2017 Starting Position Players

[CheezWizHed]

After starting the pitching thread, I figured we could give equal opportunity to the starting position players. Granted, I would expect this to be much less volatile than the starting pitchers.

 

LF: Ryan Braun - 100% chance. The only chance that it isn't Ryan is if he is traded (unlikely at this point) or injured (hopefully not). He is our best offensive bat and a lock.

 

CF: Keon Broxton - 90% chance. The BF world holds its breath to see if the second half of last year was real or a mirage. Keon made a great adjustment and tore the hide off the ball last July+. Broxton's second half gives the Brewers a chance to start slower here with Brinson also. Brinson (10% chance) will be the first OFer up from the minors at any position but it can be delayed past the super 2 status since he isn't needed right away. Captain Kirk would be short term replacement, like it or not.

 

RF: Domingo Santana - 90% chance. Really only injury is his biggest worry. He started off slow (and injured) last year, then put together a nice quiet season coming on late. Not as drastic a turn-around as Broxton, but nice progress. Brinson would be the long term replacement in right also. Captain Kirk would be short term replacement, like it or not.

 

3B: Travis Shaw - 90% chance. Hand picked to take over 3B. Perez (10% chance) is his only real competitor. But Shaw has more upside and will be given the chance to prove himself.

 

SS: Orlando Arcia - 100% chance. Top prospect will have every chance this year. He still has some offensive adjustments to make to prove he can stay long term as the starter, but its his this year. Villar would be his backup with Dubon's distance footsteps coming.

 

2B: Jonathon Villar - 100% chance. With his breakout performance last year, Villar will be starting somewhere in the infield this year. And since the announcement has come out that he will move the 2B, the surprise is gone. Only chance for Scooter to make head-way here is injury at 3B, SS or 2B.

 

1B: Eric Thames - 100% chance. The "big" FA signing this year. No one really knows what to expect out of Thames, but he will get first chance. And second chance and third... In fact, there really isn't anyone to back him up if things do come up kimchee...

 

C: Andrew Susac - 67% chance. Catcher might be the only really interesting ST fight for the position players. Many Pina (25% chance) played more at the MLB level last year, but I'd guess Susac has the better ceiling. Of course, at the catcher position, the backup plays quite a bit compared to other spots (normally). So it wouldn't surprise me to see a 2:1 split at starting either. New comer Jett Bandy (8% chance) has an outside chance, but I would expect him to start at AAA given that he has options and profiles exactly as his predecessor (Maldy).

[And That]

Thank you for starting these threads.

 

C: Andrew Susac - 67% chance. Catcher might be the only really interesting ST fight for the position players. Many Pina (25% chance) played more at the MLB level last year, but I'd guess Susac has the better ceiling. Of course, at the catcher position, the backup plays quite a bit compared to other spots (normally). So it wouldn't surprise me to see a 2:1 split at starting either. New comer Jett Bandy (8% chance) has an outside chance, but I would expect him to start at AAA given that he has options and profiles exactly as his predecessor (Maldy).

I think it might be more of a tossup between Bandy and Susac. They have almost the same amount of career PAs, though Bandy obviously had more last year. He's also the better defender of the two. Susac has the better bat and probably has some upside left, even at 27.

 

The great news for Manny Pina is that at this point he looks to have the roster pretty close to made already IMO. I think the Brewers will probably want both Susac and Bandy playing full time, so whichever is not the Brewers starting catcher will likely be the Sky Sox starting catcher. Pina reaps the rewards. He's really the only realistic MLB backup catcher currently in the organization. He's also out of options, so if he's not the backup, there's no guarantee he's the AAA catcher either. I think he's talented enough that losing him at this point isn't necessarily a great idea.

 

Edit: Should add, the Brewers should have some pretty impressive arms in AAA next year so it might be beneficial to have them throwing to a MLB-caliber catcher who also could be their catcher once they make it to MLB.

[jerichoholicninja]

Catcher is really the only position up for grabs. If Kirk is getting starts over a healthy Keon, I'll lose faith in Stearns more than Counsell.

[kalle8]

Catcher is really the only position up for grabs. If Kirk is getting starts over a healthy Keon, I'll lose faith in Stearns more than Counsell.

