adambr2

1. Corbin Burnes - After successfully making the jump to AA and continuing his dominance for Biloxi, I'm sold. 2. Lewis Brinson - The tools are there. Health concerns are starting to become somewhat of an issue and kept him out of my top spot. 3. Brett Phillips - This is higher than he'll go in most lists, but well-deserved. If September is a sign of what's to come for Brett, there's no reason to think he hasn't staked a legitimate claim himself as CF of the future here. 4. Freddy Peralta - Still IMO gets a bit overlooked and I'm not really sure why. The K numbers are elite, regardless of whether he ends up starting or relieving. He's a year and a half younger than Corbin Burnes and had an equally dominant 2017. 5. Keston Hiura - Might be the best pure bat in the system. Finally starting to play 2nd a bit. 6. Brandon Woodruff - His rough end to 2017 shouldn't change his outlook much after a dominant 2016 and good first few MLB starts. 7. Luis Ortiz - Not a particularly great season, but not a disappointing one either. Still middle of the rotation or better upside. 8. Isan Diaz - I was disappointed by his 2017 like many bats in Carolina, but he still offers some exciting upside as a big bat in the middle of the infield. 9. Trent Clark - I like him more than most. Still very young for his level, and the on base skills are as good as it gets. 10. Lucas Erceg - Little bit of a letdown season, but still carries a big potential bat at 3rd and I expect him to rebound in 2018. 11. Tristen Lutz - Another big bat, Lutz could be a fast riser in the system despite arriving straight out of high school. 12. Taylor Williams - Arms who seemingly profile as relievers tend to get overlooked on the lists, but Williams should be an exception. There's a reason he was added to the 40 coming off of injury. 13. Corey Ray - I really wanted to find a reason not to penalize Ray as much on this as I knew he would be. I thought maybe a hot start in the AFL might give me that reason. Then he went and did the opposite. The tools are there, but that's about the only thing keeping him this high at the moment. 14. Cody Ponce - Ponce is another arm to keep an eye on in 2018. Made the late season jump to Biloxi with success after a decent, but not great season in Carolina. 15. Monte Harrison - His fantastic athleticism tempts me to put him higher, but he still has a long ways to go at 23 and not much time to do it before the Brewers are forced to decide on his future. Still, a healthy 2017 was a step in the right direction and he's a candidate for a full breakout in 2018. 16. Mauricio Dubon - Dubon is a great story and I would have liked to rank him higher. I just don't see a tool that is going to make him a successful MLB starter. I think he has an MLB future, just as a 24th/25th man utility IF type. 17. Kodi Medeiros - Without a doubt, Kodi is one of the most frustrating prospects in the system, showing flashes of dominance combined with wild outings with command struggles. A full-time move to the bullpen may be in order to see if Medeiros can emerge one day as a 2017 Josh Hader. 18. Jake Gatewood - Another prospect from the 2014 class. Gatewood appeared on the verge of an offensive breakout in 2017 and somewhat faded in the second half. If he can build on it next year, he could be a fast riser in the rankings. 19. Trey Supak - His dominance in Appleton didn't quite carry over to Carolina, but there was a still a lot to like and still is regarding his arm and profitability. 20. Marcos Diplan - Diplan tumbles in most rankings after a tough 2017 season in Carolina. Like other arms such as Medeiros, Diplan might benefit from a full move to the pen. 21. Jacob Nottinghamm - By all accounts, Nottinghamm made strides in his defense in 2017. Unfortunately, his bat was rather mediocre and will make it hard to play at the MLB level if he can't stick behind the plate. The Brewers may look to move him in the off-season rather than dedicate potentially a 5th spot on the 40 to another backstop. 22. Phil Bickford - A PED suspension is probably an unfair reason alone that this former top 100 prospect has tumbled down so many lists, but the reported decline in velocity and command don't help his cause. 23. KJ Harrison - His bat didn't disappoint in his rookie season in Helena. Like many offensive catching prospects, his value will depend greatly on his ability to stick behind the plate. 24. Josh Pennington - This is much lower than I would have liked to put the potential high leverage reliever from the Thornburg trade. Finally healthy, he flashed some of the power arm we hoped to see. 25. Bubba Derby - He gets the 25th spot just for being heroic. It does not hurt his cause that he had a very successful transition to starter which included success in Colorado Springs. 26. Mario Feliciano - He looked like a potential minor leaguer of the year early on before the bat tapered off late. Still very young, he gives the Brewers another exciting bat behind the plate in the farm system. 27. Aaron Wilkerson - Even being a soft tossed, there's no reason why Wilkerson should be ranked this low with his track record as he'll compete for a rotation spot in 2018. It speaks to the depth of our farm system. 28. Jordan Yamomoto - He spun a 9-4 record with a 2.51 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 111 innings for the Mudcats this year, and struck out over a batter an inning. Frankly, I don't understand how this guy doesn't get more love than he does. 29. Larry Ernesto - Years away at his young age, the Brewers will hope Ernesto, who they liked enough for a big international investment, will develop into what they had hoped for from Corey Ray. 30. Carlos Herrera - The last piece in the Adam Lind deal rounds out the list, putting all 3 from the deal in my top 30. Still only 19, he posted very good BAA numbers and his remaining projectability could make him a fast riser in the future.

