Early projections for 2016 rosters

[CheezWizHed]

Bravo for you. You got one. Personally I was a little surprised that they got it done this late in the off season.

 

Same with Lucroy. We all project that they WANT to trade him, but will they is the big question. It takes someone giving up what we want in return. It doesn't sound like any one has gotten that "desperate" yet. That is why I voted that he won't go until mid-season.

[Jenkins5]

Less than a week to go until rosters are announced, very curious how they all shake out.

 

Wisconsin

1B Alan Sharkey

2B Tucker Neuhaus

SS Isan Diaz

3B Jacob Gatewood

C Max McDowell

LF Trent Clark

CF Monte Harrison

RF Troy Stokes

*DH - OF Carlos Belonis/ CIF Juan Ortiz

 

Bench

C Charles Galiano

UT-MIF Luis Aviles

*UT CIF Juan Ortiz

OF4 Malik Colleymore

*OF5 Carlos Belonis

 

SP

1 David Burkhalter

2 Jake Drossner

Tandem

1 Freddie Peralta/ Miguel Diaz

2 Marcos Diplan/ Drew Owenby

3 Trey Supak/ Nate Griep

 

Jon Olczak

Quinton Torres-Costa

Alex Faria

David Lucroy

 

BC

1B Dustin DeMuth

2B George Iskenderian

SS Angel Ortega

3B Blake Allemand

C Dustin Houle

LF Brandon Diaz

CF Omar Garcia

RF Elvis Rubio

DH- OF David Denson

 

C Mitch Ghelfi

Super UT- Fidel Pena

UT-IF Jose Cuas

UT-OF Johnny Davis

UT OF *David Denson

 

SP Cody Ponce

SP Bubba Derby

SP Angel Ventura

SP Kodi Mederois

SP Devin Williams

 

AA

2 Jacob Nottingham

3 Garrett Cooper

4 Chris McFarland

5 Taylor Brennen

6 Javier Bethencourt

7 Tyrone Taylor

8 Brett Phillips

9 Clint Coulter

 

C Rafael Neda

IF Nick Shaw

IF Brandon Macias

OF Victor Roache

OF Jose Pena

 

SP Josh Hader

SP Jorge Ortega

SP Hobbs Johnson

SP Brandon Woodruff

SP Wei-Cheing Wang

[Jenkins5]

Brewers have already said Hader is staying in AA to start out the season. Phillips has played pretty exclusively in AA since returning. With all the AAAA OF they have sent down and have, predict Phillips/Taylor/Coulter OF to start season in AA

[CheeseheadInQC]

When did that news come out about Hader? I'd seen Houser had been optioned to Biloxi, but I hadn't seen anything about Hader.

[Mass Haas]

When did that news come out about Hader? I'd seen Houser had been optioned to Biloxi, but I hadn't seen anything about Hader.

 

Hader is facing the Brewers in the Biloxi exhibition game (tweet), a pretty good indicator he'll be with the Shuckers.

[CheeseheadInQC]

When did that news come out about Hader? I'd seen Houser had been optioned to Biloxi, but I hadn't seen anything about Hader.

 

Hader is facing the Brewers in the Biloxi exhibition game (tweet), a pretty good indicator he'll be with the Shuckers.

 

Thanks, I missed that.

 

With Hader and Phillips ticketed for Biloxi, Coulter recently playing for BC (I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything, but ...) and Clark not mentioned in Mehring's article today, the placements are seeming really conservative this year.

[Jenkins5]

When did that news come out about Hader? I'd seen Houser had been optioned to Biloxi, but I hadn't seen anything about Hader.

 

Hader is facing the Brewers in the Biloxi exhibition game (tweet), a pretty good indicator he'll be with the Shuckers.

 

Thanks, I missed that.

 

With Hader and Phillips ticketed for Biloxi, Coulter recently playing for BC (I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything, but ...) and Clark not mentioned in Mehring's article today, the placements are seeming really conservative this year.

 

Coulter imo is 99% chance in Biloxi this year, that is first time he has played down. Clark seems highly likely to make the Wisconsin roster. He has had a very strong spring at the plate. Were players play don't always matter too much. Lara has spent a lot of time filling in on Biloxi and Colorado Springs.

 

Overall though, with the large amount of AAAA players they have filled AAA with, that will cause a lot of younger players to lose out on advance placement. Hader and Phillips in AA to me is an absolute joke. Hader destroyed the league for 2 months and Phillips thrived outside of his power numbers. Hate when players aren't challenged. Astros & Rangers are great at pushing prospects through the system and challenging them. Brewers under Nichols outside of a few Wisconsin aggressive placements have long been very babying of prospects

[CheeseheadInQC]

Coulter imo is 99% chance in Biloxi this year, that is first time he has played down. Clark seems highly likely to make the Wisconsin roster. He has had a very strong spring at the plate. Were players play don't always matter too much. Lara has spent a lot of time filling in on Biloxi and Colorado Springs.

