colbyjack

Hernan Iribarren still hasn't appeared in a game since 11/22. He hasn't started since 11/18. Alcides Escobar started yesterday for the first time since 11/21 and went 2-5 with a double. I mentioned above that a few players have taken more playing time away from these two Brewers farmhands, as I'm not sure if they were only scheduled to be playing full-time in November or if there was an injury involved, particularly with Iribarren, who was hitting the ball extremely well.

The Rangers will likely have the top rated farm system when BA comes out with their overall results. They're loading with talent, as there aren't too many areas in which they don't have a premier prospect. Catching is particularly deep for them. http://www.baseballameric...rospects/2009/267282.html The Mariners' list was released last Friday. There is some intriguing talent, but the depth isn't particularly great. Jack Z. won't be running the scouting ship, but you know he's going to place a much greater emphasis on scouting to help make sure this list looks a lot better moving forward: http://www.baseballameric...rospects/2009/267278.html

A handful of notable absentees so far not mentioned by jjfanec: Neftali Perez Pedro Alvarez (signing late may be held against him) Aaron Poreda Gordon Beckham Madison Bumgarner Tim Alderson I'm guessing Poreda and Beckham will miss the top 50, as will Alderson. Alvarez might if him not playing last summer is held against him. Cameron Maybin's status may have taken a big hit this past year. I would think that Price, Wieters, Perez, Bumgarner, Porcello, Heyward, Snider, Rasmus, Santana are locks. Escobar might sneak in. If he does, he's probably ranked a tad too high. If he doesn't, throw out this list because it doesn't mean squat.

You missed a big con: Scott Boras. Chances are this would be Lowe's last big contract, but Boras knows that as well, and rarely do you ever associate a team getting a deal with any of his clients. Now, it would seem more likely that Lowe might actually sign for less than reported, but I guess I'll believe it when I see it. If you throw out that factor, I agree, Lowe is one of the more appealing options out there. He has been durable throughout his career (at least after the late start to his career), and has put up some pretty good, and consistent, overall numbers.

No Brewers finished among the AFL's top 20 prospects according to BA: http://www.baseballameric...om/blog/prospects/?p=1815

I am surprised that Escobar is not in the 11-30 range. I really do not see him as a top 10 prospect with the potential shortcomings in his offensive game. That said I cannot fathom why he would fall out of the rankings after the season he just had. I speaks to the credibility of the list if Escboar was #42 on the same list a year ago and doesn't show up at all in the top 50 this year. While I wouldn't place him among the top 10 overall prospects, it does speak to his overall potential even if we all know that he needs to continue to get better at the plate.

The A's have two nice pitching prospects at the top of their list, but they are really lacking in impact bats. http://www.baseballameric...rospects/2009/267276.html

There used to be a Canadian sports network called Slam! I think that had some really useful information pertaining to the top players that hailed North of the border. I know both Mass and myself were pretty bummed to see that site go away, but Bob Elliott has started a new site, the Canadian Baseball Network, which seems to accomplish the same things Slam! did: http://canadianbaseballnetwork.com/ Also, the College Baseball Blog has a very detailed story from Elliot up today that covers the top Canadian players playing college ball. Keep an eye on these names, as you know the Brewers will be. One of the players mentioned on the first team, Garrett Reagan, is a former Brewers draft pick. http://thecollegebaseball...-leads-the-way/#more-7747 Actually, here's the link to the same story on the Canadian Baseball Network, with a few extra links on the bottom for those interested in reading about some familiar names: http://canadianbaseballnetwork.com/node/1769 And here's Elliot's top prospect list for the 2009 draft eligible players. Mike Monster is a favorite of mine (you gotta love that name), and Jake Eliopoulos impressed people during his stint at the Under Armour Classic at Wrigley Field: http://canadianbaseballnetwork.com/draftlist/2009

The Dodgers did not offer arby to Rafael Furcal, even though several teams have publicly expressed interest in signing him. Since they changed the rule that allows teams to now negotiate with players that are not offered arbitration, teams typically do not offer arbitration to players that do not have either Type A or B free agent status. Meaning, Furcal leaving the Dodgers does not effect whether or not they get a draft pick. And while adding Dunn to the lineup improves the offense, I'm hoping the team continues to place a greater emphasis on defense with their decisions moving forward. Shifting Hart to CF and having Dunn, Abreu or even Pat Burrell on an OF corner improves the offense on paper, but what the team would lose in defense may not be worth the trouble.

