. Some scouts like him a lot - some aren't sold on his hit tool. The guys at Fangraphs put him as the Yankee's #17 prospect in 2024 - really dissing his hit tool. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/new-york-yankees-top-36-prospects-2024/ Thoughts on Oswald Peraza? I think Hampton and Peraza - and something else - might be okay. Nothing thrilling over-the-top thrilling, but potentially interesting. Don't really know these guys very well - just going by numbers and reports.

I think Baltimore matches up really well with Milwaukee. They have prospects, we have Burnes. Fits well. However, I just don't see Baltimore making the leap. They know Burnes is gone after one year, and don't want to deal a top 25 prospect such as Mayo for one year of a guy - no matter how good. But who knows. They may be waiting to see how Boston and New York react to things.

Drury would fit club needs nicely. He's not great, but he's solid and provides a good right-handed bat at 3b and 2b. But as I said in my earlier post, I wouldn't over pay.

This, in my opinion, is a massive overpayment. You're talking five years of Turang and three of Payamps for one year of Drury. Drury is a nice player and would great to have, but not at that cost. I'm thinking maybe an Eddie Zamora type player. They can have Perkins as well. Maybe I'm underestimating Drury's value. He's a solid player, but limited. He doesn't take walks, his defense is average - at best. And he's been inconsistent over his career. However, his last two years have been good - but so the consistency angle is not as big of an issue compared to last year.

I don't see the Packers making many big free agent moves next year due to this. It would be nice, but it's just not realistic. Like you say, outside of Bakhtiari, most moves are not going to free up a ton of space. No doubt we will do some of those things - but nothing super big. I see draft (five picks in the first three rounds!), and then a few smaller, targeted FAs. But we shall see.

I'd say the regular season went pretty well. I didn't think we'd be terrible - but not great either. I figured it would take half the year for the team to come together (Love get some reps, and all the young receivers). So making the playoffs was a realistic, but iffy, option. But we did it, which is great, and the team seems to be clicking. Playoffs is a new season! I think we can beat anyone, but it'll require lots of good things to happen. Crossed fingers.

The implication is that Mark A wants to spite the Cubs - and thus Counsel due to his leaving the Crew for Chicago. No. That has nothing to do with it. What may be on the table is Mark A 'forcing' the team to be competitive, and defeat the Cubs, so we can make the playoffs. I can see that happening. But it's nothing really to do with spite. It's about wanting to win - and the Cubs are in our division - so we want to beat them. Burnes helps us - a lot - with that task. So again, Mark A might put out a directive saying he wants to keep Burnes - but for the reason of winning. That they beat the Cubs and Counsel would - no doubt - be sweet - it's foolish to think Mark A makes such decisions based on sheer pettiness.

