We need to focus on positional players again

[obobo55]

I had posted this in the ML board but thought it might be more appropriate here. I was arguing that we are about to graduate our first wave of prospects into MLB service and we haven't developed that 2nd wave all that well. These players will be needed to replace those that go *POOF* for some reason in the next 3 or 4 years.

 

Here is the thread if you want to read the whole thing:

p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...7774.topic

And my last post:

 

Quote:

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My point was that I don't see all that many top positional prospects in our lower leagues anymore. Callix Crabbe, Hurricane, Salome, Cap'n Lou might be our best, but I think we are lacking at SS and slugging OF and even 1B now that Hinton has been traded.

 

Generally I agree that you always go for the best player, but I think we may have overloaded on pitching last year. I'd like to see a SS taken highly if their is a good one when we pick this year. I love JJ and believe he will be solid, but you never know when the injury bug will bite. I remember back in the late 80's-early 90's when we had a new SS each and every year because each one would go down with an injury. Each was OK (Riles, Sheffield, Sveum, Spiers) because we had spent draft picks on these guys year after year. At this point I don't see anyone in the system that we could look to if Hardy went down with a career-ending injury.

 

In this thread people were looking ahead to when all of these players would be getting expensive. I just thought it was folly to project that far out as many of the players will get injured/not perform over the next 2-3 years and will never be heard from again. The important thing is to have a backup plan (and a backup to the backup). If you are the Yankees, you can just open the walletto cover any glaring weaknesses. For a team like the Crew, you must continually reload. A tough proposition to be sure...

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Are their others that I am not aware of? Are you concerned about the lack of a 2nd wave? Do we still need more pitchers?

[Oldcity]

Well first of all you can never have too much pitching. But I'd agree that the position player talent in the lower leagues doesn't compare to the mid and high leagues. There are some stud shortstops in the upcoming draft class. Also some good third basemen and first basemen. I wouldn't be surprised if went in that direction early on rather than pitching, since we stockpiled some last year.

[colbyjack]

As Stevo points out, you can never have too much pitching, but I do lean towards drafting more positional players in the upcoming draft, particularly a SS. I have been campaigning for the Brewers to get back to drafting shortstops, as you point out obobo, it seemed like the Brewers had a constant wave of them back in the 80s, and even the 70s for that matter.

 

I too am concerned about that second wave of prospects, although the original 2nd wave (which at one time included Fielder & Weeks) has caught up to the first wave (Hardy, Hart, Krynzel). That 2nd wave will be helped considerably if a few players in the lower levels step up, and if a couple of key guys like Moss and Palmisano bounce back this season. Iribarren's emergence really helped. So really, we may be technically talking about the 3rd wave of prospects, even though the first wave hasn't even started to produce at the big league level.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about first basemen. Not so much because of Prince Fielder, but because you don't see too many 1B drafted early. Plus, Grant Richardson and Josh Brady may help make up for the loss of Travis Hinton. Power hitting corner OFs definitely interest me as well. Jack Z. and his staff have been enamored with speedy, toolsy CF types, and the system still seems to be stocked from top to bottom with those kind of players, even if there isn't a can't-miss prospect (yet). Hopefully someone out of the Moss, Rasheed, Fermaint group will step up this next season, and I'm pretty sure the team will end up signing one or both of two talented DFEs that fall under the same category in Darren Ford and Lorenzo Cain.

 

Back to the shortstops, again as Stevo points out, there should be several available towards the top of the draft, including Tyler Greene and Troy Tulowitzki. Justin Bristow on the prep side is another solid target for our 1st rounder, even if he does profile to play 3B as a pro. Jeff Clement has to figure prominently for our first rounder as well, as any team will be interested in his services if they feel he can stay behind the dish.

 

I also have suggested that the team take a more college-oriented approach to help solidify the next wave of prospects. Getting that wave to the big leagues within 3-4 years, instead of the 4-5 years high school players seem to take, may be important if the current wave proves to be as good as advertised.

