Forecast of the 2017 rosters/organizational depth chart

[MadThinker88]

I would not be surprised if Jorge Lopez broke camp with the Brewers as a member of the bullpen...

[Greenleaf1]

I would not be surprised if Jorge Lopez broke camp with the Brewers as a member of the bullpen...

 

I've been thinking the same thing lately. If he has an impressive ST, it'll be hard to keep him out of the bullpen I think.

 

Haudricourt said during his last Q&A, and I would agree, that Feliz/Knebel/Torres/Barnes/Marinez all seem like locks for the bullpen, which only leaves two spots open. He also mentioned, and I agree, that if Blazek is healthy he's more or less a lock too. So it's certainly possible that Lopez takes that final spot, it'd be over whoever doesn't make the rotation out of ST (side note: I really think Milone is going to have to impress big time in order to make the team, we just have too many guys and not enough spots and he's not at all a priority). That said, if he's as impressive as he was in winter ball, they're going to have a tough decision to make. I like Lopez as the long reliever out of the pen to start the year and first backup in case of injury in the rotation. Then let him maybe prove himself in higher leverage situations if he succeeds there (we've had success with that strategy with Thornburg and again last year with Marinez).

 

With the amount of competition for spots in the rotation and bullpen this year, I'd find it hard to believe that we can't put together a roster of 12 pitchers better than last year, even with missing Thornburg/Jeffress/Smith. There's lots of young talent, especially in the bullpen, ready to take over where those guys left off.

[FVBrewerFan]

Yea, remember they use piggy-back starts in Appleton. So they will actually have 4 or 5 more starters there. I could see them starting Williams and/or Kirby there.

 

As far as Lopez goes, it's possible he could start the year in the Brewers pen, but I doubt it. In fact, I think there's a better chance he will start the year in the Brewers rotation. Just because they may want to stagger when Hader, Lopez, Woodruff, Ortiz, heck maybe even Wang join the rotation over the next couple years. Hader they may want to wait a bit to start his clock. But I don't think that's much of a concern with Lopez or Woodruff.

 

So I could see them trading a SP before the end of ST. Plus, there's always injuries that come into play. Finally, if Garza's performance and/or attitude are terrible it's possible they cut him loose. That would open the door for Lopez or Woodruff, and I just get this sense they want to give Lopez a shot, certainly don't want him in CS.

 

Then Hader comes up at some point this year, probably before the AS break. Woodruff gets a taste of MLB in September, then joins rotation full time to start beginning of next season. That would be a realistic way to trickle these guys in.

[CheeseheadInQC]

I've been thinking the same thing lately. If he has an impressive ST, it'll be hard to keep him out of the bullpen I think.

 

Haudricourt said during his last Q&A, and I would agree, that Feliz/Knebel/Torres/Barnes/Marinez all seem like locks for the bullpen, which only leaves two spots open. He also mentioned, and I agree, that if Blazek is healthy he's more or less a lock too. So it's certainly possible that Lopez takes that final spot, it'd be over whoever doesn't make the rotation out of ST (side note: I really think Milone is going to have to impress big time in order to make the team, we just have too many guys and not enough spots and he's not at all a priority). That said, if he's as impressive as he was in winter ball, they're going to have a tough decision to make. I like Lopez as the long reliever out of the pen to start the year and first backup in case of injury in the rotation. Then let him maybe prove himself in higher leverage situations if he succeeds there (we've had success with that strategy with Thornburg and again last year with Marinez).

 

With the amount of competition for spots in the rotation and bullpen this year, I'd find it hard to believe that we can't put together a roster of 12 pitchers better than last year, even with missing Thornburg/Jeffress/Smith. There's lots of young talent, especially in the bullpen, ready to take over where those guys left off.

 

Do you really think they'd go without a lefty? (that's what surprised me most about Haudricourt's projection as well.) I think right now barring a trade or injury, it's looking like guys you mentioned as locks or near locks, plus the sixth starter, plus either Milone or Suter, which makes it tough for Lopez, Jungmann, Cravy or the NRIs to crack the opening day roster, although given the annual bullpen churn and the fact that they are already on the 40-man, I fully expect those three plus Suter (if Milone gets the lefty spot) to see time in Milwaukee at some point in the season.

[Greenleaf1]

 

Do you really think they'd go without a lefty? (that's what surprised me most about Haudricourt's projection as well.) I think right now barring a trade or injury, it's looking like guys you mentioned as locks or near locks, plus the sixth starter, plus either Milone or Suter, which makes it tough for Lopez, Jungmann, Cravy or the NRIs to crack the opening day roster, although given the annual bullpen churn and the fact that they are already on the 40-man, I fully expect those three plus Suter (if Milone gets the lefty spot) to see time in Milwaukee at some point in the season.

 

Kinda missed that I hadn't included a lefty.

 

Cravy/Suter/Lopez/Magnifico/Jungmann all have at least one option left (I think this is the last option year for Cravy/Jungmann). I would guess that's working pretty heavily against all 5 of these guys starting the year in the bullpen, even though some of them performed pretty well at the end of last year (Cravy/Suter notably).

 

Blazek/Knebel/Marinez are out of options, so if we're just putting together a bullpen based on our ability to keep as many of these guys in our organization as possible to start the year (which is probably wise for a non-contending team), then I'd say the bullpen looks like this:

 

Feliz, Knebel, Torres, Barnes, Marinez, Blazek, Milone

 

Keeping Barnes in there even though he has options. You could add Chamberlain to that list instead, but that seems like a waste. Better off keeping Barnes and seeing if you can get Chamberlain to AAA.

