colbyjack

The way I read it, the DFE's have to be signed by the 31st making Monday the 30th the last day to sign them. Exactly. By saying they have to be signed by the 31st I meant that the end of the day Monday (today) is the deadline. And sorry about that doc/DHonks. Not sure how that happened http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

So Timm can still be signed after Nebraska finishes their season. Not true. While teams are given a 48 hour window to sign DFEs whose season hasn't ended, their season still has to end before the draft takes place. Since Nebraska's season likely is going to go deep into June, the Brewers would have to re-draft Timm if they want to add him to their system.

You're right DHonks, DFEs have to sign by May 31st. The only exception is if a player's season continues past the deadline, in which the controlling team has 48 hours after the player's season ends to sign him. Of course, if that player's season continues past the draft, such as Ronnie Prettyman's, the Brewers would have to re-draft them to be able to sign them. I think we'll see Drew & Weaver sign before the deadline. It will go to the last minute, but they'll eventually get it done IMO. As for Derek Miller (not Andrew Miller, a LHP from UNC who could be the #1 overall pick next year), I don't think he's looking for anything near Parra-money. As Mass Haas has pointed out on another thread, he's older (23+) and has little to no leverage. Even if we do sign him, he's going to have to move quick, which is why I've suggested moving him to the bullpen (which goes against my thoughts on the Hansen thread, but at his age time is of the essence). I think Scram will eventually sign. Remember, every year we go down to the wire with these guys. Most of it is by design.

BA updated their draft tracker this evening. Interesting note on Ryan Braun: 12. Ryan Braun, 3b, U. of Miami 5/24 Update: Always-secretive Brewers said to be eyeing Miami 3b with No. 5 pick if Gordon and Zimmerman are gone

BA started their regional coverage, starting with California today. While the complete coverage is subscriber based, I had to share their comments on Cal State Fullerton LHP Ricky Romero: Don't worry, not a Kotchman fetish, but how can you not love this guy? It's complete comments like these that leads me to believe that Romero is going to enjoy success at the big-league level.

Again, not a good comparison for Maybin. Delmon Young was (and still is) such a good, pure hitter with great natural power. Young has projected as a corner OF all along. Maybin is more of a work in progress, and may be able to stay in CF.

Eric Davis was a hell of a player, I'd take him on my team any day of the week. How confident are you in that comparison? I'm very confident in the comparison as far as his tools, stature & athleticism are concerned, and in fact it's not really a matter of confidence. Whether or not he turns out to be as productive is another question, as I can't tell the future. Maybin sounds a lot like current mets prospect Lastings Milledge. Milledge is probably the combination of Maybin & McCutchen. Maybin has more power, and Milledge is probably more of a stolen base threat.

Maybin and McCutchen really are two different players. Maybin is a true 5-tool athlete, with exciting power potential. While he has good speed, he may end up in RF down the road. His arm plays at any OF spot. McCutchen is more than just a speed merchant (he stars in track as well as baseball), as he uses a very controlled bat to lace base hits to all fields. While he has some HR pop, that's not really his game. While McCutchen has very good speed, I'm not sure if I see him as much of a stolen base threat. Some fast guys for whatever reason just aren't good base stealers. McCutchen's arm is average, which makes him more of a 3 and a half to 4-tool player. McCutchen reminds me of a right-handed hitting Kenny Lofton, and while Maybin draws comparisons to Ken Griffey Jr., I think Griffey's teammates, Wily Mo Pena, is probably a better big-league comparison (former Red Erik Davis is probably the best comparison to Maybin).

Nice draft story from the MJS. Nice to see them do their homework. They may have contributed towards BA's mock draft, but we're hearing the same names now, none really surprising. As I and some others have guessed, it sounds like the Boras clients are out of the picture, and as noted, it sounds as though Clement isn't thought of as worthy of the #5 pick, again, as I guessed. The Brewers are so much fun to follow draft-wise since they truly do focus on the best player available. While a 3B seems to make so much sense, as does Clement, they're not going to reach for one if someone like Maybin falls in their lap.

Some great draft notes provided here talking about how the D-Backs are still looking at Upton for the #1 overall pick and how the Royals won't go cheap: www.baseballamerica.com/t...rview.html And BA provided their first draft projection, blurb on the Brewers to follow (this is subscriber info, and usually I don't provide this info...Upton, Gordon, Tulo & Zimmerman or off the board, in that order): Jay Bruce is one name that hasn't been tossed around much. At one point he was thought to be involved with Boras, but that rumor may have been dispelled. Bill & myself believe that Braun is going to hit and then some as a pro, and I'm thrilled to see Romero's name mentioned as a possibility.

