Jim Callis: Brewers have the worst minor league system in baseball

[colbyjack]

TheCrew07, what if the Brewers get to and/or win the World Series in one of the next two seasons?

 

The ultimate goal, for every team including the Rays, is to win it all. That window may have closed for the Rays, as they shouldn't just assume that because they are healthier from top to bottom gives them a better chance to rebound from all of the losses they suffered this offseason. The A's felt the same way a few years ago, loaded up on prospects and draft picks and still haven't come close to sniffing playoff success since. It's a lot more difficult to make the playoffs than many to most people think, and shouldn't be taken lightly.

 

And I don't recall anyone saying that being in the bottom tier talent-wise is surprising. Some, myself included, are just challenging whether it is so obvious that the Brewers have the worst system in all of baseball.

[TooLiveBrew]

Why would we want to resign Greinke and/or Marcum? I like both guys...

but look at age, look at how much they will cost, and look at their

stuff.

 

I get that you're frustrated the Brewers haven't overhauled how they assemble talent, but to question Greinke's stuff (age too) is just absurd. Greinke is the definition of IMPACT PITCHING (http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif), so maybe you just meant Marcum's stuff, but if that's the case you didn't word it well at all.

[ilikewisco]

It's true we lost a lot of years of cost controlled players, but how many years does it usually take for a player to reach their potential in the bigs. Rickie did it last year and he'll be a free agent next year. We got two frontline starters in their prime for two years. I don't agree you can count all 6.5 years of a player and say they will contribute for all those, more realistically it's maybe 3.5 years if they ever do reach their true potential. And while we wait for them to reach that potential we have a weakness on the team until they can truly contribute. Our system is pretty weak but our MLB team looks really good, and that is something I am really excited about. Pretty much everyone on our team, aside from CF, C, and SS, are proven ML contributors and most are in their prime. The bullpen is pretty young but most have shown they can handle big league hitters.

[kramnoj]

I've said it a thousand times, I'm not a win now guy, I want an extremely healthy franchise that can build from within.

 

That is an interesting choice of words. The Brewers franchise is worth more than the Rays.

 

The Rays went 10 years without winning, their high is wins was 70 games. Then they put together a great season, fall back the next season to a merely good season, have another great season, and then they lose a franchise player to a division rival. Meanwhile, they haven't drawn 2 million in a season since the opening year.

 

The Rays have done a magnificent job of building talent. They haven't done a good job of building a baseball franchise that their fans want to come out to see (and I know there are transportation issues, but a team that wants to bring fans to the park would find ways, with creative ticket packages, buses to the park, whatever it takes).

 

Melvin has learned nothing and all he's done is gut the farm system and provide more temporary patches to the rotation to buy himself a contract extension

 

I think this is unfair. I think Melvin makes this move if he has 3 years left on a contract. This off-season is about doing what the Brewers can to go to the World Series. I don't think there was enough talent in the minors to predict a roster as competitive as the 2011 Brewers will be.

 

The Brewers are in a solid position to make a run for the playoffs the next 2 years. Melvin has temporarily lowered the ceiling of the 2013-2015 Brewers, but that ceiling didn't seem to be all that tall.

[TooLiveBrew]

The Rays have done a magnificent job of building talent. They haven't done a good job of building a baseball franchise that their fans want to come out to see

 

If Tampa hasn't done a good job building a *franchise* their fans want to come out to see, then their fans either don't understand what a good product on the field is, or don't (& will not) care about the Rays.

 

 

I know there are transportation issues, but a team that wants to bring fans to the park would find ways, with creative ticket packages, buses to the park, whatever it takes

 

ESPN ranked the Rays as the most affordable team of the 4 major pro sports in America in 2009, and last year they finished 3rd. For 2011, they're offering seven different versions of season ticket packages. They offer family ticket discounts on Sundays. Even with unique challenges like transportation, you can really only expect an organization to do so much. The Rays run a quality organization & offer some of the most affordable prices in the country. When you put a good product on the field, don't charge much, & your attendance is weak, I'm sorry but the finger has to be pointed more at the fans.