I have to agree with most of this. I think there was a little bit of overexcitement over the Cubs' mediocre first half. Many were saying that they were on the downfall and that their 2016 World Series team had nothing to do with this year. The truth was always that a 103 win championship team with basically the same components in place was unlikely to just tank the next year. I think there was a lot of wishful thinking and it wasn't that surprising when the Cubs went on the big run in the 2nd half that they were always capable of doing. So if we expect similar fades in the next few years, I think we'll be disappointed. Their core is still pretty well set up through 2021. Their rotation will need work, but even if they don't bring back Arrieta, they are still sitting on a big 3 of Lester, Quintana, and Kendricks for the next few years. You could certainly do worse. They obviously have the money to pursue a Darvish type arm, and I'm sure they will. The crack in the foundation is obviously with their weak farm which will force them to utilize free agency quite a bit. The hope is that they miss in FA. Since they'll be using free agency so much they'll typically be going after longtime veterans who may be a bit more volatile in their later years. If they give Darvish 6 years at 25-30M per and he starts fading after 2, things like that, it would only take a couple of those to start filling up their payroll with bad bloated contracts. Either way, I'm not saying we can't compete with them, but I don't take a lot of lessons for us away from them, either good or bad. They won a WS and reached an NLCS in back to back seasons and if we do the same I'm sure we would call it a rousing success regardless of how we got there. But their blueprint means little to me either way because we can't follow it. Number 1 because we don't have the money to follow it and number 2 we still have a much better farm that we are going to need to rely on in the coming years for success. Same goes with Verlander. He has been awesome for Houston. Probably great for the Cubs if he had gone their too. But I'm not sure we have the right pieces around him right now where he would have made a significant difference for us.

To each their own but I would not have wanted to give up a comparable package that OTB mentioned of Phillips + Burnes + 1. I don't believe we are at the right stage to be making a deal like that. The Astros with or without Verlander are still well ahead of where we are at this point in time. Jokes about Upton aside too, I still doubt very much that Verlander makes the same concession that he did to go to Houston. Dallas Kuechel still had to sell Verlander on it in the 11th hour, and he still required a waiver of his 2020 vesting option. Houston was most likely a more attractive destination if for no other reason than the Astros are far closer to World Series contention than us.

Just because someone is under control to X date, doesn't mean a team couldn't look to cost control those arbitration years and maybe buy 1 or 2 of the initial Free Agency years. From the player perspective it guarantees the income even if they suffer a career-ending injury or their production falls off the cliff. Once the money is spent in one place, those same dollars can't be spent on another player.. I understand the process. Don't think it really affects the Cubs one way or another if they go year to year with Bryant or long-term barring a highly unlikely catastrophic injury. I doubt he's going to do a deal to sell a year or two of FA at this point. I think he'll go year to year or very long-term. Either way I think he'd be a better investment for them than Harper.

