All-Access: The Brewers Draft

[LouisEly]

Don't know if anyone else caught this the other night after the Brewers telecast. It was a documentary that looked into the Brewers draft; nothing too in-depth (only a 1/2 hour show), confirmed some suspicions, and obviously they aren't going to include any specific comment about anyone the Brewers didn't draft, but it included some interesting dialogue as the draft was unfolding. It confirmed that Seid does have the final say, but DM was involved in the discussion.

 

When they were at the 34th pick:

BS: "I'll call the adviser as we got closer and see if there is any wiggle room. But we're OK with the guy that's below him because of signability of (can't make out what he said)."

DM: "Devin Williams you think's gonna be there."

BS: "I'd take him in a heartbeat."

DM: "What's his signability? Has he told somebody?"

BS: "He told people $2M. But Harvey (Kuehn Jr., Brewers scout) says he's signing."

 

They then broke to some individual commentary from DM and Doug Reynolds, an East Coast crosschecker.

DM: "He's not a player in the organization until he signs. We all know that you're not going to draft a player you think you're not going to sign. There's too much risk involved."

 

Doug Reynolds: "For the Brewers we pretty much know because we have to sign our guys. There are some in the industry that will roll the dice a little bit, and say we think it's worth rolling the dice on this player and they may not sign him... But if your scouts do a good job you know exactly what you have to do to get them to sign, and where you should take them by, and what makes them happy... And if it doesn't fit for what we think about them, then we're not going to take him. But usually when we take a guy we're pretty certain we're signing him."

 

DM: "This year's draft pick Devin Williams we had in our top 20 group... We still have time to talk about the player. In the end Bruce has to make that final call. But he can walk around the room and ask questions... but in the end Bruce has to feel comfortable with the player we're taking."

 

Back to the draft room, still at the break between the first and second round:

DM: "$1.3M is a good range for him. These guys are $200-$300K over, you can get that later on." (Sounds like referring to a couple of guys they were targeting who they think were in the $1.3-$1.4M range.)

 

BS: "Those two guys, I think you just take those two guys... Williams especially. Special talent. Devin Williams, that's a special talent right there. That's the high risk, high reward type of guy we love."

 

BS: "We're at 34. We gotta basically say, entice them to make sure he gets down to us. I would give him the extra couple hundred thousand. Right now I feel he's going in front of us." (Sounds like he was referring/inferring to call Devin's people and tell them the Brewers will go over slot for him, thus enticing him to say no to someone who calls and asks if he will sign for slot or less.)

 

BS: "If he's not willing to move, I'm not wasting burning a pick on him (not sure who he was referring to). I see eight guys easy, maybe 9 or 10 (I like)."

 

BS: "Minnesota makes me nervous on this one. He's their kind of player. They've taken a player in front of us a couple times." (Really curious who those guys were.)

 

BS: "What's that, 28? (Referring to the #28 player on their board who was apparently still available at #47). Worst case scenario, but I'm not paying that. He's not that kind of guy. I like him, but I ain't paying him."

 

(When Austin Wilson got picked) BS: "Boy, they went for some bats."

 

At pick 51:

BS: "Call the father, tell him he's in the mix with one other guy, there's a really good chance he'll get to us."

 

When the Diamondbacks picked at #52, you could hear the announcement "Williams... Justin", you could see the draft room breath a sigh of relief. When the Phillies selected Knapp:

 

BS: "Good, good. (Looks at someone) Devin Williams. Devin Williams. Harv, you got your guy."

 

Interesting how they were talking about Williams all the bay back at #34. They said they had him in their top 20, so it is possible they may have taken him at #17 if they still had that pick. They said he wanted $2M, which is slightly less than slot value of #17; would they have given him $2M?

[TooLiveBrew]

I missed this, so thank you for posting so much content from it. Going to have to see if I can DVR this one.

[trwi7]

Saw this. Was actually in depth inside the draft room without a lot of fluff you normally see in these types of shows.

[Eye Black]

Wow, I really wish I would have caught this, but thank you for the excellent transcription/synopsis!

[sheetskout]

Would someone please try to post when this is on again? I missed this too.

[TooLiveBrew]

Would someone please try to post when this is on again? I missed this too.

I'll second this request. I couldn't find it listed in the tv guide for Time Warner.

[trwi7]

I'm seeing it listed on 7/10 at noon right before the pregame for the Reds/Brewers game.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm seeing it listed on 7/10 at noon right before the pregame for the Reds/Brewers game.

Thanks! All set to record.

 

I should clarify that I don't have the ability to upload the video online.