[kramnoj]

If Tampa hasn't done a good job building a *franchise* their fans want to come out to see, then their fans either don't understand what a good product on the field is, or don't (& will not) care about the Rays.

 

Why did you put franchise in quotation marks? If a team isn't competitive for a long time, it is only natural that the fans aren't going to react quickly to one year success stories.

 

ESPN ranked the Rays as the most affordable team of the 4 major pro sports in America in 2009, and last year they finished 3rd.

 

All that means is that pro sports is relatively expensive. It doesn't mean that the team has done a good enough job capturing the market and has done a great job of maximizing ticket revenue.

 

For 2011, they're offering seven different versions of season ticket packages. They offer family ticket discounts on Sundays.

 

How many did they offer in the past? Is there something significant about them having 7 versions? The end result is the fans in the seats and how much money the fans spend when they get there.

 

When you put a good product on the field, don't charge much, & your attendance is weak, I'm sorry but the finger has to be pointed more at the fans.

 

They put together a pathetic product on the field for a decade. How much they charge is relative. Clearly, even if some believe that it isn't much, it's more than what their fans want to pay. As for pointing fingers at the fans, that just means there are three pointed back at the franchise and how they haven't done a good enough job of encouraging their fans to come to games.

 

Let's compare this to the Twins. The Twins, when they won the WS in 1991 drew 2.3M that year and over 2.4M the next year. The attendance drops for the rest of the decade as the Twins lose the talent that brought them the WS and a 2nd 90 Win season. When they finally put together three 90+ Win seasons, they see an attendance increase, but they still aren't able to get to the heights of the early 90s in ticket sales. It was only after the team had put a winning product on the field for 5 consecutive seasons that they were able to get back to the 2.3Mish mark.

 

But all this isn't really talking about the Brewers having the worst minor league system in baseball. If this discussion continues, it should probably be in a new topic.

[TheCrew07]

This will be long because I'll be responding to everyone at once, so many people won't even read the entire post, but here it goes.

 

I've repeatedly said that my 2 goals were a World Series and a solid franchise, I have never been interested in 1 and done in the playoffs. This team isn't a shoe in for the playoffs and we are talking World Series? We didn't pick up Halladay and Sabathia, we picked up Marcum and Greinke. There's quite a bit to like about both guys, but what's behind them? What if Marcum's elbow gives out again? What if Greinke suffers his first major injury? Teams just don't make it through the season on with their 4 best pitchers for the entire year... yes it can happen, but who here is going to bet on it? We don't even have the best rotation in the division, sure people will argue we do, but let's see how it plays out. Furthermore what's wrong with being mediocre if you're building a foundation that will sustain the team for the next 10 years?

 

TB has been to a World Series with young talent, we have not. This is entirely a philosophical issue, no one will ever convince me that buying talent which is declining physically and getting more expensive financially is a solid plan for the Milwaukee Brewers. Of course I know we're a better team on paper, but to me that's a surface issue, I'm working much deeper, I'm seeing a different picture than what most of you are talking about. Yea I know I'll be called a prospect horder which is as far from the truth as it gets. The simple truth is that the majority of fans on BF.net are not interested or only having passing interest in the minor leagues and only really care about the MLB team. They don't have the capacity to discuss dealing for young impact talent because they don't know the names, or the names they know like Lincecum and Heyward are players that no team is going to trade away. Just like the Brewers weren't going to trade Gallardo, Fielder, or Braun as people suggested on this forum when they were prospects. The trade forum will always be filled with ideas revolving around established MLB talent, it's just the way it is. I'm all for trading surplus players for positions of need, but I firmly believe that Melvin continues to deal on the wrong side of talent cycle.