It's going to be a very interesting offseason. I think a lot of players are going to be surprised by what they end up receiving, and some of them may be better off accepting aribitration (the few that received it) in hopes of a better situation a year from now. There is growing speculation that Ben Sheets might be one of those players, which I would be very happy with. Adam Dunn, Pat Burrell, Randy Wolf and Kerry Wood are among the surprising players not offered arby. It seems clear that teams are fearful having their budgets impacted by having those players possibly count towards the bottom line in 2009. A team like the Brewers, who may have some money to play with, could be in a very good situation this offseason, and if they do intend to move any of their young players, the price tag might have immediately went up since teams are clearly unwilling to spend big money on the players that are availalble.

The Angels continue to stockpile power arms, and they would be a good team to deal with if they miss out on Teixeira and if they come calling about the availability about Prince Fielder. The Angels have one of the more underrated farm systems in the game, as I believe 17 of the 25 players on their postseason roster were entirely homegrown. http://www.baseballameric...rospects/2009/267257.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2008/06/06/2004463409.jpg If Jake Locker preferred baseball over football, he may very well be the favorite at this point in time to go third overall to the Mariners next June. He is a freak of an athletic talent that runs like a running back, is built like a linebacker and has incredible arm strength. In baseball terms, that translates to a five-tool talent. He athleticism playing CF reminds me of Dale Murphy back in the 1980s, a true right-handed slugger that also had a knack for stealing bases and driving in runs in bunches. Locker's arm strength plays anywhere on the field, as he played SS in high school and drew interest as a potential 3B prospect, although he made it 100% clear that he intended to pursue a football career at Washington. And in high school, many preferred his future as a live-armed RHP. He could very well be the second-coming of John Elway. There was a ton of unfair pressure placed on this young man as soon as he stepped on campus, once called the "savior" of the Huskies football program. For all of his tools, he receives even higher marks for his character, and if anyone can handle the mental/emotional burdens of a professional athlete, it's Locker. However, his time as Washington's QB has been full of up's and down's. His redshirt freshman year went well, but his sophomore season has not. He broke his thumb during the fourth game of the season, the Huskies are the worst team that can quality for a bowl with an 0-11 record, and head coach Tyrone Willingham has stepped down from his post. Even if Locker remains with the program, it's unlikely he's ever going to be involved with anything more than a rebuilding program, and as good as he is, it has been proven that he alone can't carry the team. He did play baseball last summer for the Bellingham Bells in the West Coast Collegiate League, and was ranked the league's #1 prospect. One interesting relationship to the Brewers is the the Bells Head Coast last summer was Brandon Newell, the Brewers area scout in the Pacific NW. Newell's father coached Locker's father back in the day, and the two remain close. It may not be a benefit for the Brewers, especially if Locker sticks with football, but the relationship certainly doesn't hurt. Even if Locker does decide to choose baseball over football, you would think money would come into play. Grady Sizemore and Matt Tuiasosopo declined the opportunity to pursue a career at Washington as QB recruits coming out of HS, signing for $2 million and $2.3 million respectively, and Locker's talents, and his commitment to football, makes him that much greater of a commodity financially.

Good signing. He was one of the players I identified in the minor league free agent thread as a left-handed slugger that has gotten a little stale at the AAA level for the Braves. He was their #7 prospect just two years ago coming off of a big season at AAA. A change of scenery and a little Canadian love may do him well. Toby's TBD 1B at AAA Nashville has just been filled.

Trevor Hoffman and Kerry Wood have been my favorites for the closer role as soon as I learned they would be available. However, you have to wonder how this will effect the FA value of both Rodriguez and Fuentes. The closer market is pretty strong already, with many pointing out that there are more legit closers available in FA and trades that there are teams looking to acquire one. Now that Hoffman and Wood won't cost the team that signs them a draft pick, you have to believe that neither Rodriguez or Fuentes is going to get the deal they originally thought they would heading into the offseason. I still would sign Fuentes. His numbers have been consistently solid, and I'm not worried about the team losing the draft pick since they stand to gain a few. Rodriguez I'm just not sold on, as his numbers just don't look as dominant as his reputation may suggest.

