The Five Things Organization-Wide You Want To See In 2014

[brewcrewdue80]

Some of these lists are just unrealistic.

 

1. Continue drafting based on the players tools and not on need.

2. Trade Ramirez for some young players.

3. Trade Gallardo for some young players.

4. Platoon Weeks and Gennett at 2B

5. Move Coulter from catcher to basically anywhere but catcher.

 

This is the best top 4 that I have read, with the exception of Coulter. Moving a guy from catcher to any other position player isn't going to help him. If he has difficulty stopping passed balls, how is he going to do in the field? Trying to hide guys in the outfield doesn't fly for me. The Brewers minor league clubs already have too many bad outfielders that actually were drafted to play outfield. There my rant is complete.

 

I didn't want to go with #2 or #3 because that would indicate the team is selling at the Trade Deadline meaning no shot of the playoffs.

Trying to go with the club's idea that they are competitive enough to compete for the Playoffs.

 

Otherwise, The Brewers #1 would have been to trade Gomez 2-3 weeks ago before Ellsbury/Choo signed. To do so now is missing out on the Rangers' prospects we could have asked for. Or had Seattle involved to nab a great couple pitching prospects. But, the idea with the 2014 organization is we're going to win.

 

But maybe, just maybe Houston will get very interesting as a team and offer up a couple of those high end prospects to end 2014 making missing out this year mute.

[LouisEly]

1) 502's #1

2) Fondy's #2

3) MVP's #3

4) Briggs' #4

5) Bjkrautke's #5

 

I can't set a goal of trading players before the end of the season, because that will mean not being in playoff contention. I'll take playoff contention over following the Minor League report any year; 2008 and 2011 were the most fun seasons as a fan I've had since 1982, and going to a playoff game in 2011 was something I'd been waiting almost 40 years for. It may not be probable to make the playoffs this year, but it is always possible (see: 2006 St. Louis Cardinals).

 

If I have to be original and put in something not mentioned yet, I'll say prove that the Aoki trade was the right move (both in who they got in return and making room for Davis) and have a draft that rivals the 2005 draft with a superstar in the 1st round but don't let the equivalents of Weeks, Bailey, and Arrieta get away.

[Eye Black]

• - Get to June still in possession of the #12 overall pick in the MLB Draft.
   
  - Make it through the first two months of the season with a .500 or better record.
   
  - Identify capable corner infielder options for the future.
   
  - Jean Segura's play continues to warm my heart.
   
  - The minor league system takes a step forward and some of the recent draft picks show improvement/promise.
  

[Fear The Chorizo]

1 - Braun and Ramirez return to the middle of the lineup and produce to their career norms

2 - Two of Nelson, Hellweg, and Thornburg take the next step and join Peralta in the opening day starting rotation

3 - A handful of recent draft picks and trade acquisitions turn in solid years and give the minor league system a prospect boost headed up the ladder

4 - 1B gets manned by someone who actually is a 1B for all of 2014

5a - some of the young Brewers (Khris Davis, Gennett, Segura, Thornburg/Peralta/Hellweg, Morris, etc) continue to solidify roles on the big league roster, leading to plenty of questions about overemphasizing minor league system rankings.

5b - if the wheels fall of the big league club early due to injury or ineffectiveness, DM does the right thing and deals veterans approaching free agency for anything of value.

[MNBrew]

I'll second FTC's list above, 1 through 5a, with these two tweaks:

 

2 - Two of Nelson, Hellweg, and Thornburg take the next step and join Peralta in the opening day starting rotation, which performs season-long like it did in the 2nd half of 2013.

 

4 - 1B gets manned by someone who plays it like a capable 1B both offensively & defensively.

 

Doesn't have to be an All-Star or a Gold Glove, just play respectably (average to slightly above) on defense, and produce somewhere between Lucroy's 2013 and Ramirez's career norms on offense.

[brewers4eric]

1. I would like to see the Brewers develop a new face of the franchise other than Ryan Braun. I'll support Braun as long as he plays for the Brewers, but I don't want my six year old son and his t-ball friends to aspire to be someone like him.

2. Put a renewed emphasis on playing competent defense in all levels of the minor league system, in addition to hitting a three run bomb or a bases clearing double.