I'm going to throw out a crazy idea to the Phillies: Phillies get: Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams. Brewers get: RHP Andrew Painter, RHP Mick Abel, 3B Aiden Miller, OF Nick Castellanos, and $24m dollars (spread out over Castellanos' contract at $8m per year). Why for the Phillies: They don't have a closer, and - obviously - Williams is the best in the business - and they have him for at least two years. Burnes gives them a formidable rotation, and they have shown a willingness to spend on starting pitching, so they would at least have a chance to resign him after next season. Moving Castellanos is a plus for them - he's owed $60m over the next three years - and they have an overabundance of bad defense bats (Bohm, Schwarber) to move to DH - thus improving their defense. They pay down Castellanos' contract by $8m per year, but still don't take on a ton of salary in this move. This trade would put Philly in the ballpark with the Dodgers and Braves. A rotation of Burnes, Nola and Wheeler would be pretty amazing - plus with a closer like Williams at the end of the game. That's hard to beat. Why not for the Philly: it's giving up three of their top prospects, including two guys in the top 50. That's hard to do. They are already an old team, and this really sucks the system of young talent. Why for the Brewers: Painter and Abel are both highly ranked arms. We could really use that. They might not help us in 2024, but by 2025 they could be knocking at the door and really help fill out the rotation for years. Miller is a nice prospect - just 19 years old - and a first round pick last year. So he's a ways away - but guys like this are always nice to have. Castellanos is the big risk. You are mitigating some of that by limiting his cost - essentially pricing him at $12m/year for three years. I think that's manageable for Milwaukee. The guy will be 32 years old at the start of the next season. He's been erratic with his power - but he's averaged 27 HR per year over the last three years. He doesn't walk a ton, and he strikes out a lot, but he's a consistent average hitter. I'm guessing we could count on him for 20-25 HR and .270+ BA. One thing to note - Castellanos pounds lefties - something we could really use. He's good against right handers - but great against lefties. The big question would be where to play Castellanos. He hasn't played 3B in six years - and he was bad then - so I wouldn't pencil him in there. I'm surprised he's never played 1B, and it might be something to experiment with. However, he might be regulated to DH with the occasional appearance in the OF. Shedding Williams and Burnes salaries - and taking on Castellanos at $12m, still leaves us with some room to spend. Perhaps adding starter on a one-year deal for 2024 would help fill Burnes' spot. Why not for the Brewers: We are worse in 2024. No question about that. And Castellanos, as noted, has been an erratic bat. He could become a costly mistake. On the other hand, if he hits 25 HR and .275, we are thrilled. Also, if he can't play 1B, it means Yelich has to for sure stay in LF (as opposed to player DH). This keeps our younger outfielders on the bench (Mitchell, Frelick, Wiemer, Choriou). the Brewers seem to value versatility, and having Yelich and Castellanos hamstring's them to a degree - especially if Castellanos is limited to DH. Conclusion: This deal essentially trades future potential for a 'win now' mentality. For Philadelphia, 2024 might be one of their best chances to win a title - especially with Ohtani not pitching in 2024. So an all-in move might be their best option. For the Brewers, it puts their 2024 at risk, but adds some unquestioned talent for the future. Plus it secures a quality, right-handed power bat for a few years. Albeit one who is limited defensively.

Bleacher Report updated their Top 100. Here's the Brewers on the list: MILWAUKEE: OF Jackson Chourio (2), C Jeferson Quero (34), RHP Jacob Misiorowski (38), 3B Tyler Black (73), LHP Robert Gasser (89) Also, they had an 'honorable mention' - next 50 guys - and that included Carlos F. Rodriguez and Brock Wilken. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10103552-updated-top-100-mlb-prospects-at-the-start-of-2024

Actually, Clancy did not vote in our first poll. Suter did well because he started the 2014 season with a bang. When I wrote up the article in May of that year, he had a 1.96 ERA in 55 IP at AA. So pretty impressive. A lot of people got excited about him. 10 of the 22 voters had him on their ballot, so it was not any one person vaulting him to this spot. One thing about prospect voting is many of us are overly swayed by recent success. There's a reason for that - but it does let someone who has a hot streak over a couple of months jump up abnormally high on our lists. Not always, but sometimes.

The links in the articles are generated dynamically, if I am correct, so it was a 'bot' error. Thanks for noting.

Great catch. Thanks.

