Is our farm system really depleted?

[berniebrewer4life]

Obviously we lost a lot of talent the past few weeks, I'm not going to argue that. However, everywhere i look people are saying our system is empty, we mortgaged 2013-16 for a shot at the next two years, ect. But, i look at our system, and i still see Rogers, Peralta, Rivas, Heckathorn on the mound, and guys like Davis and Gennett at the plate, and think we could still have some solid players come out of Nashville the next two years to help the big league club. Yes, we currently lack any real top level bats in the system(which is weird to say, given all the Melvin/Jack Z drafts i have gotten used to), but i expect that will be remedied this summer with the draft. Am i being too much of a homer here? Is the cupboard bare outside of 4 or 5 guys?

[EbbaStClaire]

The farm system is depleted because of the loss of prospects but more than that it is unbalanced. The system lacks power, the best two catchers are 20 yrs old and the middle infielders are very young. The good news is the system has a large number of promising pitchers scattered about the whole system. If 5 or 6 of these pitchers develop, then they or current members of the Brewer pitching staff could be traded to fill in the holes on the Brewers or in the farm system. It seems obvious that pitching is always a commodity that is in demand.

[LouisEly]

It is more of a shift to pitching than a depleted system. You can always trade pitching for bats. Rogers, Peralta, Rivas, Heckathorn, Scarpetta, Thornburg, plus guys like Nelson, Lamontagne, Merklinger, Bucci, Lasker, Arnett, Fiers, Hall, Howell, Miller, or Ross have either potential or have shown promise. Add to that two of the top 15 picks in next year's draft, and I don't think they system is as bare as some think. Oh, and they still have that Gamel guy too.

 

Braun, Hart, Lucroy, Gamel, and McGehee aren't going anywhere for a while; if Fielder leaves they move one of Hart/Gamel to 1B and the other RF. Schafer could be ready in CF in 2012. If they extend Weeks he won't be going anywhere for a while; if they don't they'll get players in a trade for him or comp picks (Weeks was 5th among ML 2B in OPS last year just barely behind Utley - don't know if that means Type A) and they have Farris and Gennett coming up. The only hole in the upper levels of the organization where they don't have a young ML starter, a guy locked up for 3-4 years, or an upper-level prospect is SS.

[Invader3K]

I bet in another off-season or two we're all going to be talking about how loaded the farm system looks. This kind of things seems to be pretty cyclical.

Wisconsin Sports Tap has a pretty good write up detailing why we shouldn't be too pessimistic about the current farm system. Definitely worth a read.

[logan82]

It is depleted. We have Rogers as a possible good player and then a bunch of guys. Lots of pitching but mostly back end starters or relievers. We can talk about how our MLB team is set for a while but that doesn't make our minors better. It just means we don't need our minors to be good anytime soon.

[Oxy]

It is depleted. We have Rogers as a possible good player and then a bunch of guys. Lots of pitching but mostly back end starters or relievers. We can talk about how our MLB team is set for a while but that doesn't make our minors better. It just means we don't need our minors to be good anytime soon.

This is what I was going to say. We have one player whose ceiling is is a good major league starter. Can it get any more bare than that? Every other guy is basically hoping for a cup of coffee or to stick somewhere as a quality back-up. Sure, there could be some surprises, but they would be exactly that--surprises. Most of the guys in the system are of the same quality as scrap-heap players like Maysonet, Riggins and Sanchez. That's why we signed those guys.

 

I don't think this is overly concerning though considering we have a young core of Hart, Braun, Gallardo, McGehee/Gamel, and hopefully LuCroy that we have control of for the next 4 years or so. If we can extend Weeks, Marcum or Greinke that will add to the mix. The next 2 years, the MLB team should be very good, and two years is a lot of time to replenish the farm--especially considering all of the draft picks that are coming our way.

[madbad2000]

Of course our system is depleted. You don't make the graduations to MLB and type of trades we did without giving up significant talent. I think we still have some high upside types of players but they need to prove themselves and show those that rank the systems who they are. Rogers has a very high upside and I don't care about his age. As was mentioned elsewhere, he has missed two years with injury...we still have 6 years of him under control. While most people look at a system and focus in on the highest ceiling, the players we have coming through the system project to contribute at a decent level which has a lot of value. I don't care what other sites rank our system at for at least 2 more years. Feels nice to not HAVE to rely on the stream. A nice change.

[dadofandrew]

I don't think it's nearly as bad as some think. Peralta and Rivas are solid pitching prospects at AA, and both might be SP's. When was the last time the Crew had a pair of true SP types in the upper minors? Parra and Yo?