3. Draft a player with legitimate star potential, to replace the guys like Fielder, Hart, and Hardy that came up through the system and have since left the team. This will give me someone to follow in the Link Report if the parent club goes 6-22 in May.

4. Take advantage of the speed that we have in our lineup, but give me a reason to not groan whenever I hear the phrase, "contact play".

5. Teach the guys with the big arms to locate a fastball on the low, outside corner.

6. Identify a way to stay for the ninth inning and still travel west from Miller Park without getting caught in gridlock traffic.

[chewy522]

1. Allow Weeks to get some heavy playing time early so we have a possibility of trading him for any value. I like Gennett some, but his time will eventually come, no rush.

2. Platoon 1st base with Halton/Francisco or possibly Morris is he shows up this year.

3. Steal lots of bases and put pressure on the other team.

4. Keep the Rule 5 guy on the roster. I agree with others above, this was a great move to add a good young arm. These moves are key when we keep missing draft picks and fail to develop our own pitching.

5. Keep Gomez in the lower half of the lineup. He is solid at driving in runs and stealing bases is more important at the number 5 or 6 spots in the lineup because you get more singles than extra base hits from the bottom of the lineup.

[Daubs]

1. Play Weeks early. Whether he plays well or not, the salary is a sunk cost. The team needs to see if he can play up to his peak or if they need to cut ties mid-season.

 

2. Gallardo needs to be more efficient with his pitches. He's not walking a ton of batters, but pitch counts seem to be too high. The drop in strikeouts is a bit alarming, too.

 

3. Platoon Halton/Francisco at 1st. Ban Doug Melvin from considering Yuni.

 

4. Segura, Braun and Ramirez being healthy and can hold down the 2/3/4 spots for the entire year.

 

5. Draft more HS talent focused on tools and not position.

[brewcrewdue80]

4. Take advantage of the speed that we have in our lineup, but give me a reason to not groan whenever I hear the phrase, "contact play".

 

Wow, you sir have brought up something that I think may be #1 of them all. There cannot be one BFnet-r here who didn't find how we ran the bases in to outs okay. It was frustrating and something that I truly think a team can work on and clean up.

 

Please, get rid of the contact play that ends with the 1st or 2nd out at home!

[RightFieldCoder]

Playing Weeks a lot early in the season might be a horrible mistake. If he is on pace to get to 600 PA no team will want him and his 2015 contract. If he's playing well you will have union action if the Brewers do something to prevent him from getting to 600. We might platoon him early just to ensure he falls short of this number.

[clancyphile]

1. Rickie Weeks returns to 2011 form.

2. Braun gets back to his 2011-2012 form.

3. Starting pitching stays as good as its 2nd half of 2013.

4. Brewers draft young players

5. Trade A-Ram and Weeks for prospects.

[MVP2110]

1. Rickie Weeks returns to 2011 form.

2. Braun gets back to his 2011-2012 form.

3. Starting pitching stays as good as its 2nd half of 2013.

4. Brewers draft young players

5. Trade A-Ram and Weeks for prospects.

 

No offense but wouldn't 1 and 2 make 5 extremely unlikely, and do you ever draft not young players?

[davego]

Just say no to Francisco.

[RockCoCougars]

1. A world championship, obviously

2. Braun shows no dropoff after the scandal

3. No eight figure deals to anyone left on a picked over free agent market

4. A first round pick who is BPA, and not drafted based on any of 'upside', organizational need and/or signability.

5. I guess that I'll go with Weeks remembering how to hit MLB pitching.

[jackailius]

Some of my thoughts:

 

1. Retool development process of our young players- take a look at other organization that seem to churn out productive players and what they are doing- ie Cardinals and Rays

2. Don't sign anyone to lose our #12 pick

3. Start either looking to trade our major league pieces that have value to begin rebuilding for the future or sign a couple high risk/high reward guys on flyers who may be coming off injuries or off years ie Johan Santana. As it stands if they do nothing they will consistantly be mediocre. Never do too much during the season but always finish middle of the pack so they don't get a high pick and always stand to lose their pick if making a big freeagent pickup. Some of the high risk high rewards signings may flame out but if you get a couple and one or two make it, hey you got a chance at striking gold.

