Very very early projection of next season's rosters

[And That]

I usually do this later in the offseason, but I had a few minutes to kill today, so here's a really really really early projection for next year's rosters. Anyone who is not under contract for next year (to the best of my knowledge) has not been included in the projection. Anyone who is under contract is fair game, though I obviously am aware of the unlikelihood of Fielder still being around next season. And for the most part, if a pitcher ended this year on the disabled list with a major or undisclosed injury, I didn't include him. I never trust pitchers to get healthy until they are healthy.

 

If I made any obvious mistakes, let me know. Again, this isn't a prediction - I don't expect any of the rosters to end up like I have them right now. There are a few spots in Nashville where the Brewers just don't even have a guy yet. This just gives some idea at what me might be looking at next year, as of this very second.

 

Milwaukee
Starting Catcher	J. Lucroy		Backup Catcher				G. Kottaras
Starting First Baseman	P. Fielder
Starting Second Baseman	R. Weeks		Backup Infielder				L. Cruz
Starting Third Baseman	C. McGehee
Starting Shortstop	A. Escobar		Backup Utility				J. Inglett
Starting Left Fielder	R. Braun
Starting Center Fielder	L. Cain		Backup Outfielder				C. Dickerson
Starting Right Fielder	C. Hart		Backup Outfielder				B. Katin
Starting Pitcher #1	Y. Gallardo		Long Relief				C. Villanueva
Starting Pitcher #2	R. Wolf		Middle Relief #1				L. Hawkins
Starting Pitcher #3	C. Narveson		Middle Relief #2				T. Coffey
Starting Pitcher #4	M. Parra		Middle Relief #3				M. Stetter
Starting Pitcher #5	M. Rogers		Righthanded Setup				K. Loe
Closer	J. Axford		Lefthanded Setup				Z. Braddock
Nashville
Starting Catcher	A. Delarosa		Backup Catcher				P. Arlis
Starting First Baseman	M. Gamel
Starting Second Baseman	B. Lawrie		Backup Infielder				A. Machado
Starting Third Baseman	T. Green
Starting Shortstop	E. Farris		Backup Utility				TBD
Starting Left Fielder	L. Haydel
Starting Center Fielder	C. Gomez		Backup Outfielder				C. Caufield
Starting Right Fielder	C. Gindl
Starting Pitcher #1	J. Jeffress		Long Relief				C. Cody
Starting Pitcher #2	J. Butler		Middle Relief #1				M. McClendon
Starting Pitcher #3	A. Rivas		Middle Relief #2				M. DiFelice
Starting Pitcher #4	C. Wright		Middle Relief #3				D. Hand
Starting Pitcher #5	M. Fiers		Righthanded Setup				A. Lamontagne
Closer	B. Kintzler		Lefthanded Setup				L. Luetge
Huntsville
Starting Catcher	S. Zarraga		Backup Catcher				S. McCraw
Starting First Baseman	S. Halton
Starting Second Baseman	M. Cline		Backup Infielder				J. Sanchez
Starting Third Baseman	S. Miranda
Starting Shortstop	Z. Wheeler		Backup Utility				P. Fatse
Starting Left Fielder	S. Wilson
Starting Center Fielder	L. Schafer		Backup Outfielder				B. Kjeldgaard
Starting Right Fielder	E. Komatsu
Starting Pitcher #1	C. Scarpetta		Long Relief				T. Watten
Starting Pitcher #2	W. Peralta		Middle Relief #1				D. Meadows
Starting Pitcher #3	K. Heckathorn		Middle Relief #2				D. Byrd
Starting Pitcher #4	M. Bowman		Middle Relief #3				M. Ramlow
Starting Pitcher #5	D. Merklinger		Setup #1				A. Periard
Closer	C. Frerichs		Setup #2				B. Bramhall
Brevard County
Starting Catcher	R. Neda		Backup Catcher				A. Stockfisch
Starting First Baseman	C. Dennis		Backup Catcher				M. Roberts
Starting Second Baseman	S. Gennett
Starting Third Baseman	C. Dykstra		Backup Utility				M. Brownstein
Starting Shortstop	J. Prince
Starting Left Fielder	H. Morris		Backup Outfielder				E. Miller
Starting Center Fielder	Ke. Davis		Backup Outfielder				S. Krieger
Starting Right Fielder	Kh. Davis
Starting Pitcher #1	J. Odorizzi		Long Relief/Piggyback				D. Howell
Starting Pitcher #2	M. Lasker		Long Relief/Piggyback				D. Krestalude
Starting Pitcher #3	N. Bucci		Middle Relief #1				R. Almonte
Starting Pitcher #4	H. Burgos		Middle Relief #2				M. Costello
Starting Pitcher #5	R. Seidel		Setup #1				M. Willinsky
Closer	J. Pokorny		Setup #2				B. Ritchie
Wisconsin
Starting Catcher	C. Garfield		Backup Catcher				B. Dean
Starting First Baseman	C. Hawn
Starting Second Baseman	S. Vucinich		Backup Infielder				J. Paciorek
Starting Third Baseman	G. Hopkins
Starting Shortstop	C. George		Backup Utility				M. Walker
Starting Left Fielder	J. Dishon
Starting Center Fielder	D. Richardson		Backup Outfielder				K. Allison
Starting Right Fielder	F. Romero		Backup Outfielder				R. Garvey
Starting Pitcher #1	E. Arnett		Long Relief/Piggyback				S. Wawrzasek
Starting Pitcher #2	T. Thornburg		Long Relief/Piggyback				T. Cravy
Starting Pitcher #3	M. Miller		Middle Relief #1				R. Currie
Starting Pitcher #4	A. Ross		Middle Relief #2				E. Frederickson
Starting Pitcher #5	J. Nelson		Setup #1				E. Marzec
Closer	B. Garman		Setup #2				A. Jones