Players really don't start to get completely unsignable until the fall completely out of the first round. I think Brett Jacobson is serious enough about a pro career to sign in the late first-round, despite his commitment to Vandy. It may take a cool 7-figures to make it happen, similar to the Twins sigining prep Vandy recruit Kyle Waldrop late in the first round a year ago. With Danks it may just be a matter of him seriously wanting to go to Texas. He was already considered a late first-rounder, although I'm not as high on him as others, so if he's serious about his Texas commitment I don't think he qualifies in that he should be a late first-rounder (at best) anyway. In other words, he wouldn't really fall to that position. I've heard less & less about Austin Jackson, which to me means he's not impressing people as much and he may be telling teams how much it is going to take to sign him away from his Georgia Tech basketball/baseball commitment. One player that may make fit the description perfectly is Mark Pawelek, a prep lefty from Utah. He's represented by Scott Boras, which alone may cause him to fall. The Cardinals have never been scared away by Boras clients, particularly in the draft (Drew, Ankiel), so it may be a perfect fit if Pawelek falls that far. Zach Putnam or Sean O'Sullivan may be good examples, although they're falling because they haven't been performing as well this spring. Otherwise, I think you can take just about any high school player late in the first round and give him slot money to sign. Few players turn down 7 figures, and the ones that do are often made to look more foolish than not.

Perfect Game has had some pre-draft profiles up on their homepage, covering David Adams today: PG: David Adams I remember reading some comparisons to the Mets David Wright, and given what I've heard about him, along with your comments Blazer, that comparison may not be far off. Wright was another guy that wasn't heavy on the tools side coming out of high school, but he could play, and in particular, he could hit. I doubt he falls to the 3rd, as like Wright I think there's a good chance he goes in the sandwich round, but that would be pretty cool if he did.

I've been excited for this draft ever since last year's finished http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . Here's my top 5 for the Brewers, which is the same as my rankings on the draft page minus the Boras clients: 1. Justin Upton 2. Alex Gordon 3. Cameron Maybin 4. Ryan Zimmerman 5. Jeff Clement Ricky Romero, Troy Tulowitzki and Andrew McCutchen would probably fall in right after those 5, and I would be happy with any one of these guys.

From today's blog entries, some expect both Weaver & Drew to sign before the draft:

2005 DFE candidates 2. Darren Ford (18) -OF-Chipola JC (FL) Ford is a smaller (5'10", 180) outfielder that has one outstanding tool: Speed. Here is what his head coach at Chipola, Jeff Johnson, had to say about him: "Darren is probably the fastest college player in the country. He consistently runs the 60 yard dash in the 6.25 range. He is still a little raw on the bases but has blazing speed. The thing that surprised me about Darren is his improvement and pop at the plate. This fall he was probably our most consistent hitter and did not get thrown out all fall trying to steal. He has average arm strength and a great willingness to learn. I would be very surprised if Darren does not have an outstanding spring for us and signs with the Brew Crew." Ford could be a similar prospect as Hasan Rasheed, a DFE candidate from a year ago. Similar to Rasheed, look for Ford to be added to the system later this spring. He's raw, and like all raw players, he needs to improve in many of the finer aspects of the game. I know when I talked to his head coach Jeff Johnson earlier this spring via email he sounded incredibly impressed with Ford's progress up to that point in time. Without a doubt, the Brewers are paying for that raw speed, but he at least has shown the propensity to learn and get better. Edit: emoticon

From today's draft blog: Royals officials have let it be known the rumors that they would take a signability pick with the No. 2 overall selection?such as, for example, Texas A&M shortstop Cliff Pennington?are just rumors, not fact. Club officials say they're not under orders from ownership to shy away from top talent in favor of a slot-money pick. For now, Kansas City is focusing on Virginia high school shortstop Justin Upton, North Carolina prep outfielder Cameron Maybin and Nebraska third baseman Alex Gordon. Also, additional info on the Nationals: The Nationals are still owned by Major League Baseball and thus aren?t likely to set any bonus records with the No. 4 overall selection, but the increased revenue of their move to Washington will allow them to make signability less of a priority than it was their last few years in Montreal. The Nats don?t have a second- or third-round pick, giving them more to spend on the top selection, and they also were expanding their efforts in the international theater to fill in the gaps left by losing those picks for signing the left side of their infield, Vinny Castilla and Cristian Guzman.