 

Since my worst case scenario trade wise has already played out...my worst case scenario moving forward is this... now that we lopped off the impact talent at the top of our system the Brewers start drafting "get to MLB quick" type players to fill the holes that will be coming, and the last thing I want to see the Brewers start drafting high floor/low ceiling players. They are great filler, some of the players will surely exceed expectations along the way, but the last thing I want is a system full of Gabe Gross, Zach Jackson, and Dave Bush type players. Then we've become what Toronto was, a franchise with a couple of star players on the MLB level and nothing behind it. Melvin bought himself a contract extension, and I fully acknowledge that I'm basically out on a limb by myself as a Brewer fan, I'm in the extreme minority... but he bought Marcum 5 years too late and he bought Greinke 3 years too late as far as I'm concerned. He saved his own rear by sacrificing the organization's future.

 

Do I think our farm system is now the worst in baseball? No, as I said I really players like Gamel, Rogers, Rivas, Gennett, Davis, Davis, Schafer, and so on, but it's certainly in the bottom 5 following the Greinke trade. I would have argued we were mid tier system before the trade, but again we traded many of our most talented players away. If Arnett, Adams, Frederickson, and Lintz would have worked out better of course we'd be in much better shape. But the organization knew how those picks have worked out coming into these trades. What do the Brewers have to show for the 2008 draft, the draft that was supposed to help rebuild the farm system? Logan Schafer drafted in the 3rd Round, and Maverick Lasker drafted in the 5th, and I think they have similar ceilings as players so I'm not sure whom I'd peg as the more talented player. Cutter Dykstra is still in the system and had a nice rebound year, but he doesn't fit at 3rd, he doesn't fit at 2nd with Gennett there, and I openly admit I never liked the pick so I'm not sure what to make of him. None of these players left from 2008 are impact players at this point in time.

 

From the 2007 draft our highest remaining pick is Lucroy... is that -.2 WAR correct for the season? He'll be a better player than that, but he's not an impact player. Farris still screams utility player to me, I like Caleb Gindl but he doesn't appear to be special in any way. The 2 players I like best remaining from that draft are Scarpetta and Dennis, but Dennis is coming off a disappointing season and I've always thought Scarpetta was mid to back of the rotation starter after watching him pitch in person. I don't see any impact players left in this bunch.

 

The 2009 draft... well Arnett's struggles have been well documented. Is Kentrail Davis an impact talent? The Brewers seem to think so, I'm not sold yet.. I like Kyle Heckathorn, but he needs a good 3rd pitch (he made progress on a change last year), most pundits seem to think he's a BP guy and we already have a ton of those. Walla hasn't worked out so well to this point, but I still like the pick. Garfield didn't really impress me or anyone I talked to who saw him play last season, though he's more athletic than the catchers the Brewers had in WI the season before. Prince had a horrible 2010, he is in desperate need of a bounce back season. I still REALLY like the D'Vo pick, I hope he starts to ascend as his game acumen catches up with his physical ability. Kris Davis has real power, I'm intrigued by him. Scooter Gennett packs quite a bit of punch into that little frame, he's a tough one not to like. Out of this group the D'Vo definitely has special athletic ability, but he's clearly not not an impact talent today. Kentrail Davis maybe? Scooter Gennett maybe? Where does Kris Davis fit as he seems to be more of a 2 tool player?

 

The 2010 draft is difficult to discuss at this point in time. Nelson came on at the end of the year... Thornburg, Hawn, and Morris are intriguing. Outside of Covey whom we didn't sign, are any of these guys impact talent? I honestly don't know, objectively Thornburg is probably the one that has the highest ceiling in that group, I'll be excited to see this group in WI next year.