[logan82]

If Luis Cruz is in our organization anywhere above the AAA level, I will be severely disappointed. I would be disappointed to see him at all except we have almost nobody else to play SS in the minors for us.

[And That]

Shortstop definitely shows up as the single biggest weakness in the organization. Farris and Wheeler aren't really shortstops, Prince had a terrible year and George had a fielding percentage of about .900 at shortstop, which sadly is a decent improvement from last year. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see the Brewers go after a shortstop very high in next year's draft.

 

OTOH, the minor league rotations are fascinatingly deep.

[colbyjack]

Thanks a lot Toby, as I know coming up with these is more than just having a few minutes to kill! As you noted, the depth in the starting pitching at each level is really exciting. Were there any players you were tempted to bump up more aggressively that you think the Brewers might be tempted to do the same with in the spring? I could see Kentrail Davis skipping BC since he started this past year there anyway.

 

And I do hope you're right about Farris at SS to improve his value through versatility. While SS is one of the weakest positions in the system, 2B has to be the strongest.

 

I'd also like to see Dykstra given another shot at the OF so if he doesn't have one set position he may develop as a similar player to Chone Figgins. Maybe if Kentrail Davis does skip BC Dykstra could play both CF and 3B, and even spell Gennett at 2B from time to time.

 

Too much time between now and more baseball...

[paul253]

Whats the deal with Evan Anundsen? I know he was hurt all year but are we not expecting him back for next season?

[And That]

Were there any players you were tempted to bump up more aggressively that you think the Brewers might be tempted to do the same with in the spring? I could see Kentrail Davis skipping BC since he started this past year there anyway.

At this point, with the system at low tide in terms of players who will be in the Brewers' plans for next year, I bumped up far more guys than I was conservative with in my placement. For instance, there's less than a 1% chance that the Brewers' opening day rotation will be Gallardo-Wolf-Narvseon-Parra-Rogers - they are going to add at least one pitcher to that mix, probably more. That bumps everyone else down. I'd bet one or none of Jeffress/Merklinger/Fiers opens in AAA, which trickles down to AA where Heckathorn may start back in Brevard, and so on.

 

So on the pitching side, I'll say Peralta, Burgos, Seidel and Arnett have a chance to be higher than where they are. I won't guess on any relief pitchers... that's totally impossible to guess in March, much less now.

 

You're right that Kentrail Davis may well end up in Huntsville, but I don't think he will for two reasons. First, the Brewers from time to time have shown a tendency to keep a groups of players together. The Davises/Dennis/Gennett/Dykstra/Morris looks like a pretty solid group and it just so happens they are clustered pretty close together in the Power 50. The other reason has to do with Logan Schafer. I tend to doubt he'll have earned a promotion to AAA by the time camp breaks next spring and if Kentrail and Logan are on the same team, Kentrail won't be playing center field. Kentrail's value to the team will be greatly increased if he shows he can play center on an everyday basis. He was already shut out of that opportunity by playing in the same outfield with Richardson in Wisconsin. This is assuming that Richardson isn't promoted to Brevard, but I think he's relatively likely for a repeat, and I think it's much more likely Richardson ends up in Wisconsin than Schafer ends up in Nashville, so Brevard seems like the perfect fit to allow Kentrail to play center.