Yeah I think he did mean Harper but was just mistaken on his FA date. Kris Bryant is under club control until 2021 so I don't know why he would have meant him. I agree with his premise though. Harper is a little more hype than production. Don't get me wrong, he's an outstanding player, but take away his 2015 season and he's really more of a 4-5 WAR player. Still great, but for a guy frequently compared to someone like Mike Trout levels of greatness, he's nowhere close. Trout is in a league of his own, but Harper is probably going to get that kind of level of elite money. I would love if the Cubs were the ones to give it to him.

I think Thames as a full time RF would probably make Santana look like a gold glover.

Broxton is interesting. In only 414 AB, he was a 20/20 guy who plays a premium defensive position, and he has tons of potential. But, he strikes out in about 1/3 of his plate appearances and has tremendous hot & cold streaks. I think he needs to be shopped around. Some teams wouldn't touch him, while others would salivate over his potential. If Stearns can find one GM who thinks he could be a star we could get a decent return. I just don't know if that GM will be out there looking for a CF this offseason. I can agree with this. I think it's also possible to sell that Broxton's defensive blunders in 2017 were more of an aberration. It's tough to peg his value. 20/20 is a nice selling point that demonstrates both power and speed tools, but I think most GMs these days are a little bit too smart to be swayed by arbitrary benchmarks. You're not going to be able to ask for the world, but I wouldn't just give him away especially with 5 years of control. If I had to peg it, I think something along the lines of two prospects -- headlined by a top 12-15 organizational prospect, along with a reliever prospect like Barnes would have been a few years ago, seems about right to me. I'd still be opening to moving Brinson instead for a much higher return if the right deal came along this off-season, and move forward with Phillips and Keon.

I like him a lot if he can stick in CF. His plate discipline is as good as you'll find. I think he has leadoff hitter potential, with 12-15 HR and 40+ steals. I think people are writing him off too quickly. He's 20 years old, young for High A, and still carried a .360 OBP. If the power can develop into an 'average' tool, and he can stick in CF -- both big ifs, true enough -- he'll be a heck of a player.

Agreed! This is the Positive Feelings thread, not the "go on and on about the legitimacy of the attendance number" thread. Thank you. I do have to point out here that it's actually 'Positive Feelings? and was started by that very poster inferring that he should in fact not actually have positive feelings.

Sounds like something Stearns might say about Corey Ray this off-season. I can't complain about that trade, I liked it at the time, but a statement like that from an opposing GM I think would surely set off alarm bells in my head.

Not really sure what standard operating procedure is here, but I think it would be a fine thing if David himself were to head down to Venezuela for a day and meet with the kid.

This just made my day. It really did. Especially after being a little terrified to open this thread to see what the update was. Fantastic news. So happy for him and his family.

I got excited about this thread when I first looked because my screen at the main forum cut it off at Cor. I thought it was going to be about Corbin Burnes. I feel pretty good about him. Corey Ray, not so much.

Actually the number I see most frequently cited is 1,750 per year. That doesn't mean 1,750 wound up in the hospital. Many probahly just sought first aid at the stadium for a bruise or bump. And an MLB ticket purchase generally comes with an assumption of risk on it which disclaims liability for the team. I mean, you can still try to sue, I'm sure people have, but you have virtually no chance of winning. Not that simple. There would be very few lawsuits won by any consumer if a company just basically slaps a warning label on something. Have the Brewers taken reasonable steps to avoid injuries? Could easily be argued no, and cite examples of other stadiums that have extended the netting. And if someone is badly injured, any jury will try to find any way to pay a big settlement. Not saying I agree with all that or not, just a reality. I never said it was that simple or that they could just slap a warning label on and be done with it. They need to provide protective netting in front of the most dangerous seats, which all teams do. A lawsuit which cites other stadiums that have extended netting will likely lose. There is something called the 'baseball rule' which has long been enforced by courts. Basically, any fan that isn't behind protective netting assumes risk for potential foul ball injury. How severe the injury is, isn't really relevant. A fan in LF could take a screamer off the head and suffer a broken skull and most likely the team would still not be held liable for injury because of the assumption of risk. Personal injury lawyers literally turn away many clients with these kinds of injuries just because the cases are so hard to win. You'd have to have some special circumstance in play. Like if the netting was defective and a ball came through and struck a fan, that would definitely be a case. There is a fan currently suing a team because his view was obstructed by umbrellas so he's suing based on their umbrella policy. Possibly a case there. But 99% of foul ball injuries, there's really no legal recourse.

