Shopping at the Bargain Bin - Minor League Free Agency 2013

[Mass Haas]

Baseball America's Annual List

 

This list doesn't include players who were eligible to declare free agancy last month, like Chris Narveson.

 

Wish lists? Find a possible LOOGY, perhaps?

[yoshii8]

There are some interesting names that I saw. Wouldn't mind taking a flyer on Andrew Clark and Deolis Guerra.

[Mass Haas]

Not to say there won't be several signings, but I really expected to see the Brewers be aggressive in minor league free agency, and that just has not been the case, at least in the early going.

 

As per Baseball America's Matt Eddy and his Minor League Free Agent Tracker, 92 players have signed with new organizations thus far (so not including same organization re-signings).

 

Of those 92, the Brewers have signed exactly zero.

 

We've discussed it elsewhere on this forum, in the two threads focusing on the stadium situations in Nashville and Biloxi, MS (possible new home of the Huntsville Stars), but Milwaukee's AAA and AA associations are due to expire after the 2014 season, and it would behoove the Brewers to have competitive 2014 AAA and AA seasons in order to cement those relationships and thus get extended in order to play in brand new facilities as of 2015.

 

Here are the Brewers' current players on the AAA roster (only ten as of now, we'll list RHP Nick Bucci as a AA candidate) and the AA roster. Now, of course, many players on the 40-man roster will be at Nashville and Huntsville in 2014, and some current Brevard players will jump to AA.

 

Especially from a position player perspective, thought the Brewers really needed to hit the accelerator in free agency, as the AA guys struggled for the most part and few are obvious candidates to jump to AAA. Obviously it's still early, but I imagine the first 92 guys (53 to National League affiliates) came off the board for a reason.

 

Team-by-team signings:

 

BAL 8

BOS 2

NYY 3

TB 2

TOR 3

 

CLE 2

CHW 3

DET 1

KC 3

MIN 1

 

LAA 2

HOU 0

OAK 6

SEA 0

TEX 3

 

ATL 3

MIA 3

NYM 3

PHI 3

WAS 1

 

CHC 8

CIN 6

MIL 0

PIT 4

STL 2

 

ARZ 5

COL 6

LAD 7

SD 1

SF 3

 

Of course, it does take two to tango, so it's unlikely the Brewers haven't tried to sign anyone.

[brewmann04]

Maybe we just biding our time here too.

[Mass Haas]

Not to say there won't be several signings, but I really expected to see the Brewers be aggressive in minor league free agency, and that just has not been the case, at least in the early going.

 

As per Baseball America's Matt Eddy and his Minor League Free Agent Tracker, 92 players have signed with new organizations thus far (so not including same organization re-signings).

 

Of those 92, the Brewers have signed exactly zero.

 

EDIT: We're now up to 112 players who have changed organizations, so outside of those teams that signed their own minor league free agents, you'd think that of these 112, most of the more inspiring targets are now off the board, right?

 

We've discussed it elsewhere on this forum, in the two threads focusing on the stadium situations in Nashville and Biloxi, MS (possible new home of the Huntsville Stars), but Milwaukee's AAA and AA associations are due to expire after the 2014 season, and it would behoove the Brewers to have competitive 2014 AAA and AA seasons in order to cement those relationships and thus get extended in order to play in brand new facilities as of 2015.

 

Here are the Brewers' current players on the AAA roster (only ten as of now, we'll list RHP Nick Bucci as a AA candidate) and the AA roster. Now, of course, many players on the 40-man roster will be at Nashville and Huntsville in 2014, and some current Brevard players will jump to AA.

 

Especially from a position player perspective, thought the Brewers really needed to hit the accelerator in free agency, as the AA guys struggled for the most part and few are obvious candidates to jump to AAA. Obviously it's still early, but I imagine the first 92 guys (now 112) (65 to National League affiliates) came off the board for a reason.

 

Team-by-team signings:

 

BAL 8

BOS 2

NYY 4

TB 2

TOR 3

 

CLE 2

CHW 5

DET 4

KC 4

MIN 1

 

LAA 3

HOU 0

OAK 6

SEA 0

TEX 3

 

ATL 6

MIA 3

NYM 3

PHI 3

WAS 2

 

CHC 8

CIN 6

MIL 0

PIT 5

STL 2

 

ARZ 8

COL 7

LAD 7

SD 1

SF 4

 

Of course, it does take two to tango, so it's unlikely the Brewers haven't tried to sign anyone.

 

Team numbers are now adjusted to reflect 112, not 92, "new" organizational signings.

[brewmann04]

We are still being Very selective and waiting for the right Time

[CheezWizHed]

We must spend our FA dollars wisely...

[And That]

The problem the Brewers may have in selling "top" minor league free agents on their organization is that despite the Brewers' relatively mediocre big league roster, they really don't have many roster spots open. The offense, outside of first, is pretty much set and assuming a Corey Hart re-signing or some such, Hunter Morris will be playing 1B in AAA. There might be a bullpen spot or two to be won in spring training, but not much else.