4. Have no regression of those who stepped up last year

5. Stay healthy and have no major injuries to key players

[TURBO]

5. Stay healthy and have no major injuries or SUSPENSIONS to key players

 

Fixed that for you...

[colbyjack]

This has been a fun thread to read. I would love to put "Win the World Series" at No. 1, or possibly all five, but I don't think that's the overall premise of this thread.

 

1. Pitching staff picks up where it left off.

2. Ryan Braun return to form (or at least close).

3. Aramis Ramirez stays (relatively) healthy.

4. Jean Segura doesn't regress.

5. One (or ideally more) young player in farm system really takes an upward turn.

 

I debated between No. 5, which I believe is really important, and finding a 1B or having an internal option really step up at that position. No more Sean Berry or Yuni B. experiments at the position.

 

I think if the first four happen, the team will be in a good position to contend. That's a lot of ifs, which is why not many people will be picking the Brewers to contend in the preseason. But at least it's not just a pipe dream.

[LouisEly]

Colby, #1-4 may be a lot of ifs, but they are things that have all happened recently. They are not asking something to happen that hasn't happened with those players before. Basically, they are asking the pitching staff to duplicate the 2nd half of 2013, Segura to duplicate 2013, and for Braun and Ramirez to revert to 2012 form.

[SenatorShriv]

1. A big year for Ryan Braun.

2. A frank assessment of where the team is at sometime in mid-summer. I fear being right around .500 and having management convince themselves that we're only aging veteran away from competing for the playoffs. Worse yet, and more likely in my mind, is that they feel that sticking with the current crew will give us a good chance to get to the playoffs and don't make any radical moves. I feel like the pieces will all fall in place (Ramirez, Braun, Segura, Gomez, and young pitchers) ALL play to their highest levels and the team is in a very strong position mid-season or we're going to scuffle along in mediocrity all year. If it is playing out to be the later I hope they get aggressive and start building for a couple years down the road.

3. A draft heavily focused on high ceiling players. I'm willing to draft a bunch of high risk / high reward players to get a few potential impact players in the system. I don't love following the farm teams nearly as much as I used to because there aren't the potential superstars scattered throughout the system.

4. I want clarity in our starting pitching roster. Of all the marginal and "what if" guys I want at least 2 preferably three to step up and prove they can consistently perform. That will allow us to identify who is for real and who needs to be replaced.

5. Jean Segura and Carlos Gomez stay healthy and continue to play the game in a way that forces me to tune in and watch even if the team stinks.

[colbyjack]

LouisEly, that was my point.

[CheezWizHed]

5. One (or ideally more) young player in farm system really takes an upward turn.

 

I debated between No. 5, which I believe is really important, and finding a 1B or having an internal option really step up at that position.

 

Then wish for Hunter Morris to take an upward turn and you get both wishes (kind of like wishing for more wishes).

[RobDeer 45]

1.) I'm willing to give him another shot, but I really don't want Francisco at 1b to be our main option. Anything but him.

2.) Have a young guy blow up and become a mainstay in our lineup or rotation.

3.) Davis to play like he did at the end of last year.

4.) Have a good start to the year!

5.) Young pitchers take a step forward, giving us a better picture of what we have for the future.

 

I feel like I have so many more, but I won't cheat, and I'll leave it at that. Good thread so far, very enjoyable read.

[Warning Track Power]

1. A focus on the Brewers being a small market baseball team. This doesn't mean being cheap, rather it means operating as an organization that emphasizes development from its system and doesn't rely on Suppan, Lohse, Looper type signings to fill roster deficiencies. Additionally, this does not mean we do not ever deal prospects, but when we do, it has to be for cost controlled and/or controllable talent. Lawrie for Marcum deals are eliminated. In 2014 for example, a Lawrie prospect would only be dealt for a Shelby Miller-type SP.

 

2. A determination of whether our organizational philosophy of pitching is flawed. The Brewers history is littered with solid hitters with Braun & Fielder, Jenkins, Sexson & Burnitz, Cirillo, Jaha & Vaughn, Yount, Molitor & Cooper. However, the history of pitching has been exceptionally atrocious. Either we are truly unlucky as an organization by having the same issues through the Melvin, Taylor, Bando, etc... eras or our scouting department is and has been full of terrible talent evaluators. Either way, this requires significant attention.