 

it will never happen.

 

won't it?

[adambr2]

Catcher is really the only position up for grabs. If Kirk is getting starts over a healthy Keon, I'll lose faith in Stearns more than Counsell.

 

The occasional day off is understandable, but if Keon has a slow first 50 ABs or slow and the thing starts to become a soft platoon, I'm going to go crazy. Broxton needs a full season worth of ABs against both RHP and LHP and let's see what we have in him.

[sveumrules]

Assuming health for all three starters and Kirk in the OF I'd give Nieuwenhuis a start against a RHP at each OF spot every home stand that is longer than 3 games. Looking at the schedule that would be about 11 games off for each OF & 33 total starts for Kirk. If anyone is hurt for any length of time I would hope that Brinson gets the call, assuming he is healthy & productive at AAA himself.

[Greenleaf1]

Nieuwenhuis's role will almost certainly be less than last year. Take his reduced playing time in September/October as a sign of that.

 

Now that Broxton/Santana have shown that they deserve first chance at starting roles to begin the year, and Brinson is knocking on the door as well, Nieuwenhuis should only serve as a replacement for regular days off, and wouldn't likely get much playing time in the event of an injury. Perez also figures to get some of those opportunities against lefties and on the road (unless he settles into a platoon role at 1st or 3rd if Thames/Shaw can't hit lefties, which is honestly pretty likely for at least one of them).

 

Ryan Cordell could be up later in the year too and could take even more time away from Nieuwenhuis.

 

All that said, I'm glad we have him at least to start the year. As people have repeatedly said, finding a cheap 4th OF that can play all 3 positions and have a .700 OPS is not as easy as it might seem. If he continues to kill it at Miller Park then he could have a bench role for a few years yet.

[Boomer5]

For what its worth, Fangraphs has Thames as our best player (at 2.5War) overall.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=23

 

I find that surprising, Id guess Braun and Arcia would be our two best but I guess both of their D's were somewhat underwhelming. Braun is obvious on D, but Arcia has been projected to be a GG SS for a long time, so maybe his time up was an anomaly?

 

Catcher isnt really a toss up to start, its more of a soft platoon/hot hand kind of thing. We don't have a 130 game catcher on the roster, they are both nice back up types.

 

CF is just a place holder until Brinson is ready.

[adambr2]

If Broxton can continue to build on what he showed in the 2nd half last year, he's no placeholder in CF, unless you mean he might just be moved out to a corner when Brinson is up, which is entirely possible.

[monty57]

If Broxton can continue to build on what he showed in the 2nd half last year, he's no placeholder in CF, unless you mean he might just be moved out to a corner when Brinson is up, which is entirely possible.

 

If Braun does not get traded, which is looking more likely, it will be interesting to see what happens in the outfield. This is probably one of those situations that will work itself out with injuries or one of Santana/Broxton/Brinson not playing well, but if everyone is healthy and playing well we will have a "logjam" that may end up meaning one of Broxton, Brinson, Santana or maybe Thames are traded before next season starts.

 

If the NL is going to adopt the designated hitter, I hope it happens soon.

[FVBrewerFan]

If the NL is going to adopt the designated hitter, I hope it happens soon.

 

Or if the Brewers move back to the AL.

[jackailius]

The outfield could be interesting but I don't know if it would anyone we are hoping to be mainstays. Even if they are all playing well to go with a 4 man rotating outfield between Braun, Santana, Broxton and Brinson. All four have had injury issues over the past couple years and Braun will need days off even if he doesn't get injured. It would be nice if one of the 4 were a lefty bat but Braun can surely carry himself at the plate regardless of who he is facing and we will see about the other 3 with more experience. There will be 486 starts in a season. If Braun plays 130 that leaves 119 starts for each of the others and I would imagine it would give a great opportunity for double switches having strong OF bats. It very well could be an issue when we hope to evaluate those fringy types- Cordell, Reed and Wren and will likely be an issue if Phillips is the prospect we were hoping we got from Houston or if last year at the plate will be what we can expect. We have a whole season of seeing who is for real in the OF and who will fade from this group and the others could very well fizzle in the minors.