 

So I believe my original point still stands. Philosophically I'm on the extreme opposite to most posters on the board and I readily admit it, but the Brewers have done little recently to keep the cheap impact talent cycling into Milwaukee. They've drafted enough, they've just missed on a bunch players and unfortunately traded away those they actually hit on for temporary solutions. Our farm system is definitely not what it was, and while I don't think it's in the worst in MLB, it's fair to say that Milwaukee's system should be included in that discussion. I'm not arguing that Sabathia, Marcum, and Greinke aren't better starting pitchers than what we had, I'm saying that Melvin has saved his job by making bad trades from a long term talent standpoint on numerous occasions now. There's no having it both ways... we can't trade away as much talent as we have and claim that our system is even close to the upper half of the league, we're very comfortably in the bottom 3rd. Of course prospects will fail, but that's irrelevant from a talent standpoint, everyone has prospects that will fail. Is trading for a 2 year solution better than trading for a 1 year solution? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean trading for the pitching solutions that were chosen was the best answer to our problem or even make it close to an ideal scenario from a talent standpoint.

 

The object should be to have as many options as possible knowing that many prospects aren't going to live up to their potential, and we're back to having very limited options on the prospect front again. We just aren't going to be able to afford the impact talent from the Free Agent market, it's just not in the cards for the Milwaukee Brewers. Melvin may claim he had the payroll flexibility to make the trades and while that's true, that's not the flexibility that matters when building a franchise. Having multiple productive talent options is true flexibility for any franchise. Having those options allows for true financial flexibility as well because then decisions can be made on variety of factors instead of just the percentage of payroll a certain player might take up. For example, from a cost standpoint I'll take Jeffress over Hawkins every single time, from a talent standpoint I'll take Jeffress over Hawkins every single time, from a longevity stand point I'll take Jeffress over Hawkins every time, from a health standpoint it would have been a wash. Just like I argued against signing Hoffman last year because we had Braddock and Axford blowing up and ascending as players.

 

So many fans, not just in baseball, but who follow all professional sports seem to want to their teams to spend money on name recognition which is basically spending money just to spend money. I'll take a Ted Thompson over a Doug Melvin 100 times out of 100, TT doesn't seem to be a very popular GM in the more popular sport, but I believe he's building the franchise the right way, and it's going to pay dividends down the road. In fact it already has this year, with all of the significant injuries the Packers just kept chugging along and made the playoffs. With better play calling they could have even earned a first round bye. Could the Brewers endure a couple of season ending injuries and make the playoffs? What's the relative (the Packers simply have more players on the active roster than the Brewers) margin for error between the 2 franchises? It's not a a straight apples to apples comparison and I understand that, but the relative depth of the franchises does stand out in stark comparison to one another. Unfortunately it will only take 1 or 2 key injuries to render the recent trades for the Brewers meaningless, they lack the depth as a franchise to be absorb the loss of key player(s) and keep moving forward.

[TheCrew07]

but to question Greinke's stuff (age too) is just absurd.

I missed this one and didn't address it in the long post, I apologize for the double post.

 

 

This time 2 years from now Greinke will be turning 29 and physically on the downside of his career, quickly approaching the injury apex in the average pitcher's career cycle. His stuff is better than Gallardo now, but they'll be pretty similar in 2 years, and overall his stuff isn't in that top tier, he's in that next group down. An interesting side note is that Yo's average velocity actually climbed last season... at any rate Greinke had 1 season he pitched like an Ace, I think he's comfortably a very good #2 and if he gets in an extended groove he can pitch like Ace, but statistically he's not an Ace, the stats for his career just don't bear that out. If we pay him like an Ace 2 years from now I highly doubt the Brewers will get their money's worth out of him.

I never said he wasn't an impact pitcher, he's just another temporary solution that the Brewers paid a heavy price to acquire.

[Mass Haas]

From the J-S:

 

Brewers say farm system not depleted by trades

We see what the new BA Top 10 looks like prior to the site's release

 

Seid said to "keep an eye on" athletic shortstop Yadiel Rivera, a ninth-round pick in 2010 out of high school in Puerto Rico.

 

Yes, Victoria, there is a shortstop in the system...http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Invader3K]

Crew07, you made a long and detailed analysis which is appreciated, but I guess the nagging question is, "What would you have done at this point?" Greinke wasn't available five years ago and Marcum probably wasn't available three years ago, like you suggested. It seems like your alternative would have been to make a couple mediocre moves this winter, and accept another losing season in 2011, just to preserve the farm system. I don't think that would be acceptable from a business standpoint for the Brewers.