 

Overall though, with the large amount of AAAA players they have filled AAA with, that will cause a lot of younger players to lose out on advance placement. Hader and Phillips in AA to me is an absolute joke. Hader destroyed the league for 2 months and Phillips thrived outside of his power numbers. Hate when players aren't challenged. Astros & Rangers are great at pushing prospects through the system and challenging them. Brewers under Nichols outside of a few Wisconsin aggressive placements have long been very babying of prospects

 

I was basing the Clark guess on Mehring's article here where it seems to indicate the Wisconsin opening day starting lineup will probably be something like McDowell, Sharkey, Neuhaus, Diaz, Gatewood, Harrison, Stokes, Belonis and Denson with Ghelfi, Aviles and Rubio as likely bench players.

 

As for Coulter, the guess was more because I can't see them promoting Taylor instead of Phillips and I doubt they'd try to shoehorn Phillips, Roache, Taylor and Coulter onto one team.

[Jenkins5]

wow didn't read that.... How absolutely disappointing that is if Clark doesn't make it the Wisconsin roster. He proved everything he needed to last year I felt in both AZ and Helena. He isn't Lara or Demi O who are loaded with potential but raw and didn't see many abs above AZ. As of right now I would gladly take Nichols over Flanigan with the way he placed Phillips and Hader, now Clark and Collymore may waste away in extended ST for no reason. Hate Directors who baby prospects and are against challenging them at all. Let them sink or swim a little bit. Find out where they are. Some like Gennett and Taylor take off running, some like Coulter and Harrison will need some more time but at least you figure it out.

 

Rant over, rosters haven't even been released yet so I get its unfair for me to judge or be critical of Flanigan. Just wish we were like the Rangers and Astros who really push and challenge there players. They are scared to advance place players.

 

Im not sure there is a team or scout in the league who looks at how mature and advanced Clark is for his age and think he should not be in full-season....outside of maybe the Brewers

[JohnBriggs12]

Agree with you YoungGeezy1. Top young players should be pushed. Unfortunately, as a small market team, the days where an 18 year old Robin Yount gets brought to Arizona big league camp just for the experience after a half season of essentially rookie ball, and his manager soon comes to the realization he's the best SS in the system and he's in the opening day lineup are long, long gone. Now every decision is based on controlling service time to make sure the 6 years you are assured of getting out of a player are peak years.

[And That]

rosters haven't even been released yet so I get its unfair for me to judge or be critical of Flanigan

That would be accurate. It's also not entirely his call. It's a group decision. Stearns and Arnold almost certainly have input, for instance.

 

Im not sure there is a team or scout in the league who looks at how mature and advanced Clark is for his age and think he should not be in full-season....outside of maybe the Brewers

That is almost certainly inaccurate.

[Mudville9]

I know this is probably out of the realm of possibility, but could Clark be pushed to A+? He isn't a power hitter like Roache or Coulter so I wouldn't think it would necessarily hamper him. Pitching would obviously be more difficult, but I always hear the jump from A+ to AA is the harder jump. I would much rather have the Brewers push someone from the Wisconsin roster up and have Clark in Wisconsin, but maybe they are high enough on his polish as a hitter they think he can hand BC.

 

Of course this would almost assure him of two years in BC, which would be a drag on an offensive player.

[FVBrewerFan]

Remember, it's not all that important where these guys are assigned to start the season. Some of these guys could advance very quickly once the numbers game gets shuffled and reshuffled at all the various levels within the system.

[CheeseheadInQC]

I know this is probably out of the realm of possibility, but could Clark be pushed to A+? He isn't a power hitter like Roache or Coulter so I wouldn't think it would necessarily hamper him. Pitching would obviously be more difficult, but I always hear the jump from A+ to AA is the harder jump. I would much rather have the Brewers push someone from the Wisconsin roster up and have Clark in Wisconsin, but maybe they are high enough on his polish as a hitter they think he can hand BC.

 

Of course this would almost assure him of two years in BC, which would be a drag on an offensive player.

 

It's possible. I was trying to project where everyone would get sent and even with extremely conservative placements (Orf, Ramirez and Wren back to Biloxi; Coulter and Brennan back to BC) if they are going with Pena as the backup catcher in BC until Leal gets healthy, there does appear to be a roster spot vacant and the only guys I couldn't find room for at higher levels (excluding the guys who will inevitably hit the disabled list with third catcher-itis) were Shane Peterson and Brandon Macias. I guess they could send Macias back down, but I don't know if I'd classify it as likely.

 

If they have an outfielder skip Wisconsin, though, it might be Collymore. He had success in Helena last year, and I believe he is the oldest of the group that was competing for a spot in the Timber Rattler outfield.

