ClosetBrewerFan

Agreed. Zamora and Martinez are likely to get promoted. Zamora probably gets promoted when Black eventually goes to Carolina. He's ready. McGee has nothing left to prove in Carolina.

I'd go Lauer over Anderson if we need a 4th starter. He's been solid all year long.

I agree with Luna as a possible 40 man roster add. Same for Perdomo and Dahl. Neither signing made sense unless they consider adding them to the 40 man roster. Players I think they should try to resign for next year with minor league contracts: Any of the above three if not added to the 40 man. A. Palma, Westbrook, and/or Lipka. They will need some OF depth at AAA in 2022. I'd hate to lose QTC but he has had a terrible year. Otherwise the rest are all kinda meh and interchangeable with other free agents.

Good catch on Ramey. He's a 2018 draftee and signed as a 17 year old, so he is ineligible. Those international signings are tough to track down. Its when they "signed" not when they first starting playing. So you may be right about Rodriguez and Larry Ernesto even though they first started playing in 2018 at 18 or under. I'll see if I can find the dates they sign and will update. I generally think that players in the clubs top 15 prospects are locks and Howell is right there. I called him a lock primarily because he is the most likeliest to be added and they have plenty of roster space. There is very little risk not to add him. Andrews is a good point. I had him lower because of the injury and his perceived low ceiling but you never know with the rule 5 draft. He is close to the majors and the possible RP/bOF/PR/PH may be intriguing to a team.

Happy to do it and its no problem. I keep a running list throughout the year because I'm weird that way... I don't track minor league free agents so I will leave that up to someone else to create. However, its pretty common for the Brewers to add a player to 40 man to prevent losing them to FA, so I took a quick look and someone like Carlos Luna might be a candidate. He will be a free agent if we don't protect him. Note: I assumed Luke Barker was a minor league free agent as well, but I don't think he is. He signed in 2017 as an UDFA at age 25. Unusual story, but I would assume he is eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Can't imagine they would protect him if they did not add him during the season when they were desperate for relievers. I will update the first posting.

Rules for eligibility: The Rule 5 draft is held each December at the Winter Meetings, and it consists of a Major League portion and a minor league portion. By November 20, each club must set its 40-man roster and submit reserve lists for all major and minor-league levels (See Minor League Rosters). Between November 20 and the Rule 5 draft, a club may add Major League free agents to its 40-man roster but may not add any player from its minor league reserve lists. After 4 or 5 years as a professional, a player must be added to his club’s 40-man roster or exposed to the 29 other clubs in the Rule 5 draft. (Under the new CBA, a club has 5 years to evaluate a player who signs his first pro contract at 18 years old or younger, but only 4 years to decide on a player who signs at age 19.) For purposes of calculating years as a pro, the counting begins the day a player signs his first pro contract, not the season he begins to play. Players signed in 2018 who are not eligible (18 or older at the time) are: Turang, Gray, A. Uribe, Valerio, C. Rodriguez, Bello, Jarvis. There are some clear locks in that group for 2022 draft.