 

There should be some interesting decisions made with our rotation/bullpen at the major league level and in AAA to start the year. There's a lot of talent and potential there, and I'm sure it'll all sort itself out based on who is performing, but right now it's kind hard to tell. This is why I love Spring Training!

[Greenleaf1]

This should be a good indicator of who's starting where:

 

Coulter is with AAA, but that's probably because Brinson/Cordell apparently get the day off after being optioned. Also Knebel starting there but probably just because not enough innings in the big league game.

 

Diplan, T Williams, Wilkerson, Bickford listed at AA.

 

Trent Clark, Isan Diaz, Jake Gatewood, Nathan Kirby all to Carolina, looks like Erceg has the day off. Yamamoto at A+ as well, which makes sense. Ronnie Gideon is DHing for Carolina, is he going to skip Appleton?

 

The more I look at this the more I think there will be a LOT of changes to who goes where before the minor league season starts, but who knows.

[Greenleaf1]

Other things:

 

Woodruff, Dubon at AAA

Phillips not listed, so not sure where he's going

 

Erceg still with big league camp for now, probably until Perez is back from WBC (he's in the lineup today). Probably will go to Carolina though, I'd guess.

[NolanBratt]

 

Stearns confirms both Brinson, Phillips, and Cordell will start in Colorado Springs... We have no reason to believe both Wren & Reed won't start there as well. That's a stacked OF for sure.

 

In AA, that leaves guys like Coulter, Roache, Johnny Davis, Tyrone Taylor (once again), and probably one more guy.

[FVBrewerFan]

Clark in A+ would be the biggest surprise to me if all of the above happens.

[Greenleaf1]

Clark seems like he was held back by injuries more than anything else, but I'm not sure what Appleton has left to offer him besides inhibiting his growth and frustrating him. Better to keep him with that other group of upcoming prospects (Erceg, Diaz, to a lesser extent Gatewood). He still showed good plate discipline with the TRats (high walk rate) even with the low average, I think with a healthy season that Carolina is the best place for him to start.

 

Interesting that Counsell mentioned recently that Dubon was likely the AA shortstop, but maybe that was just an offhand comment that didn't mean much.

 

Counsell also told Stearns that Reed will start the year at AAA, making four 40-man OF at Colorado to start the season. Can't see much of a situation where Reed gets called up this year though, gotta be honest, I'd say with Cordell/Brinson seemingly knocking on the door, Reed might be the first guy off the 40-man if we need a spot.

[FVBrewerFan]

Yea, they obviously know more than we do, just seems Clark didn't get a ton of ABs last year. I really expected him to be back in Appleton for the first half at least, especially since he's still age appropriate for that level.

 

As for Reed, yea he's really just there for depth at this point. If there's injuries, trades, etc. they have him to around to use as a 4th OF. In the meantime, he can help CS win some games and be competitive which is worth something.

[CheeseheadInQC]

This should be a good indicator of who's starting where:

 

Coulter is with AAA, but that's probably because Brinson/Cordell apparently get the day off after being optioned. Also Knebel starting there but probably just because not enough innings in the big league game.

 

Diplan, T Williams, Wilkerson, Bickford listed at AA.

 

Trent Clark, Isan Diaz, Jake Gatewood, Nathan Kirby all to Carolina, looks like Erceg has the day off. Yamamoto at A+ as well, which makes sense. Ronnie Gideon is DHing for Carolina, is he going to skip Appleton?

 

The more I look at this the more I think there will be a LOT of changes to who goes where before the minor league season starts, but who knows.

 

From what I remember, a lot of guys play a level up at the beginning of these games to account for the guys who are still in big league camp. If you make a composite of all of the games when they break camp and pay most attention to the last week, you could probably predict the levels with 95 percent accuracy, but I'm not sure I'd read much into the first day.

 

For example, all three of the outfielders in Colorado Springs are likely ticketed for Biloxi, which would bump the Biloxi outfielders to Carolina and so forth. Similar things seem to be taking place at several of the infield spots.

[Outlander]

If the organization views Reed as a 4th OF on the AAA team then they should remove him from the 40 man.

[Jenkins5]

Really, in Colorado Reed just doesn't get ABs Brinson, Phillips, Cordell aren't going to share much time. I think the Brewers really like Reed but realistically he is #5 depth chart and want him to get ABs. Kyle Wren was brilliant last season & this spring to push ahead of him imo. Not sure Reed will sneak through waivers.

[clancyphile]

If the organization views Reed as a 4th OF on the AAA team then they should remove him from the 40 man.

 

Cordell has also played second, third, and short in the minors. Add in time at first base at Colorado Springs, and DHing at AL parks... Reed could still get a fair number of ABs.

[adambr2]

If the organization views Reed as a 4th OF on the AAA team then they should remove him from the 40 man.

 

I think they should anyway. Reed is literally the 9th OFer on the 40 man if you count him behind Perez. He's a little fish in a big pond and there just really isn't a need for him.

[clancyphile]

If the organization views Reed as a 4th OF on the AAA team then they should remove him from the 40 man.

 

I think they should anyway. Reed is literally the 9th OFer on the 40 man if you count him behind Perez. He's a little fish in a big pond and there just really isn't a need for him.

 

He can play 3 OF positions, he has good OBP skills, some decent speed, and gap power. He will be cheap for three seasons.

 

As a depth asset, he is very useful, with a ceiling as a Brady Clark-type 4th outfielder. That's not a bad asset to have on the roster.