 

The difference with the Packers and the way Ted Thompson runs things is that the Pack was able to weather a few mediocre seasons because they'll always sell out Lambeau Field. They'll always get a ton of money from media revenue due to the NFL's lucrative sharing structures. If the Brewers had another bad season, the attendance would dip drastically, and they don't have the media revenue that even comes close to other teams throughout the league. From how I gather you would hypothetically run things, we'd have a couple more mediocre years in '11 and '12, pray and hope some guys like Lawrie and Odorizzi make it, and then probably see them blossoming just as Braun and Gallardo leave in free agency. I just don't see how that plan would possibly be palatable. I guess we'd still be able to point to having a great farm system, though.

 

You admit you are in your own boat, and that's fine. It would just be nice if you realized that you can't keep retroactively pointing to hypothetical moves that were probably never going to happen, or refuse to acknowledge this team actually has to put a winning product on the field at the major league level. The majority of those 3 million fans coming through the gates at Miller Park don't care about how Baseball America ranks our system, or if the Huntsville Stars make the playoffs.

 

I said this earlier somewhere, but I still believe that in one year's time, the overall health of our franchise in terms of the minors, is going to look much better. Going off Tom Haudricourt's article that Mass Haas linked to above, I think the Brewers' brass feels the same way. Granted, you're getting that from the horse's mouth, but somehow I don't think they are being entirely disingenuous.

[kramnoj]

For example, from a cost standpoint I'll take Jeffress over Hawkins every single time, from a talent standpoint I'll take Jeffress over Hawkins every single time, from a longevity stand point I'll take Jeffress over Hawkins every time, from a health standpoint it would have been a wash.

 

What kind of bizarre strawman is this? I don't even know how this enters the conversation. There was never an either/or situation with these two. Jeffress wasn't ready to contribute in 2010 to start the season, and they both could have been on the 2011 roster. If the Brewers were in a situation where they wanted to trade Hawkins going into 2011, they could have done so.

[TooLiveBrew]

Repsonded in the Greinke thread, TheCrew07

[jerichoholicninja]

Crew you seem to suffer from the small market disease that most of us here did until recently. The disease that makes us believe that the job of a small market is to spend money on no one and develop (a.k.a hope) the farm system produces quality major league players and then overvalue them to the point that they are hall of famers before they even reach the bigs. Hence we fall in love with Inman and LaPorta and scream the sky is falling when they are traded, despite getting great talent in return. I think we as a fan base are afraid of success. We've been told for almost 20 years now that the Brewers are a terrible team and a terrible franchise and a laughing stock of baseball. We've gotten used to not ruffling the feathers of MLB and now that we have some are getting uncomfortable. This team has a front office and owner that are not willing to accept mediocrity any longer and as a fan base we need to enjoy it.

[logan82]

The crew pretty much thinks we should have focused on riskier pitching instead of hitting during our rebuilding.

[DHonks]

To me the Brewers made some perfect moves. I think most of us were curious about the comments we'd been reading about Lawrie's work ethic and attitude being lax. Throw in that he has no position, and even the most sabermetric of teams have realized the importance of defense, and it made sense to move him. The Greinke move was perfect because it helped make this team a contender. Odorizzi will be missed, but he may never even thrive in MLB, let alone AA. Jeffress was a fun prospect, but he also had diminished value as a reliever. Throw in that he could always relapse into his addiction, and that was a concern. Escobar was good defensively, but didn't thrive with Sveum and MAcha. In fact, it sounded like Escobar was repeating Chuckie Carr lines about being good enough the way he was and not needing to change his ways. The big loss was Cain, who showed a ton of promise offensively AND defensively. At the same time, he's very raw and plays a position where we have at least 3 other solid prospects behind him that are all left-handed and more refined.