I think it was the 2004 or 2005 season that my semi-daily routine on the way home from work was to pick up a 4 pack of Sparks and a Little Ceasars pizza and down them at home while I watched the game. It was a rough time in my life.

Actually the number I see most frequently cited is 1,750 per year. That doesn't mean 1,750 wound up in the hospital. Many probahly just sought first aid at the stadium for a bruise or bump. And an MLB ticket purchase generally comes with an assumption of risk on it which disclaims liability for the team. I mean, you can still try to sue, I'm sure people have, but you have virtually no chance of winning.

Also, guys who don't follow basic urinal etiquette. If you walk into a restroom with 3 urinals and you're the first to arrive, do not use urinal #2, the one in the middle. Use urinal #1 or #3. I am baffled at those who choose the middle one and thus the next man to arrive is forced to pick a urinal right next to you. Or even worse, when you're on #1 or #3 and the next guy takes #2 with the other one open. Really?

The late Jose Capellan. He was an as exciting of a relief prospect as you'd see when we acquired him for closer Danny Kolb. The scouting reports raved about his fastball which reportedly sat in the mid to upper 90s and hit triple digits at times. Unfortunately when he was called up to Milwaukee his upper 90s fastball looked a lot more like 91-92 and never lived up to the hype. Speaking of Dan Kolb, I knew he was more of a pitch to contact type closer, but holy smokes, 3.3K/9 for us as our closer in 2004 before trading him? You just don't see 3K/9 closers. Heck, you don't see 3K/9 pitchers.

Ray=bust Arcia=Brewers Franchise Jeter comp. I couldnt have a more polar opinion on the two. What have Lewis or Benson done? Lewis I dont know, injuries? Benson at 19 completed his year at 10HRs in 58games and under 250PAs. You can translate that out to 30HRs. And thats at 19 premature body. While a .238 avg, he had near .350OB. Thats a darn good looking start for a 2.5mil signing. Id love to be wrong, but at his current rate of advancement, he'll be making ML debut, if at all, when hes 27/28. Even his SB totals were alarming. Something Iactually believe he could produce above average with 30s in a season. But if hhe's going to have that CS rate, OB rate, he'll be a 7/8 in an order and kept quiet on base paths. So now Ill worry if hes even surpassing 20 on a season. I like Arcia but some of the love is getting a little overblown IMO. Yes he's a nice young player with upside, and yes he's only 23. But...the guy has a long ways to go. He's about a 2 WAR player for his career so far. Jeter comps might be a little premature.

The Patriots hang a banner for their 16-0 season? That's...kind of surprising. Yeah it was a heck of an accomplishment but I wouldn't think they would want to hang an obvious reminder of how it ended.

I'm with you on the relievers, seems a little on the light side but would be great if both of those happened. I'm not crazy about the McCarthy idea but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world missing Nelson most of next year. After that you lose me. No way is Walker back that cheap with a team option to boot. Solarte is basically an older Hernan Perez, no way do we give up that much for him.

Sorry, I totally disagree. It doesn't matter what the return is? So if the Rays came offering Archer for Santana straight up you'd just flat out turn it down? What if we did that and then signed JD Martinez? Wouldn't you agree we'd be improved overall? IMO a good GM needs to consider all possibilities and remain open-minded to what helps long-term, and not worry about how one move might hurt in a vacuum. There's a lot of potential off-season moves coming, we'll have a full year of Brett Phillips and it's also important to remember we were a very good offense in the first half before for whatever reason things went downhill. I'm not even necessarily saying we SHOULD trade Santana, just that we should be open to it and everything else if the return is right. IMO taking him off the table just because he was one of our best hitters is too simplistic of an approach.

To be fair to Manny Parra, he's got over 8 years of service time in the bigs, so he made it. Just never lived up to the promise. Somewhat more successful as a reliever for the Reds.

Zach Braddock. He had so much promise as a late inning reliever. Just never seemed to be able to overcome his emotional and anxiety issues.

If you were looking for a silver lining that we missed the playoffs, this is it. Glad Shaw can be home spending time with his family right now.