 

As for other guys, Hawn could probably be bumped to Brevard, but where would he play unless Morris repeats Wisconsin or gets promoted to Huntsville? As I mentioned, Richardson could feasibly go back to Brevard too, but I'd like to see him knock around Midwest League pitching a little more. Finally, if Weeks is traded, I think the Brewers will give Lawrie every shot to make the team out of spring training.

[And That]

Whats the deal with Evan Anundsen? I know he was hurt all year but are we not expecting him back for next season?

Like I mentioned in the notes above the projections, I have no idea what his status is, so I didn't include him. I assume he will be back at some point.

[BrewCrewForever]

Milwaukee
Starting Catcher	J. Lucroy		Backup Catcher				G. Kottaras
Starting First Baseman	C. McGehee
Starting Second Baseman	R. Weeks		Backup Infielder				L. Cruz
Starting Third Baseman	M. Gamel
Starting Shortstop	A. Escobar		Backup Utility				J. Inglett
Starting Left Fielder	R. Braun
Starting Center Fielder	L. Cain		Backup Outfielder				C. Dickerson
Starting Right Fielder	C. Hart		Backup Outfielder				B. Katin
Starting Pitcher #1	Y. Gallardo		Long Relief				C. Villanueva
Starting Pitcher #2	R. Wolf		Middle Relief #1				L. Hawkins
Starting Pitcher #3	(Fielder Deal)		Middle Relief #2				T. Coffey
Starting Pitcher #4	C. Narveson		Middle Relief #3				M. Parra
Starting Pitcher #5	M. Rogers		Righthanded Setup				K. Loe
Closer	J. Axford		Lefthanded Setup				Z. Braddock

This would be my team. A pitcher that comes back for Fielder stepping into the #3 or #2 spot in rotation. I keep Stetter at AAA and have Parra out of the pen where he has been better in his career. I go with McGehee at 1B and Gamel at 3B, but it is possible that McGehee stays at 3B, Hart goes to 1B and Gamel plays RF. McClendon and Kintzler are a phone call away at Nashville if any of our relief corps gets injured or are ineffective. We'll see. Just my guesses.

[And That]

With the re-signing of Arlis and Wright, I just made a slight adjustment. Merklinger slides down to AA, Periard gets bumped from the AA rotation and Wooten comes off the AA roster. Wooten is coming back from TJ surgery and I don't know if he'll be healthy or not.

[CheezWizHed]

Unless its an emergency, I'm not expecting Rogers to start at the MLB level... But this looks like a beautiful line-up at the AAA level:

 

Rogers

Jeffress

Rivas

Butler

Fiers

 

Big difference from two years ago...

[uwisfan]

I'd expect a Capuano deal along the lines of Doug Davis at minimum. What is everyone's problem with Cruz? He had a very good year in the minors, is young and under control.. He has a plus glove and hits better than Escobar.. I dont get why nobody like him in this thread..

 

I'd like to see a blockbuster Fielder/prospects for a true #1, bumping both Narveson and Parra to the pen and dumping Villy/Stetter/Hawkins/Coffey. I would be surprised to see Rogers open the year in MLB.

 

I also think a few of the guys have earned their spots with the pen already, like McClendon.

[logan82]

Cruz had a .309 OBP. In what league is that a good year? That was one of his best OBP's at any level of the minors for his career.

[dadofandrew]

Surely Tyler Thornburg will be in A ball or higher. Also, don't they have DH's all the time in A and A+?

[FVBrewerFan]

I see Capuano bumping Parra out of the rotation. Parra has actually been very good out of the pen, and Cappy has a string of quality starts. That pushes Stetter back to Nashville. I also see a SP acquired via trade in the rotation, with Rogers and Jeffress starting the year in Nashville to get stretched out. Hopefully they're both in the rotation by the break.

 

Goes without saying, but the roster may look quite different if a trade or two is made.

[uwisfan]

I'm not saying Cruz is great, but he was named an allstar, has solid defense, and he hit better than Escobar this year.

[twobrewers]

I agree with uwisfan.

 

Escobar has a .287 OBP this year. Cruz is also a very good defender. I don't want him starting on my team, but for $400,000 a year - I'd say he is a pretty servicable back-up. Back-up shortstops with a .330 OBP are called starters.

 

I really hope Gomez plays in AAA - but I have a feeling he might just be cut loose or traded. Schafer or Komatsu could skip a level and try AAA.

 

In terms of pitching, I think Capuano will be back. He has probably been our most efficient pitcher. I'd love to see the Brewers use Jeffress and Rogers as piggy-backed starters - but it will never happen.