They must be feeling the pinch of our economy finally. Yeah, no kidding, I'm surprised that they didn't offer any of their players arby. Having crazy amounts of money that allows a team to be confident with such decisions is what allowed them to get so many extra draft picks for so long, but it does appear they are intent on cleaning house to a certain degree. I like Abreu, and I agree he's the perfect type of hitter the Brewers lineup needs. However, his defense is really bad. Any proposal moving Hart to CF and moving Cameron to another team would be significantly weakening the OF defense, and is not a move in the right direction for the Brewers.

Rickey Henderson and Bert Blyleven are no-brainers for me. Lee Smith would also get my vote. He started his career taking the torch from Bruce Sutter as an old-school closer, tossing more than 100 innings a year, and converted into the new style of closers, at one point becoming the all-time saves leader. He's still 4th on that list, but this guy was a very good closer for a very long time. Jack Morris, Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Allan Trammell are all on my Hall of the very good, but not great list. I think all of them are hurt by the fact that they did not achieve major statistical milestones. I think Rice might make it considering how close he was last year.

I'm going to keep a running tab of the players that were/weren't offered arbitration in a separate post before updating the master list as shown above. Here is what I have so far, as you can compare between the two just to see how few were offered arbitration, and this is only based on reports from MLB Trade Rumors. Type A Free Agents: Mark Teixeira - 98.889 Angels receive the Yankees first-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick CC Sabathia - 98.110 Brewers receive the Yankees second-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick Manny Ramirez - 93.438 Re-signed with the Dodgers A.J. Burnett - 89.729 Blue Jays receive the Yankees third-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick Brian Fuentes - 86.694 Rockies receive the Angels first-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick Francisco Rodriguez - 87.196 Angels receive the Mets first-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick Orlando Cabrera - 86.000 White receive the A's second-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick Raul Ibanez - 83.684 Mariners receive the Phillies first-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick Orlando Hudson - 79.911 D-Backs receive the Dodgers first-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick Ben Sheets - 79.038 Oliver Perez - 78.694 Re-signed with the Mets Juan Cruz - 76.627 D-Backs receive the Royals second-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick Jason Varitek - 76.037 Re-signed with the Red Sox Derek Lowe - 75.430 Dodgers receive the Braves second-round pick and a supplemental first-round pick Type B Free Agents: Milton Bradley - 70.909 Rangers receive a supplemental first-round pick Casey Blake - 69.505 Re-signed with Dodgers Jon Garland - 66.473 Angels receive a supplemental first-round pick Brian Shouse - 65.541 Brewers receive a supplemental first-round pick Paul Byrd - 64.922 Brandon Lyon - 63.729 Diamondbacks receive a supplemental first-round pick Jeremy Affeldt - 63.000 Reds receive a supplemental first-round pick Mark Grudzielanek - 62.733 Dennys Reyes - 57.480 Twins receive a supplemental first-round pick The Marlins are unlikely to offer Arthur Rhodes, Luis Gonzalez and Paul LoDuca arbitration. The Astros are unlikely to do so with Mark Loretta. I'm unsure of the status of Rudy Seanez, but if I had to guess I would say that he will not be offered arby since he didn't even make the Phillies postseason roster. All of the other players listed above have either already been offered arbitration or are expected to, meaning there could be as many as 31 sandwich picks in next year's draft. Of course, some of these players are likely to re-sign with their 2008 ballclubs. UPDATE: The Marlins did not accept arby to Gonzalez, Rhodes or LoDuca. UPDATE #2: Somewhat surprisingly, Pat Burrell, Jamie Moyer and Randy Wolf were not offered arbitration. That leaves 25 free agents that could effect free agent compensation, and we'll have more players to trim off this list by the end of the week when we learn which players have accepted (although I doubt it will be more than 3-5 players). UPDATE #3: Darren Oliver and David Weathers have accepted arbitration. We now know for sure that the sandwich round won't be longer than 23 picks.