DFE Darren Ford has signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. Courtesy of BA's draft blog: Checking in from Marianna, Fla., Chipola Junior College coach Jeff Johnson says that Brewers' 2004 daft-and-follow Darren Ford has agreed to sign for $200,000. The 18th-round pick just completed a .306-1-32 season with 45 stolen bases for the Indians. Ford's speed is no secret, as the Major League Scouting Bureau rates him as an 80 runner on the 20-to-80 scouting scale. Once again we're treated to bonus information. That's no typo, Ford's speed is legtimately ranked a 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale.

As I noted in my draft profile, Dominguez has had a hard time turning his incredible promise into production on the playing field. He has left a lot of people disapointed with how he hits some of the best pitchers in the nation when playing for various showcase & tournament events. Given his potential, if he did hit well he probably would be considered a legit first-rounder. With his potential, he certainly fits the Jack Z. profile. There are mixed opinions as to whether or not he'll stay at 3B. One good (or great) thing about him is his arm. A few people have suggested moving him to the mound given his arm strength, but he has resisted the move on a full-time basis wanting to earn his keep as a hitter. I can't blame the guy, but it's a fairly good backup plan should his bat falter at the pro level as some suspect it will. Hellickson would be a steal in the 3rd round, and I agree that his size could push him down further than it should. His arm is electric, and he has a great slider too. I've heard good things about him from the PG Iowa spring league as well. He's committed to LSU, so if he falls too far... And I agree that Damian Miller is definitely worth a 2nd round pick. As much as I love early draft picks, getting a proven, all-around catcher sure beats the chances of a 2nd round pick panning out. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss not having that pick. As for the 3rd round, another name that I have tossed around a few times is Charlie Cutler, an athletic, lefty-hitting catcher from Northern California. He was the MVP of the Area Code Games last summer playing for one of the two Brewer-hosted teams, so you know they know all about the guy.

Point #1 is the only one that will matter when it comes to the Royals taking (or not taking) Gordon. What they already have in their system is not going to stop them from taking the best bat available. Butler will eventually move back to 1B IMO. Look for the Royals to take a Non-Boras college arm... Cesar Carrillo or Ricky Romero? On pure merit, the only arms worthy of the #1 overall selection are Pelfrey & Hochevar, both Boras guys.

BA started another very good feature leading up to the draft, their pre-draft blog which appears as though will be updated daily: www.baseballamerica.com/t...eblog.html

Just a head's up, there is a very nice MLB.com piece on Jeff Clement of USC. There's not a whole lot of video of him playing, but he talks a little bit, as does Chad Kreuter who has been a volunteer assistant for the Trojans this year. Follow the link above to MLB's draft coverage.

SheetsCyYoung04, if you read MLB's draft preview story you'll see that the best we can offer is "within the next few weeks." Today, Johnathan Mayo does a decent job covering the first-rounder draftees from a year ago (Townsend, Weaver, Drew) that could be first-rounders again this year: mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/ne...&fext=.jsp

Baseball America has released their first Draft Tracker list, which is basically a list of their top 30 draft eligible prospects. Kudos to CarolinaTommy for calling out Miami's Cesar Carrillo and Oregon State's Jacoby Ellsbury as severely underrated draft prospects a couple of months ago: BA's Draft Tracker Mass Haas, any word on Massachussetts rising RHP Matt Torra out in your neck of the woods? I must say, this is the first I've heard about him. The Brewers love rising prepsters (see Mark Rogers), so keep an eye on CJ Henry, who could play 3B. CJ Henry player profile

MLB has had very good draft coverage the past couple of years, and Johnathan Mayo kicks it off with a mock draft of his own: MLB Mock Draft MLB Draft Coverage Some good sound bites to check out, including Q&A's with Mike Pelfrey, Justin Sellers, Kyle Hancock and Cameron Maybin. They do a good job keeping their info fresh, so be sure to check back daily, or at least a few times a week.

I couldn't find the thread where we were listing transactions, so I figured I'd start a new one so we actually knew what it pertained to. Anyway, Jim, I got the most recent issue of BA and here's the notes (I think you already know about Farnsworth, Rival & Tuttler): Released RHPs Jeff Farnsworth and Kevin Rival and OF Jason Tuttler. Placed LHP Jared Theodorakos on the restricted list.