[logan82]

uwisfan[/b]]I'm not saying Cruz is great, but he was named an allstar, has solid defense, and he hit better than Escobar this year.

At a lower level. Escobar age 22 at that same level last year .353/.409/.762. Luis Cruz age 26 this year .309/.414/.723. I am not a fan of Escobar but he is much better than Cruz. I have no idea why he was named an all-star. All the good SS must have been promoted to the majors.

 

Edit: Gomez would have to pass through waivers to be sent to the minors. We also cannot remove him from the 40-man roster without his consent. He could request to be released right away or at the end of the season.

 

 

[Tedaldtada]

That WI rotation is exciting to say the least.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'd expect a Capuano deal along the lines of Doug Davis at minimum. What is everyone's problem with Cruz? He had a very good year in the minors, is young and under control.. He has a plus glove and hits better than Escobar.. I dont get why nobody like him in this thread..

 

I'd like to see a blockbuster Fielder/prospects for a true #1, bumping both Narveson and Parra to the pen and dumping Villy/Stetter/Hawkins/Coffey. I would be surprised to see Rogers open the year in MLB.

 

I also think a few of the guys have earned their spots with the pen already, like McClendon.

Capuano won't get anything close to what Davis got at least as a base. He's probably assured himself of a major league deal, but no more than the $1.5 to $2 million range with something like $1-2 million in incentives. Whatever team signs Capuano will probably pencil him in as their 6th starter/long man who'll have a shot to compete for a starting job.

[endaround]

uwisfan[/b]]I'm not saying Cruz is great, but he was named an allstar, has solid defense, and he hit better than Escobar this year.

At a lower level. Escobar age 22 at that same level last year .353/.409/.762. Luis Cruz age 26 this year .309/.414/.723. I am not a fan of Escobar but he is much better than Cruz. I have no idea why he was named an all-star. All the good SS must have been promoted to the majors.

 

Edit: Gomez would have to pass through waivers to be sent to the minors. We also cannot remove him from the 40-man roster without his consent. He could request to be released right away or at the end of the season.

 

Getting Gomez through waivers in the spring shouldn't be an issue.

[ramssuperbowl99]

And that, awesome work all the way around. Pretty exciting to see so many of our pitchers from low A and high A to AA and AAA now. Looks like instead of having pitching depth in the low minors, we now have it throughout. And it looks like the 2010 draft could help solidify our low A rotation too.

The other thing that gets me is the sheer number of the overcrowdings we have in the minors. How about Neda, Garfield, and Roberts vying for 2 spots? Or Hunter Morris, Cody Hawn, and Dennis? Depth like that is enviable, to say the least. The Brewers need guys like this, whether to fill out the back of a bullpen, be role players, or be starters. It allows us to use our money exclusively on starters and stars.

[uwisfan]

I'd expect a Capuano deal along the lines of Doug Davis at minimum. What is everyone's problem with Cruz? He had a very good year in the minors, is young and under control.. He has a plus glove and hits better than Escobar.. I dont get why nobody like him in this thread..

 

I'd like to see a blockbuster Fielder/prospects for a true #1, bumping both Narveson and Parra to the pen and dumping Villy/Stetter/Hawkins/Coffey. I would be surprised to see Rogers open the year in MLB.

 

I also think a few of the guys have earned their spots with the pen already, like McClendon.

Capuano won't get anything close to what Davis got at least as a base. He's probably assured himself of a major league deal, but no more than the $1.5 to $2 million range with something like $1-2 million in incentives. Whatever team signs Capuano will probably pencil him in as their 6th starter/long man who'll have a shot to compete for a starting job.

His results have been encouraging this year and he definitely makes the existing rotation a lot better if he is healthy. What I meant to say was they should sign at least a Capuano-level pitcher at minimum.

 

I am NOT claiming Cruz is on par with or better than Escobar. I am saying if Escobar is worthy of a starting spot, Cruz as a backup isnt a problem.

[dadofandrew]

Cappy will get plenty of offers, and might convince someone to give him 2 years. However, if he can have a 30 start season, he could get a 3y/$15M offer easily, so he may not be looking for anything longer than 2011.

[CheezWizHed]

I would think with his age and injury history, Cappy is going to try to get the longest contract he can this year. I'd be ok with him at the back-end of our rotation. He is better than Parra or Narveson.

[endaround]

Capuano has really embraced Milwaukee, probably more so than any athlete since at least Vin Baker (him leaving Milwaukee likely killed his career). I doubt he has his east side apartmetn anymore sicne he has been rehabbing but I think he is one who is more leikly to come here than look elsewhere.