Knebel

[KCBrewerfan34]

Not even Nottingham's mom thinks his bat is closer than Mejia's. Mejia consensus top 20 prospect, Nottingham not Top 100.

[pacopete4]

Not even Nottingham's mom thinks his bat is closer than Mejia's. Mejia consensus top 20 prospect, Nottingham not Top 100.

 

And as we have seen from Arcia, rankings mean jack squat sometimes.

[Never Outhustled]

Not even Nottingham's mom thinks his bat is closer than Mejia's. Mejia consensus top 20 prospect, Nottingham not Top 100.

 

Mejia WAS a top 20 prospect. Now just one of hundreds of prospects struggling to adjust to advanced pitching. Add in that he's not advanced defensively, and he's losing luster. Still an interesting prospect, but no one is giving up one of the most dominant relievers in the game for him.

[JosephC]

I have no issues with Mejia's bat. But there are very legitimate questions if Mejia sticks behind the plate. Last year in the AFL they played him at 3B, but so far this season he's split time between catcher (14 games) and left field (11 games). If he doesn't stick behind the plate, it would be pretty miserable for Milwaukee if they had Yelich, Mejia and Braun all in the mix for LF playing time in 2019 and 2020.

 

Even though I would be giving up value, I would almost rather get a package of prospects back from the Indians. Yu-Cheng Chang and Shane Bieber would be must includes. Would still be looking for two more names after that. Probably would start with Aaron Civale and Quentin Holmes and see if the Indians would go for that. Even though Bieber is not listed in anybody's top 100 today, I think chances are extremely strong that he's a back end top 100 pitcher in the mid-season updates. My surplus value tags on these guys would be 17.86 for Bieber, 11.45 for Chang, 11.45 for Civale and 5.72 for Holmes. Package total = 46.48 million. I think Mejia's value has slipped a bit. I'd probably put him at around #30 on the top 100 prospect list and for a hitter that would put his value in the area of 54.6 million. So I acknowledge that passing on Mejia would be giving up value. But in this case, I prefer to take the four players over one.

 

My gut feeling is that 30 million in surplus value would be the absolute max the Brewers could expect to see in return for Knebel.

[MadThinker88]

I have no issues with Mejia's bat. But there are very legitimate questions if Mejia sticks behind the plate. Last year in the AFL they played him at 3B, but so far this season he's split time between catcher (14 games) and left field (11 games). If he doesn't stick behind the plate, it would be pretty miserable for Milwaukee if they had Yelich, Mejia and Braun all in the mix for LF playing time in 2019 and 2020.

 

Even though I would be giving up value, I would almost rather get a package of prospects back from the Indians. Yu-Cheng Chang and Shane Bieber would be must includes. Would still be looking for two more names after that. Probably would start with Aaron Civale and Quentin Holmes and see if the Indians would go for that. Even though Bieber is not listed in anybody's top 100 today, I think chances are extremely strong that he's a back end top 100 pitcher in the mid-season updates. My surplus value tags on these guys would be 17.86 for Bieber, 11.45 for Chang, 11.45 for Civale and 5.72 for Holmes. Package total = 46.48 million. I think Mejia's value has slipped a bit. I'd probably put him at around #30 on the top 100 prospect list and for a hitter that would put his value in the area of 54.6 million. So I acknowledge that passing on Mejia would be giving up value. But in this case, I prefer to take the four players over one.

 

My gut feeling is that 30 million in surplus value would be the absolute max the Brewers could expect to see in return for Knebel.

 

Actually Bieber was in the top 100 for John Sickels (#98) and he was on a few more lists between #101 & #150.

Fangraphs has already noted that Bieber is on the short list to get added to their top 100 once they update for graduations during May.

 

Not sure you noticed but Triston McKenzie hasn't pitched yet outside of Extended Spring Training. Word is he might make his debut later this month. I will believe that when I see it. On top of that Bieber made his AAA debut this past week & pitched well. I would be stunned if Bieber got dealt at all, let alone before Triston is back on the mound and proving himself to be healthy.

 

As for Mejia remaining behind the plate as a catcher, I think that is more of question for each organization. Granted teams would prefer to find someone that is good at both but when that isn't possible, teams will lean 1 way or the other. Some clubs (like Cleveland) prefer the D & game calling skills first then the offense/ bat of the player. Other clubs (like NY Yankees) like the offense 1st & at least passable D/ game calling skills (example Gary Sanchez). Now IMHO it seems MKE tends to favor the Offense over Defense from catcher. Lucroy was both when he was healthy & on. Maldonado was D (& he won the 2017 Gold Glove in the AL). Voght is historically more Offense than Defense.

 

Cleveland tried Mejia at 3rd in the AFL (it didn't go well so its been scrapped) & is now trying him in the OF because it is generally felt Mejia can hit/ be functional with the bat in the majors now. Its a matter of finding another spot for him so the bat gets into the lineup. If Gomes or Perez got hurt, then yes Mejia comes up and gets to play at catcher. If an injury happens to a different player (say to Brantley), a little versatility might help Mejia make it to the show & if he hits well, perhaps the bat can help force him to stay in the lineup once people are healthy.

 

Additionally, Mejia also gets moved around more because Cleveland has a 2nd catching prospect in Eric Haase in AAA Columbus & he is closer to the mold of Yan Gomes/ Roberto Perez (good D/ game calling, RH, thump in the stick). Absent Haase, Mejia likely catches 2/3 of the games and goes to the OF on non-catching days to aid the versatility. Note when Haase isn't catching, he is the DH or completely out of the lineup. When both were in AA Akron last season, Mejia was behind the plate a majority of the time (72 games vs 60 games). Before Mejia caught up to Haase last season, he had gotten 87 & 94 games as catcher the previous 2 years.