 

Basically, what is the incentive to play for the Brewers when you're just going to be AAA/AA minor league filler, and minor league filler in two crap stadiums at that? Milwaukee's upper minors don't exactly scream opportunity or glamour.

[brewmann04]

Yes you have a good point but it not like our staff at most level scream we got top level talent either.

[CheeseheadInQC]

I guess I'm not sure why this is that big of a deal, for a couple of reasons.

 

First, in some respects, the Brewers actually got a jump on minor league free agency with the year+ deals for Molleken and Leach and what turned into essentially a year+ deal with Velez.

 

Second, there are many faults in the Brewers minor league system, but a lack of fringe Major Leaguers or guys worthy of a triple-A roster spot isn't among them. For the sake of argument, let's say that the Brewers' bench heading into the season is Maldonado, Aoki, Schafer, Weeks and Bianchi. That leaves a Nashville starting lineup of Diaz at catcher, Morris at first, Velez at second, Statia at short, Green at third, Rogers, Kentrail Davis and Gindl across the outfield, and Halton DHing when applicable. Herrera and Prince serve as utility men (with Herrera probably getting a significant amount of playing time) and Zarraga or Weisenburger fills the backup catcher spot. Parker could also slot onto the bench in case of injury or opt-out. That leaves three spots that are filled by guys who aren't either former big leaguers or 40-man roster members, and although none of those guys is a likely future star, they also aren't automatic upgrades. The most likely spot to target here is a shortstop to compete with Statia.

 

On the pitching side, if Thornburg gets the No. 5 starter job and Hand, Wooten, Blazek either Figaro or a second lefty finish off the bullpen, that would leave four returners in the starting rotation with Nelson, Hellweg, Burgos and Fiers with Jungmann likely filling the final spot (I could be wrong, but I think that the Brewers start him at AAA). The bullpen could feature de la Torre, Heckathorn, Molleken, Leach, Shackelford, Goforth, Pena and Olmsted, with Marzec, Holle and Medlen as other possibilities.

 

I just don't know if a big minor league free agent haul is in the plans, and I'm OK with that. If they don't re-sign Hart or pick up a different first baseman, I could see an Ishikawa-type to challenge Francisco, but other than that, an NRI-caliber shortstop (the one place I fear we might have missed a couple of the better ones) to either challenge Bianchi or provide better triple-A insurance, and an NRI-caliber lefty (given the Brewers recent proclivity for making pitchers sidearmers, Clay Rapada could make some sense, as could Schlereth, if healthy, or Severino) to battle for a bullpen job would be the only real "needs." If you think a guy can be a solid MLB player, fine, but other than those spots anything beyond that is likely just spring training injury insurance.

[Mass Haas]

CheeseheadInQC, welcome aboard, that's a heck of a debut post. Not sure if you've posted under another ID here previously, but please don't be a stranger.

 

You are correct in that I likely (OK, definitely) over-dramatized the need here. The shortstop and LH arms absence is frustrating, Hector Gomez could be a body in the AAA SS mix.

 

The other thing I plead guilty to is associating a desire to impress affiliate ownership groups in order to gain future top-notch facilities at AAA and AA through extended player development relationships. "Hey Nashville, we gave you a 57-87 squad last year, but we're going to take care of you with the same guys plus a few from a weak AA team." Robinzon Diaz and Eugenio Velez were vets that sparked Nashville to a more representative second half.

 

It's more fun to follow Minor League Link Report success, but we realize that especially at the upper levels of the system, W-L is almost meaningless. Thanks for bringing a level of realistic analysis to this discussion.

 

Then again, one shot in the dark would be nice . I also still get frustrated that the Brewers have abandoned finding the next Brandon Kintzler at the independent league level for the High A and/or AA clubs.

[CheeseheadInQC]

Thanks for the welcome, and I agree with you about the independent league guys. Were Alan and Mark Williams the last ones?

[brewmann04]

The Issue according to BA our Minor league teams finished 70 games under 500.

I not saying we need to put a top product in every level but it be nice to be able to draft and teach some players that have the possiblity of being a top end rotation guy.I think the Crew has some very good Potential Bats on the Farm.

[Mass Haas]

Thanks for the welcome, and I agree with you about the independent league guys. Were Alan and Mark Williams the last ones?

 

Yeah, not counting indy veteran signings Tim Dillard and Eric Patterson, those summer 2011 Williams' signings are the last forays into the prospect-level of indy league acquisitions, and each Williams is still a bit intriguing, despite's Alan's drug-of-abuse suspension (now completed).

 

Going back a bit, RHP Dane De La Rosa, who had success with the Angels last year, and of course, Tom Wilhelmsen (after his six years away), were other arms the Brewers signed out of indy ball.

 

I asked the first two questions in October's Baseball America indy league chat, if you'd like to take a peek. More credit to J.J. Cooper for answering .