 

The minor leagues exist for one reason--to make the big club better. In these cases, the minor leagues have clearly made the big club better. Hopefully all the others become big time players and we miss them. But at the same time, I really thought I would miss Garrison, Thatcher, and Inman, and that hasn't been a problem.

[logan82]

In fact, it sounded like Escobar was repeating Chuckie Carr lines about being good enough the way he was and not needing to change his ways.

 

I thought Escobar was working with Svuem towards the end of the season on his swing. I believe Gomez is the one you are thinking of.

[patrickgpe]

http://www.baseballameric...spects/2011/2611130.html

 

baseball america lists the top 10 prospects

[Tedaldtada]

http://www.baseballameric...spects/2011/2611130.html

 

baseball america lists the top 10 prospects

Hecky seems a little low, but I love the Jimmy Nelson placement. They mention that we are ranked last in all of baseball because we have no impact talent in the upper minors besides Mark Rogers. I tend to agree, but zero impact talent seems a bit much. I think Wily Peralta (who is pretty dang young for AA) has impact stuff that could lead to some very nice seasons in the bigs. I think Kintzler has impact talent out of the pen. I also think Eric Farris has enough upside, that if he reaches it, he could be a 3-4 WAR type. That is obviously a pretty rosy outlook for him though.

Yadiel Rivera seems to be on BA's radar as well. I hope he meets the expectations. No Tyler Roberts though, which is strange because he was rated pretty high in the league rankings by BA.

[colbyjack]

Again, I disagree with the notion that the Brewers are lacking talent in the upper levels of the system. Rogers and Rivas provide some nice depth at AAA, with Scarpetta, Peralta and possibly even Heckathorn doing the same at AA. There is also potential help in the bullpen. Just take a peak at Toby's projections for next year's rosters. AAA Nashville and AA Huntsville have strong pitching staffs, and not just made up of castoffs and reclamation projects like Chase Wright:

 

http://brewersfandemonium...of-next-season-s-rosters

 

So, in addition to acquiring Greinke and Marcum this offseason, the Brewers have some encouraging options from within that they can turn to. And I grow more optimistic about Wisconsin's pitching staff every time I look at it.

 

And who did the Brewers lose in their system from trades this offseason outside of Lawrie and Jeffress that effects the depth in the upper levels? Cain and Escobar had already graduated from prospect status, as did Gamel.

[Mass Haas]

The J-S

Cody Scarpetta, whose father Dan was a 1982 third-round pick by the Brewers, dropped in the 2007 draft because of a torn flexor tendon in his right index finger. He had surgery before the draft and signed for $325,000 as an 11th-rounder, but that deal was voided when he needed a second operation. He re-signed for $125,000, but to keep his rights Milwaukee had to place him on its 40-man roster.

Scouting Report: Scarpetta's fastball ranges from 90-94 mph, at times with boring action, and he backs it up with the best curveball in the system. His improved changeup gives him a dependable third pitch. He has enough stuff to start, but his command is a work in progress. Scarpetta had a tendency to freeze his front hip and land too hard in his delivery, affecting his ability to locate his pitches. Brevard County pitching coach Fred Dabney worked with him last season to smooth out his lower half, and his mechanical improvements helped his command.

The Future: Because Scarpetta went on the 40-man roster so early, the Brewers will use their final minor-league option on him in 2011. They'll try to advance him as far as possible, probably starting him in Double-A Huntsville and trying to get him to Triple-A by the end of the season. He's a potential No. 3 starter but not there yet.

 

From this Adam McCalvy article, plus we seem to remember reading about it elsewhere --

 

After a player is on the 40-man roster, he still has three or four Minor League options, according to a formula that is confusing even to some front office officials.

 

If Scarpetta needs to be in the big leagues to stay in 2012, that's going to be tough. In effect, he would need to be treated like a Rule 5 pick. Keep him on the 25-man or almost certainly lose him on waivers.