Below is my list of names who are eligible for rule 5 draft. I did not include minor league free agents we signed and may have missed one or two of the international signings. I've included who I think should be added to the 40 man roster, what level they are currently at, and what year they signed. With Ashby, Cousins, and Sanchez added in-season and players traded off, there is no roster crunch this year. There should easily be 10 spots open on the 40 man roster this year with free agents leaving and non-tender candidates. Korry Howell is the only lock IMO to be added. Feel free to discuss. Note: The first group signed in 2015 will be six year minor league free agents at the end of the season if not added to the 40 man roster. [pre]Name Protect? 2021 Level Signed in N.Walters No A+ 2015 Sibrian No Arz 2015 J.Lujano No AA 2015 Coca No A+ 2015 Pinero No A 2015 L. Crawford No AA 2015 Erceg No AA 2016 Webb No AA 2016 Z.Brown No AAA 2016 T.Jankins No AAA 2016 W.Wilson Maybe AAA 2016 McClanahan No A+ 2016 G.Garcia No A+ 2016 P.Abreu No A+ 2016 F. Adames No A+ 2016 R. Hitt No AA 2017 B. Diaz No AA 2017 C. Beckman No AA 2017 Spanberger No AA 2017 T. Lutz Maybe AA 2017 C. Lemons No A- 2017 B. Murphy No A- 2017 M. Lazar Maybe Inj 2017 J.Ward No A+ 2017 J. Bullock Maybe A+ 2017 LG Castillo No A+ 2017 K Marales No Arz 2017 C. Robinson No A+ 2017 L. Barker No AAA 2017 V. Castenada Maybe AAA 2017 M. Hardy No AA 2017 A. Hall No A+ 2017 M. Vassalotti No A 2017 E. Martinez Maybe A 2017 C. Sierra No A+ 2017 D. Castillo No A 2017 I. Puello No A 2017 J. Geraldo No A 2017 J Chirinos No Rk 2017 C. Rodriguez No A+ 2017 L. Ernesto No Rk 2017 N. Zavolas No AA 2018 D. Fry Maybe AA 2018 Hintzen Maybe AA 2018 K. Howell Yes AA 2018 C. Andrews No Inj 2018 S. Sunitch No A+ 2018 Matulovich No A+ 2018 Schanuel No A+ 2018 K.Rios No A+ 2018 P. Strzelecki No AA 2018[/pre] If I made any errors, let me know and I will update the list. Edit: Revised based on end of year stats

We dont need another starter until Sunday. My guess is he works out "recovering" until then. They will need to clear a 40 man roster spot so I am thinking Lopes or Yardley will get DFA'd to make room. Sanchez will probably be optioned to make room on the 26 man roster.

I've been a big fan of Dahl for a while and would love it if he could resurrect his career in Milwaukee. However, this is just a strange signing to me. I assume he will be a free agent after this year so there is no long term benefit to signing him. We dont need the depth at AAA or AA. We currently have 31 players on the 28 man roster at AAA, and AA is also full. Not sure how we can exceed the maximum as its been like that for a while now. Also, I doubt Dahl would get a call up to the majors. He was really horrible in the majors this year (not quite Huira horrible but close). I would think Ray, Westbrook, and Lipka would be fine options if we had OF injuries in the majors. We also Stokes, DJ Petersen, and Derek Fischer (on IL) as depth. So not sure why we would sign him. Maybe try to resign him for next year?

Looks like they are making room in Arizona for some of the drafted pitchers to start playing. They have 8 pitchers plus 3 UDFA pitchers to find room for between the two Arizona clubs and Carolina. It will be fun to see what these guys can do.

Well sure, but I dont there were many of us calling for Bickford to be DFA'd. In fact many were saying we would have DFA'd others before Bickford. Bickford has multiple years of control. Dan Norris was not good for Detroit and has been worse for us. I agree we should give him more than 5.2 innings to try him out, but he should be on a short leash.

A 752 OPS vs RH is pretty pathetic considering that is his only skill (hitting RH pitchers). Tyrone Taylor has a 750 OPS vs RH and a 857 OPS vs LH. I would rather keep Taylor over Vogelbach and play him vs RH if I had to chose between the two. The only other options are waving Jace Petersen or optioning Tellez. I'd rather have any of those three over Vogelbach going forward. I'm all for trying to keep Vogelbach for as long as we can. He's nice depth and we have few alternative options in the minors that could replace him. I just dont want the Brewers to option/waive a better player just so we can possibly hang onto him longer.