BA unveiled their top 20 HWB prospects today. Here's the list for all to view: http://www.baseballameric...om/blog/prospects/?p=1811 And here's the link with scouting reports for subscribers: http://www.baseballameric...baseball/2008/267259.html Caleb Gindl was ranked 12th, behind some pretty big names that include Buster Posey, Andrew Brackman, Yonder Alonso, Kyle Drabek and Roger Kieschnick. Under the subscriber section, Gindl received comparisons to Brian Giles and Matt Stairs for his shorter stature yet promising offensive potential.

Brewer IMO is at a difficult spot. He hasn't flourished yet, outside of his brief appearance in the AFL. While I don't think he deserves a bump to AA, I almost would rather see him there then open the season at Brevard County given how that level and overall league seems to surpress offense as much as it does, which can't be good for one's confidence. Ben Badler of Baseball America has a pretty neat breakdown of OPS+ of the AFL hitters. It's a blog entry, so it's free to all to view, but the quick take is that Palmisano finished 12th at 154, Brewer finished 16th at 142 and Cain 21st at 139: http://www.baseballameric...om/blog/prospects/?p=1810

I'm too with logan. I think the team really needs a closer, but I don't want to see a long-term commitment. As noted, the money per year doesn't bother me as much, and fortunately this year seems to be the perfect offseason to be in need of a closer with so many available both via free agency and trade. That should favor the teams in search of a closer, as the only guy that I can see getting more than three years at big money is K-Rod. I'm not comfortable with our bullpen as is, but I am less comfortable with our starters and holes in our lineup. I guess I come from a line of thinking that you fix/spend on bullpen after the other three areas (starting pitching, hitting, fielding) are "solved" first. I am not saying I am right, just my opinion on kinda how I'd operate this off-season as an armchair GM. Doug Melvin has been quoted as to feeling the same way. I understand having to wait to see how the budget shakes out, and of course Sabathia's situation seems to have placed the entire market on hold, but I personally am not a big fan of prioritizing your needs and addressing them one by one in order. If I could improve the team in any fashion, even if it isn't perceived to be the team's greatest need, I would make that move, as long as it doesn't break the bank, sooner rather than later.

With all due respect, I don't really see how anyone could find comfort in that bullpen. I like Villanueva the best, McClung was solid this past year in a swing role, not as a closer, and Stetter proved to show that he's ready for the permanent fixture with the big-league club, but what have the rest of those guys done? That's a pretty big leap of faith to put the Brewers bullpen as the team's biggest strength, and even if that were true, that's not a very encouraging statement. I'm still a little surprised that so many people are comfortable seeing the Brewers move forward with so many lingering questions despite coming off of their first playoff appearance in 26 years. I agree that money needs to be invested into other facets of the team, but that in itself isn't a reason not to invest in a closer.

It's always hard to get a feel for the fall/winter leagues since you don't know if certain players per their teams have a priority on playing time, but Hernan Iribarren and Alcides Escobar haven't showed up in the box score for Lara since last Saturday, and for both of them they did so as pinch hitters/runners. Escobar's playing time has dwindled away thanks to the late arrival of Cesar Izturis, and Iribarren is losing playing time to Carlos Duran. It's possible both suffered an injury, but that seems a little too coincidental. Izturis is a FA IIRC, so he may be trying to improve his offseason value. Regardless, it's a shame to see neither one getting regular playing time anymore (hopefully that will change), given how well Iribarren was hitting and how Escobar was heating up.

While the scouting reports aren't much different than the ones linked above to the player spotlight thread, the 2009 draft page at Brewerfan.net is now up and running (thanks Brian!). You can access all of the scouting reports and other handy links/features on the default draft page. Access that page by clicking on "draft" in the maroon sub-nav bar on every Brewerfan.net page, or click on this link: http://www.brewerfan.net/...DraftArchive.do?draftId=7

Lopez wants to start, and he reportedly wants a two-year deal. Boras is his agent, and Lopez reportedly is the one who turned Fielder onto Boras, as Lopez, Fielder and Weeks are all very good friends. However, I don't see where Lopez fits in, as he'll sign for money more than what the Brewers should be spending on their bench, especially since they already have Bill Hall at $6M+.

I'm not a big fan of comparing the business of baseball, or any sport, to any other business out there. Every one I have seen is an attempt by regular Joe's like you and me trying to find some way to compare a situation we actually comprehend to ones that players like CC Sabathia face.