 

3. Ryan Braun returns full of contrition and re-establishes himself as the face of the franchise. Moreover, he becomes the leader or a leader of the clubhouse and firmly cements himself as a lifelong Brewer. This will also require fans of the team that were hurt by his actions, open themselves up to accepting him again as the healing process between player and fan is a two-way street.

 

4. The return of Yovani Gallardo, the continued development of Wily Peralta and the ascension of Tyler Thornburg and Jimmy Nelson. If the Brewers have any designs on contending in the near future with their core of Braun, Lucroy, Gomez & Segura, then they will need above average pitching. Given the relative lack of impact pitching in the system, the Brewers best hope is Yovani returning to pre-2013 Yo, Peralta ascending into an above average #3 in 2014 and Thornburg and Nelson developing into mid rotation arms by the end of 2014. If at the beginning of 2015, the Brewers can call Yo & Peralta legitimate #2s and Thornburg & Nelson average #3s, the Brewers immediate and long term future will be bright.

 

5. Solving First Base. I believe that an Ike Davis trade is a necessary risk provided it doesn't require a trade of Thornburg, Nelson or any other higher end prospect. While he could just be another Juan Francisco, he could also be a poor man's Chris Davis. Two sets of numbers, 1 is Ike in NY, the other is Chris in Texas:

 

Ike: .242/.334/.434, 67 HR, 219 RBI, OPS+ 112 (1488 ABs)

Chris: .248/.300/.455, 42 HR, 124 RBI, OPS+ 94 (882 ABs)

 

Is Ike, Chris? No, but that isn't the point. The point is that the Brewers do not have anyone of Ike's talent to play 1B in the organization currently. Will he ever turn on the switch? I don't know but I am willing to take the chance given the talent is there.

[Baldkin]

1) Something to be done about pitching development organization wide. Clearly it is flawed.

2) Mike Fiers to come back healthy and be given a legit shot in spring training. He clearly wasn't the same last year as he'd been his entire career leading up to that point.

3) Our manager shows he knows what a platoon is at some position on the diamond.

4) Segura hitting better than he did in his Yuni-esque second half

5) Weeks hitting leadoff.

[brewcrewdue80]

WTP: #2&4

2. A determination of whether our organizational philosophy of pitching is flawed. The Brewers history is littered with solid hitters with Braun & Fielder, Jenkins, Sexson & Burnitz, Cirillo, Jaha & Vaughn, Yount, Molitor & Cooper. However, the history of pitching has been exceptionally atrocious. Either we are truly unlucky as an organization by having the same issues through the Melvin, Taylor, Bando, etc... eras or our scouting department is and has been full of terrible talent evaluators. Either way, this requires significant attention.

4. The return of Yovani Gallardo, the continued development of Wily Peralta and the ascension of Tyler Thornburg and Jimmy Nelson. If the Brewers have any designs on contending in the near future with their core of Braun, Lucroy, Gomez & Segura, then they will need above average pitching. Given the relative lack of impact pitching in the system, the Brewers best hope is Yovani returning to pre-2013 Yo, Peralta ascending into an above average #3 in 2014 and Thornburg and Nelson developing into mid rotation arms by the end of 2014. If at the beginning of 2015, the Brewers can call Yo & Peralta legitimate #2s and Thornburg & Nelson average #3s, the Brewers immediate and long term future will be bright.

 

 

If #4 happens then wouldn't #2 be moot? That would be 4 SPs brought in to the Starting rotation that we drafted/signed.

 

I do think that from somewhere I read the Brewers Pitching philosophy and teaching techniques are on pitchers throwing more on a downward plane and that it could be attributed to the poor results of successful graduating of pitching prospects. So #2 could be an idea on that. To avoid that philosophy and teaching technique if it doesn't suit the individual. (Bradley? Jungmann?) I get the feeling that maybe their teaching technique if this is true is to help a pitcher potentially be more successful in Groundball inducing as well as injury hinderance, but at a cost of the individual's originality that may have lead to better control and velocity. (Kinda thinking along the lines of Atlanta's top prospect and now DBack SP Randall Delgado)