[PrinceFielderx1]

The Brewers system isn't as bad as people are portraying it to be. The Brewers have pitching in the upper parts of the system including Rogers, Rivas and Peralta. The Brewers are very deep in pitching in the lower parts of the system and next season if some players step up people will be signing a different tone. The Brewers also have Gennett and Schafer who IMO will be the next top prospects in 2011. The Brewers player development plan is very good and is paying dividends and will continue to pay dividends. I'm not worried about the Brewers system at all to be completely honest.

[Oxy]

The Brewers system isn't as bad as people are portraying it to be. The Brewers have pitching in the upper parts of the system including Rogers, Rivas and Peralta. The Brewers are very deep in pitching in the lower parts of the system and next season if some players step up people will be signing a different tone. The Brewers also have Gennett and Schafer who IMO will be the next top prospects in 2011. The Brewers player development plan is very good and is paying dividends and will continue to pay dividends. I'm not worried about the Brewers system at all to be completely honest.

The thing is, if everyone of our pitchers fulfilled their projections/ceilings, we would end up with one Gallardo quality pitcher (Rogers) and 5-7 Parra and Narveson types. That's a pitching staff that might be able to compete with Pittsburgh's. Not only is this if most of our guys turn out, it's also the STRENGTH of our system! Right now it is unlikely that we could field a team of minor league position players that will eventually even be good enough to be September call-ups. Again, I'm not really complaining because the MLB team should be good for long enough to replenish the system, but if we are still singing this tune in two years things could be looking bleak. I have faith that we will draft well the next two years to get a nice mix of talented upside and polished college guys to replenish the system. Not to mention a likely trade or two of Greinke/Marcum/McGehee/Gamel/Weeks/Fielder that could bring in a nice haul of youngsters. We have developed enough talent the past 5-7 years to think that we can do it again. But anybody who says that the guys we currently have in the system aren't that bad is seriously deluding themselves. Enjoy the MLB team now and hope we can reload in a few years!

[jackalope02ca]

There is no doubt it's depleted and I don't think Mark Rogers has the upside that many on this board do. That being said I do think Rogers has the ability to make the majors late this year or next to stay and will contribute just not as a top end starter. Whether it's as a starter or in the pen remains to be seen.

 

What we have is a lot of decent middle of the road top prospects with no top 100 or even 200 guys. Guys like Gindl, Gennett, Peralta, Rivas, Scarpetta, Bucci, Hawn, Morris, Heckathorn, Thornburg, Nelson, Komatsu, and the list just goes on and on all have reasonable chances at making it over the next 3-4 years. They all won't but several of them will fill positions and become average players in the majors. Every team needs those types of guys. Keep in mind we have two first rounders this year and are going to get compensated with draft picks when the likes of Weeks if he isn't signed to an extension, Fielder, Marcum and Greinke eventually leave. i'm sure we will sign a few of these guys to long term deals but there wont' be enough money for all of them.

[dadofandrew]

Add in Rogers, there's 3 solid SP prospects in AA or AAA. Been a long time since they had that.

[jerichoholicninja]

If the Crew makes the playoffs the next two years and then has to slightly rebuild will it really matter? We would have been average to mediocre the next two years with what we had and then hoped our prospects turned out to be good players or we could trade the potential for two pitching starts and keep our offense intact. Personally, I'll take what Doug just did and deal with the rebuilding instead of trying to patch holes with expensive free agents like Davis and Wolf.

[filthyfrog]

There's no question this is a terrible farm system right now. We have some decent depth and potentially useful players, but as I see it, Rogers is really the only potential All Star. But as others have hinted at, this is a pretty good time to have a terrible farm system. Most of the big league team is locked up for at least two years. If we can re-sign Weeks and if Gamel can fill in for Prince after 2011, we'll just have a couple holes to fill from the outside. It'll be 3 to 5 years before we really need a new wave of prospects to arrive.

[paul253]

if everyone of our pitchers fulfilled their projections/ceilings, we

would end up with one Gallardo quality pitcher (Rogers) and 5-7 Parra

and Narveson types

 

I don't agree with this. I think Peralta and Heckathorn could both top out as a number three. Even Rivas maybe. Scarpetta could be a solid starter as well. Milwaukee really needs to extend Marcum or Greinke, and hopefully both, because as long as they have solid major league starting pitchers they can build their system quicker because they won't be forced to trade prospects for pitchers. So as weird as this is to say, I think if we can sign either Marcum or Greinke long term, our system looks better. Also, Milwaukee really needs to start drafting the highest ceiling players regardless of age and position. I feel like the past few years they've drafted a lot mid ceiling college pitchers with the expectation that they go through the system quicker. They cannot mess up on either of their two top fifteen picks next season, and hopefully somebody signs Hoffman to get us that extra pick. These next two drafts are going to be HUGE in terms of restocking the system. If they can resign Marcum and/or Greinke and hit a home run in the next two drafts (with the possibly of 6-8 picks before the second round, depending on who the lose and who signs them) they will be in a very good position.