 

We'll reach out to Adam and ask him to contact Gord Ash to learn if Scarpetta's situation has been clarified yet by MLB.

[CheezWizHed]

Well, the 2014 projected lineup looks pretty interesting... I really doubt we sign Fielder, Weeks, Greinke and Marcum all to extensions...

 

Catcher	Jonathan Lucroy
First Base	Prince Fielder
Second Base	Scooter Gennett
Third Base	Casey McGehee
Shortstop	Yadiel Rivera
Left Field	Ryan Braun
Center Field	Rickie Weeks
Right Field	Corey Hart
No. 1 Starter	Zack Greinke
No. 2 Starter	Yovani Gallardo
No. 3 Starter	Mark Rogers
No. 4 Starter	Shaun Marcum
No. 5 Starter	Cody Scarpetta
Closer	John Axford

But if true, these trades would be certainly more than worth it...

[strawbossisevil]

Crew07, I like that you realize that you are on your own island here. But what I don't agree with is the disparaging remarks about the knowledge of those on this website. Especially when looking at the minor leagues.

 

One of the more popular aspects of this website is the ability to follow the entire system, including the minor leagues. We have a lot of people who are very knowledgeable about the minor league side of the Brewer's club, and despite that, they recognize that this move gives the Brewers perhaps their best shot as an organization over the next few seasons (could be longer than two seasons if they can extend Greinke/Marcum).

 

The Brewers could have just sat on their hands this offseason and done nothing. Where would we be in the next three years if they decided to take that approach? (I'm guessing 4th or worse in the division for at least the next 3 to 4 years) Would we be likely to make any playoffs over that time by staying in house? (I seriously doubt it) How would the lack of competitiveness effected the Brewer's payroll? (As attendance would certainly plummet with the Brewers not being competitive)

 

I'm sure there are 29 other teams that would have loved to have a farm system like Tampa Bay did these past few years. But how did they get there? They got there, in part, by being basement dwellers for a decade. To their credit, they took advantage of that draft position to draft some great impact players/pitchers, and used their top pick (Young) to get a guy like Garza. But now that they have been competitive over the past few seasons, their farm system is not nearly what it was at the end of their abysmal decade.

 

Your views always strike me as idealistic, but not realistic. Yes, ideally the Brewers should be trading their players for young cost controlled ace-level pitchers. That would be the ideal. But the reality is that few teams, especially in this economic climate, trade young cost controlled ace pitchers. Ideally the Brewers could build a World Series champion team without the addition of any Free Agents/trading minor leaguers for established major league players. But the reality is that no team, even your posterboy Tampa Bay Rays (which strangely enough has gone through their first major wave of talent without a WS championship), has won World Series without some Free Agent/trades for veterans. Idealistically, the Brewers should be the best at evaluating and developing our minor league players. In reality, expecting our minor league evalution and development to be #1 in MLB year in and year out is impossible. Idealistically, the Brewers would identify players primed for break out seasons (Greinke 3 years ago, Marcum 3 years ago etc.). The reality is that none of the other 29 teams recognized them as primed for a break out season either. You then dump on Melvin when he fails to live up to this idealism. You express your frustration that he isn't able to make the idealistic moves you want from him. Moves that often have no place in reality outside of your own mind.

 

Here is the reality that I'm happy to embrace. Before Doug Melvin, the Brewers had never gone to the playoffs in my lifetime (I was born 1984). Over the past few seasons, the Brewers made an incredibly exciting playoff run (bolstered by an astute trade for CC Sabathia) and are primed to go for an additional pair of runs over these next two seasons (with a rotation and offense that could/should both be top 5 in the league). We are in the middle of a high point in franchise history. I am going to choose to enjoy it, rather than be disappointed that our Baseball America ranking isn't very high and a rebuild might be a few years into our future.