 

And I still think we may see where not having a 2nd round pick could hurt us. I still don't have a problem with the Brewers signing Damian Miller, but I think it's faulty reasoning to just expect the team to select someone that has fallen further than they should have later in the draft. What you're really missing out with no 2nd rounder is missing a player that is a 2nd round talent that intends to go pro. Basically, we could be missing out on a guy like J.J. Hardy.

 

Another avenue that may help is the impending potential trades of Junior Spivey and Lyle Overbay. If Spivey stays healthy, and Overbay matches his production from a year ago, the Brewers may be able to fetch some decent players in return at some point this year. I'm sure Melvin will be looking players that are MLB ready, but it may be a good time to start looking for more promising players lower in a team's system. Related to this is the need to try to acquire the best players available as opposed to the best available players that fill a need. In other words, I don't want someone like Overbay traded for a marginal 3B if a more talented player can be had even if such a player plays a position that doesn't apepar to be a need on paper.

 

Anyway, here's my short list of players I would be interested in adding with the 5th overall pick this June (in no particular order):

 

Luke Hochevar-RHP-Tennessee

Justin Bristow-3B-HS (VA)

Jeff Clement-C-USC

Tyler Greene-SS-Georgia Tech

Troy Tulowitzki-SS-Long Beach St.

Sean O'Sullivan-RHP/3B-HS (CA)

Zach Putnam-RHP/3B-HS (MI)

[obobo55]

Yeah I guess I just forgot that their was a 1st/2nd wave that already merged in my mind.

 

With Weeks jumping right into the fray and Gwynn not blooming yet the 2003 draft yielded less depth than I was hoping for. Lou may still be great, but I am concerned about Fermaint and Opdyke. 6-10 yielded some interesting arms and some of the lower picks may yield a player or two.

 

Then in the 2004 draft we go for arms again until we get to Salome and then swing back in for pitchers in rounds 7-9. Just looking at the draft listing now, I see that we did take a HS SS in round 11. Lenny Leclercq, what do we know thus far about this guy?

 

Nice to know that their is some SS talent this year, lets hope the best one drops to us.

[paul253]

we may have a lack of shortstops, but it seems we have an abundance of second basemen. Weeks, obviously, plus Crabbe, Hurricane, Sollman, and Will Lewis. Maybe one or 2 of them could make the switch.

[colbyjack]

With Weeks jumping right into the fray and Gwynn not blooming yet the 2003 draft yielded less depth than I was hoping for. Lou may still be great, but I am concerned about Fermaint and Opdyke. 6-10 yielded some interesting arms and some of the lower picks may yield a player or two.

 

I agree, we need some players to step up from the 2003 draft, although there are some interesting sleeper prospects in Drew Anderson, Mitch Stetter, Nick Slack, Ty Taubenheim, Hasan Rasheed, Terry Trofholz & Kenny Durost. None of these guys may be everyday starters, but all of them could factor in down the road as complementary ballplayers. And if Weeks pans out even close to what we're hoping for, it may not matter what else we get from the '03 draft. After Weeks, Palmisano & Wooley are the two biggest names. At least one of Gwynn, Fermaint and Kloosterman needs to prove they're legitimate prospects this year (I'm not counting on Opdyke).

 

Leclercq is a toolsy guy, with great athleticism and speed. I think he's more of a project at this point in time, but still a sleeper prospect. '04 6th rounder Stephen Chapman could emerge as a power-hitting OF prospect the system could really use.

 

we may have a lack of shortstops, but it seems we have an abundance of second basemen. Weeks, obviously, plus Crabbe, Hurricane, Sollman, and Will Lewis. Maybe one or 2 of them could make the switch.

 

If any of those guys could play SS, I'm sure they already would be. It's not like Chavez & Cruz are blocking any of them from making that transitiion.

 

However, Alcides Escobar is a SS in the system to keep an eye on.