[ctmyers]

It sounds like Harrison has been the stud of the group thus far in spring training, so it would make sense to keep him and Clark separated if both are considered long term centerfielders. Harrison being a year older than Clark probably also plays into the assignment.

 

I'm really wondering who's going to fill out the Colorado Springs rotation. Assuming Hader, Houser and Hobbs Johnson are all slated for Biloxi, that leaves two spots for Ortega, Wang and Woodruff, who all should probably be in AA this year. You're left with Davies, Lopez, Suter and Burgos as the remaining AAA starters. I guess Cravy could go back to starting, but if he's the 26th man as a reliever, why change his outlook?

 

It's also confusing to have Taylor, Phillips, Roache and Coulter all in Biloxi when all four should be seeing regular starts. I was hoping to see Cooper in AA this year full time, but with those four in the outfield and assuming Ramirez is still in Biloxi, I can't see enough AB's for him there. And if Sharkey is staying in Wisconsin, that leaves a big void at first in BC.

[And That]

I assume DeMuth will get the majority of playing time at first base for the Manatees. His bat doesn't profile there, but he's a pretty big reach to make the big leagues anyway, so it's not that big of a deal.

[And That]

Hader and Phillips in AA to me is an absolute joke.

Is there really a huge difference between AA and AAA? FWIW, the Brewers also have better facilities in AA. Phillips' oblique issue may respond better to the warmer weather and better training room.

 

Also, Phillips has 243 PA in AA. A little over a third of a season. I don't think it's too ridiculous to want to get him more time there.

 

As for Hader, I wouldn't blame the Brewers for keeping any of their pitchers out of Colorado Springs.

[Outlander]

I was hoping to see Cooper in AA this year full time, but with those four in the outfield and assuming Ramirez is still in Biloxi, I can't see enough AB's for him there.

I don't see Ramirez blocking Cooper, Ramirez has had a couple of years there and hasn't shown much. While Cooper isn't a highly touted prospect or anything he is over a year younger and has shown more in the minors than Ramirez.

[And That]

Ramirez has more upside than Cooper, mainly due to raw power potential. Ramirez obviously has, however, been unable to tap into all of that power, or even keep up an acceptable batting average for long periods of time. The culprit for this is likely his swing mechanics. His batting stance incorporates a left arm bar that makes it difficult for him to adjust his bat through the zone, and he doesn't have enough bat speed to make up for the stiffness in the swing. I thought the Brewers would have worked to fix this years ago, but watching him briefly in spring training this year, it appears to still be there.

 

If it doesn't get fixed, I have a difficult time seeing how Ramirez would even come close to hitting for a combination of enough average and power to stick in Milwaukee. So in that sense, Cooper might be the safer prospect of the two because he has a smoother swing (albeit without the power potential), and thusly a higher floor.

[CheeseheadInQC]

I'm really wondering who's going to fill out the Colorado Springs rotation. Assuming Hader, Houser and Hobbs Johnson are all slated for Biloxi, that leaves two spots for Ortega, Wang and Woodruff, who all should probably be in AA this year. You're left with Davies, Lopez, Suter and Burgos as the remaining AAA starters. I guess Cravy could go back to starting, but if he's the 26th man as a reliever, why change his outlook?

 

Kind of judging by who has been starting, for AAA I'd toss off guesses of Lopez, Davies, Guerra, Burgos and either Suter or Cravy for the 5th spot. Woodruff starting yesterday's A/A+ game might not mean anything, but I wonder if he's the odd man out, with the AA rotation being Hader, Houser, Ortega, Wang and either Johnson or, if they are moving Johnson to the bullpen, Salas.

 

If Woodruff is in the BC rotation, though, that means one of two things. Either:

1) Bubba Derby's placement with BC in the spring games was just a matter of where he could get innings and he is starting the season with Wisconsin, or

2) One of the four who had been looked at as locks for the BC rotation (Ponce, Medeiros, Williams and Ventura) isn't for some reason.

[Jenkins5]

Thought Houser was locked into the rotation at AAA?

[CheezWizHed]

When he was optioned out of the MLB camp, they optioned him to AA. Personally, I was a bit surprised, but given the lack of success in his history, they might want to have him return there to continue that success and avoid the thin air of Colorado...

[FVBrewerFan]

CC has made comments about how pitchers don't need to avoid CS, no reason to baby them. However, player development/ Front Office may have a different opinion and want some of these pitchers to avoid CS, or at least not have to spend a whole season there?

[1992casey]

I'm sure there are concerns about Colorado Springs, but I'd doubt that it would do any good for Craig or the front office to publicly express them.

[Noche]

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20160401&content_id=170129808&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t5015&sid=t5015

 

Man, looks like everyone is going back to Biloxi minus Arcia and Lopez. Don't see how Coulter fits either. Betancourt will get Arcia's spot and McFarland is odd man? Lots of surprises and a conservative approach.