[paul253]

I just hope the Brewers make the right moves to sustain this. Even though their system may be the "worst" right now, it's not anything I am especially concerned about. However, if it doesn't improve a lot and fast (as in within two years) then I will be concerned. We can't have any Evan Fredericksons, Cody Adams, or Seth Lintzs in the next two drafts. And Melvin has to make the right decisions, particularly on Weeks and Marcum. I think Fielder is gone and that is fine. But what do you do with that money? You have to try to extend Greinke. I'd go as high as $20 million a year for 5 years. But if doesn't re-sign, you have to at least re-sign Marcum. And a decision has to be made on Weeks. If you re-sign him, you have a very good offensive player that will help the team, but you have less money to re-sign Greinke and/or Marcum. If he walks, you'll get two more picks in the 2012 draft (along with the two for Fielder) and could possibly have 6 picks before round 3, but you may not have a suitable replacement and losing him and Fielder at the same time would have a huge impact on the offense. So a lot of very important decisions have to be made within the next two years, and Melvin doesn't have the luxury of a good farm system to fall back on in case he fouls up the decisions. Either way, I'm just gonna watch this year a very good pitching staff and hope things work out well.

[trwi7]

If Scarpetta needs to be in the big leagues to stay in 2012, that's going to be tough. In effect, he would need to be treated like a Rule 5 pick. Keep him on the 25-man or almost certainly lose him on waivers.

 

We'll reach out to Adam and ask him to contact Gord Ash to learn if Scarpetta's situation has been clarified yet by MLB.

From McCalvy's Inbox

 

 

Here's the short version of his story: Scarpetta was drafted and signed by the Brewers in 2007, only to have his contract voided because of a torn tendon at the base of his right middle finger. The Brewers signed Scarpetta to a new deal, and per baseball's rules, had to immediately place him on the 40-man roster.

 

Essentially, it placed Scarpetta on the fast track. Instead of evaluating him over five years before Scarpetta's "option clock" started ticking, the Brewers had to start burning his options. They used one in 2009, one in '10 and are expected to use another in '11. Typically, a player has three options over the course of his career, and once they are out, the team must expose the player to waivers before sending him to the Minor Leagues.

 

But once again, a rules technicality may come into play. A small number of players qualify for a fourth option if they have been optioned in three seasons but do not yet have five full seasons (of at least 90 days on an active professional roster) of pro experience. In 2009, then-Brewers infielder Hernan Iribarren thought he was out of options, only to learn just before the start of Spring Training that he was unlucky enough to qualify for a fourth. Just this winter, the Pirates were granted a fourth option for first baseman Steve Pearce.

 

The Brewers anticipate Scarpetta joining that group, but Major League Baseball does not award those fourth options until the original three are exhausted. It would give the Brewers another year to evaluate Scarpetta, who turns 23 in August and is probably in line for a promotion to Double-A Huntsville this season. It looks like he won't be in the big league discussion until 2012.

 

[Oxy]

Well, the 2014 projected lineup looks pretty interesting... I really doubt we sign Fielder, Weeks, Greinke and Marcum all to extensions...

 

Catcher	Jonathan Lucroy
First Base	Prince Fielder
Second Base	Scooter Gennett
Third Base	Casey McGehee
Shortstop	Yadiel Rivera
Left Field	Ryan Braun
Center Field	Rickie Weeks
Right Field	Corey Hart
No. 1 Starter	Zack Greinke
No. 2 Starter	Yovani Gallardo
No. 3 Starter	Mark Rogers
No. 4 Starter	Shaun Marcum
No. 5 Starter	Cody Scarpetta
Closer	John Axford

But if true, these trades would be certainly more than worth it...

Weeks, Fielder, Marcum, and Greinke all being re-signed? That's just silly. While I'd be surprised if none of these guys are signed, signing all of them is just ridiculous, with Prince being the most obvious ridiculosity. I'd guess that Parra or Narveson is in the rotation in '14 in place of Marcum, Greinke, or Scarpetta. Gamel will be at 1B/RF depending on how it works out best between Corey and him. Unless we can pull off a coup of a trade next year with one or more of the expiring contracts, I would guess that .500 would be realistic record.