Nearly ten years ago, in May of 2014, the members of BrewerFan (the precursor of Brewer Fanatic) held their first-ever prospect poll. I volunteered to manage the poll - not realizing it would be my job for eight more years and 20+ polls. Image courtesy of © Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports The first poll asked users to submit their top 20 prospects (this was expanded after the first poll - from 20 to 25 players). Twenty-two people responded. Voting was pretty simple: a community member ranked their top players and sent me the list. The top player received 20 points, the second player received 19 points, and so forth. Here are the results of that first BrewerFan prospect poll in 2014. #1 - Jimmy Nelson, RHP #2 - Tyrone Taylor, OF #3 - Clint Coulter, C #4 - Orlando Arcia, SS #5 - Devin Williams, RHP #6 - Mitch Haniger, OF #7 - Taylor Jungmann, RHP #8 - Victor Roache, OF #9 - Jed Bradley, LHP #10 - Michael Reed, OF #11 - Hunter Morris, 1B #12 - Tucker Neuhaus, 3B #13 - Nick Delmonico, 3B #14 - David Denson, 1B #15 - Tyler Cravy, RPH #16 - Jorge Lopez, RPH #17 - David Goforth, RPH #18 - Tyler Wagner, RPH #19 - Chris McFarland, 2B #20 - Brent Suter, LHP So, looking back - how’d we do? Honestly, I’d say the first top 20 prospect poll went as well as expected. Nelson handily landed the top spot and the results were not that different from other prospect polls at the time. Five of the first six players have become productive major leaguers. Nelson appeared to be the best of the lot until injuries derailed his career. The ‘best’ player mantle now goes to Devin Williams, who has become one of the game's top closers. If we could go back and redo the vote, five of the top six players (Coulter being the exception) would end up at the top of the list - along with Brent Suter and Garrett Cooper. Here are some other observations: Stars are lacking. Coming into the 2014 season, the Brewers were seen as having a weak farm system - and the results have played out as such. The players receiving votes have combined for four All-Star appearances (Williams twice, Haniger, Arcia), one Rookie of the Year award (Williams), Cy Young award votes (Williams, Nelson), and MVP votes (Haniger and Williams each twice). This is respectable but disappointing, as a club needs to develop quality players to succeed in baseball, especially a small market club such as Milwaukee. It doesn’t help that a couple of players from this poll went on and thrived once they left the Brewers organization. Haniger was dealt as a minor leaguer, while Milwaukee gave up on Arcia after five seasons due to his weak bat. He was an All-Star with Atlanta in 2023. All that said, Devin Williams has developed into one of the top closers in baseball. One-trick power ponies struggle. We have learned over the years, and this is especially true in this poll, that power hitters with little else in their arsenal will flame out. Coulter, Roache, Denson, and Morris failed to reach the majors. First-round picks swing and miss. Draft picks are always a risk. But to see so many first-round selections that have failed on this list is disheartening. Jungmann, Bradley, Coulter, and Roache were all first-rounders who failed to reach the majors or had fleeting success. Be wary of older, right-handed arms. It’s easy to get seduced by some pretty numbers. One red flag to watch for is older, right-handed pitchers who rack up nice numbers - often against players with less experience. Wagner, Cravy, and Goforth are examples of this - guys without exceptional ability don’t have what it takes to make it beyond AAA. Baseball is littered with these guys. It doesn’t mean they aren’t prospects or worth having - not to overvalue them when assessing their prospect status. Who’d we miss out on? Baseball is filled with stories of guys who overcome all odds to make it to the majors. Garrett Cooper is the guy who stands out for NOT being on our list or even receiving a single vote. Cooper has gone from an afterthought (heck, not even an afterthought) to a solid career for parts of seven big league seasons. Other players have had some success in the majors - but nothing big. Jorge Lopez and Jacob Barnes are still kicking around baseball. So is Nick Ramirez - just not as a 1B - but instead as a pitcher. Jason Rogers, Taylor Williams, Yadiel Rivera, Nicky Delmonico, and others all had a moment or two - but not much else. Best story from the 2014 prospect poll. This one is pretty easy. You could argue Devin Williams due to his success. He was a talented teenager and has developed into one of baseball’s best relievers. But I would argue that the best ‘story’ from the 2014 prospect poll is the guy at the bottom of the list, left-hander Brent Suter. Suter was initially picked in the 31st round of the draft. He didn’t throw hard and didn’t put up big numbers. But he did whatever he was asked, snuck up on the world, and he kept improving as he moved up the minor league ladder. Kudos to the community who put Suter this high on our poll. Virtually no other polls at this time held Suter in such regard. Suter was legendarily championed by community member clancyphile, often getting a #1 prospect vote - which annoyed some and skewed our results. But that was okay because people cheered for a guy like Suter. He would go on to have a solid career in Milwaukee (and beyond) and endear himself to the community with his geeky personality and pranks. 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It's a beauty, eh.

Yeah, I'm guessing they will. Sad considering the resources we have put into the secondary for the past 5-6 years: Eric Stokes (#29) - 2021 Darnell Savage (#21) - 2019 Jaire Alexander (#18) - 2018 Josh Jackson (#45) - 2018 Kevin King (#33) - 2017 Josh Jones (#61) - 2017

I think an Arias/Hampton deal would be a solid. As you say, throw in another guy and it's looking pretty solid.

I remember the signing. I didn't care for the move. Too much money for a guy with limited - and diminishing - stuff. But like a lot of people, I appreciated the effort made by the club. At least we got somebody. I thought Suppan would at least eat some innings - like he had done most of his career. Unfortunately, all the red flags about Suppan were true. He was pretty bad.

I really don't comment much about this, but the lack of accountability from ML regarding the defense is terrible. He hired his friend and has kept him for how freaking long - to bad results. Just ridiculous.