The alternative to Norris would be Perdomo/Milner. Do you think they are better options? Certainly Norris hasn't had a good first few outings by any stretch, but shouldn't call for a DFA unless you are convinced one of those guys is better. I think we give Norris a few more chances before we cut ties. And he'll actually probably be easier to hide in the back of the bullpen once September rolls around if he doesn't figure it out before then. Regardless, this is a bit of a miss for Stearns at this point clearly unless something drastically changes. This. I think they do have better options. The alternative to Norris going forward is Gustave (he will likely be optioned once off COVID), Topa, or Sanchez (optioned when Houser comes off COVID). I think the reason Stearns acquired him was for depth. They didn't know if they could trust all these RH relievers we had with excellent but small sample results. I'm sure they thought he could be a decent reliever but he has not been. Its a small sample, sure, but we gave up a lot for a rental. Reece has been pitching very well for Detroit. I'm not ready to DFA him yet, but I'm close. An ineffective 3rd LH RP << Topa, Sanchez, or Gustave.

I dont think you do all this for a guy with a 709 OPS in nearly 200 PA this year. His overall numbers last year are nearly identical. I dont get the love for Vogelbach. He's a DH and not a particularly good hitting one.

On Sept. 3, 2018, Cole Hamels said Cubs-Brewers wasn't a rivalry. From that date to now, the Brewers are 33-19 (.634, a 103-win pace) with a +40 run differential against the Cubs. So Cole WAS right. The Cubs are not our rival.

Corey Ray is arguably having the best year of his career (OPS) but it has been injury riddled. 279 BA with an 822 OPS. Let's hope he can keep it up and stay healthy the rest of the year. Maybe he can be of use to the Brewers yet.

Zamora has really heated up after a slow start. 2 doubles in this game. He has a 406 BA and 963 in August. 757 OPS in July.

You had me at the opening sentence… No team contributed to the dismantling of the Chicago Cubs more than their rivals from Milwaukee. I was told there is no rivalry with the Brewers.

I'm a big fan but the time to add Barker was when players were going on COVID list, where we could have returned him to AAA without optioning/DFA him. Now if they bring him up, he will need to stay on the 40 man roster or DFA him. We are going to have a 40 man roster crunch, as there are a lot of players coming back soon. If they need someone for a day or two, they could go to Bettinger, Lobstein, or Yardley. Yardley has actually looked pretty good since his early rough start.

Stearns is nugget mining again. Sadzeck has had spotty minor league numbers to date so I dug into his background further. The 6-4, 240 lb RHP reportedly throws 98-102, just can't control it and has had injury issues. Missed all of 2019 then did not play in 2020 as well. May turn out to be nothing or the next Topa.

Tyler Black and Tristan Peters are in Arizona but need to wait for a work visa before they can play in a game. Both are from Canada. Explains why Black has not been assigned yet. I'm glad its not some injury issue preventing him from playing. https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/hunter-strickland-reinstated-for-opener-vs-cubs

Back to topic, Turang is extremely young for AAA. Here is a list of Brewers middle infielders who are older than Turang. Name, Age, Level C. Devanney 24.3, AA D. Hamilton 23.9, AA Gabe Holt 23.6, A F. Zamora 22.8, A H. Cantrelle 22.7, A+ A. Pinero 22.4, A+ Y. Coca 22.2, A+ Z. Raabe 22.0, Rk Turang 21.7, AAA I'm willing to give him and the Brewers the benefit of the doubt. Let's see how he responds.

Nah. Biloxi has been understaffed all year. They can have a 28 man roster and they are now finally at the max. The A+/A levels can have 30 man rosters and neither team is near the max. Rattlers only have 26 men on the roster so look for more promotions to happen yet.

Congrats to all. Well deserved. I wonder where they will play Korry. The answer is probably "all over"

If I were Biloxi ownership and fans, I'd be upset with the Brewers. They have been short staffed on the bench most of the year. Forcing them to play poor performing players. Aguilar has been battling around 0.100 for a good portion of the season but still getting regular at bats. His OPS is now up to 523 after a recent hot streak but that has been a black hole all year. Castro, Devanny, Erceg have all been terrible. At least get a few bench bats to help out.